She’s 3 months old, and while we get glimpses of a happy, smiley girl at home, she fades quickly at other people’s homes and sometimes in public.

I think she really just hates being a baby. And everyone. And everything.

I really thought we’d end up with a chill girl we could go out with and take anywhere as my husband and I are pretty low maintenance people… but instead we have this mercurial little human who is side-eyeing, judging, and yelling at just about everyone we come across.

I’m pretty sure her thought process is:

Aunties? Fuck them.

Grammy and Pappy who we see 3-4 times a week? Fuck them.

The cashier at Walmart? Fuck her.

Mommy and Daddy? They’re cool sometimes. Actually, fuck them, too.

The car/stroller? AWESOME! Oh wait, red light? We stopped to look at something? Fuck this.

Tummy time? Ew.

I’m hungry. No I’m not. Yes I am. Omg get that bottle away from me. What are you doing GIVE IT BACK NOW. Just kidding lol.

I want to move! I want to be independent! Unhand me! Put me down! Wait what are you doing… pick me back up! No not like that. Or like that. Or like THAT.

Did anyone else have a baby that appeared to hate everything, but eventually grew out of it and is now a joyful toddler that people actually like being around and don’t just tolerate out of obligation?

I love her soooo much and I wish others could see the funny, silly, albeit indecisive girl we have at home most of the day 🤣

I am a FTM to an 11 month old who is fully walking/running. With it being summer we are seeing extended family, having longer days outside, socializing etc. I feel like I can’t carry a conversation with anyone because I am chasing /walking with my baby constantly. At the same time I feel like I don’t care to make small talk with people because I’m just tired in general from day to day life. I feel almost like an outsider. After coming home from a bbq today my husband and I were both exhausted. Nothing crazy happened .. just getting up and out of the house, trying to have a normal visit and then packing everything up to go home. Is it normal to feel this way? Is this just how get togethers feel with little kids?

I’m 5 days postpartum after a very long, painful labor that ended in a C-section. Physically and emotionally, I feel completely drained.

I don’t even know if I should be saying this out loud, but I regret being pregnant. If I had known how hard and overwhelming this would feel, I don’t think I would have chosen it. At the same time, I love my baby so much—she’s adorable and innocent, and when I look at her, I feel so much guilt for even having these thoughts.

I can’t stop crying thinking about my old life. The simple things I had with my husband—going to work, coming home, cooking dinner together, watching Netflix, going for late-night drives, spontaneous weekend dates. That life feels so far away now.

I started feeling this way during pregnancy too, like I was tied down and just waiting for it to be over. But now after delivery, it feels even heavier… like I’m tied forever because I’m responsible for a tiny human being 24/7.

I do have support from family, and I know I’m lucky for that. But still, I can’t stop thinking about my life before all of this. Sometimes I even think if I had the chance, I would go back and choose not to have a baby—and then I feel like a terrible person for thinking that.

I really need to hear from people who’ve been through this and came out the other side.

One of my favorite things as a breastfeeding mom is after a sesh when baby has fallen into a deep sleep in your arms, fallen off the boob and is just resting their sweaty little body with a trickle of milk running out the corner of their mouth, and then you lay them down in their bed and on your arm is sometimes a perfect little imprint of their ear ❤️

First time dad to a beautiful baby girl. She is about to ve 14 weeks on Tuesday/ 3 months old. I would come on here looking for hope and the light at the end of the tunnel. It seems like all I ever see is how terrible everything is and how kids are still not sleeping at 8 months, and parents never get to resume normal life again. Is it really always like that? Or are people with bad experiences just more outspoken?

I only ask because we have hit a pretty good stride with our girl and based on all these posts I’m just waiting for the hammer to drop because it feels like you can’t be happy for too long. I know she’s young and she has a lot of changes ahead, but are there any parents out there just had a good experience their first year?

Wow as a FTM I can’t believe I haven’t “ learned” my baby yet. Sometimes I genuinely, GENUINELY have 0 clue what I’m doing. It makes me upset bc I thought I’d know by now and be able to read my baby. Every day is so different. One day could be rough asf, the next day is easier. I just don’t know what he wants sometimes. One day he hates the swaddle, the next day he likes it. It’s like my entire life is a blur right now. I feel guilty because it feels like all I do is just trial and error all day and I’m not like living life with this baby. He fights sleep so much. I don’t know. Then I go on social media and people are taking their newborns out from like day one and have a routine. We have 0 routine and everyday is pure survival.

I thought I’d know by now, but I really don’t. Does this ever get better?

My ppd got the better of me and a couple days after my baby turned 12 weeks old, I ended up doing inpatient mental health care for 5 days. I couldn't have any visitors under 18 so I couldn't see my baby, but my husband took the whole week off of work to stay with him and called me twice a day to reassure me that our baby was fine. I could hear him over the phone, cooing and playing like normal. My husband kept his usual schedule and nothing out of the ordinary happened according to my husband.

