Adding a term like parent to your life gives a big responsibility to your shoulder. Becoming parents is a very joyous situation but it has its own challenges. It is altogether different feeling and there are many changes that come along with it. Once it happens that you’re counting days when you will become a parent. After all, and when that moment arrives, you finally realize that your life has been changed forever. Parenthood has its own pros and cons. In the first year, you might face many challenges and difficulties while raising your child. This happens because you are not used to having another life between the two of you. Today we will discuss about some challenges that you might face as parents during their first year of parenthood.
6 Lifestyle challenges for new parents
1. Adapting to change in scenario
Becoming parents to a baby is like moving toward new state or place. Even after the excitement of parenthood, there is endless and seemingly difficult challenges that you might face in this first year. New mothers have to learn to cope up with the nursing and nurturing of their babies. They need to take care of their nutrition as well as breastfeed their babies at time to time. New fathers need to learn how to lend hands in supporting the mothers to raise their children. New fathers also need to learn about different habits and conditions, they might have to adapt to. This becomes easier as the time moves along and things settle in a bit.
2. Sleep Deprivation and Exertion
One of the most common issues start faced by almost every parent is sleep deprivation. Taking care of an infant can be extremely demanding and you may need to wake up all night to take care of the baby. Feeding the child, changing the nappy or putting her to sleep, are some of the major demands of raising a child. You may even have to take care of household responsibilities as well according to the needs. Sleep deprivation and exhaustion are very common and normal part of the routine by exercising raising a baby.
3. Safety and Precautions
While you are having a new born baby between you, it becomes important that you take care of the child safety at all times. This is not just related to external safety, but also to take care that he is in a sound sleep. He does not move to the corners of the bed, does not take anything inside mouth that can harm his health and so on. Apart from this, you might also have to take precautions while going out, in this cruel world you need to be safe from exploitation and persecution. You might take away from the fact that you are tougher than you think, and you will have to look into little details.
4. Baby refusing to feed
Feeding at proper intervals is very important to baby’s nutrition. Baby sleeping in your arms can overwhelm you at times, but you need to make him breastfeed because it is important part of early nutrition. Sometimes, when baby does not eat, it can make you worried and anxious. In this situation, instead of getting irritated, you need to find some creative methods for feeding him. This can be especially problematic in the first 8-12 days of birth. Depending on the recommended time by pediatrician, you will have breastfeed the baby at different intervals.
5. Lack of Intimacy
For the first few months, it could be very challenging as parents and couple to find intimacy. You will have to give most of your time to your child and thus need to adjust your work life according to it as well. Depending on the time you spend with your partner, it might be possible that you will have to take a backseat on your personal life with taking care of the baby. You need to take regular breaks from parenting sometimes, and spend some quality time with each other. This is important so that your regular life does not fall apart because of raising your baby. This improves relationship and understanding between your family.
6. Issues with Body Image
After going through pregnancy and carrying the baby for nine months, your body deserves to be at rest. It is very common that new mothers have body image issues and get embarrassed while going to a social place. Body cannot heat and get back into shape in a day and you need to give rest so that there is proper heating time which is provided. Gynecologists suggest that women who have had normal delivery should wait at least for two months before they begin exercising again. Those who have undergone C-Section need to wait for almost five months of rest or more.
