ANXIETY AFTER BABY

Alright friends, so I’m an extremely bubbly and outgoing person. I have never in my life suffered from any sort of anxiety. However, after I had a baby - things changed a bit.

I started not being able to sleep with fear that my daughter wasn’t okay. I constantly made my husband check the entire house to make sure no one was here to take her away. I would have countless nightmares regarding her well being. It was nasty and intense and horrifying. I think the worst of it happened at night. I would lay in bed and go over my list of “to dos” for the next day and BAM. All of the sudden I would be in full on panic mode that she would get sick or someone would steal her. The crazy part is, my daughter is now almost 2 and a half and I’m still laying in bed spazzing over everything. Does she have too many blankets in her bed!? What if she covers her face with one!? What if someone crawls through her window!? What if she chokes on her paci!? She can’t scream for me then!? It’s irrational as heck, but for some reason, it doesn’t go away. I’m always hyper aware of what’s going on around me and I can’t shake those freaky thoughts.

I don’t claim to be a doctor (AT ALL) or know how to solve this issue, but I have a couple of things that have helped me. First of all, I completely cut caffeine after 3pm. I’m a coffee freak, but when I drink it late in the day I am up all night with the cold sweats and the terrors. Secondly, I stated watching super relaxing make-up tutorials before going to sleep. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I honestly watch the same ones over and over! Third, I turned off the sound on her baby monitor. This one was SO hard to do, but so necessary. Make sure to consult your doctor before you cut the baby monitor cord, but mine was incredibly insistent that I turn it off. Having the volume up to 10 every night was making it impossible for me to sleep because I would hear her every second of the night. Obviously, getting enough sleep is ridiculously important for those of us with anxious feelings, so turning that volume off was a game-changer.

I would love to hear any and all of your thoughts on how to calm those anxious feelings!

Xo, J