Mamas with depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders

Has the new government rules on screen time stressed anyone else out?

Screen time reliance was already stressing me but I'm home alone as many of us are...I have no village and a very full on and demanding boy. My son is 19 months and in a really hard phase whinging and clingy wise....we don't do iPads and tablets (unless I absolutely have to if he's throwing an absolute fit having a nappy change and I don't want shit all over the wall!)
We do however end up doing teletubbies and dancing fruits during "high stress times" of the day. Usually cooking or if he's having an awful meltdown...popping teletubbies on means he smiles and relaxes, and I can get our food cooked and the kitchen tidy.
In the evening we allow him another half hour whilst we make food if he's in a particularly demanding mood and wanting to be held the entire time. Then we switch off teletubbies and put something soft like quiz shows or comedy on for my partner and I and we play with our son at the same time. He usually zones the TV out if it's not his program.
I feel so guilty for every second of screen time now. By the time he's finally gone to bed at 9-10pm (he fights sleep like crazy) I just have to fall into bed myself. My partner can stay up watching his TV but I can't make it past 10 (proof that being a stay at home mum is harder than a regular job much!?)

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Gov can shove it up their ass. Don’t know crap, especially when running the country shit. He’s YOUR child if you want him to watch something to de stress then do that don’t listen to what they say. Your child you do what you want not what other people advise. My little boy who’s 6 months watches dancing fruits, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, ms Rachel and it helps me get stuff done around the house and I’m gonna stick to it as it helps me and helps him as calms him down too.

Whats this? And what country?

Pretty much agree with Louise here.
My 4 yr old is full on, the only way I can get him to sit still and chill out or for me to get anything done is by popping something on for him on tv.

I myself get overwhelmed and overstimulated really easily at the moment with my 9month old being super clingy and it’s for my sanity on non-preschool days!

No I’ll do what helps me 😅 some days we watch more than others but it’s just me and if I need anything done and ms Rachel doesn’t mind giving a helping hand I’m not going to worry 😅

Remember it's not rules, it's guidelines 🫶🏻 personally I do limit screen time (most of the time) and there's only a few different, educational/lower stimulating things we watch at the moment, plus one of us is always watching it with her and we usually interact through it. That being said, some days are ROUGH and the tv ends up on for most of the day 🫠 and I absolutely do not judge or shame any person that needs to use screen time for their sanity, sometimes you have to do what you have to do! Raising kids is HARD and if what you're doing is working for you and your family, fuck what anyone else has to say about it 🫶🏻

I feel like the government should focus a little more on all the violent and sexual crime happening over there instead of mothers trying to survive entertain their kids

TV time is fine, you can see and monitor what they're watching, tablet and phone...are you observing everything they're putting on?
I have no issues with my son watching TV, he'll often turn it off and want to play and we spend lots of time walking and outside so 🤷🏼‍♀️

I could be wrong because I live in the US but based on what I was reading, they are just giving a suggestion/guidance. They don’t know your situation and you should do whatever you feel is best for your child. I have a 15 month old and some nights he will get extremely clingy or just very worked up when I’m trying to make dinner and I’ll have to put a video on the TV for him for about 20 minutes. I don’t love having to do it, but he will be okay if he watches some TV sometimes.

we use screen time as a tool in my house! strictly educational children’s television, or my daughter also likes to watch nature documentaries. when i NEED to do something (switch/fold laundry, do dishes, cook, or even just have a second to BREATHE), i put something on for no longer than 30 mins. YOU are your baby’s mom. YOU know what is best for YOU and YOUR child. the government is not raising your baby, YOU are. so if you feel like it’s ok, do you girl!!

in our community

No sitter but cant let myself go into postpartum depression

Brought my little girl to my lash appointment she was so well behaved thank god !!!! Any other mamas end up bringing their kid to their maintenance appointments ?

