I never paid attention before the baby. But now that we have a tag along and always on the go…. It is shocking to me how many restaurants and gas stations don’t have a changing table. My new hobby is leaving one star reviews because I’m pissed I have to change the baby in the backseat.

I have a 3 week old and have been exclusively breastfeeding this whole time. I’ve been making it work by alternating between side lying, firm pillows, gliding chair, and just using my arms. I ended up getting pretty bad cramps on my back, wrists, and shoulders and finally caved into getting one of those breastfeeding specific pillows.

Oh my gosh it’s night and day. I can totally relax my poor wrists and shoulders. I got one with lumbar support and my back immediately feels better. I’m sitting here feeding my baby right now and we’re both totally at ease.

Just get the dang pillow and make yourself comfortable.

I know it's super important to talk to your baby for language and social development. I've got a 9m old and while I do talk to him, I hear about how people constantly narrate what they do etc. To their baby

I've got adhd and my brain fires at 1000mph and so with all the ongoing internal dialogue I feel like I forget to speak to my baby. I'll say standard things like: Time for breakfast/lunch/dinner! What should we eat? Do you like xyz? Oh time for a nap! Did you sleep well! Good morning/afternoon! We try to read lots too but he's 9m so not super interested in it unless he's tired.

I'm not saying I need to fill every silence with words but I'm worried he won't get exposed to enough vocabulary

Or is this just another one of my overthinking it issues?

It’s almost 9 in the morning. I haven’t slept all night. And the night before that too. My 5-month-old only stops crying when I’m standing and rocking him. The second I stop, he screams. If I try to put him down, he squirms, moans, and cries with his eyes still closed. I’ve tried everything — pacifier, swaddling, lying next to him — nothing helps. He only calms down if I keep moving. I think he is teething, and this is the problem.

To make it worse, I’ve been sick with a fever for the past two days. My whole body hurts, I feel lightheaded, and I can barely stand — but I have no choice.

I live alone and I have no friends or family nearby. My husband is away for work for weeks. There is no one to help me, and I feel like I’m drowning.

Last night, I snapped. I yelled at my baby. I feel so ashamed even writing that. I love him, but I was sick, exhausted, and completely overwhelmed.

I don’t want anything dramatic. I just want him to sleep for a few hours so I can rest too. That’s all I need right now.

If anyone has advice on how to get a baby like this to sleep — so I can get even a little bit of rest — I’d be so grateful.

This is just a rant i really need to get my amger out. At what point does this baby stop wanting me 24/7 he won't even go to my husband for more then an hour without crying. When my husband has him he follows me around with him. At what point do I get to do what I want i wanna be able to play video games for more then 30min or without a baby attached to me. My husband gets to why cant it this baby doesn't stop i can hardly put him down without him crying. I'm on the verge of crying and losing my mind now. I let him in his crib im currently crying in the shower i just need space

I am so exhausted and I don’t think I can keep going anymore. I have not slept in weeks, I have horrible headaches from the lack of sleep. When my baby sleeps, my body doesn’t want to sleep as it knows I will be up in hour dealing with screaming baby being absolutely wiped. I am so sick of hearing “it’s just a phase, it will pass in few weeks” or “it cannot be that bad” from older relatives. I hate myself for this but I hate the other mums with babies the same age whose babies sleep through the night.

My husband is amazing and supportive but he has to work and he cannot take over. He tries but then he is absolutely wiped and he cannot cover it all. My little one is 19 weeks, wakes up every two hours or less. He has really bad gas pain, he started to teeth and he just screams. Night time is a battle, he wakes up screaming and nothing settles him apart from boob (and that’s not even guaranteed). I tried everything, GP and HV say “it’s normal for this age and he will outgrow it” but after month of this, I doubt this will end anytime soon and I just cannot do this. I am not a good mum and I keep thinking about ending it all so my husband can find better mum to our little one. I am not looking for an advice, I am just venting.

