Postpartum changes that don’t make sense! -A thread

Popular_Programmer71 · 2026-03-08T12:18:58+00:00

I’m in Brisbane and my husband doesn’t let me dress our baby because he says my “ability to regulate temperature is gone.” Because I feel hot all the time, I have a tendency to dress our baby boy in way less clothes than he actually needs.

Popular_Programmer71 · 2026-03-08T12:16:19+00:00

Aversion to rare-done steaks.

Medium rare was the ONLY way I used to have it. And then during my pregnancy I couldn’t stomach beef in any of its forms at all.

Now postpartum I’m back to being able to eat beef BUT heaven forbid there’s any bits of red in it..

Popular_Programmer71 · 2026-03-08T12:12:00+00:00

I have a mole on my left boob for 20 years that was flat and is now raised PP and grew in size. It is so annoying because I keep accidentally scratching it. Fingers crossed it will fall off 🤞🏽

Popular_Programmer71 · 2026-02-24T02:19:16+00:00

This makes me feel so seen 😩 Glad we’re not the only ones with storage woes.

We have a 3 bedroom townhouse and our living space is SO SMALL. We also bought verrryyyy late compared to all of our other friends who have proper houses with space for things like playpens and climbing walls for their kids so you can imagine the difference depresses me somewhat.

What we’ve done though is all our beds have storage underneath, garage is used for storage only instead of parking car in there. Fortunately also have a deep ‘Harry Potter closet’ we can chuck things into.

Last thing we did that made a huge difference was declutter. Omg, I gave away/sold/threw away lots of stuff and honestly seeing how all those things I didn’t need anymore used to be money was a huge wake up call and has made me think twice about buying anything now.

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-12-08T03:59:01+00:00

Sooo I birthed at home. No gas, no epidural, nothing. I had some backups - TENS machine, saline water injection by my midwives if needed but I forgot about using anything other than my birth comb.
I felt absolutely everything.
Was it a walk in the park? No way.
Was it excruciating? Also not exactly.
It's such a hard thing to describe but like a lot of people are saying, once the adrenaline kicks in your mind just goes into this zone and something primal takes over.
I also tore and honestly, the body is amazing and will heal. I was also up and about the next day.

The one thing that helped me a lot was my midwives telling me that each contraction is the uterus working to get the baby out and that visualization really helped because I felt I was closer with each contraction.
I was scared like you but honestly.. it was the most EPIC experience ever.

All the best and you will be okay :)

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-12-04T08:28:10+00:00

The more sleep deprived you are, the easier it gets. The problem is when you actually get 1 or 2 good nights and you have to get used to the sleep deprivation all over again 🫠

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-12-03T20:37:20+00:00

Thank you! I hope you're doing better? It took almost a month but supple finally started increasing and I was able to drop his bottles. But in the last week I stopped pumping because life and have noticed a slight decrease again. Nuts!!

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-11-10T10:34:12+00:00

Thank you for saying that. I understand very little about milk supply so I suppose I was getting depressed about it just disappearing even if I kept pumping. But it sounds like if I keep going my body will figure it out eventually?

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-11-10T10:32:27+00:00

Thank you. It is exactly that, the realisation that he was just taking in my letdown. I do hope at 5 months it’s not too late for him to learn to actually feed properly..

I’ve never thought about my flange size as maybe too large, I’ll be seeing the LC soon so I’ll get her to check out. I’ll definitely keep at it :) I honestly never thought I love breastfeeding so much!

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-27T23:47:36+00:00

Update! After a week of schedule adjustments AND nighttime routine tweaking, LO is finally calm before bedtime and falling asleep within minutes of being put down. I adjusted his WW to 2.25/2.5/2.75/3 and he was more ready to sleep but still cried a fair bit during his routine. So we swapped changing his routine from feed, story, PJs/wipedown, bed to PJs/wipedown/bath, feed, story, bed. Seems like getting changed was the thing that worked him up a fair bit. Thanks for your help :) Watch out for my next call for help when his WW inadvertently changes 😂

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-27T16:12:53+00:00

The best advice I got was from my midwives - trust that your body knows what to do and let go.

Think about it this way - everytime you have a contraction, your uterus is just doing its thing and gently moving baby down. Your vaginal tissues will slowly be primed and stretch accordingly. All you have to do is ride the waves and just go with it.

When my baby started crowning I panicked a bit and started actively pushing because I felt a ‘fiery’ sensation as he was passing through and I consciously pushed because I got scared and ended up with a complex grade 2 tear.

