Hi, I'm looking for hints from other mums about how they handle anxiety with a baby. My son is 7 months old, I have two other children 6 and 9 and I find my anxiety is fine when the older two are around but when it is just the baby and I my anxiety is through the roof and often lead to an anxiety attack. I am seeing a psychologist and have seen my GP I am choosing not to be medicated and I was just wondering others that are in a similar situation how do you deal with it and is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Thanks in advance
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When my youngest was born I went through horrific anxiety where I thought I was going to die and my kids would be stuck in the house with their dead mother and die themselves and nobody would know until their Dad got home from his 2 weeks on mine site! Morbid I know but that's literally what went through my head every night when I tried to go to sleep and I would end up staying up half the night with a racing heart and hyperventilating. This made me feel like I was having a heart attack and I even called an ambulance. This is when a doctor quite grumpily told me I was having panic attacks, which made me panic more because I made myself believe that the panic attack symptoms was because I was having a heart attack. What helped me hugely, believe it or not, was sudoku. Every time I felt a panic attack starting I would start doing sudoku. It helped my brain concentrate on something and I think it uses a part of the brain that stops the 'panic side' from going into overdrive. I use sodoku whenever I need to now like flying, whatever causes me to panic. Breathing helps too, very slow exhales.
Yes, I remember going through this when my daughter was a newborn! I felt really overwhelmed that she totally depended on me 24/7 to live. I couldn’t even sleep with her in my room because I could hear her and panic. She was a non sleeper and full on baby (now I know she’s ASD/ADHD). I remember it had a lot to do with my shifting hormones and sleep deprivation but it got better as she got older. I do remember it coming back though when I became a single parent when she’d get sick or I was sick and I had no support. I find the more mini mindfulness breaks I take (5mins) the better. If I get really upset I call lifeline.
This was me until recently, YouTube yoga for anxiety with Adrienne and she does this amazing video with alternative breathing which has really helped me. I also had to give up coffee and switch to herbal tea because of my anxiety so maybe delve into your diet as well x