I’m a new mom, and I’m tired all the time. Should I be concerned?

So, you’re a first time mom, and you’re feeling a little fatigue. It can be normal to feel some fatigue after your first baby. You’re a first time mom, but it also can indicate that there is something more serious going on.

Cortisol Stress Hormone and New Moms

You just went through a stressful event, so you pushed out a lot of something called cortisol – that’s a stress hormone. Cortisol lifts up your blood sugar, and overtime that will actually make you store more fat. As you get more fat on your cells, you create more estrogen and that will make you less able to pull blood sugar out, in which case your blood sugar will get higher and higher. That can cause insulin resistance, type 2 Diabetes, hormonal swings, mood swings and other abnormalities.

That’s a big deal because you have a little baby. You’re already going to be a little low on sleep, and you don’t want any other stressor on your system other than taking care of your little baby. I mean you want to be the best mom possible and prefer not to have you stressed out and making split-second decisions when you’re under that stress, so things need to be tested to figure out what’s really happening.