** sorry for the typos I'm typing this with no sleep at 4am

I've slept perfectly my entire life before having a child. Could sleep whenever whatever all night through.

My daughter is a horrible sleeper even at 1.5 years old now. however, my husband takes over at night just to help me get an opportunity to sleep because I had her ina foreign country with no help and I slept maybe 1-2 hours a night for months and I have like PTSD regarding sleep now as silly as that sounds. After he took over I began sleeping about 6ish hours at least although I'd like 7-8.

Flash forward to now and my life is hell. I stopped breatfeeding about a month ago and I got a long period, lots of chin acne, and now horrible insomnia. I wake after 2-3 hours of light sleep and my heart is racing like I drank 5 coffees and I can't sleep no matter what meditation, drink, relaxing, getting up, yoga, whatever. I do yoga in the day and get out and don't drink caffeine and I can typically fall asleep (who knows now though...) but I'm waking after a couple hours as if I'm running. I know it seems liek anxiety and this situation makes me anxious sure, but I know this is chemical or physical because I can literally feel my body freaking out.

I tried melatonin and it actually is around when this started. I actually wish I never took it because I feel like it made everything way worse. When I took it I would wake earlier and earlier each time so I quit taking it and now I'm still stuck after a week waking up early as hell. I tried a valerian sleep thing and like melatonin it seemed to help one night and the. I feel worse. I want to detox my body from all this and not take anything because I think the supplements actually harmed my slee a lot. However, I'm so scarred this is my life forever now. I got a chickenpox vaccine booster (I was low titer and it's at daycare) and that's literally the only other weird thing. Weaning, that, I was sick with the flu and hand foot mouth last month, and supplements. I don't know what to do and I'm starting to become severely depressed over it.

Anyone know anything about these factors and can it get better?

I see a doctor Monday but most doctors just disregard everything as anxiety so I don't have much hope. I live in small town in France and finding a doctor at ALL even in surrounding cities is almost impossible (they don't answer the phone or email and just say no new patients) so she's my only choice.

Sorry in advance for the longer post or if this is not the appropriate forum.

I'm a first-time expectant mother and my husband and I both have great careers. But we agree that it is best for our family if I quit my job to stay home with our baby, especially because my current role requires a lot of travel and we are considering immediately having a second. While I'm on board, the reality is setting in and I'm getting nervous. I have never not had my own income and I don't know how to tackle this. I will be going from a six-figure salary with benefits to ZERO. That is mind-boggling to me. I'm sweating thinking about it. Lol

All I can think about is that I won't be paying into my 401k anymore, so what happens when I'm older?? It's all on my husband, who I trust completely. But still, I have things that I love like a personal trainer and getting my hair and nails done, and selfishly, no, I don't want to give those things up. They make me feel GOOD. I also feel like I'm walking away from my future financial security, even though my husband makes twice my salary, has great job security, is a wonderful and loving partner to me, and is 100% ready for fatherhood. Even typing this I'm like "what are you so worried about you idiot?! You have it so good compared to many!!!" Uuuuuuugh.

If anybody has been in my position before, what are some things that you considered while making this decision? Financially and personally? Is it actually reasonable or possible to be a stay-at-home mom and work part-time? Like maybe something remote or a home-based business as a supplemental income? How do you deal with asking someone else for money??? What kind of dynamic do you have with your partner for managing newly "shared" income?? What boundaries did you have to set and what compromises did you need to make? I so want both of us to be happy and I truly worry about putting our finances ALL on him even though he seems confident.

In my heart I KNOW it's what I want to do for my children and I'm so lucky to have a partner who wants the same. But then my mathematical mind pumps the brakes and tells me I'm insane for voluntarily throwing away my mechanical engineering degree and giving up all of my income potential and hard won security. My career is not central to my identity so it's less about "losing myself" and more about the reality: I've never not had my own money and he and I generally keep our finances separate. He covers bills and I cover extras/fun/pets, which leaves us both with plenty for ourselves. Now we will be going from DINK life to SI2K life and I'm starting to freak out.

Help.

