The Routines That Lower My Mental Load as a Mom

Transcript

If the mental load feels unbearable, these are the routines that make life smoother without needing more time or more energy. So much of the decision fatigue is like, what should we eat? What should baby eat? So build a rhythm around meals and meal planning. Rotate through the same option so that you're not inventing meals from scratch every day. So for example, for baby, if you're introducing solids, do a puree rotation where it's like one veggie, one protein, and then one fruit. This can work for you as well. Like do a taco Tuesday, a meatless Monday, have a diaper station on wheels. I love to use this rolling cart. When I was a new mom, right now it has toys in it because my kids are older, but have it be your diaper station that you can roll out of the closet and into whatever area that you're in. You can keep toys in there, diapers, wipes, whatever you need, so it's there. If you have a partner, I want you to think about what is one task that can be fully owned by your partner. This one is huge. So if your partner can take over one full task from start to finish, not just the execution of the task, but remember the planning, the remembering. For me last week, I asked my husband to manage all of the doctor's appointments. So this means scheduling the doctor's appointments, figuring out who needs to go where, picking the kid up from school, like the whole nine yards. Maybe for you, it's doing all the bottle prep. Maybe it's doing all the laundry, doing all the meal planning, whatever it is that your partner is capable of, ask them to execute, plan, and prepare. This removes an entire category from your brain. You don't need to do more. Honestly, you can't do more. You need routines that carry you.