Having a rough night with postpartum hormones and could use a laugh to stop this crying. Fill the comment section with a happy/funny story from your week.

I’ll go first, my baby is 11.5 weeks and has been working on intentional movements of her hands and feet. She can now reach for things, grab them, hit them, etc. and has a blast doing it. We were giving her a bath tonight and she kicked her feet, creating a splash. She looked startled for a second and then started kicking her feet and waving her hands wildly in the water, splashing my partner and I. The two of us just started cracking up and she looked at us grinning. It was a really fun family moment that I’ll always cherish.

Hey everyone! First time dad to a beautiful 5.5 month old. It has definitely been a journey so far! I returned to work and was talking with some coworkers about the experience so far and that I’m looking forward to when she can crawl and walk and do more stuff or even keep herself entertained for a bit. They kind of laughed and just said that’s when it gets worse and then proceeded to tell me all the not so great things I have coming up, like teething, separation anxiety, another sleep regression, chasing them around so they don’t hurt themselves etc…

I guess getting this far made me think, it must get a lot better as they learn new things and grow up a little bit. Now I feel less excited and even more nervous. Does it really progressively get worse before it gets better? Did anyone’s baby not really get impacted by the above and just stayed a pretty happy baby? That’s how my girl is now and has been a great sleeper and was hoping to keep this groove going!

I just listened to the journey series from the New Yorker about the couple who had 20+ kids through surrogacy and Collin Gosselin podcast episode with Jay Shetty and I’m in tears, I’m enraged, I need to vent.

As a mom, how can parents cause their kids so much suffering. And in both cases, so many other adults could have act and they didn’t do anything to save the kids. It is so heartbreaking. The worst part is that there are so many cases like this and would not get told and kids will continued to get abused.

I’m a first time single mom, so I have to work full time. I definitely couldn’t be a stay at home mom even if I had the opportunity to be. I’d love to be able to just work part time, but even without the daycare expense, it’s not feasible.

My baby has done WONDERFUL since starting daycare and she goes to a great one. I get updates on every feed, diaper, if she gets moved to a new room, and photos throughout the day. Since I was on maternity leave and home alone most of the day, she got very attached to me. She’s also young so of course she will prefer mom but once she became more alert she would not tolerate being held or even looked at by my family, which got really hard for me as a single parent.

But I work 7-3, and after work I go to the gym (they are in the same strip so no drive time. I don’t stay long, 45 minutes max. And the daycare is less than 5 minutes from there. I get to her around 4, but she goes to bed at 8. If I skipped the gym, I’d get only an extra hour with her, but I need to exercise since I am a competitive athlete. Most workouts I can do at home, but I need the weights and some machines at the gym.

I’m off work Tuesdays and Saturdays, but I still take her for about a half day on Tuesday so that way I can get things done around the house without worrying about it and get some time to doomscroll. Plus I want to keep her on a routine.

I play with her at night, but most of the time is spent with her last 2 feeds of the day, giving her a bath, and she takes a nap. She gets roughly 8-9 hours at night, but doesn’t sleep much at daycare at all, sometimes only an hour. (Not their fault, other crying babies in the room, etc). So she takes a pretty long nap in the evening as well.

I just miss her and most Saturdays there is always something to do. Some get together or something and I love spending time with my family and I love them being able to play with her now but I just want to have more time with her.

TL;DR. My baby started daycare and has been thriving but I have to work full time and I miss her and evening time is spent with feeds, bath, and nap basically

I feel like I’ve hit a wall and suddenly the days feel SO slow. Baby is 3 months. Days used to fly by, but gradually as feeds have got quicker and naps have got shorter there suddenly seems to be so much TIME to fill… and their awake time only goes up from here?!! HELP.

Everyone says get out and about… but seriously, and do what? I go for a daily walk to get a coffee but that only takes an hour or so. People say go out and do things you enjoy… like what though?

