18th-Month-Old Toddler and Parenting Stress

As soon as they grow up, your stress can reach its max capacity. You will worry about each and everything that is somehow related to them. Well, it is obvious and natural.

But do they need that much care due to which you are facing tremendous stress?

Parenting is a very interesting process. You and your child go through several levels of different approaches. These approaches help you to understand each other more precisely.

Parenthood and parenting are two different concepts. Parenthood is something that brings you joy and happiness. Whereas parenting will not always bring you joy or happiness it will bring other emotions as well, let it be stress, sadness, guilt, or whatever else. You will feel all those emotions while parenting. Parenting can be exhausting because it provides different day-to-day challenges to you and your partner is your little toddler.

At the end of the day, you just sit back and think how did I survive and how will I survive tomorrow.

Having a baby is a very beautiful phase of anybody’s life. But it requires a lot of mental stability and preparation. Because it is not an easy task. It requires your sacrifices, free time, etc. And you need to give in all your best efforts for your little toddler.

You will feel that you are changed, you do not give yourself proper time. You do not need to feel this in a bad way. This is normal parenting that requires all these sacrifices and efforts. You need to think about someone else rather than yourself.

Sometimes you need to calm yourself and you do not need to worry about the future. You need to enjoy the present and learn from the past, how you need to make your bond with your loved one so none can break it. It is not mandatory or that you can enjoy your life. You can enjoy your life very easily you just need to follow these steps which will help you to do so;

• Do not panic about things that have not happened yet.
• Let your child explore things on his own but under your supervision.
• Learn the things, like how he reacts if he gets lost or how he will find you if you are not there.
• Be a teacher and guide him but you do not need to take him or her on your shoulder. They need to walk on their feet. You can be the stick that will help to do so.
• Understand their needs, what they want, and whether it will be beneficial or harmful.
• Do not make them drool over things that are irrelevant or for which they are having tantrums.

Research has been conducted on how parenting can be stressful and what are the negative effects it can cause on a parent’s judgment and behavior. In this research, it is observed that mothers score more than fathers in parental stress. And hence it is known that they need not take this much stress. It will affect them in a bad way. [1]

Parental Burnout

Hence we come to know that parenting is not an easy task, from late-night feeding to handling their tantrums all require great patience and hard work. If you do not look out for yourself this stress will cause you harm and you will feel parental burnout.

Parental burnout is a condition in which you become so exhausted that you feel you have nothing left to give.

Now the question comes: what is parental burnout?

Parental burnout is the exhaustion that includes physical, mental, and emotional aspects caused by the chronic stress of parenting.

It can also cause and promote distance from your child. It also promotes irritation and anger. So whenever they call upon you, you will feel anger and irritation. And not only this parental burnout in some cases is also responsible for forgetfulness. If we sum up it can cause problems like:

• Anger – anger issues in you.
• Irritation – Irritation issues in you.
• Forgetfulness – you started to forget things more often.
• Anxiety – can cause a feeling of an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over anticipated events.
• Depression – is a problem in which a person is disdainful or in a low mood with a lack of positivity.
• Inadequacy – is a state in which a person is inadequate in the terms of quantity and quality.
• Confusion – it can also cause confusion
• Isolation – it will also result in affecting oneself in their isolation mode.

How does parental burnout happen?

Parental burnout happens because of the prolonged effect of stress on an individual. In this, the person is outweighed by the demands that are put upon and he or she is unable to match the expectations.

What are the signs of Parental burnout and how can one avoid the situation?

You do not need to worry. To know whether you are going through parental burnout or not you just need to analyze yourself and make sure about these things:

• Physical tiredness – you are tired physically. This includes headaches, neck pains, hopelessness, or self-doubt.
• Physical Fatigue – you also have physical fatigue.
• Emotional imbalance – you will seem to be emotionally imbalanced.
• Emotional exhaustion – you will also seem to be emotionally exhausted.
• Lack of motivation – the motivation in you seems to be dull.
• A feeling of despair – the sensation and feeling of despair will be there.
• Feeling lost and detached from others.
• In some severe cases, people sometimes misuse or abuse themselves with drugs and alcohol. They do this just to escape from the situation in which they are right now. Given above are some of the criteria or emotions which you will feel if you are going through parental burnout. Secondly, you do not need to worry as Parental burnout is temporary. There are certain things which you need to keep in mind. And these things can be categorized as:
• Talking to your partner or Spouse: if you think that you are going through a parental burnout phase, talking to your partner or spouse will help you. You need to explain to him or her about the feeling or phase which you are going through. You need to be honest, if you are struggling let them know if you are overworking let them know. Just do not be afraid to admit the feelings you have. And then this will help you to bring out the solutions.
• Get adequate sleep: we all know that sleep is a very crucial and vital element of a happy life. But if you have a toddler or newborn baby, having the proper amount of sleep can be very difficult. But you need to somehow prioritize your sleep if possible. You can have power naps of 20-30 mins this will help you to reduce the stress and you will feel better.
• Do exercise: people might think that they are already exhausted and doing exercise is absurd. Well, it is proven that exercise helps you to maintain your energy level and it helps to reduce the tension and stress from which you are going through.
• Rest if you get the chance: if you are feeling overworked, tired, or overwhelmed, take a gap of 15-20 minutes and have a good cup of tea or coffee. Sit back and relax with your toddler this will help you to overcome your stress.
• Create a support system: having a supportive partner is a blessing but in some cases, many individuals need extra help. For this, parenting groups are a great way to meet like-minded individuals, and sharing your experience will make you feel less stressed. You can also go for child care or babysitter to have some personal time and break.
• Practice self-care: well it seems a little impossible but you need to put effort whenever you get the chance. You can perform the breathing exercise, every day for 2-3 minutes you need to sit back and take deep breaths just meditate for a while. At the end of the day, take a good shower to let out all the toxic elements mentally and physically. Go for a walk with your loved ones, this also helps a lot.

Given above are some of the ways which might help you to recover from parenting burnout which is caused mainly because of stress. It is normal because you care about your loved one and you do not want something bad to happen to them or they feel that you are not there when they need you the most. Well, you just need to be patient and relaxed as well. Raising a child is very challenging and as well as rewarding. And there is the feeling of frustration as well as exhaustion with the feelings of happiness and pride. Most parents suffer and go through parental burnout. But the thing that matters is that you need to treat yourself well and you need to be patient. You need to allow yourself to enjoy a bit while raising your loved one because if you will not love yourself then even that little jolly happiness of yours will face its circumstances.

Toddlers and month 18th tips

• Have some “me” time, take yourself out or on a date with your significant others.
• Do not just follow the advice, you need to trust your instincts as well.
• When your child suffers from diarrhea give him or her fluids to keep them hydrated.
• Always remain up to date in terms of vaccination drives for your child.
• You can give your child iron-rich food, it does not matter whether it’s too early for your child to pump iron, but they should be eating it every day.
• Talk to your baby, and make an interactive communication so this will help him or her in developing their language.
• Praise them with a “Thank you” or “Good job! If your child listens to you or do a great job.