sadiedean

I needed to hear: go easy on yourself, be kind to yourself, you don’t have to be tough or do it all, it’s ok. Also, take really long showers, get some shower steamers even and enjoy the quiet alone time. If it feels good, let other people hold the baby for as long as the baby is happy and enjoy time as your own person. You have plenty of time when baby will only want you to hold them. Let people handle when baby fusses and tell you when they need help, baby may surprise you and calm down. My babies were always very clingy in the witching hour, so find ways to be prepared for the 5 to 9 pm time period. I started to get ready for bed, pajamas, face wash, skin care, etc. at 5 every night, and then once baby became fussy or wanted to cluster feed, I just settled in and watched some good shows, drank tea, ate snacks, or read a good book and tried my best to relax into it, setting the expectation with my partner that for a while the evening was going to be harder and I would be on first for baby duty and nothing else and he would be on first for home and toddler duty. Then when baby settled for the night I could go right to sleep. This helped me take so much pressure off myself and I wished I had figured it out sooner.