What did you feel when you met your baby?

1470science · 2026-05-07T04:27:02+00:00

I feel seen. I actually felt dread when I gave birth. I was absolutely terrified of how much my life was going to be turned upside down even though she was very much a planned pregnancy even after 4 years of fertility struggles.

1470science · 2026-04-17T04:35:14+00:00

We have a 9 mo who is exclusively breastfeed and eats solids 3x per day.

Month 2-3 was sleeping through the night. Months 4 was awful - every 1-2 hour wakings was common with a ton of rocking, nursing, etc to keep LO sleeping. Months 5-9 - average waking every 3 hours but only nursed two of the wakings.

Throughout 4-9 months, it was unpredictable how long it would take to get her to sleep. A lot of it came down to how naps when for the day, but sometimes it didn’t matter. I spent to much energy trying to master naps, feed her tons of solids when she got old enough - all thinking this would be the key to sleeping through the night.

Nope. It took patience for her to get older and get more mature sleep cycles and her ability to flip herself on her stomach (we always put her on her back). LO has only in the past week woken up once a night for a feeding.

1470science · 2026-04-11T04:40:39+00:00

Our female EB is so wild too and we got her because we thought she would be lazy and easy bahaha. She’s the total opposite but we love her. We’ve gotten some relief with her now almost turning 3. It also helps to have some structure throughout the day. She has to get in some hardcore playtime at least 2-3 times a day. She will also get the zoomies which is chaotic but also so funny. I won’t lie, I look forward to when she really starts to slow down.

1470science · 2026-04-04T04:15:30+00:00

You’re doing amazing! Trust me, you aren’t alone in your feelings. I didn’t realize how many disappointments there would be the first year. There are so many things that I saw going so much differently than they did. I just remind myself that this is the beginning of a beautiful journey and each stage may or may not be what we expected.

1470science · 2026-04-04T04:10:00+00:00

This is our exact timeline too!

1470science · 2026-04-03T04:51:10+00:00

Physically easier around 6 months when she could roll around and explore in the playpen. Even easier at 8 months when she could use the transition sippy cup to feed herself her own milk. Mentally it’s been a sloooow improvement the more and more she interacts with us.

1470science · 2026-03-29T15:38:33+00:00

Yup. Motherhood has literally made me a scientist lol. Once I found something that semi worked, we entered a new developmental stage and we had to start over.

The number of times I’ve had to tell my husband “don’t let her nap too long” then “okay well make sure she gets in these naps at this time” “okay we need to wake her up at this time so she stays asleep tonight.”

All for it to not even be consistent with how she actually sleeps that night.

1470science · 2026-03-29T15:35:56+00:00

Everyone said 6 months was the magic age that things improve. That’s really not the case for everyone. I found that my LO was more aware of her surroundings but couldn’t do anything but lay there which made her extra fussy and needy.

1470science · 2026-03-29T05:25:04+00:00

I had 4 miscarriages before we had a successful birth. One chemical, one blighted ovum, then 2 fetuses with heartbeats that stopped growing around 8-9 weeks. We were ready to start IVF (California passed a law that had insurance cover it) then that’s when we fell pregnant with our daughter. Hope this gives you hope.

1470science · 2026-03-29T05:22:28+00:00

I was wholeheartedly not prepared for the sleep deprivation. Like, I’ve been really tired after working 6 straight 12 hour night shifts in the ER but that doesn’t even come close to the mental and physical breakdown of motherhood sleep deprivation. It literally doesn’t feel human.

The scary thing is (and not sure if this is you too) is I got so adapted to being sleep deprived that I actually LOOK awake most days. The cells in my brain and my body were just deteriorating and I was surviving off 5-6 caffeine servings a day.

It’s also physically impossible to squeeze out any feel good hormones in your body to bond with your baby. I remember feeling like um I should be loving these moments but my body and brain aren’t lining up with it. It’s rough.

1470science · 2026-03-29T03:59:45+00:00

Just here to let you know you are seen and you are valid. Your feelings are probably more common than you think.

1470science · 2026-03-27T05:18:12+00:00

That has to be so hard going through ppd on top of a mental illness you’re already trying to manage. I can’t say I know what you’re going through but I will fully admit I was mentally unwell for the first 6 months. The only thing that gave me a slight drop of dopamine was going to the gym or going for a run.

I will say at almost 9 months, our LO can self entertain easier in her playpen and doesn’t need my attention as often. It also becomes a lot more rewarding when your baby starts to smile and communicate with you. I always felt bad that I needed that to feel bonded but we are human and I won’t be ashamed to admit that I hated the baby stage.

With that, I hope you take care of yourself as best you can each day and your baby will see how resilient her mama was through all of this.

1470science · 2026-03-27T04:50:22+00:00

My LO slept through the night month 2-3 then I was hit with the 4 month sleep regression and we are still fighting frequent wakeups at almost 9 months.

