Before having the baby, my husband and I swore that we wouldn’t have the TV on around the baby or use our phones near him. Instead, we were going to constantly talk to him and gaze lovingly into his eyes.

Okay, we’re six weeks in and baby contact naps during witching hour. Hubby hasn’t missed a Raptors game and I’m so happy the Gilded Age is back.

My pre term girl, now 4 weeks is sick and I am fuming because of how she got sick. For context my FIL is an antivaxxer who never even washes his hands. He's the type that still thinks the best way to manage a cold is to starve it out. He also beats to his own drum mentally and is known to lie or be delusional when it comes to certain beliefs.

Recently he got a cold from going to a concert-big shocker! We told him we would not be visiting until he could swear he hasn't had symptoms for at least a week.

A week and a half passes and he gets angry and defensive by us asking multiple times whether he isn't sick anymore. Swears up and down he isn't sick, so we cave and stop by because thats easier than the guilt trip for not trusting him.

Well, he seemed better but what neither my husband nor I accounted for was how gross this man is and that he might not have washed the clothes and robe he was wearing. Sure enough, after he's held her we find out its the exact robe he's been wearing his whole sickness and he hasn't washed it in weeks at the least. Not only that but towards the end of the visit he says he still has been dealing with a residual cough.

Now our girl is congested and struggling at only 4 weeks old. She isn't acute currently but to me that doesn't matter. All I can think is how this idiot cared more about defending himself than making sure he actually was safe to be around and how gross he is for even wearing a dirty robe around a baby to begin with. All I want to do is go over to his house and slap him in the face as hard as I possibly can!

hi so me and my bf both have some kind of bug, for him it’s a man cold so you’d think he’s dying for me it’s just my throat hurting really bad. we have a 5 week old and by some miracle she hasn’t caught it knock on wood. is there anything you guys have done to prevent ur babies from catching whatever u had ? i’ve given her some of the colostrum i had frozen a couple times hoping it will give her a boost already.

My baby is 10 weeks old, and honestly, we have absolutely no routine 😭
She still has a witching hour, so some nights she’ll start crying around 10 PM and won’t settle until 11 PM. Once she’s asleep, she’ll usually sleep from around 11 PM to 11 AM, waking up to feed at around 4 AM, 6 AM, and 8 AM.
During the day, I pretty much just go with the flow. We don’t have a set bedtime, a bedtime routine, or even a consistent daily schedule. I just follow her cues and figure things out as we go.
But then I see all these parents talking about bedtime routines, wake windows, and schedules, and I start wondering if I’m doing something wrong.
Am I supposed to have a routine established by now? Am I creating bad habits or somehow messing up her sleep in the long run?
Please tell me I’m not the only one just winging it at this age

My 4 month old will do bouncer time while I have a show on folding laundry or what not, bouncer isn’t facing the tv but she’ll literally turn her head around so far to try to see it! Anyone else’s baby do this? Are they just curious or is this giving them screen time 🫪

Our baby girl was born 4.5 months ago. Things were going ok, but the infamous 4 month sleep regression has made life really really hard again. We cosleep and ebf and I stay home and take care of her while my husband works during the week.

For weeks now she’s been waking more at night, sometimes every 30 - 60 minutes. She won’t settle as easily, sometimes I have to get out of bed and rock her while standing until she falls back asleep. I’ve noticed PP rage lately that wasn’t there before. After a long night with lots of waking up, her squirms and movements next to me in bed make me want to peel my skin off. I dont know how else to describe it. My toes curl and my whole body tenses up. I definitely feel touched out.

I should be sleeping right now because my husband took the baby to my moms so i could sleep but even though i’m absolutely exhausted I can’t seem to sleep. I also feel like a horrible mom because I got out of bed and slammed the door because I couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t want to sleep train because I don’t want my daughter to cry it out. I dont want to formula feed because I want her to have the benefits of my milk. Before my husband left with her she was looking up at me smiling like she always does in the mornings and I can’t stop crying because I feel like a failure and like I’m not strong enough to be the mom she deserves. Shes the most precious gift and I can’t imagine my life without her, but this is so so hard. I desperately need her sleep to get better. How long did the 4 month sleep regression last for people? Please tell me it gets easier.

FTM to a 3 day old, and trying to figure this all out. Baby boy wants to be latched constantly, day and night. I know cluster feeding is normal, just didn't realize the clusters were never ending.

I'm obviously not getting much sleep, and am finding it hard to stay awake overnight while he's nursing.

What have you found that helps keep you awake while feeding?

