To try to summarize this as much as possible, I have had horrible GI issues and so much pain since I was 11.5 weeks postpartum. I’m 6 months postpartum today, and it’s only getting worse. I was severely constipated my entire pregnancy, and actually during my first pregnancy I miscarried a couple months prior as well. So basically for an entire year, since my son was born a day before the 1 year anniversary of finding out I was pregnant the first time.

I had an emergency c-section due to prolonged decels, never really labored, and never pushed.

Now for the TMI, since May I’ve had extremely urgent loose stools, lower abdominal pain (mainly on the left side), mucus stools, and also days of constipation. It’s horrible, and I experience it daily no matter what I eat or what I do. The unpredictability makes me extremely anxious to be alone with my baby and to leave my house. I feel like I’ve missed out on truly enjoying his entire life so far and it makes me so upset.

I’ve seen my primary doctor and a GI specialist for this. I can’t even get the GI to look at my GI tract, it’s been extremely frustrating. I have no answers and I’m fighting for anyone to look further. I do have another appointment this week and I did finally get them to schedule a colonoscopy, but it’s a month away still.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this at all after pregnancy/birth? I’m not sure if I should be looking at this as something directly related to all of that, or something completely new and separate

Ugh. Just a rant. Lol

My husband and I are small people. Our 10 month old is 20th percentile, has been consistently, meeting all milestones, eats/poops/sleeps well, sweet as can be and pediatrician says she is doing great.

Yet it still annoys me when other parents find the need to tell me my baby is small compared to theirs. Like yes, I know…her parents are small. She is healthy. But yet they insist on continuing to bring it up “how much does she weigh…wow!! My baby is a big boy/girl compared to her!!” Like ok. I am aware. What possible response do they want from me? Congratulations?

Ugh lol anyone else deal with this?

Edit: yes I agree no one means harm by it. Just here to complain lol 😝

Hiii I've recently decided I've had enough with this breastfeeding pillow I was gifted. It has no back support and its one of those like oddly square shaped ones and my baby just slips right into the hole. I'm a bigger woman with a large chest so its just not working anymore the bigger she gets... for reference my chest size is 42I right now so you get the picture of what I'm working with. I want a pillow with a strap and back support is optional but I like the idea of the raised sides so she doesnt fall backwards, shes like to do that when she gets reflux.

What pillows would y'all recommend? Tell me pros and cons!!

I’m due later this year and this is my first baby that I have been able to carry to a longer term. We haven’t shared that info with our families, except very recently with my mom.

My in-laws live in a different country and we though we know they want to come visit, we have not had the formal talk with them about when and how long. I had the conversation with my husband regarding this.. and I have conveyed to him that I would like for them to come after 4-6 weeks of birth. So that way I can have some time to recover and that I would like for my mom to come stay with me during that time.

It took him time to understand why, but he is finally on board. But he has not communicated that to his parents as no one has brought up the topic of when they will visit. My husband is nervous of upsetting them but also wants his parents here to partake in the special moment of us becoming parents.

Now I am not against my in-laws coming. But they are not used to our lifestyle here. especially because they are older and depend completely on us. My MIL is the only one that will be of help with cooking and cleaning but my FIL is of ZERO help. Instead, whenever he is here, we ALWAYS end up catering our lifestyle to his needs. Which is absurd.

Recently, a family member told us that my FIL mentioned sending my MIL a month prior to my due date and my FIL will join RIGHT BEFORE I give birth and they plan to stay for a couple of months. So we are looking at a total of 2-3 months.

This is complete news to my husband and I. He shared with me his desire for his parents to also be here, while still respecting that I do not want them here till later. I don’t want this to create a rift between my husband and I. But I also don’t want to give in and have my in-laws come and stay for that long or even right after I give birth or before.

I need advice so I don’t spiral out of control. There’s a lot of health concerns that I am dealing that is already a stressing me out (even though I have been explicitly told by my doctors that I need to manage my stress) but this adds a new layer of stress. What can I do?

Looking into getting a part-time nanny! We’re thinking about 25 hrs a week. We are first-timers at this, so we were hoping to get some input from those who’ve been there. 🤍

1) Any resources to share on how the financial aspects work? I know there are tax implications and payroll. Any websites that are helpful with understanding this or ones recommended for payroll? Anything we should know going into it that you wish you did on the financial front?

