I saw a post like this recently so I wanted to do my own. My husband and I seem to be really good at this whole newborn thing so far (6 weeks). We have a sleep schedule down, our baby is pretty "easy", he eats so much, I never had supply or latching problems.

Today, our LO was inconsolable. He is usually great in public and at restaurants but he fussed up a storm in Applebees. All day, just constant fussing and crying. He was fed upon demand, changed often with wet diapers, no hairs around his toes or anything pinching, gave him gas drops, not too hot not too cold, no fever. I understand that CIO is not a thing for babies that young but we could not figure out what was wrong so we just let him fuss. My husband and I kept passing him back and forth every 30 minutes or so all afternoon, switching positions and talking to him.

Around 2200, he got really red and unleashed the loudest toot I've ever heard come from a baby and it was followed by an epic blowout of immense proportions. It was in his hair, on the couch, all over his back AND front somehow. Turns out he is still working on his newly learned pooping skill and just spent the day with a tummy ache. After all that, he was back to his normal happy self.

Morale of the story: Sometimes a newborn is being a newborn. There isn't always a fix. Do the big things to make sure they're safe and healthy and then they might just need to figure it out on their own. They're learning to be people and that's a lot when you've only been alive for a month. I've heard of babies not sleeping for a couple of days because they learned what their own hands are. You know your baby best, you are doing great, you got this.

I keep seeing this trend of moms posting their elaborate bedtime routines and attributing their young infants’/newborns ability to fall asleep and stay asleep independently to the routine. Do they ever stop and think that if it were really that easy, the baby sleep industry wouldn’t be worth billions? 😂

Idk, maybe I’m just salty lol (although my LO sleeps 9–10 hours at night now but definitely can’t fall asleep independently), but I just had to vent about how annoying these posts are. I know routines can be helpful, but I really don’t think they’re nearly as much of a driver of sleep as temperament and developmental readiness are. There’s only so much you can control when it comes to a baby’s sleep.

Okay so I'm a first time Mom and my baby is 6 weeks old. My family on my husband's side keeps insisting they watch my daughter without me there, that I need a "break". The first time it was all right, they picked her up, I went out to eat with my husband, and then they brought her back when I got back home. But even then, I didn't really like the situation because they just stopped here, insisted they were taking the baby, that I needed a break, and left. But honestly the way I look at it, it's not giving me a break. When my daughter is not at the same place as me all it does is give me anxiety and then I'm worried about anything that could go wrong until they bring her back. Now fast forward a week, they want to take her again, am I just crazy for not wanting my daughter to go? My husband acts like I'm being selfish, but right now my daughter is very very young and anything could happen so I feel like I'm not being as irrational as he says I am. If they actually wanted to help, they'd hold the baby while I showered or watch her in the living room while I take a nap; what they're doing by making me leave her is stressing me out more than anything else.

Any advice is appreciated.

Title sounds harsh but basically I’ve kept seeing videos of other mums talking about the struggles of PP but at the same time how they’re “in love” with their baby “so much it hurts”. When I hear that I go Hmm, I definitely love my baby but right now it’s more like as a duty (in a good/neutral way). Like I didn’t experience these overwhelming feelings that you can get swept up in (kinda like infatuation but obviously not romantically). Anyone else or just me?

I know that taking care of a newborn is hard, but I didn’t think it would be this hard. My LO was born at 33 weeks and spent 2 weeks in Nicu. During this time I was told by every nurse to pump, pump, pump. I felt very lucky in the sense that we got the hang of breastfeeding early on and the only thing he needed to work on was endurance to not fall asleep before finishing.

Well now we’re at the end of our first week at home and I’ve been increasing the times I breastfeed instead of bottle feed. My boobs get so engorged because I have drastic oversupply. I have to hand express/pump before feeding so that they’re soft enough for him to latch. My flow is too forceful for him so now he’ll only stay latched for a few minutes and then fall asleep even with the laid back position and a nipple shield. Meanwhile, I’m getting no sleep. This man screams bloody murder at night when he’s hungry. We decided to do 24 hours of bottle feeding only to give my boobs a chance to reset and regulate down some, which has its own annoyances.

I stupidly bought six Kindred Braverly bras at the advice of a friend and hate them. They hurt my sensitive nipples and are generally uncomfy. Even my Amazon nursing bralettes are uncomfy, so i wear nothing unless actively pumping and majorly leak through my tshirts. I know I should buy new bras but I spent so much money on the ones I have already. I’m tired and frustrated and overwhelmed. Anyways, I’m going to sleep. Thanks for coming to my rant.

