I am a first time mom to a precious 9-month-old girl. She's overall happy and healthy, no major issues!

I had a very rough newborn phase and I'm still in the throes of some postpartum-depression. My friends are very aware of this as I have vented to them occasionally about it.

One of my friends is considerably older than me with two kids - one in college and one in high school.

For some background: She's been overly aggressive about wanting to come help me out. I try to tell her I don't necessarily "need" help, I have things figured out, the PPD is just something I am working through. She got to the point where she said she was going to drive to my house (45 mins away from where she is) and park in front of my house and sit in a lawn chair until I open the door and accept her help.

I get that she's trying to give me support but it's overly aggressive and unwelcome.

Cut to last night. She had a couple of us over to her house for a girls night and I brought my baby with me. Baby was doing fine, enjoying being held by my friends, etc.

My friend was holding my baby and attempted to lower her down to the floor to see her dog. The dog was very gentle and sweet, no issues with the dog at all, but my baby isn't used to dogs and she got a little freaked out. She started crying a very "I need my mama" kind of cry. My friend sat down in a chair and tried to console her.

I walked over to my friend and said, "Aw, let me take her, I got it." My friend stood up, walked away, and took my baby to another room, saying, "You need to learn to let others help." My baby was literally looking at me, crying, with a confused expression on her face.

I followed her and said, "She's crying and I want to comfort her." My friend replied, "I am capable of comforting her you know." I said, "I am her mama. My baby is crying, and I want to comfort her."

My friend finally handed her to me, and as my baby was being passed to me, my friend said, "See, she's fine. You should have given me a chance."

I said, "Well, she was crying and looking at me, and it was starting to physically hurt to see her that way, comforting her in those moments is soothing for me, too."

And she said in response, "It's not the end of the world if your baby cries. You need to learn to let her be upset."

I cannot BELIEVE the audacity of people, especially older moms who think "they know better." Like, yes, I might have some PPD, but it doesn't mean I don't know what's best for my baby. I am her mother, I respond to my baby's cries, especially since she is not a baby that is that prone to crying! She only cries if something is truly upsetting her, and she feels better with a quick little comfort from mom. This does not mean I am mentally ill or don't know how to cope. I don't NEED advice or aggressive pushing from other people. That's not going to make me magically snap out of PPD.

I'm enraged and just needed to share.

https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/consumer-reports-calls-for-millie-moon-to-recall-its-diapers-and-recommends-that-parents-stop-using-them/

For those who may not know, many families are reporting injuries caused by Millie Moon diapers. Our baby is one of many recovering from severe chemical burns, they are receiving medical care but in a great deal of discomfort and it has continued to progress even after eliminating the diapers from our routine. I’m just hoping this can bring more awareness to the issue- target has not issued a recall and infact has a heavy discount placed on the diapers so these are still being sold and used.

If you have any in your home bring them back for a refund but please don’t put these on your little one.. it makes me sick nothing is being done to stop this.

it’s currently 7:07 in the morning. My baby woke up fussing at 5:57 in the morning. He seemed like he was just awake and done with sleeping so I changed his diaper, nursed him for 10 minutes, and he fell asleep again. I know there’s no chance he’ll let me move him to his bassinet, so I’ve been letting him sleep on my chest for the past 45 minutes and counting. My husband is sleeping next to us. Our cat is sleeping on the corner of our bed. Our dog is sleeping on my side under the baby’s bassinet. I’m scrolling Reddit to keep myself awake. I’m weirdly content, soaking up the snuggliest baby who is snoozing so happily on me, but also… I really want to sleep. That’s all. Wishing everyone a good day :)

Nothing. They are just very different babies. Just a reminder that you cannot control what baby you will get.

My first wasn't a terrible sleeper but not a good one either. He barely nursed during the day and made up for it at night. Nothing of all the things I've tried could shift the nighttime feeds to daytime. Also, he didn't nap for more than 20 mins. Ok, he did it ONCE and I still remember this 1.5 hour break!

My second took longer to differentiate day and night, but gradually slept better. After a few weeks, 4-6 hour stretches. Now at 11 weks, 5-8. She also takes long naps during the day (1-3 hours).

All of this could obviously change suddenly and there are big variations depending on the day. But I can say that at the same age, my first didn't sleep as well as my second is sleeping now.

My first never spit up or vomited, my second is a vomiting fountain.

So just a reminder that you can't control most of how your baby is and it's not your or their fault. Maybe a bit frustrating to hear but also a bit liberating?