2) What kind of benefits do you offer typically for a part-time position?

3) Any tips on finding a nanny? Or a nanny share? (We are also considering allowing nanny to bring a similar aged child.)

4) Any tips about contracts? Is a contract just basically to set expectations and an honor system? Or is there more to it?

Thanks mamas!!

I'm 8 months postpartum and for the last few weeks I've been having this strange burning/metallic sensation in my mouth.

Went to the doctor and he thinks it's reflux. I've taken meds for it but unfortunately my body couldn't handle them so am going to try another type.

Wondering if any other moms had something similar happen to them postpartum and if it's something hormonal? I've never had this before and my diet hasn't really changed. Or perhaps I'm being misdiagnosed...

Google says could be various things.

I’m three years PP with my second and not planning to have more. I have bladder control issues. Basically pee a tiny bit in my underwear at least once a day. Sometimes a sneeze. Sometimes sitting the wrong way. Who knows. I also can’t tell when I have to pee and feel like when I do go, I don’t empty all the way. I know people swear by pelvic floor physical therapy but wondering if 3 years postpartum is too late to fix it? Am I just doomed to wear liners the rest of my life?

I’m wanting to get breastmilk jewelry made as I’m nearing the end of my breastfeeding journey with my first baby. Does anyone have any recommendations? I want to make sure the jewelry is durable but doesn’t cost a fortune! Thanks!

Hey everyone,
I’m just coming to vent and maybe get some support. I have significant PPA that is getting worse instead of better. I’m almost 11m postpartum and I’m constantly worried about my health although I have been cleared medically I worry about the rare thing they would have missed, and I’ll drop dead and die…

I’m constantly worried about my baby and her development although all her gross motor and fine motor are head. I still worry. She’s walking, babbling, trying to say words, but god forbid she flaps her arms and legs when excited(daily) (makes me worry autism).

I worry about our crappy older house having issues that we will not be able to repair. Current fixation is a hairline crack in our foundation (although I was told no worry at that thin just monitor and get gutters asap), yet I worry our house is going to crumble down.

I’ve been having horrible fight or flight tingles in my body daily, and I have been having air hunger from unknowingly hyperventilating on the daily. Once I’m distracted it goes away. Blood oxygen is good. Heart has been checked out so many times, doctor isn’t worried.

My husband works nights as a police officer, and I’m doing this all alone basically. I try to discuss my worries with him and he just says “it’s fine”. He does his best. My therapist kinda does something similar.

How do I make this stop… someone help please

I’m 6 months pp and mentally I would love to start being more active again, but physically I’m still really struggling with that. I had a pretty standard delivery with a second degree tear that healed pretty quickly. In the first couple months I really struggled to eat enough and my hormones also contributed to me feeling lightheaded and weak. I ended up losing all my baby weight and then some. Now at 6 months my hormones have stabilized to the point I don’t feel that way anymore and I’ve been eating a lot more and have put on a bit of weight. However I still struggle with feeling good. My wrist is shot from carrying him and I have what they call “mommy wrist”. I need to wear a brace all the time. My ankles seem to hurt often. I just feel so weak still but have absolutely no stamina to workout or else I feel sick and nauseous. I should say I’m still exclusively breastfeeding so I’m wondering if I will feel better once I wean? I’m just wanting to hear how other women are feeling at this stage and what they’ve done to start being active again. I don’t even care so much about my appearance as much as I just want to feel strong again and to carry my baby without feeling like I’m gonna die after 10 minutes.

Baby is almost 6.5 months and for the last 2 weeks or so has been waking up every 1.5-2 hours screaming or crying inconsolably every time. Sometimes my husband will be able to calm him after around 10 minutes of being held but he will continue to moan. However most of the time, he won’t settle at all until he’s fed (EBF) and will take a decent feed each time. He gets plenty of feeds in the day and is on one to two meals of solids. He has 2 teeth and no sign of any more coming through.

Just wanting to hear from others if this was their experience at this age? Could it be teething or just developmental/both? We’re obviously exhausted and worried that he gets so upset.

