From working in the office or remotely to juggling multiple errands while taking care of the kids – working mom burnout encompasses moms everywhere; it’s not just you.
Managing full-time jobs, motherhood, and home life can be overwhelming. The added stress and lack of rest bring a unique phenomenon; working mom burnout.
Continue reading for tips and tricks to help combat your working mom burnout.
What Is Working Mom Burnout?
Working moms across America continue to push themselves to their limits, trying to balance all their responsibilities between work and home, resulting in working mom burnout.
Having no idea when their next break is coming1, they often try to tackle multiple things at once and can quickly become overwhelmed and stressed to pure depletion due to a lack of time and resources.
This leads to feelings of exhaustion, guilt, and loss of motivation – all marks of burnout.
In addition, working moms need to recognize the signs of burnout early on to seek help if needed.
What Are The Signs And Symptoms of Working Mom Burnout?
Burnout has been commonly linked to absenteeism and turnover2.
In addition, mothers who experience burnout often feel inadequate and overly perfectionistic, resulting in feelings of exhaustion, guilt, shame, and other negative emotions. This can lead to distancing from their children and further disconnection from the relationships that matter most3.
Some more common signs and symptoms of working mother burnout are:
- Feelings of anxiety, depression, and overwhelm
- Lack of quality sleep
- Extreme mood swings
- Mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion
- Starting to feel resentment toward kids, partner, and friends
- Constantly worrying about the past or stressing about the future
- Not able to complete commitments
Here are some expert ideas on how to destroy your mommy burnout symptoms.
What Does Parental Burnout Look Like?
As much as 60% of Americans feel pressured to work too much, while more than 80% long for more time with their kids. Even when faced with a financial decision, 52% would opt for less money to get more quality family time4.
Today’s moms and dads are under immense pressure to ensure their children excel in school and participate in various activities and athletic programs, quickly leading to burnout as they struggle to manage it all5.
Furthermore, it can feel like a constant cycle between a never-ending to-do list, rushed dinners, shuttles between practices, doctor’s appointments, competitions, private lessons, and clubs6.
Parents can burn out when they can’t access the resources to effectively manage their parenting-related stressors over a prolonged period7. This causes them to feel mentally and physically drained, leaving them unable to cope with their everyday responsibilities.
"Frantic families equal fragile families."
Those who suffer from parental burnout:
- Feel guilty and irritable
- Have trouble concentrating or focusing
- Avoid activities that were once enjoyable
- Neglect their own needs
- Are more likely to consider divorce
This leads to decreased self-care habits, sleep disturbances, social withdrawal, physical health problems, and more.
Expert Tips For A Working New Mom
Generally, being a working mom can be a difficult juggling act.
Here are some tips from the experts on how to make life more manageable and enjoyable for you as a working new mom:
It’s OK To Change Your Mind – Being a parent is full of surprises. It’s OK to change your mind; there is no such thing as having all the answers beforehand. No matter how much you plan and prepare, you never know how you’ll genuinely feel until the moment arrives8.
Ignore The Advice That Doesn’t Work – Motherhood is an individual experience with no one-size-fits-all approach. Instead of following everyone’s advice, experiment with different techniques and do whatever works best for you9.
Know Your Limits – Aim to keep your expectations reasonable, think “less is more,” and do only what you’re comfortable with10.
Wake At Least 30 Minutes Before Baby – Start your day with a calm, clear head. You might feel a bit tired initially; however, you’ll be able to shower, do your makeup and get almost ready with no distractions11.
Plan Meals – Planning meals ahead eliminates mealtime stress, saves time, money, and energy, plus allows for healthier eating habits.
Make A Calendar – Having one place where everyone’s work/appointment schedules, commitments, and other activities are recorded can help tremendously. This way, you can easily see what needs to be done in a given week and keep the caregiver informed of all events.
Have A Plan C – Life with a baby is unpredictable. When the unexpected occurs, such as a last-minute sitter cancellation or your partner is away, have an alternate sitter option – like a relative or friend – ready or keep the number for an on-call sitter service close by12.
