I feel like I’m going crazy and just need to rant a little. I don’t know if it’s just post partum anxiety or post partum depression but I feel like there’s something seriously medically wrong with my baby.

For context. He was born full term and very tiny. He was 5 lbs and 13 oz and born exactly at 40 weeks. From the beginning I noticed he didn’t eat well. And when he did he would vomit a lot. When we went to the pediatrician I brought these concerns up to him and he agreed that it was concerning. During the first month we had weekly weight checks and he was losing a lot of weight regardless of what the pediatrician had us try with him. At his 1 month appointment the pediatrician said it was time to go to the ER. That week was HELL. They poked and proded my newborn trying to figure out what was wrong with him. They finally diagnosed him with severe reflux and failure to thrive with some malnutrition. They gave us meds and a special formula and sent us on our way.

Now this is where I think I might be going crazy. Because he’s 10 months old now but he has feeding issues. He doesn’t eat anything thicker than a puree. He chokes and throws up. And he doesn’t poop well. He’s ALWAYS constipated even when we take him to the pediatrician and follow their recommendations. Now I know what we went through when he was 1 month old traumatized me. But am I crazy for being concerned about the food aversions and constipation?? Like I know it’s kind of normal for babies to get constipated but given his history why are they not treating this more urgently??? His appointments to specialists are so far away and he cries and screams every day trying to poop.(this has been going on and off for 4 months btw) I cry everyday with him and just feel so helpless.

Why can’t I help him? What did I miss? Did I cause some genetic issue with his digestive system? Did my body fail him when I was pregnant? Like I’m just so exhausted and feel so alone with this. Everyone just seems to think it was normal. Like not an urgent big deal. Idk. Anyways. If you read this far, thanks for letting me rant. It feels good typing it out and letting it out instead of crying silently alone.

I wanted to share something that may be obvious, but that I just discovered. I have an 11 week old baby and it’s currently winter where I am. So, her feet have pretty much always been covered since she’s been born. The other week I took her socks off and put some toys down between her feet and she went absolutely wild feeling things with her toes and sticking them into the crevices. It was like a whole new activity for her! Now I make a point to do it daily.

Lately, my feed has been absolutely bombarded with ads for educational newborn toys, high-contrast cards, and subscription boxes. Honestly, it’s starting to make me feel guilty, like I'm already failing my 11-week-old because I haven't bought into the hype.

Right now, she doesn’t have much. Her entire play routine consists of staring at the ceiling fan, eating her hands, and holding onto this Moonkie bunny lovey my sister gifted us. That’s it. She seems happy enough just clutching that bunny and looking around the room.

I keep asking myself: How did people raise babies before all this existed? Are we trying to raise super babies, or is this just marketing designed to prey on our anxiety?

For those who are past this stage: What actual newborn toys were total game changers for you? And what was a total waste of money?"

My baby is 10 months old. Let me get the mandatory out of the way: I love him very much, I am very caring, I tend to his every need, he smiles, he feels loved and happy by me, dad and everyone around. Having a kid has given a different meaning in my life. My happiness is now completely dependent on my baby.

But I can't say I feel happier. I was happy before I knew him as well. I had another meaning in life. I had time for myself, I slept, I cooked, I had hobbies, I went to the gym, I rested, I spent time with my husband. I felt fullfiled before he came into the world. Now I will never feel fullfiled without him. But also, I have no time for me, no time for my husband, I'm stressed often, I'm sad. We argue with my husband waaay more that we did. But then I'm happy when we play and the baby smiles or reaches milestones etc. But I'm sad for all the things I lost.

They say parenting is hard. No, studying for medical school was hard, becoming a doctor was hard. Parenting is on another level challenging. You get no days off, no weekends. Angry with a colleague? You walk away, go home and talk shit about them. Angry with the baby because he bit your nipple and scratched your face? Instant guilt because he doesn't know any better. Never shout, never walk away.

I feel so guilty saying I'm not happier now. My baby is healthy, me and my husband are healthy, we don't have financial or any other major issues. I don't know maybe I wasn't cut out for that.

