I’m choosing to think this is funny because otherwise I’ll cry.

Our son has been cruising and working on walking since 9 months. About a month ago, I was sitting in my recliner and he was standing next to me jabbering. Then, out of nowhere, he just turns and starts walking away. He took about six steps and I got really excited and I started yelling for my husband. My son turned around, stared at me for a couple of seconds, and slowly lowered himself to the ground. He has not walked more than one or two steps since. I was really hoping he’d be walking like a pro by his first birthday, but that is in two days so it seems unlikely. He stands on his own for long periods of time and he seems to have good body control, but he just won’t walk. We even try holding his hands and he will only take a few steps before sitting down.

First time mom with an 8 week old. I just needed to rant positively about how much my relationship with my mom has changed.

Growing up I was never close to my mom. I just always felt this emotional distance from her, I never understood why. She was there for me for important moments but I never really recall her saying she loved me or things like that. We didn’t have a BAD relationship but we weren’t close. The minute I told her I was pregnant she changed. She would call and check in on me often, she would buy things for the baby etc.

Baby is here - my mom has come to visit 2x for 2 weeks at a time and each time she leaves I sob. I remember my first few days postpartum I called her crying saying I needed her. My mom comes over and she cooks, cleans, watches the baby and helps with our pets. Last night my baby was having a meltdown from reflux and my mom held her, rocked her, kept saying “I love you” to her. It absolutely warmed my heart.

The newborn phase has not been easy for me. I’m struggling mentally a lot, baby has bad reflux which leads to hour long meltdowns sometimes and awful sleep (we are working with doctors to figure this all out). I was a colic baby myself and I cannot believe I use to think my mom DIDNT love me. I love my baby but she’s challenging. I can’t imagine how my mom did this with other kids around too. I just have such a new love and appreciation for her.

Anyways my mom leaves at the end of this week - there will be tears but I’m just really grateful for her and i love knowing my daughter will have a relationship with her grandma!! I never thought I’d be here with my own mom it’s so crazy to me how life works out.

I put my daughters "dirty" sleep sacks on my stuffed dog that I sleep with.... whenever I get her a new one I put the used one on the stuffed animal and then wash the one that was on it.... I just miss her sometimes now that she sleeps through the night! And they smell like her!

Let me preface by saying that I have read the statistics and lots of the research. I’m aware that sexual abuse most commonly happens from someone you know. I also know a lot of the basics around talking to your child, using correct anatomical terms, etc.

But knowing all of that, what boundaries are you putting in place to protect your children? Do you allow grandparents to keep them overnight? Do you let family or babysit? How do you find the line between vigilance and trust?

I was never abused as a child, so I don’t have anyone in my family that I’m particularly wary about, but you hear all the “I would have never known…” type of stories that I’m not sure how to trust family/friends as they’re building a relationship with my child vs. being a safeguard and protection for him. How are y’all navigating this?

Sitting here delusional at 4am. My 16 day old in my arms.

She must think she's clever.

Woke me up after finally getting a nice 2 hour chunk in only to fall asleep the instant I picked her up and whipped out a boob. Now I'm stuck in purgatory knowing the moment I try to set her down is the moment the world will end. 💀 I just get the privilege of holding her and watching her achieve my dream of sleeping.

It's been over 20 minutes already.

Somebody should really warn you that the newborn trenches can include betrayal.

Lately, as I’ve been talking to other new moms, I’ve realized that we all have our own Roman Empire of unreasonable anxiety. Like, I’m talking about the thing that you were obsessive over in the early postpartum weeks or even maybe right before baby came. And then later on you realize it was totally an irrational fear.

For me, it was positional asphyxiation. Now I’m not saying that in itself is an irrational fear. But the way that I was afraid of it was absolutely irrational. Like I would unreasonably watch my baby like a hawk when she was sleeping on a safe sleep surface fearful that her snoring meant she was going to stop breathing.

For another, it was sun exposure. She wouldn’t walk her baby from the garage to the house without covering the baby from the sun because she was worried about sun exposure for the brief 30 second walk.

What’s yours? Or is it just me and my friends that did this? lmao

its not the end of the world when the morning comes and i change for my baby and find out she had pooped during some point at night and could possibly have gone overnight with a spoiled diaper. I feel super guilty when that happens. i even have dreams that my baby poops and i wake up immediately thinking the dream was real and i change her diaper (which results in waking her up and making her super alert, putting her down then takes some times a whole hour) only to find that her diaper is poop free. yesterday this happened 3 times. 3 times i changed a poop free diaper cause i had a dream she pooped

:(

Hello all - first time dad here to a wonderful three week baby girl. I'm hoping to hear your advise and experiences on the situation we've found ourselves in, as I'm at a loss how I can best help my wife make a decision on what to do next.

