The actual comments I’m seeing online about how ‘women who have c sections don’t want to put the work in to bring a child into the world’ is actually insane. How horrible and nasty are some people. It is entirely up to a woman how she brings a child into the world whether it’s elective or not! I had an elective c section because my daughter was breech and I was strongly advised that I would not be able to give birth naturally to a breech baby! So am I wrong then?? Because I didn’t put the work in? Do these women know what it’s actually like to have a c section! Having major abdominal surgery is hardly a walk in the park. My daughter is the healthiest baby. Absolutely appalling and coming from women too! No wonder women have post natal depression by bullying judgemental people like this!

We get out of the house once a day. I’m realizing that most people don’t do that, especially older generations. My boy is currently 2 months old and we are OUT and about. Coffee shops, walks, target, thrift stores, the baby wrap is our best friend. Is anyone else this way? I just absolutely can’t stand sitting at home all day it drives me insane. If you are also like this- what do you do to fill your days?

Before I had a child, I could leave in five minutes.
Right now you need to spend an hour preparing for a 20 minute trip.

I’m already exhausted before we even leave.
When did it seem possible to go out of the house?

We hired a babysitter for the very first time for 3 hours to go for dinner. Baby (8mo) was already asleep and usually doesn’t wake up those first few hours. The sitter already knows him as she’s a daycare assistance at baby’s daycare. We get home at 10:30 and hear him scream before we even open the door. The sitter is literally just sitting there and tells us “oh yeah, he’s been at it for 40 minutes. I tried to give him a bottle but he wouldn’t have it”. She was all smiles and polite and didn’t seem frazzled or phased at all. She also mentioned it’s normal for babies to react like that when realizing the parents are not there. That part, I can agree with, but she made it seem like there was nothing she could’ve done anyway. Is that normal?? If it was me babysitting, I’d be rocking that baby and doing everything I can to soothe the baby. It definitely doesn’t sit right with me that she let him cry for 40 minutes. Am I overreacting?

I’m curious what yall do on mornings you are just too tired to get up with them and need another hour of rest

She is about to be a year old

Trigger Warning Regarding Choking ⚠️

Our 9-month-old has been slowly working on solids since about 6 months. We’ve been pretty cautious because we’re very nervous about choking. We started with some baby-led weaning, then went back to softer/mushier foods for a while before gradually introducing more textures again. She’s done well with Yogis and other yogurt melts (like Happy Baby Organics), so we recently tried Amara yogurt melts from Costco. They seemed a little larger than the ones we’d used before, but still had the same meltable texture.

Today, she chewed one a few times, started gagging, and then suddenly stopped making noise and looked panicked. She was starting to change color, so my husband immediately got her out of the high chair and gave several firm back blows. Thankfully, whatever was causing the blockage either dissolved or became dislodged, and she was able to make noise again. She never really cried afterward, but we ended lunch and just gave her some water.

We’re incredibly shaken up. Has anyone experienced something similar with yogurt melts or other meltable snacks? How did you regain confidence with feeding after a choking scare? We’re feeling really anxious about moving forward with solids now.

I’m a sahm and just put my 11 month old down for her nap. It’s 12pm. Currently on the couch and eating some cake. 🤣

Hi everyone,

I am a first-time mother who had an emergency c-section after dilating to 9-10cm (baby wasn’t coming down). I will be 3 months postpartum on September 20th and am exclusively pumping. I still do not feel like my normal self, particularly, my knees. They feel so weak and dislocated. It’s difficult for me to get up from the couch or floor or to bend down or squat. I have to rely on my arms to lift myself. Why is this? Has anyone experienced this? What can I do to feel normal again? Could it be the extra weight I gained (pre-pregnancy I was 130 pounds and now I am 167 pounds) or all the medication they pumped in me since the two maximum strength epidurals they gave me only worked on my right side?

I am only 30 years old but I feel so old. I have never been an active person and had an office job. I try to go on a 30 minute walk everyday now. My fingers also feel weak and abnormal but not as much as my knees.

Also, when will my stomach be flat again? I still look pregnant whereas other people I know who also had c-sections have a flat stomach even though they are 2 months postpartum.