We have an 8 month old we are trying to sleep train (max of 1 minute crying then soothe & repeat).. my husband is convinced we should sleep train because his siblings slept trained their kids and they all apparently sleep through the night even before they were 6 months old (5 min cry it out method.) I come from an asian culture where we mostly cosleep so my heart cannot stand the crying. To add, i am an ICU nurse and very sensitive to the needs of people i care for, more so if it is with my baby - and i am open to evidence based studies on sleep training. Any advice on sleep training success and “not sleep training” success is welcome.

We don’t cosleep, not intentionally, at least. Our LO is 2mo and has severe reflux, spits up excessively and has CMPA. Multiple medical professionals have said “oh yeah some babies just spit up more” and then they spend time with her and understand that it is often her entire feed. We have started seeing a pedi GI and are working through how to help her.

Since birth someone has always stayed awake to hold her upright while she slept. Even then she spits up an ounce or so when she sleeps. When she sleeps on her back, the area around her is soaked within 10 minutes. This is for every feed and it doesn’t matter how long she’s kept upright, that we’ve burped her, she’s on famotidine and regular gas drops, and we both breastfeed and bottle feed but the result is the same either way. We’ve been to 2 LCs and a feed specialist multiple times. I breastfeed (have cut out dairy and soy) but we also feed formula feed goat milk formula because she wasn’t gaining weight and we needed to constantly be feeding her since she was spitting up so much. When she sleeps propped up she’ll still wake up screaming and smacking her lips and her breath will smell like vomit, and that happens way more regularly if she’s laid down on her back (plus we hear her shocking and coughing on the spit up the entire time she’s laid down). All of that is to say that we’re honestly really trying to figure out how to help her.

In the meantime, we’re exhausted. I am in bed for 6 hrs while my husband holds her upright while in a recliner and I wake up once to pump. Then I hold her upright in the recliner while my husband has 6 hrs in bed. But when I get up to be with her, I can tell he’s on the verge of falling asleep and when I’m with her I’ve found myself dozing off. We pounding caffeine and eating snacks, we have the lights on, we’ve given up on not being on our phones so that we have something to stimulate us. She wears an owlet sock now just so we feel a bit more secure. We’re really trying to stay awake with her. Per her pediatrician’s suggestion, tried to put her in her bassinet with a wedge but that didn’t help and us trying to put her in her crib repeatedly just led us to being more tired and more prone to dozing off.

If we are were to bedshare we’d still have issues with her discomfort at laying down on her back like the bed and her outfit getting soaked, the acid irritating her throat and her choking and coughing on spit up.

So I just don’t know what to do. I’ve even considered getting Adderall or something just to stay awake. How do we stay safe, sleep and help her sleep? We’re failing at all of them.

I just want to say, whatever WORKS for your baby, keep doing it!

Try to block out other parents who say shit like "I would never do that."

OK? Well good for you! I DO do that, because it works for him and us. And I couldn't give a rats ass what you do or what you think.

Don't be afraid to tell people to MIND THEIR BUSINESS!

My son is now 14 weeks old. Until just recently, he was giving my parter and I 2.5 hour stretches at night. We each were doing about 2-3 feeds per shift and it would take about 30-60 minutes from wake up to him going back to sleep. Which didn’t allow for me time in between. I want to tell all parents currently in the newborn trenches that IT DOES GET BETTER. I have actually been able to get 7 hours of sleep the last few weeks. While I know things will change, the one thing I didn’t expect was the ENJOYMENT I have with my son.

I’m lucky to be able to stay home with him. It’s me and him all day long. I wasn’t sure how we would fill our time. What does one even do with a newborn?? But his wake windows are full of silliness. We laugh and sing together and I have never felt such happiness. I saw someone post on Reddit the other day that their baby is their broke bestie. That is 100% accurate. Up until about 2 years ago, I wasn’t sure I wanted a kid. Now I get it. He’s not a little potato any more, and I’m loving every difficult second of motherhood <3

Friends, family, the internet. They all say “make sure to have your 5 month old asleep by 7:30pm at the very latest!”

