Following the publishing of her book “The Unmumsy Mum” which details the ordeals of having young children, 28-year-old Sarah Turner from Exeter composed a controversial blog post which drew massive attention from mothers.
“The post, entitled ‘Cherish Every Moment? No. My Advice For Brand New Parents’ regales against the idealistic social media view of parenting and the advice often given to parents to ‘enjoy every minute’ with their newborn,” said a Daily Mail Report.
“On a sleep-deprived/‘cluster feeding’/nothing-stops-the-crying type day, it is quite possible that the moment ratio will end up at 80:20 in favor of s***,” she said.
“Social media will never reflect this s***storm because social media is not real life. It is also true that you will quite justifiably wonder what the actual f*** has happened to your life.”
Some users found the confession sad.
Facebook user Hollie White-Mjasiri said, “I find this quite sad to read. She describes it as 80:20 with 80% of being a first time mum as shit. Being a mum is trying and exhausting at times, but 100% worth it even from day one.”
But then there are those who knows exactly what Sarah is talking about, mothers who found themselves struggling to cope with the demands of parenting.
One anonymous mother said, “’I ran out of the house and shut myself in the car to try and get away from the crying.”
Meanwhile, another said, “I have had times when I’ve sat and silently screamed on the bathroom floor after exclusively breastfeeding through growth spurts/teething/illness and thinking the end will never come…”
For other mothers, Sarah’s post offered them catharsis; reading someone else talk about the experience candidly was exactly what they needed.
One user said, “sitting here feeding my three-week-old wondering if it’s meant to be this hard and why am I not enjoying her in these precious moments, so this is perfect.”
Tillie Mabbutt, a spokesperson from the PANDAS Foundation, a charity supporting parents suffering from post-natal depression said that giving vent to one’s frustrations can help to maintain a good mental health during those early months.
Early stages of parenthood aren’t always a happy and wonderful time for everyone.
“For some, its emotionally and physically hard; some parents don’t bond with the baby immediately or enjoy parenthood,” said Tillie.
Since publishing the post on her blog, it has received has garnered over a thousand comments.
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