Connie Britton remembers what it was like to transition into becoming a new mother.

While attending the RTC and Stuart House 50th Anniversary Brunch in Los Angeles, California on Sunday (October 27), the actress, 57, opened up about how she felt transitioning into being a new mom after welcoming her son Yoby, now 13, by adoption in 2011 from Ethiopia.

“When I first had my son, I feel like I didn’t look in the mirror for a year, other than when I was working,” Britton tells PEOPLE. “So I feel like I wasn’t even wearing makeup at the time. It just goes sideways.”

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Despite being officially a teenager, Britton says Yoby hasn’t suffered from any of that normal teenage squeamishness.

“He’s still so sweet, and every day I think, ‘Is today going to be the day? Have I lost him to the teenage years?’ But at the moment he’s such a sweet boy and still loves a lot of baby stuff, so I’m going to stick with it as long as I can,” says the proud mum.

For Britton, she can attribute some of his good behavior to the fact that Yoby doesn’t have a phone yet and isn’t on social media.

“He does (ask), but he doesn’t ask crazy for it,” Britton says. “He sometimes says, ‘Mom, when can I get a phone?’ And I say, ‘Not yet.’

In May 2023, Britton spoke to PEOPLE about Season 2 of the nature docuseries MOM’Swhich she told and said there was an animal she particularly resonated with with because she is a single mother.

“I actually really related to the African wild dogs,” the star told PEOPLE.

“I think because those mothers are so dependent on their pack to raise their young. As a single mother, I am completely dependent on my ‘pack’ or village to raise my son and really in every aspect of my life, much like these dogs do Even food, have my pack is very interested in feeding our children and ourselves.”

“It’s fascinating to realize how much babies in the wild are raised primarily by their mothers and their herds,” Britton said. “We human single mothers can be inspired by these single mothers in nature.”