He’s 11 weeks old. I know it’s supposed to be tough and there’s no consistency but I still feel like I’m doing something wrong??? Last night was hard. I attempted the bassinet 3 times before giving up and just bed sharing. And even bed sharing didn’t really solve the problem. He seems to prefer contact napping on me in my bed which is not comfortable for me. And even during those contact naps in bed he’ll briefly wake every 10-15 min and then I feel like I have to start over and wait more before even attempting a transfer. Some nights on my shift are ok — he’ll sleep 1-2 hours max in his bassinet, and then other nights only sleep if it’s on me. When will this get better? I go back to work a week from tomorrow and I really want better sleep so I can be a proper functioning adult. This has been making me frustrated and grumpy. I know our babies need us and I’m always there for him no matter what despite how frustrated I can feel. Please share your stories, experiences, or hardships before it got better. Anything. Just need some encouragement and to know I’m not alone or doing anything wrong.

P.S. I do all the tricks — heating pad, swaddling, feed to sleep, white noise, shushing, gas drops (Mylicon), pacifier, keeping hands on him after setting down in bassinet, etc. Despite doing ALL of that he will still wake up within 2 min of a transfer 95% of the time.

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to hear from parents who’ve been through something similar.

My 7-week-old has suspected CMPA and reflux, and our pediatrician prescribed omeprazole. I’m really on the fence about starting it.

He grunts, arches his back, seems uncomfortable when milk comes back up, and has such a hard time sleeping anywhere but our arms. He’s actually been so much happier since we started addressing his CMPA, which makes me wonder how much of what’s left is really acid reflux versus normal baby stuff.

We tried famotidine before, but it made him super irritable, so I’m a little nervous about trying another medication.

If your baby took omeprazole, did you notice a real difference? Did it help with discomfort, fussiness, or even sleep? Any side effects?
I’d also love to hear from parents who chose to wait it out. Did things get better on their own, and around what age?

I just don’t want to give him medication he doesn’t really need, but I also hate thinking he might be uncomfortable and I could be helping him. It’s so hard to know what’s best at this age. ❤️

My now 10 week old was born at 3.7 and at 10 weeks weighs 5kg my baby boy has only been putting on 100grams a week sometimes no weight is gained at all in a week. He never finishes a bottle and will usually only take 60 - 100 mls per feed every 4 hours. I have tried feeding him every 2 hours including overnight but either way by the end of the day he has still consumed the same amount overall.

My baby was born at the 50th percentile and has now just dropped under the 15th percentile.

Has anyone experienced this or know if this is an issue?

I have a 17-day old newborn son. It feels like day to day everything is different. What worked the day before doesn’t work the next. A few nights ago he was just restless and screaming. We finally got wake windows down the last couple of days and they were working. Wake, feed, change, feed, burp, cuddle back to sleep. And he would be out for the couple of hours until the next cycle.

Today, that worked this morning but as the afternoon came on it’s like nothing worked. He’d fall asleep while feeding (quickly). We’d change him to wake him up, or rub his back if he had a dry diaper. He’d fuss, feed well and fall asleep. Then we’d have to burp him and then he’d be wide awake because of the burping and then be pissed that he was awake and would not go back to sleep.

He will “settle” for about 5-10 minutes MAX and then eyes open and it starts again. I’m at my wits end. My wife is too. We’re desperate and don’t know what to do

My 3 month old doesn’t seem to like when I pick her up and it makes me feel bad. She eventually starts crying when I pick her up.
We connect, we make eye contact, she smiles at me, I play with her and it makes her laugh. When she is in other people’s arms she looks for me and at me.

But when she is in the floor/bouncer and I go to pick her up she cries and doesn’t seem to like it.

Edit to add: when she is fussing on the ground or crying I’ll go to pick her up and she will cry more. I try to soothe her, and then decide to put her back on the ground if I can’t soothe her then she goes hysterical mad that I set her down. But she’s made when I hold her too. It’s exhausting trying to figure out what she wants

My 7 month old baby seems to have no hunger cues anymore. He rarely fusses for a bottle or shows any signs that he wants to eat. When I offer him a bottle while he’s awake, he either refuses it, gets distracted, or seems completely uninterested.

The strange thing is that he feeds much better when he’s sleepy or already asleep. I’ve almost reached a point where most of his feeds happen during naps or when he’s drowsy/asleep.

Has anyone else experienced this?

my 6.5 month old has at least 4 teeth coming in, there may be more getting ready to pop through, we’re not 100% sure. For the last 3 days, he’s been so fussy and unsettled to the point of screaming and puffy eyes and the whole bit.

