3 Tips to Manage Mental Health in Motherhood

Becoming a mother is a significant life change that can bring great joy, but also great difficulty to a woman’s life. After having a child, a woman’s identity and role shifts, which may cause an increase in mental health concerns such as anxiety or depression.

Over the last year, with the implementation of virtual school and stay at home orders, moms have met an increasing level of mental health struggles. Many mothers face feelings of fatigue, worry and loss of self. In fact, 74% of mothers say they feel mentally worse since the pandemic began.

While every mother may be facing different circumstances and challenges, there are a few tips that all mothers can follow to help manage their mental health.

Here are 3 tips for managing mental health in motherhood.

1.   Focus on your parenting skills.

Many women worry about the way they parent: Is there a best way? How do I know if I am doing it right?  

While there is no, one correct answer to these questions, there are different tips that can be worked on to help mothers gain confidence and minimizing stress. These include:

• Consistency with rewards and consequences

• Boundaries

• Open communication

“When moms don’t know how to handle certain situations or don’t know what their child is going through, it can produce a lot of conflict and challenges that, in turn, increase the stress levels in motherhood,” Sherry Cumbest, Licensed Professional Counselor at Right Track Medical Group says.

 2.   Practice self-care.

Many mothers feel as though they are everyone’s rock, taking care of all the members of their family. This can cause moms to feel overwhelmed and like they have no more to give to their children, spouse and even themselves.

Taking time for self-care is extremely important when feelings of emptiness arise. Cumbest even recommends using self-care as a preventative tool to avoid the feelings of burnout all together.

“Practicing self-care in a regular routine can oftentimes save you from getting to that point of feeling empty,” Cumbest said. “I like to break self-care down into four categories: mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. Focusing on each of these four areas, we can make a plan for ourselves to prevent or recover from a burnout.”

3.   Learn to trust your child.

As children grow and change, so does a mother’s role. It can be scary and daunting to see your child gaining more independence and eventually entering the world as an adult. It is time to trust the skills you taught your child and trust the person you have raised them to be. This can be a little thing like letting your child wake themself up for school, or bigger things like driving or going to college.

“We have to allow our kids some amount of independence as they get older and build on it,” Cumbest said. “It is scary but we have to trust the person we have raised them to be.”