Sometimes I go back through old comments and check out what those bloggers are up to, and often I find the blog has been abandoned. You might wonder, if blogging is so great, why do so many mommy bloggers stop blogging? And maybe right now you’re reading this because you’ve pondered stepping away from your own blog.

This post was inspired by a post on another blog, titled 13 Reasons Why Bloggers Gave Up On Blogging. On his post Renard breaks down many reasons why bloggers stop blogging, from writer’s block to harassment. He also gives some good suggestions on how bloggers can overcome these reasons. But as someone in the “mommy blogger” niche, we have a special set of reasons why we might abandon our big blogging dreams.

And you know what? It’s OK to step away. Are you stressed? Too much on your plate already? Take a blog break. This is a no judgement zone. So if while reading through this you find any of them apply to you, I get it. I also know sometimes it helps to read other people feel that way too. So here are six very valid reasons mommy bloggers might abandon their blog.

6 Reasons Mommy Bloggers Stop Blogging

1 – Their kid got old enough to read the blog and does not want to be written about.

I’ve seen this happen on more than one blog. One day you’re writing about your baby and the next they’re reading and having a fit about all the stories (and possibly photos) about them potty training. They’re teenagers and they are embarrassed about everything. And suddenly, the one thing that you wrote a lot about can no longer be your focus. So where does that leave your blog? In this situation the only way to keep going is to totally switch tracks and come up with a new focus.

2 – You had another kid and no longer have time to sleep, much less blog.

Depending on the person, a new kid is either blog fuel or a blog breaker. It all depends on how you approach the blog and whether it’s an outlet for you, or just another obligation. Having a baby is actually what drove me to blog, because writing is my sanity saver. Though I admit, my first two years of blogging were extremely sporadic, with posts titles like “My Blog About Not Having Time to Blog” and even just admitting that yes, I am a “mommy blogger” and embracing the niche.

Kids are a LOT of work. You do what you need to do to keep your sanity. You do not need blogging obligations on top of navigating things like sleep training and breastfeeding. The kids come first. The blog can wait.

3 – The blog never even really got started.

This is certainly the easiest one to walk away from, and probably the number one thing I run into. Sometimes I go through the WordPress reader search and look for new mom blogs to follow. Often I run across ones that get off to an enthusiastic start, with a first blog post full of hope and excitement. And then maybe another post or two with a little less enthusiasm. And then a complete absence of posts for the last couple years.

You gave it a shot, it wasn’t for you, don’t feel bad about cutting ties and walking away if you need to concentrate more on your family and yourself. Blogging is actually work. Moms do a million jobs already. One thing they don’t need is more work. And that leads me to my next reason.

4 – They found out blogging to make money can be a lot of work.

You may think blogging is all fun and games, and honestly a lot of it is fun. But if you do it to make money, it’s a job, and you have to treat it like a job. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. If you want engagement on your blog, you also have to engage with other blogs. And if you want paid deals, you need traffic and engagement. Nobody is going to pay to be on a blog nobody reads. And trying to get people to read your blog can be super stressful when you start checking those stats every day!

5 – The social media requirements are too demanding.

One thing you’ll discover if you start blogging as a job, is that companies often don’t want just a blog post. They want Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. The blog is the cornerstone of operations, and the social media posts are what drive more traffic to your blog. And then there are some mom blogs that leave blogging all together in favor of just focusing on one social media platform like Instagram.

6 – Life changes, the kids are growing up and your focus is changing.

Women often start mommy blogging because they are deep in the trenches of motherhood, with new babies, and then challenging toddlers. But the kids grow, and change, and so do you. A mom blog that gets started recommending baby products may not be interested in baby products at all in five years. In fact, you may start actually concentrating back on yourself and your own interests, and want to write about something other than baby stuff.

When you get to the point where a mommy blog no longer fits your lifestyle, you can either start a completely new blog, or try and convert your old one. I start blogging as an IVF/infertility blogger, and then when I had my son I decided to keep going because I fell in love with blogging. But also, I knew my IVF audience didn’t want to hear me complaining about motherhood while they were still fighting to get there. So for me, it made sense to start a completely new blog.

These are just a few of the reasons that popped in my head while pondering why there are so many abandoned mommy blogs on the Internet. If you are someone that let your blog go, what was your reason?