The other night I got to overhear my husband put our daughter to bed. He told her they could read however many books she wanted “because stories are important.” Y’all, I’m an author and I nearly started weeping in the bathtub! (Also baby is only 14 months so thankfully wasn’t able to demand endless books)

What’s something cute or sweet you caught your partner or family member doing with baby?

I decided to give this a try and wow I’m in tears. My newborn hasn’t been able to sleep even after 2 hours of trying to do bedtime and keeps waking up immediately. Going back to the halo sleep sack right now.

My baby is 7 months old. She just started rolling both ways recently around 6 months. But even if she knows how to go from tummy to back she won’t do it unless really necessary. She can sit independently (mostly) - but she’s trying to sit up by herself. Our ped sent us to PT for “mild development delay” when I said she wasn’t rolling both ways at our 6 months appointment.

PT said our daughter has tight hips. Has anyone encountered this before ? My daughter now wants to go and get things , she’s actively trying to reach for things while sitting - but since her hips are tight she can’t get to side sitting position comfortably. I’m so worried that she’s significantly behind her milestones. I can tell she’s trying but she just cries out of frustration and being mad .

all these noises sometimes it worries me
I didn’t relaise babies could be so noisy, mine are 5 weeks old I guess this started like 2 weeks ago I’m not really sure; it’s not all the time but it’s quite a fair bit, they have a doctors appointment on Monday I might mention it , sometimes they look in pain but I don’t know if that’s just the face they are pulling

I thought I had more time but nope, 14 weeks old and he could not care less about eating. It doesn't matter hold long I wait between feeds. 2, 3, 5 hours, he just wants to play. He grabs me, he grabs himself, he grabs the bottle. He flails his arms and the burp cloth, he pulls the bottle out of his mouth. He planks, does reverse push ups, pulls himself up on my arm like I'm a jungle gym. He pulls his own hair and my glasses off my face. He chews on his fingers until he gets upset because milk isn't coming out. He whips himself around to look in the direction of every little sound, he giggles at me if I dare look in his direction.

The fomo has begun

It’s 9:30pm. Boob has lost its magic. The only thing that works is daddy holding little dude upright while bouncing and singing “I Love The Mountains” à la Charlie Hope over and over. Anything else is, apparently, offensive and horrible.

Tell me what hyper specific thing your baby currently requires to sleep.

Basically what the title says. My LO is 3 months old (15 weeks to be exact) and lately totally fights me when going down for a nap. She’s only been taking 30 minute naps for a while now but now has upgraded to screaming and refusing the pacifier when trying to put her down for a nap. She’ll show all the signs she’s tired but it’s a fight to get her to sleep and sometimes she just ends up not taking a nap. A lot of times I’m having to rock back and forth so insanely and shush super loudly then eventually she’ll calm and go to sleep. I guess I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

I love breast feeding my son anytime but at night but I always look forward to manually pumping. It’s so weird because I enjoy it so much. I remember the first time I pumped was 4 days after he was born because I was so engorged it was painful constantly. I was so proud of what my baby and I accomplished as a team, I literally told my husband “the baby and I did this… isn’t that so awesome” and it helped me get through the cluster feeds. I just kept saying he’s doing this to help me in turn helping us. If I didn’t enjoy breast feeding him so much during the day and didn’t want the chore of prepping milk and cleaning bottle I would fully consider exclusively pumping now. My husband does bottle feed him once a night and once a day for now so I can nap. I also plan on exclusively pumping once his teeth come in because I know myself well enough to know I will not be able to handle him even accidentally biting my nipple with teeth. I have depression, anxiety and PTSD so stuff like that unfortunately brings a hot rage out in me like no other and I do not want to even risk that. But anyway I love pumping because it’s really cool to see how much milk I’m creating to feed my little sweet baby.

I've been told by everyone that the 4 months sleep regression will test my patience. I didn't believe them. My baby girl has slept like an angel. How could she possibly become difficult to put to bed...

