How You Can Look After Your Baby By Looking After Yourself

*Collaborative Post

When you have a baby your world changes forever, no longer is your life all about you but instead, this little person comes first. As parents, we would go to the ends of the earth for our children, and their happiness and health are our number one priority. However, it doesn’t mean we should give up on ourselves. Quite the opposite, to best take care of our children it makes sense that we need to care for ourselves. With good mental and physical life, we can enjoy the journey of parenthood to our best ability and be ready to handle whatever comes our way. Here is how you can look after yourself:

Eat well

Food really is fuel, the right nutrients will provide your body with everything it needs to thrive. It will energise you, protect you from disease and help you to live a longer life. A love of healthy foods will also be picked up by your children later down the line too so it’s a good way to set an example. A healthy diet can also help you to shed any baby weight you’ve put on- however, this can take time. If you had a tough pregnancy and really gained a lot of weight, a nutritional cleanse like https://www.nutritionalcleanse.co.uk/buy-isagenix/ can boost your weight loss in the beginning, and it’s hassle free which is just what you need when you’re looking after a baby. Going forward, aim to make fruits and vegetables

Stay active

When you become a parent your time is limited, and so you don’t always have the opportunity to go off on your own and exercise. However, there are still ways to stay active. You could go for long walks with the pram, this gets you out of the house and is good bonding time for you and your baby. It allows you both to get some fresh air and enjoy nature. Walking is an incredibly underrated exercise, it works out just about all areas of your body especially when you’re pushing a pram too. It’s good for cardiovascular health, tones muscles, burns calories and boosts mood. Another option would be to join a gym which has creche facilities. That way you have childcare right at the gym, you can enjoy your workout knowing your baby is being looked after and it can help you to stay fit. Exercise boosts mood, and positive changes to your body can increase your confidence. It will allow you to have more energy and make your day to day tasks easier too.

Sleep when you can

Obviously, when you become a parent you forfeit sleep. It’s something we all know will happen, but don’t realise exactly how much of a struggle it will be until our little ones come along. Having no sleep is hard, and it’s also unhealthy. Unfortunately, as a parent there’s not always much you can do about this, you need to be awake when your baby is awake to be able to provide them with what they need in that moment. However, one thing you can do is to sleep when you can. Particularly during the newborn and early days, if they’re having a nap then you have a nap with them. If you have a partner or friends and family who can help, allow them to take care of things like cooking and housework when they offer as this frees up time for you to get in extra sleep. Later down the line when your baby is in more of a routine and is sleeping for longer it does get a little easier, but the same point remains. Make sure you’re getting sleep yourself when you can. If you’re in a position to hire some help with things like cleaning, then take advantage of these kinds of services. Don’t feel like you have to be superwoman and do everything yourself- there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to do this. Spending the extra time you have sleeping is good for your health, will improve your mood (helping to ward off things like depression) and mean you have more energy to enjoy life. Speak to your GP, find out when you’re able to exercise safely postpartum.

Stay social

When you have a baby you have so much to do- most of your time is spent looking after them and yourself. It’s tempting to want to lock yourself away just so you can spend the time you need, doing what you need to do. But doing this isn’t healthy, even though you’re pressed for time it’s important to stay social. If loved ones offer to come and visit you, allow them to do so. If you’re invited out and you’re able to bring your child along then go for it. Being around people is good for both them and you. They get used to having people around which is less scary for them later down the line when they’re off to nursery and then school. And you get to enjoy conversation with other adults and keep your support system strong. Babies change so quickly, and so if there are loved ones that you want to know your child then it’s important to make the effort to allow them to see them. You could even kill two birds with one stone and have a friend come to the gym or out on a walk with you and the baby- socialisation and exercise rolled into one! Don’t allow yourself to get cabin fever, a chat and a giggle with a friend is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.

It is so important to look after yourself because the happier and healthier you are (physically and mentally) the more energy you have, the more resilient you are and the more you’re able to enjoy life. This can, in turn, help you to be the very best parent that you can possibly be.

What ways do you look after yourself to ensure you’re the best parent to your child? Had you considered good mental and physical health could be the key to this?

*This is a collaborative post. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.

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