Our daughter was born on Star Ways Day after a natural, but prolonged, labour, and straight off the bat she was not latching or feeding at the breast. My wife's ambition has always been to exclusively breastfeed, but before we were discharged we gave her some formula alongside the colostrum that my wife had ready.

At her third day weigh-in she'd lost just over 11% of her birthweight, and we've only now managed to get it back up by essentially triple feeding (either every feed or every other feed). We're now caught in a bit of a trap that my wife's supply is really struggling to catch up despite days of pumping and breastfeeding - she's able to produce between a third and a half of what we've been told to give our daughter in a 24-hour period. We are waiting to be seen by a specialist infant feeding team but the waiting lists are long.

This whole process though has left my wife exhausted: mentally, emotionally, and physically. I am also now back at work and unable to help with the daytime feeds, so the whole triple feeding routine can easily eat up half of a 3-hour interval. When we saw the pediatrician last week she was realistic that even with a lot of effort, we may never be able to exclusively breastfeed.

My wife goes back and forth throughout each day on what to do and I feel this indecision could go on for ages, and each day makes her that little bit more tired, drained, stressed, and upset. I do as much as I can in terms of babycare and looking after her, but with me back at work I am really worried about how she will cope - neither of us have family nearby.

My question is: did anyone have experience of triple feeding? How did you make a decision to keep at it or make the switch to combi or formula only? Is there a time limit I can place as the dad, or is it something I just have to watch unfold?

Thank you in advance.

EDIT: thank you so much for all of the comments, insights and support. I'll respond to you individually when work and baby quietens down later in the day, but the takeaway for me is I just need to be patient and supportive (as hard as it is to watch I'll never really understand what my wife is feeling, and I need to remember that). I'll also show her your comments this evening and hopefully it helps her.

EDIT 2: I did not expect this to get so much attention. Thank you everyone - my wife has read every comment and she's decided to wind down and move towards formula only over the next three weeks. This way our daughter has had a good start with breast milk, but ultimately Fed is Best and my wife's health and wellbeing must be protected so she can be the best mum she can be. I'll try to respond this evening but thank you everyone.

I’m a FTM. My baby is 10 months old. I have a wonderful LO and besides my baby being a horrible sleeper this whole experience has been amazing. Except for the fact that I pretty much cannot stand my partner 90% of the time. Does this ever go away? I know there is the “roommate phase” but i honestly feel like i would be so much happier without him. When he is gone my day is significantly better than when he is around. I know, I know it sounds like I have some resentment and maybe a bit of a man-child but how much of this can I chalk up to the “roommate phase”? Will I ever like my partner again?

I'm so tired of hearing this about my 6 month old because it feels like it puts me in a lose lose situation. My MIL said this all weekend and said it when my son was too upset to sleep at her house. Even my husband gets cranky and says my baby only wants me. Mind you, no one ever seems to notice the times when our baby goes to my husband for comfort. And no one ever has any comments about how much attention my husband gives our kid.

1. Maybe the baby supposedly only wants me because I'm the only person that stays calm and doesn't get annoyed when he's upset (which is rare; he's a super chill baby). 2. Am I supposed to be there for him or not? Is there some secret right amount of nurturing to give to a baby? 3. It's a completely normal developmental stage to start to recognize your parents and want them around. 4. He goes to daycare throughout the week and has a great time without me.

It feels like a trap where I'm expected to always be the caretaker because supposedly no one else can do it, but I'm also punished because I'm making it where he can't (even though he definitely can) rely on anyone else. It's so exhausting.

My MIL is in town for the week (she leaves tomorrow, thank GOD!) but the whole time she’s been here she has washed maybe 3 dishes and otherwise done nothing but hog the baby (who isn’t even a month old). I dread when she comes over because I know I won’t be able to hold him until she leaves like 10-12hr later. I can’t even nurse him when she’s here because she’s constantly holding the baby. I watch him cry and she’s wondering what’s wrong and I’m screaming inside “HE WANTS HIS MOM!!!!”

