Did anyone not hate having a newborn?

[roarfeckingroar]

I'm pregnant with my first and quietly excited but having read the postnatal boards and general threads, it seems like everyone talks about the abject horror, misery, loss of identity, physical pain of a newborn / early months.

Is it going to be that awful? Did anyone not hate it? Did anyone enjoy it?

Or have I made the biggest mistake of my life, which is soon to be not even my own life anymore?

Self soothing because they knew I was always there for them if they needed me but encouraging them to be brave

This is typical of the type of unhelpful self congratulatory remark that makes other mothers feel bad. I assume you didn’t write it deliberately to upset other mothers. Please think before posting . 🥺

I've had 2 newborns & loved it both times. They are squishy & cuddly, smell amazing & their development is amazing. It's also very fun dressing them

I loved it despite having very little sleep.

Oh I loved it with baby number one. No toddler to look after so lots of time to sit and feed / have cuddles, strolls in the pram, endless coffee mornings with our baby group.

I will be honest and say that the lack of sleep knocked me for six, however the hormones and happiness carried me through.

I loved the new born stage - although admittedly it was easier when I just had one of them! I've loved all stages of parenthood so far - toddler years were the most stressful admittedly.

I loved my snuggly newborn 🥰 he was hard work but so worth it.
Now he’s a 13 month wrecking ball...

I loved it when my kids were newborn. I just held them, looking at their little features for hours and I loved doing everything for them. I took so many photos. It was a very special time and I felt like I could do anything. Saying that, I did feel a very overwhelming sense of responsibility and had a few ‘what have we done moments’. I think that was just that I now had someone in my life that I knew, if anything happened to, I’d never recover from. That’s a very positive thing, the love you feel for them but sometimes when you’re tired and feeing emotional with hormones it can seem almost like a negative. It’s hard to explain.

Everyone is different, I did know people who seemed to hate having their life changed so much, they resented not being able to be as free as they once were and didn’t seem to enjoy giving the care that their baby obviously needed. We were very ready to have children and it didn’t feel like we were giving anything up for the baby but instead gaining so much.

i did not appreciate the newborn stage enough. I was exhausted. Beyond exhausted, going it alone .

But it was incredible. I loved it. I want to do it again and again!

enjoy it OP, seriously, just sit, tv on in the background, take a ton of pictures and sniff that beautiful smell of newborn!

I loved the newborn stage.... it was so easy. I didn't realise how easy it was however until I had my second. With my first the sudden life change from being able to do whatever I wanted in my free time, to having my entire life dictated by a small baby was quite a tough adjustment. I felt quite hard done by if DH went out in the evening and left me on my own. With my second I had 2 under 2, and found the 9 days completely on my own with dc2 when DH took dc1 on holiday an absolute breeze. 1 baby, that stayed on one place, and didn't require any food other than milk... a doddle! It really did feel like a holiday.

You'll be fine if you go into it with your eyes open. You will be sleep deprived. Your needs will not be prioritised. You will sometimes maybe even often feel overwhelmed. Best tip I ever had was to get a sling. If your baby isn't a good sleeper you can carry on with your day as usual with them in the sling. I did housework, ate my meals, and went for long walks with dc1 in the sling. It was the only way to settle them.

It was really hard, and I struggled.. BUT I was still completely in awe of my tiny baby. Even though I was shattered I loved snuggling him in the middle of the night. Generally, it wa nice being cuddled up in bed with him, watching box sets etc. I think the reason I struggled was my expectations of myself being too high, feeling I should be doing more. If you can be kind to yourself that will help.
Don’t worry, even if it is tough, it’s stoll amazing.

I found it really tough with my first. I was a single parent and hadn't had much experience of very young babies so I'm sure that didn't help. Everything feels much easier with my second, even though looking back she was much less settled. Is almost constantly poorly with something or other and still cosleeps and breastfeeds most of the night at nearly 2. Plus she has next to no speech so can throw a pretty mean tantrum.

I think the difference is that this time around I actually believe that all things will eventually pass. I'm not laid back in my parenting but I know that all too soon I'll miss each stage. And when it's hard it'll soon get easier again. Until the next time 😂

Well I hated having 1 in scbu for 3 wks, and then second was for 10 days. But no I did not. It,s new, exciting, and yes exhausting.

I loved it and hope you do too

Oh I loved it! They don't move, only drink milk (I breastfed) and I was on mat leave so could organize my day as I wanted and baby was all mine to enjoy and cuddle. And going out was a breeze: restaurants, friend's houses, everywhere....
Now he's a toddler, he requires our undivided attentions most of the times, needs proper food (and makes a mess of it), changing his nappy is a battle, when he wakes up he screams and I work full time. Going to the restaurant is a massive ordeal that often requires the two of us to take turns to eat while the other one feeds/entertains the little one.
He's way more fun now but I still look back at my time with him as a baby as bliss.

Everything @RUOKHon said 😁 currently snuggled with my 12 week old willing her not to get any older whilst watching reruns of Family Fortunes.

LOVED the newborn stage!! Definitely was the easier stage by far!!

I love newborns, they are incredible!

Also they sleep and feed a lot so you can just watch loads of TV, they don't make messes. They don't require dinners. You don't need to have any kind of routine and can just eat/sleep/TV/feed/marvel at their downy ears and take pictures, on a loop all day. It's brilliant! And you can dress them in adorable sleepsuits.

Loved it. Yes it was knackering but oooooo the gorgeousness of it! Precious. I was officially lucky in that I lived a long way from
Relatives both times si didn't have anyone interfering and telling me what to do. We just made up
Our own rules and were
More relaxed as a result.
Now the teenage years.... they were tough!

I loved both of mine at newborn, it's hard when your sleep deprived and recovering from birth but they're so sweet at that age! My DS is 5 months today and I'd do anything to turn back time to when he was oh so tiny 😭

I loved it.

One of my favourite bits! Not to quote a cliche but it doesn't say no, talk back or move if you put it down!

I tried to enjoy going for walks as much as possible, used a sling, had few expectations about having to be anywhere and went with it. We started to try and follow a pattern for sleeping and eating ourselves so DD started to get used to dark and "bedtime" as well.

I enjoyed it so much! Newborn babies are magical amazing creatures! I wrote down one sentence in a diary every day of the first three months and it was all firsts - smile, sounds, head up, giggles in the rain. Enjoy your baby. Oh there was tough times but the joy completely covered it.

I loved it and really miss it. They stay where you put them, you can take them anywhere really easily, have endless cuddles and they have an addictive smell.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Although exhausted and constantly questioning whether everything I did was right, I loved the newborn stage. It was when DC reached toddlerhood that I started questioning my life choices

I didn't hate it, or find it horrible, I just thought it was really boring. They're cute and all, but they don't really do anything . It only gets interesting once they can smile and interact.