In their own words.

I'd say it all passes and it'll come back and keep going. It gets easier and easier, is what I tend to say to mothers, because no one wants to hear it gets harder.

I'm getting more back to me, you know, because when they're tiny and they're full on and they're on you, you stop running and you stop looking after yourself, which really you should try to keep doing, but it's, it's very hard.

You'll find yourself again. For sure. You'll find yourself again. It looks like not, but you will at some point.

So the best thing is, even if it's raining, go out. Go out.

You know that you will get to that same point that it's gonna end, it's gonna pass. It's just temporary.

Knowing that I wasn't alone was the main thing.

When Ayan was born, I thought, I have lost myself. I could not find the courage to drive the car, go to work. It got better.

So it may feel really overwhelming in the minute, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. They do grow up.

But if mom is overwhelmed and tired, she's not living well, she's not doing well.

I just think if they had a group specifically for young mums, that would help.

Oh my God, I've just been left to my own devices with this thing, and I don't know what I'm doing, because I've never been through this before.

I do lots of yoga and pilates now more because I've got more time on my hands.

Maybe there should be someone in the hospital as well when you have a baby that can come around and see you if you need it, and have a chat, a bit like therapy, a bit like a counselor or something.

It's like, if everything's okay, you're in there for a very short amount of time, and it's all then just on you at home.

We all feel that way, sometimes. You'll come back. You just get your points back eventually. Everyone's been there. So you're not alone.

You raise another human being. It's a big, big job, even bigger than working in a corporate job, or even as a CEO. Raising a human being is a great, is a big thing.

I think you do lose yourself when you're a new mum. But it does come back. It took me a long time to realise that you do matter as well. You have to reach out.

I don't know. I feel the same, actually. It's a hard situation. I just keep doing it because of my daughter, and I don't give up because of her.

Really get involved in local play groups, and speak about the problems, because you can lose yourself. Swimming is one of the best things, I think, because it's therapeutic.

Get out the house, go for a walk and get some fresh air and meet a friend.

I'd say that she hasn't lost herself. She's just adapting, and she'll find herself again later on. It will just take time.

I don't think you ever truly find your old self. I think you find a new self.

I'm kind of in that pit at the moment.

Even if it's just an hour a week, to do something for you, whatever that is, yoga, read a book or just scream.

Because you think you're on your own, you think you're the only person going through certain things, but you realize that everybody goes through exactly the same.

Well, I think you know if you look after yourself, then you're going to be better for those around you, aren't you?

I like to go to the gym, because this is what gives me time for myself without anybody asking me, Mom, give me this. Give me that.

Because obviously you sacrifice your time and yourself for someone to raise children.

My partner went back to work, so I just felt enclosed and didn't feel confident enough to go out.

They think we have to be strong, but not strong with this situation, strong to ask for someone to help them.

It's normal to ask a husband, mom, some friends and say that I'm not okay. I need you, and I think it's okay.

It's a very hard question, because sometimes I feel the same because it's changed my life 180%.

It was all just like, a bit of a blur, really.

Maybe I haven't found myself yet. Maybe I'm still waiting.

Support, yeah, having people around you. That's what really helped.

You kind of realise that, hey, I'm not myself anymore. I don't have time for myself.

Take time out for yourself and share overnight feeds with your partner, get the man in the room doing the feeds, and you go into another room and have a nap.

Take time for yourself. Don't feel guilty about it.

I think losing myself felt like I was in a very mundane day to day life, and I was sort of just existing.

Well, you know, they're 50% parents, so they need to take a bit more responsibility.

All the wake ups in the night, early mornings, that kind of the constantness of someone needing you all the time.

I think that you lose a part of yourself, but you gain a new self, and you've got to try and integrate them a little bit.

You kind of have to mourn the person that you are before, in a way, and that can be quite difficult, but it is also the start of becoming something else.

We are missing that in a kind of very modern, individualistic society. We're missing some more mutual support.

I'm very much early postpartum, so I don't know.

All your brain chemistry is designed to want to look after and care for your beautiful little baby. So it can be really, really easy to lose yourself in that.

It feels like you have them and then you're forgotten, and everything is about them, whereas you're going through the biggest psychological change since becoming a teenager as well.

I'm struggling with it myself, to be honest, so I'm probably looking for advice as well.

A face mask, putting a hair mask on, just painting my nails, just things that make me feel like I've got myself together a little bit more.

The fact it's an endless job, it's a 24 hour job, there's no rest.

Your mind never switches off. It's constant. It's like a mental load, they call it, don't they? The mental load is heavy.

I'm still looking in the mirror, and I'm like, Who's this person?

I don't want to go back to being who I was before, because right now I'm way more resilient, I'm stronger, I'm happier, I have a purpose.

I think society has lied to us saying we can do everything at the same time, without having to pay a price.

In order for me to be great for them, I need to be great for myself as well.

I'm still ambitious, but there are just more important things in my life now.

Very mindful of what young mums go through after a birth because it can be quite traumatic, and it depends what help you've got as well.

It feels like you have so much pressure on your shoulders and so overwhelmed.

Even if you're ill, you have to get up and try your best to be the best mother you can for your little one, even though you're feeling that you can't get up and can't do anything, sometimes you feel depressed, ill, not yourself. But you still have to get up and keep going with the day.

Doing things that make you feel like yourself, and that are important to you, that make you feel like a human and not just a mother.

It can be very lonely being a mum, and you think because you have a child, you've always got company, but actually you just never have any time to think for yourself.

And going back to work does make me feel more normal again.

You've caught me on a good day, so I feel okay today.

I know that's easier said than done, but I think you need to dedicate that time for yourself.

Literally, just get out the house.

I used to ride horses, so with kids now being so young, I can't just leave them and go and get on a horse and ride.

Our whole family, they all work, so we can't just drop the kids after them.

[This is] my fourth child. I still don't feel myself.

I probably would be a lonely mother if it weren't for my sister.

People start thinking, oh, it's all about the baby, and I don't think they look after the mum as much.

In society, yeah, you're just a mum, and that's what it feels like.