Hi - I am a first time mom and have a 14 month old son who has just started settling into a routine. I am very confused about continuing my job or quitting to be a SAHM. My husband and I had a really difficult time the last year with our child's feeding and sleeping schedule. I still haven't had a single "baby slept through the night" night. But it's much calmer and predictable now. We had family support all this while with grandparents staying to help, so we haven't yet sent our son to daycare. Ever since my maternity leave ended though, I have felt terrible leaving him at home and going to work. I am also a very emotional person generally and becoming a mother has been both rewarding and nerve wrecking at the same time. Not being around my son makes me anxious and worried that others at home won't be able to cater to his needs the way I would. So, last few months I have been considering quitting my job and being a SAHM. My husband earns enough but having my job will help us live a comfortable life and not have to worry too much about our financial future. I was also recently offered a new role that's better than my current position but will need us to relocate to a different country. I guess, I am looking for advice from moms who navigated this heart-brain conflict. I don't want to miss out on my son's childhood and I also want to give him a bright future without worrying about money. My husband is supportive of whatever I decide but I feel selfish choosing to resign and letting him bear the burden of our finances. How did you make this decision? Did you choose to stay home and be with your child? Or did you decide to ride it out and continue with your job? Are you happy about the decision you made?

My year of maternity leave is almost up which means I’ll have to find childcare for my daughter. We want someone in home but still want to be able to monitor them. (Yes we will disclose that there are cameras just not where the cameras are) Does anyone have any recommendations on nanny cams?

I was fortunate enough to grow up traveling, thanks to a pilot grandfather and a dad who traveled a lot for work and brought us with him when possible. My brother and I were not really involved in sports. My husband never travelled, grew up in a sports heavy family, and now prioritizes sports for our kids, as he credits sports to his success (I gave up my job to stay home for a few years when then kids were babies, and now work low wage during school hours). My parents offer to take us on vacations multiple times per year. My husband gets upset because it “interferes” with the sports. He thinks that because we are going away during April vacation, my son will not get the best spot. He deserves on his baseball team and it will affect him long-term. My son is 9 and my daughter is 11. He says that travel is OK outside of normal sport team commitments… However, we don’t have any downtime because sports are year-round because he plants that way. I think he is denying our children a nice chance to travel. How to balance this? I am so frustrated.

Husband and I decided in 2023 to start trying for baby #4. We got pregnant in 2024 but had a miscarriage. I got pregnant again around November and am currently 10 weeks pregnant. We have talked here and there about baby number four like gender or names but just playing around with ideas for a couple minutes. Tonight after a family outing I mentioned that I was starting to show a little and joked around with the idea we shouldn't say anything just let me keep getting bigger until some family member mention something and I said of course we will have to tell your mom (she will probably be the person watching our other children while delivering and we also have talked before about hiding pregnancy for as long as possible). Anyways he acted completely annoyed with me when I was even talking about this baby tonight. It bothered me so I said if you were so uncomfortable then why did we even get pregnant. He asked me what I was talking about and I said your acting annoyed with me right now and he responded "your acting annoying". This hurt. My first child i was 19 so everyone acted so disappointed. My second we got pregnant only 7 months later, so again everyone acted disappointed. My third everyone was more focused on my sil being pregnant and we just had a lot going on. I truly want to be unbothered this pregnancy but it's so hard not to be

Trigger warning: Suicide.

My stepdaughter was 18 when she killed herself in march of last year. She had lived with us for a year and it was a mess (long story) i wish i had been able to do more, to be better, she had no good/decent adults around and i should have done more to help her.

It's going to be a year next month and not only i'm a mess but i feel like i haven't had the time to grieve properly. I'm currently divorcing my husband (my child's and stepdaughters father) and my 5 year old is a mess since her sister died. There's tantrums and breakdowns every day (she is currently in play therapy), i try to be as gentle as possible but i'm so focused on her meltdowns that i feel like i cant just break down in peace and i feel awful for both feeling this way and for not being able to help my own child. I just want to cry in peace.

Was at the in laws for my husbands birthday dinner tonight. Our first real outing with our 7 week old. I have been struggling with PPA/PPD and baby is colicky.
Right as food is being served, baby starts to lose it. Husband’s mom keeps trying to tell me what I’m doing wrong, to give her the baby, ect. Generally unhelpful advice in my opinion as my baby has been an extension of me for 7 weeks and I know it won’t help calm him down. I step outside to calm baby and just absolutely breakdown. I stayed outside for the remainder of the visit. I had told my husband a few days ago that I wasn’t ready to go out with the baby and our 5yo but he guilted me into it. After we left, he berated me for not letting anyone “help.” He doesn’t understand that when your baby is crying inconsolably, you don’t want other people to do what you failed to do. He doesn’t understand that it makes me anxiety rise up into panic attacks. On top of everything, I can’t remember the last time I ate, showered, or did something for myself but I’m supposed to bend at everyone else’s beck and call. I hate that this came to a tipping point on his birthday but I am so sick of taking care of everyone else and no one taking care of me. I’m also disgusted by the fact that his whole family watched me struggle with my mental health and had the audacity to tell me I was being dramatic and hoarding the baby to myself. It’s my fucking baby, I don’t have to share him if I don’t want to.

