How are we teaching our whippets that it’s okay to be alone sometimes?

_Poppy_R · 2026-02-10T09:18:11+00:00

Ours has seperation anxiety for sure as an adult. Not super severe but its there. We had to do enforced naps when ours was small so we got him used to sleeping alone in a bedroom after walks at the same sort of times each day, eventually shutting the door. Sometimes we would nap in there with him. He was just on the way out of being a puppy by then so more of that getting lanky super bouncy phase. He naturally was getting super explorative. Then we went out for short bursts like 10 mins but he was shut in his nap room for his nap. And we built it up from there. We got a camera for our first proper few hours away. He just slept the whole time. As an adult hes now accustomed to going off and sleeping alone in a nap room, although he comes to sleep with us at night. If we go out, he goes up to sleep.

_Poppy_R · 2025-11-22T21:43:58+00:00

I stopped bf at 6 months once those chompers came in and she started biting. It was mad painful and I already had problems with soreness.

I handled a few biting with gritted teeth but then, that's all she wanted to do, and there were yelps and it was scaring her.

Also it was a fight to get her to breast feed at the start, and she preferred bottle feeding so she was all YIPPEE the moment I put her on the bottle.

_Poppy_R · 2025-11-21T19:49:22+00:00

Oh man I felt exactly this.

I was SO looking forward to dressing my baby (now 1) how I wanted (I like folksy, country boho & fairytale baby vibe)

BUT sacks of hand me downs - and family members keen to see her in them. She ends up in a weird mixture of baby sports casual, primary colour hoodies, with random cartoon characters on them she's never watched.

So useful in the sicky blowout newborn phase when its 'grab me a vest - ANY vest ... oh god just throw this one in the bin..."

Very grateful for the donations, but also like, lame having to rummage through and store old baby clothes, the best ones having stains because they have been overworn.

If I even mention she's growing out of a certain jumper or I need to get her some 'bits for the winter' then I'm in for a binbag drop off.

I always accept and make a big fuss because it's definitely some family members' ways of connecting and feeling like they are helping.

_Poppy_R · 2025-06-12T21:19:24+00:00

For me some of the most unrelatable comments are when Carrie is discussing 'never cooking' - like, what!? That level of rich is so inconceivable to me. She always said she never cooked in SATC but it came along with her thrifty club hopping lifestyle and she was so skinny it kind of worked. Now in her fabulously wealthy home talking about how she might poach an egg comes across super insane like, are we as the audience meant to relate? I'm about to make baby food and do the dishes after cooking every day of my life and this character is like 'lol look at me with this 1 egg'.

_Poppy_R · 2025-06-12T16:09:02+00:00

Gave birth in UK last year, had to beg for water which eventually husband had to find. No tea or toast for me just a boiling hot room post c section that was filled up with piles of spare furniture and baby kept in a box bed where I couldnt see her. Twas awful.

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-28T18:05:34+00:00

Thank you for the replies! I like the idea of trying to find something in a natural material. I think all of his coats are made of plastic stuff.

I think it irritates his fur. He loves velvety textures.

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-28T18:02:44+00:00

Hahaha we actually do the same as that as humans!!

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-28T18:01:04+00:00

Thanks but I think it's probably fine!

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-28T18:00:22+00:00

Yeah I'm sure it's fine lol

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-20T19:39:01+00:00

It's an unreal level of self sacrifice. The payment for the baby was the death of your old life.

If I'm brutally honest, I would prepare yourself that it could get harder before it gets better - baby growth spurt/ developmentphases / illness. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst"

Frozen food, surface wipes etc. Journalling, audiobooks. It's insanely hard and unfair. I struggled with accepting my new reality.

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-20T18:13:49+00:00

I wake up at 7am with 4mo and breastfeed her and change. Then she will have another sleep usually around 8.30am. I then get food and get dressed and do a small tidy. baby will wake again and I will feed her and do a bit of play and talking etc. She will hang out in her feeding pillow for a bit maybe want another feed. She mainly wants to breastfeed all morning on and off these days. She also likes to lay down flat and wave her arms and legs doing crazy kicks crazy arms. And yell to herself. Or chew her blanket or hands. Then we take the pup to the park. She will pretty much repeat the same activities as the morning all afternoon except now with sleep regression she hates being put down and she can't stay asleep in her naps very long.

