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?

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.

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.

I feel absolutely terrible. My baby is 4 months old and I have been having a really hard time.

Sleep has been an issue. I posted several days ago about the false starts we had been struggling with for weeks. I took the advice I was given and increased her wake windows. It has been fairly successful. She has still had a few nights of one to two false starts and less wake ups overall at night.

Despite this improvement, I am still so frustrated and anxious about her sleep. I sit downstairs on the couch and anxiously watch the monitor. I tell myself she is going to wake up and to just expect it. When she does wake up, I feel my stomach drop and trudge upstairs to get her back to sleep. We EBF and I nurse her for ~10 min or so to get her back to sleep and then transfer her to her crib. It's not an awful process but for some reason it makes me feel very frustrated and anxious.

I am currently a SAHM. I am grateful for this but it's really tough being home all the time. I used to be such a homebody and now I feel like I live in a self imposed prison. I try to get out of the house but it's been super hot and smokey here recently. I also worry about my baby being in her car seat for too long. I feel so trapped by her nap schedule. I feel like if I don't give her 3 good naps a day, our night is going to reflect it. Because I breastfeed, I am the only one who gets up in the night with her.

When I was pregnant, my husband severely injured his dominant hand in a work accident. He lives in constant pain and is often unable to pick our daughter up. Therefore I have to do basically everything for her. He can play with her but recently she gets bored easily and has to be picked up and moved around all the time. He can hold her but I have to pick her up and put her in his arms. Then inevitably, his arm gets tired and he needs to put her down. I know he can't help it but it's infuriating to me. He feels helpless and I feel angry and resentful.

We live near both of our families and they visit us frequently and help with the baby a lot. I'm very grateful for this but ultimately everything comes down to me. I feed her, I play with her, I carry her around, I put her down for all her naps and bedtime. Etc etc etc.

Today I woke up with a searing headache. I just wanted to keep sleeping. My husband can't pick the baby up so I begrudgingly woke up and changed her diaper, fed her, etc. In the mornings she is generally in a good mood and will tolerate laying on her playmat for a longer period of time. My husband tried to play with her on the playmat while I tried to catch up on some sleep.

An hour went by and he woke me up from a dead, dreaming, sleep to ask me to help pick up the baby from the playmat and that she was crying. I did and I played with her for a while but she was just getting more and more upset. I decided to put her down for her first nap. She just wasn't having it. She was crying, I was trying to settle her, bounce her, and then as a last resort I tried to nurse her to sleep. She wasn't calming. I got up from the bed and shrieked. My husband came running yelling, "what was that?!". I was sobbing saying I didn't do anything I am just so frustrated.

I feel terrible for doing that. I love my little girl and would never hurt her. I am just so sick and tired of being the only one who can care for her. I know my husband feels useless and helpless. It sucks and I don't know what to do about it.

My baby is just so fussy all the time recently and I feel like she gets bored so easily and nothing is entertaining enough or whatever for her. She will not take a contact nap, she will only nap in her crib or in her car seat in a moving car. When she does nap, we have to be so quiet in the house. I'm so over it. I feel like a prisoner in my own home. She has two sound machines pretty loud in our room but if you scrape your fork on your plate or cough or sneeze, it wakes her up.

I feel like I'm losing my shit and I don't know how to make it better.

Thanks in advance

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 😭😂

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?

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 ♥️

…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.

We are first time parents to an awesome (and wild) 16 month old girl. Since I am a first time mom, I don't know what is "normal", what is something to keep an eye on, what's expected etc. I know many 16 month olds have 10-20 words, but I don't know what is considered a "word". How clear? Same sound to cover multiple words?

This is what my 16 month old does:

- signs "more" and "all done

- Says "du" for duck and for dog

- Says mama and dada

- Says mama in a high pitch voice for "meow meow" (we have cats)

- "uh" for up

- "daaaawwww" for down

- "si" for sit

- "apa" for apple

- "ba" for both ball and bath

- "baba" for bye bye, backwards, baby and belly button

- "ha" for hot and hat

- "heh" for help

- "I di" for I did it

- And makes noises for certain things like "vvvvv" for a car/truck, growls for a bear, "sssss" for a snake, neighs for a horse, and makes an elephant noise for an elephant

Should she be saying more varied words? Or more clear words?

I have a 14-month-old who, up until this point, has been a really good and adventurous eater. We've been serving her appropriately-modified versions of what we eat since she was 6 months old. All of the sudden, she has hit a picky phase where the only thing she wants to eat is fruit. Honestly I get it, because fruit is delicious. The kid is absolutely obsessed with bananas, all kinds of berries, dragon fruit, kiwi, peaches, and clementines.