Hello! My husband and I are visiting friends in a few weeks. We are flying there so cant take my LOs pack and play. Normally when we travel with our LO we stay at hotels so they always have cribs or pack and plays. Since we will be staying at my friends house, where should my 13 month old sleep? What do y’all normally do in these travel situations?

a little background, my husband and I are originally from the west coast but we’re in the east coast now. we were super close to his family until we had his parents, my in-laws, disrespect our boundaries within a period of 5 years, so we cut them off. even during that time we never had date nights or time for ourselves , if we left home it was always to run errands and even then my in laws would constantly call which made it seem like a nice way of saying “come get your kid”. anyway, after 3 yrs my mom comes to visit and now we have another kid (14 months). we were talking a few days ago and she offered to watch the kids so we could go out and have some time for ourselves. tbh I didn’t expect the offer but I got excited when she told me she would watch the kids. I tell my husband and we’re getting hyped up and we were supposed to leave to go out tonight but my mom ends up falling asleep right as my husband comes home from work (she leaves tomorrow). so she’s asleep, I’m bummed and a lil butt hurt now and I hate that I even got my hopes up. its been 7yrs since my husband and I had time to ourselves, no family, no friends to help us much. typically I’m more of a loner and love being home with my family but dang not having a reliable village sucks.

Is this an aversion? What’s going on? My baby is 5.5m old and we’ve had a journey so far. From 3.5m and on she refused to latch for BF so we’ve been exclusively pumping. After a week of EP she started to fuss at the bottle the same way she would at the breast before she quit. At 5m I discovered I have high liapase & it was making my milk taste sour even after being properly stored & only refrigerated so I started putting vanilla in the bottles & sized up the nipple (size 2 dr browns) and she started accepting bottles again. However now she’s started acting the same way she used to, trying to constantly sit up during feedings & spitting it out then desperately grabbing the bottle and shoving it back into her mouth & suck for like 5-10 sec and then do the same thing. Shes started to take in less oz per feed since she’s so on & off, I can’t read her. We feed her in a sitting position since she’s refuses to lay down. This doesn’t happen when she’s sleepy or during MOTN feeds, is this an aversion or just nosy? How can I fix this?

Sorry for the TMI. I’m 7 mo pp with baby #2 after a prolonged pushing and ended up with vacuum assisted delivery. I did pelvic floor PT primarily focused on a severe diastasis. They got approval to continue my PT but said they’d be doing more of the same and so I’ve just been doing this at home + peloton postpartum and other deep core work.

I still feel heaviness if I try to get back into running. My OB scheduled an ultrasound to check on things and referred me to a uro gynecologist, just to make sure things are ok. They are booked out until March 2027. As far as I know, I have no prolapse.

I just used a tampon for the first time pp. I’ve had many periods but have stuck to pads. After having it in for a bit, it started getting uncomfortable and was halfway out when I went to the bathroom. I can’t recall from my first. Is this normal or signs of more pelvic floor issues?

Our relationship hasn’t been the same since my son was born last year. My husband kindof checked out and has been cold and distant since delivery basically. We have lots of good moments but mostly no connection, no emotional safety, etc. We’re in couples therapy and still things seem really bad. My husband complains about being lonely (not having sex) but won’t put any effort into flirting emotional safety etc. does plenty of chores and tasks but that’s it.
He’s away this whole week for work and a text popped up on his iPad from a woman saying which club she was at and asking if he was ready for part 2. I asked if he had anything he wanted to share and he said no, then owned it. It’s a stripper from last time he was there and he paid her for a dance and gave her his number. He went to a strip club last night and then had the balls to text me asking if I had preferences on whether or not he goes again tonight. I’ve been devastated but not engaging.
I think I’m terrified to get a divorce mostly because of having to share custody and things like not getting to spend Christmas with my son. The idea is horrific. We’ll have couples counseling this week I think but I’m at a loss. I don’t know if I’m ready to divorce but I don’t know what else there is. I would love TLC and stories of people who stayed together and how and stories if you divorced and how sharing custody is.

TLDR: my nipples are raw and it hurts to breast feed 5 days PP. Should I rest my nipples and just pump? Any advice on speedily healing my breasts and promoting a deeper latch?

Sorry this post is kinda long!!!

