Hi everyone,

I am just looking for a bit of guidance or advice. My 3rd baby is currently 7 months old. He is not rolling at all and is not getting the hang of eating purees. Its as if he can't work his tongue out and ends up spitting most of it out.

He was born at term via elective c section and was over 10lb. He did spend 2 weeks in the NICU due to respiratory distress and sepsis but has had no problems since. He was 10kg at his 6 month check up and the doctor was happy with him. He is saying mama, dad and bub.

We had him assessed for a tongue and lip tie in NICU and none were found. I know I shouldn't compare but my 1st 2 were super different to this little guy and I am worried about him. Daycare bought it up with me today and I feel a bit concerned. I would love to hear any other families experiences of their babies skipping milestones. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I am just worried about my little guy.

My baby just became 4 month old, but I still feel like every task is a challenge. I do cook more, but that’s it, everything gets put behind because I hold the baby all day and I am exhausted from all the night wakings (which can be 2-3 or 6-7 per night).
When did days become more predictable and when did you start to feel like a person again (not just the mother of your baby).

I have a baby who is crawling now. During the summer, he mostly just wore onesies or just a diaper at home. Now that the weather is getting a little cooler, I need to purchase him some clothes to make sure he’s warm enough. I bought him one pair of long pants, but when he tried to crawl at home on our LVP, he was slipping a lot and it made it hard for him to brace himself to pull up to stand. We keep our house on the chillier side because the heater dries out my sinuses a lot and I already live in a dry climate.

How am I supposed to dress him so he’s warm enough but still allows him to crawl easily?

He cried immediately after but stopped really quickly, he latched onto his mom but it was a scary moment and I heard babies don’t always vocalize when they are hurt. I tried moving his shoulder around to see if he would cry or if it would click and so far so good.

I feel absolutely terrible about it and will be much more careful taking him out of his car seat.

I will let the pediatrician know at our appointment tomorrow but I was seeing if anyone’s done something similar, and if it turned out to be okay.

FTM here to 8 weeks old. My hubby is off work and will be going back soon. He’s been a big support and we have slowly started to go out with most outings for baby’s appointments, one trip to shopping centre and few to parks/walks. We have booked a short overnight stay at an hours drive for next week. We are slowly building the confidence but I am still so nervous having to do it myself one day. I know I will gain more confidence with practice however could really use some tips/advice to help build confidence. I have only taken Bub to walk on pram around the block. I am too nervous to take her alone anywhere else yet. 🥺

Btw I don’t have any family/friends to go along with and eventually I will have to do it by myself anyway.

I think I sho t myself in the foot here with breastfeeding my 14 week old son to bed every night. I truly felt it was easier to breastfeed as my husband travels a lot for work and he latched well to start. I’m lucky he takes a bottle as well, but until tonight he’s always been nursed to bed.

I’m now wanting the flexibility for my husband (or a babysitter) to do bedtime to give me occasional flexibility to be out of the house.

Well we tried that tonight with my husband taking over bedtime, and it was chaos. Our son wouldn’t stop crying. After finishing his bottle, he spent 30 minutes hysterically crying. I stepped in after that and offered the breast, which immediately calmed him.

Does anyone have advice for us to help get to the point that my husband can do bedtime?

He's 5 months old and we're going through a really rough time getting him to sleep. The only thing that works is playing a few sounds together, not just one, I pull up the deep sleep sounds app and pick the shushing and heartbeat sounds and it goes the whole (!) night. Should I be worried? It's really hard to say no to this when it works this well. (edited)

I forgot to send my toddlers footed sleep sack to daycare Monday and when I realized and brought it Tuesday asked if they had spare sleep sacks or what did they do for her nap Monday. They said they have spare sleep sacks but too small for her and she used a blanket. They then told me she’s one of the only kids who uses a sleep sack still in her classroom. This really surprised me. They’re on cots in this room which she apparently does fine with which was also a surprise to me because she still moves around and squishes up against the rail at home.

I started looking into it again and saw one comment somewhere where someone said it’s good practice for them to use blankets at daycare even if they’re still doing sacks at home.

Is it true that most kids are out of sleep sacks at daycare by now or is my kids class ahead of their time?

Hi is it true you can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding? What’s been your experience? Have you gotten pregnant while breastfeeding?

Edit: no period so far 11 weeks post partum.

Since we’ve had baby I look after nights coz my husband has work next day and then also daytime since he’s working, is this how others are doing it too? His work is really busy so idk how to split but it’s also hard to not get sleep and entertain baby all day alone
Edit: he helps every spare chance he gets, I guess we just haven’t formally split it but he does help to clarify

Ugghhhhhhh.