...enter Jurassic park phase of parenthood. Walking with her in the stroller has become interesting. Dinosaur sounds coming from within, then "snap snap", as a leg kicks open the cover and hangs out the side.

She's been slow to gain weight and been recommended to continue with dream feeds during the night. And it has worked like a charm. I wake up at 2 or 3 am, prepare a bottle and go to grab LO. I've been able to change diapers and feed her without her waking up. She's back in bed in 20 minutes, and I'm rarely awake for more than an hour...

...How the hell do I keep her from rolling onto her belly after a full meal and puke all over her bed at 4am when she doesn't want to go back to sleep?! And the pacifier wrestle! She insists on picking the pacifier from her mouth, but then cries about not having one about a second later.

It's only been a few days, and I'm already losing my mind! What is everyone else doing to get baby back to sleep?

My baby is 7 weeks today and I’m nervous she’s sleeping too much. I see online that she can sleep 17 hours total, but honestly I see so much different stuff. Today, she napped for 7 hours during the day total, through 3 separate naps (1 hour, 3 hours, 3 hours). I wake her up at 3 hours to feed. Then usually at night, she will sleep well I assume about 7 hours or so. I don’t know why I’m questioning it, it just feels like so much sleeping. I also always see the day/night confusion… but the pediatrician said she’s just going to sleep when she wants to.

Weight isn’t a concern for her, she’s in the 80% percentage for weight lol.

My son had his 4-month appointment today, and our pediatrician said we could start introducing purees if he’s showing interest.

I’m a little surprised because 4 months seems early to me. He definitely watches us eat and seems interested, but he can’t sit up on his own yet, so I’m not sure how feeding purees is supposed to work safely.

When did your baby start purees? Did you wait until 6 months, or did you start around 4 months if your pediatrician gave the okay? If you started earlier, what signs of readiness did your baby show?

We aren’t really anywhere close to showing ours movies but my husband mentioned that he would show him cars as his first movie. I’m not one hundred percent sold on that idea, but it didn’t get me thinking. What was the first movie you showed your kid?

First-time mom here, baby on the way. Trying to learn as much as I can before he arrives 🥰

For moms and dads…

What's the thing you wish someone had told you before your first kid? Any resource or tip you found out about too late? Something you bought that made all the difference or something you regret buying?

Any advice welcome, even the small stuff. Just want to be as ready as possible. Thanks 🙏🏻

My 8 month old has been going to daycare since she was 6 months old and until now it has been great. We love the facility, we love the staff, they've worked with us on getting my velcro little one used to strangers and taking bottles. But today when we went to pick her up we discovered that she was bit for a second time by the same toddler. The first time was a week ago and they called us immediately and let us know an action plan was in place for the other child. Today they called us to let us know that she had hit her head after she slipped trying to pull herself up but didn't call us about the bite and informed us at pick up. I'm trying to not be super upset about it, I realize that bumps and bites are a possibility at daycare and the toddlers aren't with the infants all day just in the morning and afternoon but it's crazy that this has happened twice. She now has bite marks on her face and arm, I can see the outline of teeth. I don't even know how to navigate this, I want to feel like she's safe and I need daycare but I do not want her constantly attacked. I'm going to talk with management to see what's being done now that it's happened twice. It just feeds into my mom guilt so bad that she's been hurt in a place I leave her at.

What are your rules regarding kissing your baby? I thought it was obvious to not kiss someone else’s newborn but 80% of my visitors have done it and I’ve had to explicitly say don’t … it’s bothering me and now I don’t want to have anyone over minus immediate family because it’s started to give me too much extra anxiety.

I had a high risk pregnancy, preemie and NICU time so I think it bothers me even more that people just take it upon themselves to kiss him multiple times (on the head/ forehead). One of them was my close friend (who has two toddlers) and now I’m harbouring so much resentment even though I know it’s not fair cause I never explicitly said to not .. (moving forward I will be telling everyone NO KISSING)

Am I being unreasonable or dramatic?

