Your emotions and thoughts may go into overdrive as soon as you find out that you are a mother-to-be. Many women feel a mix of emotions at this time. They feel happiness and excitement to bring a new human being to this world, and at the same time, they become anxious and start thinking about things that can go wrong. They feel a lot of pressure to do everything in the right way to bring their baby healthy into this world.

If you are a new mother-to-be then know that a bit of worry is normal as you are experiencing a new phase of life that is nail-bitingly unpredictable. However, if your worry increases and leads to stress and serious anxiety then you need to control that as it can be harmful to your baby. Your body experiences a great number of changes during this phase and you need to be well equipped with the right facts and knowledge to manage every change and struggle like a pro.

Challenges First Time Mother-to-be Have to Face

In this blog, we’ll talk about the top struggles every new mother-to-be has to face and how you can overcome these challenges effortlessly. So, let’s get started.

Morning Sicknessmorning routine, morning illness, vomits

As a new mom-to-be, morning sickness is one of the big struggles that you might face. Know that it is very normal for many women, especially in the first trimester. So, you don’t need to worry much about it unless or until you get severely sick to the point that you become dehydrated. In that case, you can contact your doctor and may take anti-nausea medication with the consultation of your doctor.

Many women get stressed about the baby’s health when they experience severe morning sickness and dehydration. But morning sickness will not affect the fetus nor will it cause any nutritional imbalance. Just make sure that you take your prenatal vitamins regularly and try to eat small frequent meals.

Struggle to Eat The Right Thingspregnancy challenges, Pregnancy struggles

Another challenge that many new mother-to-be faces while expecting their first child is to be careful in their diet. They feel a lot of pressure to eat healthily and do all the right things. Remember, worrying too much about every other thing you eat or do during your pregnancy will drive you crazy. You will feel tired and exhausted at the end of the day if you stress too much about simple little things. Just visit your doctor, share your concerns and get a list of the foods that can harm your baby. Other than that you don’t have to worry about every other food item that you eat. Just take your prenatal vitamins and eat simple healthy food.

Fear of Having a MiscarriageMiscarriage, motherhood struggles, pregnancy challenges

Fear of having a miscarriage is another struggle that many women experience during their pregnancy which makes them too cautious about everything they do. However, you should not worry about a miscarriage after the first initial weeks. As many miscarriages happen during the first initial weeks. After 5 to 7 weeks, when you can see a heartbeat, the risk of miscarriage gets very less.

Moreover, it is also important to know that usually pregnancies result in healthy babies and the chance of miscarriage is very less in majority of cases. Be careful in your first trimester and then don’t worry much about the miscarriage.

Worrying About Baby Having a Birth Defectgood mother, parenting, parents

One of the big what-ifs challenges that many new mother-to-be faces is the fear of delivering a baby with any kind of birth defect. Every screening and prenatal test can be stressful and challenging for you until you don’t get the normal reports that show that your baby is perfectly normal and healthy.

 In this case, it is important to know that according to studies, the risk of your baby being born with any defect is only 4 percent which includes thousands of abnormalities or defects that a child can be born with. Many of these birth defects are insignificant that go away or get cured easily after birth without any serious health issues.

Sometimes even the tests show wrong results. So it’s better to focus on what you can do to prevent any kind of birth defect than stressing over it. Be in touch with your doctor and educate yourself about what you can do to avoid any kind of serious birth defect in your baby.

Overwhelmed By All The Free Advice From Friends And Familyfreinds advice, family advice, pakistani family

In Pakistan, another big challenge that many new mother-to-be faces is the constant free advice, suggestions, or recommendations that come in from your friends and family. They will constantly give you free instructions to dos and don’ts and will try to make you follow these instructions.

Although that comes from a place of care and love, the constant instructions and reminders of doing this or that can make you feel overwhelmed. So, it is better to just listen to their suggestions and do only what you feel is right for you and your baby. As every person is different so it is not necessary that what works for them works for you too.

Premature Birth Anxietybaby heal, dehydration, baby meals, mother-to-be

Many new mother-to-be struggles with premature birth anxiety. They fear early labor pain and delivering the baby before time. Although the causes of premature births have been steadily increasing, you can still protect your baby and lower the risk of early delivery by taking necessary precautions as premature birth mostly happens due to a reason.

It is important that you visit your doctor and do a prenatal checkup regularly. Moreover, take prenatal vitamins and folic acid supplements every day as folic acid helps in preventing any kind of malfunctioning and premature labor or birth.

Labor And Delivery Pain Anxietychild birth, first child, children, mother-to-be

Labor and delivery anxiety is another big challenge that a new mother-to-be struggles with mostly throughout the pregnancy phase. You might have heard about thousands of stories of pain and embarrassment that women face during delivery which makes you more worried about it. However, you need to understand that women have been delivering babies since the dawn of time when there was no concept of technology and advanced medication systems even. And today, it is much easier as compared to those times. 

To manage your anxiety, you can learn pain management techniques, enroll yourself in childbirth classes, and ask your friends for guidance on how to manage labor and delivery pain effectively.

Related: Top 10 struggles every new bride has to go through 

Stressing Over Becoming a Perfect Mom

Another very common struggle that every new mother-to-be deal with is the stress of becoming a perfect mom to their child. They will try to read books, watch lectures and listen to dozens of podcasts to learn how to become a good mom, how to raise, nurture, and discipline a child in the best way possible? To some extent, it’s good that you prepare and educate yourself for this new phase of life but if it leads you to stress and anxiety then you should better work on your thoughts.

Make yourself understand that the way you have fulfilled the other responsibilities of your life as a daughter, sister, wife, and even as a professional, you will be good in this role too. In fact, it is important to notice that if you’re concerned about being a good mother and trying your best then it really shows that you truly care and you are going to be a good mother to your child.