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Important Biblical Tips for New Moms.
Biblical Tips for New Moms? The period of courtship is usually one of the most exciting periods in one’s lifetime. There is a great time having fun and enjoying life to the fullest. There is however even more fun when the two finally agree to get married. Then finally it comes the time when they must bear their own children.
Indeed, children are a great blessing to any family. And their entry into the family brings joy. The Bible compares children to arrows in the hand of a warrior. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth. ( Psalms 127:4).
Physical and Emotional Changes
But do you know that in the process of bearing children new moms go through physical and emotional challenges that they were not anticipating?
Here are some of the new experiences that new moms go through and how they can be helped to go through and finding bearing a child a blessing and not a burden.
Nursing
This is taking care of the newborn child. It is one of the major responsibilities of every mother that has given birth. Nursing starts immediately at birth and goes on until the child or children are old enough to be taken care of by another person or themselves.
Nursing begins right away from the delivery bed even before the child is bathed and clothed.
Although there is usually joy in the family of receiving a new member to the family ,the family should be aware that this joy comes with new responsibilities. Some of the responsibilities were those expected while some come as a surprise to both the mother and the other members of the family.
If nursing is not handled well, it may be viewed as a burden to the mother as she might be overwhelmed and become discouraged instead of having joy of the new born baby.
New moms who are believers should have a sense of gratitude to God for enabling them to bear the pregnancy to the point of delivering a precious treasure.
They should not forget that it is a process that almost every woman undergoes. Nursing should never interfere with the relationship of the new mom and God instead it should be a period of the continuous offering of thanksgiving to the almighty God.
Balance Baby / God
Another challenge that new moms face is how to balance attending to the newborn and attending to the normal fellowship they had with God in terms of reading the Bible and praying.
If not addressed properly some new moms may tend to drift away from the private fellowship they had with God and tend to focus on nursing only. Some may plan to resume fellowship when they are through with nursing which should not suppose to happen.
Mary the mother of Jesus Christ was once a new mom when she gave birth to Jesus Christ. Before her delivery, she had gone through a lot of challenges in getting a place to deliver and have her baby. They had walked for a long time looking for an inn but unfortunately, all inns were full.
I know as a human being she might have felt discouraged at any time. But she didn’t allow her struggles to determine who she was, She knew she was a blessed woman according to the report that she was given by her angel during conception.
So she vowed that her joy will never come from the outside things but her joy was in the Lord God.
This made her humble to a point of staying in a cowshed and accepting the manger to be her delivery bed.
The joy of bringing forth the Savior of the world could not deny her the happiness of becoming the mother. She rejoices in the birth of her son.
This joy made her forget the struggles she had gone through with Joseph. After delivery, she warmly welcomes the shepherds as they come to worship baby Jesus with gifts.
When a believer becomes a new mom she should not allow the blessing of a child to become a burden to her and prevent her from enjoying everyday life and continuous worship she had with God.
Instead, they should continue worshipping God thanking Him for the great blessing added to their family.
Joseph and Mary continued obeying the Lord and the laws of Moses as we see them bringing Jesus Christ to the temple to present Him to the Lord. Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord. ( Luke 2:22).
Therefore we can conclude that the period of nursing should never be considered as a challenge but an opportunity to serve God and giving Him thanks.
Strain on Spousal Relationship
Before the new mom delivers she may have enough time to attend to her husband. But after delivery, she is required to divide the attention between her husband and the newborn child.
But unfortunately, in most cases, she will tend to give more attention to the newborn baby as the baby has a variety of needs and demands compared to the husband. Too much attention to the baby means there is less time given to the husband. This may bring misunderstanding in the family if the issue is not well addressed.
Balancing the two might strain the new mom bearing in mind that she is experiencing this for the first time. Some couples have ended up divorcing because the husband could not stand the loss of affection from the wife.
The new mom should be careful and realize that before the child was born she had vowed to stand by her husband and therefore the husband should also be attended to.
To balance the two she should be wise and take the advantage and utilize the periods when the child is asleep or when someone else is taking care of the child and spend quality time with her husband. On the other hands just as the Bible instructs the husbands to love their wives they should continue loving their wives unconditionally.
Jesus Christ is the perfect example of how a husband should love his wife. He compares His love to the church to the love a husband should show his wife.
This love is unconditional and it doesn’t depend on the character of the church. Instead Christ is continuously cleansing the church with the word till it is spotless and without wrinkles. That is the same way that every husband should extend his unconditional love to his wife.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ( Ephesians 5:25)
So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.( Ephesians 5:28)
Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.( Colossians 3:19)
Loss of Pre-Baby Figure
Most women value their body structures so much. Becoming a mother involves a lot of biological changes in the lives of women that brings changes to the figure of their bodies.
This sometimes has discouraged some young women not to get married earlier or decide completely not to get married. While others will decide to get married but stay long before conceiving.
Every woman should realize that apart from her outer appearance she has the inner beauty that was created in the image of God, therefore she should rejoice in that; I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.( Psalms 139:14).
Furthermore, it is the plan and will of God to procreate and fill the earth. It is a command from God. We are alive today because our mothers decided not to consider their body figures of more importance than bringing life on this earth.
