New Parents Overwhelmed by Baby Care

“New kid was born days ago. I forgot why it was so hard the first week. They just can’t breathe properly and they are so frail. Because of this I have this massive paranoia where I just can’t sleep. Every sound she makes I need to check up on her to make sure she’s breathing. When she’s sleeping and not moving I have to put my hand on her back to feel her ribs move and expand. I feel I need to check up on her constantly. And honestly I don’t care. I’d rather be like that and make sure she’s alive”

“I’m a young first time Mom who’s figuring everything out. I have a five week old baby. Today he woke up crying from his nap. Before I take him out of his bassinet, I make his bottle really fast that way right after I changed him his bottle is ready to go. My little one has very strong legs, and wiggles himself into awkward positions in the bassinet. Today, he did a complete 180 in the bassinet. I have to watch out and make sure that his bassinet is not pressed up right against our bedframe, or e”

“We have a receiving blanket that instructs us not to put it near fire. No shit???? I don’t do that with any other type of blanket either? submitted by /u/NotAMazda [link] [comments]”

“My 7 month old woke up yesterday with some goop in one of her eyes & it was ever so slightly puffy. We started daycare last week & I have been on high alert for illnesses so I immediately googled pink eye. The most common symptom seems to be redness in the whites of the eye which my daughter did not have. And her eye looked normal by the time we had to leave for daycare, so I wasn’t too worried. I dropped her off & remembered I needed to call the pediatrician about a flu shot anyways”

“I am making no excuses other than being clueless but our sound machine was definitely way too loud and way too close to baby. She is now 8.5 months old and I am going to turn it down a ton. We have the Hatch and were running it at a really high percentage consistently using the "brown noise" sound. She is showing no signs of hearing loss and is meeting all of her milestones early. She coos, babbles, and responds to sounds. Is it possible I didn't cause any harm or could this hearin”

“We have a 7 month old daughter. My wife is amazing with her and I'm fearful of approaching this. Little one is starting to move around now, hands constantly in the mouth, the usual habits for this age. As soon as anything that she will hold leaves her space it's considered dirty. We sterilize bottles (fair enough), soothers, and every toy she owns multiple times a day. If she's sitting in her high chair and drops her toy for half a second on the clean ground it needs to be in a bucke”

“UPDATE: I now realize I am overreacting. First time Dad with 0 baby/child experience so this stuff is BRAND new to me, but I appreciate everyone's perspectives in setting me straight lol. A lot of good advice here, thank you everyone for putting me at ease and letting me know what's what! Kind of a weird scenario happened today to my wife and I. We were out a coffee shop local to us with our week old child. We wanted to run in and grab coffee after our pediatrician appointment. As we wer”

“This is mostly a joke but also not a joke because y’all… I’m ready to move!!! We moved into our apartment about a year ago and we recently signed another year lease. I love our place, it’s super cute and spacious compared to our last place. Something to know about my 10m old is she LOVES to wave at people. She sees a person and she waves, even if they’re not looking at her. She also waves at bees, dogs, flowers in trees, the girl just loves to wave. But she keeps waving while looking RIGHT behin”

“Me and my fiancé have been living with his parents for a while now and we are finally getting our own place it’s me,him, and our 10 month old daughter we’ve been keeping all of our stuff in our room the entire time we’ve been here so literally everything is contained into one room but it’s not a small room and we have a lot of stuff. We don’t have a specific move in date for our new place quite yet but it will be sometime by the middle of next month (September,2026) here’s the problem I’m having”

“Just wanted to share with you guys how bad I feel for my 10 mo daughter. I have a 5 yo and this never happened to me. She does not learn how to crawl yet, but she is stsrting to. So I left her laying on her back towards the middle of the bed while I went to make her some milk, when I hear a sound following by her crying. My heart just stopped. She was facing down and I just picked her up carefully. She cried for about 5 minutes until I calmed her, then gave her her pacifier and she seemed fine.”