Cancelling Easter…

So my step son (11) lives with us full time we’ve started with an issue of him stealing little stuff from school, taking his brothers clothes from his mums here without anyone knowing ect but now
He’s also got the habit of taking chocolate and crisps out the kitchen to the point of he’s eating all my 1 year olds snacks like the 6month+ wafers and then he’s got no snacks. I’m buying loads of stuff to last us the month and he’s going through them within less then a week 🫠 (he never gets told no to snacks either unless it’s just before a meal then he gets told to wait until after hes ate)
He has now gone through all the chocolate we hid for Easter that was also his two little brothers and he’s gone through the stuff my mum brought round for them. So now iv got just over a week with hardly any money to try and get all the Easter stuff back. We’ve sat and spoke about it and why he feels like need to just take and we get a “i don’t know” or “it’s just snacks”

My thing is should I re buy him Easter stuff or leave it as a “you’ve already had you Easter early behind our backs” he’s not missing out completely because he has Easter at his mums but I feel like there’s nothing more we can do other then put locks on cabinets so he can’t get in them but that’s just stopping him from getting to the thing he wants not necessarily him learning 🤷🏻‍♀️
My partners just in that “can’t be arsed” “just replace it” where we have 1 child together and 2 step children and a baby on the way so just constantly going out and replacing stuff really isn’t happening ☹️ he’s agreeing with not giving him anything for Easter but I feel guilty about it but he has teqnically had his Easter + more…

We have also spoken to his mum about it and she just says she has locks on the doors and she did it as a kid and laughs about it which just feels like shes validating what he’s doing.

Sorry for the rant just wanted to see other people opinions and views as I feel so guilty to cancel Easter for him but at the same time we don’t have the money to re buy everything he’s gone through 🫠

Am I doing something wrong?

I went for brunch with a new mum friend, both our little boys are 7 months. My LO would not sit at and tbh he rarely does, he had just had a feed and nap, I also offered him a banana which he had half of and convinced him to play with multiple toys but he either wanted to bounce on my lap or for me to walk around with him and eventually got cranky/whingy. I wasn’t able to finish my food. The other LO was sitting calmly the whole time and chewing on his teether. I even offered my LO a teether. Am I doing something wrong, am I spoiling him by picking him up constantly if he’s not crying and just whinging 😅

Is yogurt enough breakfast for a 7month old?

I'm really struggling with weaning and feeling like I'm failing my child.

I've always just been a cereal for breakfast skip lunch kinda person.

If you have advice or easy ideas please drop them below.

I'm also struggling with PPD so I'm really struggling with motivation when it comes to cooking etc.

Feeling guilty for resting

This may sound silly but if I ever get a chance to ‘rest’ or have 5 mins to myself i have this guilty feeling that i should be doing something baby related? Am I the only one?

I have always been quite an organised person so when it comes to babies nap time I don’t usually have any tasks to do. For example, he’s having a nap right now and I’ve made myself a cup of tea and sat down on the sofa, and I feel like I shouldn’t be doing this. Am I being silly ?

MIL making me feel like I’m not doing enough

Just wanting to rant/ see if I’m feeling touchy!
Since my LO was born, we have suffered with extreme reflux which is now getting treated and has improved so much. I have massively struggled with PPD/PPA. I feel I’m constantly running on fight or flight (like the most of us probably). However, I’m getting comments from my MIL that makes me feel as if I’m not doing enough for my baby.
Due to his reflux and my personal issues, I haven’t wanted to take him to baby classes/ leave him with his grandparents.
She will make indirect comments to my LO ‘is mummy ever going to take you to a sensory class’
‘You want a sleepover don’t you’
‘Mummy and Daddy need a break from you’
These are just a few comments that I can remember/ stuck out to me.
I take him out pretty much everyday either to the shops on a walk or I’ll go to a coffee shop/ lunch with my friends and own mother. - I feel quite accomplished when I do this as it is quite hard for me to feel up to leaving the house. I do sensory etc with him at home and entertain his wake windows.

Just to add! She is very much involved in his life so I don’t think she feels left out as she will herself take him on a walk, look after him for an hour.
I now feel up to taking him to a class as he seems happy to lay on his back so I booked one for next week and happily said to her today that I have booked one! Which I am rather proud of myself for doing. I was given a comment ‘finally’.
Sorry for the long post! Please let me know if I’m being slightly dramatic!