Yet still, it should not be forgotten that we are also responsible for our lives. That is we should practice healthy eating habits. New moms should be careful about their diet, they should not eat a lot of junk foods that will quickly increase the sizes of their bodies and tamper with their body figures.
They should eat healthy foods and do some body exercises which are so beneficial and also encouraged in the scriptures. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. ( 1 Timothy 4:8).
Lack of Enough Sleep
Before a child is born into a family there the couples usually have enough time to sleep and rest. But once the family receives their first baby things automatically change.
The baby comes with it’s sleeping and rests hours. Some of the babies will be awake during the night and sleep a lot during the day. This causes the mother not to have enough sleep as the time she should be sleeping she is busy taking care of the child.
In case of this, the couple can create shifts of taking care of the child especially if the baby is usually active and awake the better part of the night.
The family can also source the services of a nanny especially to take care of the child during the day so that the mother can be allowed time to sleep and have time to rest. Alternatively, the mother can opt to adapt to the sleeping program of the child in that she can be resting and sleeping the times the child is also sleeping.
A Career Woman
Any career woman has a routine focused on her business or job. She spends more hours building her career. There are a lot of changes that lie on her way when she delivers as she is supposed to allocate some of her normal time in taking care of her newborn baby. As she may have gotten used to the normal routine of dedicating her time to her job or business.
There would be changes beginning from the point of conception both physical and emotional. She may be getting fatigued easily especially if she is not working from home.
Her inability to normally perform duties that she used to performed easily may cause her to seek help from her fellow colleagues of which she may develop the fear of being regarded as a nuisance to her colleagues and the people around her.
Changes that happen to her body like morning sickness may also affect her emotionally as she has to overcome all this before proceeding to her business or Job.
It is usually good for her colleague’s friends or family to understand that it is a normal process and instead they should be ready to offer both physical and emotional support to her and being of help to her when she needs it.
Baby blues
Baby blues are also known as postpartum, it is a period that the mother feels moody or sad that last for a period of fewer than two weeks from delivery. Research has found out that almost 80% of mothers who have just delivered experience baby blues. So it is a common thing.
Baby blues need no treatment as they soon disappears depending on each individual. If baby blues persist even after a period of two weeks after delivery, one should seek advice from a health care provider.
Some of the signs that will show that a woman is undergoing baby blues are:
- A sense of being overwhelmed fearing that you are not capable of taking care of the newborn baby.
- Feeling cranky and moody.
- Having trouble making decisions, sleeping, or eating.
- Crying a lot and feeling sad.
These are some of the things a new mom can do to overcome the baby blues.
- New moms creating a connection with her fellow new moms and maybe joining a support group that will play a positive role in healing her emotions.
- Having time for yourself. The new mom can use this time to walk around.
- In case the new mom needs some help from the people around she should be free and speak out.
- She should get as much sleep as she can. This will help her a lot.
- She should delight herself in the Lord. As perfect peace and joy only come from the Lord and through His word. During her free time, she should be listening or reading the word of God for inspiration. Also listening to gospel music is will be very helpful.
Biblical Insight for Older Moms
It should not be taken that only new moms experience challenges in their motherhood. Generally, motherhood and those giving birth to the second, third, or fourth child will face some challenges. Some of the challenges that motherhood comes with are:
Isolation
Nursing mothers always feel the sense of isolation as the people around tend to drift away so as to give them time to nurse the baby.
Isolation should not be viewed in a negative way as it can be overcome. There are several activities that a nursing mother can be involved in that will make her preoccupied.
In these days of internet and technology the nursing mother can use this time to educate and entertain herself through various media platforms. She can also join her fellow mothers and spend quality time with them.
Letting go
The transition period of being single to being a parent may take long to register in some women’s minds. This is because there are those who would want to maintain the status that they had when they were single.
As some would want to be referred to as young ladies rather than being called a mother.
Accepting to be called a mother may not be that easy to many. But eventually as time goes the new acquired status is definitely adapted.
Old mothers should easily let it go and acquire their new status. As God still used great women in the Bible to accomplish different divine assignments.
There are various women who played a big role in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ that is celebrated until now. Some women were also very helpful in the ministry of the Apostles including the ministry of Apostle Paul.
Therefore every woman should rejoice in motherhood knowing that she is a vessel that God wants to use to fulfill His divine purpose here on earth.
Mentoring for New Mothers
Motherhood and parenting in general is a continuous process. A process where various people can come in with different experiences and advice. There are many sources of advice to motherhood all over. Some in books, various media platforms, and the internet.
This calls upon every mother to decide which source will she rely on for advice. This is to avoid getting misleading information that will interfere with motherhood and parenting.
The ultimate and reliable source of information on motherhood and parenting should be based purely on the word of God.
the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,( Titus 2: 3-4).
Finally, motherhood is a great privilege in life that should be accepted and embraced with gladness as there are some women who are desiring to be called mothers but because of one reason or the other they are unable to bear their own children.
Other Older Moms in The Church Family can Greatly encourage New Mothers. They Have weathered the Path of Mommy Hood. Minister wives, Elders Wives are a wealth of understanding and Wisdom
Therefore all mothers should be thankful and rejoice in the Lord.
