Am I a good mum?

Some days, I feel like I have ‘imposter syndrome’.

What am I even doing, being allowed to care for a new baby? Were the midwives mental when they willingly let me leave that ward with my new, pink bundle of soft, delicate, VULNERABLE joy?

People tell me constantly what a great mum I am.

I smile and thank them, and continue as I am, but the reality it… I AM WINGING IT. In fact, I’d say that ‘winging it’ was an understatement. I am bumbling through motherhood clumsily, making mistakes, learning from them, and praying that my baby will continue being happy and healthy.

But a ‘good’ mum? I really don’t know. I’m just a mum, doing what she has to do, going through the motions to keep my lovely baby alive!

To me, a good mum is the clean, ‘together’, dynamic mum we see on social media (Mrs Hinch, Stacey Solomon, Christine McGuinness) but I am coming to realise that no, this doesn’t define a ‘good’ mum. I mean, yeah, they are amazing, but these social media feeds only give us a brief insight into their world. These feeds are carefully cultivated to show the world only one side, but for all we know, they could be lounging in bed until lunch time whilst the nanny gets the kids ready for the day, they could spend hardly any time with their babies and conveniently show a snapshot that says otherwise (I’m not saying this is actually what happens) – social media doesn’t show us the full picture.

I don’t know what a good mum is – is there even a definition for ‘good’?

I’m a mum, doing my best for my baby girl, and I think that this is enough.

Written by Emma Tebbett