"I'm really struggling." Carrie Bickmore on the side of parenting we don't always see.

Carrie Bickmore has opened up about the unexpected challenges she has encountered following the birth of her third child, Addie, who is now five months old.

Although Australians know Carrie Bickmore, 38, as a successful TV presenter on The Project with a life that looks rather glamorous, since welcoming Addie, she has been pulling the curtain back to show her followers the less attractive parts of her everyday life as the mother of a newborn.

Writing for Stellar Magazine on Mother’s Day, Bickmore shared that her “third stint at motherhood” has been “one of the most challenging periods of my life”.

Much harder, she explained, than the newborn phase for her first two children, Ollie, now 11, and three-year-old Evie.

In the column, The Project co-host recalled a text exchange she had with her partner Chris, while he was away on a camping trip with her eldest child.

Bickmore explained that she thought she would cope just fine with her partner away for the night, but at 2am, her thought process soon changed.

The television host shared a series of texts in which she told her partner that she was "really struggling".

"I can’t do this on my own tonight, I’m worried I may be getting postnatal depression," she wrote to her partner.

"He calls and my anxiety immediately drops. By sunrise, I’m much calmer. (Why are the nights so much lonelier?)"

It's not the first time Bickmore has been open with her fans about the challenges she has encountered following the birth of Addie. In the months since, the journalist has been admirably open and honest on Instagram about her new life as a mother-of-three.

In January, Bickmore celebrated one month of life with her newborn with a post detailing the exhausting truth of new parenthood.

“1 MONTH OLD TODAY,” she captioned the post.
“Sleep [thumbs down]
Boobtime [thumbs up]
Googling ‘what is reflux at 3am?’ [thumbs up]
Late night pram walks [thumbs up]
Cuddles [thumbs up]
Arguments [thumbs up]
Conflicting advice given [thumbs up]
Struggle with existing 3 year old [thumbs up]
Hours spent staring at Adelaide [thumbs up]
Feeling overwhelmed [thumbs up]
Feeling like it’s all going to be ok [thumbs up]
Eating meals with 1 hand [thumbs up]
Witching hour is witching 4 hours [thumbs up]
Tears of happiness [thumbs up]
Tears of exhaustion [thumbs up]
Surviving on 4 hours broken sleep [thumbs up]
A trip back to hospital with mastitis [thumbs up]
Getting 5 mins to myself [thumbs down]
Bursting with love and gratitude [thumbs up]”

Then in February Bickmore posted an "Instagram verses reality” snapshot of parenting, that struck a chord with her 617,000 followers who thanked her for her "realness".

 

View this post on Instagram

 

INSTAGRAM verses REALITY (swipe right) ???? 1st pic was taken on a flattering angle, with some props, some casual hand positioning, some clever cropping and a nice little filter added. The 2nd was the real moment captured without my knowledge a couple of weeks after Adelaide was born before I woke up and suggested we take a nice shot. ????

A post shared by Carrie Bickmore (@bickmorecarrie) on Feb 11, 2019 at 2:16pm PST

Bickmore is yet to return to The Project hosting duties, but she has gone back to her radio show which she co-hosts with Tommy Little. But of course, returning to work has come with it's own set of challenges as well.

Bickmore told her fans after returning to work: "Week 1 back on radio @carrietommyshow certainly packed a punch! The household had gastro, colds and nits. Welcome back to work mummy!!!!"

You can read Carrie Bickmore's full column for Stellar Magazine right here.