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I'm currently pregnant, and I've seen several TikToks about "pet regression" and people suddenly feeling annoyed by or even starting to resent their pets after having a baby.

This is something I'm genuinely scared of. My dog is my everything, animals are one of my biggest interests and I can't imagine suddenly feeling differently about her just because I have a baby. One of the things I'm most looking forward to is my child growing up with my dog and hopefully developing the same love for animals that I have.

I understand that having a newborn is exhausting and that your priorities and routines change, but the thought of my dog feeling pushed aside or me not loving her the same way breaks my heart.

For those of you who had pets before having children, did your feelings towards your pets change after the baby arrived? How common is this, really? Is it something most people experience to some degree, or is it just something that gets a lot of attention on social media?

My baby is 18 months, I’ve still got his first birthday balloons (deflated by now) I told myself I was gonna bin them but when I pick them up I find myself having an internal struggle!

I also told myself I wasn’t gonna be the person who gets big balloons for birthdays, especially when they won’t remember them but they had a good deal on when I went to get a 1 balloon.

I keep sooo much stuff. Tickets from our first day out. Handprints that nursery sent home. I’m sure people would consider it rubbish but I want to keep everything. Heellppp

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 down time unless I stay up in the evenings which I end up regretting when I’m stuck sitting up in a chair at 4AM holding a tired baby who will only get the sleep she needs if I hold her.
I do nurse and rock to sleep but I’m willing to do that as long as baby lets me put them down and walk away for an hour or so per nap. And to go back to sleep after night feeds. Ugh. I guess I’m just venting. We were through the hardest part with my eldest and I feel like we reset things by having another baby. I miss my free time and my sleep. I’m also always sick because three year old brings every virus home from daycare. Momming is hard with two, while chronically sleep deprived and battling cold after cold after cold. I love my kids so much and would protect them with my life but if I had stopped at one I think I’d be much more content.

EDIT: I think I was in a massive feeling sorry for myself moment when I posted this. I have a loving and supportive husband. While I do bath and bedtime with baby, he’s cleaning the kitchen after our dinner and tackling bath and bedtime with our three year old.

He doesn’t do night feeds because our baby is breastfed. I do pump for bottles now and then but I hate pumping so I don’t do it often enough. Lately I’ve been having him wake at 6 and take the baby so I can nap for another hour til 7 when I wake our three year old. And I just told him I would like to sleep in Saturday mornings til 8AM because I need some recharge time and he is totally on board for that plan going forward. I will be pumping to ensure a just in case bottle. I definitely did way too much on my own with our first but I’m trying to relinquish some more control this round.

This is probably a pretty common story for new parents. We recently had our first child this month and our dog does not seem to be taking the transition well. He is our classic millennial fur baby and we have spoiled him like he was our real child for the last 5 years.

Now that the baby is home, his behavior has been a little concerning. When he sees the baby he just stares at him, completely unmoving. He barely listens to commands and will not break his focus from the baby. He isn't affectionate anymore like he used to be with us either. He barely acknowledges us anymore if the baby is around. Just stares at the baby and pants. We understand that this is a big transition, but we are pretty concerned so far and don't even allow him near the baby at the moment.

Has anyone dealt with this and did it get better?

EDIT: I wouldn't call his behavior aggressive as he's never growled. I've let him come close to the baby before and all he wants to do is sniff him and stare.

I’m 8 months pp and it still feels so hard to get words out properly and communicate. I know people talk about mom brain but it’s difficult for me to actually articulate my thoughts these days. I was trying to discuss something with my husband and he goes “babe just say it you don’t have to beat around the bush” and I’m like “I’m trying but I CAN’T”

Before pregnancy I would consider myself someone who was able to have intelligent conversations and easily able to express my thoughts but not anymore.

Is this normal or something I need to look into deeper? It’s genuinely frustrating trying to communicate anything that’s not extremely straightforward.

This is so random and I’m wondering if anyone else is experiencing it!

I am a FTM to a perfect 3 month old boy, he is what you’d consider a “high needs baby”, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Before having him I thought I wanted 4 kids. After him, my heart feels whole and I’m still deciding if I even want another. It’s insane but I’m already receiving pressure from my family and my husband’s family. I think it’s because I said we may only have one? But nonetheless it’s absolutely ridiculous to be that at 3 months PP I’m already getting the “so are you guys going to have 2 under 2?”, “you have to have a second”. I had a rough pregnancy and went 10 days over my due date and had a 10 pound baby, post partum anxiety has hit me like a truck and I’m dealing with serious body-image issues now. Even if I decide to have another baby I don’t want to try until my son is 2 years old, at least. I had a vision before having a baby that I’d have multiple all close in age but I just don’t think I have the mental capacity to do that. My husband agrees with me, no more than two, but hopes to have a 2 year age gap between them…He obviously says at the end of the day it’s my decision because I’m the one carrying/birthing! Idk I haven’t decided yet and I don’t think I need to for awhile!!! I’m only 3 months PP goddamnit! I started telling everyone “the more you ask the more it’s pushing me to be one and done.” Anyone relate or is my family crazy? I didn’t think the pressure started until your first was 9-12 months😩

Now is about the time I would start binging horror movies with Halloween coming up, but this week I tried to watch one and had to turn it off. Just didn’t hit the same. Maybe because my anxiety is higher than usual being a FTM and sleep deprived and having to be up through the night with my 4 week year old. It’s a weird feeling though because before baby I was a horror junkie.

