Dear new mom,
It can be overwhelming to have a day where all the attention is on you. It seems to have been the exact opposite since your little one was born. I always felt like I could have been in a corner and no one would have noticed I was gone.
You may be having trouble seeing why you deserve any good attention. I know that’s how I felt for awhile after my son was born. Why should anyone celebrate me as a failure? I can’t seem to love my child the way I thought came naturally to everyone else.
My brain was playing mean mean tricks on me. Through the support of my family and professionals, I know that while I’m far from perfect, I am a good mom to my kids and getting lots of love from them is a joy which I can truly appreciate.
I have learned to love myself and understand that my son and I have had a different way of getting to know each other. We didn’t bond right away and that’s ok. We had to really listen to each other and I had to get to know him and his personality when he was a baby. Our bond is different than anything I have ever had. It really is true love, but we had to work at it.
You know what else? You will love yourself again too! You will look into your child’s eyes and see love and hope. It may be hard to see through the dark right now, but I promise the sun will shine again and it will get better. You will want to go to your crying baby and tell them you are there. You will want to get on the floor and play and interact with your baby.
You will want to tell your baby you love them and you will mean it!
You will see that you DO deserve a day for you and that you have done a lot for yourself and your baby. You are showing your child strength and that you count too.
So try to take some deep breaths and soak in the love and know you are a wonderful mother!
Love,
Sam
The Annual Mother’s Day Rally for Moms’ Mental Health is presented by Postpartum Progress, a national nonprofit that raises awareness & provides peer support for women who have postpartum depression and all other mental illnesses related to pregnancy and childbirth. To see some of the ways we provide moms support, visit http://postpartumprogress.org/community/.
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