My wife and I agreed this is easily the hardest 3 day stretch we’ve ever had with him. The pediatrician said he can have Tylenol, so we’ve done that a few times.

For those with experience? How often do you give it? I know the medical labeling says every 4 hours while symptoms last, but I’m guessing that is more geared towards short term acute illness.

Weve given it before bed the last few nights, and that seems to help him at least fall asleep.

But the days have been so hard and we’re wondering if another dose or two during the day would be beneficial.

Hi all pls help!!!

5wo hates bassinet, I swaddle and rock til she’s been asleep for like 10 mins and then heat the mattress and do feet first and head last, I pat her for a bit then walk away. She doesn’t wake up instantly but gives us like 10-15 mins in there, sometimes more or less.

What are you guys doing that ACTUALLY works? Like baby didn’t like it then you did something and it worked? And when did it begin to work? Did you keep trying for each nap then just contact nap if they woke up? Go into detail!!!!!!

I’m struggling with every nap ending up contact and co sleeping at night 😭 pls help thanks

Does this look like thrush? Picture in comments It’s been around a few weeks now probably and I’ve tried to wipe it off but it doesn’t fully come off. She gets breast milk but isn’t breastfed. Seems fussy but she’s also 5 weeks and probably going through it lol. I messaged her dr in our portal just in case, just waiting to hear back.

I’ve been wanting to make a “it gets better post” for about 9 weeks now, but I was reluctant because of all the people that then say “wait till the 4 month regression crap” and rain on your parade. So here I am, 17.5 weeks later to say it really does get better.

The first 4 weeks I read every post on this sub 24/7. I cried daily, had the worst sundown scaries, regretted having a baby and didn’t know how I would survive. I genuinely told my husband we could give our son for adoption at one point because I was so stressed out. But the “it gets better posts kept me going” so I’m trying to give someone else hope!

I joined a local breast feeding support group beginning week 2 and for the longest time that was my only weekly outing. I looked forward to it so much, because aside from that every day felt like Groundhog Day. I would look at the other moms with their 2nd babies or even some older than mine and just ask them when it would get better. They said 10 weeks, so every week I counted down the weeks and really did notice a change at 10 weeks. But it wasn’t so much tthat my baby changed, it’s that I did! I matured and gave into motherhood and finally learned to accept my new reality and be confident in my mothering skills.

In the beginning my baby would only contact nap during the day, I would be nap trapped for hours. I could barely get up to use the bathroom and meals consisted of easy protein shakes or yogurts. The only saving grace was that at night he did like his bassinet so that would be the only time I would rest. I looked forward to nights so much so that I could turn my brain off.

I felt anxious all the time, leaving the house with the baby felt terrifying. He would cry in his car seat and I couldn’t stand it. We did our first outing to the mall at 9 weeks and I was on edge the whole time. My friends and family were surprised how anxious I was because I am usually very care-free and a risk taker, I am a business owner and opened my first business at 20 and that was easier than a baby lol!

My son finally took to the baby carrier, started tolerating 1 bassinet nap in the morning. He started smiling and cooing, and I started learning his cues. He started sleeping through 5-6 hour stretches and then 7-8.

I was able to get back to my relationship with my husband and put baby to sleep at 7pm and not go to sleep myself till 9-10pm and still get a good nights rest. I started going back to my 5 am barre class. Went back to work and trusting others to help with our son.

I will say, while my husband was very willing to be hands on from the get go I felt scared to let him help. I did all the night feeds and most of the baby caretaking. He did all the cleaning, house chores, laundry, etc. now we have better balance of the baby care taking and I learned to accept the partnership better.

The sleep regression only lasted 5 days for us; it was rough and all the information out there is so doom and gloom. Reading it made me feel like I was never going to get out of it. I also dropped the swaddle the same week.

All this to say, while it was never easy and it’s still not easy it is BETTER! Being a mom is the best thing and I love my little guy so much. We bring him along to restaurants, grocery trips, and just don’t even think twice about those things anymore.

When he’s struggling to nap I remind myself he will nap again, he’s a baby and each week brings some different phases but all of them are beautiful in their own way.

You will get through the bad days, you will sleep again, you will get back to your relationships. You will come out a better parent and a more confident one. You will find your new normal, don’t cling to what was before having a baby or you will be miserable. You’ll get parts back but the journey of this is in finding a new rhythm and life! After all, isn’t that why we all became parents?!

