Alone with baby for a few days

I know I’m such a wuss and lots of parents do this all the time but I’m alone with my 3.5 month old for a few days. Any tips and tricks everyone has used to help?

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My husband worked away when my baby was around the same age and honestly the best thing I can recommend is a strap! Will keep your hands free and allow you to do things like clean, cook and put on a wash etc! For things like showering I would often just put my baby in his bouncer and put a fidget spinner on the bath so he can play with it or wait until my baby was napping put the baby monitor in a sandwich bag and bring it into the shower with me. Another thing I found very useful was bringing him out a walk everyday - breaks up the day for you both and also helped my mental health!

Best of luck 🤞🏼

I’ve been away from my husband for 1.5 years now. He visits when he can. We have a 4 month old. I was preggo alone and am now taking care of little one alone. You just do it babe lol when life gives you circumstances you just endure but here are some practical tips:

Sleep early- mine sleeps at 7 so I tell myself to be in bed by 10 no matter how much I wanna doom scroll on social media

Make sure you’re okay for night feeds- if you’re bottle feeding pre fill bottles before hand with water and just add formula. OR get the momcozy bottle warmer that’ll keep the bottle warm overnight so when baby wakes you can just feed instead of waiting

You can start sleep learning your baby now! Im so glad I did this because now my baby puts herself to sleep 😭 huge win for me. My other LO is attached to me and cannot sleep without me and I think it may be because I didn’t sleep learn + train her

Are you working ? Is family able to help baby sit?

Shower either when baby sleeps or bring baby with you and put in the bouncer

My partner works nights and he only got a week off when she was born. I was terrified at start but it got better.

I would keep a routine like bath every night before bed (it took me a while before I was comfortable doing it by my self).

Go to bed a little bit earlier just to calm down and you also will be able to get more rest if baby wakes up a lot.

Have a baby camera in room (I have the one that connects to the phone as they were cheaper) and if u want to leave room for a bit you can see baby and not be paranoid.

I don’t know for you but I still keep my baby in our room due to being worried not hearing her at night so I’m working on putting her in her own room ( she’s turning one in 2 weeks 😅)

During the day, some screen time let me enjoy morning coffees or if I needed to do dishes. I used to put my baby in the swing and have hey bear on for a little.

Baby carriers are really good but I find myself struggling to grab some things etc (I’m quite short so that might why😂)

If it’s possible make feeds before (nights) or have everything prepared in room like formula, bottles, hot and cold water. It’ll make everything easier and super stuff close to you too.

Also going out just for walks will help a lot. It’ll calm you and the baby down if not settling and fresh air is good to help them sleep later (not sure how but it worked for us lol)

It may be overwhelming at start but you’ll get a hand of it and feel more confident sooner than you expect 🤍☺️

Enjoy the rest my partner was away for 5 days from our 4 month old and my parents away at the same time. It was great having the bed to myself and early nights plus no one else's mess to clean up after the house had never been so clean! I did miss my parents popping round to see us in te day and chats on the phone to my mum though.

I planned my days so I saw other people and pre prepared meals so I could either pull them out the freezer or just cooked like chicken wraps with my veg all chopped ready while she napped. We took the dog out twice daily in her sling, attended baby groups that I know tire her out like swimming and sensory so I got some time to myself after. We met up with mum friends and their babies too for coffee so I didn't feel lonely. I shower with my baby in her bouncer anyway and give her toys to hold but she prefers my clean bra or vest to.p straps to hold up. She comes everywhere to do washing, dishes anyway in her chair and we chat.

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He was so unresponsive to sound that we just had his hearing tested concerned he was deaf. They found that he could hear so he is just choosing not to react to any noises or sounds.

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I don’t want to just slap a label on him, but I do feel that there are real concerns. All opinions welcome!!

Routines?

When did you start to introduce your baby’s routine? Do they just have a night routine or full day routine? Wondering when I should start this e.g naps at the same time everyday.

Any routines you have that work for you, please let me know them with timestamps. my baby is 6 weeks and just wondering when we should start them?

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I’m seriously considering seeing a lactation consultant because I don’t understand why he can’t hold down breastmilk but can formula. I use soy formula since I’ve used it with my daughter and I’m thinking it might be due to not getting milk coming in for a few days so I had no choice but to give him formula, but now even if I take breaks in between feeding him breastmilk to burp or try to mix breastmilk and formula, he spits it up sooo much. I’m ready to just give him just formula because I’m worried about him not eating enough

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I think Motherhood has made me more bitter than I realized…

This is such a ramble but I don’t know where else to put it all.

I’m four months in and I don’t really have hobbies right now. I don’t do anything for myself except maybe doomscrolling or listening to a podcast while I breastfeed my baby. I used to craft and have game nights with friends. Activities that usually are at least 2 hour stretches. Now if I have an hour free my mind immediately goes to baby, or doing something in the house for baby.

And I thought I didn’t mind. Like I knew postpartum could be very mentally consuming. But I think it’s altering how I view people around me and it’s prodding at my relationship with my husband.

He spends most of his time making food for us, looking after our dogs, playing with the baby, ect. But he still has time for his hobby. Spends maybe an hour a night on it. Even adapted to using a bot for shopping for his hobby after a certain incident where we had to have a heart to heart after he left me home alone with the baby for hours during a busy workday (I work from home) to shop for his hobby.

And yet there’s like this little green eyed monster in me that rages every time I know he’s running off to start up the bot. Even though I’m the reason he does it this way.

We took a family trip last weekend to see his best friend and their kids and let them meet the baby. He brought the laptop. He’s always brought a laptop on trips and it’s never been a problem to me before. But one night we both woke up while the baby was still asleep, and he wandered out of the room. I tried to fall back asleep but couldn’t. So I went to the kitchen to try having something warm to drink to settle me. And he was there at the table running the bot from his laptop. I flipped out at him. But there really wasn’t reason to. It’s not like I needed help with the baby and he was ignoring me. He wasn’t avoiding our friends. He was just awake and unable to sleep and found something to do with his time. Yet my snap reaction was “why the hell would you do this on a family trip?”

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the less complete sleep from baby’s middle of the night feed? My brain being just consumed by baby? Maybe I’m not as over that shopping incident as I thought? But I’m just so annoyed at his hobby right now. The green eyed monster thinks “you could be using that time differently” but realistically to do what exactly??? Stare at our baby in the dark???

I spent probably an hour apologizing to him after I snapped. And he’s of course hurt and frustrated because I said some very mean things in the moment.

I don’t want to be this jealous, angry person. But I also don’t know how to find time for myself in this right now outside of basic hygiene. It’s like I’ve forgotten how to be myself, even if just for an hour.

Maybe I need a therapist.