Woman shares the text message all people should send their new mum friends three days after they’ve given birth

AFTER battling with post-birth anxiety, an Aussie mum has shared the one text that she believes should be sent to all new mums.

And she even reveals the crucial time to send the much-needed message.

New mum Bek Day told Kidspot that she found herself crippled with anxiety just 72 hours after the birth of her son.

For the previous days following the birth she had been in a "blissful little bubble of awe over the new life" she had made.

But by the "dreaded day three," as she calls it, Bek was overwhelmed by anxiety, panic and self doubt – even convincing herself "that having a baby had been the worst decision of my life."

Racked with the fear that "every germ, bug and bacteria in the world was going to find its way into my beautiful pure child's immune system and rip him from me," she went to extreme measures to safeguard her newborn.

Bek insisted that all visitors heavily sanitise themselves before meeting her precious tot.

And so extreme was her desire for cleanliness that her husband now refers to Day three as her "Howard Hughes day."

It became clear that Bek was suffering with the common 'baby blues' – a condition that affects up to 80% of women after giving birth.

I became convinced every germ, bug and bacteria in the world was going to find its way into my beautiful pure child's immune system and rip him from me

While battling with her newfound paranoia, not helped by going down a rabbit hole of Googling "as-yet undetected syndromes," Bek received a much-needed text that bolted her back to reality… and rationality.

Standing out from the influx of gushing texts of congratulations, it read:

"'Hi lovely. It's Day three which means if you're anything like me, you're in the depths of despair right now.

"Just know that it will pass, that you're a wonderful mum, and that tomorrow or the next day [sic] these feelings should melt away again – and if they don't, I'm here to talk."

Hi lovely. It's Day 3 which means if you're anything like me, you're in the depths of despair right now.
Just know that it will pass, that you're a wonderful mum, and that tomorrow or the next day [sic] these feelings should melt away again – and if they don't, I'm here to talk.

Her friend's message of understanding offered her a whole new sense of perspective on why she – like many new mothers – was feeling overwhelmed.

And she felt that almost immediately her "whole body relaxed in relief" and allowed her to wrestle any hormonal anxiety "into a box made of logic."

Bek now says that she always makes sure to send "some version" of the text to her friends around the three-day mark post-birth.

She's even gone so far as to describe the message as being her "lifeline" and says that responses have "been varied" but largely "grateful."

Though Bek acknowledges that some do not experience the "dreaded day three" grief.

In that case she thinks the message can be shared as a token that "someone was thinking about their health as well as that of the baby."

For others who have the same experience as her it's a reminder that "this too shall pass."

And with the birth of her second child just around the corner, she says that the knowledge that "an army of women have also been there" has equipped her to confront whatever feelings she may face on Day three or any other day for that matter.

In other parenting news, we told you about the 'exhausted' new mum who begged visitors to stay away for two days.

We also shared how this mum was "C section-shamed" by her midwife who claims she should have had a "proper birth" at 32 weeks.

Plus this mum revealed her four-year-old was her birth partner and helped deliver her baby brother in the living room.

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