Redefining Productivity for New Moms: What They Really Need Instead of Unrealistic Expectations
By Team Fitmoms
Updated on 9 July 2025
Modern motherhood often means juggling work, childcare, and housework all at once. The pressure to do it all is real and exhausting.
Are you a new mother struggling to regain your energy? You've just had a baby, whether it was a week ago or six months ago, and you're expected to return to your old routine. But you feel like you are already doing too much and have no energy left? Thoughts like “ I used to be so productive” cloud your mind. You keep running in circles trying to understand why, but you have no clue.
Here's why: Because you've been doing a lot. You have taken up new responsibilities, but are still comparing yourself to your old self. You’re up at weird hours. You are sleep deprived and recovering from a life-altering event. All the while, taking care of a newborn and ensuring you produce enough milk, which burns a lot of calories. As a new mother, you should not measure yourself against a productivity scale. The important thing is that you are showing up for your baby, and that in itself is impressive. In this article, we will shatter unrealistic expectations society puts on new mothers and replace them with productivity measures you can follow as a new mom.
Why New Moms Feel Like They’re “Failing”
One-word answer: The narrative. Relatives throwing around statements like, “My sister in law started working only a month after delivery.” More importantly, in today’s era, this has been magnified tenfold due to the social media culture. Now, these unrealistic expectations can arise from watching a mother from across the world share a story about losing 20 kgs post-delivery. Social media’s full of women back in jeans at 4 weeks postpartum, running side hustles while breastfeeding, and making Pinterest-worthy bento lunches for their toddlers. Social media’s full of women back in jeans at 4 weeks postpartum, running side hustles while breastfeeding, and making Pinterest-worthy bento lunches for their toddlers. Real-life pregnancy is seldom so perfect.
Working from home with a baby isn’t just a logistical challenge; it’s emotionally draining. Finding balance can feel like an impossible task.
The truth about Postpartum Bodies
No matter how smooth your childbirth experience may have been, your body went through serious trauma. Here are some truths you must know about what your body goes through due to childbirth:
- If you had a vaginal birth, your pelvic floor and muscles are healing.
- If you had a C-section, you’re recovering from major abdominal surgery while trying to care for a newborn.
- Your hormones are all over the place, dropping, shifting, messing with your mood, your skin, your everything.
- Also, the bleeding, leaking, night sweats, and back pain.
So, stop trying to match up to societal expectations of bouncing back and resuming your duties. Give your body time to heal. And if you have a partner or relatives who are pushing you, call them out and educate them. Have your doctor discuss the situation with them if you fail to make them understand.
How your Mind changes after giving birth
Your body goes through a lot during and post-pregnancy, but your mind also takes a heavy toll. According to a study done by Nature Neuroscience, pregnancy and childbirth change a person’s brain by shrinking some areas. After birth, these areas begin to grow back, but at varying rates in different parts of the brain. Mothers who had scheduled C-sections showed bigger brain recovery after birth. This suggests that the period surrounding birth is crucial for mothers’ brain health. Your brain is also adapting to tune in to your body with your baby. These shifts come with positive effects, such as increased awareness and caution towards the bay, heightened empathy, and a deeper attachment to it, as well as negative effects, including feeling exhausted from the overdrive. Your brain is going through a lot and putting in a lot of invisible labour that often gets overlooked in the chaos of it all. So we must understand and appreciate its hard work by offering care and rest.
Redefining Productivity for the 4th Trimester
Now that we understand the toxic expectations that exist, let us explore how we can redefine productivity for new mothers. First things first, the first few months after birth, or the 4th trimester, are about recovery, bonding, and adjusting to a new reality. Therefore, we need to reconsider your perspective on productivity after pregnancy. That cannot be your comparison point, given how different your situation is now, physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially.
Here’s what real productivity should look like for a new mother:
Amidst all the chaos, moments of connection, like bath time, remind us of the quiet joys of parenting.
- Keeping your baby fed.
- Keeping yourself nourished and hydrated.
- Prioritising one important task per day (pay a bill, reply to one email).
- Moving enough to stay healthy, without pushing yourself to prove something to anyone.
- Engaging in gentle light stretches or taking a short walk can help gently rebuild energy.
- Setting up diaper and nursing stations to make your days smoother.
- Bathing your baby and dressing them up.
- Doing one small thing for yourself each day (tea, a walk, five minutes of sun).
Remember to count those feeding sessions, diaper changes, baby baths, and food preparations as productive actions. Often, we overlook the tasks we have completed and focus on what we missed, basing our conclusions on that. Don’t undermine yourself. These tasks take attention, time, and energy. Every time you finish one, give yourself a tap on the shoulder. These count. They all count.
How to gradually build your strength and energy
After around 5 months of delivery, you are feeling more stable and ready to take on more. When that happens, take it slow. There’s no rush. You’re still healing. Your excitement is justified, but don’t overdo it, as this can cause serious trouble for you.
When your baby sleeps, let yourself rest too, guilt-free. Your well-being matters just as much as your baby’s.
Here is how you can start:
- Walking. Start with a five-minute walk and gradually increase your duration and pace over time.
- Don’t get into “I need to lose the baby weight” mode. Think I want to build strength and energy. Move your body gently. You can start with light postpartum yoga.
- Stretching. Gently and slowly practice some stretching exercises. Make sure your doctor clears them if you had a C-section.
Conclusion
You are not lazy, you are healing. And you are doing so while taking care of a small, demanding human. Being more productive does not equate to doing more. It means focusing on the important things, and sometimes that’s holding your baby and breathing through the chaos. Therefore, keep in mind that you just had a human the next time you start to feel that old guilt. Your child doesn't want you to suffer; they just want their mother to be happy.