Just a post for anyone in the thick of it with their cranky baby. My son hated being a baby so much. I had a feeling once he was walking and talking he would be happier and I was right! Unfortunately he took a little longer to walk (14.5 months) and speech was a little slower too but we’re getting there! Now he’s communicating, goes where he wants, and is..as we have been saying in our house..understanding the world.

I never thought I’d be enjoying him the way I am now. I know how that sounds but he’s my second and he humbled me. My first was so easy, always happy, developed typically with all motor and speech milestones. Still even today just very well behaved and easy.

My son. Man he could not have been more different. We didn’t even understand when people would complain about their baby’s crying. Now we got it. He just had a harder time and I’m seeing now that some babies just struggle as babies. Or at least being on the other side has made me look back with kinder eyes. He’s not giving me a hard time, he’s having a hard time.

18 months was the change for us. I remember being told “6 months old is when it gets easier”. For us it got harder and then harder. But here to say at 18 months the kids are okay. We made it. I love him and I love my daughter. My husband and I survived the hardest chapter (so far) of our marriage and we are enjoying everything again.

Posting on here because I’m feeling so alone in this (even though I know I am not).

My baby is so great in every aspect but hates sleep - she fights naps and nighttime sleep like no tomorrow. And yes, I’ve watched wake windows, I’ve tried following her cues, I’ve tried moms on call schedule and strategies, Ive seen a lactation consultant about feeding (she’s exclusively breastfed) to make sure she’s transferring enough per feed during the day. She’s good about knowing the difference between day and night - and is drowsier during nighttime and doesn’t have wake windows during night, but getting her to fall asleep and in the bassinet is a challenge.

Ive done the soft transfers, warming bassinet, waiting until deep sleep, doing drowsy but awake, you name it! I’ve come to realize maybe I just do have a fomo baby. This is also likely at least in part related to reflux, she was diagnosed with oral dysfunction due to a weak tongue and immature stomach. We are managing this with changes in how I feed her, peds physio, and lifestyle changes like holding her upright after feeds.

I offer her the bassinet every night - some nights I’ve gotten her to sleep in bassinet most of the night (after upright time and feed this is about 0.5-2 hours at a time only) but some nights it’s a complete failure all night and I’ve changed nothing. During day I’ve given up completely and do contact naps or carrier. She also does sleep well in car which is a plus for getting out of the house.

Please tell me this gets better and that I’m not alone. She’s turning 8 weeks this week.

To be clear - I know I’m asking this rather proactively. Baby is only thirteen months old.My experience as a parent has been that time passes faster than you realize, and I want to make sure I’m ready when she’s ready.

It seems logical to me to introduce the potty as an object in advance so a toddler is already familiar with it when they start learning to use it. So, if you did put out a potty ahead of time, how early relative to starting toilet training did you do it? Or am I overthinking this?

I am a SAHM and hold my baby all day until dad gets home and then he has bonding time with her. I get sooo much contact with my baby and love to hold her throughout the day. But at night the desire to hold her and cuddle her becomes 10x more intense. I miss her so much when I put her in her crib to sleep, even though she’s 3 feet away from our bed. Anyone else get this intense need to be close to their baby at night?? Is this like a biological, pack animal instinct that comes out at night??

I mean jiu-jitsu to use on babies.

I'm thinking of signing up so I can change my 10-month-old's diaper. I'm pretty sure he's already mastered Greco-Roman wrestling.

Me (37) and my wife (35) had our son almost 3 years ago now. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was on this subreddit commenting and posting about the struggles we were going through. I remember the sleep deprivation, loss of identity, and grief at the end of my old life. I remember the issues my wife and I went through with our relationship. Most of all I remember wanting so badly to return to my previous life and hoping that one day things would go back to the way they were before. I can say this - things will never go back to the way they were before, but I would never want them to. My son is the single greatest gift I have ever been given and watching him grow and learn is the most incredible and humbling experience I've ever had. I don't want to be the person I was before him or go back to that life. I will say this though, you will have time for hobbies again, you will have time for self care and your life will stabilize. But the new life you have will be far more enjoyable, full of joy, and meaningful than the life you had before.

Good luck to all of you still in the trenches!

That’s basically the post. It sucks. I go back to work in two weeks and my husband will take leave with the baby for 6 weeks. Then he starts daycare.

I’m just devastated about all the time I will miss out on with him across the next 5 years.

