It’s made to look easy on social media, with mummy bloggers sharing only the highlights from their time as parents, but gold medallist Libby Trickett is the first to admit that motherhood, in its #NoFilter form “has been really challenging and hard”.
Speaking out to Kidspot, the 32-year-old urges other mums to share the not-so-glamourous moments in a bid to create a sense of authenticity.
“Share the poo in the bath. Share the midnight spew you’ve just had to clean up…share those moments as well as the gorgeous first birthday and the perfectly made cake and those sorts of things,” she says.
Libby goes on to reveal how she’s had to come to terms with her daughter Poppy, 19-months, being different to the way she perhaps envisioned.
“Every day you’re constantly having to let go and accept the situation as it is rather than trying to expect or think differently of your child.
“Poppy has constantly been different to what I imagined her to be and that is a constant evolution for me to go ‘Poppy is who she is and I love her regardless of whether she’s throwing a tantrum in the middle of a shopping centre or not.
“It’s probably tested me to my limits more than I ever could have imagined.
“When you have a newborn particularly, but even at 19 months you still kind of go ‘I don’t know if I’m doing a good job. I don’t know if this is the right way to do it’,” the sportswoman says.
Earlier this week, the young mum candidly spoke out to Mammamia about her lowest point as a mother.
Sleep-deprived beyond belief, she revealed she yelled at her daughter, eight months old at the time, for minutes on end.
“I was so resentful of the fact that she wasn’t letting me sleep and I had no space from her because we were co-sleeping all night and then she was tired because she was waking every 45 minutes, too … it felt like we weren’t connecting the way I really wanted to.”
“I ended up yelling at her, literally at the top of my lungs for about 15 minutes straight. And that was when I really realised I needed to get help.”
She first headed to her GP to shape a mental health plan which involved seeing a psychologist, and in conjunction makes regular time for herself to meditate and exercise.
“That could be considered as quite selfish but you can’t pour from an empty cup.”
We can’t thank Libby enough for starting this raw and real conversation.
