Having a new baby at home is one of the most incredible times for you as a mother. But when stress is mounting and your mood deteriorating, it is easy, almost imminent, that we get pulled into poor health habits.
For 2018, I told myself that I AM important and one thing will be non-negotiable: my bulletproof self-care routine. If you can’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of others—it sounds cliché, but it’s true. And the best part? Taking that time for myself makes the rest of my week even better. It bothers me that there’s a belief that the idea that self-care is self-indulgent. However, we can only sustain physical health and emotional health when self-care is a priority.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by InControl Medical. All thoughts and opinions are my own unless noted otherwise.
Top 5 New Mom Items Essential For Self-Care
Get Up and Get Sweating!
I may sound like a broken record and you’ve heard if before but you have to work out. Once you’re cleared by your doctor, try to hit the treadmill or the bike for 20-30 minutes 3-5 times per week. Start slow and work your way back up to a level you and your body are comfortable with. If you had a rough pregnancy or birth, just taking a daily walk around the block while baby sleeps in a carrier or stroller is great. Anything you can do to get your body up and moving will work. This will have an obvious positive effect on your calorie burn and toning, but this type of workout practiced consistently in weeks to follow will also have an amazing impact on your brain.
Journaling
New emotions are happening and quite frankly, we unleash them onto others unintentionally. Keeping a journal can be both healing and an escape. Because you’re in dialogue with your inner life when you write in a journal, you solve problems and get creative. I’ll have thoughts arise that never would have bubbled up otherwise since I’m normally so focused on what I have to do that day. Keep your journal close so you can jot things down during a nursing session or while baby is napping. Write whatever you feel inspired to write — your thoughts, your dreams, to vent, to ask for clarity — pretty much dump whatever you have going on in that mind of yours onto paper so you can create space in your mind. It literally does not matter if the page doesn’t make sense, just get it out.
An Indulgent Cookbook
With a new baby in the house, I can never seem to wrap my head around what to make for dinner. Sometimes, I’m past the point of starving so I’m not able to be creative with good food choices on my own. I always feel inspired to get creative in the kitchen after flipping through one of my favorite cookbooks. Also, comfort food brings me all kinds of joy so when I can find a cookbook, like Magnolia Table, I can spend all day reading recipes and getting ideas on how to tweak them for my family. It is weird that I actually enjoy reading cookbooks?
At Home Spa
Going out and about in the “real world” when you’re elbow deep in spit-up, drool, and more than likely covered in breast milk and haven’t showered in a week is not exactly ideal. It’s okay to admit it. We all go through it. But we all love to feel pretty, too. Seriously the age-old “when baby naps you nap” stuff does not compute with me. Nope, that’s when this mama gets stuff done! So when your sweet baby naps, it’s a good time to create an at-home spa for yourself. Maybe it’s a mud mask or you’ve been dying for a manicure. It may not be resort spa quality but pretty nails and clear skin always make me feel better.
Feminine Care
Lots of changes happen to your body during pregnancy but what many women don’t talk about are the changes we experience afterward.
One change you may experience is urinary incontinence. It affects more than 15+ million women yet hardly anyone talks about it or the ways that we can treat it instead of simply “dealing” with it ’cause it’s “normal”. This happens from weak pelvic floor muscles and an over-active detrusor muscle usually caused by pregnancy, age, or stress. And guess what? It’s not normal and doesn’t have to be your normal.
A device called Apex®M by InControl Medical is FDA-cleared, safe, easy-to-use, and clinically proven to work. This type of self-care is especially important to me because it is embarrassing and very uncomfortable. It is something I’ve dealt with but as I said, 2018 is my year and I vowed I would make changes in all areas of ME!
Apex®M is a medical device that treats the cause of your female urinary incontinence by strengthening weak pelvic floor muscles and calming an overactive detrusor muscle. The secret is getting as close to the pelvic floor as possible and stimulating the right muscles while providing physical resistance for the exercise to build muscle. This device does just that. NO prescription needed and manufactured in Wisconsin, USA.
Using the device is easy and will give you a good 5-10 dedicated me time. The Apex®M package comes with the device, instructional book, and DVD, gel, and required AAA batteries. After trying other promising Kegel devices, I can personally say that this is the only device in the US that does exactly what the Apex®M does. I’m not the only one who has seen success, over 90% of women who have used the Apex®M have said they’ve seen an improvement in their bladder leakage or it has completely stopped.
I hope you too can dedicate the rest of 2018 to yourself. Self-care is important no matter how small or big. Handle one thing or all things but just handle it and don’t feel bad for it.