“Just had my third baby, I have a toddler and an elementary schooler and sometimes I have to put my infant down to make food or change the toddler’s diaper or what have you, but we really don’t have a safe space to do that. I can’t put him on the floor because of the aforementioned other children plus a dog, who I’m afraid will tramp all over him. I know people are mid on swings, and we have a knock off Bjorn bouncer which he’s still kinda too small for. I’m not wanting to put him at risk for pos”

“Wow… after 9 months, our baby girl is finally here! 🥹💕 But honestly, when people jokingly tell you, “Make the most of your sleep now because you won’t get any once she’s here,” they really aren’t joking! 😂😭 We had such a rough first night in the hospital because she was crying constantly. Our lovely midwife eventually took her for a little while so I could get some much-needed sleep. 🥹 Last night was our first night at home, and oh boy… it was tough! 😩 She slept really well during the day”

“That cracker before sitting up trick is no joke, saved my sister during both her pregnancies. The warm food smell thing is spot on too, she couldnt even be in kitchen when something was cooking. Cold pasta salad was like her only real meal for weeks. The guilt part is what gets people, you feel like a bad mom already and you're only 2 months in. Thanks for posting this, wish more people talked about how brutal those early weeks are”

“What parenting tip did you trust, only to find it doesn’t hold up for your kid? I used to go by: cold baby hands and feet are fine‑‑just check the neck. BUT from my observation, my baby’s feet warm up when sleepy. Much like adults, cold extremities seem to bother them. Poor circulation means lukewarm hands and feet feel best for mine. submitted by /u/stratxchknony [link] [comments]”

“I used to be so annoyed when people tell me “you better sleep now” or “you’re tired now, just wait”. 11mo after giving birth to a colicky baby who’s now a very active boy and also been teething and waking up at night, i must say… THEY WERE RIGHT 😅😅 submitted by /u/ConversationSorry463 [link] [comments]”

“Having my second baby in a few months and I struggled a lot last time I was postpartum with figuring out meals since I’m the main cook. Thought of doing freezer prep this time and possibly a meal service like Cook Unity but not sure if those are even good/healthy. I know Whole Foods has good premade meals. What were your go-to’s postpartum or what are your no-stress breakfast/ lunch/ dinner tips? 😅 submitted by /u/ComfortableKey6691 [link] [comments]”

“Wondering what things mamas are doing one handed while carrying their Velcro babies around the house on a regular basis. I’ve seen instagram reels of mamas cooking with one arm while carrying LO with the other, brushing their teeth, doing laundry, etc. Just curious what you can get done with only one arm! submitted by /u/sliceofperfection [link] [comments]”

“I've always had a strong sense of smell, and pregnancy obviously made it worse. But I was NOT prepared for how much stronger it would get post partum. Everything smells so strongly it's killing me. I'm 9 weeks post partum and the thing I struggle with the most is my husband. He STINKS to me and I know he's clean! He'll get out of the shower and the only way I can describe it is that he smells "wrong". Like different than he's smelled before and it upsets me so m”

“This morning i was trying to spread butter on toast for my 2.5yr old. while holding my 2 week old, and realised there's probably a much smarter way to do these small tasks. Anyone got any hacks for doing things one handed? submitted by /u/Cuteshelf [link] [comments]”

“Bought a 15 dollar electric heating pad with timer from Amazon and pop that bad boy into the bassinet before feeding, take it out before I transfer the baby in there. It is money. We were having such a hard to keeping him asleep with the transfer before doing this. submitted by /u/upper87 [link] [comments]”

“I have a 5 month old and I’m realizing how much parenting advice seems to depend entirely on the baby 😂 I’m curious what advice did everyone swear by that just did NOT work for yours? submitted by /u/Charming_Trouble8903 [link] [comments]”

“hi i posted this on science based parenting but it didnt move at all. trying to calm myself down earlier today my friend came over to hang out w me and my baby. i have rules everyone has to follow but the biggest one is no kissing baby. she knows, respects, and has talked to me about agreeing w the decision not to do that. well, i was cleaning up the dinner we had when i turned around and she said "im giving her water from the glass"... HER glass. i froze in the moment and i just said”

“No one warned me after having kids that you would be sick constantly from all the germs your little ones bring home. On top of trying to keep my business afloat and assist my pregnant wife..I am stressed to put it lightly. This is the hardest thing I’ve done in my life lol submitted by /u/workhard95 [link] [comments]”

