Tiredness is temporary. Exhaustion to a certain point is temporary. So for example, if your kid is going through a sleep regression or if you're in the season of newborn life, you're sleep deprived, you're having rough nights. For the most part, most of us can rally through the day with that extra cup of coffee, a nap.

Maybe that might take a couple of days to kind of prioritize yourself. And then you're back

to your baseline ready to go. Now, burnout is very different. Burnout is a chronic state of physical,

mental, emotional exhaustion that is caused by prolonged periods

of stress, prolonged periods of not being or feeling supported, and really just putting yourself

last for a very long time. It doesn't go away with just a simple cup of coffee, a good night's rest, a week-long

vacation, because if you are coming back to the same scenario, the same events, the same

triggering things, you're going to go back to your burnout journey. So burnout is this sense of dread.

Welcome to the Piedstock Talk podcast. It's me, Dr. Mona, your favorite

online pediatrician, mom friend, and someone who supports parents equally as I support the kids,

because, hey, you matter too, even if sometimes you forget that. In today's episode, we're diving

into a topic that feels deeply personal for me, parental burnout. Parental burnout is the result of constant,

unrelenting parenting demands without adequate support or breaks. And let me tell you,

I've lived it. And I know many of you may be living it now or have. Burnout can be especially

common in those earlier when babies and toddlers developmentally demand so much from us, but it can also show up more often when you have a child with medical,

developmental, or behavioral needs.

You're navigating parenting without a village, so no nearby family or consistent help or friends.

You're balancing a high-demand job with home life.

You're a stay-at-home parent doing invisible labor 24-7.

You're solo parenting due to deployment, divorce, or work travel. Or you're constantly carrying

the mental load without shared responsibility. During the pandemic, both my husband and I were on the

front lines in demanding health care jobs. Our son was constantly sick from group child care,

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