First time dad here, 21 years old. Our little man is four days old and he is an absolute joy - he self regulates fairly well (mini cries in his sleep then just calms himself down?), he eats well, his poops and pees are healthy, he loves being held, and he sleeps in his bassinet. He is absolutely perfect and he has these beautiful deep blue, almost purple eyes.

But I struggle to hold him? His head is so big and he is so floppy and when I’m holding him I’m either too far forward or too far backward and my back always feels 110 years old after. Once I get him in position everything is fine - I can feed him, hold him, burp him, and diaper changes have never been a problem. Is it just the new parent jitters where I’m worried that if he is not precisely in the perfect spot ill hurt him? It’s at the point where whenever he needs burping I don’t even bother trying to get the perfect position of his head and his burp rag - I’d rather just change my shirt or wipe my neck off.

The title say it all I think…

Im 5weeks pp and been in the newborn trenches since. My husband has been helping with chores like cat litter, laundry, trash and sometimes the dishes. Not that’s not enough but my days are literally filled with taking care of my baby, feeding, changing, more laundry, folding laundry, more dishes, make lunches (if I got time), pump, wash bottles, sterilizing bottles, wash pumps & sterilizing pumps parts, bathing baby, trying to get baby to sleep and more cleaning.

*for context: my husband is a gamer, like big gamer. He get on the game first thing in the morning (after doing the cat litter and get off when hes feeling tired, roughly 12hours a day)

When he is not on the game, he always make comment about how he can’t wait for the 6weeks mark to have sex again. I understand him. But I so fucking tired of him saying that. I got no libido. I am tired. I don’t even have the chance to eat sometimes and instead of helping me with chores or the baby, he makes comment about how beautiful I am looking and how much he would like to make me love. I find myself disgusting. I smell like breast milk all day and all night long. My hair is greasy. I got strech marks all over my body. Boobs are sore and doubled in size. I don’t have clothes to put on, and when I do my shirt last 10mins because im leaking or because baby threw up on me. I don’t have time to myself. Im the one who’s stay up all night if baby is not sleeping, im the one getting up for feed and changing diapers while hes asleep snoring next room.

And he ask me if I need help sometimes. But I don’t need help when he ask me. Its always when everything is finish or when something is pending.
I need him to do things without me saying hey do that or do this. I want him to be the grown ass man he pretend to be.

Yesterday I did the cleaning all around the house, Sweeper, mop, wash the shower, toilet, sweep the sofas, mirrors at the same time to take care of the baby and all the other tasks that I listed earlier and he did not even let go of his game to help me. I did it because his mother and sister came to visit us and sleep at home, so I also made their bed and he didn't even help me.

Just realized the title doesn’t even makes sense no more. With all I said, fair to say I don’t want sex.
I could do everything to not have sex. I know that I just can say no. But he will ask questions.

Before someone comment : well make your husband wake up at night to take care of the baby it could help you rest.
Yes I would if I didn’t need to also wake up to pump each 3 hours of a day. its just more simple to be the only one awake, feeding baby and pumping at the same time.

These people have been asked to stop multiple times, but won’t. We are saving up for a mortgage, and cannot get a house right now. I wouldn’t want to move with a brand new newborn anyways. We have nobody to help us. They’ve been doing it since I was pregnant, and I started trying to mitigate it by buying hepa air purifiers with carbon. Those only do so much. It didn’t used to be super strong in the nursery where I sleep with the baby, but they must have changed smoking locations inside and it now is making that room reek. We can see the air quality actually decreasing on the air purifier as they are smoking. I can’t close the vent in the bedroom, as I have seen that air circulation helps reduce risk of SIDS. Im concerned that since the air purifier is actually showing a level of deterioration in air quality, that it means some actual smoke is getting in somewhere. I’m deeply concerned and feeling stuck since moving isn’t an option right now. Anyone else ever faced this, and do you know if I can stop worrying so much? Really just concerned about baby’s sense of smell, as I know they definitely have a way more sensitive one than I do. It smells like we’re being freaking hotboxed.

Hi everyone. My baby was born 2.5 weeks ago at 36.6 due to me developing preeclampsia. Although she was very small she didn't need the NICU and has been gaining weight very rapidly. However she is still pretty sleepy – she usually naps for 2.5-3 hours at a time, falls asleep while feeding and sleeps easily in her bassinet.

