New Moms Drowning in Postpartum Life

“I am a FTM to a 9 week 5 day old. I love him more than words can describe. But oh my gosh. There is no rhyme or reason to any day. I wake him up at 7am every day, and aim for a 8/8:30pm bedtime by trying to organise naps throughout the day to add to 4-5 day hour naps, and finish with time to sleep by bedtime. We do the same bedtime routine every night (omitting the bath every second day), of half feed (bath), change nappy, book, finish feed, bed. We start the day the same with 7am wake up, get d”

“My baby girl turns 16 weeks today, and I honestly don’t know what’s going on anymore. She’s been gaining weight very slowly pretty much since birth. She was born weighing 3.2 kg (7 lb 1 oz), and we left the hospital at 3.1 kg (6 lb 13 oz). During her first month, she gained around 800 g (1 lb 12 oz), but since then, her weight gain has been really slow. She’s only gained about 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) since then monthly. She’s alert, active, and happy, and we have plenty of wet diapers. She poops up to”

“I have never been an organized person. I suck at routine. My husband works weird hours and we take frequent weekend camping trips that throw off any semblance of a routine. My baby is 8 months old (7 adjusted). She is incredibly happy. Eats and sleeps well. Seems engaged. Sits up and rolls over. She seems to be developing well. I just worry that I don’t do enough for her. She loves our camping trips. Loves nature. Loves our dogs. Loves us. She seems so stoked to be here 24/7 and I am so grateful”

“Sitting here exhausted half asleep while my LO watches miss Rachel and it got me thinking about things I said during pregnancy that are now true or not true. True - I had really bad sleep in the third trimester and everyone would say wait until baby comes and then you’ll be tired, and I always said id rather be tired because iv got to get up for baby than be tired because I’m pregnant and my legs are restless and my back hurts. This remains true! It’s so much nicer being able to sleep when he’s”

“Our babe slept great up to 10 weeks, was sleeping 5-6 hours then 2-3 hours overnight. But she’s 13 weeks now and a switch flipped where she only sleeps 45 min - 2 hours at night before waking up, feeding for 40 min - an hour; and then sleeping another hour or so and doing it all over again. I’ve heard sleep begets sleep so she needs more naps. But she’s won’t nap. She sleeps like 5-15 min after feeding then wakes you up again. Gets understandably overtired at night and super grumpy. Will take 1”

“Im sitting here crying while typing this, my daughter is almost 3 months old. I work Friday and Saturdays from 8pm to 3-4am, during the week I don’t sleep much already because my son goes to school and he’s 6, however my daughters sleep is terrible. I feel like I just can’t anymore, since last week she’s been waking up so much at night. The most she sleeps or has slept is 4 hours throughout the night. During the day her naps are about 3x for like 30 minutes. She’s not even sleeping a full 10 hou”

“I have a 2 month old and a 20 month old .. we are in the thick of it right now. My husband and I get pretty broken sleep, and newborns need a lot. I’m just tired .. my toddler is very clingy right now, and we’re going through tantrums and I feel like there’s constant whining. Then the baby ofc cries a lot and I just feel like no one is happy ever .. and idk it’s just weighing on me. We have family help sometimes, but it’s been really sparse the last few weeks and we’re just stretched thin. Feels”

“Hi everyone! SAHM to a 3 year old and 4 month old who is very much still in the trenches here. I’m constantly seeing posts across various social medias of stay at home moms talking about how overwhelming and miserable being home is. Lots of groundhogs day type content. My role as a stay at home mom has become significantly less enjoyable since having my second. I’m trying to keep reminding myself that 4 months is such a young and tough age and things will get better. As I patiently wait for bett”

“My baby girl will be 7 weeks on Sunday. She is the hardest thing I have ever done. For weeks I wasn’t sure if I loved or even liked her, and because I’ve always wanted to be a mom more than anything, that led to a lot of identity crises for myself. I was going through the motions with the feeding and the changing and the wake windows and all of it, but she felt like a chore a lot of the time. Even after I started actually bonding with her, I found myself dreading when she would wake up and I’d h”