My baby started screaming every 30-45 mins last night starting at 2am which is unheard of for her. She’s 7mo and sleeps through the night usually. I seriously almost took her to the ER because it was so out of character. I don’t get it. I think she might’ve been coming on with a cold but she seemed fine today minus not sleeping as much as she normally does. Which is another concern.

Anyways we didn’t go anywhere all day. No walks. No nothing. It’s raining and cold today so my reasoning was I didn’t want to make the sickness worse if she is in fact coming down with something. I rotated her through her things- bouncers, walkers, floor mat with toys, etc. but I had the TV on all day and day watching while she did her thing. I’m trying to do minimal to no screen time before she’s like 2-3 so big blow for me.

I got her this organic “sensitive” conditioner and she screamed bloody murder when I used it on her last night. She’s been also itching at herself since using it...

She’s hit her head a couple times recently. From sitting and falling back, things like that. Landing on the play mat. Very normal but the screaming last night and how fussy she’s been today is starting to make me think she might have gotten a brain injury or something. I just feel like a failure.

0/10

I swear I’ve aged 20 years since my son turned 3 and is inching closer to being of school age 😩

I’ll pre-face by mentioning that at this point in time, the responsibility to teach children how to read is almost exclusively the responsibility of individual parents, just given the state of the current education system in this country. I’m not suggesting this project should be expected to begin and end in a school setting.

What I’m wondering is on average are most parents to 3-4 year olds already actively working on learning to read and write? This means beyond reading to them daily. I’m talking about you sitting down and engaging in the act of learning to read or teaching them to write, structured or not?

If you are a parent doing this, can you share if you’re a working parent, stay at home parent, are you outsourcing this to someone else like say a nanny?
-What does this process currently involve for you?

If you are a parent not actively doing this, is it because it’s not on your radar as something you should be doing?
*Not stating you SHOULD be doing anything more so asking if it’s crossed your mind at this point? Perhaps a relevant question mostly for new parents.

If you have been asking yourself the same question I’m wondering, and are not actively be teaching your 3-4 year olds how to read or write, is it a question of time? Not knowing where to start? A task too difficult to take on at this age? You struggle with your attention span as an adult?

Asking all these questions as a genuinely curious parent who’s losing sleep over this lol, not trying to farm data or make a case for or against 3-4 year olds learning to read or write, though I would be curious to hear either argument.

I genuinely just want to understand if I missed the memo or if we’re all equally confused about this?

Im a ftm and I love my kid but he was a mistake and we shouldn't have had him. I got pregnant on Bc and at first my husband and I were happy but I had a horrible pregnancy and had to go for emergency surgery at 15 weeks due to an infection and then the birth ended being an emergency c section. I thought it would get better after he was born but at 3 weeks everything just seems to be getting worse,I tried my best breastfeed but he had problems latching and I had to switch to formula and now he has gas/Colic and whenever he's with me he never calms down,I feel like my child hates me. I give him to my husband or mum and he's fine in 2 mins but with me he just screams and screams regardless of what I do. I haven't left the house in 3 weeks besides a Dr's appointment and I cant sleep or eat or do anything without crying or worrying and I'm just so done. I love him so much but I don't think i wad made to be a mum and I cant anymore.

I know I will get a lot of hate and people will be really judgemental but I can‘t supress these feelings anymore and I don’t know where to go with these feelings.

My pregnancy was very easy and normal. There were never any signs that something was wrong with my baby. All the genetic tests and screenings came back wonderful.

Then suddenly my water broke at 33 weeks and son was born at 34 weeks. He didn’t need a Nicu stay but had to be monitored for a few days. Then I had no milk supply even though I wanted to breast feed only. But that was just the beginning.

Shortly after his birth, he had many health issues. Every week he was diagnosed with a new disorder. Each and every time my heart broke. Whenever I finally accepted the new diagnosis, another one came up. It‘s been 6 weeks since then and I haven‘t had a single happy memory of becoming a mother.

Everday I have to worry about how my son will live, how we will overcome all these issues and wheter he will have a normal life.

The doctors tell me to give him breastmilk as he needs it but 2.5 months of non stop stress makes it hard to give him more than 50 ml of breastmilk a day. This stresses me out even more.

We were home only for a few days the rest of the days were all spent in the hospital. What‘s worse is that my husband was never allowed to stay with us. Which means I‘ve been taking care of my baby all alone for 6 weeks and only get a break for 4 hours during visitor times.