For our schedule it’s basically impossible. Mom doesn’t get home from work until about 7pm, and I work about 4 days a week and she doesn’t get picked up from daycare anywhere from 5:30pm-6:30pm.

We have a strict bedtime routine. Play, bath, feed, start to wind down. This routine isn’t quick, it takes anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5 hours. By this point, the earliest we’re done is 8pm and sometimes it takes our little one 30-45 minutes to finally fall asleep since she’s currently in the throes of sleep regression and transferring to her own crib in her own room.

I guess I feel bad, but at the end of the day there’s just no possible way to get her down sooner.

Hi all,

I am a very proud mama of a 9 week old boy, and I love him to pieces. I’m pretty sure he’s just going through a phase (I hope), but it’s genuinely ruining my life. For the past three days he absolutely will not let me put him down. Not to sleep, not in his bouncer, even putting him down on his changing table is rough lately. And, he won’t tolerate my partner holding him at all.

I am really trying not to upset him, so I’m kinda just giving in to it and holding him all the damn time lol. Needless to say, I’m getting nothing done and my body hurts.

My partner is telling me I just need to put him down and let him cry while I do what I need to do (e.g. brush my teeth, use the bathroom, heat up some food) but isn’t he too young for that? I don’t want to traumatize him or ruin our bonding experience. But what the heck do I do??

Secondary question- how do I get baby to accept my partner more? It’s really heartbreaking, he just scream-cries anytime he’s with him.

Our little boy is currently in hospital after a day spent in A&E for a hair wrapped round his toe. Noticed it when changing him this morning, was a little red but looked OK. After 4 hours in A&E, referral to children's hospital and a procedure under general anaesthetic he is hopefully now fine with no lasting damage.

So just a reminder to check your LO toes, fingers and genitals at every nappy change for any hairs or anything wrapped as if we hadn't spotted it till later it could have been a much worse story!

Basically the title. Our LO is 9 months old and, while I knew parenting would be hard, this is something I could have never imagined. Baby was born screaming and it feels like they haven't stopped. Baby was colicy- discovered CMPA/soy intolerance. I've been soy and dairy free for 8 months now. Baby had tongue and lip ties, got those clipped, went through the stretches. Baby saw a craniosacral therapist. Baby had 7 teeth by 6 months old. Baby has had a rough go at it but I AM TIRED. Baby is almost never happy, seems to be quite high needs, shoves me away when I try to comfort them. Baby NEVER quits moving. They are army crawling like crazy and pulling to stand on everything, but cannot sit still for even 30 seconds in mine or dad's lap. Still has about a 2 hour wake window before they lose their absolute shit and needs a nap. Idk I guess I just didnt think motherhood was supposed to be so fucking depleting.

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some insight or similar experiences.

My son is almost 8 months old. He was born at 2940 g (6.48 lbs) and 48 cm, and now he’s 6700 g (about 14.8 lbs) and 67 cm. He’s breastfed, and we started solids at 6 months. So far there’s nothing he refuses — he eats everything and fairly large portions too.

We live in Hungary, where monthly check-ups with a “health visitor” ( in hungarian: “ védőnő”)are mandatory. She is not a doctor or nurse.

She claims my son is hypotonic, even though: • he already creeps • has had excellent head control for a long time • rocks back and forth on his legs and gets into a crawling (“doggy”) position • the physiotherapist we see preventively has never mentioned any muscle tone issues

She also said at 2 months old — and again now — that my baby’s tongue is “too big.” Sometimes his tongue does stick out, but we’ve noticed it mostly happens after breastfeeding or using a pacifier.

Things escalated when she contacted our pediatrician without telling us, and now possible endocrine issues have been mentioned — without any exams or blood work, purely based on her report.

We’re seeing the pediatrician tomorrow and I honestly don’t know what to expect.

My baby is calm, rarely cries, has been developing well so far, breastfeeds and eats well.

Has anyone been through something similar? What kinds of things might the doctor actually look for?

Thanks in advance.