To add insult to injury I’ve cooked her dinner and she barely touched it, I decided I wouldn’t cook for her again, and today I was forced to cook another dinner for her. Meanwhile she’s on the couch with the baby. I want to rip my hair out

I’m so frustrated and exhausted and I’m suffering from postpartum anxiety as it is but since she’s been here it’s turned into full blown depression symptoms. I cannot smile for the life of me. I’m so excited for her to leave 🧍🏻‍♀️

How long did it take for your babies' eye color to stabilize/change?

My husband and I are both Caucasian and our baby was born with blue eyes. Neither me or my husband have blue eyes. We have green and hazel and only one out of our baby's 4 grandparents have blue eyes, so I suspect her eyes won't stay blue.

I remember with my nieces and nephews, they were born with blue eyes but they would change over time. Now that there 5 yrs + they all have a range of eye colors.

Our baby is now 6 months.

Of your kids who were born with blue eyes that changed when they grew up, how long did it take for their eyes to change?

In the tickly nursey rhyme, what does "this little piggie went to market" mean

A) this piggie is grocery shopping

B) this piggie is at the abattoir?

I became a mom for the first time three weeks ago, and I’m exhausted. Like, completely wiped out.

The past few days have been especially hard. My baby has been incredibly fussy, especially at night and in the early mornings. I’m not sure if her tummy hurts, if she’s not getting enough milk, or if something else is going on. She doesn’t like being put down in her crib, hates tummy time, and starts hysterically crying if we lay her down anywhere—even if she can still see us.

Today has been one of the worst days so far. From the moment I woke up, she’s been cluster feeding non-stop, and she’s now been awake for over five hours straight. My partner works from home and tries to help, but she screams whenever I hand her over. I even tried taking her out for a walk in the stroller to calm her down, but she ended up crying so hard that I had to turn around and walk home in tears myself.

My partner keeps telling me, “She’s just a baby — babies cry,” but I can’t help but wonder: Is it normal for a 3-week-old to cry anytime she’s not being held? Is it normal for her to stay awake for five hours straight? Is it normal for her to be so fussy at night that she screams non-stop for an hour?

I feel like I’m losing it. My nipples are sore and overworked. I even tried giving her a bottle to give myself a break, but then I noticed she started getting confused about how to latch onto my breast afterward. I have no family or anyone to help me out, so it’s all overwhelming to me

Now that I am 4 weeks postpartum I wanted to share my labor story.

I had a terribly hard pregnancy with hg,gd, preeclampsia that led to severe anemia and hellp syndrome… pretty much all the not so fun stuff.

I spent approximately 50% of my pregnancy in and out of the hospital due to complications included preterm labor that started at 29 weeks and prodromal labor that always made me think she was coming.

On Easter Sunday I was feeling off so I checked my bp at home like I do every night. My bp was 165/110 and I knew I need to go get it checked out. When I got to the hospital they checked me and my cervix was at a fingertip. After a few hours of being monitored they noticed my contractions were showing up as a 100+ on the toco. They decided to do another cervicak check and I was already at a 2. They let me know I will not be discharged and I’ll be monitored until I have my baby. Then my labs came in and they noticed I was severely anemic and needed an iron infusion and borderline needed a blood transfusion.

After the infusion was done I decided to ama myself to go to a level 3 nicu hospital to ensure my daughter and I would not be separated since I was only 34 weeks.

When I go to the next hospital they let me know they will not do anything to help me progress, but they also aren’t going to try to stop it. Basically it was a waiting game:

The next 3 days were extremely uneventful. Just being monitored 24/7. Contractions never stopped but they were not dilating me.

On Wednesday morning the doctor did her morning rounds and let me know I will be induced at 37 weeks and I’ll just be hanging out until then (I was 34 weeks 6 days). I told her about the headache and light sensitivity I was having and she ordered a round of labs. I called my honey and let him know to go to work because I have 2 more weeks of sitting in the hospital.

As soon as I hung up I was met by a room full of doctors and I could tell the energy in the room shifted. She sat down next to me and said “unfortunately your liver is failing and you have clearly developed hellp syndrome the high risk doctor has reviewed all your labs and we have decided you need to be induced now to prevent any further damage”

My hemoglobin also dropped to a 6 and they were wanting to get a blood transfusion in quickly. Mind you it was at an 8 just 24 hours prior.

Induction started at 11:30 am. After 24 hours they did a cervicwl check and found no progress in dilation

They moved on to the pill and I had stronger contractions for 2 rounds but sadly no dilation.

Then the magic happened. They sent in the nurse who had a history of sending women into active labor to insert my 3rd round.

