Search by category:
I posted that question to a few Facebook groups the other day and got some responses (not a ton; perhaps I don’t have as many mom friends as I thought).
So then I decided to do some of my own research and cull from the families that we’ve worked with too.
Here’s what I’ve got.
This article (it’s from 2012) lists the top 50 challenges of motherhood — so not necessarily just having a newborn — and the top five are:
- Sleepless nights (definitely with a newborn)
- Tantrums
- Maintaining patience
- Keeping on top of household chores
- Getting your kids to eat the right foods
That’s a good baseline, I’d argue. The sleep issue is our bread and butter, by the way. We help families with that all the time.
Here’s another one on the five biggest new mom challenges, which are:
- Struggle with breastfeeding
- You hate your husband (whoa!)
- You feel fat
- There’s no way you can possibly keep working
- You believe you have to be perfect
That last one is a real issue, especially in the social media age.
Here’s a list from BabyCenter. The most interesting part of this one is that 71 percent of moms list sleep as their biggest challenge. That’s not surprising really, but … 7 in 10 moms listing one thing? That speaks to the power of sleepless nights.
This is a good one from The Bump. One of the better lines in here is about feeling like a rookie, or an imposter, or that you don’t have support. I’ve heard this from dozens of moms I’ve worked with, all of whom are doing very good jobs at being a mom. But they still feel like they have to be perfect and they’re a mess instead. That’s another “service” we try to provide at Nightingale — basically making sure you feel like things are in control or in order.
What would you say are the biggest challenges of being a new mom or having a newborn?