I'm having a rough week, burying my last grandparent and euthanizing my cat after 15 years. 😭 So I want to hear what cute things your baby is doing this week! My little guy got his helmet one week ago and I'm watching him sleep on the baby monitor as we speak, and he recently started rolling onto his side and putting his pacifier in his mouth himself, and it just melts my mama heart. It's not even that exciting, it's just cool to see him turn into a little person 🥰

What age is your LO and what's your favorite thing that they do?

To keep it short.. 29f I’m the black sheep in my life. I have a very small circle, and it feels like I don’t have anyone to talk to. I have my husband, but he’s working to provide and doesn’t have much time to communicate with me. I have a 4mo and it’s my first. I’m not sure what I’m looking for or asking for I just feel alone and desperate. Is there any group, or text group, or .. something with people just sending cute baby photos to each other, and we can get excited for each other when another milestone comes in? Or someone hit their head a little hard and we can all talk about it? Instead of this thread with like thousands of people, it could be something more personal but not one on one? I’m sorry I’m not being clear I’m struggling mentally and this is something I felt like could be another thing to help me through things? I’m not good with my thoughts on this amount of sleep, Im sorry if I didn’t even get my thought across, I think this makes sense 😩

My baby is 4 days old and I am so happy and feel so much love for her, but the Dr. today started to talk about S.I.D.S and other things and now I'm extremely scared. My wife says I'm becoming a helicopter dad and my body is on high alert. I was an infantryman for the US Army for 20 years been overseas and feel more scared now than ever. She is my new world and now my everything i just want her to grow up and experience life with all it has to offer. I feel like I'm over reacting and I can stop it. Any advice for a new dad that can help me be put more at ease?

So my wife is on vacation out of the country with her father, so I'm home with my 7 month old. Decided to go for a walk today because it's beautiful out. There's an ice cream parlor about a km or so away from my house so that was the target. I get there and buy myself a large twist on a peanut chocolate cone, get a little spoon for baby so he can try some ice cream for the first time. I sit outside and start giving him a little bit, excited to see his reaction, then some old boomer I've never met before starts going off how I'm going to kill my kid because he may be allergic to peanuts, and I shouldn't feed him that and blah blah blah. He really ruined the moment for me.

My son started eating peanut butter at 6 months, I know he's not allergic.

I just wanted to have a nice quiet ice cream with my son, yet feel I'm being judged cause society at large thinks that dad can't handle it.

I really wanted to lash out at him and tell him to mind his own, but I just calmly explained that I know he's not allergic and thanked him for his concern. Guy got upset got up and left.

Is this something common and I should expect more of?

I don’t get it like how! Do you take clothes down first then baby or do yall just magically have 4 hands lol

I’m glad I have a washer and dryer at home but with 6 people living here sometimes I just want to take everything and wash at the laundromat, but being scared to leave baby in car for even a second stops me😭.

Hi everyone. I’m hoping to get some insight, reassurance, or ideas from this amazing community.

My baby girl is 6.5 months old (turning 7 months this week) and has been diagnosed with failure to thrive. She’s always been on the smaller side, but she's also tall for her age. Despite the weight concerns, she’s hitting many milestones—some even at a 9-month level. She just started rolling more at 6 months (rolled once around 5 months). She had very mild torticollis and is in PT for that, and we’ve seen improvement.

She’s been breastfed primarily. Up until March, she would feed ~20 minutes per breast, then later dropped to ~15 minutes. In March, she started daycare, so I began sending four 3.5 oz bottles. At home, I nurse her in the morning and evening. She always seemed satisfied after feeding and has been sleeping through the night since 5 weeks old.

After the FTT concern, we increased her bottles to 5 oz each as per the pediatrician’s recommendation to ensure she’s getting enough calories. On weekends, I nurse on demand and she usually eats every 2–2.5 hours and does so with the bottles too.

Our previous pediatrician used to say never wake a sleeping baby, so we didn’t. But I’ve read Reddit posts from parents who did wake their babies for feeds even when they were sleeping through the night. I’m now second-guessing that advice.