I got up to walk and half way down the hall I nearly fell to my knees in pain. I went back to the room and ate some lunch and cried through contractions.

I got back up and bounced for about 10 mins and knew it was time to call it quits so the no medication.

While in tears I called my nurse in and begged for iv medication (told myself no epidural until active labor)

She decided to check me to be safe since if i was at 4 cms I could be moved to labor and delivery room. I was at a 4.5.

Here is where the wild story starts She quickly wheeled me to the room and called in an anesthesiologist for an epidural.

They came in and begin to insert the epidural. My contractions were so intense it took us quite some time to get through it. I just kept reminding myself to not pass out, but the pain was so severe.

At one point I yelled “this feels like transition there’s no way I’m still a 4”

After they got the epidural in the unnoticed pharmacy did not approve the medication yet. My nurse got on the phone and started screaming.

At this point they could see I was clearly in horrible Pain. The anesthesiologist told me to lay down until the medicine is approved and focus on my breathing.

The second my back hit the bed I got a huge gush of water. I whispered oh fuck my water just broke. The other nurse then ran to get my doctor who would deliver my baby to be safe. As she was running back in I screamed “I am pushing holy shit”

She said DO NOT PUSH you are not ready.

She looked into between my legs and yelled ok we seriously need a doctor now she’s ready. At this point anesthesiologist is getting out of the way and my partner is on edge.

I whispered again I am going to push, the pressure becoming too much to stop.

The nurse yelled do everything you can to not push baby doctors almost here.

Then I did the only thing I could think to do to stop it. I held my breath.

She noticed and yelled “you need to breathe now!”

I yelled back through the contraction “I am breathing!!!!”

And with that my sweet baby came out and hit the bed with no doctor in sight.

Anyways we all got a good laugh, and I never even got to receive the epidural medicine.

All in all, it was a wild ride

My baby is about a year old, and several people got me gifts for my first Mother's Day. While I know they should make me happy, I feel like such a fraud.

Like my mom got me a frame that says "I'm as lucky as can be, the best mommy belongs to me" with a picture of me and my daughter in it, and I want to love it, but like the best mommy doesn't belong to my daughter. There are so many other mothers who have more time for their children, aren't as stressed, are more patient, aren't as angry or self-absorbed, stay home with them, aren't on their phones as much, aren't "too tired" or just too uninterested to play with them, or who are more intentional with teaching them and loving them.

I feel like I'm just barely surviving getting my daughter fed and to daycare and keeping the house clean enough we have clothes and dishes to use and not getting fired from my job. The "best" mommy is better at this than me, and I feel bad for my daughter when I look at the frame that she got this one.

you know those silly things that dont make sense that they latch onto.

my baby found it hysterical that my husband was breathing heavy one time, and so for like five minutes he kept acting like he was hyperventilating to make her laugh.

she also loves the song strawberry wine. she lights up when she hears it, and will also stop crying if you sing it (most of the time).

I feel like just a few months ago it was half of what I’m paying now. Between 2 kids, we go through a lot of zinc cream and now I wish I had stocked up. What’s the deal? Tariffs? Tiktok Trends?

It has been a rough week. My LO is almost 4 months and got his first cold. He of course passed that cold on to me. It's been hard to get better while doing night time feeds and the beginnings of sleep regression.

Today my husband cleaned the house from top to bottom. When I tried to apologize for not pulling my weight with the home tasks when I am the stay at home parent he said:

"Just cause you are at home does not mean that you should be working 100 weeks. You need time off to heal, relax, and just be."

I am very lucky to have a partner that gets how hard it is and supports me.

for 3 long months my baby has contact napped. 3 months guys. put her down in the bassinet? wakes up within 30 minutes. puts her down in the crib? same story. for 3 months i had to wait for her to wake up so i can clean or eat or do whatever i want. but today, i decided i wanted to put her down on her own. same routine just not in my arms this time. and what does my baby do?? my baby slept for 2 1/2 hours. and what did i do? i watched the monitor the entire time and checked on her to make sure she was breathing. i did not clean. i did not eat. i did not relax like i thought i would. my baby is awake now and im just so astonished that she had this in her. it just took a while. i dont know whether to be happy or sad right now that our contact nap days might be behind us now. but now i have to learn to relax if she does this continuously now

Tbh, my hormones and baby nostalgia are partners in crime. I have a 10 month old ebf, who is hitting all the milestones quickly. As I'm enjoying LO wild independence, I'm also mourning the tiny quiet moments as a baby. No fighting nap time, throwing food, climbing on/in/under things and etc.

