To desperately ask what age you found like easier after having a baby?

I suppose everyone is different in what they enjoy and what they find more easy/difficult to handle. Apart from worries over slow weight gain, I found newborn to about 22 months lovely.

After that my daughter got a bit more 'wilful' and I found it much more hard work until she was 6. Although actually she was generally very well behaved. But she hated getting ready to go out and went through a bit of anxiety about not wanting to do new things.

She's almost 7 now and honestly the last year has been fantastic. But, even though I found her hard work, I find myself missing her being little!

Comments like this are unhelpful.

People who breezily declare they find motherhood 'easy' likely have some combination of: family support/regular breaks/spare money/healthy and NT children/supportive spouse/good health themselves.

All privileges that many don't have.

It's not 'as easy or as hard as you make it's

I’m thinking 18, once they’re out of the house…

@Chatonette

i actually lol’d at that! My eldest is 18 and we are firmly stuck with the unemployed lodger! My nearly 4 year old on the other hand is much nicer to around apart from wanting to eat all the time and stick his feet in your face 🤔

3, 3.5 ish
They could walk, communicate, toilet, sleep through

I think it’s different for everyone. Now that my daughter is 2 I find life so much easier. She plays independently happily, can have a little conversation and figure out what she wants and lots of lovey kh hugs and kisses.
18-22 months was a real challenge. Things feel infinitely easier now.

Around 2 years for me

It’s constant change. TBH and not what you want to hear, but it never exactly gets easier, the pressures just change and you sort of adjust. Wishing a stage away doesn’t really do much. There is great stuff and challenging stuff along the whole journey. Shifting mindset to realise that my life was permanently changed, in loads of good ways as well of tough ones helped me. Thinking ‘ I can’t wait to get back to normal’ was keeping me stuck. It does get less physically demanding def but the worries shift - are they doing ok in school? Do they have friends? Etc etc endless. Mine are now 19 and 26 and still occupy about 73% of my brain!

Yes once they start school it becomes easier. Dd is 7 now and I can’t believe anyone with an older child say they get easier at 2!

Dd was a horror from 3.5-4.5 I thought I would drop dead with the stress of it all. Then she started school and it was like a storm has passed. Then just kept getting easier.

I agree with lots of pp, once they start school it's easier, and I breathed a massive sigh of relief when they went to secondary school.

6 and 8. That was pretty much when dc2 started sleeping all night, in their own bed.

Dc1 was pretty chilled. Best bits were 5- 18 m months. Dc2 was a fucking nightmare from birth until starting school. Drained the absolute life out of me with tantrums etc.

I look back at those years of early starts, everyone in the car by 730, home after work, tea, chaos, bed time stories, then back to marking/prep etc and wonder how the fuck I did it.

These days, they leave for school after me and can get tea started before I get home. They don't generate as much washing, but can also sort their own washing. They wake up after me at weekends. I get quiet time.

By 2.5, he was out of nappies, able to tell me if something was wrong or hurt but best of all he slept. He didn't sleep through until he was 2.5 and would wake up every hour and a half. It was like torture. When he was a new born he would cry/scream all of the time. If he was awake he was crying. I once went to the doctors convinced there was something wrong with him as all of the babies from the anti natal group that I was in were smiling contented little souls. Nope he was absolutely fine , he was just " one of those babies". As a toddler he was delightful. My grandson was like a carbon copy, same screaming same non sleeping but once he got to 2 he was great.

100% I often say, give me a toddler any day, much easier and less complicated.

DD1 wasn’t very independent until about 3, whereas DD2 was ridiculously easy from 2 - walking, talking, taking herself to the potty, taking off own shoes/coat etc.

Now they’re 5 and 2.8 and so so simple. Every day out/activity we’ve been to this holidays has involved me sitting and chatting with friends while all the children run off and play happily together. A bliss that seemed impossible two years ago!

You're nearly there OP.

For me...

18 months - finally slept through properly so wasn't exhausted, which made it a lot easier.

Pre-school age (3-4 ish) - got a lot easier and has been getting easier ever since (now 10).

I think it's nice when they start talking so they can communicate with you and you can enjoy doing stuff together a bit more...so you're nearly there in that sense.

I have so much respect for my Mum, who was a SAHM. I'm not and I would really struggle to be (work part time now but was full time early on).

I think everyone is different. I found newborn stage really tough and anything since then has been a breeze in comparison. My friend has found it the complete opposite.

I found mine easier after 18 months, because they were talking a fair bit by then so I knew what they wanted/there was less frustration. I could entertain them and they were learning new things all the time which was fun.

I was fortunate that mine didn't really have major tantrums, just the occasional strop if they didn't get their own way so we didn't have the "terrible twos" that can be such a nightmare for some.

Newborn to around 2 ish then struggled with 3-5. Aged 7 is great. I loved the newborn stage though. Everyone is different as is every baby.

The plus side of finding the newborn stage an absolute horror show is that everything after that is a breeze. I really hit my stride once they can start on solids - so about 6 months.

I think everyone's different OP. I also work full time, so get a lot of "breaks" from parenting. I'd go insane if I were a SAHM.

4-10/11 is pretty good. Then you have to wait until they're about 16/17.

I think it depends how you define "easier". I found the toddler years demanding but not particularly difficult, as I felt like I knew what I was doing. Although now my 6 and 8 year old are "easier" in terms of independence, having more time to myself etc, I find this stage overall much more difficult. The bickering and sibling rivalry is off the charts and it is absolutely wearing. One of my children is very highly sensitive though, so it partly depends on the child. In general people seem to find school age children easier, I just haven't been blessed that way.

My youngest is almost two and a half and it's been steadily getting easier since just before he was two, I'd say.

12-18 was definitely the hardest in terms of needing space and always having to be "on". My son happily plays by himself now so I can take some time to do things or do nothing if I want.

Are you back at work? If not, go!! It is hard balancing the two but you get a brain break. My job is much more interesting than changing nappies and walking around a park endlessly.

I found it got easier at age 3 and then a lot easier at age 5.

I sympathise. I hated that age and found it a real slog... yes they're cute, but they're heavy to lug around, they don't want to sleep, they make a mess just looking at a room, everything is a drama, the tears... no thank you.

1-2 was hardest for me. It also coincided with Covid, so that probably didn't help. There was a big improvement around 2.5 when speech was much clearer and more conversational (this might be earlier for you, mine was a bit late talking). The biggest improvement for me was around 3.5, when he was reasonably reliably toilet trained, followed instructions fairly well, and generally became a bit more biddable, more fun, and easier to get along with. Also you can start to leave them in a room in their own to play without worrying so much.

Can you get any time alone? I'm very much an introvert and found being around my child all the time incredibly draining. I'm sure this makes me a terrible mother in some people's eyes, but it's the truth. At that age I used to take myself off for a four hour bike ride some weekends - utter bliss, and my partner was more than capable of coping without me. At around 2.5 I started having the odd night away in a hotel on my own.

ETA - mine is now 5 and I actively enjoy spending time with him. He's a lovely human! Still hard work sometimes, but fun to be around.

School age. Mine is 16 now and it's a walk in the park. I'm a lone parent. Obviously I'm lucky though that he has no SEN and has made it through high school with very little drama, he's an easygoing kid who works hard.

Well it must be worth it otherwise people wouldn't want more!