Hope for Tired Moms of Littles

You know the feeling…It’s been a long night of interrupted sleep and a slow-moving, bleary-eyed morning. Finally, the much anticipated nap-time arrives. You put the baby in their crib, straighten up the house, do a few dishes, and make yourself a cup of hot tea. You curl up on the couch with your book, relishing in the blissful peace and quiet and ready to soak in your time to recharge, when… the monitor goes off! The dreaded 30-minute-nap early wake up.

In his first year of life, my son had a four to five month season of short, 30 minute naps. I remember boiling over with frustration as I attempted to rock and sing him back to sleep over and over again until I had run out of songs and run out of patience. I was ashamed to admit it, but in these moments, I felt overwhelmingly angry.

Situations like this show up in a million different ways:

On your third trip back into the house as you try to load up the car with a baby in your arms.
When the baby refuses to nurse, so you anxiously try to pump while also trying to calm your hungry, screaming child.
As you groggily start your day at 5:00am for the 3rd week in a row.

Moments like these often leave us feeling exasperated. But what about the even bigger challenges?

A premature baby admitted to the NICU, in critical condition for weeks.
Bitter fighting and an ever-growing rift between you and your spouse since the baby arrived.
An unexpected diagnosis for your child at a doctor’s checkup.

In both the everyday frustrations and the larger trials, how do we continue to care for our children when we don’t even feel sufficiently taken care of ourselves? When we feel stretched past the point of breaking, with nothing left to give?

In Christ, there is hope.

In both the everyday frustrations and the larger trials, how do we continue to care for our children when we don’t even feel sufficiently taken care of ourselves? When we feel stretched past the point of breaking, with nothing left to give?
 
In Christ, there is hope.

The strength to care for our children comes from first letting God take care of us! We go to our Heavenly Father and we cast our worries and our pain into His infinite arms. We let Him tend to our hurting and tired hearts. And as God fills us with love and peace, we allow His care to overflow from within us to our children.

It was only as I learned to look to the Lord’s care in frustrating moments that I gained the strength to continue gently loving and caring for my baby. 

I began to grasp the reality that as I was singing to my son, my Heavenly Father was singing over me! As Zephaniah 3:17 states,

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One who will save; 
He will rejoice over you with gladness; 
He will quiet you by His love; 
He will exult over you with loud singing.”

As moms, we seek to serve our kids with great devotion, commitment and sacrifice. But the only way such love can be sustained is by drawing from God’s love for us!

When you find yourself at the end of your rope, remember your Heavenly Father’s limitless care for you. Remember that your song of love over your child streams forth from God’s song over you.

This past season, I’ve been working on a lullaby album with music that hopefully serves to encourage moms in the tougher moments of caring for their babies. One of these songs was born out of that frustrating season of short naps with little time for me to recharge, and its chorus encapsulates this idea of letting God’s care flow through us to our children:

Oh I’ll sing you a song as my Heavenly Father is singing over me
And I’ll rock you to sleep while the arms of my Savior are holding me in peace
When I’m weak, God is strong
He will carry us through
His love in me – it overflows
In my love for you

Because of Christ, we can be sustained and strengthened to care for our babies. As the bridge of this song declares:

I’ll be your rock, ‘cause He’s my cornerstone
Your safe place, because He is my home.
I’ll be your joy, ‘cause He’s always my song.
I’m here for you, ‘cause He’s here all along.

When you feel you’re at the end of yourself, I encourage you to cast yourself in dependence upon your Savior and let His loving care nourish your heart.

Instead of bearing the weight of being everything for your child, let your prayer be that your unconditional love for them would serve to point them to the even greater love of their Heavenly Father. HE is the well that never runs dry.

It was only as I learned to look to the Lord’s care in frustrating moments that I gained the strength to continue gently loving and caring for my baby. 

I began to grasp the reality that as I was singing to my son, my Heavenly Father was singing over me! As Zephaniah 3:17 states,
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One who will save; 
He will rejoice over you with gladness; 
He will quiet you by His love; 
He will exult over you with loud singing.”