New Moms: Don’t Feel Guilty About These Three Things

Becoming a new mom makes you experience a myriad of emotions all at the same time. It can be an overwhelming and beautiful feeling. Having a new baby in the house and being a mom – first time or veteran – can make you feel some surprising emotions. You expect to feel elation, happiness, excitement, love and affection, but you might not expect feelings of guilt to creep up. However, in certain situations, you’ll feel some new mom guilt, but it shouldn’t stop you from doing these three things.

Getting Out for a Few Hours

Whether you’re going to the grocery store or getting your hair done, don’t feel guilty about leaving the baby home with daddy. You’re home with your new little one all the time and it’s okay to feel a bit guilty about leaving but doing it anyway. You love your little one and it’s difficult to be away. There’s so much pressure to be “perfect” and that makes moms think they can never leave their little one, even for an hour to run to the store to pick up groceries uninterrupted. Go…you need some time to yourself.

Date Night

Again, you’re going to feel guilty leaving your little one for a night out with your husband, but don’t. You two need a few hours every few weeks to yourselves so that you can talk about grown-up things (which translates into talking nonstop about the baby, just so you know) and to enjoy a meal with both hands and no distractions. Just a side note: It’s no longer considered an etiquette faux pas to keep your phone right in front of you when you’re out if you left the kids at home with someone else. You want to know immediately if there is a call.

Saying No

You want to be supermom, and maybe you are. But when someone asks you if you want to do something/go somewhere/head a committee and you don’t want to do it, just say no and blame it on new motherhood. It’s okay; we all do it. Enjoy it now because it won’t last forever. You might feel guilty, but at the end of the day, you didn’t want to do it and it’s okay to use your baby as an excuse.

(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)