Does anyone feel this way?

My entire life I knew I only wanted one thing and that was to be a mom. But now that I’ve been a mom for 9 months old, I’m starting to think maybe that’s not what I was made for. I feel like I’m struggling. Everyone around me seems to have it so much easier with their babies, but for me, I’ve struggled since day one. I love my baby to death and wouldn’t trade him for anything in this world, but he’s such a high maintenance baby. We’ve always had trouble with feeding, sleeping, etc. I see other moms go out with their newborn and I just wish that could’ve been me. But instead I was just worried that my baby wouldn’t eat or sleep, or would just cry the entire time and I wouldn’t know how to soothe him. Now he’s 9 months old, we’ve gotten out a little bit more but it’s still rough, and I feel like I just struggle more than I should. Like maybe I just wasn’t meant to be a mom. I feel like motherhood in these first 9 months hasn’t been enjoyable like it should have been.

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I have felt like this a lot throughout my motherhood journey too. My little girl is 3 now. Comparing is so unhelpful but it is so hard not to sometimes. Things will get easier. You little one is so lucky to have you as their mother x

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Please dont compare to what you see on the surface of others! We all struggle, and prioritising your babies feeding and sleeping is whats important! All babies are different, every motherhood journey is different! Just bcos you feel like this now, it doesnt mean you always will! Being a mum is harddd, and utterly life changing! Its early days, give yourself transition time! I struggled too, mines 18 months now and everything feels lighter and easier now shes walking and communicating! You’re in the depths of the hardest times in my opinion, the challenges will change as you both grow but trust me, you’re doing great and your boy is so lucky to have a mum who knows herself and is open with her emotions! You’ll go far xx

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Sometimes babies just are high maintenance. My daughter was wayyyy higher maintenance than my son. He’s a walk in the park. Don’t beat yourself up. Parenting is hard. Not sure about the people who say it’s easy. Also, 9 months is the worst regression imo. I kept expecting things to get easier and then they didn’t lol

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I felt the same way! When I learned to accept that my baby was challenging and needed more support than my friends babies I started to see my perspective shift. The high bar I had set for myself wasn’t being met in my mind but that wasn’t true. My effort was exceeding that and I just couldn’t see it. We forget temperament plays a huge role for our kids and some just require more support. You’re doing amazing!

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I was able to enjoy a lot more after we finished breastfeeding/pumping. It made a significant difference in how I spent my time during the day. Still exhausted every day but we have fun too.

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Most of us are trying to push through. Being a mom is tasking. It will challenge u in every way…. u have to manage your life and all its challenges, deal with ppd, changing body, mind, soul. It requires alot. With that being said.. i think its is similar to other hard jobs in the more you research from other moms, do trial and error, practice self care and mental stress relief, develop a support system, efc…. the better it gets.

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Just because the infant stage is hard doesn’t mean you weren’t meant to be a mom. Infants are hard. I have a relatively easy guy (13 months now) and there are so many times I feel like I can’t do this from lack of sleep or being worried I’m not doing something right. There’s also tons of posts about these feelings because they are so normal. One thing I’ve found makes it easier is to just do the thing. If it’s a kid friendly space, everyone in that room has been or will be in your shoes at some point. Kid has a meltdown, you walk away from the convo, and you come back when they are settled. No one is going to bat an eye.

I am still working on reading it, but I highly recommend the book “Raising A Happier Mother” that’s all about letting go of what we thought motherhood would be and embracing it as it is.

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I can hard relate to this feeling. My little one’s been an extremely high maintenance since the day she arrived for various reasons and nothing has ever felt simple with her which has effected my ease into motherhood and our experiences of what we’ve been able to do/manage. We’re 18 months and we’re thriving now. I’d say after a year and when she started walking is when things picked up for us. You are definitely in the thick of it at 9 months. What I learnt was not to take any advice or listen to anyone who couldn’t relate to my situation or who hadn’t walked a day in my shoes. Some babies are just easier. X

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with both of my kids I found ages 6-10 months SO CHALLENGING. Especially my youngest, months 8-10 were extremely mental tough and demoralizing. Hang in there!

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