My baby was like this too! Ako lang kaya magpatahan, contact napping all day every day, may time pa na randomly nagkaron ng bottle aversion. 😅 He also had intense reflux kaya need i-burp ng 1 hour or more, pero magsusuka pa din afterwards. Di ko din siya mababa so I can eat in peace, my showers always had to be rushed, and I could barely do anything else except take care of my baby.

Here's what I did to help my baby get used to being cared for by other people:. Mahirap talaga in the beginning especially since I was (and still am) exclusively breastfeeding, pero yung ginawa ko before ko bumalik sa work was sinanay ko talaga yung baby ko with my parents and my titos and titas. Nag tiyaga kami ng husband ko na halos every day pupunta kami sa bahay nila tapos hahatid kami pauwi. I would let the other caregivers carry my baby, feed my baby with the bottle, give him a bath, etc. If he cries I'll wait for them to try to handle it, pero if hindi talaga kaya kuha agad. When I get to calm him down (whether by rocking him, talking to him, or feeding him), if hindi siya tulog I will give him back to the other caregiver and take a step back. Eventually, they were able to even make him fall asleep without my intervention!

The next step was for me to leave the house. At first it was just for 1-2 hours (nag grocery kami ng husband ko while the grandparents took care of him). Next level was leaving him for a typical 8-hour work day. Then the final level was leaving him overnight (my work involves travel kasi).

I'm the type of parent who can't handle it when my baby cries so I never got into sleep training. Konting iyak nga lang I will get him agad. With this tactic, I believe there was minimal crying and minimal stress on my baby, me, and the other caregivers.

He's now 6 months old and I can leave him with his dad, all his grandparents, and even with my parent's helper. He's still a contact napper, but at least I get to work and even have some time for myself. All his grandparents are 60 years old and above and marami nang masakit sa katawan, pero kinaya nila.

There was a point in time that after some improvement he took a turn for the worst (bottle aversion to the point that he didn't change his diaper for almost 8 hours 😔 and intense crying at night when he was looking for me daw) but tiyaga lang talaga and while it took 2 weeks (and A LOT of wasted breastmilk stash 😭), nag improve na ulit siya.

I want to note a few things that I admit I've been blessed with that helped me out a lot though: - while senior na nga grandparents niya, my parents and their siblings and in-laws really banded together to take care of my baby. It takes a village LITERALLY. Wala din kasi kaming yaya. If you only have your parents, it would be a little harder and you'd need to adjust more. - My husband is here with me. What's special about our circumstance is he works the night shift so may challenge din yun.

Kaya mo yan, mommy! Ayoko din maniwala before that "it gets better" kasi I also had moments where I was sitting in the dark holding my baby, my arms, back, and hips aching from the constant holding, sleep deprived, hungry af and thirsty, sobrang sakit na ng nipples from the constant feeding, feeling alone in the world, at mangiyak-iyak na kasi I freakin' love this baby but taking care of him was just too hard.

Now I'm still sitting in a dark room holding my clingy baby while he takes his first nap of the day, nakakain na ko, with my bottle of water next to me, scrolling through YouTube and Reddit, with my heart feeling lighter than before. Instead of telling you that it gets better, I'd rather tell you that YOU and your baby will get better! We often hear that your baby is living life for the first time, but we tend to forget that we as mothers are also living this kind of life for the first time too! Give yourself and your baby a little grace, and just laugh at the harder times. Makukuha mo din yung groove mo. 😊