“hi earlier today my friend came over to hang out w me and my baby. i have rules everyone has to follow but the biggest one is no kissing baby. she knows, respects, and has talked to me about agreeing w the decision not to do that. well, i was cleaning up the dinner we had when i turned around and she said "im giving her water from the glass"... HER glass. i froze in the moment and i just said ok. at that point she was already doing it and im terrible at confrontation especially w someo”

“This is funny mind you. Under different circumstances I think it would warrant a more upsetting reaction but genuinely I am giggling over here. The story: This morning I woke my husband up at 5:30am so he'd have a turn with the baby because I'd been in and out all night. He went to bed at 8pm so he'd gotten plenty of sleep. He let me sleep for about 4.5-5 more hours so I am doing great. It's currently 9pm. We took a shower together. Him, me and the boy because it makes it a lot e”

“My baby will be 7 months in a few days and she’s already learned how to stress me out for fun During weaning/feeding she’s started doing this fake little cough ON PURPOSE. Obviously I panic every single time thinking she’s choking. Today I caught her… she coughed, saw me panic and then literally started LAUGHING Ma’am??? You are a BABY. How have you already discovered trolling your mother?? 😭😂 submitted by /u/Wrong_Inevitable_401 [link] [comments]”

“Hey all! New dad here so learning as I go. My daughter is 8 days old today (where has the time gone 😭😭) and I’m taking over for my wife at 4am. I have everything I need but it’s a hot mess and I’m fumbling around holding her legs and praying she doesn’t pee on the second diaper in the middle of the night while my wife is trying to sleep for a few hours. Any hacks that can make my life easier? I know organizing is the best course of action but that right now is just not going to be a thing for”

“So i'm out of ideas how to handle this situation anymore. My one year old is refusing to sleep in her crib and this something I've been struggling with for the past 3 months. From day one since coming from the hospital, she slept in the crib. Putting her to sleep there wasn't a challenge, night feedings were no problem, waking up in the morning was no problem. Somewhere around when she turned 10 or 11 months, she started protesting the crib in the middle of the night, and around 5 AM”

submitted by /u/Lanky_Set5071 [link] [comments]

“Hi everyone, Thought I would share that no one told me that my 8 week old daughter while contact napping on me would randomly motorboat me and go right back to sleep. Also throws up in my bra on a daily basis ... so fun. Not something I expected of parenthood. On a plus side she has just gotten to the point while breastfeeding she will unlatch giggle and smile at me. submitted by /u/halestorm3739 [link] [comments]”

“I cook dinner most nights, and little boy (20 months) usually wants to be involved, however, given his age there’s not really much I can give him to actually be helpful. Does anyone have any recommendations for cooking type toys that I could get for him, so he can still be included in making dinner without actually being in the way? submitted by /u/Axe_dude [link] [comments]”

“I want to know! How old is your baby and where are they or what are they doing while you cook? I’m less looking for tips and more so just curious what others do. I have a 10 month old who isn’t exactly famous for her patience and I’ve needed to get creative. Months 0-6 cooking a meal from start to finish with the baby present was not an option. She either needed to be asleep or with the other parent. Nowadays we work more and the baby sleeps less so I’ve had to make it work. So! My best trick ri”

“In bed w my 3 month feeding her and while adjusting I put my phone on the pillow. As I was moving her the phone slipped and hit her on the side of the head. Immediately went to google and spiraled. She has a small bump and no dents I believe. Should I call her peds in the morning, spiral out of control, or just let it be? submitted by /u/VastStrawberry6 [link] [comments]”

“FTM to an almost 8 week old and I’m so overwhelmed by what to do during her wake windows. I just figured out her sleeping pattern by making sure to pay attention to her sleepy cues and wake windows. I make sure to narrate the day and talk to her, we play on her play gym, she swings and looks at her contrast book. I don’t do a lot of tummy time on the floor but I do sit her on my lap or chest to encourage strengthening those muscles. What are you all doing during this time? I’m so afraid that I’m”

“Today, I made a few dumb mistakes, and I was wondering what other parents have done that made them question themselves. I bought an adult yoghurt pouch as my dinner and started drinking it in front of my 1 year old. I ended up having to share half of it with him. Don't know why I thought he would understand it wasn't for him. I sometimes let my baby "feed" me. Today I let him "feed" me a straw. He stabbed me in the hard palate. Luckily he didn't stab it down my th”