“My life since I had baby is pretty much just sitting on the couch watching tv while I feed her, play with her, and she contact naps so I get nap-trapped.(I do try to put her in her basinette for day sleeps but she wakes, I'm not really looking for advice on this, I've tried all the advice) But im feeling guilty and like other parents can go about their day without the tv on. For context I struggle with PPD and PPA, and I really don't like being alone, never have, so this has been sup”

“Baby started sleeping through the night at about 8 or 9 weeks. She’s been 75th percentile for most of her life except she has recently dropped to 50th. LC recommended introducing a middle of the night feed to help with this. I will of course do this but I feel like this might also put me in the pattern of needing to continue night feeds for a while. Has anyone reintroduced night feedings because of bad weight gain at this age? How long did you have to do it? Some other info - baby has been crawl”

“Ok guys. FTM here, my baby is almost 10 months old. I’m at a loss, and I did it to myself lol. I’ve been a little tooo lax on the schedules and night time routine and I’m paying for it. We’ve done no sleep training. Typically he starts in the crib, going to bed somewhere between 7-8. Usually wakes up around 11/11:30 and is fairly easy to get back down. He then wakes up usually anywhere between 1:30-3:30, at this point, he usually gets in bed with me. This routine wasn’t the best but I could deal”

“Can someone give me concrete details? I'm tired of hearing "you'll never sleep again, my 5 yo woke me up just last night!" I realized going into this that sleep would be challenging. And I know that everything depends on the baby too. But is it like, 30 minutes of sleep at a time for 3 hours total, or realistically what is it? How long do the bad sleep phases last? Am I still going to be able to function or be interested in things I'm interested in now? And I'm self emp”

“I feel like I’m failing my 11 month old, I’m currently 8 months pregnant and usually very attentive but all day today I’ve set my 11 month old on the floor with some toys, her favorite show on, and i’ve sat on the couch watching my phone. I feed her, change her, and bathe her of course but other than that? She’s watching tv playing alone. I’m just so tired and want to do nothing. On top of that my house is just such a mess and our pets are on my last nerve. My husband is a cop (obviously making”

“Hi moms, I’m 5 months postpartum. I have 3 little boys: 4 y/o, 2y/o, and 5 month old. I’ve been dealing with weird symptoms since I got pregnant with my last baby. But the most recent one is that about a month ago I started feeling like everything is heavy, picking up my water bottle is heavier, closing the door is heavier. My arms and legs are fatigued, like extreme fatigue. Like I can still move but no power to function kind of fatigue. I saw a neurologist and did emg and ncs— all came out nor”

“Hi all, I am a mom of the most amazing almost 18 month old. Literally nothing has made me feel like I matter more than being her mother. I love her more than anything in the world!! As we approach 1.5 years of my sweet girl, I catch myself lost in a mix of guilt and nostalgia. When she was first born, my friends always described the feeling of first seeing their babies as "unlike anything in the world." Well for me, I had a very fast delivery pushing for 20 minutes. After the dr laid h”

“I’m about three weeks postpartum with my first baby and I have no idea what to do throughout the day partially because my baby is so young and they’re feeding so often that I feel like I really can’t get out of the house but I want to. Even if it’s something small but I am also terrified to take them out of the house because of seasonal 🦠 (apparently I can’t say R S V without getting flagged I don’t know ). I just would love some input from parents who have been through this. What are some thin”

“I’m about three weeks postpartum with my first baby and I have no idea what to do throughout the day partially because my baby is so young and they’re feeding so often that I feel like I really can’t get out of the house but I want to. Even if it’s something small but I am also terrified to take them out of the house because of seasonal 🦠 (apparently I can’t say R S V without getting flagged I don’t know ). I just would love some input from parents who have been through this. What are some thin”

“I’m about three weeks postpartum with my first baby and I have no idea what to do throughout the day partially because my baby is so young and they’re feeding so often that I feel like I really can’t get out of the house but I want to. Even if it’s something small but I am also terrified to take them out of the house because of RSV and flu season. I just would love some input from parents who have been through this. What are some things I can do maybe places I can go that aren’t gonna put my bab”

“I'm a FTM with a 14 week old (10 weeks corrected). I need to know if any other parents also do this too. Everytime I do research I get it's terrible to do this, but this mom needs a break from being touched sometimes and it's often the only way my baby will nap or that I can actually get anything do around the house. I often use the swing to help my baby nap. It's often the only way he'll nap during the day. It's also the only way I can get anything done around the house.”

