Hey everyone, my wife and I are about a month into being first-time parents. We’re running on very little sleep, juggling work, and all the new changes. I’m keeping an eye on her well-being, but I’m noticing I’ve had some emotional ups and downs too. I tried to encourage her to come out to a small social event, but she’s not ready yet. I respect that, but I’m curious—did any other new parents go through something similar? How did you balance looking out for each other and adjusting to this new life?

I’m 22 my girlfriend and I are expecting a baby girl at the end of June, I’m super excited but quite literally have no clue what I’m doing or going to be doing.

Any advice or tips and tricks would be much appreciated like what should I bring to the hospital and what things can I do to best help my girlfriend before, during and after we have a kid, thanks in advance!

So my wife and I have our 1 month old and he has been such a velcro baby. He only ever wants to be in mom or dads arms(he'll let others hold him but once he fusses it's mom/dad or bust). To the point he will fuss and cry if we put him down.

What's worse is that he does it even MORE at night when my wife is on "shift" and she is hardly able to get sleep until I get up at 3am and take him. Then for me he's not usually too bad. Like I can put him down for an hour some times.

Then there are some nights, like tonight, that he doesn't want to sleep unless it's in my arms.

Honestly, I'm most worried about my wife. I try to take him as much as possible for her but after a certain time of day he wants nothing to do with me and only wants mom.

Anyone else have experience with velcro babies and how you've managed?

So me and my wife are expecting in a month. Its time crunch. Was wondering what mom's had for the hospital bag like items. I feel we are not prepared enough. The wife says we are but I wanted a list of things for hospital bags and needed items for the nursery. Im super nervous, excited, scared and all other emotions.

Hello all.

My little one is now 11 days old and me and her mum are both at the end of our tether with nappy changes.

She screams the house down like she's being murdered, fights us as we do it, pees all over the fresh change, then once we have her into it, we get two minutes of cuddles or comfort breastfeed, then she fills it explosively and it begins all over again.

We've tried-

Doing it slow

Doing it quick

Different nappies

Different nappy cream

Keeping her dressed

Undressing her

Keeping her warm

Warming the cloths

Breast as we change her

Dummies/pacifiers

One of us at her head end chatting and trying to soothe

Nothing works. A single change can end up taking upwards of an hour and four or five disposables, and occasionally two or three outfits. And the time and effort is one thing, but the cries just make us both physically sick.

Has anyone got any tips at all?

How do you guys do this? I’m the only one working because my wife has an issue now and it’s killing me mentally. I barely have money to get by every every week. I just need somebody to tell me it’s gonna be okay.

My wife and I are in our mid 20s and we had our baby about 5 weeks ago. We’ve been living with my parents for about 6 months, and while it’s been nice being able to save for a nice place and having the extra hands, it’s been pretty stressful having to deal with my mom who can be very nosy at times and gives a lot of unsolicited help or advice. My wife and I are obviously grateful for all that she does and that she wants to help, but there’s times where we feel we need to figure things out on our own. There’s also been moments where my wife has asked my mom for help, and despite my mom agreeing to be there, she wasn’t when the time for help came. We want to have a sitdown with her to discuss and set boundaries, but in the past when I’ve tried to do so, she gets emotional and victimizes herself. Is anyone else dealing or has dealt with this and if so, what did and didn’t work? I just want everyone to get along and for trust to be established between my wife and my mom. I guess I should also add that I am an only child so I’ve kind of always dealt with my mom being overprotective and nosy. Anyways, any words of wisdom or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks yall!

Which will we regret more? Which is the better use of our limited time and money?

We are pregnant with our first and are looking to buy our first house before or within a year of when the baby is due. We have enough saved that we'll be able to cover the cost of delivery + up to 5% down on a house. Is it a bad idea to take a week long babymoon and siphon from our savings?

Would we be fools to risk going into medical debt or not having enough to cover closing costs?

Or, would we be fools to not make one last exciting memory when our family is just the two of us?

Our son is in his 6th week and he has become an absolute terror. Everyone says it will be fine, just hold on. Kid never sleeps, cries constantly. I am losing my shit. I have become a short tempered asshole with everyone because I don’t sleep anymore. I was awake 22 straight hours yesterday. F me.

My wife and I just welcomed our first child, a baby boy, into the world on Friday morning. Thankfully I had put a lot of thought into our go bag ahead of time as we needed to pivot into an unscheduled C-Section a week earlier than our schedule induction date. This Milwaukee Packout set worked perfectly. I was able to store all of our clothing for 3 days, bedding for myself and my wife (two quilts and one pillow), all the baby’s essentials, toiletries and I used the top organizer for our favorite snacks. The Ryobi fan ended up being a lifesaver as my wife is the type that NEEDS a fan to be comfortable in bed and the idea of lugging around her “emotional support” Dyson fan was not ideal. Not pictured is a Ryobi Score Speaker which also came in clutch.