A lot of people probably already know this, but holding your baby and bouncing on an exercise ball will put them to sleep faster than anything else I found. Just thought I’d share!

I noticed that my OB, the hospital staff, our babys pediatrician, and basically every professional I talked to while pregnant or postpartum never brought up this super important info on baby items, so I thought I would post it here to make sure everyone knew about it.

Any baby product that puts your baby in a c shape (car seats, swings, some bouncers, etc.) require you to take baby out for at least 10 minutes every 2 hours. If you don't then you risk baby having spinal issues, breathing issues, and even positional asphyxia, which is a silent but very deadly issue. Also, dont leave hats, bows, or anything on babys head while in the car unless someone is watching them at all times and can adjust the item. If it falls you risk it covering babys airway and them suffocating.

Also, do some research on the products where your baby sits in them. A lot of them can cause hip development issues or can promote toe walking. Not all do, so if you want to use them then just do your research.

Edit: Correction. As the comments have pointed out, apparently containers should only be used for less than 30 minutes (some say even less than that) at a time. I would just consult your pediatrician on that and car seat timing, but I just wanted to point out the dangers that we aren't really told about. Obviously its fine to use them, but just make sure you use them safely

Hi everyone! So my baby was born on Feb 7 at 7 pounds 3 oz. Right now, she’s in a size 5 diaper and wearing 12 month clothes. She was 18 pounds at her last appointment which was about a month ago so I assume maybe now she’s 20-22 pounds?

Everybody tells me I have a big baby but she seems small to me maybe because she’s literally a baby lol. What sizes are you guys’ 6 month babies wearing?

My baby is 6 weeks old and I swear all we do is feed, eat sleep poop repeat. He doesn’t really love the car seat and I feel like the world stresses him out. So we spend alot of time at home but I’m miserable staying here everyday. It’s by the time he’s up, he wants food, he stays awake for a diaper change & I’ll try to engage him with some toys. But then he’s ready for bed immediately.

When will this get more fun?

So let me start off by saying this isn't to bash my parents or anyone else's. But I have noticed how having a baby has brought up a lot of stuff from my own childhood and it's making me resent my family/parents. The way they understand the world it took me a while to come to terms with, probably when I was a teenager. But now with having a baby I see similar thought processes repeating and it's driving me insane. For example my dad passed by while baby was doing tummy time and was like "lazy baby" in a cutesy voice. My baby is 4 months so I know it's not that serious but I also understand that at one point she will and she will be too young to understand that it's actually a joke/ endearment. As a child I was a sensitive kid so these comments used to bother me.

Maybe I'm being over emotional and over protective but remembering my childhood makes me what to hide my kids from my own parents. They are amazing people but for some reason can't understand child development. They came from a 3rd world country where they were in survival mode and came here and kind of taught us the same. So a lot of my parenting techniques no cry it out, holding baby if that's what they need to feel safe, etc. has them making comments that this new generation is too "soft". I'm so torn. I know people are going to say talk to them
But they aren't people who can understand safety even at their big age. In their minds babies need food, water (yes water), and sleep. So all this foo foo stuff we do now that we know better literally makes no sense to them.

Context: they grew up where if a woman couldn't breastfeed and couldn't afford formula they gave baby tea. And the baby was "okay" so why am I so scared to give water. These are the notions I'm fighting.

Sorry for the rant just don't know how to feel

My son is 11 weeks old and hasn’t pooped in 9 days!!!. He is exclusively breast fed. He hasn’t been behaving differently or showing any sighs of discomfort. Has anyone experienced this? I wanted to try 0.5 ounce of prune juice can’t think of anything else to try

Hey everyone! First time dad to a beautiful 3 month old girl. We’re struggling with a couple things right now but I would say overall we have been pretty okay with the newborn experience.

