Five Simple Tips to Help You Manage COVID-19 Anxiety with a New Baby

With all the talk of Covid-19 on top of the usual sense of vulnerability that new parents often feel in wanting to protect their newborn, it can feel hard not to feel personally threatened right now. Here are some simple things that you can do to help you to manage.

• Flip the script. Reminding yourself that most of the cases involving younger adults, children and babies, do not result in any serious health complications (many don’t even involve any clear symptoms), so the odds that direct harm will come to you and your little one are very very low.* The real reason to minimize social contact is to help protect the community at large so that the disease won’t spread. Flipping the script in your mind from one of worry for yourself and your baby to one of needing to take action to help society at large and the more vulnerable amongst us, can help us to lessen our anxiety, and feel a sense of control and purpose (moving us from seeing ourselves as victims, to seeing as ourselves as important helpers in this important fight against the virus).
• Connect. The virus is forcing us to spend time in close quarters with our loved ones. It is most certainly not how you envisioned spending your maternity leave and this first year of your baby’s life but now that it is here, can you find ways to focus on the moments of connection. Turn fear into connection by bringing your awareness into the momentary enjoyment of the sensations of snuggling with your baby. That mom and baby yoga class and strolls in the mall may have to wait but tune into the moment by moment experience of getting to know your little one. She won’t notice the difference and will be delighted to have your attention as you snuggle up at home.
• Set boundaries that feel right for you and don’t let others make you feel badly for it. If you want to elbow bump instead of hugging, stay at home and not take visitors or play dates, you get to make that choice based on what feels right for you. In moments of fear and uncertainty, people try to minimize their own fear by getting judgmental about others’ choices. Know that you don’t need to take on their stuff and that you have a right to listen to your own intuitive voice.
• Keep moving find a yoga class or online workout, channel your favourite yoga teacher and try to create your own class from memory, or have a home dance party with your partner and baby. Exercise helps to release those feel good hormones and lower our stress levels so find a way to move your body as you connect with your baby and partner.
• This too shall pass. The unknown is inherently scary for us humans. This crisis is an opportunity (however terrifying) to remind us that all experiences in life, both pleasant and unpleasant, are temporal and that this too shall pass.

With love, compassion, and connection, we will get through this.

Aliza Shupac, MSW, RSW

MamaCare Health

• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html