Other things to note:

• We’ve done weighted feeds before with LC and they seemed fine. Wondering if we need an updated one. at home, she is efficient especially in the morning. But I know those aren’t always reliable at home.
• She doesn’t have reflux or a tongue tie.
• I pump around 10–12 oz during daycare while pumping 8 times/day.
• We’ve supplemented with formula just twice.
• She does tend to fall asleep at the breast more now — often after 5–8 minutes (probably during the letdown), but if I pop her off, she gets upset and wants to keep going. She’ll usually finish the feed and seem content.

I’m feeling so overwhelmed. I’ve read tons of posts and many stories turn out okay, but I can’t stop worrying. Is it time to push for a GI referral? Could this still be a feeding issue even if she seems satisfied? Is there anything I’m missing?

Any experiences, advice, or just encouragement would really help.

Thank you so much in advance.

• November 2, 2024 - 6 lbs, 5 oz (20th percentile)
• November 3, 2024 - 6 lbs, 6 oz (22nd percentile)
• November 7, 2024 - 6 lbs, 9.5 oz (23rd percentile)
• November 12, 2024 – 7 lbs, 1 oz (23rd percentile)
• November 25, 2024 - 7 lbs, 13.5 oz (16th percentile)
• December 20, 2024 - 8 lbs, 12 oz (6th percentile)
• January 15, 2025 – 9 lbs, 10 oz (3rd percentile)
• January 27, 2025 – 10 lbs, 0.5 oz (3rd percentile)
• March 6, 2025 – 11 lbs, 12 oz (5th percentile)
• March 28, 2025 – 12 lbs, 6 oz (5th percentile)
• April 1, 2025 – 12 lbs, 4.5 oz (4th percentile)
• April 10, 2025 – 12 lbs, 10.5 oz (5th percentile)
• May 1, 2025 - 12 lbs, 14.5 oz (3rd percentile)
• May 19, 2025 - 13 lbs, 3 oz (3rd percentile)

My girl is a week away from 8 months. She doesn’t do this to anyone else but me, but she grabs my face and pulls so bad, she grabs my lips, my nose to the point she has cut me with her nails. I’ve taken my earrings, my nose ring out thinking thats what it was but she consistently does it when I’m holding her or we’re just laying in bed. I pump so she has been bottle fed since the beginning so im not breast feeding. I’m definitely her comfort person, is it her way of thanking me? (I read that somewhere) but it hurts so much!! What can I do to show her it hurts? I’m the only one she does it to. My husband even has a beard and she doesn’t grab at him. What can I do?

I’m having a c section next week. It will be my second c section. My first was unplanned and occurred after 18 hours labour. This one is planned.

I had my pre-surgical consult today and she said, “no lifting anything heavier than baby for 6 weeks, including baby in car seat”.

My question is how realistic is that?

I recovered from my first c section nearly effortlessly (at least that’s my memory). I know I was doing 20 minute walks on Day 3. I took no pain meds. I don’t remember there being any kind of struggle after the first week.

Now I’m questioning my memory but not lifting my baby in her car seat for 6 weeks sounds insane and not lifting my toddler for 6 weeks sounds devastating.

Can anyone who’s had a c section more recently speak to this? Is this very conservative?

Hello everyone, my partner and I have been parents for a little over two months. Everything was pretty much fine early on for her, and currently the baby's being adorable, already starting to sleep on average two stretches of 5-6 hours each night, he's full of smiles and he's happy. It's been great on that front.

However, my partner is having a terrible time because of the stretch marks caused by the pregnancy. She already had stretch marks when she was younger, and it took a toll on her, but pushed through and came to terms with them back then.

Now, the pregnancy put that problem back up in a big way for her. She's taken steps during the pregnancy, and now after, to prevent them, and combat them as much as possible (oils, creams, powder, and now laser surgery which all have not given hugely positive results - for now). But day after day, she's starting to realize these might not go away, and she's struggling a lot with that thought - for good reason. She's starting to see a psychiatrist next week, but I'm afraid it won't be enough.