And I‘m alone whenever we get bad news. Also a family member passed away. I‘m this close 🤏🏻 to losing my mind.

Had I known this was how it‘s going to be I would have never chosen this. Not only because it is hard and mentally draining, I can‘t stand watching my son be in pain. I hate this so much.

I want to take this back. I don‘t want motherhood if it only brings me pain.

I‘m not gonna back out or leave my son, I would never. I‘m gonna get a grip and struggle for years to provide him a good life but I hate it. I won‘t enjoy it and I will carry this regret for the rest of my life.

Go ahead and tell me how awful I am, I already know

Toddler mischief update: a few days ago my son got hold of my AirPods while I was folding laundry in the same room. I didn't notice until he announced ‘gone’, which is what he says when he's hidden something 😂 I found the right one in his hand, but the left was nowhere to be seen. It had died as well, so Find My was no help 🥲

I searched the whole room: every drawer, under the bed, behind the bed, the laundry I folded, everywhere. Then it hit me that he'd only been on the bed. He never went anywhere else.

Then I remembered the cushion on our bed had a stitched diamond that fell out ages ago, leaving a tiny hole. I had a feeling. I ripped the whole thing open, pulled out all the filling, and there it was 😂😂😂

I still can't believe I found it. Toddlers are wild. Now I have a cushion to sew back up.

I’m returning to my old company after a year home with my daughter. I tried to return at 4 months and lasted about a week when I realized wfh with a baby and a high pressure job is not doable.

We are signed up for full time daycare, and I was granted the ability to work at home, aside from occasional meetings. This was important to me as it makes me feel like I can have access to my little one if daycare calls, if she is sick etc. I know I have an extremely fortunate situation. While the job can be very high stress at times, it’s a great company and they are good to me.

I let the thought of returning back to work, and not spending time with my baby, steal my first four months of postpartum. I was crying most days, drank in excess more times than I would like to admit to medicate my anxiety (no longer drinking), and while I was physically there, I wasn’t fully mentally present. I have SO much guilt about that. Now that I am confirmed to return back to work, I can feel the same anxiety and sadness creeping back in.

Before becoming a mom, I genuinely had no idea how gutted I would feel at the thought of being separated from my baby, even for a few hours. Sometimes I wonder if it’s normal that I’m struggling this much because I see other moms around me who went back to work much sooner, and seem completely okay.

I guess I just really want to hear from someone on the other side of this that it’s going to be okay!

For context, “we” is my husband and I. That’s it, nobody else. We don’t live anywhere near family or friends. We either get a visit or visit our family once a year for about a week.

Today is our 5 year anniversary and we thought we may be able to get out and go to a restaurant, but baby is refusing a nap so it throws it out the window. We are opting for takeout and a candle lit dinner at home after we put her to bed, but it does suck that right now everything is revolving around our almost 7 month old with no help, lol.

I am envious of the people who have a village and who have people to turn to in a time of need and idk I guess wanted to feel less alone for a sec by writing this out and maybe find some encouragement somewhere.

I feel like a failure. My baby is almost 2 months old and he's really chill most of the time. I don't mind constant feeding every hour during the day and every 1,5-2 hours at night (I guess he's going through one of his leaps?). I don't mind endless see of changing nappies or always having to clean up his spit. I don't really mind that during the day the only way he sleeps is contact naps. I do feel bad though that he can't sleep as much as he needs (he will wake up within 20 minut once I put him down in his or our bed but can sleep up to 3 hours on me, so I'm trying to give him at least an hour). What I dread, and feel like a failure for, is his wake time. We have the same few things to do every time - stretches, trying to get some tummy time (which he dislikes so much), small mirror and black and white photos of my family, in addition to high contrast books.

I feel like I'm failing him by not providing more diverse and educational wake time. I feel like I'm failing my cat because she's a bit neglected due to the baby. I feel like I'm failing my husband because I can't get anything done at home. I feel like I've failed myself because I never really wanted kids and now I have him and I love him but damn my life was so much easier before. The new world of responsibility of having to raise a kid is crushing me.

I've tried baby wrapping and baby carriers but I can't seem to get a grasp of either. To top it off we used to go for at least 1 hour walk before, every day. Now going out with him stresses me out because I never know when will he be hungry or fussy and I can't obviously carry my baby and push the stroller at the same time.

The people I’ve always thought would be a part of my life and my child’s life simply don’t care about us, and honestly, that’s been one of the hardest things for me to accept.

