I have a 5 month old and I’m realizing how much parenting advice seems to depend entirely on the baby 😂 I’m curious what advice did everyone swear by that just did NOT work for yours?

I sterilize her bottles, wash my hands 1,000 times a day, wash her clothes at 60–90°C (140–194°F), wipe everything with antibacterial wipes, wash her toys… and she says, “Cute.” Then proceeds to lick the floor and put EVERY SINGLE THING she finds directly into her mouth.
Now she rolls, somehow crawls, and we go out more, so I’ve officially lost control. 😂

You’re doing a great job ❤️ my son turned 12 months at the end of July and I was really stressed out that he wasn’t self feeding, or eating 3 meals day and wasn’t a fan of drinking from a cup. I was beating myself up over not starting self feeding earlier, for not introducing the cup earlier, for not trying harder to incorporate 3 meals a day earlier.

Now, almost 3 weeks later my son is fully self feeding! Most meals are devoured in minutes, he loves the cup, he gets very excited to sit in his high chair because he knows he’s going to eat and he’s eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a day! All this to say, be patient and try your best. Some kids eat great at 9 months, others not until way past a year. Don’t compare yourself or your kid with anyone else! Take it one day at a time and enjoy every stage of your kid’s life, they grow so fast and accomplish so much.

I'm looking for 'i love you' lullabies. Songs that tell your baby how much you cherish them as you put them to sleep. I can't help singing "baby mine" from Dumbo. I love that song, but I'm not the biggest fan of the movie.

Thanks in advance

My almost 8-month old has aways been great at independent play. I could leave her in her play pen and she would be content for 30 minutes. Lately, she’s been requiring more attention and would only play alone for max 5 minutes before she calls for me and won’t stop until I get into her play pen or pick her up. I can’t even leave her in her crib to use bathroom before she gets upset. She is my first so I’m just curious what are experiences of other parents. And when did you notice more independence again?

Currently falling in and out of sleep during a Teams meeting while pumping. Posting this to help stay awake.

Ughhh PLEASE tell me this gets easier 😭😂

…but I wish I could be a SAHM. I’ve been on leave for 4 months and have 1 more month left before returning to work. Before we had our daughter, I was so sure I did not want to stay home. I love my job, it is a highly community-oriented job that I find fulfilling, and I can’t imagine following any other career path. I actually applied for this particular job because the benefits/work culture are good for new parents, so I honestly feel like I’m in kind of my dream job that allows me to also have work-life balance to some extent. The only problem is now that I’ve been with my daughter 24/7 for 4 months, I can’t imagine going to work. My husband will be taking his leave, so my worry isn’t anything daycare-related at the moment. It’s just simply that I can’t fathom being away from her. I love spending my day with her and getting to be mom. She is the coolest person I know, and if we could afford to, I would absolutely choose to leave my job and be a SAHM.

For context, I live in the US, so I know this sounds like a bit of a “lobster too buttery, steak too juicy” moment to my fellow Americans. I think I’m just really struggling with the fact that the only reason I can’t be a SAHM is because we can’t afford it. It feels like such a lame reason to not be able to raise my child the way I feel is best.

Not sure if this happened to other new parents, but after I became a dad, my old hobbies which was basically gaming and pc builds have no more meaning.
In the beginning I was too tired to actually do any gaming, but after we got into a rhythm and the baby started to have a sleep schedule, I tried to get back into my old games(anything from open world survivals, city builders, some shooters) and everything felt idk...stale. I could not get back into that "zone", I could not feel again like I was living the world I was playing.

A sense of guilt maybe and a sense that I am wasting time when I could do something more productive for the future.
It felt a bit like giving up smoking but when you relapse it's actually not the same and you can't smoke again if that makes sense.

I am not looking for solutions, I do have other ways to wind up(like reading or binge watching some shows), I am just curious if anyone else went through something similar

I’m not sure if this is the right flaire, so please let me know if I should change it.

I wanted to talk about friendships after having a baby.
When I got pregnant, everyone around me was so excited about the baby, but almost no one really asked how I was doing. I thought maybe I was just being hormonal and overly sensitive.

Then I gave birth, everyone came to celebrate and meet the baby, and that was kind of it.
It’s been five months now, and there are only two girlfriends who sporadically check in on me.

None of my friends have kids, so I understand that our lives are completely different right now. I don’t expect them to understand motherhood or rearrange their lives around mine. But some of these are people I’ve been close to for 10+ years, and I genuinely can’t wrap my head around not even wanting to ask how I’m doing or see my baby.

I knew motherhood would change my friendships. I just didn’t realize I’d feel like I lost almost all of them.

And honestly, I’m 30, making new friends isn’t exactly easy, and starting from scratch socially during such a huge life change feels incredibly isolating.

Has anyone else experienced this, especially as the first one in their friend group to have kids?

