It’s no secret that being a new parent, especially a new mother, can be stressful. Suddenly your needs and wants no longer seem relevant as your whole world becomes centered around your little one. It doesn’t matter if you have finally fallen asleep after being up and about for the last several hours. If your infant starts crying, it’s your responsibility to change his diaper or breastfeed her until she can go back to sleep. All of this is, in addition to mood changes many women experience during pregnancy, can make the word stress sound like the understatement of the century.
Some women will become so stressed that they develop postpartum depression, which is a moderate to severe depression that occurs in a woman after she has given birth. The United States Library of Medicine explains this will occur in most women within the first three months after delivery, but it could happen up to a year later. Some of the factors that may affect postpartum depression include changes in work and social relationships, having less freedom and time to sleep and worrying about your ability as a mother, notes the source. You are more likely to have postpartum depression if a stressful event occurs during or after pregnancy, such as a death in the family or a personal illness.
However, researchers have recently discovered new mothers who read and write blogs may enjoy stress relief. Science Daily reports a study of 157 new mothers was conducted by Brandon T. McDaniel, a graduate student at Penn State and colleagues from Brigham Young University. They found new mothers who participated in these online communities, in order to share their experiences with others and get support from family and friend, felt less parenting stress, had high marital satisfaction and less marital conflict.
“It looks like blogging might be helping these women as they transition into motherhood because they may begin to feel more connected to their extended family and friends, which leads them to feel more supported,” said McDaniel. “That potentially is going to spill out into other aspects of their well being, including their marital relationship with their partner, the ways that they’re feeling about their parenting stress, and eventually into their levels of depression.”
Consider starting your own blog or reading blogs written by new mothers like yourself in order to decrease your stress levels. Also, an all-natural supplement from Dr. Newton’s Naturals may be able to offer stress relief. Vital B-100 can provide the essential B vitamins your overtaxed nervous system needs.
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