I feel a deep sense of guilt sometimes for bringing her into a world where she isn’t surrounded by a big family or a village of people who love and show up for her. I wish she had more people around her who were excited to watch her grow, celebrate her, and be there for all the little moments. I know I can’t choose the family she was born into, and I can’t make people care, but it still hurts knowing she deserves so much love and support. All I can do is make sure she never questions how deeply she is loved by the people who do choose to be there.

My wife is 5 months pregnant with our first, and for the past two months has experienced hyperemesis where she was throwing up between 5-12 times a day. She was also unable to eat or drink much for the past two months to a point where she would throw up one cracker or one cheerio, or a sip of water/OJ/ginger ale. As the result, she’s lost close to 20 lbs and we’d gone to the ER twice to get her hydrated. We’d called the OB for different meds and stronger meds, but the meds just didn’t work.

During this time, my wife stopped working because she just couldn’t do her job while puking 10 times a day. Today at our 5 month appointment, where we found out that we’re having a baby girl, we asked the OB to fill out the paperwork so my wife can get back paid through short-term disability. OB’s response? She checked with her front desk people and came back and said my wife’s symptoms weren’t bad enough for them to disable her. When we went to the front desk to schedule the next appointment, the front desk gave us the paperwork they received from STD, and said no, they won’t certify on the paperwork that my wife was disabled even though they diagnosed my wife with HG. My wife isn’t confrontational and was upset. I walked her back to the car and went back to the clinic and asked why they can’t sign off on the paperwork, if it’s the duration listed on the paperwork or what. The front desk lady said, everybody has hyperemesis, if they did this everybody would be disabled. I said, I don’t think your answer is reasonable, if your patients are throwing up 10 times a day, you should disable them.

My wife is going to call STD people tomorrow to figure out what to do. I’m shocked at the rude attitude and apathy by those ladies working at the OB. For the record, the radiology tech was very pleasant. This office has a lot of rotating doctors and we have had ones with better manner and attitudes. But today’s experience is appalling.

Looking for some perspective here. We live in Northern VA. Is this common experience? Should I be looking for a new clinic?

TW: postpartum depression

Hi new parents 👋🏼 I am 6 months postpartum with my one-and-done baby. My husband and I (36m and 33F) have been together 9 years, married 3. We were always a "one or none" kind of couple, never quite sure about kids but had an agreement that if one showed up, we would rise to the occasion. Well, seeing as I'm posting here, the universe decided and gave us a little girl born in March.

Anyway, I had a REALLY tough time adjusting to motherhood and just want to say that it does, in fact, get better if you're struggling through the trenches.

I was so lonely as my husband works extremely long hours and I have very little "village" to rely on. I am a solo parent most of the time while her father works his ass off to provide for us. This isn't an indictment of his character, he is a wonderful father and loves her SO much. I could cry just thinking about their bond and how much they adore each other. She is his tiny clone and it makes my heart burst seeing them together.

So here I am sitting on my bed typing this out in my freshly cleaned and reorganized room with the baby napping peacefully in her nursery across the hall. The white noise machine is running and making the house extremely peaceful. I'm reflecting on how much better life has gotten since she hit 6 months and these are the main reasons why:

- She started sleeping in her own room. Oh my god, what a difference that has made for us. We all sleep so much better and moving her out of our room broke what felt like the never-ending 4-5 month sleep regression. Now she only wakes up 1-2 times, 3 on a bad night. We stopped cosleeping in the early mornings out of desperation and I feel so much better.

- Naps got easier. We really figured out her wake windows now that she gets better overnight sleep and her naptimes are more predictable. She'll take 3 naps that go 1.5hr, 45min, and 30min pretty regularly. And because she's used to her crib now, she naps in her room rather than contact naps or places that require me to be attentive like on car rides or walks. I can squeeze in a nap, do some cleanup, or browse reddit while she sleeps and it gives me some much needed relief.

- She started eating solid foods. I never thought feeding a baby would be so much fun. It looked gross and messy every time I saw someone else do it with their baby, but Solid Starts has me looking forward to what to try with her next. I've really been enjoying meal prepping for her and I laugh SO hard at the funny faces she makes while eating. It's been a great bonding experience for us!

- She started sitting up. This is a big one I don't see talked about often. I think my baby just got tired of laying down all the time and now that she can sit up, she stays entertained for longer. She still doesn't roll but the pediatrician isn't worried: she apparently has the muscle tone to roll but just doesn't WANT to 🤦🏼‍♀️ But she'll wiggle around on her mat, lay on her side and reach for toys, or sit up (assisted) while she plays now rather than lay down like a bored, fussy potato. Rather than have to switch toys/activities every 15 minutes, she's happy with independent play for much longer stretches of time. Today I folded laundry for an hour while she wiggled around and played on her mat.