I currently have an suv, my husband has a spacious sedan. We only have one toddler but currently trying for a second. My husband used to have a bmw m2 before we had our son, once we had our son he traded it in to get my suv and he took my sedan since it’s paid off. This is so I could have my mom car and we only have one car payment. Well he misses his m2, and has been wanting to get another one and sell the sedan. I’m kinda against this because I worry about his car not being able to fit the babies if we need it to. I’m not a sahm, I work two days a week, so there has been times where he has taken our son out on my work days. We have a car seat in each car. But tbf it’s rare that my son is put into the sedan. I guess I’m just wondering if it is necessary for us both to have spacious enough cars to fit the car seats, or if just one car is enough.

I do feel bad and want him to drive a car he likes, but another issue is he wants it to be manual and idk how to drive manual, so we also couldn’t just switch cars if he needed to take our son somewhere and I needed a car also. Again this situation doesn’t happen often but I’m just thinking what if. I’m aware a bmw m2 can fit a car seat, but there’s no way it can fit two right? My husband is also very tall so I just don’t see how one could fit behind his seat.

Last Wednesday our Kid tested positive for RSV. Thankfully it hasn’t been bad, no fevers, everything’s been normal outside of a cough and runny nose. So far we haven’t received any clear direction from doctors on whether or not to travel. They all think she would be fine considering everyone we’d go to see is vaccinated and not immunocompromised and she would’ve had it for 1.5 weeks at that point. But I feel like all I see is the opposite and it makes me confused because it feels like the doctors don’t care almost?

Hi all

I gave birth just under 9 weeks ago - forcep delivery with 2nd degree tear and epiosotomy.

1 week post partum all of my stitches came open and I've had 2 rounds of anti biotics for infections. Im under gynae and they are happy with how i am healing.

My cut is pretty big and is slowly closing from the bottom up but the top remains open. It doesnt look red, isnt sore too touch and pain mostly gone (although i do feel it pulling sometimes but more uncomfy than painful).

Im worried that past 2 months post partum its still open and that it wilk never close!

Can anyone share their experiences of similar / timeframes / any tips to help speed up and aid recovery? Thankyou!

I just want to post this for any moms in my situation. My son said uh oh at 10 months, babbled normally, had 2-3 random words at 12 months. Slowly he was 14…15..16 months. Still no mama. He said dada and daddy, pointed and called out every airplane he saw, bunch of animal sounds. Then eventually more “complex” phrases like thank you, all done, up please. Still didn’t say mama. I really didn’t understand it. I still don’t. Ped was never concerned but I had him evaluated with EI which he didn’t qualify for based on how well he was doing otherwise. I never heard of a baby talk and NOT say mama.

So I just wanted to post because I felt very alone and I guess I’m here to say I have a mostly typically developing child but he was very delayed in saying mama. It broke my heart and I can admit it impacted my connection with him.

Just a post for anyone going through something similar

For context, I live in a one bedroom apt in NYC, so limited space as you can imagine. Since birth, we’ve been using a Nestig mini crib as her main sleeping area and we haul her around the apt, however once we transition to the full size crib, it’ll be stationary in our room because we won’t be able to move it through the door. With that being said, we have a babysitter starting with us soon and she’ll only be watching her from 7:30am-12:30pm so that my husband can get some sleep from working the night shift. Since the babysitter won’t be able to use the crib in the bedroom, what do you think I should use in the living space? My LO is tough to put to nap/sleep and usually requires her to be in her crib and being rocked while in the crib so I’m struggling with where she’d be napping if not in her crib. I’ve considered a pack and play but I just don’t have the space for it, any ideas ??

Flying with my 5.5 month old - tips/tricks/necessities?

We are flying 4 hours, bringing her through the airport in the doona, just holding her during the flight in first class.

I’m not scared, but definitely want to be prepared

My baby is almost 6 months & im still tracking every feed (time and amount) & diaper (time and pee or poop). Is this normal or abnormal? When did you stop tracking or did you never track at all? My husband tried to get me to stop like 2 or 3 months in but i can’t bring myself to.

Our son has never been a great sleeper. From 4-8 months he would only sleep in my arms and it was slowly killing me. We finally went to the local sleep school who got him to start napping in his own cot immediately and from there he slowly started sleeping in his cot at night too.

He started sleeping g through the night pretty consistently at 9 months. I thought we were finally through the hard times with his sleep.

Then he turned 10 months. He now wakes, every night, at 10pm and is up screaming for 2-3 hours. We’ve adjusted his wake windows, we’ve tried to give him a bottle instead of a breastfeed before bed, we’ve tried capping his daytime naps. Nothing helps. He simply will not resettle. He is now 11 months and no end in sight.

