Is is true? moms have no time?

[Sarah10]

Jayden doesn't sleep as much as i expected, he only falls asleep in my arms, as soon as i put him down he wakes up again crying, so it is quite hard to get things done lol

 

[cleckner04]

^^ lol does it really matter? She'll find out when her baby is born anyhow. No matter what anyone told me no one could have prepared me for how hard having a baby is. Your life is never going to get back to "normal" hun. xx

So true!! I have moments that I'll sneak into the pregnancy section and see the girls complaining and I just want to start a thread to tell them it's all downhill from there.

But it's AWESOME! Honestly, most of us are broody as heck right after our LOs are born we just wanna do it again. Even when Emma is having the worst tantrums and I think the crying will never end, I still think to myself that I want more.

 

[moomin_troll]

zanes going thru the terrible two stage so that does make me think so i want more..maybe not hahaha

 

[Gingerspice]

I think having a baby is nothing like you think it will be like. Mine never slept - the first 12 weeks were hell and I started getting depressed as my baby just screamed 24/7. When they did sleep it wouldn't be for long and only with me, so you couldn't do things while they slept as you had them on you/in arms. Even bedtime turned into when they went to bed so I'd go to bed at 9pm with them just so they'd sleep.
I think the amount of non-sleepers in this thread alone shows that the supposed typical '16 hours sleeping baby' is actually not as typical as you'd think. I never went out, only to push the pram to get them to sleep. I didn't want to go out with a child who screamed non-stop. Thankfully it does get easier though, and at about 14 weeks I started to enjoy my baby although still not a great sleeper. You do get a life back once things settle down - and at first it seems like you can do nothing but feed, change nappies etc, but surprisingly changing nappies doesn't take as long as you'd think once you get the hang of it, and even feeding becomes quicker, so hang in there when you do get hit by the train. I am also hoping baby 2 will be a 'typical' less high needs baby!

 

[Rhiannon]

exhaustion is not the word for the early days! i can remember just being on auto pilot.

you know that feeling you sometimes get in the morning that you havent slept all night and your still drained and exhausted? i had that for about 6 weeks solid with no break. rhys woke every 1.45 hrs for the first 4-6 weeks, was awake for about half an hour at a time, so you can imagine the stretches of sleep!! no naps that i could manage to take did anything for my tiredness. i found sleeping when the baby slep to be impossible. your constantly listening out to baby incase they need you and the tiniest of sneezes will wake you up untill you get used to baby. the sleep deprivation has actually discouraged us from having another LO. house work is something that gets squeezed in 5 min intervals lol and showers....?? what are they again, im only just remebering LOL

baby may sleep for so many hours but may not sleep without being held or cuddled. the amount of washing trebles!

as nightmareous (is this a word? lol) as it sounds its lovely though, as hard as the first few weeks are, its so worth it!

enjoy

xxxxx

 

[moomin_troll]

zane didnt start sleeping thru till he was 20 months. he was such a terrible sleeper

 

[NickyT75]

its definitely the best job in the world but it is MUCH harder than you can possibly imagine until you experience it for yourself...

I also have a baby who will only nap on me - which is fine for lovely snuggles together on the couch but obviously makes it nearly impossible to get anything else done

your priorities will change and your life will never be the same again xx

 

[hannahR]

I cant really add much to whats already been said. It is hard and you will soon realise why mums say they dont have a min to themselves! Come back here when your baby is born and let us know how you are getting on! xx

 

[daniandbaby]

After reading this thread who in there right mind would want to have a baby??? lol

 

[MrsGlitz]

When they are newborn you really don't get a chance to yourself. Harry was so clingy that I didn't even get to eat until my DH got home from work at 9pm, then you have to take it in turns because you can't put the baby down, only bath or shower when DH is around to hold the baby, feeding constantly if you BF and if you don't it will be a constant cycle of bottle/wash bottles/sterilise bottles/get more bottles ready. Added to the additional laundry....

I say it got a bit easier around 12 weeks and now I can leave Harry for up to 30 minutes in his bouncer and he will entertain himself.

