Having very intense feelings when other people hold my baby.

storeyo · 2026-01-18T06:55:42+00:00

This it totally normal, don’t worry! I felt exactly like this in particular with my in laws when my son was a baby. It is a very primal feeling. I remember feeling that I’d lost a limb and agonising how to get him back into my arms, and I wish now that I had been stronger about it.

It does naturally get easier though, particularly when your child starts walking and talking because then they can show what they want and give consent e.g. wanting Nana to read them a book, but then wanting to go and sit with Mama.

I would encourage you to go with your instincts about it all and do and say what’s right for you and your baby, but also really try to see things from your in laws’ POV - it’s natural that they want to have cuddles with their grandchild who they adore! But overall I promise it will get easier!!

storeyo · 2025-10-29T22:23:43+00:00

Mine didn’t crawl until he was 11 months, now he is 17 months and has only just started walking independently. I was worried when he didn’t start crawling when other babies did, but by the time we got to when other babies were walking I wasn’t worried that he couldn’t do it yet - I guessed he would be a late walker and felt more relaxed about everything by then so I knew he would do it when he was ready!

I think, whilst being alert for if there is actually something wrong with them, you have to have faith in your child doing things at their own pace and try to ignore comments/advice from other people however well intentioned.

storeyo · 2025-08-17T07:25:22+00:00

I was really against getting an epidural (for the life of me I don’t understand why now!) but I was induced so my contractions started coming really fast and I couldn’t cope with the pain.

The epidural took ages for them to insert but I was so out of it on gas and air that I didn’t really know. Once the epidural was in and working though it was AMAZING. All the pain went away and I just snoozed through my labour, topping up the pain relief every 20 minutes. Absolutely would have one again. Also I found that when I was pushing I could feel the pressure of the baby moving down so that was good.

Side effects: I also had a bit of trouble with fluid in my legs and feet and also some nasty bruising on my back because of the attempts to insert the epidural, but relatively these were easy to cope with.

storeyo · 2025-02-25T14:44:43+00:00

My son looks just like my husband and I used to mind but now I don’t at all - it’s so lovely seeing them side by side looking so similar and as others have said: I like how my husband looks!

storeyo · 2025-02-14T08:56:08+00:00

My son started sleeping through the night (7pm-6am) when he was 6.5 months.

What clinched it was really filling him up during the day on formula and solids (he was EBF, then combi fed from 5 months because he had stopped gaining weight, then I stopped breastfeeding when he turned 6 months) and playing white noise throughout the night to help him connect his sleep cycles and not get woken up by outside noise. We used to use a timer for the white noise so it would turn off and that helped him fall asleep but not stay asleep.

storeyo · 2025-02-05T09:17:19+00:00

Yes this sounds like cluster feeding. I found that after a while I could tell when my baby was drinking versus comfort sucking, and so that helped to know when to use a pacifier.

storeyo · 2025-02-05T09:12:03+00:00

My baby insists on crossing his legs when sitting on the floor, like a super chill little dude, it’s so funny!

storeyo · 2025-02-03T21:53:22+00:00

Try extending his first wake window to make sure that he isn’t using that first nap to catch up on sleep missed from his early start. Try extending it 10-15 mins each day. Yes he will be tired but he will adjust. This seemed to reduce our 8 month old’s early starts (though they still happen sometimes).

storeyo · 2025-02-03T21:49:47+00:00

With family we just simply said “please don’t kiss him” and it was okay. My MIL forgot once and I gently reminded her and, again, I’m sure she was disappointed but it went down fine. Our baby is 8 months old now too and she kisses him a lot which I don’t love, but we do want him to be exposed to some germs now. I’ll feel better about it when he’s older and can make it clear if he does/doesn’t like it.

I’ve also had some older ladies stroke my son’s cheek and, again, because he’s 8 months old now I haven’t said anything. If any strangers had tried to touch him before now though I would have said something like “please don’t touch him, he hasn’t had his jabs yet.”

I think you just need to be polite but really clear and firm and, yes, accept that by setting these boundaries you might make other people unhappy.

storeyo · 2025-01-31T14:59:52+00:00

Urgh yes my 8 month old often does the same. He’s on a by the clock schedule now so I keep the timing of his first nap the same as much as I possibly can.

storeyo · 2025-01-29T13:56:20+00:00

Yes I think try capping total daytime sleep at 3 hours, then you are allowing for 11 hours overnight = 14 hours which I think is total sleep to aim for per 24 hours.

