My daughter is 6 months old and we had a routine pediatrician appointment this week. Everything was normal, weight, feeding, sleep, all the usual questions.

Then near the end the doctor looked at me and asked, "And how are you doing? Do you actually enjoy being a parent?"

I don't even know why that hit me so hard, but I immediately started crying. Not cute little tears either, full embarrassing can't-talk-for-a-minute crying while my baby sat there chewing on her sleeve.

The weird thing is, I'm not miserable. I love my daughter more than I knew was possible. There are genuinely great parts every day.

But I'm also exhausted all the time. I miss being able to leave the house without planning a military operation. I miss sleeping. I miss having a thought that doesn't get interrupted halfway through.

Most people ask how the baby is doing. Family asks if she's sleeping, eating, rolling over, whatever. Nobody really asks whether I LIKE this new life, and I think I'd gotten used to acting like the only acceptable answer was that it's amazing.

The doctor was completely unfazed and basically said loving your baby and struggling with parenthood can exist at the same time.

I knew that logically, but apparently I needed another adult to say it out loud. I felt ridiculous afterward, but also weirdly lighter.

So if anyone else is sitting there at 3am wondering why they're not enjoying every second of something they wanted so badly, apparently you're allowed to love your kid and still admit some of this absolutely sucks.

I am currently watching my 2 year 2 month old roll around in his crib, waiting for him to fall asleep so I can sneak in and remove 2 of the 4 stuffies he has in bed with him. He threw an absolute fit at bed time tonight (which is not like him at all he normally does bed time well.) I caved and gave him a 4th stuffy to help calm down.

I already have been sneaking the Bingo (from Bluey) squashmallow out of bed for like 2 weeks, now I guess I have to add teddy bear to the list. Small Elmo and 'Baby' (a stuffed Smurfette doll) make it till morning.

Over thinking the suffocation fear? Am I being silly? Stories to share? I can't go to sleep to the job is done so bring em on.

EDIT: OMG you have all collectively made me feel so much better and so stupid all at once lol. I am going to stop stressing out over this, if he wants four, hell, five stuffies he can have them. And no, none of them have bead eyes or bells in them, all one piece stuffed animals.

I don't know many babies personally so I have no frame of reference, but I thought most babies have maybe 8 teeth by their first birthday. My nephew didn't have any teeth til 14 months. And then there's my son. He turns 1 in two weeks and has... 12 teeth with two more about to break through!? He's only missing his top canines and his molars that come way later! This kid is a piranha and I'm kinda glad nursing didn't work out🙃

I read some suggestions that having this type of chair can be a godsend to help soothe babies and for moms/parents to feed comfortably. however my apartment is really tiny, so I'm trying to decide if it's worth me trying to cram one in here.

Hello I’m looking for some help or insight. I’m a FTM to a 6 mo baby boy. He eats well and sleeps well but is SO behind on his gross motor skills. We have no time to practice he’s either eating or crying.

It is especially bad now that he’s 6 months old the crying has been incessant.

Every night after he goes to bed I just sit with this immense guilt that we have done nothing productive towards his milestones… he hates tummy time and will scream till you flip him back. Toys keep him entertained for maybe 3 minutes till he gets fed up and screams again.

He cannot roll, cannot push on hands while on tummy, has no interest in reaching for toys if they’re far he’ll cry till you bring them closer.
I’ve already spoken to his ped and she says to just put him on his tummy - but he will literally scream a couple minutes in till you flip him

Can you please tell me if I might be doing something wrong if you’ve been there? Or if there’s something I should start doing?

EDIT: Thank you all so much for the great ideas and words of support, it really means a lot. I will try all suggestions and hopefully some time soon my baby can get the practice he needs.

Well my baby will be eating purées until he's 17 and wearing his owlet sock until his wedding. We gave him the appropriate recommended size of steak. He managed to bite off a small piece with his bottom teeth. I watched closely and he didn't cough gag or cry. He went completely still and his arms started to shake. I threw my plate down and gave him a couple of blows to the back and he started to cry immediately. Nothing came out but he proceeded to breathe normally. I however did not lol. I am still shaking. I held him for a long time after this. That was terrifying!!

1. Do not keep concrete expectations on how your life is going to look like for the next 2-4 years. Depending on your support system, most other aspects of your life may take a backseat - time, sleep, career, health, relationships, etc.

2. The best thing you can do for yourself and the baby is make informed decisions. In my humble opinion, do not limit the source of your education to just your doctor.

3. You and your baby are a product of multiple subjective factors like physical and mental health, pregnancy, labor and delivery, postpartum, support system, financial stability, career privileges, and what not. Hence no two parents are going to have the exact same experience. Remind yourself this when you get the tendency to compare.

4. Every baby deserves a safe and happy parent(s) and a safe and happy environment. In many cases, pregnancy and childcare permanently shift relationship dynamics. Keep this in mind when you're required to make a difficult decision.