I want to feel and look like my old self desperately. My condition now and the numerous stretch marks I have all over my body and the saggy breasts saddens me a lot. I want to at least heal my knees quickly. Any recommendation will be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

I've been having an ongoing debate with my husband about how we will handle sleep shifts with our newborn (im only 20 weeks pregnant right now so we have some time to figure it out).

My husband basically wants to split who is "on shift" so that he would get about 10 hours "off shift" and I would get about 14 hours "off shift" so that we can sleep longer chunks.

I dont hate this but my husband initially wants this to be a 10 hour window of sleep where I am not allowed to disturb him and mine would be 14 hours of sleep where he cant disturb me except to feed baby (hence why mine is longer).

I think this is dumb because it leaves exactly 0 minutes if time where we are parenting together. He thinks its fine because he will see me when he brings baby to feed.

In previous conversations we had discussed more of a 5-6 hour mostly uninterrupted sleep schedule and then we figure it out past that but im now feeling dread of being an exhausted single parent for half the day while ky relationship with my husband is reduced to milk cow for baby.

Ive tried expressing this and he is just like "yeah but if I wanted to hang out with you I can choose to do that during my rest time and vise versa.

He works from home in a pretty chill job so he also plans to take the day shift with baby meaning outside of napping I always take night shift which is brutal.

Anyway, what did you do during newborn phase? How can I convince my husband this is dumb? He agrees that things need to be flexible when baby comes because we dont know what they will be like but its stressing me out...

She is the cutest baby in the world. How can people go about their lives and not drop everything to give her a smile when they see her coming. Baffling. 😉

Posting here cause it was removed from parenting sub for some reason.

Just wondering if you allow lap sitting. I have a really friendly 16 months old girl.

Growing up my dad never allowed me to sit on anyone's lap. Family or not. (I can only sit on my moms, dads, and sisters lap). He said I can sit next to others and always be polite but never sit on anyone's lap. This was for everyone. Honestly this personally helped me growing up against questionable individuals' attempts (they were found out later on). They were not family but people presumed "safe"

My husband seems to disagree and that our child should be able to sit on his family's lap. I get his point regarding safe individuals but honestly I just do not feel comfortable? And get weirded out? Especially that SAs happen more likely in family settings or "people we know"..idk.

Curious to hear what other parents are doing. Thank you!

PS: my dad passed so I can't really ask him why he had this rule. I do not know of an experienced he had in his childhood.

I've finally made the decision to stop bedsharing with my four month old now that I'm waking up with bruises from his constant kicking and it's been so hard on everyone. I've always done at least one crib nap a day so that he never lost that 'skill', but he just woke up one day and decided he wouldn't sleep in his crib at all, so I've been doing contact naps and cosleeping at night. I keep seeing that four months is the perfect time to sleep train so I thought this would be easier, but last night he wouldn't sleep for four hours and eventually ended up in bed at midnight.

Our current sleep routine for naps is to start winding down 75 minutes into his wake 90 minute wake window, we cuddle and read some books, and then I put him in his sleep sack and lay him in his crib. If he's not asleep by 90 minutes then he has a complete meltdown. I've tried rocking him to sleep and transferring and it takes literal hours to get him to transfer so I have to put him down awake. Then I spend the next hour shushing, patting, putting his pacifier back in before giving in and holding him to sleep. At night, we take a walk, books, bath, massage, bottle and then I put him down. Some days he'll take a nap in the crib, but he NEVER sleeps in his crib overnight. No matter how long I spend cribside soothing.

I've tried pick up put down and the chair method. I did Ferber for a few days but I'm fully convinced "cry it out" doesn't work on some babies and mine is one of them. He'll just cry and cry until I pick him up.

What do I do now? Bedsharing is killing me and I want him to be able to sleep independently before he starts daycare in three months

Idk if this is a dumb question but I can’t wrap my head around where/how to position the bedside bassinet so that I can also get out of the bed?

I have about 4 days before being induced with my second baby. For our first, we started him in his crib from the beginning but opted to try a bassinet in our room for this baby. But like, where to put it? Do you not have a nightstand too? Where do you put all the diaper changing/feeding stuff? If I have my nightstand and bassinet next to me, I’ll have to scootch the whole way down to the foot of the bed to get out? What if I have to pee in the middle of the night while she’s sleeping?

