Articles & Resources
Stories from moms who have been there, interviews with experts, and the latest research to help you love motherhood even more!
Expert Tips For When You Feel Triggered by Your Baby’s Crying
Let’s talk about crying, baby crying. I cannot tell you how often I hear from moms in my office that their baby crying is a trigger for anger or anxiety. And it makes so much sense. When our baby is crying we often feel helpless, like something is wrong and we don’t know what to do to help them feel better. Or we feel angry, like we have done everything they need and still they are unhappy with us. It can directly impact our self worth as a parent, and can make us doubt our parenting abilities. It makes sense that your baby crying can trigger feelings of anger, anxiety, depression.
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How Can You Support Your Loved Ones With Mental Illness? #BellLet’sTalk Opens the Conversation.
You may have heard about “Bell Let’s Talk Day”, and wondered what it is all about. Bell Canada will be promoting and encouraging conversations on mental health through their annual campaign: Bell Let’s Talk. On January 31st, for every text/call from a Bell phone or social media post that includes #BellLetsTalk, Bell Canada will donate 5 cents towards mental health initiatives. This campaign is easy to participate in, as you can participate all day and from anywhere! Not only does Bell Let’s Talk raises funds for mental health supports and services, but also raises awareness and opens discussions about mental health.
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5 Expert Tips to Help You Cope with Negative Thoughts!
2. Do Not Fight The ANTS
Do not think about a pink elephant. No matter what: do not think about a pink elephant. Close your eyes and do not picture a pink elephant. Try it. Impossible right? No matter how hard you tried to avoid thinking about a pink elephant you still thought of it, and pictured it in your mind. ANTS work the same way. The harder you try to fight them, the more they seem to take over. Instead of fighting these thoughts, therapists suggest allowing yourself to have the thought, but reminding yourself that it is just a thought and nothing more. Allow the thought to pass through your mind, acknowledge it, and then try to move on.
Use This Easy Strategy To Cope With Anxious Thoughts
Use this Strategy To Cope With Anxious Thoughts Let me tell you a story of a day when I was feeling anxious. As I was driving in my car, I was thinking about all of the things I had to do. I had to get groceries, remember to buy milk, feed the baby quickly, arrive...
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How To Raise A Securely Attached Child
In the simplest form, attachment means love.
Loving your child best, meeting their needs, and showing up for them every day. It’s as simple as that. So yes, I have a formula fed, sleep trained baby who has a secure attachment.
Let’s quit the mommy shaming and understand that each of us is walking our own journey in motherhood. We all have different kids, so parenting is going to look different. Instead, let’s encourage each other to be loving and kind to ourselves and our children!
This Is Infant Loss
Today, we are sharing a raw and real story of infant loss. This may be a trigger to some of you, so please only read if you are emotionally able to. We are sharing this story to help create awareness, so that the mom reading this who has been through infant loss knows she is not alone, and so that the family who is supporting a loved one going through loss knows what their loved one may be experiencing.
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How To Stop Yelling At Your Kids and Feel More Calm
How To Stop Yelling (And Other Knee-Jerk Reactions) Help me stop yelling at my kids, help me have less knee-jerk reactions, help me stop reacting in the moment. Many people ask me how to stop repeating behaviors that seem to happen automatically. To do this, a level...
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Postpartum Struggles – Could It Be My Thyroid?
With all of the physical, mental, emotional, and lifestyle changes happening postpartum, it’s no wonder thyroid disease in new moms can go unnoticed.
Being a new mom is exhausting. Between sleepless nights, anxieties about raising a baby, and hormonal fluctuations – the struggle is REAL. Perhaps you are recovering from a C-section, having persistent breastfeeding challenges, or battling unexpected postnatal mother or baby concerns (such as infection or colic). Maybe you are trying to navigate what your maternity leave is going to look like, live far away from family support, or are planning when to go back to work. I mean, who wouldn’t be tired?
But in addition to the adjustments that come with having a baby, you may be struggling on a different level. You could be feeling down, exhausted, brain fogged, having difficulty losing weight, struggling to produce breast milk, or even experiencing hair loss.
What Every Exhausted Parent Needs To Know
When you are an exhausted parent, you will receive lots of advice such as you should exercise more, eat better, fix your child’s sleep problems, pay a house cleaner, take vitamins or just get by with coffee and wine. The problem with some of these suggestions is that when you’re exhausted anything extra feels like too much. You are also often very critical of yourself and all the things you perceive you are not doing. For this reason, these suggestions can feel like criticisms.
One tip I regularly share with exhausted parents is the importance of self-compassion or as I prefer to call it self-kindness. Self-compassion means giving yourself the same kindness and care you’d give a friend. Leading self-compassion expert, Dr Kristin Neff, developed self-compassion therapy when she noticed the negative impact her self-critical behaviour had on her wellbeing and performance. Dr Neff’s research has demonstrated that being kind to yourself helps you do better in life and achieve your goals.