“My baby is an exclusive contact napper, we are just through the 4 month sleep regression, I still need to catch up on some sleep, but my baby is still hard to put back to sleep after her 5-6am wake. She is crying, yawning and is still sleepy. I am still sleep deprived, constantly tired and I tend to eat a lot because of my low energy. My day is about naps, making the baby nap in time so she won’t get overtired. I am constantly watching wake windows to avoid crying. When will we have some schedul”

“I’m finding it so hard to keep up with household chores. I feel like it’s normal as a new mom caring for an infant but does anyone actually keep their house pristine with a baby or is it all an illusion? My baby is extremely clingy right now so I can’t even put him in the playpen while I clean nearby without him crying sooo hard. I try to clean up with him in the carrier but it’s not my favorite because everything is a lot harder to do! Especially when he’s trying to grab everything. I usually t”

“Baby was born 3mo ago. We bonded instantly, loved her to the moon and back and then to the moon and back again. I loved being her mom. I had to go back to work this week. I started crying uncontrollably last week, I was so sad I had to return to work. I felt sad because she is going to daycare, I used my PTO while pregnant so I won’t be there when she’s sick the first few times, my partner will be caring for her if she get sick. I felt sad that she didn’t need ME. She won’t need me. She’s combo”

“I’ve lost my part time role and we’ve decided it’s best to take our youngest out of nursery. They only went 2 mornings a week (bloody expensive still) and I’ll go back to being a SAHM. Which I was for a while my eldest was younger too, but then he did start nursery a couple mornings a week. I only started working again once I was in my early days of second pregnancy and then went on mat leave. Came back to a reduced hours role and was basically making enough to send youngest to nursery, with the”

“Is this a thing? Our LO used to sleep so good at night and now wakes at least once an hour. Sometimes have to get her out and rock her back to sleep or she has to cosleep She recently moved from bassinet to pack & play, still in our room, but did good with that the first few nights. She is definitely teething and we give her Camila Any advice? submitted by /u/Muted-Desk-9811 [link] [comments]”

“I have a three month old who is super happy other than when she’s overtired. She sleeps ok at night (3-5hr increments) and naps 30-1.5hrs each time During the day. She has had occasional mucus in her diapers but the pediatrician wasn’t worried. She’s not fussy at the breast or after feeds. Tonight she had a few streams of what looked to be blood. Again, she wasn’t fussy and is eating fine and gaining good weight. My first baby had CMPA but was extremely fussy and never slept. I am wondering if m”

“After the first two weeks, my baby was regularly having 4-5, sometimes even 6 hour stretches at night as well as being able to nap in his crib. He turned 2.5ish months and stopped being able to nap in his crib during the day. At night he sleeps in his crib, but he's up every 2-3 hours. He's 3 months now. Is this a sleep regression or what? submitted by /u/ChampionshipNice9719 [link] [comments]”

“Hi everyone… tired mama here. We have a 12 week old and he was doing great at night. He still does give us a 5.5-6.5 hour stretch the first part of the night and then after his middle of the night feeding he won’t go back to the bassinet. This is not like him. He turns 3 months next week. I personally break down emotionally as my husband has it together more. He does sleep a lot in the daytime sometimes and we are trying to reduce this. He at times could nap for 6 hours or more in the day. He do”

“Hi there.. I don’t know what I’m seeking, maybe just hope or compassion. I recently started going back to work full time, my baby is now 17 months old. I feel like in the past few weeks things have become unmanageable :( He’s always been on the high need side, sleep being problematic, eating problematic, etc. but that’s not what it is about. It’s more about him being truly out of control and not manageable now. Let me give you some insights: - he likes to be outside, but he cannot be on a playgr”