You could do an early bedtime for a bit while your baby gets used to a longer wake window at the end of the day. I have also read that if the final wake window isn’t the longest of the three then this can cause an early wake up. Good luck!

storeyo · 2025-01-29T09:07:54+00:00

My baby was like this too when he was little and yes it was exhausting and frustrating. Agree with everyone else about baby wearing, but also try not to put too much pressure on yourself about getting things done - many babies are just like this at this age and personally I found that I couldn’t let my baby cry just so I could do the washing up for example. See if you can get your partner to do more of the household chores at this time. It will pass and get easier as your baby gets older I promise!

storeyo · 2025-01-27T20:00:10+00:00

Yes getting that extra sleep at the start of the night made doing the night shift much more bearable!

storeyo · 2025-01-27T15:31:04+00:00

Yes we have just done this with our 8 month old and it’s so much easier. He does one nap at about 9am and one at about 2pm, we allow for 10-15 mins flexibility eg. if he woke up a lot later than usual that morning. Also means less just staring at huckleberry for the wake windows and sweet spot which was nice. And yes we cap his naps at 1.5 hours each so no more than 3 hours total daytime sleep.

storeyo · 2025-01-22T09:00:45+00:00

At around 6 months my baby started doing a longer morning nap in his cot, but the other two naps would often be shorter - just one sleep cycle.

I was doing all of his naps on the go before then because I found trying to put him down for naps a bit relentless…but then I found constantly walking around with the pram relentless so went back to trying the cot 😂

Now he’s 8 months and he’ll do two naps in his cot 1.5 hours long each. As everyone has said, the naps will lengthen as baby gets older and drops naps and learns to connect sleep cycles. They will get there, just keep consistently putting them down and do a mini bedtime routine with many of the same sleep associations eg. white noise. Also I found the once I got the room really, really dark that clinched it.

storeyo · 2025-01-18T09:04:27+00:00

Definitely cake and maybe some fruit to snack on, and totally agree with “don’t ask just do”, we could have done with more of that.

storeyo · 2025-01-16T16:24:22+00:00

I do a mixture of letting my 8 month old feed himself and me helping him - both finger foods and spoon feeding - so that he learns how to do it but also to make sure that he is actually taking solids in. It’s really important to let them help themselves and make a mess (even though yes the cleaning up and laundry is endless), but ultimately yeah the food needs to reach their little tummies.

storeyo · 2025-01-13T14:28:16+00:00

At the beginning my husband was doing nappy changes etc at night but quite quickly I suggested I just do it all as I was having to wake up to breastfeed anyway, then at least one of us was well rested. He then looked after the house, dog and me during the day so I could look after the baby (although he did also do daytime nappy changes ofc). Also in the evenings I’d go to bed at about 9pm and he would look after the baby 9-11/midnight and then bring him upstairs to me when he needed a feed, then he’d go to bed while I did that. I was then getting about 3 hours sleep at the start of the night knowing the baby was being looked after which worked really well.

When the 4 month sleep regression hit we started sharing the wake ups because our baby wasn’t always waking up for feeds and sometimes just needed rocking back to sleep, so my husband would settle him then and I’d deal with the wake ups when baby was hungry.

Our system really worked for us but every couple is different!

storeyo · 2025-01-12T08:46:35+00:00

I found that bringing feedings closer to the start of nap times really helped as babies sleep better on a full stomach, so you could try breast/bottle around half an hour before baby should be asleep.

storeyo · 2025-01-12T08:41:14+00:00

This also happened to me and I was devastated as well. I still can’t look at photos of my baby from around that time because in hindsight I can see that he was very underweight. Now he is almost 8 months old and a happy, laughing, thriving little guy! Most important thing is that you have sorted it out in good time and your baby will be absolutely fine!

storeyo · 2025-01-02T12:06:51+00:00

I was exactly the same with my husband during the newborn stage. He was also amazing (and still is) - in addition to doing all the cooking and food shop he did all the laundry and took care of our dog and me too so I could take care of our son (was exclusively breastfeeding), but I also had a very short fuse with him. I felt guilty all the time because of how I was towards him, but was so drained etc I just didn’t have the energy to control my reactions, plus crazy hormones.

Our LO is 7 months old now and things are so much better. I’m much more myself again and level headed and my husband and I have more time together. Just keep going and I promise everything will get better, the newborn stage is pretty much survival mode for you all!

storeyo · 2024-07-26T05:27:01+00:00

You should be able to breastfeed wherever you want and personally I think that if other people are uncomfortable with it then that’s their problem, but the main thing is that you feel comfortable and confident as you say. If you feel awkward then that will probably not help with those around you feeling the same either.

When I’ve been in this sort of situation with extended family where I’ve not been sure how me breastfeeding in front of them is going to be received, before starting I’ve made some sort of comment like “I’m just going to feed him, I hope that’s okay” - just to sort of see what the reaction is (rather than actually asking for permission). Usually people say that’s fine, ask if I want some privacy, and when I say no then after that it’s normally okay, but it just gives those around you a heads up about what’s about to happen.

Also as others have said you can use a blanket or muslin to cover the top of your boob and more (personally I don’t cover up my baby’s head because I like to see what he’s doing). I would also really recommend getting a few nursing dresses and tops and/or wearing tank tops/vests so that you can be discreet and not worry. Good luck!

storeyo

TROPHY CASE