 

[xxembobxx]

I have 4 children now and every time I think I will be able to do so much with all the time off work. It's not once worked out that way though!
My days seem to disappear. LO is 11 weeks and sleeping through until 5/ 5:30am now so it's not so bad but he doesn't tend to sleep for long periods during the day - it's more like cat napping.
It is getting easier though. BF is getting into more of a routine so I don't feel like I'm a milking machine!
Tbh though most of my time in those first few weeks was taken up with just stariing at this wonderful little creature

 

[Jolinar]

After reading this thread who in there right mind would want to have a baby??? lol

Cuzz when they smile for that first time at you and it's not just wind, it's magic and melts your heart in 100 different ways.

That said, yes you will be shattered and probably pushed to the limit but it does get better and soon you'll forget (almost!) about the sleepless nights

 

[GingerNut]

I have a very straightforward baby - she sleeps a lot, she hasn't ever really cried much (unless she was hungry but that's easy to fix! or with wind, but it was still only maybe 15 minutes a day). I've had a solid 4-5 hours sleep in one go at least every second night since she was born so I'm not usually tired and my house is cleaner than it was before she was born.

But this is still the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. NOTHING can compare you for the impact having a baby has on your life. You're on call 24/7 and no matter what you're doing, you have to be available at a second's notice. Your life will NEVER be back to normal, and you'll love it : )

Have to go, it's feeding time... (and I wrote this whole post with one leg rocking the pram in which she was napping)

 

[JenStar1976]

In the early days it's a combination of loads of things: for me, my recovery was hard, I had stitches and was so swollen that I could hardly move; then there's your hormones - I cried for weeks!! On top of that there's this new person in your life and you've no idea what your're supposed to be doing! It's just trial and error. Once you work out what the cries are for it does get easier. Alex started sleeping through at 6 weeks so that was definitely a turning point for us. You just have to adjust how you do things - if you're in a routine, you just work all your own resting/socialising/appointments around your baby. xx

 

[Sam9kids]

Ha ha im not commenting on this one!!!!!

 

[jojo2605]

Hi hun, I don't think there's much more I can add to what people have already said. But as you can see, what is written and advised isn't quite what happens in reality.

People told me when I was pregnant "make the most of your sleep now, you'll never get any again", always said in gest but with an undertone of a warning! But I just thought "yes I know I know I've heard it all before". So although I'd been told and heard how hard it all was, I really and truly could never have appreciated it until I went through it.

It is amazing and incredibly difficult in equal measure at the beginning. No amount of anyone trying to tell you this will really help it sink in until your little bundle of joy is here and you're experiencing it for yourself though!

ALl the best hun, don't let any of this put you off, it is the most rewarding and most difficult and most worthwhile thing you will ever, ever do!

 

[cleckner04]

Ha ha im not commenting on this one!!!!!

Clearly it can't be that bad.

 

[Mrs Doddy]

I always wondered this and now can kind of see it from the other side

jess is 2 weeks old and pretty much sleeps in between her 3 hourly feeds when I'm not feeding her I'm expressing to feed her by bottle as at the moment will not take to the breast, changing nappies, tidying up, sterilising bottles, eating myself, out of this 3 hour I may have half an hour to myself, however this is my choice I could leave the washing and not tidy up and have more time to chill

Re going out jess is fussy about where she feeds and prefers a flat area so until I can train her into feeding in a normal position I can only be an hour or so away from home, things do take a bit longer to do as there isn't just you any more but jess hasn't stopped us from doing anything that we normally do(apart from the cinema )

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

A newborn may well sleep for 16 hours a day..But that may be 1 hour here and half an hour there. It doesn't mean in one or even 3 or 4 long chunks!! And you'll find that when baby is sleeping instead of sleeping aswell you'll want to get things done..House work or spend time reading a book or being online etc etc. That's probably the biggest factor of mum never gets any sleep. And night times baby wake every so often. But every baby is different so I wouldn't worry to much!

 

[NG09]

I don't think anyone or anything can prepare you for having a baby, like others have said your life will never go back to the 'normal' you remember, you will find a new 'normal'. I think once you accept the fact that you'll have some good days, some bad days, sometimes you will get lots of time to yourself,other days you will be lucky to be able to put baby down, it's very difficult at the start but it does get easier. It's a flippin hard job having a newborn, but just when I get to the point I'm at the end of my tether and think I can't do it anymore he'll smile at me and remind me why it's all worth while.

Don't worry hun, you'll find a way that works for you and your LO x