Your health
Healthy eating
Being a parent is an exhausting business and it's easy to find that you have no time or energy to cook or eat properly. Healthy eating is important for all your family. Eating well will make you feel better, and it need not take much time. Visit the NHS Eat Well guide for helpful information: www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well
Exercise
When you are feeling tired, being active or taking part in exercise may seem like the last thing you need, but activity can relax you, help your body recover after childbirth, keep you fit or improve your fitness, and make you feel better and more energetic. The following suggestions may help:
- push the pram or buggy briskly, remembering to keep your back straight. Walking is great exercise so try to get out as much as you can.
- squat down to pick things up from the floor This is something you are likely to be doing already. If you squat rather than stoop, bending your knees and keeping your back straight, you will strengthen your thigh muscles and avoid damaging your back.
- swimming is a good, relaxing exercise. If you take your child with you, try to have someone else there too, so that you get a chance to swim.
Note: You should wait for 6 weeks before exercising if you are recovering from a C-section.
Sleep
While caring for a small child is rewarding, it can be very tiring.
- sleep when your child sleeps. Rest when your child has a daytime rest, and/or when they are at playgroup or nursery. You could ask a relative or friend to take your child for a while and spend the catching up on rest or take turns with other parents to give yourself time to rest. Set an alarm if you are worried about sleeping for too long.
- if you can, share getting up in the night with your partner. Take alternate nights or weeks. If you are on your own, a friend or relative may be prepared to have your children overnight occasionally.
- if you cannot sleep when you get to bed, do something relaxing for half an hour beforehand, whether it's exercise, soaking in a bath or watching TV.
- try deep relaxation. As little as five- or 10-minutes' deep relaxation can leave you feeling refreshed, so it's worth learning some techniques. Look online or go to the library for books or DVDs.