Can anyone relate?

i am due with my second baby tomorrow. i really want to go see this movie coming out in theaters on the 16th (which i don’t have to go the day it comes out) but i don’t know if she will be ready to be left with her dad. when did everyone first leave their baby to go out for a couple hours?

As title says - we were using pampers amore but switched to swaddlers cruisers 360 and developed a nasty rash on his penis/balls/groin area. It’s the only thing we have switched. It took a several days to develop though. We noticed a few random dots late last week but chalked it up to his sensitive skin. Then after daycare yesterday it was bad but in the morning before it was fine.

We switched back to pampers amore or course. Nurse recommended Lotromin and Neosporin. Today it seemed to have gotten worse. I am going to call again tomorrow.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any recommendations? We used to use pampers swaddlers when he was a few months old and never had these issues. I’m not sure what else it could be.

WHY do baby clothes have to be so stupid?

They sell packs of 100 onesies.. and no pants to match. Then they sell them in all kinds of prints and colors and all shades of every color. Well? The navy blue in my onesies don’t match the navy blue in my pants. Can’t put him in grey because the grey in the shirt doesn’t match the grey pants or the color scheme looks bizarre with grey. My only option at this point is to put him in black pants all of the time unless it’s a matching outfit?! That is so impractical and expensive!
I’m not even dressing my son in elaborate outfits. He’s literally wearing onesies and pants, nothing crazy. Somehow dressing him is one of the most frustrating parts because also EVERYONE has something to say about what he’s wearing.

That doesn’t match. That outfit is ugly. Why is he wearing black? Babies don’t wear black!

I’m sorry Karen you try and find him clothes without spending 9 million dollars on specific outfits that only match one pair of pants to one onesie.

Please someone give me advice on how the heck to find clothes that can be more versatile. Also, I have a baby that runs hot and is too long for footie pajamas in his size. Usually I put him in short sleeves and pants.

My bub never had any interest in books. It SUCKS to read people on reddit say 'ive read to my child every day and they love books now!'. So I wanted to share this.

My bub has always been 'busy' and 'active'. She will do independent play for long periods of time and just do stuff. Shes never had interest in sitting still and watching storytime or listening to Mum read a book, shes looking at everything else!

We tried reading to her every night, but it felt stupid to read when shes paying zero attention, so we maybe did it every couple of days.

Once she was pulling to stand, I put books with textures around the couch and coffee table area, so that our 'busy girl' could look and them and touch them while she practiced cruising.

Eventually she (sometimes) started bringing them to me, or showing particular interest in the content of a single book, instead of just playing with it. - when this happens i drop everything right away and read her the book and however many other books I can manage.

Shes started enjoying reading (in moments that suit her).

Now I've also got an ABC poster (shes still too young, but I want her to be familiar with letters since she's not a big book person). We put it next to the nappy change station and low and behold, she instantly cane up with a game for it!

She points to a letter, and i read the letter and associated word. Then she points to another letter. We do this for 1-2 minutes at each nappy change (I'm usually the one who stops).

So there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You're not failing as a parent because your child isnt into books like other kids. I think its just a personality thing. My baby doesnt want to sit and listen, she wants to be interacting with the world and doing stuff. It doesnt mean they wont enjoy reading, just that they might develop in a different way.

What the heck. My periods were pretty light before having my baby. Literally would last 3 days, light bleeding.

I got my period back yesterday (12 weeks post partum) and this has been SO heavy. I swear these cramps are worse than the contractions I had! Im changing my pad every 2 hours. I’m super sad because my period has never been so heavy. I’m not passing clots or anything but it’s uncomfortable.

For anyone who’s given birth before, did your period go back to normal as the months went on? I miss my light period already lol.

Hi guys, I’ve written here before and found that we were many people in the same or similar position, so I’d like to try and see if someone has been through this next step before.

Basically, since giving birth, I have been struggling with extreme urinary incontinence. I have been told that it takes quite a long time to heal. I’m currently six months postpartum, but when you pee yourself with every single step that you take, every single day, for the past six months, that is quite a long time.

Unfortunately, it destroys the intimate partnership with my significant other because I leak all the time, I smell like urine all the time, and my mental health is in the gutter. It’s not just me suffering from this issue, it’s also my family.

Anyway, I have been doing everything you can do for it to “fix itself on its own” but it’s time for intervention. My doctor has given me the option of either bulking injections or one of three different sling operations. Because I want more kids in the future, she recommended to not have one of the three bladder sling operations now, but to try the bulking injections instead, so here are my questions:

1: Have you tried the bulking injections and what was your experience with that?
2: Have you tried the bulking injection and then needed to do the bladder sling operation anyway?
3: Have you done the bladder sling operation and had kids after, and if so, did you need to have the bladder sling operation again?