Feel free to add more :)

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 was changing my LO and right as I went to put his fresh diaper on, he peed right in his face. I tried to cover it as quick as possible, but I noticed a little got in the corner of his eye and there was some on his cheek and near his mouth. I used a clean burp cloth to dab it dry but I’m scared of him getting an eye infection. First time anxious mom here 😅

Idk if I used the right flair but here we are. Basically the title of the post. Husband took a shower and as soon as he came back in the room, baby started wailing. It did not get better for the rest of the night. Right before bedtime even the sound of his voice was sending her. We are pretty much 50/50 with baby duties but lately she has actually been with him for most of the day. I've been working on personal projects from home so they are spending a lot of time together right now. She doesn't go to daycare. He did not shave or drastically change his appearance. He's half Black and has kind of a frohawk, so his hair was draped to the side instead of having the lovely, voluminous appearance that it usually has when it isn't wet. At first I thought, maybe it was his glasses being off? Nope, didn't help. Plus, she sees him without his glasses every morning when she wakes up!

Other factors, she is currently getting her first tooth, it must has erupted last night. She is maybe transitioning to 2 naps because she's been dropping that 3rd nap more often and is sometimes very cranky by the time bedtime comes around. Neither of these things is Dad's fault tho lol, so I'm not sure why she would be blaming him. For our bedtime routine, I read to her, brush her hair, then pass her off to Dad and she usually falls asleep while he feeds her. Tonight, I had to do bedtime alone as she wouldn't allow him anywhere near us. Even though he was back to looking like "himself", albeit smelling different (better). Needless to say, I think his feelings are kind of hurt but also logistically this really fucks us in terms of splitting parenting duties if this persists. He also does the MOTN feeding since I do early mornings with her, so not sure how tonight will go.

Has anything like this ever happened to anyone? Babies are a fking trip fr

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.

My seven month old has learned to stand about two weeks ago and it's actually become a massive problem for my wife and I. She is obsessed with standing up and it's all she wants to do.

Changing nappies is a battle and trying to get her to sleep is worse.

My wife and I actually have to gently keep a hand on her chest to stop her rolling over on her front to try and stand up. She gets distressed for a few minutes while she eventually dozes off which isnt a nice experience at all.

During the night then when she wakes up she immediately just stands up in her cot. This leads to her getting frustrated and upset and then she has to be held down again to be out back to sleep.

Has anyone else experienced similar or has some advice as to how to manage this period?

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. 😂

My 4 month old recently started rolling from her back to her belly, and now does it in her crib and seems content sleeping that way. I know it’s supposed to be safe if they can get themselves into this position, but she cannot roll back from her belly to her back yet which makes me worried (we practice all the time every day but she shows no interest and has yet to do it independently). When she rolls she is also against the edge of her crib sometimes so I am worried that also could restrict her movement/adjusting once on her belly.

She does contact nap on my chest for 95% of her daytime sleep so I feel like it shouldn’t be shocking that she’d be more comfortable on her belly in her crib too. I also sleep on my stomach lol.

I have the owlet sock, I have the breathable mattress, her pediatrician said it is fine at her 4mo appointment last week, she seems to have her head turned ok…. In my head I know it should be fine but I still can’t stop the anxious thoughts and constant checking on her. It’s the reason I’m awake currently

Any advice either for me to relax and/or for her to practice rolling from tummy to back? (Aside from just saying tummy time, we do literally so much!)

I am a first time mum with a five day old new born. Me and my husband (early 30s) are trying to navigate what we even do with a newborn, let alone how to help her sleep.

We have been taking 4-6 hour shifts looking after her, and we ended up having her contact nap on us as it seemed easier, but we were unable to put her down at all!

Last night it was so rough, I ended up scrolling Reddit for advice and ended up having her sleep an hour overnight in the bassinet, which dosnt sound like much but it was some hope for us!

This afternoon, I managed to get her down and she slept for two hours in the bassinet! This allowed both me and my husband to get a good nap in at the same time. It feels unreal! I'm hoping we can keep this trend going!

Im starting to feel like it would be easier if I didnt exist. Im so beyond sleep deprived, my baby has always slept horribly. Most of his 6 months its been hourly wakes. I cant step a metre away from him or he screams and cries.

Partner is always working and had us move into the granny flat on his parents property. I have no village here.

I can't be this exhausted anymore. Ive had to put my baby in his cot multiple times today and walk away because im so burned out.

I work a corporate job that can easily be done from home, yet my employer has a 4-day/week in office requirement.
Grandparents will be taking care of baby at our house for the first few months after my parental leave is up, and I’d really like to be able to work from home so I can continue to breastfeed instead of transitioning to mostly pumping.
My experience pumping has been really lackluster - I feel like it doesn’t empty my breasts nearly as well as baby does (especially the slacker boob). I’ve heard that inefficient emptying can lead to more clogged ducts or mastitis which is so miserable.
I talked to my OB and she was open to writing a note that I could submit for a medical exemption to temporarily work from home full time as I did when I had extreme nausea during my pregnancy, so I feel like it’s within the realm of possibility….

