The Normalization of Drinking in Motherhood

Having kids is HARD. When you come home with a newborn, it's a huge shock to the system. Nothing is as it was before, and life is incredibly overwhelming. But, after 9 months of sobriety, you get to celebrate being able to drink again!

At first it feels impossible to think about drinking. You're so sleep deprived and overwhelmed it's hard to get back into it. Then you realize that a glass of wine might be a nice way to relax. It's easy to lean on alcohol to "take the edge off." And as that little baby gets older, the need to take the edge off does not lessen. Crying babies and tantrumming (is this really not a word?) toddlers are quite overstimulating.

For many moms, weekend drinking turns into daily drinking after having kids. Getting out of the house feels so hard in the early days, so why not “treat yourself” to a glass of wine after the baby goes down, or while you're cooking dinner? And then you hit the toddler years, and you start to reach for that glass a little earlier, just to take the edge off and survive the seemingly endless "no's" and negotiations. Before you know it, you’re regularly drinking well before happy hour and you don't even think twice about it.

Mommy wine culture really had its moment during the pandemic. Moms everywhere were reaching for their trusty glass of wine in order to get through virtual school and being around their kids 24/7 - and they were posting about it on social media in all sorts of funny and engaging ways. Overburdened mothers were crying out for help, and all we could come up with was using alcohol to numb the pain.

For many of us (myself included!), alcohol became a coping mechanism for the stress and pressure of motherhood. Social media made drinking to "deal with" motherhood funny and normal. Targeted advertising reminded us that we deserved a break, in the form of a drink. The merchandise and memes made this dependence on alcohol feel even more normal.

Mommy wine culture normalizes drinking to cope with the stress of motherhood. This normalization makes you feel like drinking is harmless. Everyone is doing it, and we are all in it together. As the pressure and stress on mothers continuously increases, so does their need for coping methods. Without support, moms can easily become overly reliant on alcohol. After all, it is addictive, and habits are hard to break.

Mommy wine culture has become slightly more “taboo” as of late, as society is slowly but surely recognizing that this is not a healthy coping mechanism and alcohol is not so good for your health. But the merchandise is still out there, the Instagram reels are still playing, and the booze is still boozing. How do we fix this?