Becoming a mom is beautiful—and overwhelming. Here’s how therapy can help you find balance, clarity, and peace.
Whether you’re preparing to welcome a baby into your family or recently had your little one, you’ve probably spent a great deal of time Googling every little thing now in the past few months than you ever have before. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. At Olive Branch Counseling, we provide therapy services for new moms, helping you understand what’s happening and guiding you through this major life transition with compassion and support.
Why the Transition Into Motherhood Can Feel So Overwhelming
Scientific studies published by PubMed Central and other reputable sources suggest that:
- As many as 15% of new mothers receive postpartum depression diagnoses, which is often characterized by, among other concerns, social isolation, which may arise out of feeling alone in caring for your baby or a loss of interest in others, such as bonding with one’s own child.
- Another 40% of pregnant and postpartum mothers experience anxiety.
- Women who experience traumatic childbirths also receive post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnoses.
Researchers often focus on addressing more clinical diagnoses like the ones above. However, as a new mom, you may be going through so much more at this transition stage that you’re unsure of how to best classify your feelings, which may mean that your online searches are not giving you the guidance you need to take actionable steps to improve.
Common Mental Health Challenges New Moms Face
Postpartum depression and anxiety affect mental health and certainly warrant getting a therapist involved to help you navigate them. However, so to do the following conditions:
- Body dysmorphia: While you may feel less disillusioned as your body changes to accommodate your growing baby, you may feel less at peace with it not “bouncing back” as quickly as you’d like after giving birth. This can affect your self-esteem, ability to cultivate emotional intimacy with your partner, and countless other ways.
- People-pleasing and perfectionism: It’s not uncommon for new moms to exhaust themselves trying to keep all the balls in the air early after welcoming a child. You might feel pressure to do it all: keep the house spotless, tend to your baby 24/7, and still show up as the “perfect wife” or daughter. The desire to meet everyone’s expectations can quickly lead to emotional burnout.
- Propensity to become stressed and burnt out: Between sleepless nights, constant feedings, and trying to keep everything together, it’s easy to feel physically and emotionally drained. When there’s little time to rest or recharge, you may find yourself running on empty—snapping at loved ones, feeling disconnected, or crying without knowing why. These are signs your nervous system is overwhelmed and your body is asking for care.
You may be feeling some degree of loneliness or social withdrawal or imposter syndrome, which takes the form of you telling yourself that you’re incapable of adequately caring for your child. Or, you may be experiencing body image issues after childbirth or dealing with some other issues.
Know that things can get better. Taking proactive steps to care for your mental and emotional health is a powerful place to start.
How to Support Your Mental Health During Motherhood
If you find yourself exhausted at the end of the day because you’ve constantly been on the go throughout it, making sure the laundry is done, the house is nice and tidy, a hot dinner is on the table when your husband gets home, and it seems like caregiving for your baby has been on a rinse and repeat cycle of feedings, diaper changes, and playtime, you’re almost certainly not getting in any time to recharge your own “batteries.”
While some may deny “mom guilt” exists, it’s probably because they haven’t experienced motherhood. You may feel guilty letting a ball drop, such as leaving dirty dishes in the sink instead of getting to them right away, leading to you not getting in a quick shower when you can, but, in the end, not taking time for this small gesture of self-care, a form of self-love, can affect how you perceive yourself.
So, what can you do to prioritize your well-being?
Try Deep Breathing or Guided Meditation
You’ve probably heard that sometimes it’s good just to stop and breathe. Finding a quick 5-minute meditation on YouTube and taking time to do it can be quite restorative. Deep breathing exercises often accompany these meditations and aim to help you identify any areas of imbalance in your body and release any energy blockages contributing to stress and anxiety pent up inside.
Practice Daily Mindfulness
If you have difficulty being still in your presence, doing a mindfulness exercise such as the 5-4-3-2-1 method can help. This involves you naming five things you see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing that you can taste. Engaging your senses in this way grounds you, which can help you manage emotional overwhelm, thus reducing anxiety, stress, and burnout.
Use Positive Affirmations
You may feel silly standing in front of the mirror saying encouraging statements to yourself, but it’s powerful — especially if no one else is giving you kudos or encouraging you. Taking a few moments out of your day to remind yourself, “I am enough,” or “I am capable of overcoming challenges,” for example, can help reprogram your subconscious mind and better embody what you are saying aloud.
Surrounding Yourself With Others at the Same Stage in Life
You’ve probably heard the saying, “There’s power in numbers.” This can be true as you advance into your pregnancy and become a new mom.
Sharing what you’re going through with a peer experiencing something similar can prove invaluable. This is why if you can find a mom’s meetup group, whether in-person or virtual, on social media or by searching elsewhere online, this can tremendously helpful in giving you that sense of community you so desperately need to not feel alone and instead feel supported as a new mom.
While creating a community and sharing with others can be good, they also have their downsides. It can be easy to question why your body isn’t bouncing back as quickly as another new mom’s. Understanding why your baby’s development isn’t keeping pace with another’s can be difficult. And, it can be challenging to make sense of why you find yourself suffering from debilitating postpartum depression, and others are not. Counseling, and more specifically, modalities such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can help you put those concerns in perspective.
The Value of Seeing a Therapist During Your Transition Into Motherhood
Life transitions, whether going off to college, beginning your first “real” job, getting married, or starting a family, can be challenging to navigate. And, as you may have heard, we’re not meant to “do life” alone.
While you may have colleagues, parents, siblings, friends, a spouse, members of a mom’s group, your OB/GYN and pediatrician, and people on social media and in online communities to help you to a certain degree or provide you with insight on the issues you’re facing, that may not be enough to fill up your cup and help you flourish at this stage of life. Instead, you may need a therapist focused on getting to know you and your needs and helping you strike a better balance that allows you to care for what you need without losing yourself. At Olive Branch Counseling, we offer therapy services specifically tailored to support new moms navigate this season with confidence and self-compassion.
How Can Olive Branch Counseling Help Me as a New Mom?
The thought of leaving home after a long day caring for your baby and household chores may seem daunting. At the same time, the idea of leaving home for a little “me time” in the office or having a walk-and-talk therapy session around it may seem appealing to you. The good news is that we offer both in-person and virtual counseling. Whether you prefer the comfort of online therapy or the connection of in-person sessions, we offer flexible therapy services for new moms across Texas.
While seeking counseling is particularly important if you have ever experienced any mental health struggles before, that shouldn’t be the only factor that dictates whether you see a therapist or not. Taking care of yourself is always a thing. Prioritizing yourself is not selfish– it’s one of the wisest things you can do postpartum.
So, if you’re looking to find a therapist who can collaborate with you as you adjust to being a mom, there’s no better time than now to reach out to us at Olive Branch Counseling. We offer free 15-minute consultations and convenient in-person and online therapy appointments throughout Texas six days per week to meet your needs.