“I get terrified whenever I wake up from sleep and look at my baby. For a split second, I get this horrible feeling that she might be dead, and I immediately check whether she’s moving or breathing properly. Only after making sure she’s okay can I relax and go back to sleep. It’s like my brain immediately jumps to the worst possible scenario, even when there’s no reason to think anything is wrong. I also worry, “What if something happened while I was asleep and I didn’t know?” Does anyone else ex”

“My son is freshly 4. He is in preschool. I work 12 hour noc shifts three days a week, go to school, and boy oh boy am I drained always. We have way too much screen time, we bedrot together on my days off, we play games on Roblox together (his older cousins introduced him to Roblox and I decided to join him in playing instead of putting a stop to it). I feel horrible that we are such couch potatoes, it's definitely a habit I need to break. But anyway, I'm just venting because we spent the”

“So LO is almost 3 months. I’m solo parenting bcs my husband is overseas working and we’re waiting for our visas to go to him. I take care of the baby myself. I have help to just watch her while I go shower or have lunch/dinner. My baby girl wakes up happy, giggling and cooing for maybe 5-10 minutes and then she started screaming and kicking her legs. She then farts or poops and then she’s just content. And then we would try our best to do tummy time or playtime for however long she lets me, and”

“I'm a mom of a 13 months old. I'm a SMBC and I stayed at home with him for the first 4 months and then I began working 3 hours a WEEK, from then building up to 2x4 hours a week (I'm a freelancer). During this time he was looked after by grandma/babysitters. He started nursery with 12 months (6 hours daily) and I'm back to work 5 hours a day and I LOVE it. Seriously, I am just so happy with this new schedule but also feel huge guilt for being so happy about it and actually really”

“I've noticed so many parents talk about finally getting the baby to sleep, only to spend that quiet time thinking about everything that still needs to get done. Laundry, bottles, appointments, groceries, tomorrow's schedule... somehow there's always something. And then there's the weird guilt that comes with sitting down and doing absolutely nothing 😭 I think one of the hardest parts of parenting that doesn't get talked about enough is how exhausting it can be to constantly”

“My bay is 8 weeks old and just started sleeping from 930-630AM. Is it safe to let him sleep this long when he’s this young? I’m worried he’s sleeping through hunger. He eats off the breast only so it’s hard to tell how much he eats during the day submitted by /u/Appropriate-Sea-1802 [link] [comments]”

“First time mom here! My little girl has always slept amazing. From the time she was eight weeks she was practically sleeping all night! We had her in the live to dream swaddle because she liked having her arms up. A few weeks ago we transitioned to the Merlin’s Magic sleep suite because people swore by it! I don’t know if I got the wrong size but she is still able to rub her face and suck on her hands! Now that she’s realized she has hands and can hold hands with herself, she wakes up all the ti”

“I am 5 months pp. (26F) my baby has had no issues sleeping until now. He got RSV two weeks ago and since then he just will not sleep easy. I am insanely sleep deprived and still recovering as I got RSV as well. My baby has pretty much recovered 95% with a cough here and there. He has always been an easy sleeper but now he just cries when I try to put him to sleep and today I just couldn’t do it anymore. My husband was at work and I was trying to get him to sleep for two hours and I just laid the”

“Hi parents, my baby is 8 months old. After a very difficult pregnancy, traumatic birth, suspected meningitis at 14 days old, CMPA, bottle aversion, severe reflux and very little breast milk, I’ve had a really difficult time, especially during the first 5 months. I still struggle with sleep, teething, etc., but those are normal baby challenges. What I went through in the beginning wasn’t. I have postpartum anxiety. I’ve spoken to my GP, and we’ve decided not to take medication as I’ve made a lot”

“We had a pretty good schedule going with our 5 month old even when we cold turkey switched to no swaddle and in a crib out of our room (no more snoo). Lately she’s been waking up before 6am and we want to get it back to between 6:30-7:30, ideally 7-7:30). Below is her schedule right now : Wake up 5:30-6am feed, awake for 1.5-2 hours and then back to sleep for 2 hour nap. Feed again, awake for 2-2.5 hours, back to sleep. Lately the second nap has been 45min when it used to be 1.5-2hours. Feed aga”