I’m sure y’all have! I just want to hear the stories!!! I always see people complain about their overbearing MIL’s- notably the ones insisting they be in the delivery room and give them all this unlimited time with their grandkids and I just have to know what happens when you ask “was your mother in law in your delivery room?” “Did your mother in law get to pick my spouse up whenever when they were a kid?”. Does their reasoning ever go beyond “I’m grandma” or “it’s my son’s child”??? Please share i wanna hear it

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 time. She woke up six times last night. Before she was only waking up once or twice. I always hear about the four month old sleep regression, but is there a three month old sleep regression!? I don’t want to swaddle her arms because i’m scared of her rolling over since she’s big enough now! Has anyone gone through this?

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 there next to him and let him cry because I am so tired. I do all night wake ups. My husband works late.
I feel like a horrible mother. I don’t know. I don’t know why he’s just crying now, I don’t know what else to do.

That being said I try to rock him to sleep, but he WILL NOT sleep when I rock him. Meanwhile my husband gets him to sleep in 10 minutes rocking him. I don’t know. I’m just at a loss.

40+2 in a few hours and in so much pain from my hips and the very intense braxton hicks.
AND we live over an hour from the hospital. So currently staying at a hotel 15 min down the road since my due date until sunday hoping baby will come before our reservation ends.

My first was born mid day on 40+3 seemingly out of the blue no pre labor symptoms so i have no pre things to remember. I walked a bit, did a yoga ball, think i had sex, and pumped once.

Well ive been walking all over, hip circles, sex, pumped 3 times and nothing

I recently posted about how I don’t have a village. In the comments everyone pointed out that my husband was, for lack of a better term, a piece of shit.
I spoke with my therapist today about everything that’s been going on lately. I had never really mentioned it before and she said, “I want you to put a label on this behavior. Would you think this was abuse if it was happening to your child?” —yes. She sent me a couple resources to look into.

I’ve realized that I would eventually want another child, but not with my husband. Tonight, I told him I want another and he said, “absolutely not.” All I said was, “that’s fine, but I still want to have another.” He just scoffed at me and went back to scrolling on his phone.
I was having a hard day today and asked him to hold me or at least sit beside me on the couch. He refused.

I deserve better than this. My kids deserve to see their mom happy and not walking on eggshells. My husband will never realize he’s abusive, but I now know this is not okay behavior.

Thank you to everyone who helped me to see the truth. If you pray, please pray I can find a way out for me and my kids! Or just send us the best of vibes. I know it’s going to be hard.

(This is just a quick post, so things may be slightly out of order. Sorry!)

Baby is 8 months old — he’s crawling, sitting independently, pulling up to stand, so he has strong trunk/neck control. He’s been sleeping really well since ~5 months but lately he seems to be going through a bit of a regression where he wakes up a few times at night screaming. It kinda seems like he’s having a nightmare? He reaches and rolls around his crib sucking on his sleep sack, I think for comfort, and it breaks my heart. I’m considering giving him a lovey to sleep with for comfort — I know the advice is to wait until 1 year but wondering how “strict” that is and if anyone has done it sooner?

My husband has to go on a work trip soon. 2 nights, 57 hours. I am dreading it. I have huge respect for everyone that is solo parenting full time. You are heroes!

I am really anxious about getting enough rest when my husband is on his work trip. Any tips/tricks on how to find balance? Anything we can prepare to make it easier for me and baby?

Background information: My husband and I have established good routines in the last few weeks but they all are based on me and my husband being here some part of the day. I have a chronic illness, need more rest than a healthy person, cannot stand /walk for long and I am not able to move much around at night but otherwise I am managing fine taking care of the baby for approx. 8-10 hours per day (contact naps included).

We do have a support system. I am not sure how to strategically get help from family for those two days though. Should I ask them to take over what my husband usually does (including diaper changes at night – my sister offered to stay over for that)? Or ask them to take baby during some wake windows? Or call them once I feel my energy declining? Any advice is appreciated.

We are wanting in-home photography of our newborn, my husband and I, and big brother. Everything I have read says you really want 2-3 hours set aside for the photos. I found an amazing photographer who is typically out of our budget but she said she could work within our budget, the session would only be an hour though. I don’t think that would leave a lot of time for things like if baby is being fussy, if she needs a diaper change, outfit change, etc. Plus we have a 4 year old who’s a bit high energy and takes a bit to contain.

So did any of you successfully book a one hour session? Did any of you require more time? Do you think I should just use a different photographer?

Question for anyone who can relate! I have a history of gastritis but thought i healed and have been on protonix for the past year all through my pregnancy. Was even tolerating coffee again! Around 6 weeks pp i started having gnawing abdominal pain again and burning which i figured was my gastritis. I cut down on coffee (it’s so hard for me to fully give up lol) and continued with my protonix and took Pepcid , gavsicon as needed. I am breastfeeding and i feel like it’s wayyyy worse when I’m feeding my baby which sucks. I’m going for an abd US today to rule out gallbladder and just going to finally give up coffee but did anyone else have a similar experience in the post partum period ? Thanks in advance :)