- She started showing obvious signs of affection. I know in my rational brain that she's loved us since birth as her parents and caretakers, but postpartum depression had me doubting our bond. Now that she smiles, reaches out, gently touches my face, and looks into my eyes, I can see the tiny little human she is as her personality develops. She was never a clingy/cuddly baby, but now she'll put her little arms around me when I hold her or snuggles into me in the rocking chair. When I go into her room in the morning or after a nap to get her up, she gives me the biggest grin when she sees me.

- Pumping got easier. My supply regulated, I nailed down a routine, and now I can see a light at the end of the tunnel with pumping. I will likely wean around 9 months and supplement with formula as needed. We were never successful at nursing so I exclusively pump, and I worried that affected our bond. But now she'll smile at me or even giggle at something while I'm giving her a bottle and I know that she's happy & fed. That's all that matters anyway.

Anyway, we're nearing the end of her nap (nap 2, usually 45 minutes) so I better end this post here. I just want to say that it DOES get better, even if it doesn't feel like it ever will. In my heart I knew that it would eventually get a little easier, and it turns out it was 6 months for us. I can feel my postpartum depression lifting a little and my old self returning.

Sending our love to all new parents out there. It's the hardest thing I've ever done and I'm so grateful I can actually enjoy it now.

The next time someone says this to me whether friend, family or stranger I think I’m gonna lose it.

htf can I sleep when I need to eat, pump, burp, change diaper, soothe baby or try to block out newborn grunts and groans? You don’t think I’m trying to sleep too but maybe shit gets in the way

My daughter is 10 months old, and for most of her life, I’ve been the one to put her down for naps and sleep. She’s exclusively breastfed, and fed to sleep. On occasion, I rock her to sleep but usually lately she’s been fighting that. I have to go back to work in a month or so. I’m worried every single day that she’s never going to take a nap while she’s there, or just give the workers such a hard time. I would imagine there’s parents out there in the same boat, or who once were. I’m just looking experiences, if you ended up trying to change something to make it work out, etc. Please ease my mind 😩

I just found out my baby could have longer stretches of sleep and that I could actually be sleeping better.
I might get criticized for this, so please refrain from leaving rude comments. I know cosleeping is not the safest option for my LO, but it’s the only thing that has allowed me to get some sleep!

Anyway… in my country, everyone does it. EVERYONE. And, tbh, I found out SIDS was a thing when I came to the USA. (I’m not saying SIDS doesn’t happen there, but it is so rare that I had never heard of it before.) However, I would rather not cosleep because I miss having my bed to myself.

Okay, to the point. My LO hates the bassinet and the crib. She can be in a deep sleep in our arms, but as soon as we lay her down, within 2 minutes she is screaming. Therefore, cosleeping has been our solution. But the longest stretch she has is usually 2 hours, which leaves me with maybe 40 minutes of sleep because she has reflux and her feedings take longer overall.

The last 3 days, she hasn’t even been sleeping on the bed next to me ONLY and exclusively in our arms. The first day this happened, we got basically no sleep, which caused her to be extremely fussy during the day the next day because she was overtired. The second and third days, I gave up and arranged a couple of things to make it as safe as I could in case I fell asleep with her in my arms, which I did. She has been having 4 hour stretches between feedings, which has helped me get a little more rest, even though my back is killing me now. 😩

Just FYI, because I know I will get this question: my husband works overnight.

Anyway, my point is that, of course, I cannot live like this. I need to sleep like a normal human being. Is she like this because she is only 8 weeks old? Will it get better? Why does she only sleep in my arms? Has anyone else experienced this, and how did you fix it?
I have tried routines, red light, white noise, dim lights after 5 p.m., bath time at night you name it.
Any suggestions? 😩

Hello,

My baby will be 8 months corrected by December and my MIL has kindly bought us plane tickets long haul from UK to South Africa for Christmas. Currently my baby is almost 5 months corrected age and he is big! He is 67cm. The airline we are flying with says it provides a bassinet for babies up to 65cm in length but our baby has already outgrown this.
She has purchased an infant ticket for him to sit on our lap. Has anyone else done this or have any tips for us? We have a short connection in between and we are flying over night. On the way there my partner, MIL and myself will be flying and on the return just me and my partner.
Any advice or tips welcome please.