Today it got to 1pm and I realised I had 5 hours to fill before I could begin bedtime-adjacent things. We had been for a walk. I didn’t need any groceries. I didn’t want to go and buy anything or eat anything. I googled local gardens and parks and stuff but honestly couldn’t be bothered doing another walk. I thought about taking her thrifting but again I just wasn’t interested in browsing or buying.

Theres some baby rhyme time type stuff on near me but everything’s on at 10-11am which is the only time of day there’s a small chance she takes a nap longer than 30 minutes. And it’s the afternoons I’m struggling to fill, not the mornings!

I want to enjoy this time while she’s so little because I know I’ll blink and she’ll be tearing the house apart on foot! But I just don’t know how? This feeling hit me like a freight train this week all of a sudden, I don’t know what’s happened. The days used to go by so easily.

Any advice welcome. The more specific the better. What do your days look like?!

One thing to note: baby wearing is hard for me for anything more than 30-45 mins due to back issues and I feel like such a failure hearing how much it’s praised, because I can’t do it. So anything but that!

It probably doesn’t help that I’m self employed (freelancer) and have barely been able to do any work since she’s been born so I’m feeling the pressure that that’s probably what I WANT to do but can’t.

My 10 month old has been sick now for a week with a high fever. We have alternated Tylenol and ibuprofen. It goes down but then shoots right back up. She’s been to the doctors and they said it was a common cold. Just to MRI doing what we’re doing.

She ended up with a 104.6 fever yesterday and rushed her to the ER because she ended up having a seizure. They gave her ibuprofen and got her fever down to 102. Sent us home and told us to keep doing what we are already doing. That it was a cold.

This morning her fever spiked back up to 103. She threw up everywhere. She’s shaking. Her skin is so hot and red. She’s being extra fussy. This doesn’t seem like a common cold. My gut is telling me else, but I can’t tell if it’s paranoia or not. Her breathing is fast and hard.

Just I don’t know what else to do.

Last night as I was getting my LO ready for a bath I was thinking about the phrase "you know your baby best". Which I don't really resonate with. Im a FTM to a 14 week old and every day I don't really know how I made it through, feeling like I'm just winging it and thinking I don't know how I'll manage another day tomorrow. I just do anyway. I think what's stopping me from knowing my baby best is the expectations around literally everything and it is sucking the joy of motherhood out of me, so I decided to just let go and take the day as it comes. Which is what we all do anyways. Sometimes my baby sleeps through the night, sometimes he wakes up every hour, sometimes only once or twice a night. I thought my baby woke up at 7:30 to start the day. He does most days, but sometimes 7am, sometimes 6:30, today it was 5:55 am. There are days where I cant get my baby to take his naps and I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong, the next day I don't change a thing and he peacefully goes down for all naps. I realize its naive to think with enough routine and time, days with be predictable and the lingering pressure of the next day will be gone. Babies are people too. Good days, bad days. I'm letting go of expectations. I'm going to just live in each moment that I'm lucky enough to have with my baby. He is growing every day, learning every day. Of course every day wont be the same. I'm just ranting I guess but if you read this much, thank you xx

Baby is awake longer, rolling, and curious about everything. I don’t know what to do with them anymore. Wake windows used to be exciting but we have not played with every toy that we have. I feel defeated.
Is it ok if I spend some of the wake window just reading a book and letting them roll around???

If any mom or dad out there was thinking about starting an SSRI let this be your sign to do it . Holy crap I feel so much better . I’ve been on Zoloft for a month and it’s life changing. I’ve always had anxiety and bouts of depression before my pregnancy but postpartum made it worse . I was a mess and how I felt affected my marriage. My doctor gave it to me at my 6week follow up and I didn’t start taking it until 3 months later thinking how I was feeling would go away. Only a month on it and things are much better . I’m nicer to myself, nicer to my husband , the impulsive thoughts are less frequent and did I mention I haven’t cried in 3 weeks ( used to be a daily occurrence ). Mamas start that zolof !

