Stress Management Tip & Tricks for Pregnant & New Moms

Does this sound familiar or this is something that you too, have done?

• Do you have such a long list of to-do items that your day gets over by, but your list of work does not get over?
• Do you lie down at night thinking overthinking about something which is actually insignificant?
• Do you have difficulty forgiving yourself if you have made a very small mistake?

Stress in general for anybody is not good. But for pregnant women and new mothers who are undergoing so many physical and mental changes, this takes a whole different form.

If you continue to have stress, it moves from being just a mental state of mind into something that converts into physical ailments. For example :

• You could start having
• You could start having trouble falling asleep.
• You could be gaining weight that you find difficult to lose.
• You could be feeling so overwhelmed that you are close to tears.

These are all physical manifestations of the mental stress that women can go through during pregnancy and postpartum.

Let’s identify some stress triggers and look at concrete steps that you can take to reduce stress effectively.

We'll play a little game now and as you read about the stress triggers, give yourself 1 point if that is something you can relate to or you have done in the past, and give yourself 0 points if you are not able to relate to the stress trigger are mentioned.

1. Tendency to hold on to feelings of hurt, anger and resentment. Has this happened with you when somebody has told you something you didn't particularly like and then you kept on feeling that grudge for that person? (0/1)
2. Thinking all the time, basically overthinking every little thing that happens in the morning, in the afternoon, when you are in bed, you're just thinking, thinking, thinking. (0/1)
3. The third trigger is worrying a lot. If something happens when you don't feel like you're in control or something that you didn't like has happened, has taken place, you tend to worry and over worry by a lot. (0/1)
4. When you are working, you resist taking breaks. So you tend to have these long, long stretches of work because you feel like you just can't afford to take a break.
5. The fifth trigger is that feeling that you get that there is just not enough time for you to finish your work or finish what you want to do. You always feel this lack of time that's your fifth trigger. (0/1)
6. You feel like you have a lot on your plate, like you always have more than enough work on your todo list to complete. (0/1)

So ladies, if you've scored around 1 or 2, congratulations! You are on the lower threshold of stress. However, as I'm sure it's true for a lot of us, you will be scoring somewhere between 4,5 or even 6, especially if you're pregnant and a new mother.

In this case, the tips and tricks of stress management are going to be extremely helpful in identifying the triggers as well as coping with them.

1. The very first tip is to try a pursed lip breathing exercise. It's exactly like it sounds. You have to close your lips and focus on your breathing for a minute. Inhale and exhale focusing on your breathing.
2. The second tip is literally the easiest thing that you can do. You just have to switch on some light, light music in the background for 30 minutes or so. Continue doing what it is that you're doing. You're cleaning, you're working, you are cooking. That's fine. Just switch on some light music in the background.
3. The third tip is to check in with yourself. You need to have a mental conversation with your own self. Ask yourself, how am I feeling? How am I doing today? What am I grateful for? What is making me emotional? So you need to be in touch with what you are going through at that moment.
4. The fourth tip is to stop and enjoy nature. This could be in any form. You could want to do a little bit of gardening. You could sit on your balcony and just look out at some trees, or you could take a walk in the park.
5. The last tip is to pamper your yourself. Give yourself a nice warm bath, use a bath salt, bath bomb, or even a nice aromatic candle to set the mood and pamper yourself and help yourself unwind.

As women who are about to give birth or who have recently given birth, you are going through one of the most grueling times in your life, both mentally and physically. It is crucial for you to be able to check in with yourself and keep a track of how you are feeling. You can use one of these several tips and tricks that we spoke about to make yourself feel less stressed in a particular day.

Let us know in the comments below : What was your stress trigger score and which of these tips and tricks you plan to try out? Have you tried any of these already? Or do you have any special recommendation for other moms?