Said It Here

How to take care of yourself with a newborn baby

Caring for a newborn while struggling with personal organization and a lifelong difficulty looking after yourself makes it hard to find the motivation to eat or maintain basic routines. This leaves parents exhausted from broken nighttime schedules and lacking the food or rest they need to care for their child.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Keeping easy, healthy snacks and lunch options on hand that require little to no prep like bananas, yogurts, and cheese slices
  2. 2
    Relying on shelf-stable foods, frozen meals, microwave rice, and canned soup
  3. 3
    Switching to single player games instead of gaming with friends
  4. 4
    Fitting gaming in spurts or during baby's sleep time during a shift
  5. 5
    Dropping gaming entirely for the first few months

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Parenting2 people · October 2026

“We just had a baby two weeks ago and have been struggling with nighttime schedules.”source ↗

“I was still always exhausted only getting 5 hours of sleep a night.”source ↗

“For him though, he more wanted time to be on his computer and game/talk to his friends/get socialization in.”source ↗

“The thing is, I’m not a social person and all I really want is more sleep, and to do this schedule I just end up getting less sleep than I already had.”source ↗

Suspicious-Club27 · r/Parenting · 2 upvotes

“I am scared I can’t look after him because I have ALWAYS had trouble looking after myself ever since I was a teen.”source ↗

“The main issue being is being organised and cooking for myself. I hardly eat because I simply don’t have the motivation or I forget.”source ↗

“How can I take care of my child when I hardly take care of myself?”source ↗

Vibingwithlife_ · r/Parenting · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

r/Parentingnewbornsnutritionorganizationparentingrelationshipsself-carework-life balance

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