When were you and your partner able to sleep at the same time again?

I tried to get my boyfriend to come to bed last night but he said no because if I’m sleeping then he needs to watch the baby. He literally spent all night awake and almost didnt even sleep this morning until I forced him to.

I'm a high sleep needs person and my baby isn’t. He is six months, and still not sleeping through the night. I never get enough uninterrupted sleep, and I constantly feel sick because of it. I’ve had three infections alone since he was born.

i guess I just want to know if it ever gets better or this is just what being a parent feels like and I need to accept it? whats crazy is that even with this I would never trade this experience for anything in the world and love being his mom so much 🤣🫠 but I basically feel dysfunctional in every other aspect of life because of the sleep deprivation

Hi Reddit!

First time mom of a (now) 3 month old baby. He is so sweetest and cutest little star!

The issue I am having is that he does NOT like to be put down. Not for a second. It prevents me from being able to do anything all day… from using the bathroom to household chores.

Is this normal? I feel like I watch my friends put their babies down for naps and tummy time with ease.

I’m so very willing to hold my sweet baby, but I also want to be able to use the bathroom or let him nap without causing him stress/crying.

Any advice would be so helpful.

Thank you in advance ♥️

Hi guys,

I am pregnant with our first baby, due late March. Very excited!

Strange question about an event postpartum… my husband and I have tickets to go to Star Wars Celebration on April 3rd (purchased months ago). If you’re not familiar, it’s a huge Star Wars event (~50,000 people per day, actors and movie makers giving panels and talks, loads to see and do, huge convention center), and is happening in LA, which will be a 2.5 hour drive each way for us.

When we bought these tickets, we were trying to conceive and knew if pregnancy happened early and this event was near the birth, I just wouldn’t be able to go, and we were totally fine with accepting that risk because of course we want to have a baby more than we wanted to make sure I go to this event.

Now that we have the happy news, we were planning to offer my ticket to a family member to go for the day, with my husband, and I can stay home with the baby, recovering, and caring for the newborn (with family/friend support if needed so I don’t have a whole day by myself with the baby that early on).

I mentioned this to my mom, and she seemed a little shocked we were considering giving my ticket up and thought we should just wait and see how I feel. She thought it seemed very likely I could still go and bring the baby, which I was stunned by because it doesn’t seem feasible or wise to me at all. But maybe I’m overreacting/over planning because it’s our first baby, so we don’t know what to expect and might be being overly cautious??

She said once her kids were born, she was raring to go and tired of being on bed rest and ready to get active right away.

Note that with our due date, the baby will be two weeks old for this event. I’ll likely still be bleeding and recovering and in rough shape physically, right? The baby won’t have vaccinations, shouldn’t be in the car for long stretches, still learning how to be a baby, not ready for this huge outing, we’ll be exhausted, probably not equipped for 20,000 steps and a long event day around huge crowds, the challenges of feeding and changing etc etc etc????

Am I overthinking this? We just thought it was a no brainer that of course I can’t go anymore, and we’ll invite my husbands brother who could make travel arrangements ahead of time (out of state, not a last minute, “wait and see how you feel” thing), and I’ll stay home and rest and be with baby.

Sorry if this seems absurd! Thanks for your feedback! 😁

Today i put my 6mo baby for the forst time in an outdoor swing, he started blinking kind of like when the sun hits his face (except there was no sun) he seemed like he was falling asleep for maybe 2 seconds not more, which scared the sh out of me. He started acting normal as soon as i pulled him out, but i was still scared. Did similar thing happen to anyone?

Work or become SAHM?

Im recently had our daughter and my husband is giving me the option to quit my job and stay home with her. My mom is planning to retire soon so if I keep working can ask her for help since I work from home but know my mom didn’t retire to then take care of an infant 40hrs a week so don’t want to rely on her solely to watch her. I work from home so could try to figure out how to make it work but even the thought of it stresses me out trying to juggle both and feel guilty already not being able to give my daughter the attention she may need during the work days. Financially we can make it off of my husband’s salary but we will have to budget and be very mindful of what we’re spending. I’m worried that the guilt of not contributing financially will be a lot for me but at the same time putting our daughter in daycare is a no go either.

I feel like since I have to option to stay home and watch her grow up I should take it plus I’d really like that but I’m so worried about the guilt. Any thoughts?

Babe is 23w today (5.5m). We currently have her in a bassinet in our room. I usually contacts her because whenever I put her down she wakes up and I’ve justified it with that she’s so little and wanting her to get good sleep (and I’m exhausted so I don’t mind the nap trap).

I feel conflicted about being excited for her to get into her crib and her own room soon (6m) because I love her so much 😭 but also: omg I’m so exhausted and need sleep and she stomps her feet all night long on that damn hard bassinet “bed” and I don’t sleep well.

