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This post is sponsored by AZO and SheKnows Media. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Finding balance with a new baby can be totally overwhelming at first. Believe me, I’ve had three babies and each time I’ve found myself feeling anxious as I attempted to adjust to the new, unexpected chaos of post-baby life. However, with each baby, I’ve learned some tricks that have really helped me balance my life with a new baby. The adjustment period is one of the most difficult, but also most precious times, so balancing yourself emotionally is so very important!
I have some tips and tricks that have really helped me deal with a new baby postpartum, which have helped me feel more like I am thriving rather than sinking in a puddle of dirty diapers and milky rags.
Finding Balance Tip 1: Take Care of Your Health
One of the best tips I can give you is to take care of your health. Make this a priority! If you are healthy, you are a happier mother. Think of your health as the main source of your emotional well-being. One way you can do this is by giving yourself probiotics! Keeping your body healthy by ensuring your bacteria levels are positive has a greater impact than many think, and this tip often goes ignored. I’ve mentioned probiotics in many of my posts as a great way to help you heal after a baby, too. Gut health and bacteria health is directly linked to emotional well-being, as well as immunity strength. And not all probiotics are the same, because when you have occasional feminine issues, you don’t need a probiotic designed for gut health, you need something formulated specifically for feminine health. In addition, the good bacteria gets passed onto the baby, to help keep them strong and happy. A fussy, sick new baby is scary and so stressful! AZO Complete Feminine BalanceTM is a wonderful option for postpartum mamas because it is specifically formulated for women. It has a super special formula, INTELLIFLORA,TM, which is a multi-strain probiotic blend that is clinically proven to: restore and maintain the balance of good bacteria and yeast, optimize and help maintain a healthy vaginal pH, create an ideal environment for healthy microflora to flourish, support a natural defense to maintain feminine health. And, it works fast. It is clinically shown to work in 7 days.
If you had a vaginal birth, this is really amazing stuff! It has a special, clinically proven blend with the 4 vaginal lactobacilli species most commonly found in healthy women. This is going to help you heal!! Specially designed to restore the vagina’s microflora, it’s a safe and beneficial probiotic for women’s health—and you can take it while you’re pregnant to make sure you have plenty of the good bacteria before and after baby even arrives.
Another way you can focus on your health is by optimizing your nutrition to support the AZO Complete Feminine BalanceTM. If you eat a clean diet after having your baby, meaning a diet that is free of processed foods, lots of sugar, chemicals and hormones, you can greatly diminish what the bad bacteria feed on AND give your body lots of nutrients for breastfeeding. Your body needs nutrients to heal itself after birth, as well as produce a healthy milk supply. The bad bacteria LOVES sugar. It feeds and grows on sugar, so by eliminating juices, soda, candy, packaged snacks, some energy and granola bars, dried fruit and other snacks, you can starve the bad bacteria and help keep your body on the right track! Balance starts in your body, then works its way outward to your mind and emotions!
Finding Balance Tip 2: Make Time For Physical Movement
Finding balance with a new baby also means physical movement. This can seem TOTALLY impossible if you have toddlers and a baby, a husband or partner that works long hours, or if it is your first baby and you are completely overwhelmed. I make sure to take time to work on my body, even if my boys and baby are playing around me while I do it. It is so very important!! What I have found is that getting outside and walking can completely change my mood around, and it is feasible with kids and babies. I would put my third baby in a carrier and my other two in the stroller and head outside. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I know there are seasons, and this is easier said than done. On the days it was super cold or rainy, I took my boys somewhere indoors to play and walked around the whole time they were playing. Walking has a healing effect on your body and mind, and it will help you keep things in perspective.
Finding Balance Tip 3: Let Go Of Something
Part of balance after having a baby is also letting go of things. I let go of organizing so often. For example, I went from doing laundry every other day to doing it once a week and using a lot of baskets to store the clean laundry in. That way, I could find things quickly. I focused on my health and physical wellbeing, rather than a clean house. Maybe letting go of a clean house is too difficult for you, but you can definitely let go of cooking every night. I also reduced how much I was cooking and only made things that were quick and easy in the crockpot. The crockpot is a way to make meals quickly and easily while ensuring that they’re still healthy (like chicken and veggies or soups!!). I highly recommend this to help keep balance with a new baby.
The last thing I let go of is sleep. I let go of it in the sense that I stopped thinking about it. I woke up tired, drank some coffee and moved on. If I was super, super exhausted, I took a nap later with the baby and my toddlers. I didn’t let the idea of “I didn’t sleep last night,” consume my mind at all. I just pushed forward and let myself rest when I felt like I really needed to. I noticed that if I focused on how much I didn’t sleep, I felt more tired. If I let it go, I was free to make the most of each day, despite how long my night was – and my nights were very long in the beginning because I co-sleep and nurse on demand. (This is great for milk supply if you are struggling at all!!).
If you are struggling to find balance after having a baby, look at your personal health first. Take into account that after the stress of birth, your body may need some extra help. Probiotics are one of THE BEST and also simplest ways to help your body! It is amazing how your mental and emotional health feed off of your physical health. You can grab the AZO Complete Feminine BalanceTM online and at major retailers in the feminine hygiene aisle. These are the tips that really helped me find some balance with a new baby, or with a new baby and toddlers! I hope they help you!
