Today, I woke up at 5am. I wasn't done sleeping but my almost six-month-old was up already and was demanding my attention. That is my sleepiest moment because I sleep late or I simply don't want to wake up yet. I don't sleep very early because I've got to get stuff done when she goes to bed. Stuff that can only be done when she goes to bed. Oh boy, I hope no one is thinking dirty now, lol. I'm working to complete a project so the best moment for me to work on that is when she is asleep.

Motherhood is great. In between feeding, washing, bathing, and playing with or changing her diapers which take most of my day, I only can squeeze out some time for myself. I try not to lose myself by taking care of myself too (self-care).

Related: Selfcare Ideas For New Moms

Self-care to me is a reminder that I too exist and need attention. That's why it's very important. The most common ways I do self-care is skincare where I do a facial, an exfoliation or a shave. I also do hair care which is often a hair wash or hair treatment. Some other times I focus on my mind and listen to some music using earphones so that I don't disturb anyone and I can enjoy my woofer moment by myself.

What I wanted to do today was just to wash my hair and do a simple treatment with aloe vera and olive oil. Then continue with my honey and turmeric mask treatment which I am on the fourth day already. I hope to share with you guys the results of this mask. Remember when my face broke out with acne some weeks ago?

But when I woke up this morning, just thinking about my face and hair care together with baby runs got me tired already as I lay in bed at 5 am. I almost gave up my self-care but I knew I will keep postponing it every day if I don't do it today because the routine every day is almost the same. There always seems to be a lot to do and no time to take care of me. I then made up my mind to do it while taking care of her.

Self-care Struggles of a New Mom - Lessons I've learned

What To Do

The most important is to organize. For my facial, I applied it right after she slept in the morning. The plan was to leave it on for one hour but it finally stayed on for more than two hours because I had to bath, dress, feed, breastfeed, wash and dry her clothes.
My hair was washed during my bath time and the combing and treatment process was interrupted by feeding, breastfeeding, etc.

What I learned from doing all these today was that no one will ever give you the time. You have to take it or find time to do things for yourself as you do for others. Some things will definitely adjust as you begin to care for yourself more.

Another lesson is doing self-care at your own pace. Don't compare yourself to other women who have a lot of help and more time for self-care. Just do what you can today and leave the rest for tomorrow. If you planned to do a facial and pedicure but you managed to do just the pedicure then leave the facial for the next day. Don't beat yourself to it.

Also, it's ok to do things with breaks. You can take several breaks while doing your hair to attend to your kids or something else. As long as you get your hai done eventually. Self-care doesn't mean you must block a particularly long time and pay attention to only you. It is creating time for you which can come in bits or halves because other people's (your kids) lives depend on you. Make sure that your self-care doesn't have a negative impact on those you care for or you may feel so selfish instead of worthy.


It might have taken almost the whole day to do a simple self-care routine today but I feel even more satisfied not neglecting mom duties as well. I oiled, combed and cut my hair into small sections before braiding it to ease the application of the treatment and to sleep without worries about my hair entangling.

I finally applied the aloe vera to my hair by 5pm and everything seems great. What I did was mash the aloe vera leaves between my fingers till the transparent gel came out and I applied the gel to my hair.

Feeling all good after taking care of myself. This post is to encourage you moms like me to keep your self-care game up no matter what.