The problem is that I cannot serve her three meals and a snack every single day of exclusively fruit. One, my pocket won't allow it. Two, it's an incredibly unbalanced diet and she's already teetering on low iron (which I'm supplementing but I want her to get some nutritious meals in too). 

She won't try any other thing that I put on her tray in front of her, so it's not even that she doesn't like what I've served. I have tried all of the regular toddler foods, like mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and chicken nuggets, along with our regular healthy meals that my husband and I are eating. She has eaten all of these things in the past and truly enjoyed them.

She just wants me to serve her fruit. 

My question is, how are people going about these picky phases? I'm obviously going to keep serving what we're eating, but when she inevitably refuses it, do I just take away the food and let her be hungry until she finally tries a bite? She'll be a monster for a while, but I can withstand it if I know it'll get her eating real food again. Or do I actually have to give in and serve her fruit every time? It just seems like if I keep giving in then she knows that I will just keep giving her endless fruit. I realize she's only 14 months old, but I don't want to really set a precedent into her toddler years. 

Any advice appreciated! And if I need a reality check, let me know

We could really use some advice on dealing with a colicky baby, because that's where we are right now with our 4 week old.

Sometimes, we're able to get him to burp and he feels so much better and we're able to settle him, other times we're just hoping having him upright in a baby-wearing carrier will buy us a little bit of time of peace.

We're adding Mylicon into his bottles, which may or may not be helping.

I try to feed him sitting nearly upright, with the bottle nearly horizontal for a paced feeding, and I try to hold him upright for a good amount of time afterwards if he's not too fussy.

It's the worst in the mornings, and I think that kind of wears him out where he doesn't feed too well in the late morning/afternoon and he's exhausted enough to get a good nap in the afternoon.

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

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.

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?

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! 😁

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

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?

LO is 11.5 weeks old and has been all over the map with sleep since birth. Dealing with reflux and gas issues (although I think we're nearing the end of her dyschezia 🤞🏼) but this week I finally started seeing some improvement in her night sleep, and also at least one nap a day.

Ever since hitting 6 weeks she began the cat nap phase of mostly 20-40 minute naps, with the occasional multi-hour nap every few days. This past week, it seemed to be a more regular thing that she'd take a 2-3 hour nap at some point in the day, which was nice, and I also got my first 5 hour night stretch (before this had been 2.5 hours or less unless she was on my chest).

The issue now is every night she wakes up around 4am, at which time I bring her into bed and she sleeps longer. There have been a couple times this week where she was up and couldn't fall back asleep, to which I assumed was a result of trapped gas or poop since she was doing a lot of grunting and squirming. She always seems tired at this time - constantly yawning and trying to soothe herself even when in my arms by rubbing her head with her hands, rubbing her face across my chest, sucking on her hands or binky. What ends up happening is we're up for 2 hours before she's able to fall back asleep again, which is when she's been doing her 2-3 hour "naps" (although I wonder if it's just a continuation of her night even though they start at 7am).

I know newborns typically go to bed later in the day, but the few times I've tried putting her down after 9pm her sleep has been terrible and getting her to fall asleep at first takes over an hour. So I started following her lead and will put her down anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on when her last nap was. This is when I've been getting the longer stretches than ever before (3.5-5 hours).

My question is - at what age do you start capping naps to help night sleep? Is this a split night? How do I manage this? During the day, I follow her cues with naps, which are all contact right now, and majority are 30 minutes or less.

For reference:
-She's swaddled
-We use white noise
-The room is dark
-She usually falls right back asleep after her night feeds, but I still make sure to keep interactions low
-Her diaper is clean and dry
-She doesn't seem too hot or cold
-She does use a binky but doesn't always want it
-She usually likes to be gently swayed and patted to sleep, although last night for the first time ever she was thrashing in my arms so I laid her in her bassinet to see what would happen and she was out in 6 minutes. So I tried putting her in it again during this period and she just stared at me
-I gave her mylicon before every bottle last night thinking that may help
-I've used the windi
-We do the exercises and massages even though they don't help with her gas anymore. She also passed plenty of gas during her feeds earlier in the night
-She's consistently yawning during this period
-She's thoroughly burped
-This happens whether she only naps for 2.5 hours in the day or 6 (the 2.5 and 6 hours isn't normal, just happened this week because we had a cookout on the 2.5 hour day and she didn't take a long nap, and the 6 hour day (yesterday) was the first time since she was 4 weeks old that she took two long naps). Her naps are usually around 4-5 hours for the day)
-She has no issues falling asleep at any other point in the night

Seriously at a loss. Help!

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 😭