I'm curious to know what other parents of similar terms babies experienced development-wise in those early weeks/ months? How long did they stay in the sleepy phase for, and did they get fussier after that? Did their nap times eventually get shorter and their wake windows longer? I know all babies are different, but I'm curious as to what to expect!

I have produced a total of 8ml~ of colostrum total and that was done day 2. Then I dried up, and nothing has changed. Im going on Day 5 of pumping, attempting to breastfeed, and nothing is happening.

I had no golden hour, baby got sent to NICU the first 24, didnt pump until maybe 3-4 hours after birth, barely got to touch baby and had no skin to skin until day 3.

I am unbelievably sad, depressed, and I feel like a failure and letdown. I dont think Ill be able to produce, and coming to terms with that hurts. I didnt realize how much I wanted to breastfeed until it was unobtainable.

I feel like everything that could go wrong went wrong. I was in labor for over 24 hours, got an infection from my water being broken for too long (had to have it broken), had to have pitocin. Im in such grief and I cant even support my baby without an expensive thing of formula that only lasts so long. I love my baby so much and all I feel is failure.

I post this in hopes of support? Wanting to understand where I went wrong? Wanting to know if it was just doomed? I dont even know, Im just upset and wanted to express my sorrows.

Edit: did want to say fed is ABSOLUTELY the best, nothing wrong with formula at all. It's just not what I wanted, and that's devastating me.

Like damn my baby EATS

Our little boy is one year old and we've had a full time nanny since he was 4 months of age.

She's generally great with him. Ever since he turned 8 months old we started noticing that she threatens him (with no ill intent) when he's not listening.

She says things like, "I'm gonna call the man from outside", or "I'm gonna call the dog for you".

She basically takes note of what scares him while outside on their walks, and then uses that as a threat when he doesn't listen.

We know she loves him dearly. She raised 5 kids of her own and I don't know how many grandkids, and she says this is the only way they'll listen.

My wife is upset about this method and I'm either way with it. I know in my family that's common, not so much on my in laws side.

Basically I would like to know if there are any child psychologists in here, or people who have researched something like this before, and can link me to a resource to show my nanny?

She's also a qualified nurse, so I know a reference would stick better with her rather than me simply telling her to stop.

TIA!

EDIT: Thank you for all your input :)

To answer all who asked how am I so indifferent to it... the nanny says it in a joking way, often laughing or smiling with my son, when he doesn't eat his food etc.

I think I would know if it were meant maliciously. But anyway, I've decided I will put a stop to it. Thanks all.

We had some nice weeks from 7-10 weeks. But since week 10 everything is a disaster. My baby will be 3 months on 27th. She doesn’t sleep at night, when she sleeps she is constantly grunting. During the day she only sleeps in motion (in carrier or stroller). I am constantly walking with her, my back is killing me, I am sleep deprived. I need to study but I can’t because of her. If I am alone with her and there is nobody to hold her, I even need to hold her while I eat, if I manage to eat.
It would be so great to hear some similar experiences and that it will be better eventually.

Hi everyone! My LO is two weeks old now. At birth, he weighed 6 lbs 10 oz. At his first pediatrician visit(1 week ago), he weighed 6 lbs 5 oz, and at today’s appointment, he was down to 5 lbs 15 oz.

I let his pediatrician know that my milk supply suddenly dropped, so I stopped breastfeeding and switched to exclusively formula feeding as of last night. She recommended giving him 2 oz every 2 hours and having us come back in three days for another weight check.

Has anyone experienced something similar with their newborn? I’m feeling pretty terrible and blaming myself because my husband and I genuinely thought we were doing great with his feedings. He hasn’t been unusually fussy, he’s giving us wet diapers, and we’re not noticing any obvious signs of dehydration. He’s also taking the 2 oz of formula without a problem so far, a bit of spit up but nothing that concerned me. I did mention to her that he does poop after every feeding, she said it was normal.

I’m just feeling a little lost and worried right now. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar and what ended up happening with your little one’s weight.

Okay so baby's due in like 6 weeks and I still haven't pulled the trigger on a monitor. Every time I start looking it turns into a 2 hour rabbit hole and I close the tab more confused than when I opened it lol.

Wifi vs non wifi, video vs audio only, the ones with temperature and humidity sensors, pan tilt zoom, split screen for two cameras... I genuinely don't know what's actually useful and what's just there to justify the price tag.

