2 children - coping 🥲

I have a 9 week old and a 2 year old, my partner works long shifts so 4/5 days of the week I’m solo parenting from morning until night (he tends to work 8-8 or 9-9).

By the time I’ve put our 9 week old to bed it’s around now (9-10pm) and I literally haven’t had a moment alone all day. Is anyone else in the same boat? How are you feeding yourself 😅? I’ve been ordering meal preps since my partner went back to work, but I can’t afford to keep it up forever. I’ve just got to the end of the day today and thought how and where the hell am I suppose to cook. For our 2 year old I’m trying to batch cook something on the days that dad is home and then relying on cold foods like sandwiches, fruit, cereal and yoghurts etc. finding the time for everything is so hard. Does anyone have any ideas to ease some pressure with this? I’m open to baby wearing but don’t think starting it in this weather is the best idea! Any help is appreciated!

in our community

At what age is baby ready for sit down restaurants?

My birthday was in the middle of my pregnancy so I couldn't do my typical birthday dinner at my favorite sit down restaurant and we planned to do it after I had baby. He's 7 weeks tomorrow and I feel like it's still too early to go bc he'd be in his car seat most of the time, which tbh he doesn't mind, he loves his car seat but i don't like him to be in there for too long.

Am I broken or is this just life now?

I need some advice or somewhere to vent that isn’t my head or feeling like I’m annoying the crap out of friends. My little boy is 8 weeks old and before a few days ago I’ve felt generally okay. Obviously teary and stressed in places but nothing that I cant handle. The past couple days however have been horrid. I’m trying to tell myself he’s just fussy because of the hot weather (who isn’t son?) but I’m just really struggling with life right now. He’s not even THAT fussy, he still sleeps relatively good throughout the night but when he cries throughout the day I want to just leave and never come back. I know I wouldn’t but the thought is there.
I feel like recently I’m getting way more overwhelmed at the smallest of things. I often feel like I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life and he deserves so much better than what I’m giving him. I also feel so much guilt for feeling this way because I know I have it technically so much easier than others, we have a brilliant support network, friends with babies his age and my partner is off for another 5 weeks. I just can’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t built for motherhood and the thought of having to feel this way for the rest of our lives makes me terrified I’m going to pass on childhood trauma to my little one.

Scared to leave baby with partner?

Is anyone else scared to leave their baby with their partner for long periods of time? My partner is so supportive and he is absolutely amazing with our little one however he is still very colicky and I know my husband doesn’t have the same level of patience as me and will loose his temper. He would never ever become aggressive towards the baby but his stress levels would rise to the max then I feel guilty. Sometimes I could deal with it all day then he gets like this after an hour of being with the baby when he finishes work so then I feel guilty needing that moment??

Help, baby foods

Hi! FTM, my son is 4 months old, I want to start him on SOME baby food before his dad starts getting him on his own so it’s not completely dependent on bottles because his dad doesn’t even know how to make a bottle… I was going to start him around 5 months to give him a month on some foods before his dad starts getting him for multiple days, any tips, advice or suggestions to ease the transition? He is allergic to dairy and have a very sensitive stomach (another reason why I wanted to start giving him some because I’m not sure that his dad wouldn’t just give him all kinds of things behind my back ands cause problems with his stomach…)

SAHM vent

I can never understand why men think being a sahm is so easy when it is absolutely not says things like “I wish I could stay home and play with the kids all day” he works in now collar mon-fri doesn’t get off till 1 am then goes to gym and doesn’t get in bed till 4 am sleeps till it’s time for him to go to work again I never really see him anymore I’m around a baby abd and a toddler all day long feel like I’m going insane now he picking up overtime shifts witch for his job instead of staying late but overtime is on the weekends on the days that they’re supposed to be off so 7 days a week work gym sleep that’s his life I would just like 1 hour a day to spend time if he is gonna keep working overtime weekends then I just want him to cut out the gym for now but I don’t wanna start a useless argument I’m just so mentally drained

My 2 year old doesn’t know how to play with other little children around the same age!!

My 2 year old is used to older children and plays happily with them however we’ve just come back from a little caravan holiday and whilst we were there she was playing on the park whilst another little girl was also playing rather than trying to interact she would come over to me and her dad and tell us the little girl wanted to play with her but wouldn’t actually play and would just stand there awkwardly and run away from the other child. How do I help this?