My 8-week old is in between newborn and size 1 — and has been producing a volcanic sized blowout EVERY TIME SHE POOPS. Every single time. I’m about to lose my damn mind. We‘ve tried Pampers, Costco brand, and Huggies size 1 diapers to no avail. (Blowouts on blowouts on blowouts.) We went back to the newborn size (Huggies), same thing. We‘ve tightened the size 1 diapers, pulling the tabs as close together as possible, and we always make sure the gussets are pulled out. I’m on my way to Costco to buy puppy pads ... but that doesn’t actually solve the blowout issue, it just helps us from having to wash the Baby Bjorn for the millionth time this week.

How did y’all get through this? Is there a good in-between diaper size brand? I will try ANYTHING.

I have a 6 month old and I love her to death however I truly feel like im drowning sometimes. She's been in this stage since she was about 4 months where everything is crying and fighting. She fights feedings even though she's crying for food. She fights naps too no end when she's very obviously tired. She seems to hate playtime and cries after like 5 minutes. She cannot be put down midday of the time or stays crying. She cries when I try to clean or eat or shower or sleep or even fucking breathe at this point. I am exclusively pumping and my supply has tanked because I can't pump when I need to because the second I get them on she starts crying. She won't go with anyone else rn even dad sometimes because she only wants me. I love my babygirl and would do anything for her but damn I feel so miserable sometimes. And idk I think some of it is bitterness too that my partner still basically had his whole life he did before menawhile I feel like a shell of myself. He gets to come and go as he pleases he can shit in peace shower or bathe in peace eat in peace scroll in peace get a full night's sleep. Yes he does provide financially and i am so grateful for that but being the default parent fucking sucks because even when he wants to help he can't because she doesn't want him. Like I said i love my family but taking on this load has been ahit on my mental health and most days I have atleast a few breakdowns. When does this if ever get easier?

FTM here! My baby is almost 3 months old, and I’m looking for fun things we can start doing together during the day.
I’ve been looking into baby story times at the library, baby gym classes, music classes, etc., but I’m not sure if she’s still too young for some of these.
At what age did you start taking your baby to activities like these? Did you feel like they actually enjoyed or benefited from them at that age?
I’d love to hear what everyone did with their babies around 3 to 6 months old, especially activities that help with development and getting them out of the house a little more!

My baby is 6.8 weeks old and she isn’t smiling yet so just curious when yours did & also laughing?

I would like to have any idea if she likes us or not so rly looking forward to that lol

There’s a song I love called Don’t Turn The Page (DoGoodDad), and it’s a dad singing about his baby boy growing up. Made me cry the first few times I heard it

What’s yours?

Honorable mention to Hold My Hand, Daddy (Zander Met’n Z)

Hi all. We have a 14 MO girl that just started daycare 2 weeks ago as I took a new job.

Got a call today that she sustained a finger laceration on the joint involving the bone when her finger got shut in a door by a teacher. It was an accident, and the teacher seemed pretty shaken up when she called but we got taken to the hospital by EMS because it’s pretty bad.

How do you handle things like this? We’re obviously new at this whole thing. I can’t up and quit my job to stay home with her, and there’s no other daycare’s in the area that are currently accepting new babies her age.

Just kind of had a loss and looking for some direction

Thanks, everyone

my sister put her foot down after the last one sang the alphabet at 6am every day for a month. fair. my niece turns one soon and i want to get her something she’ll actually use instead of something that ends up in a bin. leaning toward books or bath stuff, open to being talked out of it

My baby girl was just born yesterday at 39 weeks and 1 day at 7 pounds 12 oz. She was immidiately transported to a hospital that could give her a feeding tube and feed her. What should I expect going forwards because I’m a nervous wreck.

