“It’s stressful, lonely, scary”: The Project’s Carrie Bickmore reveals struggles of motherhood
<p>TV personality Carrie Bickmore has revealed what her “third stint of motherhood” has been like in a honest and raw column for <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/stellar" target="_blank"><em>Stellar</em></a> magazine.</p>
<p>She posted the column to Instagram, explaining to her followers that motherhood can be “stressful, lonely, scary and incredibly challenging”.</p>
<p>She wrote the column for <em>Stellar</em> when baby Adelaide was only a few months old and things were “super tough”.</p>
<p>“I hope it can provide a tiny bit of comfort if you are struggling with a new bub. You are not alone,” she wrote on Instagram.</p>
<blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxWiVfln2V-/" data-instgrm-version="12">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxWiVfln2V-/" target="_blank">Motherhood isn’t always breakky in bed and handmade necklaces...it can stressful, lonely, scary and incredibly challenging. Here’s my first column back for @stellarmag I wrote it when Adelaide was only a few months old and we were finding it super tough. I hope it can provide a tiny bit of comfort if you are struggling with a new bub. You are not alone 💕</a></p>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/bickmorecarrie/" target="_blank"> Carrie Bickmore</a> (@bickmorecarrie) on May 11, 2019 at 11:17pm PDT</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>The column written by Bickmore goes in depth about the sleepless nights and crippling anxiety that comes with having a newborn baby.</p>
<p>She explained that the early months with her third baby Adelaide have been “one of the most challenging periods of my parenting life”.</p>
<p>“I realise now I had it pretty easy during the newborn phase with my other two kids,” she wrote in <em>Stellar</em>.</p>
<p>“This little poppet has needed to be held day and night for six weeks straight.”</p>
<p>Bickmore also goes into detail about what it was like dealing with Adelaide’s struggle with severe reflux, which led to many sleepless nights.</p>
<blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw8C6i2nvtN/" data-instgrm-version="12">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw8C6i2nvtN/" target="_blank">Every time I look at this photo of Addie it makes me forget that she woke on the hour every hour last night. 😩 Will continue to look at it all day!!! ❤️ #needcoffeenow</a></p>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/bickmorecarrie/" target="_blank"> Carrie Bickmore</a> (@bickmorecarrie) on May 1, 2019 at 4:23pm PDT</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>“Sounds like such a gentle affliction, but it’s genuinely torn us a new one,” she says.</p>
<p>Bickmore tries her hardest to hold onto perspective by reminding herself of other mums out there.</p>
<p>“I try to hold onto perspective, reminding myself there are new mums doing it tougher with really sick babies, no support networks, or twins,” Bickmore said.</p>
<p>“But keeping perspective with no sleep is like trying to catch a fish that’s just been shot out of a cannon.”</p>
<p>However, five-month-old Adelaide has recovered from reflux with the help of medication.</p>
<p>“I think we’re through the toughest bit,” she writes hopefully. “Tomorrow will bring new challenges, but today I feel lucky.”</p>
<p>She ended the piece with well wishes for other mums out there who might be struggling.</p>
<p>“I wish you calmer times ahead. Keep telling yourself: the nights are long, but the years are short.”</p>
