Shay Mitchell opens up about raising daughter Atlas during a pandemic: 'She's going to think there are only 2 people in this world'

• Shay Mitchell spoke with Insider about the challenges and rewards of raising her and Matte Babel's 7-month-old daughter Atlas at home during the pandemic.
• The 33-year-old "Dollface" actress said that although she misses spending time with her friends and family, she and Babel have been able to witness many of Atlas' milestones.
• And to make sure that other parents don't feel alone during this time, the new mom has teamed up with Pampers to acknowledge and applaud parents' efforts leading up to Mother's Day on Sunday.
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Shay Mitchell, the 33-year-old "Dollface" actress, has adjusted to raising her 7-month-old daughter Atlas at home during the pandemic.

Although the new mom has said that FaceTime helps her keep in touch with friends or family, Mitchell is doing her part to make sure other parents don't feel alone or unseen. She's working with Pampers to recognize parents' efforts leading up to Mother's Day on Sunday.

Insider spoke with Mitchell about the partnership, the silver lining to the pandemic, and her plans for her first Mother's Day with Atlas.

Tell me a bit about your partnership with Pampers and why it's important to you.

Pampers and I are partnering up to remind moms out there that they are doing an incredible job. Anything they do to support their child is more than enough. I think anybody can agree with me when I say that parenting is hard even in the best of times, and especially right now.

It's especially important that we help each other out and offer encouragement, and I just think that's what this campaign is all about is really just sharing the love, and anybody can using the hashtag "share the love" on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.

It's just kind of the perfect way to send some extra support to any mom in your life.

This is your first Mother's Day. How will you celebrate?

We are going to be celebrating at home. We're probably going to do a lot of cooking. Maybe a little baking if we're feeling creative and just spending time with Atlas.

We may just do the set up a little bit differently and maybe do some sort of picnic situation out in the front yard or something. Who knows? We'll spice it up a little bit.

Do you have any tips for how to celebrate Mother's Day at home this year?

We were joking about it, but kind of a good idea that a friend of mine was doing was setting up a little sort of special situation.

Whether you put a blanket in the living room or even in the bedroom on the floor, like making a little picnic. Doing something that maybe you would've done if it wasn't in the circumstance. I love picnics. I love eating outside. So for us, we may do that outside or maybe a movie night.

How has parenting during the pandemic been for you as a mom? Has it changed your outlook on parenting?

It's definitely allowed us to spend all of this time with Atlas, whereas we probably wouldn't have had all this time. Matte [Babel] and I both travel quite a bit so obviously our jobs are now working from home.

It's just really allowed us to spend as much time as possible with Atlas, which has been great. In this time, we've been able to sleep train her, which has also been really wonderful, and start her on solids, which is exciting.

There's been a lot of different milestones we've been able to witness being here with her. I really have enjoyed spending this time at home. It's the most time that I've been at home in more years than I can count so that's really what we've been doing. We're also trying to figure out sort of a work-life balance with being at home. Working from home, staying at home, how to manage that.

What have been your biggest challenges as a parent, especially during a pandemic?

Maybe not being able to connect with friends and other people in person has been the hardest challenge.

For us, we had a few trips planned to Vancouver so I could bring Atlas to see my grandma and all of that. So we have just been making the most of it by FaceTime. I FaceTime with my grandma for all of [Atlas'] bath times and a lot of her meals, so that has been really nice for us.

How do you feel about going back to work when this is over? Do you think you'll approach parenting differently than before the pandemic?

I don't know if I'll approach it differently because I'm afforded the luxury that a lot of what I do outside of acting is on the phone and can be done on Zoom conferences. I definitely will choose to do more Zoom calls — because we're all very good at it — over just driving down for meetings.

I wonder if Atlas will recognize the difference when we go back. She's 7 months now, so probably a little bit but I think it's just going to be continuous FaceTimes when I do go back to work on set just checking in with her but I would have done that normally.

What advice would you give to new parents during this time?

New parents and not even parents, I would say taking it one day at a time. You know? Be generous with yourself and with others.

To all my mom friends out there, I wanna say they're doing a great job, and what they are doing is more than enough even though it doesn't feel like that at times. I know from my own experience.

And for all expecting moms out there, word of advice is that you're never going to be 100% prepared, and that is okay.

What you can do, though, and what I would suggest doing, and what I think is such a wonderful thing that Pampers is doing is offering online virtual childbirth classes. That is a great place where you can get all the information so they can feel a little bit more prepared going through all of this.

I know for me, obviously, last year the classes were really, really helpful for me, and now Pampers is allowing moms to be able to stay safe and do it from their own home.

How has breastfeeding been for you? Have there been any challenges?

Breastfeeding was amazing when I was doing it. We have now switched to formula, so Atlas is doing that and food. She cannot get enough of food right now. Anything that we put on a spoon is super exciting for her. That's been kind of one of the exciting parts of the day is just seeing what she's going to love.

There actually hasn't been anything she hasn't liked. We've given her quite a bit. Kale, zucchini, cauliflower, lychee, you name it. She's really enjoying it, so I know she's my child. She loves food just as much as her mom.

Have you found specific challenges with being a millennial mom in the public eye?

Of course, but I don't pay attention to it, to be honest. I didn't pay attention if there was anything negative said about me prior to being a mom.

What I do pay attention to — and use social media for — is to reach out to other friends out there, use it as a support system, encourage other people, and use it in a positive way. That's really what I pay attention to and also as a form of resource for a lot of different things.

More than ever what I've been focusing on and using technology for in this day and age is just to be able to connect with our family and friends that we can't see in person right now. I'm on FaceTime a lot throughout the day. It's been a really nice way to still sort of connect with our families and catch up.

What is the first thing that you'll do with Atlas after the pandemic is over?

Take her to the beach, maybe meet some other humans. She's going to think there are only two people in this world. She's looking at Matte and I like, "Wait, is this it?"

I mean getting her to be held by other people is going to be really important for us after this, just as much as possible. All the little things — going for a walk in the park, going to the beach. That will be our first thing.