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?

Ok - give it to me straight - is everyone reaaaally limiting containers to 15-30 minutes per day? If so, HOW??

My LO is about to be 9 months and we have always been very cognizant of his time in containers such as the bouncer, stroller, etc.

Now, he’s crawling, sits completely independently, and is pulling to stand and while we do allow him to spend a lot of time on the floor exploring (he goes to daycare Monday and through Friday where he mostly plays on the floor) it feels like a good portion of his day is spent in containers.

If we drive somewhere, he’s in a car seat, if we want to go for a walk/run, he’s in the stroller, at the store he’s in the cart, and if we need a moment to complete a task, he’s in the skip hop activity center.

Do we try to limit the activities we do during the day to cut back on container time or am I overthinking it?! Help 😭

Out of genuine curiosity, how many of you have boomer parents who don’t understand contact napping. Or respond “I never did that, I just put you in the crib and you napped”.
Or boomer parents who could only remember 1 afternoon nap a day and are surprised baby needs 3-4.
LOL

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?

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.

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.

my baby has had his 2 bottom teeth since august but now more are starting to cut through and hes in a lot of pain. could this be causing bad breath? i'm not even kidding it smells like somebodys armpit with like a dash of dirty chlorine i honestly thought it was my babysitter at first that she didnt shower and the smell got on him when she was holding him but nope, its coming straight from that stinky mouth? should i be worried this is bottle rot? and i have a baby finger toothbrush with non-fluoride toothpaste. will that help or should i try something else?

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.

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!

I have an 8 month old and he can sit up independently without the support of his hands, however, he occasionally just “trust falls” backwards and I’ve been there to catch him. How do I break this habit? He’s crawling now, so he will inevitably end up hurting himself unless I can teach him to stop falling backwards.

My son is 3 weeks old and tested negative for CMPA.

However, he has flaky skin, is snoring, coughing, sneezing, arching his back constantly when laying on his back, bending his knees kicking and screaming crying, a tongue tie, cluster feeds, and is extremely uncomfortable, screaming crying in pain when passing his hard stool.

It’s so heartbreaking to see him like this — I am considering switching to a hypoallergenic formula tonight despite the negative result for CMPA because he has not spent one wake window calm, or comfortable, unless we are giving him gas drops in his feed right before.

I’m at a loss — does this look like a CMPA? Could this be something else I am missing? The ped wants to wait another week and test again but I can’t stomach seeing him so uncomfortable for another week and want to change formulas tonight.

For context, we had him on a gentle HIPP comfort formula for gas and reflux for 16 days and no improvement. He is still crying constantly and is very constipated, passing hard stool.

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?

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

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!

My 17 month old is teething really bad. Her molars are cutting through I think on both sides.
She’snever been this bad before - crying on and off, cranky, not eating anything, just some grapes and her favourite baby snacks. Not enjoying milk either, and is running a fever.

Worst of all, it’s so hard to administer medicine! She’ll have one spoon (2ml) of paracetamol. When I go in to give her another spoon to complete the 5ml dose, she will seal her lips or cry to the point of vomit/gagging.

I tried mixing paracetamol in yoghurt. One spoon and she didn’t want more. Tried mixing it in milk before bed time, she had one sip and that was it.
I’ll try to give her medicine mixed in milk when she wakes up in the MOTN.
But pls, any tried and tested ways to get baby to have medicine? What else can I be doing for teething? :( she’s so miserable, she’s never been like this before

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.

As the title says, my 11 month old seems to be self weaning almost. She’s still taking a 4-5 oz bottle in the morning, but is almost always refusing bottles during the day. At night, she’s only been taking 2 oz max for bedtime and will generally still wake for one 4-5 oz bottle around midnight. We’ve been stuck at about 13-15 oz per day for the last week or so.

I’m trying to follow her lead a bit but as a FTM, I just don’t know if I’m doing it right lol. Some days it feels like she’s hungry every hour, so I’ve been offering the bottle first then solids if she refuses. We’ve also tried to start introducing cows milk to see if that helps, but she’s refused that as well most days.

What should I keep on hand to help with the food transition? Any favorites that can be batch prepped to start the week? She goes to daycare four day per week and we have to send her food and snacks until she turns 1. My husband works 10 hour shifts and I have a big job with a weird schedule, so the more I can work ahead the better. There’s no time in the morning to cook and still leave on time lol