Send help, thoughts, prayers, anything - we are deep in sleep regression hell and I need to write this somewhere so I don't go insane. 6 month old baby. Was sleeping through the night from 3-5 months old (I know, I know, we got lucky) but now is waking up every 30 minutes. EVERY. 30. MINUTES. He's in a hands out sleep suit, in his crib. Isn't hungry, doesn't need a nappy change, isn't too hot/cold. Just wakes up wailing (usually on his tummy because he got stuck, but he hasn't figured out how to roll tummy to back yet). Will not resettle on his own and requires 10-30min of contact cuddles to be put back down again only for it all to repeat again 30mins later. How are you guys dealing with this?! Has anyone got any magic solutions, because we are suffering right now. For those who have come out the other side of this, how long did it last? Please send me some positivity....

My wife and I have read to our baby since she was born pretty much - we're both big readers (I genuinely enjoy the good picture books) and it's always been a cute snuggly time with her.

Now she's six months old and wants to spend the entire time we read a book eating it. Totally fine, I know this is developmentally normal, our board books are taking a cheerful beating, and I just want her to associate books as fun objects, so very happy for her to gnaw away.

My question for other parents who experienced this phase is: Do you continue reading the story? Sometimes I feel mean continuing to flip pages and interrupting her delicious storybook snack, lol. Should I just read the first page and then let her chow down for as long as she's interested?

Can someone help me with how to dress my LO (14mo) at night. The weather is getting a lot cooler...

Currently in a footed sleep sack (hates non footed sleep sacks) with long sleeve and thin trousers. Feet are however exposed and idk I would hate that. They're also sometimes cool to the touch.

Or should I put her in a vest and full onsie pj with feet?

Or both? Footed PJ's AND footed sleep sack seems like a recipe for overheating.

She wakes up a lot throughout the night in all seasons since birth so it's hard to tell if my changes make any difference

Am I overthinking this... Dressing the kid is one thing I have zero intuition for. I run hot but my hands and feet are often cold.

Parents with older babies, what would you have told yourself in the early days based on what you know now?

Yesterday I took the small one (10 weeks) to my first baby group activity at library just to see and super impressed with how well the toddlers all played next to each other / with each other.

Mine was significantly the youngest and only non-mobile but we had a couple other crawlers and a 9 month old walker (which was very amazing) but it was a real joy seeing the kids clap and dance along to teacher.

Also managed social anxiety and talked to a few of the moms (still hard to do as sahd)

Please, please, PLEASE someone help me. 😭 I’m so exhausted, and I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. My 3 month old will not go to sleep at night until midnight, sometimes even 1 AM. I’ve been trying to establish a bedtime routine, but nothing seems to be working.
I try giving him a warm bath around 8 PM and then a warm bottle around 8:30 PM. Sometimes he’ll fall asleep for maybe an hour and then wake back up. Other times, he’ll eat and just stay awake until midnight or 1 AM, on and off. He fights sleep SO badly.
Even when he finally does fall asleep around midnight, he still wakes up around 3–4 AM. And naps during the day??? Almost nonexistent. If he does manage to fall asleep, it’s usually only for 10–15 minutes before he wakes back up.
Tonight has honestly been the worst. I did his bath at 8 PM and gave him a bottle at 8:30 PM, but it didn’t help at all. He cried and cried every time I tried to lay him down.
I’m so tired, and I feel like he barely sleeps at all. I don’t understand how he can stay awake for so long, especially when he seems so tired but fights sleep every single time.

I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY ADVICE BECAUSE I’M EXHAUSTED AND REALLY NEED SOME HELP AS A FIRST TIME MOM. ❤️

My 8 month old has been having rough nights due to teething, his day nap turned into a 3 hr siesta. Do you wake your little ones up from naps over 1hr?

I’m curious how other families approach shared caregiving, especially when raising a baby.

I love the idea that caregiving shouldn’t be about dividing the work, but multiplying the care, love, and support available to the entire family.

It’s not just about everyone caring for the baby, but also about caregivers supporting one another and building a stronger family together.

What does shared caregiving look like in your home? Are there any habits, routines, or small changes that have helped your family care for and support one another?

I’d love to hear what’s worked for your family and any tips you’d share with other parents!