“On top of that we have the super picky eater phase and both of us are either getting sick or being impacted by the wildfire smoke 🎉 submitted by /u/ironside86 [link] [comments]”

“I am so fucking sick of this topic I could throw up. I have twins. It’s really hard to do things. It’s really hard to install things and set things up and I’m just so sick and tired of this. The twins are 15 months old. They have had phases of consistently good naps. And they have phases of awful. Right now is awful. I’m working with sleep specialists with think I’m crazy because I keep asking them a million questions about their schedule and turning it into one nap. Anyway. We have some black o”

“This morning I had to go out for an appointment and my mum agreed to look after my 6 month old daughter. I was literally only gone for about 40 min and when I got home I could hear my baby crying really loudly upstairs, almost like a growl that I’ve never heard before. My first instinct when I got in was to go upstairs and make sure everything was ok (baring in mind at this point I didn’t know if she was just tired, or if she was hurt or sick etc). My mum was sitting rocking her in her rocking c”

“Hello! This is my first post in this group as I had my first baby a week ago! However it’s been such a whirlwind and I need to get it out (rant/vent). We’re still pretty much in the thick of it but very okay seeming. I don’t really know what I’m looking to get out of this post— maybe ideas for self care and grounding exercises. Maybe a favorite book quote. Also full respect to TLDR, these things are appreciated nonetheless. Trigger warnings: hospitalization of an infant , rabies , property destr”

“As a mom to a toddler with a complex heart… that makes me sick to my stomach”

“Hello all! I have nobody to share this with so you all get to hear it 🤣 I have been working SO HARD on my 7 month olds sleep lately. We were in such a horrible cycle of teething, overtiredness, undertiredness, fighting naps tooth and nail, both of us ending up exhausted and overstimulated at the end of every day, just complete hell to be totally honest. I’ve been trying to figure out her wake windows and either stretching them too long or cutting them too short or just not finding a rhythm that”

“Hii everyone, I am due my little one very soon, this isnt my first pregnancy, but I defo wanna be more prepared for the labour this time. Can you please give your best tips for hypnobirthing and also any reccomedations for the best approaches? Just bombard me with info haha I am not keen on a class as they are super expensive where I am! So just looking for any tips and tricks, advice, maybe people to follow on the subject? Thank you so much! submitted by /u/MysticCat- [link] [”

“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 issu”

“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 issu”

“Wondering if this was a tantrun or just over tired My one year old couldn’t unzip a bag, we’ve been working on unzipping and zipping. I let her try to work it for a couple of minutes and then I stepped in. But once I unzipped the bag and zipped it back she got angry and started crying. She would grab the bag from me and then bring it back. She was pinching my hands when I held it or slapping my hand away. I kept quiet and calm when she was crying. When she gave me the bag I held it when she grab”

“Just a rave. My little has made SO much progress I just can’t believe it at this point. This girl was a major fomo baby. That’s how I had to make sense of her sleeping habits because they were insane. She slept no more than 15 mins per nap and was hell through the night. Took maybe 2-4 naps a day. She was a terrible eater too. I just got the best of both worlds... I was breastfeeding so all in all, I wanted to rip my head off. I also tackled this completely on my own. No help from hubby or famil”

“I'll go first: No one warned me before having a baby that I would essentially have grease stains on all my clothes from my baby's spit up because breastmilk has so much fat. Literally every shirt I own is stained 🫠 Her clothes are, of course, unaffected lol submitted by /u/Own_Wrongdoer6680 [link] [comments]”

“I was changing my daughter's diaper on our bed this afternoon. The wipes were just out of reach on the nightstand so I turned my back for literally three seconds to grab them. In that split second she did a sudden, rapid roll she's never done before and went straight off the edge. The speed was unbelivable. The sound of her hitting the hardwood floor will haunt me forever. She cried instantly, and I just scooped her up and cried right along with her. There was a little blood from her lip”