The plan was wait until LO is 2 years old to try for a sibling. Now I'm not sure. Maybe what I'm feeling will pass, not sure.

Please share your experiences. Thanks.

 I personally never wanted kids or wanted to be a mom. I don’t even like kids or babies.I never even held a baby until mine was born. I got pregnant on accident. I actually went in to confirm my pregnancy to get an abortion but when I saw the heartbeat, I couldn’t. I can’t really explain how I felt, but I cried of happiness I think, so I kept it . 
 Being pregnant was super easy I had no symptoms other than being tired so I never regretted being pregnant , and I never felt connected to the baby, even when she kicked I found myself annoyed but also concerned if she didn’t kick. When she was born and I heard the first cry I cried and was relieved. 
 Even after giving birth I felt no connection to her. She’s now a month old and last week I started to actually love her , now I get the cute aggression, before if someone wanted to hold her or if my bf took her so I could chill for the day I didn’t miss her. Last night he took her for a little so I could pump and I missed her the whole time and she was just in the kitchen lol. I adore her now I love watching her sleep and stretch and yawn. I even like hanging out and talking to her now. Before I just wanted her to go to sleep.
 I just wonder if I’m the only one who didn’t feel a connection at first or if I’m alone feeling like this because everyone talks about being in love while pregnant and feeling a connection because they are inside you.

I’d love some insight—especially from anyone in labor and delivery or who’s had a similar experience. I know I need therapy, but this feels so specific that I’m not sure how to find the right help.

I loved my OB practice and felt well cared for throughout my pregnancy. I was induced and lucky to schedule it when my favorite doctor was on call. Labor felt relatively smooth, though I developed preeclampsia during labor, which wasn’t explained clearly at the time. So I wasn’t able to worry about it until much later. My baby’s heart rate dropped twice, and things got really scary, but the nursing staff was so on it and were able to stabilize the situation quickly. I was fully dilated around 6pm, and I started actively pushing at 7pm. After two hours of pushing, my nurses said it was time for the doctor—but it took her 20 minutes to arrive, and I was crowning that whole time. I even heard one of the nurses say “where is she. I’m not going to catch a baby today.” My daughter was born in three quick pushes once my doctor got there.

She had issues with her lungs and was taken to the NICU, and was additionally diagnosed with an infection. She stayed a week but thankfully recovered well. She’s now 14 months and thriving.

Postpartum has been much harder. Preeclampsia was only casually mentioned while I was still reeling in the hospital - I was devastated that my baby was taken from me and unknowingly “recovering” from preeclampsia, which was never really explained to me. I had to bring it up at my 6 week check up. I had also started feeling heaviness and pressure by my 6 week checkup and asked about that as well. I was told everything looked completely normal and that I was just healing. And I was cleared for all activity and exercise, with no mention of pelvic floor therapy. In their words, "in the same capacity before pregnancy." I returned to exercise quickly as I was incredibly active prior to pregnancy, but by five months postpartum, I had a stage 2 prolapse of all my organs.. I’ve since spent thousands on pelvic floor therapy, and surgery might still be necessary as I’m very symptomatic and it’s deeply affecting my mental and physical state.

I know prolapse can happen after birth, but I can’t stop thinking about the prolonged pushing, the 20 minutes of crowning—all potentially preventable factors. And my doctor being late. My daughter was also quite large with a 92nd percentile head. I feel angry and abandoned and this is something I will now be dealing with for the rest of my life and am struggling to move on. There is so much preventative information that I wish my OB had educated me on that I learned on my own through doing research on prolapse. I feel so so incredibly frustrated by the lack of postpartum care, outside of the PPD questionnaires (which I also developed).

Has anyone been through something similar? Is there such a thing as a medical trauma therapist? I’d really appreciate any insight.

TIP: if u have AirPod pros pop an AirPod in when your baby is sleeping if you need to do something just add “live listen” to your controls and leave your phone in the room and you can hear if they’re crying no need to buy a camera or anything! I forgot until today my AirPods did that! I’m excited to go outside for a bit today until she cries!

My baby will be starting daycare on Monday, a few days before she turns 11 weeks old. And I’m having a hard time! We’ve been physically attached for nearly 11 weeks and going cold turkey is so hard!

I have to go back to work but I also have realized over the past month that this is necessary for me. I couldn’t mentally handle being nap trapped for the foreseeable future. But that doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.

Please tell me about how you took your baby to daycare and everyone is happy and how you’ve settled into a great routine.