How's your night going? I just washed and dried a load of my 6 year old daughter's clothes and didn't realize she had lipstick in her pocket. She doesn't even have lipstick. She brought it home from a friend's house. So I just spent I don't even want to know how long scrubbing each spot with a special stain remover. My hands hurt! This included her school uniforms. Oh my gosh, I'm hoping so bad it comes out! 😭

Hello all!

I previously asked for bedtime audiobook recommendations for my daughter, but I’ve noticed that audiobooks can be a bit too stimulating for her—her mind stays active instead of winding down. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m considering guided meditations or visualizations instead. Have these worked for your child? If so, which ones would you recommend? And if they didn’t work, I’d love to hear why! Any advice or experiences would be really helpful—thank you 😁

Alright, so I’m not in the best situation. I recently split with my ex; we lived together and have a baby on the way. Due to these circumstances, I’m sadly back in my childhood bedroom with my 5-year-old (from a different dad). I plan on getting us bunk beds soon. I’m due in April. My daughter’s dad and I are kind of unsure about whether she should stay overnight at first when the baby arrives, since she’s in kindergarten and wakes up at 6:30 to get ready. The baby waking up constantly will most likely interfere with her quality of sleep. She would only be sleeping at her dad’s but be with me in the day time until the baby starts sleeping through the night then everything will go back to how our custody plan is.

I told a family member about the plan, and got shamed to the core. They said it shouldn’t be an issue and that everything will be okay, but I’m still not so sure about what to do I genuinely don’t think it’s in her best interest. Any advice or thoughts?

My dad and I have never had a super close relationship, not by anyone's fault, we just don't have much in common. He lives out of state and would fly out to visit for the weekend MAYBE once a year for the last 10 years, but now my son is 18 months old with the second on the way and he's been demanding to come visit every 3-4 months.

He's not a very good houseguest (leaves baby gate open when going up/down the stairs, doesn't put dishes away or cleans up after himself, stays up way later than everyone else and makes a lot of noise, etc.) so I don't love hosting him in the first place, but I would do it occasionally because he's family. But now that he suddenly is trying to make plans to come back to my house every couple months, it's driving me crazy. I've been trying to set firm boundaries but he either doesn't care or doesn't understand that I'm an adult with a family and I get to make my own rules.

Is there something anyone has said to their boomer parents to make them "get" that you don't have an open door policy 24/7? I would love to not have to fight with the man every time we talk on the phone.

I’m throwing up and I’m just nauseous. I breastfeed though. Am I just supposed to stop breastfeeding. Should I just wear a mask?

Edit: thank you guys for answering. I’ll keep breastfeeding and wear a mask.

I had a traumatic birth experience. I was going for a VBAC and was so excited about it. Only to end up in a repeat c section because of pre e I did go into labor but it was prodromal and it was so painful labored for 20 hours with no cervical change. I was clotting after the surgery. Breastfeeding has been difficult because baby had to do phototherapy for jaundice so I was pumping and giving a bottle. I’m now one week postpartum and got home yesterday and everything feels so off. I miss my toddler so much. My baby sleeps so much that I’m so worried she’s not nursing enough and this adjustment period has been just so so tough. My house doesn’t feel like a home. I feel like such a sense of emptiness even tho I have such a supportive family. My husband is about to go back to work and I have no idea how to handle a newborn and a toddler by myself. My toddlers schedule is so messed up. He’s not sleeping or eating on time. Recovery has been so hard after the c section because I can’t do anything. I’m also feeling so guilty for not being able to be there for both my kids. I want to do a lot of skin to skin with my newborn but also spend a lot of time with my toddler as well. I just feel so sad all the time. Please share your experience and when it started to get better for you ?

But I was just made aware I can not have said ice water without purchasing something else. And I want nothing else.

