Letters from mums of the pandemic- Young single mum shares her insights into motherhood!

Dear Mum of the Pandemic,

I’m a young, single mum. I gave birth to a beautiful little boy in February 2020 when the pandemic was just starting. I previously worked an administrative job. I have lived a some what challenging life but out of pain comes power.

I guess I expected lots of baby cuddles and I guess I expected motherhood to be easy. I did get lots of baby cuddles, however, it's more than that and it’s definitely not easy.

Before I had my son and as a new mother, I was so scared. I thought I would fail my son. Truthfully I still feel like I will fail my son but not in the same way. He didn’t sleep through the night until 18 months; he would wake constantly for a bottle. Even now he wakes a couple of times a night for me to give him his dummy. He has a lot of tantrums. These things are all normal. He makes me incredibly happy. He is the cutest little boy ever. However, I have never felt so lonely and empty. However, there are many, many positives. And the positives outweigh all the negatives. You get to see this little human grow and this little human loves you indefinitely.

In terms of challenges, the pandemic has placed on my experience on motherhood. I wasn’t able to attend the mothers' group I was told about. Access to child health nurses has been limited and we have been unable to have the 18 months and 2-year checks. We are on the waiting list for public speech pathology however they are not seeing anyone at the moment. Doctors prefer phone consultations especially when the pandemic was at its peak. It has been harder to meet other mothers. One of the biggest challenges for everyone was the lockdown period. I decided to keep my son home from daycare during this time and not being able to go anywhere for such a long time was hard.

As a silver lining, being able to spend so much time at home meant I got to spend a lot of quality time with my son. It definitely brought us even closer together.

Mumma, I just want to say that I know you are scared. I know there is so much unknown in the world right now. But you have this beautiful baby. The world might seem bleak but nothing else matters right now! You can get through this! I was scared just like you. Just take one hour at a time. Appreciate the little moments.

You got this Mumma!! Believe in yourself!!

Love from,

A fellow mum of the pandemic xx