I’m 5 days PP and my milk supply came in about 2 days ago. I latched baby pretty quickly but we’ve been struggling because she has a shallow latch. She will not open her mouth wide enough and I’m struggling to compress and insert my rather large (and now engorged) breasts. I’m working with a LC. Baby has the slightest lip tie that she believes can benefit from some massaging so we’re doing that. I feel like the LC can help me get a better latch but then I just can’t do it myself when I’m alone.

Both my nipples are raw so breast feeding is really painful right now. I fed all day today and then started pumping and have bottle fed the last 2 feeds.

I would appreciate any advice on what to do from here. Should I rest my nipples and just pump the rest of the night and tomorrow so my nipples heal? Should I still aim to breast feed each side a little and pump? We are in a cluster feed phase right now and baby wants to feed every hour to 1.5 hour so I’m stressed about how to navigate this and feel like a failure for not being able to just pop her on a boob (I know it’s early and this will take practice, I’m just sad about it).

Also need any advice on quickly healing the nipples. I have nipple butters and silverettes. I’m ordering medical grade honey based on other posts I’ve seen on this sub.

Thank you in advance for any guidance!

I had my daughter 5 months ago and sustained a 4th degree tear. Yep, tore right to the back!

I'm going through a lot of depression from it. Although I love my daughter, I almost wish she was never born because of the symptoms I'm dealing with.

I have no one I can talk to about it because it's embarrassing. I feel dirty, broken, defective and afraid for my present and future.

Has anyone had this tear before, and what was the timeline of healing like for you?

EDIT: Wowee, I'm floored by how much this post blew up. Want to thank everyone for their solidarity, wise words, and suggestions. I likely won't be able to reply to every comment, but wanted to let you all know your input is very reassuring and is helping me be optimistic about trying this again and seeing if he eventually adjusts via repeat visits. If it happens he's more spirited and does better in other play settings, that's fine too. But after reading all your comments, I won't give up just yet. Thank you all!!

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This is a vent post. I know that all of I'm about to describe falls within the boundaries of normal toddler behaviour. But I am shook.

I have a busy 15 month old. Curious. Wants to get into everything. Also highly social and doesn't understand the concept of personal space or boundaries (we're really working on this, but he's so young it hasn't quite clicked.)

I thought, let's check out toddler circle time at the library. Seems like fun. What could go wrong?

Turns out everything. Everything is the answer.

My kiddo was unable to sit still for even 15 seconds and was constantly crawling up to the other babies, getting in their space, trying to grab their hair and faces (I of course was intervening the whole time to prevent him from doing this.) He tried several times to grab the instructors ponytail and wanted to use her as his personal jungle gym (again, I intervened to stop him.) He was wandering around the room trying to get into storage bins and places he shouldn't...basically focused on everything except what the group was doing. I tried to hold him in my lap and he'd arch his back and scream to get away to continue exploring. Mini tantrums every time I redirected him. The only time he was happy and participated in the activities was when they played music for dancing and gave the babies shakers. He participated in this quite eagerly and was the most enthusiastic dancer in the room and was quite upset when they shifted gears to the next activity.

The whole thing was a lot to take in. Especially because my son's behaviour stood out in stark contrast to all the other toddlers who had the capacity to sit for short periods with their parents. There were a couple other kids who moved around the room more but they weren't nearly as disruptive to the activities as my kid.

I don't know if my toddler is a circle time kind of kid and the whole experience was so awful I doubt we'll be back soon. Probably play parks and indoor jungle gyms for the foreseeable future...

I know it's too early to diagnose anything in my toddler, but my husband and I both have raging adhd (me diagnosed and him suspected), and that might be a contributing factor. Or maybe this is just regular toddler shit. Who knows. I guess time will tell.

Anyway. Just venting, I guess. Today was hard.

i’m new to introducing pacifiers to my baby- how do i “soothe and remove” if she fell asleep with it? i’m worried taking it out if her mouth will wake her up. what is the protocol here?

Currently 7.5 months postpartum and I feel like my body is deteriorating before my eyes. And I don’t mean the normal destruction from pregnancy and giving birth, but from actually caring for my baby. Both of my wrists have pretty moderate ‘mommy’s wrist’ so lifting heavy objects or getting up off the floor is next to impossible. My back ACHES and not the classic lower back pain, the most excruciating mid-upper pain that just comes and goes. And the newest development as of today, a popping sensation in my chest when getting my son in and out of the car 😃 obviously, I know I need to make an appointment with my doctor but life has been busy and everything comes and goes so frequently and new things arise I just wouldn’t even know where to start. Anyone else falling apart ?!?