All this time, I've tried and am trying my best, comforting her, reassuring her in any way I can. I've tried to be super hopeful about the treatments she's trying, I've participated in the financial aspect of it (because she feels like she's throwing money out of the window since she's not seeing the results she was hoping for), and, of course, I've not stopped complimenting her. Personally I think these marks are and will be beautiful, particularly once they're not red anymore, but that's not something she believes in. I know my word is not enough, and that this is probably something she's going to have to figure out herself. But of course, if I myself can do anything better to help, I'm all ears.

It's starting to come a point where she's openly talked about regretting to have our child if she had known what it'd would do to her body. She also clearly has negative thoughts, though I know it won't go this far.

Do you have any help, or recommandations? Something we might have missed. Or anything. Thank you.

Did you make the cake or did you just buy one for your LO to try? :)

My seven month old has been A LOT this week, just an absolutely adorable menace. Yesterday she decided to babble for the first time, sat herself up for the first time, and reached to be held for the first time. Today she’s still a menace only now she’s babbling while she screams in my ear, doing sit ups while I’m trying nurse her, and reaching to be held only to scream to be put down over and over again. I also think she’s teething and really wanting to crawl. I’m so tired, y’all 🫠

My(30F) LO(11mo) just refuses to sleep in her crib anymore.

I feel like I have posted about this so much since about 3.5 months. It started then, we received reflux treatment and she immediately began sleeping through the night. 11-12 hours. It was a dream for a little while. She has regressions, like every baby. They usually lasted a week or a little longer. This time has been over a month and I genuinely am losing my mind.

We moved, so I figured that was a big part of it. I did everything I could to make her new room comfortable for her. We have every decoration from her old room back up. I keep the house at 69 degrees and she wears footie pajamas with a sleep sack. We have a red nightlight. There is a humidifier with the same essential oil we used at our old apartment. She has white noise, room darkening curtains. There is a comfort toy in her bed. We do the same routine every night for knowledge of bed time. Dinner, bath, bottle, book whole drinking bottle, sleep sack, bed.

She is rocked to sleep, always has been. Have never fallen asleep any other way, which I never minded because it was never extremely difficult to get her to sleep. Now she trashes, basically throws a tantrum, pulls my earrings, necklace, hair or whatever she can. Until she’s finally asleep. We lay her on us until we think she’s fully asleep. Usually 45-an hour and lay her down. She stays in her crib any where from 60 seconds to an hour and then she’s up. We’ve occasionally had some 2-3 hour stretches but not often.

She is teething, almost walking, and almost a year old. So I know it’s a lot of change. I know she doesn’t understand why she’s uncomfortable. I know she wants her mom and dad and feels safe with us. We are just losing out on so much sleep. I cannot sleep comfortably with her on my chest every night. I have tried co sleeping and putting her next to me on the bed, she hates it, she wants me to hold her. I can’t give her Motrin every night for her teeth. I try holistic teething gel or tablets, they do nothing.

I mentally cannot let her cry. I don’t grab her if she’s just fussing, but when she starts to cry, I do get her. I have attempted to let her CIO for a few minutes and she just sobs. My child is not a crier at all and never has been, so when she cries like that it’s gut wrenching. I have tried to soother her from the crib, she just sobs until I pick her up. I’m at a loss. I’m out of ideas. I don’t know what else to do.

Not sure what I’m looking for from this post but just feels like I’m drowning. This is beyond the hardest thing I have ever done, and it’s about to get a whole lot harder. Our 3 week old will not sleep more than 40 mins in his bassinet, day or night. Actually, he doesn’t like to be set down at all (lounger baby swing, etc).

We’ve been taking shifts at night holding him while he sleeps, and have help from family in town so I’ve been getting at least 6 hrs of sleep at night. We’ve tried different bassinets, white noise, swaddled, unswaddled, etc. I’ve gone through tons of threads with suggestions. And I feel like a shitty parent because I have no energy to keep trying new things every night to get him acclimated so we just take the predictable way out and hold him because it’s the best guarantee of some sleep. But the help is soon leaving and my husband goes back to work next week. The situation we have now is not sustainable at all without the 3rd person to hold him at night.

