I think if I didn’t get a break now and then that I would have gone crazy a long time ago!” confesses Veronica Reis. Her son, Tristan, is 20 months old and on the go non-stop. “Tristan has more energy than I have ever seen in a child or adult,” says Reis. But she knows that, once a week, she’ll have a chance to decompress.

“I have a passion for scrapbooking, and every Friday night I go to a local scrapbook store with some of my girlfriends and I get to work on Tristan’s albums. It gives me a chance to be with the girls and also to be without him for a few hours.” Reis feels lucky that her husband, Steve, “is a wonderful man who enjoys spending time with his son” so she knows she is leaving Tristan in good hands.

Tristan may be an especially busy boy, but all toddlers are energetic, high-maintenance little people who can be quite exhausting to live with, says Nikki Taylor, parent education manager at the Oakville (Ontario) Parent-Child Centre. “I have a handout that documents the activities of different children, from age 18 months to age four, over a seven-minute period in a child care setting. By age four, the child is moving from one activity to another in seven minutes. But the toddler! It’s non-stop. I haven’t counted, but there have to be 50!” Mix in a toddler’s emotional volatility and low frustration threshold, and the fact that he may be reducing or giving up his nap time, and it’s no wonder parents sometimes feel stretched awfully thin.

“Parenting is a 24/7 job,” stresses Taylor, “and nobody can do that without a break.” She urges moms not to feel guilty about needing a little time away. “The number-one thing is, if you don’t take care of yourself, there is no one to take care of your baby, so it’s not selfish at all; it’s necessary.”

The more support a mom has around her, the easier it is to get relief. Kerry Sauriol, mom to two-year-old Adam and baby Caitlyn, doesn’t have a scheduled time out like Reis, but she gets breaks when she needs them: “I’m truly blessed with a mom who’s retired and lives within shouting distance of my house. Anytime I’m losing my sanity, a helping hand is nearby. I’m also blessed in that my husband works from home and, when he hears the chaos level rising too high, he jumps in and rescues me.”

We don’t all have a grandma down the street or a stay-at-home partner, but creative moms find lots of ways to cover for each other. Alysa Zucht belongs to a playgroup she attends with her toddler, William. “We rotate houses each week so we end up hosting only once every six weeks.”

This group has recently found a way to give each other some real downtime — a “baby swap.” Each month, they each draw a name to see who their baby-swap partner is for the next four weeks. Baby-swap partners can call on each other between one and three times that month for babysitting. “It’s a great way to get out and run some errands or just come home and read without your toddler,” says Zucht. “We all feel comfortable leaving our kids because we are all so familiar with each other.”

Brenna Dubé finds a get-together with friends one of the most restorative breaks around. She meets her pals a couple of times a week after the kids are in bed. They exercise to a tape for 30 minutes — much easier to do with company — and then the fun part begins. “We just have tea or coffee and gab for an hour,” says Dubé. “It is the best way to relax! Sometimes we laugh so hard that our stomachs hurt.”

Taylor acknowledges that a trusted person to take care of the child is key to a mom’s ability to take a time out. “You need to not feel guilty about leaving your child with daddy. Fathers are not babysitting — they’re parents as well and need an active part in raising their children,” she says. “We do a dads-only drop-in here on Saturday mornings, and we really encourage moms to let dads do that.”

A babysitter hired once a week can also fit the bill. Try to use the time for something that you like, not chores. “I think you need to stay connected with some of those hobbies or interests you had before you were a mommy, or do whatever relaxes you,” Taylor says. “I love to go to a bookstore and just browse through the books — you can’t do that with a toddler along.

However you manage it, Taylor says it’s important to give that time priority. “Often we say we’re going to go out once a week, but when things come up, that’s the first thing that gets bumped to the bottom of the list.” Short of an emergency, don’t let it get bumped. You really do deserve a break today.