Drop The Guilt – Don’t feel bad if you have to choose between attending a school recital and attending a critical board meeting13. It’s perfectly acceptable to make a trade-off.
Plan Ahead – By setting clear goals and making specific plans for yourself, you can ensure that you can get everything done in a meaningful and organized way. Proper planning will also help to reduce stress and create more time for enjoying your role as a parent.
Plan Ahead – By setting clear goals and making specific plans for yourself, you can ensure that you can get everything done in a meaningful and organized way. Proper planning will also help to reduce stress and create more time for enjoying your role as a parent.
Set Family Goals – Setting goals increases your focus on what matters most, improves overall mental health, reduces stress levels, makes more quality time with loved ones, and increases overall confidence and self-esteem.
Learn To Delegate – Delegating tasks helps mom gain more time for herself, increase efficiency, and decrease stress.
Express Gratitude – Expressing gratitude helps to foster a feeling of happiness, appreciation, and contentment. It can also help strengthen relationships with family and friends. Plus, it’s an effective tool for problem-solving and improving communication, as it opens up conversations and encourages understanding.
Click here for 125 more burnout prevention strategies every mom can try today.
Is It OK To Be A Working Mom?
In the long run, whether you work full-time or are called to stay home and raise your children, you’ll find joy and purpose in each.
Every mother must make the best decision for her and her household, weighing personal passions and practical considerations. Don’t limit yourself just because you’re a mother.
It’s essential to evaluate all factors, including job security, reliability, stability, finances, and day care, while considering your dreams and desires.
Ultimately, every woman has different priorities and lifestyles; only you can decide what suits you and your kids.
How does a working mother affect a child?
Women often play a vital role in their children’s lives, professionally and personally.
Regarding professional advantages, moms who work can often provide financial stability for their families, and their children can access better educational or extracurricular opportunities.
They also tend to set a good example for their children by showing them how strong and capable women can be in all aspects of life while raising a family.
Working mothers teach their children about being independent and self-reliant, as well as how important it is to pursue one’s passions.
Working parents can profoundly impact their children’s lives and contribute significantly to the success and well-being of families.
How Do Working Moms Recover From Burnout?
Identifying and addressing the sources of burnout is essential for working moms to recover. Carving out time for yourself and reevaluating expectations are critical steps in finding relief14.
Simple self-care methods such as mindful meditation and exercise can also help. Don’t forget to set up proper boundaries, take time for yourself, avoid multitasking, and stop comparing yourself to other mothers.
Here are some more expert tips to help working moms recover from burnout:
Plan Your Work
Stop underestimating the importance of time planning and management. When you strategize how you organize your time, you can accomplish more in less time.
Planning helps you prioritize what needs to be done and establish realistic, challenging, yet attainable goals.
Those who plan their work:
- Uncover hidden strengths and weaknesses
- Gain focus and attention
- Are more creative in work and personal lives
- Schedule more time for themselves
- Enjoy a boost in confidence
- Are more efficient and less wasteful
- Make decisions more clearly and efficiently
Check out this system that allows you to fulfill all your work successfully and achieve your goals without your social and emotional relationships suffering.
Outsource Household Chores
Spending money to save time and boost your happiness doesn’t mean you’re lazy—it’s brilliant!
In time, by outsourcing chores, such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and organizing, you can free up more time to do things that make you happy.
According to the New York Times, people who spend money to save time are scientifically shown to experience an increase in their overall happiness.
Clearly Define Roles and Responsibilities
A lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities can significantly impact professionals’ mental health. Without knowing what’s expected of them, working parents may place unnecessary stress and extra burdens on themselves15.
To ensure they stay energized and motivated despite all their responsibilities, parents must set clear expectations regarding their professional roles and responsibilities at work, resulting in a better work-life balance.
Flexible Work Schedules
Flexible work schedules can allow parents to plan their work around their children’s commitments16 and other priorities, reducing stress and alleviating feelings of burnout.