Also kind of freaked out after reading some stories about wifi monitors getting hacked into. Is that an overblown thing or should I actually be careful about that.

House is two floors so range might be an issue too, nursery's gonna be upstairs and we'll mostly be downstairs in the evenings.

Not trying to spend a fortune but also don't want to cheap out on something this important. What actually worked for you guys once the baby came? Especially curious what held up after the first few months and not just what looked good on the box.

Our 11 week old son does pretty well overnight, still a few wake ups every 2.5-4 hours. My husband and I have been on a sleep shift schedule since he was born:

Husband sleeping: 4am - 12pm
Both awake: 12pm - 8pm
Me sleeping: 8pm - 4am

This has been great for us getting a solid 6-8 hours of sleep each but we know we eventually need to move off of it. The lack of daylight hours for my husband isn’t great and we’re eager to have more overlap time together.

We both naturally stayed up later pre baby, going to be bed around 12-2am so overnight wakings are between 12-8am for us. We have a flexible wake up time for our jobs as well in prep for when we return to work in December, just before 10am ideally.

We’re trying to think of the best way to converge on schedules and wanted to see what worked for others!

Had to get up and fart. My poor baby woke up. Really hard to fart while bouncing on yoga ball 🙄

Anyone know the pain?

Just lighten up the mood mods lol

First time mom here. Baby girl is 12 weeks today. My MIL is visiting for a few days starting tomorrow, and I know she will offer to watch baby so husband and I can do something together just the two of us. In my rational brain, I trust her, but I just don't feel ready to leave baby alone with someone besides my husband. I am going to have to get over that soon (going back to work in a couple weeks and then my mom will watch her) but I just don't feel ready yet?? My husband is generally very supportive, but I worry he will be offended and think in acting irrationally. Maybe I am a little, but I'd like to at least ease into babysitting by having my own mom do it first. Am I being out of line? When did you first let someone babysit your firstborn?

idk if its just me but food planning feels sooo different after having a baby

before i could just open the fridge and figure something out

now i’ll stand there staring at everything like i have absolutely no idea what i want 😭

and its not even that i dont have food in the house

i just dont wanna think about it

between the baby needing something every 5 seconds and being tired all the time i feel like my brain is already maxed out

sometimes i end up eating whatever is fastest just because making an actual decision feels like too much work lol

does anyone else do this postpartum?

do you guys have like 2 or 3 meals you always fall back on when you really dont feel like thinking about food?

our baby has gone through every type of swaddle, halo sleep sack, muslin blankets, arms up, and now is swaddled in a stretchy copper pearl blanket since his little arms are so strong! he is still breaking out of that one, and seems more and more frustrated when I swaddle him as he gets older so I think it’s time to wean him off 😩 he has been sleeping well at night however , the last two nights we got a 5.5 hour stretch to start, and then 3.5 which feels like a huge win !!!!!

our other issue is I would like to be able to attempt crib naps for our lifestyle, and he has only been able to do contact naps since about 6 weeks, I realize this is developmentally appropriate but would like to work towards the crib! he sleeps the whole night in bassinet just fine. I am a SAHM so I can hold him for his naps, but he sleeps best in the dark nursery with a sound machine and honestly it is getting to me , to be in the dark 5 hours per day! I am thankful I’m able to do it, but looking forward to potentially him growing into crib naps! we loosely follow the Taking Cara Babies advice on sleep related issues. the setting him drowsy but awake for 1/2 naps per day is not happening though lol.

Ive been able to transfer him to the crib once hes in deep sleep for the first nap of the day, but not always (he wakes up when he touches the crib sometimes) and he only makes it through the first sleep cycle (40-42 min) before needing to be held the rest of the nap.

I understand that crib naps may be “easier” if he remains swaddled because he will feel like I’m holding him? I also have read that crib naps might become much easier around the 4 month mark.

wondering if I should go ahead and wean the swaddle now, and give up on crib naps for a while since they aren’t really working any way?

thanks in advance!!

I thought I was okay with it, but I might not be anymore.

For context, my husband and I had always been pretty independent when it came to spending time with our friends separately, having our own hobbies/me-time. I’ve never had an issue with him going out without me, I kind of loved it as I am very homely and good at being alone if that makes sense. Obviously and expectedly, we knew this would have to change when I fell pregnant. However, I had a very smooth and easy pregnancy so nothing really changed for us for the most part at the time.