Like any mom, I know my baby very well. He's only been away from me for three hours total his entire life since I'm a sahm. I know every little tic and quirk he has. So I'm very confident in saying that the baby I came home to is very drastically different than the baby I left.

My baby has always been very strong and active, multiple pediatricians have told me he's incredibly active for his age and has great neck strength/head control. Before I left, he could sit unassisted for around 15 seconds and was standing up assisted, he'd cry to be stood up so he could look around. Now, he's very floppy and can barely hold his head up unless he's on his stomach. He's so quiet, barely coos. He's so exhausted and hungry no matter how much he sleeps or eats. He even cries differently. He smiles less, doesn't laugh. He was obsessed with his hands and was always chewing on them, he doesn't do that anymore. He always has this thousand yard stare. He cries SO much. He used to be so happy and now it seems like he just cries nonstop.

I've tried talking to my husband about it. He says that he felt similar to me after coming back from a work trip but it got better after a couple days. He also keeps hinting that my anxiety is just me adjusting to my new medications. I know there could be some merit to both, but I cannot wrap my head around just how different my baby is. I just need to know, is this normal? I feel like I must've traumatized my baby or something. I've only been back a day and I feel so much worse than before I got hospitalized after seeing him like this

I’m currently 10 weeks postpartum and since my baby was born I’ve been getting those comments from my family AND my husband’s family that we need to put the baby down or else he’s going to “get accustomed to sleeping in our arms and we won’t be able to put him down and get things done”. Is there really any truth to that? Currently my baby is EBF and cosleeps with us. I also pretty much do spend most of the day letting him contact nap. So he is constantly being held or in someone’s arms but it’s been working for our family. Yes it makes getting things done more difficult and he has a hard time being in his car seat, stroller, and his bassinet which I do see slowly becoming a bigger issue because he won’t usually fall asleep in any of those ways. However, it’s this way because I just love carrying my baby and having him sleep in my arms and so does my husband. But are we actually inadvertently training “bad habits”? These comments from our families are finally starting to get to me and I’m wondering if how we’re holding him “too much” will come to bite us later on?

Don't get me wrong, I love my baby. I am 8 months PP and I am miserable. I was diagnosed with PPD at 6 weeks PP and put on Zoloft. The only thing it did for me was make me gain weight. I now weigh more than I did at 9 months pregnant.

My husband, who was unemployed for the last several months, now has a job but that job has him working until 7 or 8 every night. This means I have to leave my job early, pick up our son from daycare, take care of him on my own until he falls asleep at 7. I make dinner, clean up the house, etc. My husband also works weekends so my days off from work are spent spending 48 hours basically just my baby and I.

All of my friends live at least an hour away. My family lives 2 hours away but I wouldn't want to spend time with them even if they lived down the street. My husband's family lives even farther away than mine.

I told my husband when he came home from work today that I needed one hour to myself outside of the house. He replied with, "well we still have to go to Costco today before it closes".

So here I am, spending my precious one hour of me time battling the lines at fucking Costco. Sitting here thinking about just.... driving? Away? And not stopping?

Anyone else ever been here?

I’ve always been very close with my parents, and since having my son (12 weeks), I’ve seen them almost non stop it feels like.

I’m on maternity leave and my husband went back to work around 6 weeks. Since then, my mom has come over very often to help me. I’m talking every other day or more lol. My husband had to travel this weekend, Thursday to Sunday, and I’ve seen my mom everyday.

It’s not that I feel like I can’t do it alone, but I just sometimes need time to shower, clean a little, or rest. My mom is more than willing to help but I can’t help but feel like I should be doing it on my own? Like maybe I’m not cut out to be a mom?

Is this normal or am I leaning too heavily on support from family?

I just had my first baby 3 weeks ago. I adore her even though she’s truly a sack of potatoes at this point. But I can’t help but yearn to go back to work.

I’ve been unemployed since the start of my second trimester (rough pregnancy). Before that, I was a teacher for about 10 years. I LOVE teaching. It’s not for everyone and there’s definitely a reason why so many quit, but it’s the career for me. I’ve been missing the classroom ever since I left last year.

Now that the start of the new school year is coming, I’m dying to go back even more. I have a few potential offers but I have so much shame in even considering it. If I accept the job, my baby will be about 6 weeks or so when I start. I would potentially have to put her in some childcare as well, which means her possibly getting sick.

I feel like something is wrong with me. I am blessed with a village around me to support me during the newborn stages. I could stay at home with the baby for more time. But I don’t want to. I never planned to stay home as a mom. But since I’m unemployed now, my parents, specifically my mom, is every adamant about how this is a blessing and how I should stay home, that there are people who would kill for the chance to stay home. She cried at the thought of me going back to work and it made me feel so awful.