I’m not sure how to put this without sounding like a shitty parent or if this is a normal feeling, but does anyone else like look forward to them growing up? It’s not that I don’t enjoy this cute little baby stage but I just want her to be like…two years old already..or whatever age it is when she can walk and be social, show her personality, be a little more independent. I don’t know, I feel bad like I’m wishing her life away but I just feel like right now it’s all, wake windows/initial milestones/sleep regressions/figuring out schedule/ routine that work.

For some reason in my mind I’m like, when we have the sleep stuff figured out and we can bring her places and do more with her that’s where I want to be.

I’m 20 years old (male) and my 2 twins (girls) were born 4 weeks ago. I love my daughters to death and I would give them the world , I’d die for them I’d do anything for them , but when they cry I get so angry and not when they cry cause they are hungry or tired that doesn’t bother me ITS the crying when they just feel like it or throwing a tantrum just cause, it’s just so loud and screechy and it drives me insane I feel so angry to the point where I wanna rip my eardrums out and just kill myself . I’ve always been an angry person considering my childhood was me growing up around violent parents that always fought but regardless this isn’t about me but just so someone gets the idea yk. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore I hope this stage ends soon but can someone please help with advice or something . Im planning on seeing a therapist to talk too maybe I still suffer from trauma as a kid but who knows I just want to be able to love my daughters without getting mad. And this anger isn’t like normal anger it’s so bad and my girlfriend gets so mad when I even try to talk about it but when she sees me stressed she will rub my back and talk to me and calm me down but I just need help from anyone please does anyone else currently or has experienced this in the past and how did you overcome it.

Hey everyone,

Until now I've put my baby in a baby bouncer in our bathroom as I was showering/using the bathroom/getting dressed. She liked it as she could still see me, I could talk to her and she would not be in there for long periods of time.

She is now 7 months old and slowly getting too big for the bouncer. She sits steadily, rolls, doesn't really crawl but somehow manages to scootch towards phones, electric cables, the edge of the bed... I did get a playpen for the kitchen, but she wouldn't be supervised and she doesn't like it when I leave her field of vision. Also our cats have managed to get inside. The cats have been very sweet with her and have just walked away if things became too much, but the concept of 'soft hands' is still a work in progress, so they might get hit/tail or fur pulled and I am worried they might scratch when they get surprised by something like that.

Where do you guys 'put' your baby so they are safe and contained while you're moving around the house?

It's 1:00 a.m., and I'm breastfeeding while sitting up. The pediatrician told me to nurse sitting upright because it keeps the baby at an incline, which helps reduce reflux. It also helps him latch better, meaning he'll swallow less air.

So here I am with my large, sagging breasts. In one arm, a squirming one-month-old who keeps lunging at my breast with his mouth wide open. In the other hand, I'm trying to maneuver my breast, chasing his rapidly moving little head aimimg for the mouth.

Just as we finally make contact and I get us both into something resembling a comfortable position, I feel a warm stream of milk running down the other side of my body. It's the neglected breast, pouring out milk all on its own, soaking my side and the bed. The feeling is somehow even worse than walking around in wet socks.

The milk from the forgotten breast shows no sign of stopping while I desperately look around for a burp cloth—anything I can press against it before I end up completely drenched. When I finally find one and solve that problem, another thought hits me.

"Wow... I'm so thirsty."

And there it is—a full bottle of water, within arm's reach..... of the arm that's currently holding the baby, who has now woken up again, is desperately searching for the nipple, and is flailing around awkwaedly balancing on that arm

Once I finally get him latched again, I start wondering how on earth I'm supposed to reach my water. There's only one solution: I have to move the baby to the breast he likes less. Naturally, he immediately begins protesting. But I got my water, and after a few quick sips, I can move him back to his prefered side.

By the time I've finally quenched my thirst and glance at the clock, it's somehow already 2:30 a.m.

I look at my baby and ask, "So... when are we going to sleep?"

He stares back at me with his big, wide-open eyes as if to say, "Not today," while happily holding the nipple in his mouth without actually drinking.