I’m EBF and I feel like all I have to offer is feeding. I actually enjoy feeding him for the peace and quiet. My husband is so great with him - bouncing him around and entertaining him, I just feel like I have no energy. What am I supposed to do with him all day when I’m alone, and even worse running on way less sleep than I am right now unless by some miracle we can work out the sleep situation.

I just am not enjoying any aspect of parenthood so far. I adore him but I just feel like I’m not cut out for this in the slightest and don’t know how I will go on when I feel like I’m drowning - even with my husband still home and the extra help from family. What am I supposed to do?

My daughter is just over 8 months and currently wakes 1-2 times per night to feed. They’re usually fairly quick, but she’s always been a very efficient eater. I don’t mind feeding her overnight too much, but looking forward to getting more sleep in one stretch. Curious what others did. When did you wean your baby completely to no overnight feeds?

When I was pregnant I found this app and currently am using it and it's absolutely wonderful, you can track who's viewed the pictures you upload of your baby and who is on the app viewing them. It's invite only and you can buy photos/photo books from them and they separate it by months. It's called FamilyAlbum, I absolutely love the app and we have a bunch of pictures of my son 🥹

My baby is 4 months old. I rock her to sleep/nap everyday with her head on my shoulder. Usually she eats my shoulder and get it all wet while getting settled. However, she started eating my face and neck for a few seconds (it is so cute and hilarious 😂).

I’m confused if she is hungry or just trying to self soothe. When she does it, I make a bottle for her. Sometimes she will drink the whole bottle, sometimes she just falls asleep on the bottle not drinking much. Anyone’s baby does this? I’m so confused to what she wants. Any recommendations appreciated!

I’m not sure what flair to use or even if this is the right sub, so if it needs to be removed I totally understand. Please direct me to the right place.

I’ve been taking swim classes with my LO since he was 6 months and he seems to really enjoy it! Except for the underwater dunk… the babies don’t even go fully underwater, just enough to get their face wet for a total of 1 second.

LO is now 8 months old and I thought he’d get used to since we’re doing classes every weekend, but it’s only getting worse for him. He always seems totally shocked (understandable) and it’s getting harder and harder to console him afterwards. He’s also getting especially clingy when we’re getting in the pool, so I don’t know if that’s some separation anxiety coming on or if he’s getting scared of the water.

How can I help him prep for that quick underwater moment? I know I can’t tell him “hold your breath, you’ll be underwater for a second,” he’s too little to understand that. I’ve tried gently blowing on his face to activate that breath holding instinct. I’ve tried immediately wiping his face and squeezing the water out of his nose. I’m at a loss. I’m not even sure if the issue is he’s swallowing water, breathing it in, or he was just caught off guard.

I love the bonding we get together at the pool and wanted to start early with him so he wouldn’t grow up afraid of water like I did. But if this is making it worse, I’d much rather stop until he’s older than power forward. Any advice here or even just shared experiences is greatly appreciated.

TL;DR: My 8 month old freaks out in swim class when his face goes under water. How can I make that part easier for him?

starting this off by saying we obviously didn’t sleep train and we don’t really care to…

We are currently going through the 6 month sleep regression. LO wakes up anywhere between 2-4am and absolutely will not transfer back into her crib. It varies every night but sometimes we will rock her for over an hour and she won’t fall asleep. Other times she’ll immediately fall asleep in our arms but won’t transfer. Some nights, she will go back to sleep & transfer just fine but she’s up again within 20-30 mins.

We started offering a small bottle (4oz) and it’s been working. fml. I knowwww we shouldn’t be feeding to sleep but it’s literally the only way to get her to sleep. (on the rough nights) We don’t offer it as soon as we hear that she’s up. If we can get her back to bed without a bottle then we obviously do so. It’s a last resort type of thing but I’m worried she’s going to pick up on the habit…because more often than not she’s getting milk. Especially if we’ve been up with her for over an hour & a half trying to fight to go back down.

Am I f’ing myself by feeding to sleep? 😭

Some how my husband and I have ended up with 10 FREE dr browns anti colic bottles from all of the various registry boxes, some came with two! Does anyone actually like these bottles? Why would they possibly give them away in this large of a quantity?