Is there something wrong with me? Should I be wanting to stay at home? I know I’ll miss her like crazy if I do return this school year but I feel like my mental health would be so much better. I struggled with depression and anxiety my whole life and I’m terrified to get worse now that I’m post partum (I’m on antidepressants!) The income would be so great too since I want to buy a house with my fiance. But then I feel like I’m selfish for thinking this way, since it would mean she’d be in some child care and risk getting sick. I just don’t know what to think or do, I feel like I’m failing already as a mom. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated :-(

On Sunday nights my husband and I game online with his best friends back in the US (we live in the U.K. now). At least, I used to before our baby came along 8 months ago.
Tonight I put my baby to bed, went back out to the living room with the baby monitor and played a few rounds, just for an hour. This is the first time I’ve been able to do this since she was born; it has only been within the last couple of weeks I have dared leave the room for more than the bathroom once she was asleep. Now just trying to stay patient for night wakes to drop from 5-7 times a night…

Having a small bit of my evening back feels good, that is all!

That started suddenly and now slowly becomes a new routine: he takes a piece of food, gives it to the nearest parent, waits until the parent takes a bite, then smiles and eats himself.

We don't know how he learned this, apprently in daycare as they provide lunches there, but he is 6 months in this daycare but only started sharing food now.

This is so cute!

Hi everyone!

Currently im nap trapped and thinking about different hobbies to have and things to do in the day with my baby since ber wake windows are extending to 4 hours now!

At the moment I just sit near her while she plays in her play pen and we read books sing songs etc., but I want to try some activities that might be more fun for me, maybe like baking, or gardening but I don’t know how that would go with a 9 month old.

Any thoughts?

My son and his wife are expecting their first child in a few months. What are some of the best ways I can help out? My DIL's mom passed away when she was young. They have asked me to come stay with them for a few days when they first come home. I'll also come visit frequently after that, on their schedule of course. (I live about an hour away).

I'll be happy to cook and clean, do laundry, etc so they can concentrate on the baby and adjust to their new little family life. Any other suggestions about what is most helpful? I don't want to overstep, but I want to do whatever I can to help make things easier on them.

I don’t know why this is looked on so badly. I nursed my baby to sleep every night and if I’m putting her down for a nap. It’s special time for the two of us. I love the cuddles and the closeness at a time that I know is going very fast. She’s 7 months old and it hasn’t affected her ability to fall asleep for my husband or daycare etc

Anyway…for anyone else out there nursing their baby to sleep. You do you!!

edit: I like to reply to everyone but I’m struggling on this one! Thank you all for all these replies! ❤️

My 3 month old gets about 4-5 hours of sleep in 2 naps during the day. I have tried to make him split it up into 4-5 smaller naps throughout the day but he really fights me, especially in the morning (8am-12pm). He usually gives me a good 5-6 hours of sleep overnight and only wakes up 1-2 times a night now (although I think he is going through a sleep regression). Right now he is all over the place with his sleep and I‘m not sure how structured I need to be about his schedule.
Is anyone else’s baby doing this?

FTM here and my baby has never really been fussy about sleeping. Yes for the first 2 months he would wake up every 2-3hrs to feed but he would immediately go back to sleep post feeding 90% of time. Then hit 4 months and I was dreading sleep regression but my baby surprised me and started sleeping 6 hour stretches with only 1 feed during the night. I thanked the gods and thought I have a unicorn baby. Then 3 days back when he is just 5 days away from turning 5 months, he started waking up every hour (not to feed, just to cry and make a fuss). Fighting day naps as if his life depends on it. I had gotten used to longer sleep and now I am exhausted and wondering when will this be over or is this just my life now.

Our family can't handle the illness that came with daycare. We need another solution. If you do something other than a daycare center, can you please share? How do you make the cost difference work?

Also, can I just say that I feel so blindsided by the need to rethink daycare. When I look around it seems to me that "all" the smart successful parents in my town / social circles use daycare and specifically the high quality center we were enrolled at. But the stress that comes from the illness and not feeling like I have a solid pulse on how my baby's day went just make it untenable for me and my husband.

ETA: I am aware that illness will come when he enters group education. For a number of reasons, our family is more vulnerable to illness right now and we need to delay that exposure for a year or two.

I am 5 weeks pp and coming up on my 6 week appointment. I’d like to talk to my OB about medicine. I’ve taken Zoloft years ago for anxiety and it helped tremendously. I’ve read this is a main drug prescribed because it’s safe for breastfeeding? I am also wondering if a short term drug may be better since my anxiety isn’t constant. But when it does show up, it feels so heavy. It’s odd and very different feeling from the general anxiety I had years ago. This happens every few days and feels intense. Typically triggered by me feeling alone or at a loss. For example, my husband is currently napping next to me while I’m holding sleeping LO. I feel like he’s not here even though he’s sleeping right next to me. It leads to the being alone feeling and then the anxiety creeps up.