This can help create a better work-life balance and make them more productive during working hours.
Flexible schedules also support mothers by:
- Helping them better manage their time
- Allowing them time for much-needed rest or leisure activities
- Keeping them focused and motivated
- Giving them more control over their day-to-day activities
Access To Proper Resources
Access to mental health and well-being resources can help working moms manage the stress of their jobs and maintain a work-life balance17.
Employers can help prevent burnout through various strategies, such as providing virtual or in-person mental health support or therapy sessions, encouraging breaks throughout the day, child care, or offering fitness classes that allow employees to sweat out their frustrations.
A Respectful, Healthy Work Environment
Creating a respectful and healthy work environment is essential for combating employee burnout.
Employers could consider providing stress management activities such as nap rooms, workout centers, and entertainment zones18.
Establish Family Friendly Practices
Work/family conflict is a form of inter-role competition in which role pressures from the work and family spheres are incompatible19.
Organizations need to be socially responsible and opt for family-friendly practices, such as flexible scheduling, compressed work weeks, job sharing, employee assistance programs, and days off to reduce burnout.
Wellness-Centered Leadership
Leadership must create a human connection to reduce burnout among employees.
Wellness-Centered Leadership20 is an integrative model that utilizes intrinsic motivators such as meaning, purpose, values, voice, input, control, and professional development rather than external incentives like rewards or punishments.
With this approach, leaders can build high-performing teams and lower burnout by showing care for people, cultivating strong relationships with individuals and groups, and inspiring positive change.
Delegate What You Don't Do Best
Assigning tasks to others is essential to maintaining positive work experiences and preventing working mom burnout.
If you want to delegate the right way, then focus on delegating the tasks most likely to cause stress or consume your time.
The payoffs for proper delegation21 are:
- Extending more time and energy to essential responsibilities
- Feeling less pressure
- Benefiting from the thoughts, wisdom, and experience of others
- Increased efficiency and quality of work
- Less overall stress
When Should A New Mom Go Back To Work?
Returning to work right after having a baby is a decision that requires thought and financial planning; it’s not a one-size-fits-all type of situation.
It can be challenging to determine the best course of action, as each new mom’s situation will vary depending on their circumstances and needs. Some take just a few weeks, while others take up to a year or more for parental leave.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected time off for maternity leave, adoption, or placement. This is often more than the traditional six-week period that is usually mentioned.
When deciding to return to work after having a baby, it is vital to consider several different factors.
Your health and recovery should be top of the list, as well as keeping clear communication with your partner regarding expectations and responsibilities at home. Additionally, considering the costs associated with your return, such as childcare or other assistance, would be best.
No matter your choice, it’s always possible to make a change. If you decide to go back to work and it doesn’t feel right, find a way to stay home; vice versa.
What Do Working Moms Struggle With The Most?
Working moms struggle with various issues, from guilt over missing family and children’s events to a lack of support and inadequate childcare.
One of the biggest struggles they face is the feeling that they are doing it wrong while everyone else appears to be doing it right22. This sense of failure can be incredibly daunting when living up to seemingly impossible standards.
Parenting doesn’t have to be a competition with other moms. Forget about what others are doing and focus on developing a bond with your baby so that you can learn their rhythms23.
Additionally, a working parent can face the challenge of transitioning from a working role to a parenting role24. To make this transition as smooth as possible, they can put space between work and home to bridge the transition, keep work at work and focus on their child when they get home, or possibly buy extra time with in-home childcare to change from work clothes to mommy clothes.
Work-Life Balance
Working mothers often find themselves in a difficult position as they juggle their family’s needs with the demands of a job.
It’s often problematic for working mothers to achieve a good balance between the two, leading to guilt and stress over being unable to give their all to both roles.
This can be incredibly exhausting when society places unrealistic expectations on mothers.
Conclusion: To Each Their Own
Motherhood can be overwhelming, and it’s normal to feel like you’re dropping the ball at times, both professionally and personally.
