Ep 164: Challenge from the listener: How to survive newborn baby crisis?

You've Got 5 Options

Challenge description:

"I've become a mom two weeks ago. My son is lovely and sweet and I can watch him for hours. Unfortunately, not everything is as great as I wish to admit.

For the past couple of days, it's been really tough. I thought I will be more or less physically recovered by now, but I'm still in quite some pain. I visited the doctor and he told me that I should take it easy and take the bed rest. This is the first time I feel like I'm resting since we had the baby because there's always sooo much to do.

I and my husband are getting into a crisis mode a couple of times a day, every day. The baby is not sleeping in the night. He cries a lot. Doctors are saying it's because of tummy pain. He can be up for three hours in a row throughout the night time. I can see he's in pain and my heart breaks, three minutes in - and I cry with him. We are slowly learning some techniques to help him out; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So the nights are the worst. My husband can somehow come up with more practical approaches and calm our son down but I feel useless.

What would you advise us to do, so we can cope better?

PS: We are both foreigners in a country we live in and due to travel restrictions we cannot count on family support in the immediate future"

Option 1: Let Go of ALL Expectations and “Let It Be”

Option 2: Follow the Baby

Options 3: Take care of yourself

Options 4: Ask For Help

Options 5: Survive it aka the autopilot mode, and remember “This too shall pass”

If all fails, check yourself (and your partner) for postnatal depression - Check episode Ep 129: The Kimberleys, Urban Legends And Can Men Suffer From Postpartum Depression (With Judy Wanijku Jørgensen)?