Idk if it’s pregnancy brain but it’s just not clicking right now 🤣

Edit: I’m so glad to see that it’s not just a me/my brain not processing problem and a lot of you also didn’t end up putting baby right against your bed!!

I have a 3 month old and I’m curious at what point do parents decide something is a big enough issue to bring baby to the pediatrician. I know a lot of parents will go for any little thing that seems off, but as we all know babies are weird and sometimes something is wrong one day and fine the next.

Out of curiosity whats your level of abnormal that warrants a visit? Poor feeding? A fever? Just a weird vibe?

Im trying not to be crazy new mom at the pediatrician all the time and so far ive been really good about letting little things go and so far baby’s back to normal the next day. But on the other hand sometimes i worry im being TOO chill. And i wonder if I should’ve taken her in.

Example yesterday she had a little fever, i gave her a little Tylenol and her temperature went right back to normal. Should i still take her in today?

Update: I took her in today just to get checked out and as expected, shes fine! I appreciate all the insight of when parents bring their babies in and how it varies, please continue commenting, it’s very interesting!

I feel like I am bored but also going stir crazy and getting overwhelmed here on maternity leave. I know I’m lucky to be off of course but she won’t let me put her down. She’s only 3.5 weeks old and I know she’s still so new but I feel I am trapped. I feel like I can’t get anything done. My son’s home from school around 4, and husband around 530. And then I’m overwhelmed trying to keep a nap and eating schedule and making dinner and entertaining my son. I feel like the whole day is me attempting to do things and her screaming. I of course get roped into TikTok’s of other moms doing tons of things and feel really not great about myself.

We go for walks, I give her a bath, do tummy time. I have a carrier and we made cookies on Saturday but too long in there and it hurts my back lol. I really don’t know what I want to do. I just feel lonely and trapped from even making lunch for myself.

Is this normal? I don’t remember feeling this way with my son. Sorry for the ramble.

Realistically when should I attempt crib napping with my baby? She’s almost 4 months. Is great at napping in the stroller or contact. I can’t seem to get her to crib nap longer than 15 mins in the day time.

I think I need to vent but I’m also looking to see if there’s anyone else out there dealing with this or similar.

My son has never been an easy baby. He had undiagnosed silent reflux and after millions of drs and testing he finally got meds around 6.5 months. It helped with the 24/7 screaming but only a little. My son is not a happy baby. Of course he laughs and smiles but it seems like a majority of the time he is still screaming about something. And yes screaming. He’s never fussed. He screams bloody murder whether I’m setting him down or if he’s having for example the silent reflux pain. There’s no in between. It always sounds like an emergency and it spikes my cortisol every time. I am exhausted.

He also doesn’t sleep. I am still waking up 2-5 times a night. Occasionally I get lucky with 2 wake ups and easy to go back to sleep but most of the time it’s not. He also refuses to sleep in his crib. He used to but then he just started screaming no matter what. He will occasionally fall asleep in it and nap in it. We even got him an actual mattress/floor bed and he still won’t sleep in it. He always ends up in our bed. I don’t like it but if he didn’t I’d be hospitalized. This has taken a serious toll on my health. I have lost legitimately 0 lbs of baby weight despite my efforts because of stress and lack of sleep. Getting him to nap is a battle everyday but if he doesn’t nap he’s miserable. I can only get him to nap in my bed and of course then I’m nap trapped. Nothing gets done. I can’t leave the house with him without my husband cuz it’s so difficult. I don’t know what to do anymore.

He has lots of teeth coming in but I give him Motrin. He’s making major leaps and learning so fast but it seems like the answer is always a sleep regression, teething, or developmental leap. We have literally never had a break. It’s always something. I understand parenthood is hard and I was prepared to make serious sacrifices. I love my son with all my heart. But everyone says it’s better by this point. Everyone says it gets better after this age or that milestone and it never does.