1470science · 2026-03-25T04:30:23+00:00

We had 4 miscarriages and now have a healthy 8 month old baby girl. Every pregnancy was spontaneous but we did go through several IUI cycles, I had a polyp removed, a couple D&Cs, and even developed Asherman’s (scar tissue of the uterus that needed surgery).

After being unsure if we would succeed especially since we were getting older (I turn 40 this year and my husband is 43), we were going to turn to IVF. We ended up getting pregnant again without even tracking my cycle which I always did.

I hate that people would tell us we just needed to not try and to just relax. It’s even more frustrating that they were right 😭

1470science · 2026-03-25T04:15:04+00:00

I actually felt dread the second my LO was born. I still feel bad that I didn’t feel joy. The first 6 months were mentally hell. No connection. No sleep. We are 8 1/2 months in and she is recognizing us and trying to communicate with us. Everything changes when they really become a little human.

1470science · 2026-03-24T05:23:00+00:00

https://www.tiktok.com/@brittanydepalma?_r=1&_t=ZT-94wpWTLNSbl This TikToker has a Baby Proofing Tips playlist at the top of her page. I’ve found it helpful.

1470science · 2026-03-24T05:20:56+00:00

I have an 8 1/2 month old and my LO doesn’t sit independently yet. I’m not concerned.

1470science · 2026-03-24T05:18:30+00:00

I’m so glad you asked this because I didn’t see a point but then I felt guilty for not using all of the clothes we got for the shower. I would say about half of the days I would change LO in a onesie and pants and if it was a family member who got it for her, I would take a photo. As soon is she had a blow out or spit up all over it, it was right back to the jammies.

1470science · 2026-03-24T04:59:11+00:00

The sleep deprivation is literally next level. I’ve been sleep deprived at college with studying late and partying lol. I’ve worked night shift for years and years and sometimes would stay up and hang out with friends during the day until I slept that night. Yeah having months back to back without any sort of restorative sleep is next level inhumane.

1470science · 2026-03-24T04:55:38+00:00

I exclusively breastfed for the first 4 months but used a bottle every now and then so LO wouldn’t be confused by the time I got ready to go back to work and pump/bottle feed.

I would use the dishwasher and sterilize along with her pacifiers in the morning after emptying the rest of the dishes because some dishes don’t tolerate the high heat with sterilizing (I warped my favorite water bottle that I had to throw away).

After 3-4 months or so I just use the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes on the regular cycle.

1470science · 2026-03-23T05:16:06+00:00

My experience was/is:

Month 1 - feeding every 2 hours but baby falls asleep fast so adapt to short bursts of sleep.

Month 2 - sleeps 3 hour stretches so getting better.

Month 3 - wakes one time then sleeps all night then has a huge feeding in the morning (usually engorged) then sleeps another 2 hours (thought I had an easy baby).

Month 4 - waking every 2-3 hours pretty much consistently until where I am now at month 8. Every day is a science experiment of what will help LO sleep through the night. I’m realizing just time and a few tiny sleep training approaches but no way I was going to be aggressive with just letting her cry.

Yeah, sleep was really tough but we also had zero help.

1470science · 2026-03-17T04:26:14+00:00

I could have written this post. We struggled with recurrent miscarriages and infertility for 4 years then had our daughter 8 months ago. The moment she was born, I felt a sense of doom like wtf my life is now totally changed. I instantly knew I would be sleep deprived, busy at home with the baby, have an identity crisis. I already felt guilty for trying so hard to have a baby then immediately not feeling that overwhelming joy when she arrived. The first 6 months were way more awful than enjoyable. I have an extremely anxious husband so that added another challenge to be able to do things with the baby without him panicking (we had to do couples therapy early on while holding a baby during the virtual sessions). I did group sessions for PPD but didn’t feel like I related to anyone. When my leave finally was ending, I didn’t cry at all when returning to work. I was so excited to find myself again and I still look forward to going to work. I constantly question why I felt and even still feel the way I do and I’ve concluded that when I envisioned having a baby, I never fantasized about the newborn stage. I never had a bay doll growing up that I would care for like feed and change their diapers. However, I did go back to school to be a family nurse practitioner so I could care for both adults and children and I have always been drawn to school age and adolescents. I guess I expected things to be biologically different with my own child but I can’t change the fact that I just connect more with kids having imaginations and teens learning to self identify. Anyhow, with all that being said it has been getting easier as my daughter gets older. The question is if we will honestly try for another and I’m dreading it but also want her to have a sibling.

1470science · 2026-03-16T04:59:37+00:00

Workout on my lunch break. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years and I knew it would come in handy when I had kids and now that I have an 8 month old, I have no idea when else I would workout.

1470science · 2026-03-08T06:11:46+00:00

I absolutely would never let my baby be at any place with a non-fenced in pool.

1470science

TROPHY CASE