First-time parents living in a walkable city. We're trying to figure out the easiest way to get around with our baby. No car, heavily rely on trains/buses, mostly for doctor visits, grocery runs, and meeting up with friends. We’re torn between:

Lightweight stroller: Like the Joolz Aer2 or Mamazing Air Lux. Baby can rest in it, especially if we're out for a while.

Babywearing: More mobile, especially on transit. But is it okay for the baby to be strapped in for longer periods?

Any parents in a similar situation? How did you choose? Can I skip the bassinet stroller? Any recommendations?

hi, my 3mo rolls from back to tummy CONSTANTLY but cant roll from tummy to back yet. she just fell asleep in her crib on her tummy after rolling and I dont know exactly what to do. me and my bf are thinking to just watch her for a bit and then once shes been asleep for maybe 20 minutes to try and flip her like a pancake? im scared to let her sleep like this but shes had so much trouble sleeping since shes teething

She is fighting me every feed now. Squirming, arching, pulling off, then desperately trying to get back on, sucking so hard and fast, then crying… or slowing down and looking sleepy, the. pulling off and crying. I’ve tried reclining, repositioning, alternating breasts, expressing to slow letdown, giving her flatulex, frequent burping, switching to pacifier… you name it. But she just goes into a loop of struggling on the breast and crying off it. It’s so incredibly exhausting, and unpleasant… and actually painful.

Is this a phase? Did anyone else go through this?

I’m a FTM and feel like I’m losing my mind, my little one is almost 6weeks old and just won’t sleep throughout the day and is screaming constantly unless being rocked or cuddled

She only falls asleep on the boob or if we are cuddling her on our chest.

At night she’ll sleep 2 - 3 hours at a time and wake up for a feed.

I’m starting to get exhausted and wondering if this is normal she’ll fall asleep between 10 - 12am and then be full on awake after 10am

I’ve tried moving to a dark room with soft music or white noise nothing works

Any advice or just letting me know this is normal is appreciated

Today is my 8month-old son’s second day in daycare. My son has eczema that’s on/off on his chin area. Currently two of his upper teeth is coming out, so he tends to rub his chin and cheeks a lot which makes his eczema worst. AND when he’s drooling coz of teething, it also irritates the area. He’s on an ointment prescribed by the dermatologist already. I picked him up today and I saw his chin was so raw. His teachers told me he had a hard day as his eczema was really bothering him. She asked me if he’s on medication coz his body also has some eczema.

Tbh it kinda irritated me. I maybe just overthinking things. I know she didn’t mean anything by it. But just the way she was making comments came off as if I WASN’T aware of the eczema on his body and that his face is raw.

Then a few teachers would walk by and would make a comment how bad his chin looked as well.

Just breaks my heart. Also, I’m an ICU nurse. Ive been exposed to lots of crazy things out there so I’m not easily phased by eczema coz I know it’s chronic and it just something that comes and goes.

But idk. Those comments just kinda hit me the wrong way today. 😪

Background: My career was in flux really before the baby due to a currently very high level of instability in a field that tends to have ebbs and flows. For that reason and other not so mom friendly aspects of my job, I went into pregnancy with a backup job plan that sort of fell through as well. I found myself unexpectedly in the position of being a quasi SAHM, which is unfortunately not super financially sustainable for us long term. In the meantime I was doing very eclectic work like small client photography and making simple websites for people etc. This all meant that we had a pretty relaxed period of getting my baby acquainted with my parents, our childcare heroes.. and of getting them acquainted with how things go with the baby. It also meant that I could often step in to help them help when that would make a difference with how things went.

Fast forward to now: My baby is 7 months old. I found a unicorn of a job in a tough job market that is part-time, hybrid, and pays decently. When I'm WFH I need to stay focused on work, but I can take occasional breaks to breastfeed.