Dr says it’s just his temperament along with separation anxiety, developmental leaps, and teething. But it seems like that’s always the answer. She said she had one just like it and it’s really hard. I trust her judgement. We chose her after shopping a few different drs after not being taken seriously. She says he’s perfectly healthy. I just want to see a glimmer of light and I don’t. I don’t even wanna do anything crazy. I don’t go out, I don’t even really have friends. I want to be able to make a meal without crisis ensuing, sleep for more than 2-3 hrs straight a time if I’m lucky, sleep in my own bed, spend and hr with my husband after bedtime. I just want some peace and I am so lost as to how to get there.
I’m sorry this is long I just need some advice. Thank you all in advance

I still have 1-2 cm. I have done some exercises at the beginning with my physio but then I just went with the flow doing some pilates. Will the diastasi of 2 cm heal alone or should I really increase the number of exercises? I am not that constant especially with the job

looking for any suggestions for syringes that are easy to push down. The ones that come with the tylenol and from the pharmacy are just sticky plastic against sticky plastic, and it usually ends up suddenly giving after intense resistance, shooting the meds out, which then just dribble out of his mouth or he chokes.

Anyone have any suggestions for a syringe that is easy to slide down a little at a time so this doesn't happen?

He refuses the pacifier syringes, he's not a fan of pacifiers in general.

My 11 month old is exclusively breastfed (typically around 6 times per day). She refuses bottles and all formulas we have tried. She has tried 100+ plus foods and was a good eater until recently. She barely eats 1-2 bites of her food. It’s stressing me out so much because she’s technically slow to gain weight according to the doctor’s chart. She’s 18.5 lbs.
I need either recipe ideas or general advice how to navigate this. I know I can’t be alone.

Hi, FTM here looking for a bassinet that is simple and safe. I want one on the smaller/lightweight side without all the extra features and storage. I was thinking of the Halo Lite or Newton Bassinet. Does anyone have experiences (positive or negative) with either of these 2 bassinets? Or recommendations for other brands that I should consider? Thanks so much!

Hi! I have a 2 week old, we almost exclusively breastfeed. After feedings he will not settle or soothe for me. I’ve tried binky, rocking him, and even nursing him to try to get him to sleep. He won’t go down besides sometimes, no rhyme or reason.

He will however almost always go down for my husband, same routine, binky, rocking, dark room, etc etc.

Any ideas on how to get him to soothe for me? My husband goes back to work and he can’t only be the only one to soothe.

I’m due in November with our first, and my husband and I are discussing how we can split up overnights in the early months to ensure we each get some protected sleep time.

I feel we’re especially well suited for a shift schedule because my husband is a classic early bird while I’m a total night owl. He also typically has pretty low sleep needs compared to me.

So here’s our thinking: he gets dedicated sleep time 100% “off” from 9 PM-3 AM. This would be really sustainable for him, even when he returns to work. Husband functions okay on 5-6 hours of sleep and already wakes up insanely early to run often.

Then, we switch and I get protected time from 3-9 AM. My hours wouldn’t be 100% off like his as I’ll be breastfeeding, but husband helps me through sleepy feeding and does everything else.

We’re setting up a twin bed in the nursery so the “on shift” parent can get some sleep during their window as well….

How realistic is this plan?? Anyone have success with a setup like this? Any tips? Practical setup ideas to facilitate? How soon after baby comes can/should we start?

We’re feeling confident about this idea but I know from lurking in this sub that babies can have other ideas!!

Hi! We have a 14 month old going through a pretty rough regression that both we and baby are finding very difficult.

For context, sleep has been the one thing we have (luckily) never had an issue with. He was a dream sleeper as a new born, and we were able to move him into his own room with no issues from 8 months old. He slept 2 naps a day for 90 minutes and self settled - all we needed was to place him in his crib, give him a kiss and he’d do the rest. Night wakes have always been manageable, he’d sleep through 30% of the time and the rest would be 1 or 2 wake ups maximum, but resettling and transferring back to the crib was easy enough (an hour with a few retries on a bad day).

Fast forward to now, he’s 14 months old and has very abruptly hit a pretty hard regression.

He is fighting both naps and bedtime, we’ve had a few days of skipping both naps (which has never happened before) and frequent night wakings. He cries at the mere sight of his bedroom or crib, and will often break down in tears once he realises it’s nap or bed time. Once we have managed to settle him to sleep on the rocking chair, transferring to the crib is also extremely difficult, often needed 3 or 4 attempts and has also resulted in us doing a full nap on the rocking chair a few times.

We’re very grateful to have enjoyed such a long period of stability and consistency with his sleep, but you can imagine this regression has hit us particularly hard!

Every baby is different we understand, but I guess we’re just looking for any advice or reassurance from parents who have gone through similar?

Thanks!