“I have a history of severe health anxiety but have made huge progress over the past couple years, becoming a more relaxed parent than I thought possible. That being said, I know my brain still trends in that direction and I’m curious to know how other parents handle germs. I washed our son’s hands fairly regularly when he started crawling at 6 months because we have a dog and struggle to keep the floor as clean as I would like, and after he would interact with people in busy places since I knew”

“New mom to a 1W +4D baby. She’s been so easy lately, but has been extremely fussy today. Took her temperature and she’s still within normal range, so I’m leaning toward witching hour? She won’t relax unless she’s in someone’s arms and I’ve been stressing out as a new mom (I have super bad anxiety issues when I can’t figure out what to do to help someone). She’s been crying till she’s red in the face but has been fed and burped and changed (she’s also cluster feeding which has been an added layer”

“Last night our 15 month old woke up around 11pm, screaming. Couldn’t be consoled. My husband couldn’t get her to sleep. Her checked her diaper and noticed that she was covered in hives. We took her to the ER (which is like a 25 minute drive) and she didn’t fall asleep on the way there, which is unusual. By the time we got there, the hives on her torso and neck were gone. The Dr. basically just said, some kids get hives, she looks fine, we can give her sone Benadryl and you can go home. After he”

“Just survived gastro with 3 kids under 4 (3 and a half, 2, and a newborn - fortunately our newborn is fine). I had to take our duvet to the laundromat twice in one weekend because the vomit soaked right through it, even with a bloddy towel. There have been more blowouts than I can count, and just when we thought my eldest was finally over it, preschool called and I had to pick him up because he'd had explosive diarrhoea. This bug just refuses to leave. I needed to have a drink for the first”

“Every day after I pick our son up from daycare there’s a million things to be done but I lose energy before even making a dent. For example, last night I had to make dinner but needed to wash dishes first. I washed dishes, made dinner, and fed our son but then there were more dishes, trash and recycling is full, dishwasher is full from yesterday, laundry is piling up, etc. None of these things are hard or take a long time but I felt so drained and hadn’t even started. in the end I got most of it”

“My kid got a weird rash near her mouth the other night and I spent 45 min going back and forth between googling it and just watching her sleep. gone by morning, was likely from a new formula we tried. But this keeps happening, some rash or cry or blue feet and I have no idea if it's "call someone" or just normal baby stuff. how do you guys tell the difference? anyone called the doctor for something that ended up being nothing, or almost didn't call and probably should have? and”

“I'm not sure what will come of this post - maybe just some reassurance that someone out there has the same experience as me and my wife, and hopefully someone can tell me it will end! My first and currently only child was 19 months yesterday. I feel like we're in a recurring nightmare of sleep. All went as I sort of expected at first. First 3 months was meh - lots of waking/breastfeeding and broken sleep. 3-5 months was pretty good! Would wake 1-3 times at night. Then since 6 months....”

“I used to leave the house with just my phone and keys. Now I somehow need a fully stocked nappy bag, snacks, spare clothes, wipes, toys... just to pop to the supermarket for 20 minutes. submitted by /u/No-Gas8702 [link] [comments]”

“Idk if anyone else experiences this as a parent to a baby, but I’ve recently realized that I’m constantly tense throughout the day in anticipation of when my baby will be upset. We’re eating at the table and I’m tense because I’m expecting him to start throwing food at any second and I’m worried if he’ll eat. We’re doing tummy time and I’m tense because I know he’ll start complaining soon. He’s independent playing and I have this underlying stress cleaning up because I know I’m on a timer before”

“Hi guys! First time mom, with a 2 week old. I'm not a single mom but my partner is leaving to go back on deployment, so I'm trying to get into the mindset of having to do things alone. One I can't wrap my head around is how I'm going to shower. Another is driving. For the showering, I worry I'll take too long. I'm overweight and I get light headed in the shower, so it takes me a bit longer than usual to get clean. I would leave the door open but the bathroom will be soake”

“Alright let me rant for a second because at this point the hormones and straight up adrenaline are still raging. Then I’ll get to my point / question, I promise Mom of an almost 2 year old - also 19 weeks pregnant with my second. My oldest got out of his crib for the first time tonight and ran around our house for what I can only guesstimate to be about 35 minutes before coming and climbing into my bed to wake me up. Thankfully it seems he is physically fine and spent the majority of that time f”