“I have an almost three and a half year old and an eight month old. The broken sleep and rare breaks are really starting to get to me. I was fine for about five months but the last few months are making me an angry, annoyed mother. Lately my baby won’t nap unless held. Her nighttime sleep is okay although bedtime takes a looong time (like 1-2hrs) and today she woke at 4AM to eat and required holding til 6 when she decided it was time to wake up. I’m so tired all the time but never get me time or”

“I’m sitting here crying nursing my toddler to sleep. he has always been low sleep needs, and recently started taking very long naps at this daycare. since he doesn’t get up til 2/2:30, this has pushed bedtime back a ton. he’s typically great about signaling when he’s tired. we do the same routine every night. dinner, walk, bath, quiet play, story, nurse. generally he falls asleep quick enough that I have 20 minutes to sit on the couch and look at my phone. today was especially hard. he woke up a”

“Our daughter is 5 months old and she was sleeping at least 4 hour stretches for a while. Now she is waking almost every hour at night. She nurses, I lay her back down in her pack n play and she is up almost immediately. She will only fall back asleep on me but I don’t feel safe with her sleeping on me. She doesn’t want my husband at night and cries uncontrollably if he tries to help. I’m exhausted and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to sleep train or do the cry it out method. She takes 3-4”

“Did I know that the hardest part of having a baby was getting them to nap? No. Absolutely NOT. I’m sitting here rocking my 11 week old who suddenly decided he doesn’t like to nap. He has always napped in his crib, from the day I brought him home from the hospital. I’ve never really done contact naps (I know there’s a lot of opinions on that, it’s just not possible for me to be nap trapped for chunks of time). Since he turned 10 weeks, he started having days where he refused naps. He now cries in”

“Baby just hit 3 months today. As of last Thursday, their night wakings went from 1 to 2 then to 3-4. They were giving us 8-9 hour stretches before then. My only thought is this is an outcome of either: growth spurt, development milestone, or maturing sleep cycles. I just need some advice or words of encouragement that we are just in the thick of it right now. I feel like I’m back in the newborn trenches. Currently, LO gets put down for bed between 6-8 PM, pending when they wake up from last nap”

“Is it just me, or does it feel like once you have a baby, friends who have never had one judge you for things they know nothing about? For reference, my baby is now 8 months; she has never been a great sleeper, even before she was born (honestly, she was constantly active in the womb). She has gotten better but its taken us a while to get here. I have two friends who had a baby around the same time. One says her child has always slept 11-12 hours a night, no crying or problems from the beginning”

“I have a ten-month-old and l am currently on maternity leave, but I’m just exhausted, and so often so bored! She still wakes every 1.5–2 hours at night, so I’m just so tired, and we live in a small apartment, so I often feel cooped up. We do two activities/classes a week and occasionally meet up with people, but the lack of sleep doesn't make me super motivated to do more I so often hear people say their dream is to be a stay-at-home parent, that it’s their dream to stay home with their baby”

“My baby girl is 16 weeks old today. She’s always been a decent sleeper. We were able to get her to fall asleep drowsy but awake since about two months and she was sleeping pretty consistently from 7pm-7am with just one wake up around 4 AM, until about 3 weeks ago. The first big change is that we unswaddled her which made sleep challenging for about a week but it seems like she’s used to the sleep sack now. The bigger issue is that I think this coincided with the four month sleep regression. She”

“Baby was born at 36 wks and is 11 days old. My partners mom and him think I’m not sleeping enough and am stressed out because of that but nothing i haven’t felt or dealt with before (shitty jobs/insomnia). I’m only getting 200ml (6.75oz) a day pumping and lactation consultant wants me to come in for an appointment. I know stress affects the body but even my midwife was like… all moms are stressed bringing home a newborn, if that were the cause no one would produce milk. And sleeping when? I’m tr”

“My baby and I have just been going through it. Now he’s sleeping 8-9 hours total in 24 hours despite me holding him for all naps, rocking him, all of it (and husband as well, he helps a LOT and gets him to sleep better than I can). He wakes up 10+ times every night despite in my arms. Bassinet is out of the question. He has begun throwing up on Puramino again and his poops have been mucusy for the first time since starting this formula (it’s been a month). Does not tolerate Neocate (has choked u”

