When you have a baby, your world changes forever. No longer are you the most important person in your life, you now have this tiny human to care for and bring up, and their wants and needs will always come first. For this reason, it’s quite easy to lose yourself during motherhood– you’re no longer ‘you’ but you’re a carer, a mum, the support system behind this little life.

Many of us look in the mirror at one time or another and realise that we don’t recognise ourselves any more, and this loss of identity can actually be a bit of a struggle. It’s important to remember that you can still be ‘you’ and be a good mum, you can still invest time and effort into yourself and it won’t take away from how you are as a parent. In fact, feeling good about yourself is likely to lead to you feeling more happy and motivated and actually make you a better parent! Here are some of the ways you can fix yourself up, and feel good about yourself once again.

Have your hair done

Your hair is your crowning glory, for many of us women it makes up a huge part of our identity. As a busy mum, chances are you’ll have yours scraped back into a practical style most days, but it’s good to be able to style it to look nice when you want to feel good. If it’s been a long time since you visited the salon, book yourself in. Have them give you a cut and colour, even if it’s not drastic it will freshen everything up and you’ll feel much better about yourself.

Buy yourself some new clothes

Buying clothes for your kids is probably one of your favourite things to do, who can resist purchasing cute little outfits?! But when was the last time you bought something yourself? A new outfit that you can wear to meet your friends or go on a date night with your partner can be just what you need to give you a boost of self-esteem.

Think about a procedure

Is there something about your face or body that really bothers you? There are lots of safe procedures you can have done these days to put that right, that isn’t too expensive and don’t have a lot of recovery time. From non-surgical nose jobs to wrinkle treatments like microdermabrasion, you could even visit the dentist and have braces fitted if you want to straighten your teeth. If it’s going to resolve insecurity you have then why not?

Mums, how do you keep your self-esteem up?