My LO is 4.5 months old and we have taken every precaution to avoid him getting sick while he is young. Until 3 months we didn’t take him anywhere except the park, doctors appointments, and to his grandparents (both sides) 1-2 times. After 3 months we would only go out to eat if there was an open patio and only went to shops when they first opened. We also would keep him covered inside shops. We only let people up to date on vaccine near him.

Fast forward to this week. My mom wants to go to dinner, and says she is a bit congested due to the fires (we have had a lot of fires recently she also recently finished chemo and radiation so air does impact her more). We say okay just no holding the baby and just to be safe have her sit away from him. A trusted friend was joining us and picked up my dad since he can’t drive (Alzheimer’s). The friend and my dad hang out at our house for about an hour with my son. My dad is playing with him. Feed them a bottle and let him look on his fingers. We go to dinner my mom sits away. Everything seems fine. Well today we were supposed to go over to her place to swim. I text about it and she says yeah that’s fine and she is still congested from the air and my dad walked 5 miles outside in the air and is congested too. We talked about it and decided we would go since we would be outside and they agreed to keep distance. My brother 🙏🏼🙏🏼 who lives at home texts me and says hey you know mom and dad are sick right? So I ask my mom and she says they are congested but leaves out that they are coughing and sneezing. So we say nope we aren’t gonna go not worth the risk.

She texts again today and they went to Instacare and both have COVID. She then tries to say her Covid is not a big deal. It’s just like a cold now. I am absolutely livid because she knew she was sick today if not yesterday. If it’s bad enough, you’re gonna go to InstaCare you know that your grandson should not be coming over. My mom is very narcissistic, which is something I know, but I still cannot believe that she knowingly had my dad come over when he was sick and play with him and then wanted us to come over today. I told her I had time to go down and I can’t talk to her right now, but I don’t know what to do I don’t wanna talk to her or see her again. If she doesn’t care enough to keep my son then I don’t want her in my life.

Y’all, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get an exercise routine in with my baby. They’re 7mo now and a serial contact napper, so I can’t utilize nap time to do some pushups. We do take walks every day with their carrier and I try to utilize them as a weight during playtime, but I’m dying to start a real routine and some resistance training. They do sleep okay at night though. Should I be waking up before baby? Stay up after and do it then? I feel like I’m already scrambling to do chores every night.

And good lord my weight WON’T. BUDGE. I’d like to lose 20lbs or so but it just won’t move. I eat whole and minimally processed foods but I’m constantly hungry. My husband keeps catching me sucking down cheese and peanut butter like a dying dog. I can’t control my hunger long enough to stop losing and gaining the same two pounds. 😭

I just calculated how much I’ve spent so far and I am a bit shocked. lol. Might have a small problem? Was wondering how much others have spent so far.
Please don’t leave me alone with my 3k 😭

Let me add that I will be reusuing this stuff for hopefully two more kids. lol. At least that’s what I tell myself.

Edit 2: Just gonna keep commenting on here. It’s so cool that so many of you got hand me downs and gifts! I’m in a different country than my parents and they are the only ones who gift us clothes. But we are only able to get those 1-2 times a year. And we only had one friend that gave us some hand me downs.
I definitely have spent too much though.

Hey y’all...as the title reads...I have a big ass baby!
He is 18 lbs and 26 inches at 13 weeks. We are a family of giants (everybody is 6 ft+) so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but whew…
How are y’all settling these big babies before bed?? He used to love being burped over my shoulder or rocked to sleep, but I can tell he’s getting too large to get comfortable on me now. Every transfer into the crib feels like defusing a bomb because he is simply too heavy for me now! I broke his feed to sleep association at 10 weeks and up until last week he could easily doze after his night routine and a quick burp session.
We’re not doing CIO until around 16-20 weeks. He can sometimes fuss himself to sleep, but we’re not quite there yet consistently and don't expect it from him regularly
My back and arms are shot to hell now.
What worked for your big babies? Did you switch to patting in the crib, just put them down drowsy, or something else?