Emily from the TikTok account @takeaminutemama, which has 14,800 followers, vented about the struggles of having a newborn in the summer, and parents everywhere are relating hard to what she had to say.
Emily described that while she has a lot of good things in her life right now, she also wanted to share some of the struggles too, because she believes it is important to share the good and bad about motherhood.
The mom of three shared that having a young baby in the Midwest in the middle of the summer is “hard” because she feels like she can’t go out and do anything with her baby because of the heat and sunshine.
She pointed out that while she has tools at her disposal to keep her baby comfortable in the heat, it’s not like she can slather the baby in sunscreen (the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn’t recommend sunscreen for babies until they are six months old), so any activity involving the sun is off the table.
“I just can’t be out at the beach all day,” Emily said. “I can’t be at the pool all day…”
“This is my day-to-day, and I just feel like, stuck, like I’m missing out,” she added.
The mom of three had an accurate comparison to what it feels like to miss out on fun summer activities.
Emily aptly compared the feeling of being “trapped” inside all day with a baby to how you feel when it’s a gorgeous day outside, but you never make it out of your house.
“And then when you don’t, you feel bad because you missed out, and it was such a beautiful day?” she said. “That’s how I feel. But I feel that way every day.”
Emily added that she knows her current feelings and lack of summer fun is "just a season."
“I know that next summer is going to look different,” she noted. “I’m going to have a one-year-old running around that will be able to do a lot more.”
But still, Emily wanted to share her message that if other moms are also feeling “stuck” in the summer with a baby — even if they love it and it’s all they wanted — that it’s ok to admit that it’s still hard.
And her message seemed to really resonate with other mothers and parents, who were relieved to hear someone put the unique struggle of a summer newborn or baby into words.
“Summer babies are NOT what I thought they would be,” admitted TikTok user Kla, who added a sobbing emoji for good measure.
“Thank you for letting me know I am not alone thinking this,” added another TikToker. “First time mom of a 4-month-old. This is the side of TikTok I need.”