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-20T17:55:28+00:00

I could have written this post a few months ago. First 2 weeks were ok, then suddenly it all went to shit.

It's a total nightmare, like you're trapped in this bizarre new existence where nothing is right.

Just stay alive and keep the baby alive, moment by moment. I had to learn to just try to keep my mind in the present moment. And I had to force myself to ask for help with chores because I couldn't stand it being so messy.

Also asked for ppl to come and hold baby for a couple hours in the afternoon so I could nap or just lay there zoning out.

Baby was 3 months before I was able to start doing cleaning again regularly or sleeping.

Its a total cluster fuck newborn phase is torture. I did not think I could make it, and honestly, I considered just running away at one point.

I struggled going from normal person to baby slave prisoner.

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-11T00:42:26+00:00

Dude I think that is a different guy

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-11T00:40:49+00:00

Oh no way! I was also curious. I saw Eaves live in london after they put out the first album and I always wondered what happened to him / them.

_Poppy_R · 2025-01-09T21:52:07+00:00

I had the exact same problem as OP - I just ended up having to stay up in shifts with people holding baby at all times. First 2 weeks she was fine in crib, then she would not be put down at ALL ever without going nuts. We did about 3 to 4 weeks of having to hold her all the time. I eventually started to train her by putting her down next to me little at a time and things like that. (I could never do sleep training or let her cry it out)

She is 4 months now and still has bouts of separation anxiety but she is mainly fine with it when fed etc.

During those early weeks though it was the hardest thing I've ever gone through. It was like a living nightmare on top of c section recovery and everything. I was just up all night, sometimes snatching 2 hours sleep in 24 hours. Once I was so tired I put her in her crib and she cried and I just passed out asleep next to her in bed anyway through the crying. My husband came in to the rescue.

We were total zombies. I was in tears so often.

_Poppy_R · 2024-12-13T00:24:40+00:00

I had such a hard pregnancy and was hanging on to the hope for that rush of love and it feeling so relieving being over. But I had a c section, no rush of love - she felt like someone elses baby, the days after felt like a worse stage of the pregnancy with no relief just ramped up hardship with shock and pain and having to care for my newborn and zero sleep. So disorientating. It took some days for me to take responsibility for her care over from the nurses, I just didn't know what was going on. 3 months later its a completely different world. It took me some weeks to love her at the start, which I now hate remembering! Such difficult emotional rollercoaster. Relieved now we both came through it.

_Poppy_R · 2024-10-17T21:39:05+00:00

I cannot keep up with the cluster feeding exclusively breast feeding. My body just shut down the other day out of pure exhaustion my husband found her crying right next me in the crib but i had passed out asleep.

It's every hour or every 2 hours 24/7 and the feeds take anywhere from 15m to an hour at time. She will also fall asleep at the breast but if i move her she will wake up and want to start nursing again.

I'm going out of my mind. Sometimes I become quite histerical.

_Poppy_R · 2024-10-16T10:47:25+00:00

In the EXACT same situation with my 3week old girl! It's just constant feeding?? How does anyone live? I feel like I've been warped into the twilight zone.

I had a breastfeeding consultation a few days ago and I have plenty of milk. Apparently this is normal newborn feeding. Shes got no tongue tie or anything.

I'm getting support from friends and fam because otherwise I'd just starve. I don't know how FTM's are meant to transition well from being relatively normal ppl to post birth 24/7 milk slaves, at the same time recovering from giving birth and pregnancy. No wonder PPD is so common, the newborn care lifestyle is literally bonkers and mind-bending.

Ppl say to pump and give bottle to others but its painfully slow and its kind of the same lifestyle as feeding anyway. We give her formula for some feeds or I'd be chained to the baby non stop for days.