It’s important to remember that having a fulfilling career and being a fantastic mom is possible. It’s all about being authentic and genuine to yourself.
How do you combat working mom burnout? Let us know your tips in the comments below.
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Resources
- Thayer, K. (2019, December 17). Parents feel burnout just like other workers: “When you’re a mom, you don’t know when your next break is coming.” Chicago Tribune (IL).
- Stankevičiūtė, Ž., & Savanevičienė, A. (2019). Can Sustainable HRM Reduce Work-Related Stress, Work-Family Conflict, and Burnout? International Studies of Management & Organization, 49(1), 79–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/00208825.2019.1565095
- Thayer, K. (2019, December 17). Parents feel burnout just like other workers: “When you’re a mom, you don’t know when your next break is coming.” Chicago Tribune (IL).
- Steptoe, S. (2003). Ready, Set, RELAX! TIME Magazine, 162(17), 38–41.
- Thayer, K. (2019, December 17). Parents feel burnout just like other workers: “When you’re a mom, you don’t know when your next break is coming.” Chicago Tribune (IL).
- Steptoe, S. (2003). Ready, Set, RELAX! TIME Magazine, 162(17), 38–41.
- Blanchard, M. A., & Heeren, A. (2020). Why we should move from reductionism and embrace a network approach to parental burnout. New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development, 2020(174), 159–168. https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20377
- Zynczak, H. (2017). Advice for New Working Moms: Stop Taking Advice. Fortune.Com, 134.
- Zynczak, H. (2017). Advice for New Working Moms: Stop Taking Advice. Fortune.Com, 134.
- Jameson, M., Fabian, K. L., & Kelleher, K. (2005). new-mom Q&A. Fit Pregnancy, 12(4), 30.
- Dobbins, A. (2005). New-mom smarts: Returning to work. Parenting, 19(5), 49.
- Dobbins, A. (2005). New-mom smarts: Returning to work. Parenting, 19(5), 49.
- Zynczak, H. (2017). Advice for New Working Moms: Stop Taking Advice. Fortune.Com, 134.
- Thayer, K. (2019, December 17). Parents feel burnout just like other workers: “When you’re a mom, you don’t know when your next break is coming.” Chicago Tribune (IL).
- Fearn, N. (2022). How to Avoid Cyber Talent Burnout. Computer Weekly, 21–25.
- Couser, G. P., Morrison, D. E. “Daven,” & Brown, A. O. (2022). Getting Serious About People Over Profit: Addressing Burnout by Establishing Meaning and Connection. Physician Leadership Journal, 9(4), 29–35. https://doi.org/10.55834/plj.3310746535
- Fearn, N. (2022). How to Avoid Cyber Talent Burnout. Computer Weekly, 21–25.
- ZHANG, C., MYERS, C. G., & MAYER, D. M. (2019). To Cope with Stress, Try Learning Something New. Harvard Business Review, 31–33.
- Mansour, S., & Tremblay, D.-G. (2018). Work-family conflict/family-work conflict, job stress, burnout and intention to leave in the hotel industry in Quebec (Canada): moderating role of need for family friendly practices as “resource passageways.” International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(16), 2399–2430. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1239216
- Couser, G. P., Morrison, D. E. “Daven,” & Brown, A. O. (2022). Getting Serious About People Over Profit: Addressing Burnout by Establishing Meaning and Connection. Physician Leadership Journal, 9(4), 29–35. https://doi.org/10.55834/plj.3310746535
- Lease, A. J. (2009). The Art of Delegation. American School Board Journal, 196(7), 32–33.
- Thayer, K. (2019, December 17). Parents feel burnout just like other workers: “When you’re a mom, you don’t know when your next break is coming.” Chicago Tribune (IL).
- Jameson, M., Fabian, K. L., & Kelleher, K. (2005). new-mom Q&A. Fit Pregnancy, 12(4), 30.
- Jameson, M., Fabian, K. L., & Kelleher, K. (2005). new-mom Q&A. Fit Pregnancy, 12(4), 30.