The world is changing too fast for me 😓

Are there (preferably free) offline apps for 3-4yo? Like videos, games. Please don’t come at me for giving my kid iPad, it’s 14 hour flight (meeting grandparents for the first time) and I’m stressed already. We know about pbs kids and Lucas or something like that. Thank you.

Little girl is 7.5 months old and is combo fed 8 ounces every 4 hours. For the past 2 months, she is very hot and cold with her bottle. Some days she'll take the whole thing down in 9 minutes, and other days it'll take her the whole hour and she won't even finish it.

We have recently started solids and BLW, which makes her even more finicky with bottles when she is in A Mood. I know everyone says babies know when they're full, but if I stopped trying to give her the bottle the first time she protested it, she would only be eating around 3 ounces every 4 hours, which obviously isn't enough.

After how long do you give up trying to give your baby a bottle and figure that they're full? I've also read that "forcing" them to drink can create negative associations with food, so I'm worried about that, too, so I worry about being persistent with it.

Hi everyone. New to this sub, so I hope the post is according to rules.

10 days back we did a stool test for our 5 month old baby and the results were "Occult Blood +, Pus cells ++, Macrophages +, Ova and Cysts Nil". Doc said baby has a stomach bacterial infection and gave him metronidazole for 7 days.

Some context: We moved back to my workplace from my hometown just 3 weeks back (both places not in US). Baby was born in my hometown and for 5months we were there. His stools since he was 2months old were usually and mostly hard stools. After moving back it started to change consistency....paste like or jelly like not sure how to explain. Anyways not his usual ones. I attributed it to him being more active and being on his tummy more than before. One day he passed stool 3 or 4 times and all were runny. One had bit of pinkish mucus and that's when we went to see a pediatrician. I BF and formula feed him, so we thought it might be because of the change in water.

After the antibiotic course, did a stool test again at another lab. This time "Pus cells 2-4, Rbc 1-2, Cysts Entamoeba Histolytica 1-2". We kinda freaked out because we couldn't pinpoint the source. A bacterial infection in itself was a question mark for us, but one time error can cause that. But a microbe like entamoeba? We checked again the next day at another lab....that test came positive for pus cells and rbc only (1-2 and 0-2). No entamoeba detected. He has been passing mucousy stools for 2 days. Doc today said that entamoeba is possible because his first test showed positive for macrophages. She advised to change the water we use for his formula amd repeat the same antibiotics for 3 days. We changed the water, cleaned out the washing machine, threw away his playing mat amd stored away his toys--cuz he puts anything he gets in his mouth now.

Has anyone had similar experiences and what did you change? Also what are macrophages...couldn't find an answer on Google.

Hi mom friends. First time poster. Long time mom supporter.

My 10 MO is on a nursing strike. Every time she sees my breast she cries. We have not had any traumatic nursing experiences. She won’t even turn toward me and attempt to latch. Breastfeeding has been very easy for us and I know how lucky we’ve been. Just curious if this has happened to anyone else? I’m still pumping and bottle feeding. I’m not ready to be done breastfeeding yet but I know it might not be up to me. :( any advice/solidarity welcome!

My almost 8 month old is biting me while nursing. It’s so painful. I’m honestly not sure what hurts more the biting or the tiny razor blade finger nails pinching my areola. How long does this last? So far we only have the two bottom teeth in.

I'm a sahm, I have a 2 year old and 10 month old. Im consistently on my feet, all day. I do have my "off" days but on days where I'm going non stop 5am-7:30pm I drink 2 coffees. I get a Large ice coffee at 7am fron McDonald's ( they're 99cents lol) and another one at 1pm. I feel kinda crappy doing that but if I don't, my mind can't take how I couldn't get this done or that because I got to tired. Anyone on the same boat ?

How do you feel about not letting a 8 year old boy play juice wrld xxx?

I’m not strict in general anyways but there is certain things that are a rock hard no. So opinions are welcomed…

Now for context, my daughter is 7 and has known my boyfriend since she was 2. We have been together 5 years, with the first 3 being long distance due to military and the last 2 being in the same town. Her biological father has never been involved, so this is the only “father” she knows.

We’re expecting a baby in August surprisingly! Was not expected but we are both happy. We plan to move in together in March when my lease is up.

My daughter has since asked to start calling him “dad”. I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I love the bond they share, I love that he’s okay with her calling him that, but on the other hand we aren’t married or even engaged. I’d want more commitment than that in order to feel confident enough for her to start calling him dad.