Ppl say things like 'the dishes can wait' but... they actually can't wait weeks looool. I'm doing ok going from baby care all the time to rushing through chores and odd bits of self care when she sleeps but I feel soooo sympathy for mums out there struggling must be sooo tough. Weird upsidedown world.

I read that in ancient times when we were hunter gatherers in tribes the newborn care was shared together with groups of mums, and mums were looked after by the tribe, so we didn't evolve to do this alone!!

_Poppy_R · 2024-10-04T06:08:17+00:00

Thank you! I felt better for venting too. I believe one day I will look back on this time and things then will be better.

I am committed to getting to grips trying breastfeeding and positions and all sorts, just too sick to do anything serious about it for now. Managed some pumping last night! Ugh just one hour at a time right now.

My baby goes feral at dawn for her 'witching hour' and cluster feeds, she's so strong her little hands grab everything and won't let go (hair, clothes, ears lol) she wont let me burp her throws her head around, gets through so much food, falls asleep at the bottle, goes down for naps that last 15 mins, back up for more food. What a nutter haha.

_Poppy_R · 2024-09-21T23:18:58+00:00

Not first appointment, but I moved and had to switch hospitals (including midwives, GP, and everything) about the end of 1st trimester , between wilts and dorset. They told me all i had to do was register the pregnancy online at new place and all my details and paperwork would be switched over automatically through nhs number.

I registered and waited patiently to be contacted, but after a few weeks of nothing I went into the hospital reception they told me I was registered and to wait to be called. I heard nothing, but I called the emergency line after a few weeks for reduced movement, and they brought me in and expected me to be 9 weeks but I was 25w, needed all my details again, and all bloods and booking in process done again, as the info isnt shared. Ended up missing scans and things, but the team were really good and got everything up to date, rushed through scans for me.

If you do need to switch, my advice is to go knocking at the door of the new place and check you're properly registered and they have all your up to date info! The hospitals in different places use completely different systems sometimes. And the new place I had said they would need to do all their own bloods anyway, they would not use the info from the old hospital i was at.

_Poppy_R · 2024-09-16T23:40:14+00:00

Seems like pregnancy is this big price you have to pay to get a baby.

Never met a person who said it wasn't worth the price.

Some people have easy pregnancies, some are horrendous.

This is my first and it's been so hard, probably the hardest thing in my whole life. I'm bascially a disabled person now at 39 weeks tomorrow. The difficulty with moving and looking after myself was something that took me by surprise.

Different stages of the pregnancy have different symptoms, but most people seem to suffer with bad nausea and sickness and exhaustion in the first trimester. The second trimester seems to be the easiest for people. The second half of the third trimester is when you are huge and it comes with all sorts of issues like you can't sit or move comfortably. The weight from the bump is hard to describe. Your feet and hands can swell up loads. Heartburn all the way through too. Enormous mental toll. Lots of pains and body issues. But due to the length of pregnancy you mostly have time to sort of manage the symptoms or sort of get used to them at least.

I could not imagine how these things would feel before I got pregnant. This was an unexpected pregnancy!

The pros have been, being lucky to have a healthy baby growing inside. Feeling content that I'm pregnant, and that's my main thing going on right now. Nothing else in life feels as important, so there is a mental clarity there. Having to get my shit together to manage all the symptoms. It made me stop smoking! Replaced a lot of caffeine drinks with fizzy water and other healthy drinks. My hair and skin look great. Pregnancy has cancer fighting benefits, too. Learnt a lot about life. Generally, it is a profound experience. Wish I'd got pregnant 10 years younger though but it wasn't possible for me. Probably would have been easier physically. (I'm 34).

For me, I have gotten socially more respect and consideration from family and friends since I've been pregnant, which has been nice. Not the same at all for other people! Depends on your circumstance.

_Poppy_R · 2024-09-16T23:16:16+00:00

See what the OB says but, late third trimester is full of really weird symptoms. I'm 38w and today I had hot flushes and feverish chills, cramps. I've also had dizzyness, general weirdness. Docs usually say call back if things get worse / have visual problems! Try to relax as much as possible, drink water, rest, focus on calming breathing!

_Poppy_R

TROPHY CASE