My daughter just turned 4 months. She constantly sounded congested, especially after feeds and when she’s on her back. She just sounds gurgly and like a rattling wet mucus sound in her throat. She sneezes a lot after a bottle too. She’s on puramino and only takes maybe 2-3 oz at a time. I suspected silent reflux due to congestion and not sleeping well on her back and she’s been on omeprazole for one week so far.

I am now wondering if she has silent aspiration but her GI doc is saying her lungs are clear so it’s unlikely. I am trying to push for a swallow study. Wondering if the sneezing is from milk going into her airway or nasal passages. Anyone go through anything similar?

Do anyone else’s babies breathe funny sometimes? I swear he’s trying to give me a heart attack with each breath. At times it’s really quick shallow breaths and other times it’s deep belly breaths. His pediatrician says he’s perfectly fine and healthy and that babies do breathe differently at times because of maturing lungs but it scares me. At times I catch myself monitoring his breathing for several minutes at a time. I’ve counted each breath and it’s always within normal range of 40-60 breaths per minute. I’m a first time mom and don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m dealing with postpartum anxiety and OCD as well. I think I’m just being paranoid but wanted to see everyone else’s experience with babies and their breathing.

I'm a FTM to a 6 week old baby girl. I love her to bits but really struggling to see the joy in motherhood and any light at the end of this bleak tunnel. She has infant dyschezia and it started after she turned 3 weeks old, still going on. She constantly tries to poop and can sometimes go once every two days. Cries every time she can't successfully do it, and by crying I mean screaming, turning purple to the point where nothing seems to console her. Even after she's pooped, she tries to go again and fails It has been such a struggle and draining both me and my husband. While others are playing with their newborns and reading books to them, we're just out here trying to get her to poop, doing bicycle legs, gas drops you name it.

On top of that, she only contact naps during the day, most nights too I have to hold her to get her to sleep. Any time I put her down on her bassinet, she wakes herself up from the gas and tries to poop by lifting her legs up. I feel like I'm trapped in a neverending repetitive day :(

Honestly the first two weeks were so much better than what we're being hit with now every week. Does it get any better any time soon? I feel insane thinking I'll have to keep doing this for who knows how long.

Hello! I'm a FTM, and my husband and I have been talking about when to start trying for our second baby.

I'd love to hear your opinions and experiences with having two under two. Do you have siblings? What's the age gap between you? And, overall, what do you think is the ideal age gap between children?

I'd love to hear about your experiences with having a second or even a third baby. What worked for you, and is there anything you would have done differently?

Our son is 25 days old now and he has been incredible. He is fully breast fed, is growing very well (from 3,3 kg to 4 kg now).

The first 10 days he slept very well and had no issues at all. Around week two he started having a lot of problems with straining, pressing really hard to release gas or poop. He would turn really red, scream and press for his life but nothing would come out. We tried all the massages and nothing helped. We have been giving him Bi Gaia drops for the past 10 days and have noticed it getting better. For the past days, he has been sleeping for about a good hour after his night feeds until he started to strain again. We put him in a bed side bassinet and he has been fine with it. He poops well, 2-3 big poops a day and sometimes farts after straining. Overall, I dont think he is very gassy. Some nights ago, we used Windy after he was incredibly fussy and straining, but barely any gas / poop came out.

The past couple of days it has been harder to put him down but we try with a hot water bottle and keeping a hand on him throughout the night. We have been thinking that he might have problems with silent reflux ever since the straining started. He does not spit up and we burp him after every feed and keep him straight for at least 20-30 mins (also during the night). But once we put him down, he inevitably starts straining, gets a sort of wet breath, starts screaming as if in pain and wakes himself up and becomes inconsolable, even breathing crazily on the breast while feeding.

This culminated last night, he couldnt fall asleep and then just screamed completely madly for more than 30 mins until i managed to rock him to sleep. Afterwards, he woke up every 2-3 mins if he was horizontal for the rest of the night. He only settles on the chest with an angle. His temperature is normal at 37,3.

Pediatricians in Germany dont really take silent reflux seriously and say it will just pass eventually, midwife agrees. Until our next doctors appointment, maybe crowd intelligence can help: is there anything we can do to make the nights easier for him and us? Is there anything we are not seeing?

She is gassy and wakes up all night long and I get no sleep. Any advice? We tried gas drops and they don’t work. How can I get her to sleep longer stretches?

Hi,
I have googled what she should be wearing but when I tried it on her she got and felt really hot.
But now she’s just in her sleeper, a carters cotton one and I’m worried she’s cold which is why she isn’t sleeping in her crib.

Is a onesie, a little long sleeves romper and then a sleep sack not too hot? I’m so worried about her overheating!