The following are some emotional reactions, changes and challenges that other parents have shared in their experience of early parenting.
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Once the baby was born, everything was different. Time was no longer my own. I never thought I would be so incredibly tired and exhausted. I felt so alone, even though I had a very supportive partner. |
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The immense love and protectiveness I felt for my baby shook me to the core. I could not believe that I could love another human being so much. A person that I could kill, or die for, if it came to that. |
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We never realised how constant, rewarding, scary, joyous, anxious filled and new it all would be. But it was also wonderful. |
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The tiredness and exhaustion numbed me for many months. At times I did not feel, I just moved through a haze! |
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Just when I felt like I could do this no longer, my baby gave me an unexpected first smile. My heart melted, this is why I was doing all this. |
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A baby is born, a mother is not. Mothering is learnt - I wish someone had told me this so that I would have been kinder on myself when I had self doubts. |
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The wave of emotions I felt revolved around my baby, myself - about who I really was, what kind of parent I would be, about the changes in my relationship with my partner and my own parents. |
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I found it very difficult to juggle work commitments with supporting my partner and helping to care for the new baby. I wanted to be at home with my new family, but we had bills to pay and I had to carry on at work virtually as if nothing new had happened. Combine this with feeling constantly tired, it was a challenging time. |
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When I became a mother I felt immense joy, love and pride, but part of me needed to grieve the loss of the woman that I was. I do not regret becoming a mother for one moment, however, I regret the unacknowledged feelings that came from being the 'woman' to becoming a mother. |
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When my baby cried for long periods, sometimes day after day (or night after night), I felt it was my fault, and a reflection on my parenting. I felt others would judge me for not coping. Little did I know that this was happening in other homes for parents with new babies. They too felt self-doubt, frustration, exhaustion and confusion. Why do we not share freely and without judgement our insecurities and vulnerabilities in our new role of parenting? |