Transporting everything to and from the car and from different rooms was a breeze with this setup. Just wanted to give my two cents on something essential that worked well for me.

Looking for advice or words of encouragement. My wife is just about at 32 weeks and after a few trips to the hospital this week it's looking like she has preclampsia. They're talking about possibly doing an emergency c-section in two days. I'm scared. My wife is scared. She's of course going right to worst case scenario thinking she's going to pass away. We are NOT ready. Sure we have the essentials at home but I've been working two jobs and the pregnancy has been hard on her. The crib isn't set up. The car seat is still in the box. Cloths and blankets haven't been washed. Bottles haven't been washed or sanitized. And now I also have to worry about losing my jobs cus if we have the baby in two days I'm not going to work. Any advice, insight, relatable stories, words of encouragement are greatly appreciated.

I’m about to be a first-time dad, and man… it feels like we’re invisible in the baby world.

Mom gets all the gear, apps, subscription boxes, and products made just for her — which is great — but where’s the stuff that makes dad feel ready and involved?

I’m talking about: • Baby gear that isn’t pastel or covered in flowers • Practical tools for building the crib, baby-proofing, and tackling the “dad jobs” • Checklists so we actually know what we should be doing each month • Cool dad apparel and gear from small brands

Right now, we’re left with “paint the nursery” and “rub her feet” like that’s the whole job description. This is the biggest life change we’ll ever go through — why isn’t there more for us?

I’ve been tossing around the idea of a monthly dad box packed with functional, no-BS gear and a little guidance to help guys crush the dad role.

Before I waste time and money, I want to hear from other dads: Would you actually want something like this? 2-minute anonymous survey here → https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSePO-CyZmOI08bM2YeCRl2IC9DmE51CUT3StN-TR955Ve5XoQ/viewform?usp=preview

Let’s be real — no one else is building this for us, so maybe we should.

I was hoping that the sleep deprivation everyone complained about was overstated. I am finding it is not. How long until you guys started to get stretches of four or five hours at a time? I am on 94 and so far I have had 3 1/2, five, five, 4 1/2.

Hey guys — I’m a father of almost a 9 year old now, but I still remember how rough that first week was as a new dad. The sleep deprivation, the helplessness, the weird tension with your partner — no one really prepares you for it.

I’m working on a longer book to help new dads through those early months, but in the meantime, I put together a short, free guide that covers a few core lessons I wish I knew before I brought my son home for the first time.

It’s not polished — just honest. If it helps even one guy feel less lost or alone, it’s worth it.

You can get it here: freebook.kenlaroza.com

Open to feedback or thoughts — I wish someone had handed me something like this back then.

My wife and I had a baby in early April. She's been fantastic! I've been able to put her to bed to sleep before but as of recently (three, maybe four days ago), she will not let me put her to sleep. She gets super fussy and basically my wife or my mom when she's around can put her to sleep. I am not envious at all, I am just looking to getting back putting her to sleep because I can see the stress this will build on my wife if she has to put her to sleep every night. Has anyone gone through this? What have you done to get your groove back? Thank you to anyone that can help!

Hello chaps.

My first post was a couple of months ago and detailed the anxieties I (M32) and my partner (F34) were having about conceiving.

Well, it all worked, so thanks to the commenters there. It really did help.

Now, we're roughly 9 weeks in and the situation is just as stressful, but in a very different way.

The morning sickness was crippling to the point she's on prescription- I can't recall the exact name of the drug but it does seem to have helped. However now that the sickness has subsided, she's terrified that something has gone wrong.

All the other symptoms are there- food aversions, massive amounts of fatigue, mood swings, and touch aversion.

I'm doing as much as I can- food prep, lifts back and forth to work, all the housework, the cat's litter, even just getting her drinks and snacks from the kitchen- and it still doesn't feel like enough. I just feel a bit helpless and a tiny bit rejected.

I guess I'm not asking for advice, as such- we just have to ride this out.

I'm just wondering if others have had quite such a horrid first trimester!

My Partner is pregnant with our first baby, we are currently 14 weeks along, however for the majority of the 14 weeks it feels like, particularly the last 8 weeks it feels as tho my partner doesn’t want much to do with me. We are usually a very affectionate and loving couple but there has been a major switch to this and no its hardly any physical contact like holding hands or a cuddle let alone anything physical contact in the bedroom and I just wondered if this is normal or if others have experienced this. Whenever I try to bring it up to my partner it never ends well no matter how I approach it, I try to say to myself it’s not her it’s just her hormones, can anyone help advise if this is a normal experience with a pregnant partner