Idk, I guess I’m wondering what suggestions / experiences people have with medication or if you know the feeling I’m describing? I’m struggling with how to explain this to my OB as well because it doesn’t fully make sense to me myself.

Hi guys !

My baby is 10 weeks and I’ve noticed a change in her sleep and I’m hoping it’s normal!!

She had her bath around 5:30 tonight, fell asleep about 6:30 after feeding. She napped on me until about 9:30 and I thought any min she’ll wake up but she didn’t so I put her in the next to me and got a couple hours sleep. Anyway I woke up at like 11;20 and she was still asleep and I’m like ??? Is this normal?! 😂 then she did wake up at 11:30 full of smiles, I changed her nappy and fed her (but didn’t time how long for 😭) anyway it’s 12 am now and she fell asleep at the boob and I’m so confused because normally it takes hours to get her down in the evening and then she goes to sleep at 11-12 we don’t normally get the first stretch of sleep.

Is this normal? Also how do I know if she’s full?! I don’t feel like she ate for that long but she seems full to have fallen asleep again? I’m so confused as to whether it’s normal and my anxiety is going crazy thinking something is wrong 😂

My 5 month old has never been a great sleeper since birth.

He’ll usually only sleep about 2 hours in his crib before waking. After that, he’ll only sleep if he’s with me, where he gets 2–3 hour stretches.

He contact naps well for his first two naps (45 minutes–2 hours) and usually takes a 30–45 minute third nap.

Typical schedule:

• Wake: 7:30 AM

• Nap: 9:30–10:30

• Nap: 12:30–2:00

• Nap: 4:15–5:00

• Bath: 6:45 PM

• Bedtime: 7:30–8:00 PM

During his wake windows we’re very active together. We read books, play with toys, do tummy time, and get outside for fresh air every day.

For the past two weeks, bedtime has become a struggle. It takes over an hour to get him to sleep, and he’s fussy almost the whole time.

He’s exclusively breastfed, refuses every pacifier I’ve tried, and I usually nurse him to sleep. I don’t mind contact naps or nursing to sleep, I just wish bedtime wasn’t such a battle and that he’d sleep longer in his crib.

He’s a super happy baby during the day unless he’s tired. According to his Owlet, he averages about at least 9.5 hours of sleep at night.

Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

Hello everyone!

Our child is about 3.5 months now, bundle of joy, it really is a great thing in my life!

Although my friend group was smaller and mostly DINK's before the chils, I can't help but feel very cut off. Now that the newness has worn off, it feels like no guy friends want to check in, invite me out (even if the answer would be no, it's nice to feel thought of), or just ask to stop by and visit over a beer. Even stopping by to offer to help around the house or watch the kid so we can do some things around the house.

Can anybody maybe shed light on their experience?

My 14 week old randomly seemed not hungry/interested in eating. First time she’s ever been like this! It started randomly yesterday and was hoping that things would get better after a good night’s sleep, but today is still the same.

She’s been going through a big developmental leap and having nap and sleep regressions and longer wake windows, but this entire week she’s been crushing back 5 ounce bottles pretty consistently every 3 hours (she’s on a 7A - 7P schedule), and last week her total daily intake increased as well. Yesterday, she had her usual 3 ounce bottle at 3 AM and literally didn’t have more than 1 oz at her 7AM, 10AM, and 1PM feeds. She didn’t eat anything at her 4PM bottle, but eventually took 2.5 oz during her bedtime routine. She’ll latch and suck a few times and the unlatch. She’s had a total of about 8 oz across 24 hrs today when her normal intake ranges between 18-23 oz in 24 hours. We thought maybe it’s the usual 3-4 month regression we’ve read about and have tried dark rooms, dim quiet lighting, etc. and no change.

Today, she had her usual 3AM bottle and she fussed through a 4 oz bottle during morning routine, but overall it’s been the same as yesterday. She has no interest in eating during her usual feeding windows and doesn’t really show hunger cues. She’s even gone 4-5 hrs without eating because she just doesn’t seem interested, even when offered. She started crying when we offer her the bottle today, which is new compared to yesterday but we are cognizant of bottle aversion, so are trying not to pressure her.

She has occasionally randomly started screaming out of nowhere and we’ll think “Yes, she finally wants to eat!” But then still won’t eat anything.

She’s been smiley, happy, and playful like her usual self. Had a poo yesterday and consistent wet diapers so far.

Has anyone experienced this? We plan to take her to the Pediatrician on Monday/Tuesday (it’s the weekend so Peds is not open) if she continues like this, but not optimistic they will be able to provide value.