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Today I was thinking back to when my daughter was a newborn. She was such a light sleeper that the sounds of the floorboards creaking outside her room woke her up instantly, and consequently I always dreaded heading off to bed at night because I had to walk through that very hallway. The memory that popped into my head today - and that made me chuckle quite a bit - was the vision of me tiptoeing down that hall delicately as though I was a stealth ninja in an obstacle course. Sometimes it would take me five minutes to get down that hallway, and it’s not like it’s a really long hall. I was just so scared that I would wake her up because I knew that waking her up meant less (precious) sleep for me. I can’t even describe the feelings of nervous dread I had going down that hall every night.

Nowadays she’s a much better sleeper, and I can walk up and down that hall all I want and she won’t even stir. It makes me laugh now when I think about how much anxiety my life was filled with when she was a newborn. All I wanted back then was for someone to tell me that it gets easier, but most parents would only tell me that it stayed difficult forever. They claimed it was just difficult in different ways.

I’m here to make the claim that it does get easier. I think the majority of those parents who say it stays just as hard might not remember the newborn phase very accurately, or maybe they just had babies who were more laid back. Perhaps they weren’t as whacked out on postpartum hormones as I was. Whatever the reason, I have to disagree. I wholeheartedly believe that it’s far easier to deal with a preschooler than it is to be in the very early stages of being a new mom.

I know many of you may disagree with me, and I welcome your say. On the other hand, if you are someone who is combing the Internet looking for someone to tell you that the incredible stress associated with being a new mom someday eases a little, let me be the one to tell you…it does get easier.

Tags: hormones, postpartum depression, stress