“It’s not that I’m not grateful for it, because I am! Trust me I am. But my baby sleeps so well in his bassinet and I can’t get him to contact nap with me anymore, it’s like it’s just too stimulating and he can’t fall asleep. He’s only 10 weeks old and I thought I would have longer to nap with him…so many times I wished he would sleep alone so I could get things done, get sleep myself, etc because I thought it would be so long before this stage was over. But now that he sleeps only independently”

“I don’t really know why I’m posting this. I think I just need to say it somewhere to people who might understand. I’m a first-time mum to a 6-month-old and I’m struggling. My baby wakes every hour every night even though he can put himself to sleep. He cries a lot during the day. Feeding has been difficult. Sleep has been difficult. Most things have been difficult. I think what I’m finding hardest is that there has never really been a break in it all. I keep reading about it getting better at 8”

“I put my baby to sleep at 12am, husband walked in and started talking loudly. Baby woke up it’s now 3am, they’re still awake. And husband is sleeping in our room while I sit w baby in the living room 🙃 This isn’t the first time he’s done this. In fact he’s done it on purpose once so the baby could go see his mom. Anyways, I’m so fucking tired. I hate this so much. I wish I never got married atp. Please pray for me submitted by /u/Ok_Use3281 [link] [comments]”

“First time mom to a 9 week old and I am absolutely begging yall for some advice about how to cope with this profound exhaustion. Not asking for advice about how to sleep more, but rather, are there any strategies you’ve developed to help feel better mentally or physically? Mantras you tell yourself? I’m really struggling. submitted by /u/Sasha00007 [link] [comments]”

“My 6 month old is exclusively breastfed & just might be the happiest girl in the world. Even though she is a pretty “easy” baby, I’m feeling so overwhelmed. My husband & I both work full-time (around 45 hours a week) and our closest family is 8 hours away. We do have a couple that we are extremely close with, but they have 3 kids including an 8 month old, so they’re not in a position to help out much as their hands are extremely full. Baby goes to a wonderful daycare & I pump while I”

“Im a new mom to a 16 weeker. Baby doesnt sleep through the night yet - wakes up maybe 4-5 times from 9:30 pm to 6:30 am. Needless to say, I am not getting a full nights sleep. Husband works out of town so it is especially hard on nights when he isnt home. Im finding that nights are hard, but some days are also just as bad. Baby isnt colicky, but he doesnt like being put down during naps. So when he naps on me, i dont get anything done. I cant make a bottle for when he wakes up, i cant eat, i can”

“My baby is 9 weeks and thankfully my mom will be able to watch him when I go back to work. However, he exclusively contact naps or will nap in his swing (with supervision and owlet). At night he sleeps in a snoo and half way through the night freaks out and needs to be on my chest. I know that’s pretty normal for a lot of babies. So in that case, how on earth do these babies handle daycare!? If he had to go to daycare, he would simply not sleep while there!! How does that work for yall!? s”

“When my daughter was born, the birth was difficult. I spent a lot of time during paternity leave holding our newborn baby and rocking her to sleep. I wish I'd been able to do more. My daughter is almost two now, and things have improved. I went back to work but my wife stayed home, so she's the one that does all the naps nowadays. We're still in separate bedrooms, with the baby sleeping in her room every night. I had a business trip this week. I wasn't looking forward to being go”

“I'm fairly certain this is an anxious ftm/a me problem, but I'd love some perspective to get me out of my head and give me permission to do fun things again without feeling guilty. Dare I say I miss the newborn days where they would just snooze and wake as they please and stare into space and be 100% content?? To expand on the title: I've noticed that I feel guilty/anxious when I do anything that's not fully centered around baby's needs when he's awake. While I can justif”

“Alright. I’m filled with guilt right now as I’m filled with frustration and defeat with my 5.5 month old. I thought we already went through the sleep regression so I just simply don’t understand what is happening. For a week now, my son will not nap during the day. Like at all. He went from three 1-2 hour naps to maybe an hour total just out of the blue. I’m crying as I write this because I am just so exhausted.. his night wake ups have ramped up in frequency too (,: two things I’ve thought are”