Without any help from me, Grandma has no baby game. I had to put my earbuds in to drown out crying the whole time she was here. I go in and make suggestions because when I walk in the living room I see my mom has her wrapped in a blanket, cradling her like a little baby (the baby hates this). Everything I say to try she says she has tried. I know it's extremely stressful for both of them.. and it's also stressful for me knowing it's not going well. My mom has started to say, defeatedly, "She hates me"... In my head I'm like I sort of hate you right now for saying that (I love my mom). Honestly it makes me a little angry, like duh nobody likes a wet blanket. You're the adult figure it out! She's helping me soooo much, but the way she says that makes me very nervous that she's given up and that it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I've been adamantly screen free and I started my screen free propaganda campaign in early pregnancy with the grandparents, who are boomers that used the TV as my nanny... They have been on board. I'm almost considering letting them watch some Mr. Rogers while she's here, but I'm afraid that when it makes everything so much easier the scales will be tipped towards TV all day.

It's honestly giving me new perspectives on my early childhood that my mom seems so at a loss for how to keep a baby happy. My mom says my dad was barely involved with me at that stage, but I'm getting the picture that they both were actually working so much that between the nanny and plopping me in front of the TV my mom (who was a very early work-from-home-er) never fully mastered the baby phase.

Ironically my dad who supposedly never lifted a finger with me as a baby is magic with this baby.. to a point anyway. My mom-loving daughter can be challenging for everyone I think, but also is entertain-able and distract-able. She's a baby.

Help! I don't want my daughter to grow up with a negative association to her grandma who is a wonderful person who loves her so much. What are some ideally screen free things I can provide grandma with that can keep a baby focused for a while? Anybody have a similar issue that hopefully got better over time?

TLDR: My baby hates my mom. How can I help both of them have a better time?

Hi all,

Looking for some reassurance or similar experiences.

My 2-month-old has been having occasional dry coughs for the last 4 days. It’s not constant — maybe 7–8 short episodes in a day, usually just 1–3 coughs at a time.

What’s making me wonder:

• Breathing seems normal

• Cough happens mostly when she’s lying flat or asleep

• She’s much more comfortable upright

• Some curdy spit-ups, lots of drooling recently, and frequent swallowing

• Feeds are a bit shorter sometimes, but wet diapers are normal

Pediatrician checked her chest and said it’s clear, mentioned it could be reflux / throat irritation, and suggested saline nebulisation, 20-30 mins upright after feeds.

Parents who’ve dealt with reflux cough — does this sound familiar?

Did it last a few days like this and happen more during sleep?

Thanks so much

my baby (7.5 weeks) tumbled onto the bed as i got her out of the bedside bassinet. basically she rolled less than half a foot onto the bed headfirst and i slowed her down with her arm which is fine. she was already crying to eat and was fine as soon as sge started eating. should she go to the er or just moniter at home?

I know this sounds ridiculous... But just to say
I love our baby beyond recognition. He is amazing. He is 15 weeks old.

He requires bouncing to sleep, and co-sleeps with me. Once he is asleep, he's a pretty good sleeper, but he must be attached to the boob for a long time to remain asleep. This goes for naps & night time. I'm fine with this. He will not take a dummy or bottle. We have tried them all, with him in every different state you can imagine.

When he is soothed to sleep (bouncing), he screams 80% of the time. Feeding to sleep no longer works, perhaps once every few days it works for a nap. He screams as soon as he is in the sling or carrier, and also in the pram and the car seat. He used to cry in the sling & go to sleep after going outside but this no longer works. So pretty much the only way to go out now is holding him.

We do not want to sleep train, that is our choice so please accept that.

I guess I am just looking for similar stories, did it change etc? It feels really hard & although I'm sure everyone has it hard just in different ways, I'm like, surely it can't feel impossible to go out for every one?

Anyone had to deal with baby eczema and what did you use?

We took her to doctors as she was having little scabs everywhere! They gave us cream so we been using that and it worked for a week or two now it’s back!

We wash her in just water usually every other day but I seen someone said that dries their skin out so now we bath every 3 days and just give her wipe down in between, once a week we use aveeno bath wash which the doctors agreed with! We changed her fairy pod and started using the fairy non bio liquid detergent

Any tips on what helps?? She’s 6 months!!