Rant

We have my SD for a week (another week later in the holidays) and I am already at my wits end. She is 9 but demands a lot still.

I have a 7 month old baby and a just turned 3 year old. Obviously have our hands full as it is.

She just still requires her dad to bath her, wipe her bum in the toilet!, brush/tie her hair, tie her shoes, and hold her hand to sleep. we already have two children who need those things and more so adding a third into the mix just makes life difficult. Bedtim was really tricky with my 3 year old tonight who has finally fallen asleep but woke his baby sister so now she needs to get back to sleep and is wide awake. At the point where my partner would usually be doing our dinner and closing shift he is now having to put my SD to bed which sets us back massively. AIBU to expect her at 9 to have maybe a few stories and then fall asleep on her own and bath herself and just have a bit more independence as that would help us massively. I feel like she’s so behind others and doesn’t WANT to learn these things when we try and get her on board.

I just feel like she requires a lot and it adds so much to my mental load. I did a food shop of things she would like and she refuses any dinner we put in front of her (I’m not cooking anything exotic just basic kids food as that’s all she eats) and she just leaves the house in a tip, leaving socks shoes knickers wrappers all over the house😩😩😩😩

I guess if it was just her it would be ok but she has unrealistic expectations coming into a house of 2 young siblings. We’ve received messages from her mum saying how she doesn’t get any 1-1 time with her dad (he sees her once a week and takes her to football gives her dinner alone). None of us get 1-1 time with anyone as we are a family with young children trying to get through the days 😅

in our community

Can't breastfeed anymore

Has anyone got any baby feeding things they can post like bottles and pumps ect please I'm so sorry but I can't breastfeed anymore, it's so so painful and I feel so guilty but I can't do it and I only really breastfed for finances as ours are really really low 😭 anything will do thank u xx

colic at 6 weeks

has anyone got any tips on how they might have settled their baby with colic? he is constantly screaming the house down at the moment the poor soul, just want to try anything to help at the moment😢 pic so we don’t get lost 🤍

Does your 2/3 year old like playing touching their vigina?

She normally does it when she is naked waiting to be bathed or dressed. I am not so worried about her doing it at home, as it is a safe place. But i get worried if she does it at nursery or anywhere else... anyone else experienced this and what do you advise please?

Getting Stuff Done

My little girl is nearly 4 weeks old. When I am home alone with her, I am really struggle to get stuff done around the house. I feel like all I do all day, every day is sit on the sofa watching the TV while she's asleep next to me in her moses basket, or feeding, burping and changing her when she's awake.

HELP! When does it get easier to leave your baby alone in a room so you can get stuff done?

At a loss

Hello,

My 11 month old has been waking like every hour and a half at night and I’m struggling, we co sleep and breastfeed , she cannot fall asleep without being latched onto me, kind of a bad habit I’ve let happen so my partner cannot help, she hates the cot we’ve tried multiple times, has anyone been in the same position and actually got more sleep? I’m mentally drained now :(

Please help — colic / hours of crying every evening

My little girl is 9 weeks old and we’re really struggling with what seems to be colic. I’m hoping someone who’s been through similar can tell me what helped, or even just reassure me that it eventually gets better!

She’s generally much happier in the morning, but from around 5pm she can become really unsettled and cry/scream for hours. She squirms, tenses up and seems really uncomfortable. Sometimes it feels like absolutely nothing I do settles her.

Her daytime naps are also awful at the moment. She’ll often only sleep for around 10 minutes before waking back up, despite me trying everything to help her nap. I’m wondering if being overtired is making the evenings even worse.

She’s mainly breastfed, is gaining weight well and feeds plenty. I’ve tried burping, bicycle legs, keeping her upright, rocking, walking around, white noise, contact naps etc. Sometimes something works briefly, but nothing consistently helps.

Has anyone had a baby like this? Did anything genuinely make a difference — probiotics, changes to feeding, something for wind/reflux, changing your diet while breastfeeding, or working on naps?

And if your baby had really bad colic, when did you notice it starting to improve? I’m finding the hours of crying every evening really difficult and would love to hear from people who’ve come out the other side ❤️