I have been a full-time mom for the past fifteen years and trust me, at times, it ain’t fun! Don’t get me wrong, I love being around my kids but doing it full-time just drives me crazy! Here are some stay-at-home burnout signs to pay attention to. Kids are amazing and it’s a gift to be able to spend boatloads of time with them.
That said, life and other obligations get in the way, and family issues, social calls, chores, and financial difficulties can cause overload, and stress, plus may also lead to depression.
It’s important to pay attention to your feelings and nip the problem in the bud to prevent burnout!
7 Stay-At-Home Mom Burnout Signs
So what is mom burnout? Well is simply the feeling of being drained physically, emotionally, and mentally. This is a common problem that all new moms face at some point while caring for their young ones.
However, these symptoms mostly affect full-time stay-at-home moms! Read on for ways to overcome these new scary feelings which I share below.
1. Feeling Exhausted
One of the most common signs of mom burnout is exhaustion, both mentally and physically. If you’ve ever felt like not wanting to wake up in the morning and all you want to do is sleep, you are going through a burnout.
Not thinking clearly during the day, forgetting common things and brain fog can also be a sign of mental exhaustion.
All you want to do is sleep but it just feels like you’re not getting enough of it and that’s because you are spreading yourself too thin. You are overusing your body which eventually takes a toll on your mental and physical health.
What To Do About It
When you start to experience exhaustion, it’s time to take action. Yeah, I know, how can you take a break when you have soo much to do right?
Well for starters, try going to bed early at night. If your kids are little, try feeding them foods that help them fall asleep faster at night. That way, you will be able to get a good night’s sleep yourself.
Also, try taking a nap when your little ones do during the day. You can also get a babysitter or ask for help if you have a friend or family member close by.
2. Easily Angered Or Irritable
Did you know that not getting enough sleep affects your mood? Yes, it does, according to this study, sleep deprivation is one of the leading causes of irritability and anger issues.
Having to wake up 3-4 times at night to a screaming bundle of joy every night will definitely disrupt your sleeping patterns.
When this goes on long-term, it starts taking a toll on your mental health. You are short-tempered, and just hearing your baby cry sets you off and you simply can’t control your emotions. This is a textbook sign of mom burnout.
What To Do
Sleep more! It’s that simple! Yeah well, it’s easy for me to say right? Just hear me out, you see, I have a 3-year-old, and trust me, I have not had a good night’s sleep since the day he was born but guess what, I blame myself!
Having babies in your thirties makes you overprotective. It’s like an alarm goes off in my head every time he cries and I jump out of bed like a lightning bolt!
All I want to do is hold him and he’s gotten used to it. What I should be doing instead is delegating! Let his dad take on some of the responsibilities.
And you should too! Like Mondays are yours and Tuesdays are his. That way, you get more sleep. You can also train your baby to sleep through the night without taking a bottle.
Once he is old enough, try giving him a warm bath plus a massage and feed him a bottle of rice cereal mixed with milk before bed.
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3. Feeling Guilty Or Not Good Enough
Also known as mom guilt or mommy guilt, feeling guilt is another telltale sign of mom burnout. You see, there are a lot of reasons for mom guilt and surprisingly, one of the reasons is greatly connected to sleep.
When your mind isn’t rested, you simply can’t function properly! You get irritated and bored easily with your little one which makes you feel guilty afterwards.
You stop having adequate and fulfilling playtime with your kids which affects them and make you feel like you are not a good enough parent. Once you start to have mom guilt, you need to take action!
What To Do
Now it’s no secret, in order to take care of another human being, you need to take care of yourself first! Start by having a self-care routine daily.
Start a new diet, go to the gym, or enroll in aerobic classes to get your physical and mental health in shape. You may also want to start a mom journal and make sure to add a checklist of rules plus an organization chart.
Setting a reminder helps you fulfill your obligations. Lastly, split your responsibilities! It shouldn’t be all on you! All of these actions help put your daily life in order, help you function effectively, and reduce mom guilt!
4. Depression + Stress + Anxiety
Now I know that I’ve mentioned sleep a lot in this post but yes, all of the research I’ve done shows that sleep deprivation causes depression, stress, and anxiety!
It is very important for you to get 7-8 hours of adequate sleep every night. Anything less leads to high cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body.
Having high levels of cortisol can even cause panic attacks in some new moms as well. Another common cause of these symptoms is isolation.
You see, having a new baby take’s up a lot of your time and suddenly, your whole world revolves around him. You don’t even have time for your hubby.
You stop seeing friends and family, and you don’t go out unless it’s extremely necessary. Everything about your life is suddenly baby, chores, and you! This puts a strain on your mental health.
What To Do
The first thing you need to do when experiencing signs of depression is to seek help! There are medications available to help you cope. Letting depression overcome you can have a negative impact on both you and your young one.
You can also join Facebook groups or online forums for new moms which is what I did. Listening to music, doing yoga, and going for walks with your little one can help reduce those stress levels as well.
You also want to be around other people as much as possible. Find a mommy and me class in your area or a local mom group. Lastly, you can use a mom connection app, there are tons of those online.
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5. Having Regrets
Now it’s common to have fleeting thoughts of regret as a new mom but you should seek help immediately if you can’t seem to shake it off.
That’s because constant feelings of regret are early signs of postpartum depression and mom burnout which affects a large number of new and young moms.
So in most cases, postpartum depression is caused by fluctuations in hormones, there is usually a drop in estrogen and progesterone levels which can lead to mood swings, tiredness, and feeling sluggish.
Fortunately, taking action can help you overcome feelings of regret quickly.
What To Do
Talk to your doctor as soon as you can, he or she may run some tests to determine the cause. If it’s postpartum, he will prescribe medications to help.
If not, seeing a therapist can do wonders as well. whatever you do though, just know that you are not a bad person or mom and everything doesn’t have to be perfect all the time.
With kids, we learn as we go! Kids and parenting don’t come with a manual! You are doing the best you can so don’t beat yourself up!
6. Wanting To Be Alone / Disconnected
If you are always craving the feeling of being alone or feel disconnected from your partner or children, you may be going through mom burnout!
Now this is a very common problem that most new moms face and fortunately, it does go away pretty quickly.
Similar to having regrets, wanting to be alone is a sign of postpartum depression or hormonal deficiency. Whatever you do though, do not let this feeling engulf you, do whatever you can to kick it out the door.
Simply following the tips for getting rid of regrets can help you recover from wanting to be alone.
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7. Wanting To Give Up!
Lastly, you just can’t take it anymore, and giving up feels like the best choice in your head right now! If you feel this way, it’s time to seek help right away!
This is usually a sign of advanced stages of depression which needs to be treated as soon as possible. I cannot stress that enough! Seek medical help ASAP!
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Conclusion
There you go! All the signs of mom burnout to help you decide what’s going on with you! If you found this post helpful, please share it because it helps me a lot. You can also follow me on Pinterest for more awesome tips. Until next time, stay awesome mama!