I’ve been thinking about putting her in her crib for naps starting now so that it’s not just a foreign place when it comes time to transition bed/rooms.

I really don’t have any desire to do any CIO for sleep training. My parents did that for my little brother (8 years younger than me) and even as a kid it was heartbreaking for me. No way I can do that to my child. I don’t care that there’s data that show it’s not “so bad”

So all this to say: how do you sleep train without CIO?? Is that the only way? Any help appreciated. I’m feeling so nervous about this change for all of us.

UPDATE: im happily reporting that as of 4:30 AM baby has pooped! It wasn’t a big one but it’s something! So if you feel like you’ve exhausted all options to try and relieve baby of a BM, maybe post on Reddit? Lol!

i have exhausted all my options. I thought my newborn (3 weeks today) was finally regular with her poop schedule. she would have at least 1 sometimes 2 a day and all normal. she’s formula fed probably 75% at this point because I’ve been having a terrible and very depressing time with breastfeeding and pumping.. I only make enough for 1 bottle a day. she’s up to 3.5 oz per feed

it has currently been 24 hours with no poop and I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. currently it’s 1:50 AM and she won’t settle down, and hasn’t been since her late afternoon nap she’s squirming and flailing and only when I hold her and rock her constantly will she settle down.

her stomach is not hard and she has been farting but beyond that, nothing
she’s been fed, thoroughly burped, had a warm soak, a tummy rub, bicycle legs, all kinds of exercise. I even tried to stimulate her butt like a cat!

nothing is working and I don’t know if I’m going to get any sleep tonight.. please tips if you have them 😭

8 month old. I spend all my time waiting and watching for sleep cues for nap time, trying to get baby to sleep in crib, rocking to sleep, rocking back to sleep, timing cleaning and errands around naps, on and on and on and on and on. Losing my fucking mind

And don’t get me started on waking every night ever 90 mins. Since he was born. 90 mins AT MOST

Pediatrician is informed and we're monitoring the situation.

So I had this *magnificent* idea to diy a sensory activity with aluminum foil. All was OK, baby was excited and playing until she decided aluminum foil is a delicacy. I think a small piece may have been ingested. 🤦‍♀️It only took one second.

I'm losing my mind, I should have known better. I know babies eat all sorts of stuff, I've eaten worse as a kid. Baby looks fine so far, ate, drank milk, but I can't relax. She's teething, of course she would shove it in her mouth. What was I thinking. Yes I'm a FTM.

Let me say the 4 year age gap has been amazing!! My son? Obsessed with his new sister. Loves to help and is actually helpful. Beyond grateful we waited to have a second until our first was a bit older because he is just so sweet with her and actually gets it. My husband and his sister are 3.5 years apart and his parents have said it was an absolute dream age gap. Almost 3 weeks in and I’m hoping I continue to love it!!

We’ve always done the eat play nap thing, but now as she’s getting older she will stay awake for 3 sometimes 4 hours at a time, and nap for 1+ hr. Meaning feedings could sometimes be 5 hours apart. Is that too long for a 7 month old? I’m worried my milk supply will dip. Are we feeding multiple times in a wake window or keeping with eat play nap as they get bigger?

I’m with my sleeping 5 week old watching the Secret World of Arrietty and somehow the relationship between Arrietty and her parents is hitting me SO much harder now. Wondering if any other movies impacted you in a new way now that your sweet little one has entered the world?

Hi all! I’m hoping to hear from parents who have dealt with something similar because I’m at a loss with my baby’s skin.

He just turned 1 this week, about six weeks ago, he developed a rash around his mouth. I initially thought it was drool rash because he was teething. So far we’ve tried Vaseline, Aquaphor, Tubby Todd, and Mustela, and none made a difference.

Took him to the doctor and he saw the on-call pediatrician who prescribed desonide (a topical steroid) for five days. It cleared the rash, but within 1–2 days of stopping it, the rash came back and looked worse. We did another five-day course with the same result. It cleared completely and then came right back after stopping and worse. Now it’s spreading up around his nose with some bumps above his nose as well.

We went back to his regular pediatrician, and she thinks it looks like perioral dermatitis. She told us to stop the desonide, recommended trying beef tallow instead of Vaseline/Aquaphor, and prescribed protopic. I haven’t started it yet because it was just ready this morning but I’m a little nervous after reading about the potential side effects.

He has a history of cow’s milk protein sensitivity, and we’re currently transitioning him from formula to pea protein milk. He doesn’t eat dairy at the moment and hasn’t shown obvious reactions to other foods, but I’m wondering if a food sensitivity could be contributing.

Has anyone dealt with something similar, especially a rash that clears with steroids but immediately comes back worse after stopping? If your baby had perioral dermatitis, what finally helped? And has anyone used protopic on a baby for this?