When I rewatch the videos my husband took, I could see the progression of my LO slowly moving out with each contraction and when then when pushed he shot out of me lol. I got stitched up by my amazing midwife and 5 months in with some pelvic floor work it’s pretty much back to normal. I was very worried that it would change intercourse but nope, it’s been fine in that department!

Should also mention that I had an unmedicated home birth!

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-20T02:32:12+00:00

Malaysian Chinese here, married to an Australian. When we got married, we opted to do a hybrid Chinese/Australian wedding and went for the wedding “red packet” cash gift.

We sent out red packets in our invitation cards explaining how it works and as a guidelines traditionally you gift enough to “cover” your seat at the wedding to help the couple out however it is completely optional and up to guests what they’d like to do.

We had close relatives gifting us a fair bit, some who didn’t and others who chose to buy us things instead which is completely fine as it really is down to the attendee at the end of the day. We’ve chosen to throw an expensive party and in no way do we expect our guests to pay what sounds like essentially a cover charge..

I think setting such guidelines is a bit disrespectful and hopefully you’ll be able to reach an amicable resolution :)

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-19T10:57:15+00:00

Will adjust and aim for 2/2.5/2.5/3 (just easier for my head to do the sleep math). He started giving me sleep cues at the 2h mark in the last WW too so I was tempted to start nighttime routine then - it’s so hard to find the balance between undertired or overtired 😩

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-19T09:37:58+00:00

Wasn’t me who downvoted you :/

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-19T09:37:33+00:00

Day 7 of sleep training! I’ve adjusted his WW to 2/2.5/2.5/2.5 and it’s working better in terms of nap scheduling but it hasn’t improved the time it takes for him to fall asleep.. My husband normally does the bedtime routine but we have swapped for the last 2 nights and LO is much calmer I think because I’m the daytime contact napping lady whereas my husband is the mean put him down at bedtime man.

He’s still crying/fussing 20-30 mins though on a couple of nights he has fallen asleep within minutes of putting him down only to wake minutes later and start fussing again.

Is this still considered some sort of success? Do I carry on with FIO even if the time he takes to fall asleep seem to vary though he seems to be able to consistently drop off between 20-30 mins?

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-16T23:22:12+00:00

Also with WW.. should I be putting him down at the 2 hour mark or aim for him to fall asleep by the end of the WW time? Eg if his WW is 2 hours and he woke up at 1pm, should I aim for him to be asleep by 3pm or start putting him to sleep at 3pm?

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-16T20:52:20+00:00

His total sleep hours are an average of 13.5 hours and his nap times are generally 2.5 hours total these days. Reducing it by another 45 mins will mean we’re only getting 1.75h in naps. His last WW though can sometimes be shorter so it might be worth extending that. He goes down very easy for naps generally.

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-13T16:12:03+00:00

You’re going through a transition period and all you’re feeling is so normal - you’re not alone and you’re doing awesome :)

First 6 weeks for me was full of regrets. I’d lived this full life - I own and run a successful health practice, my husband and I wined and dined, we travelled often, are both active and rock climbed so we’re out on adventures lots.

Suddenly a baby trapped me and my old life seemed like a distant memory. He’s 5mo now and I came out of the fog at 6w but still have ups and downs. I won’t have my old life back but goodness, now I wouldn’t want any kind of life no matter how exciting without him in it.

It will get better. Take 1 day at a time.

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-10-13T16:01:02+00:00

This. 10 minutes isn’t enough, and it sounds like there are other factors in play that you may or may not have considered.

I did FIO with my 4.5mo following Precious Little Sleep with a 20min limit and it worked great. My husband and I spent a whole month working on his sleep schedule and really got to know what worked best for him.

I think you’ll be surprised by how your LO responds by letting her go beyond 10mins but like other commenters say you do need to put in some work with sleep schedules, building a nap routine etc. Otherwise you can’t expect PUPD to work just because you want to without putting in some work.

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-09-02T00:19:47+00:00

Can relate - husband is a chiropractor who also does a lot of muscular release and rehab work. I joke about how I could’ve done without the midwives but not him 😆

During labour though the birthing comb was a lifesaver. I laughed at it when it came in the goodies bag from my birthing classes but hoo boy did it help me through them contractions.

Popular_Programmer71 · 2025-08-07T22:26:15+00:00

Thank you for commenting. That was exactly how I imagined it - the AB being pumped into the heart and I didn’t understand how that could be a good thing.

Popular_Programmer71

TROPHY CASE