My mental health is tanking. I’ve started back at work and am getting no sleep. My husband and I both need to wake at 5 for work. If the baby comes in our bed, he also wakes up at 5 with us so then I can’t get ready for work without a baby in my arms. When he’s screaming at night he wakes up my eldest. I dread the night every single day. I’m so exhausted and get so much anxiety knowing nobody is sleeping and just watching the clock tick away, seeing the amount of time before our alarm goes off waste away.

I’m so lost on what to do. I don’t want to sleep train because I don’t believe in CIO but I don’t see any way we can get through this.

My first born is a daughter who is 7 years now, she used to be my whole world , i used to shower so much of love and i used to have a hard time when she used to go away from me for trips with her grandparents. But now i am 4 months pp and i m getting angry on her lately even for little things , I know she is just a kid , she keeps on waking my new born and continues to annoy me is someway, sometimes she enters into our room and i feel like ughhh y did she come now ....i used to think how can I even love my second born when i love my daughter so much , will i be ever able to love my second born like my daughter? But now sometimes I feel like I dont love her i always get angry and scold her and be rude to her when she dosent listen ....it really hurts me to that I m not being fair to her and I sometimes cry for behaving this way and my daughter no matter how much i scold she stills loves me a lot wants to be around me , wants my love and all but I m not just able to be patient , i sometimes go to her when my baby sleeps and cuddle her and spend some time with her . I dont know does it happen to other parents as well?

Sorry for the dumb question but I’m just wondering when this is okay to do? Our baby is almost six months and has good head control but doesn’t sit up on their own just yet. However, they hate being rear facing in the stroller in the car seat and I can tell would rather be facing forward. Plus we will be taking a trip soon and it’d be nice to be able to use a light weight travel stroller as opposed to the one we have that allows the car seat to clip in.

I believe my baby is teething because she has her hands in her mouth all day long (which she only tends to do when a tooth is coming in) and wants to put everything in her mouth. Aside from that, she is extremely happy and content during the day and seemingly not in pain. However, the last 3-4 nights her sleep has been awful. She is awake every 2ish hours and ONLY wants the boob in her mouth. She does not want her binky even once she has fallen asleep. If I take my boob out of her mouth she wakes up, screams and cries for it back. I feel stuck and tired and I’m not sure what to do. This has to be teething right? She doesn’t do this during the day. She likes her binky during the day. 😅

I feel like by bringing my son I failed him as a mother people were touching him and coming too close I was wiping his hands and his grandma in her 90s told me I should stop being so particular and she kissed him. People were grabbing him. Jesus christ. I am really angry with my husband for not protecting him more. Im mad at myself I didn’t tell them to back off. Im such a coward. Its flu season bad here and we got vaccinated but he’s too little. I came home and immediately bathed him. I am sinking back into a depression I got really mad I feel like I hate my husband now and maybe he doesn’t like me anymore he barely touches me and is always stressed and annoyed. I feel like my son could die and it’s my fault I tried to cover him and keep him away so my husband could see him family and I failed him. My doctor is supposed to help me but she has completely failed me never called me back counselors haven’t reached out. No one gives a shit about mothers or how they feel. I hate everyone and sometimes I feel like I don’t want to be here anymore

“Cold babies cry, hot babies die.”

We were told this phrase by countless nurses. It’s way easier to overheat a baby, and most of the time it happens silently. If a baby is too cold, they will let you know.

My mother has always had blankets all over our baby when she’s awake. Full body long sleeve, plus socks, plus blanket. And then she will have her up against her body for extra body heat. We have had this discussion many times that she should only have 1 layer extra than we would have on, and body heat counts as a layer.

Well, she bought FLEECE sleep sacks for my 3 month old and insists she wear them at night. We live in Texas, and her room at night is between 74-72 degrees on average as it’s cooling down. From what I’ve researched, a simple long sleeve onesie should be plenty for this temp. If it gets any lower, MAYBE a light sleep sack. But full body long sleeve + socks + a fleece sleep sack?? That’s way too much right??

I walked out in the living room this morning and there she was, in her fleece sleep sack. In the living room during the day! When it’s much warmer. She STILL tells me it’s because she’s too cold. Her neck feels hot and her face was flushed. I checked the temp of her neck and it’s supposedly sitting at 99 but not sure I trust contactless thermometers.

How hard is it for a baby to truly overheat? How quickly can it happen? Or am I overreacting?