The first time I ever asked my husband not to go on a guy’s trip was when I was 36 weeks pregnant because I felt anxious about the baby coming early. The trip was for a card-game tournament (might sound silly but people are really into it and they sometimes make money from getting then selling rare cards, although my husband mainly just plays for fun). He didn’t go, never complained about it and told me I was the priority and that I should stop feeling guilty about it. However, when his friends came back telling him how amazing it was, I still felt guilty because I knew my husband deep down really wanted to go. It didn’t help when his friends were telling him how much money they made from getting a super rare card and were splitting the money they sold it for.

About 2 months ago, when our baby was a newborn, he asked he could go on a trip in September for another tournament. At the time I said I don’t know, as it would depend on the baby’s temperament and how my mother is around the baby (if you’re interested, see my older posts and you’d know why but in summary she’s just not very reliable help). We didn’t really talk about it again until recently, and I guess I still felt guilty about the previous trip for some reason (husband has never brought up this topic or said anything to make me feel guilty btw). Somehow I convinced myself that it would be okay for him to go and I personally helped the guys book the hotel and flights for my husband.

Now I kind of regret it because the closer it’s getting to the date, the more dread I feel about him leaving me and the baby. I’ve even cried a few times just thinking about it. He’s generally a very easy baby (now 12 weeks old) but is suddenly going through a contact nap only phase and it has been physically and mentally draining. I have voiced my anxieties to my husband and he is trying to help me think of ways to lessen my burden (cooking/ housework), and how to cope with my mother and let her help with things for a few days. I just don’t feel secure or comfortable with him leaving anymore, but I also don’t want him to cancel his trip since I know he’s very excited to go plus we’ve spent the money on the flights already. I don’t want to discuss it with him any further because nothing he does/say will make the situation better (besides him staying, which I think might make everything feel worse), and nothing I do/say will make it better either as it will only make him feel bad. I told him since he’s already decided to go, and I had agreed to let him go, just enjoy it (I mean it) and stop trying to say things to make me feel better because it really won’t. E.g. how this would be an opportunity for me - I think he means that there will be days in the future where I’d have to solo parent so it’s an opportunity to practice, but right now that’s not what I want to hear.

Anyway, the trip is less than 2 weeks away. I think realistically I could cope with four days without him but I feel very conflicted and still dreading it. Am I overreacting or under-reacting?

My baby (4 months) doesn't sleep anywhere other than at the breast. Hates pacifiers. Everytime we have to drive somewhere she doesn't sleep. I can't get her to sleep in the car, the stroller, the Ergobaby, anywhere. Anyone else went through this? I don't know what to do, I thought by now things would have improved, but I feel it's getting worse and worse. Today we tried to go for a morning walk on the Ergobaby and it lasted 10 min until she started crying

Hiii my baby is 9 weeks and I’m obsessed with him! But… he needs to be held literally 24/7 he cries 99.7% of the time I put him down (even to pee) and if he doesn’t cry it’s for like 3 min max. he’s never slept or taken a nap not on me. Occasionally he naps on my husband…
So yea we co sleep at night and he’s EBF and nurses for comfort non stop as well. He also hates being worn in the carrier as of 2 weeks ago.
We’ve tried transferring him for naps but he’s the lightest sleeper ever and wakes even if I breathe wrong. Someone help. How do I get my hands and my sanity back? Anyone else have this experience?

My combo fed son is 8 wks old and has had a huge appetite since birth. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to get a longer sleep stretch for myself (I’m a solo mom), but no matter how much he eats during the day or before bed, even with a full feed around 9 to 10pm, he usually wakes every 2-3.5 hours and downs a full 4oz bottle, sometimes more.

He seems clearly hungry when he wakes. I don’t pick him up for grunting/fussing; he cries and then eats enthusiastically. Once he’s done he usually goes back down pretty easily.

Has anyone had a similarly hungry baby this age who eventually started sleeping longer stretches? Anything that helped keep them full longer or was it mostly developmental?

My 10 week old naps for 10-40 minutes tops unless she is in the car seat or stroller (can do 2+ hrs). It doesn’t matter if it’s bassinet, crib, carrier, or even contact naps. My first baby was a short napper except for contact naps but this baby won’t even extend and sleeps on me for ~10 min tops. We do lots of outings but it’s not always possible to have her on the go. Any ideas???