Thoughts ?

The whole house is battling norovirus right now and this is the third time letting him watch part of a movie so we can all have a moment of peace in bed together, still feel mom guilt.

Mama's out there who's babies hate tummy time, please tell me they'll be alright without a lot of tummy time. My 8 month old has hated tummy time since day one and has only done it for a couple of mintues a few times a day since early days (I tried everything to get her to do it).

Now that she's figured out sitting, she will not do it at all and I've given up for the last month, we don't do any active tummy time any more

Given the big emphasis on tummy time I'm just worried she won't develop the core muscles to reach the next milestones

Anyones baby was the same and turned out OK?

(At the moment she only sits, no rolling or crawling)

We have a 10 month old baby, I have a 5 year old and my partner has a SEN 4 year old. My eldest’s dad passed away 4.5 years ago so we have him full time and my partner coparents with his ex.

Our baby hasn’t slept more than an hour at a time for more than 6 weeks (the past 2 nights have been good so we’re hoping he’s past that stage). Naturally we’re both exhausted and juggling a baby who fights sleep, 2 other kids, work, my PhD course and housework leaves basically no down time at all. It’s taken a toll on both of our mental health. Ive never seen my partner this low and im struggling to keep going.

His parents barely see us and i take my son and our baby to my parents on the weekend for a few hours of help but they can’t take the kids overnight

How do people cope when they’re juggling so much with kids in the mix?! Please forgive the typos I’ve just typed this out very quickly

Help moms! My kindergartner consistently gets holes in the her left knee of her pants. Even in “reinforced knee” pants. Jeans, leggings, sweats doesn’t matter. Any advice? Sew patches on the insides? Let her roll with it? Lol

My son (4) sometimes is fussy with food, it will more than often be a case of stubbornness and not wanting to even try something to know if he likes it or not. I have this “tactic” where I say to him “okay, I’ll eat it then” and then I’ll go to have a bite of it and suddenly he’ll want it because he doesn’t want me to have it.

To me it’s no issue because it gets him to atleast TRY something and if he doesn’t like it after then so be it, atleast he tried it.

I worry about how to handle situations around food as I was raised to finish my plate in one sitting otherwise I don’t get dessert and if I don’t eat it then I get nothing else, I’ve also always been overweight (8 stone down now but still overweight). So I don’t make my son finish anything if he doesn’t want to and if he tells me he’s full and can’t eat anymore then I trust him and if he gets hungry again later then he has a small snack like a bowl of fruit and yoghurt or croissant with jam.

Is this “try it otherwise I’ll eat it” going to affect his eating in the long term or am I just looking too much into it because of my own overeating childhood?

Just wondering. Does your reaction depend on your child’s reaction to it? It’s every visit no matter the location. The pictures and videos aren’t even quality 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

Editing to add TW Mentions of dark jokes/unaliving

. . . . . . .

Pretty much the title, but add that my husband isn't talking to me today after it.

First thing of note - my husband and I have a really dry, sarcastic, macabre sense of humor. We just get each other's jokes and a lot of times we have fun with it. I've always felt like we're on the same page with our humor.

We have a 3 mo and a toddler. We're in the deep with having an infant again and my toddler happens to be sick right now. Toddler was sleeping and woke himself up from a cough attack just before midnight. I think he was scared to go back to sleep because his coughs were hurting. He was up and wanting to play for hours. We finally got him to go back in bed to sleep after 3 am. Queue the baby waking up for a feed and diaper change RIGHT after I laid down and closed my eyes. She also had a projectile poop that landed on me while I was changing her. My too-tired brain came up with the joke, "Aaand this is why moms [unalive] themselves".

My husband immediately was offended by it and ended up leaving to go sleep in the other room. He hasn't said much to me today and I know I've totally crossed a line. I feel awful that was the imaginary line that I didn't know about and he's pissed at me for saying it. We've said other jokes in this realm previously when our kids have been on our last nerve, so I assumed that this was fair game. Examples of some things we've said before: "I'm going to go run into traffic" and "This is will be my 13th reason", etc. Totally fucked up, I know. This is just been how we've joked for years.

Not really sure what I'm looking for writing this out. I guess I just needed to get it off my chest. I have an awesome support system close to me and this postpartum period has been so good and I've been healing well. Just felt that I needed to add that in case people are concerned about my well being.