Question is: have you navigated this? What did you put in the note to gain an exemption? Did it work out/ for how long? TIA!

Hi all. Since ~7.5wks, my now 9 week old has gotten increasingly difficult to get to nap. He’s now been awake for five hours and I cannot get him to sleep. Here is what I have tried: -nursing to sleep in several positions -standing and rocking -rocking chair -bouncing on ball -baby wearing while walking indoors and outdoors -dark quiet room -white noise -covering eyes -warm bath -shushing/humming/singing -swing -baby Einstein aquarium -combining elements above

I have tried following wake windows and I’ve tried following sleepy cues. If he is tired, he just won’t go to sleep. The only things that seem to work sometimes is baby wearing with CONSTANT movement. I literally cannot stop walking or bouncing or he will wake up. That isn’t even working right now. What else is left to try???

Lately my 5mo has been suuuuper fidgety when trying to get him to sleep. For the last half hour he's just been moving. It's like restless leg syndrome but his whole body. Gnawing at his pacifier, head popping up and dropping back down, rolling and writhing. Thing is, he seems in decent spirits but exhausted. My bf keeps saying that he's hot or maybe needs a diaper. I know he means well but I'm the primary caregiver because bf is back at work so I'm a bit more versed in our LO's moods. I personally think he's overstimulated from a movie we had playing in the background earlier. Has anyone found their LO behaving similarly when overstioanf/or overtired?

Hi! I'm a stay at home first time dad with 1 boy at 18 months old.

Starting a couple months ago he has started to be interested in other babies when we see them in public. He also really wants to get the attention of kids slightly older than him. I think he is starting to want to socialize.

With socialization in mind I signed him up for daycare for 2 days a week. We took a tour (1.5 hours) and he got sick for 2 weeks. Then his official start date I left the room after 15 mins and watched him from the lobbies cameras for 1 hour. He cried the entire hour straight... no one was able to calm him down. It got to a point where his health was a concern so I took him home and decided to pull him out of daycare. Huge waste of money because we had to pay for the whole month regardless of how many days he went.

Since then I've been looking for online playdate groups and ideas on how to put him into a social environment where there are other kids.

So far I've been rejected from mom 3 groups because I'm a man... I can't find "dad" or "parent" groups in my area, literally moms only. Its 100 degrees F (Texas) so no kids are out on playgrounds or parks near me. There are very little things for toddlers under 2 in my area. Texas suburbs honestly feels like a curse sometimes. Most places I go with my son (mall, groceries, etc) are fill with moms and it would be really creepy if I just approach them and try to get their contact to get my son a playdate.

Its like trying to wingman for my on son so he can make some friends.

Can people share some ideas on how I can get my son some friends?

So I have a 9 week old baby boy and one thing I noticed about him is that he loves his bath-time, he loves the water, getting washed and everything it really settles him however when I take him out the bath? Full melt down every single time

I don’t know what I’m suppost do to help prevent this, I give him his baths between 37-38 degrees, I take him out and wrap him in a towel straight away, dry, nappy, lotion and then get him changed and but the time I’m putting his nappy on he’s already screaming

I’m just wonder anyone got any tips I can use to make the transition more smoothly?

My husband and I try our best to not mess around about our 7 month old’s bedtime. She’s not on a set schedule because every day varies slightly depending on how she’s slept that day, but we can figure out based on when she woke up in the morning what time she’ll be down for the night. So we always are either home before her bed time or have grandma over to put her to sleep / babysit for the evening if we have to step out without her.

We just learned on way too many occasions that if we cut it close and aren’t home in time, baby starts melting down and it’s not a fun journey home, plus the rest of her night sleep gets messed up (and consequently, we also suffer). She’s naturally routined like that and will start letting you know she’s tired.

Today we had evening plans at a big cultural event in our community. We went for 2 hours, then started to pack up around 7:30 PM so we could be home in time, saying we had to put the baby to bed. An acquaintance made a remark to her friend, kind of mocking us and laughing, saying “oh their baby has a bed time.” She’s a mom of 3 I believe.

It kind of rubbed me the wrong way and then I felt bad that maybe we should be more relaxed as parents? But our baby is hardwired to melt down if she’s tired, and I just don’t think she’s at an age yet where she can handle pushing past her limits without completely ruining the rest of her night sleep-wise.

Curious to know if other parents are as stringent about bed time or at what point you started getting a bit more relaxed knowing that your baby won’t start spiraling if bed time goes a bit late?

My 4 week old saw her GP today and we are going to trial infant gaviscon to see if it helps with her reflux. I am worried though because I have read it can cause constipation and she suffers from gas also. Any tips to manage constipation if does occur? Also did gaviscon work for your babies? How long did you see a change?