There is no end to the stress of having a newborn. Whether it is your first or your fifth, every child is a challenge because every child is different. You need to make sure that you are pinpointing the areas that make you feel stressed as a parent (even if it is just the kid itself!) and work on ways of improving these issues and getting to the bottom of these problems. This is something that you are going to need to make sure that you stay on top of. Here are some of the stresses of dealing with a newborn and how you might go about combatting them.
#1 High-stress environments
High stress is caused by a lot of things. Lack of sleep, low-income households, excessive noise – all of which can be found in a home that has recently had a baby. There may even be exterior problems that might not have anything to do with your immediate situation. There are a lot of reasons why you might be in a high-stress environment. Little babies can pick up on this, and can act out – making the crying and lack of sleep all the worse.
How to combat this?
Stress can’t be helped. But you are going to need to make sure that you are communicating with your partner and the people around you. People might be insistent on seeing the baby, people might be a bit overly pushy about helping you out – only accept what will lower your stress levels, saying no is important. IT’s also important to recognise when you do need help and to take it – new parents can often push themselves too hard trying to do it all. Buy earplugs and give the baby to one partner so that the other can sleep for a larger chunk of time.
#2 Lactation issues
This is surprisingly common in many birthing people. Lactation issues can be hereditary or completely individual. However, it can seriously impact a birthing person’s confidence and their ability to bond with their baby – not to mention increasing stress and the potential for a very hungry baby. If you’re choosing to lactate, then you need to get to the bottom of any problems as quickly as possible.
How to combat this?
Lactation issues have got to be taken to the experts, such as IBCLC lactation consultant. They can be a huge help and can remove a lot of the stress from your shoulders. This is something that you might find to be relatively easily fixable, or it might be an underlying issue that might even raise a debate on whether you want to have more children or not. Lactation consultancy can give you peace of mind and can really help you through any troubles that you have.
To wrap things up
In conclusion, there are a lot of problems and other related stresses that come with being a parent of a newborn. These days it is less common for lots of little babies to be around all the time and so many people do not have the experience of a newborn until they have one themselves. As a result, sometimes, things just hit like a shockwave and can spin wildly out of control. There are always people available to help though, look for professionals to talk to about any aspect you are finding difficult.
