Easy baby stories pleaseeeeee!!!

[Iret]

Feeling so anxious. Just want some positivity rather than the ‘you’ll never sleep again’ very helpful remarks.

Even if it they sleep having a baby rocks your world like nothing I’ve ever known, I live in the town I grew up in and streets feel different, homes feel different, everywhere feels different since I become a mum (and he’s 2.5 now!).

Might not be the take you wanted but even if you don’t sleep, you survive, I hallucinated mine slept that badly but even if they’re unsettled newborns they grow and it truly is the best thing to ever (even though he still doesn’t sleep now) he’s the love of my life.

I just have to say bottle feeding doesn't mean you'll get an easy baby.

My unicorn baby was the EBF one. The tricky one was the combi fed one.

Agree on the husband part though. Him being 100% focused on the toddler when unicorn was a newborn helped loads

Mine has slept through the night since about 3 months old, bar the odd sleep regression. He's almost 3 and still has good naps and sleeps through. So it does happen! I think he compensates for it by being the most energetic human being I've ever met when he's awake though 😂

Expecting number 2 in Jan and not cope how we'll cope if he/she doesn't sleep as well...

Mine are 9,7 and 4.

My first was a very easy baby. Was sleeping 10-6 by about 10 weeks. Was happy, content, weaned well, met all his milestones. He's still a very chilled, laid back and easy child now. He is very academic, an absolute font of knowledge and one of the most eloquent children I know.

My second was a wild beast. Cried for the first 6 months (undiagnosed CMPA so not her fault) but even once diagnosed she was not an easy baby. She is still the child who is most of a handful but she is such a magnificent child. She is always busy and active and on the go, but she is also kind and nurturing and probably the one who is most happy to share with her siblings.

Third child was taken to neonatal after birth and diagnosed with a rare genetic condition when she was a week old. She was technically an easy baby as she never cried, was very hypertonic so didn't do much for her first 6 months. She was tube fed which was if course a lot of work (I was pumping breastmilk) but she had to be woken for feeds etc. She had significant delays so her little personality didn't shine through until she was older. She is a very sunny and easy going child now though. She is such a character, everyone knows her, she is so friendly and warm - she is doing well and just about to start reception!

I had two. One was very hard (high needs SEN) and the other is asleep next to me right now, she is the easiest baby, just content with milk, snuggles, being put down in her cot, everything I do for her just seems to work and she’s a very happy soul. And she doesn’t have any serious medical issues and isn’t in constant pain which is so lovely to see. My oldest is doing a lot better though as a toddler. I love them both very much and hope my oldest’s life stays smoother as he gets older.

it depends what you mean by easy. my DD was an absolute dream in the daytime never cried, napped anywhere, could take her anywhere and she'd happily chatter away to anyone. But the nights were the opposite, she woke every hour for the first year then every 2 hours after that. She still doesn't sleep through at 3. She was a terrible teether at night, lots of screaming. It was like having two totally different babies!

Best advice I can offer is when it comes to feeding there is no normal! Don't Google "is it normal......," look for wet nappies and weight gain. I have 3 kids the first was fairly easy in hindsight but at the time it seemed hard because it's a bit of a shock when you have a baby. Second was easy, third was hard.

We were so lucky; from about 3weeks old my dd did a 6 hour sleep so we gradually shifted the long sleep round to 12-6am which felt like a night's sleep albeit far too short. Felt much more human. You'll find a way through; it is a big culture shock but a lovely one

This pretty much covers what I wanted to say. Ive got 3 kids. I chose not to sleep train, so I didn’t really sleep properly for about 6 years. And if I could turn the clock back to the day my oldest was born and do it all again, I would, without hesitating.

My baby slept like a dream..Still does and he's 16 haha!

My girl is 4.5 months and she was brilliant until 4 months. She's been a bit of a bugger for a couple of weeks - not with regards to sleeping through at at night, she's still doing that 90% of the time, but bedtime has stretched from 9pm to 11pm a few times and she gets overtired and we have tears for an hour or so, which is frustrating when there's nothing you can do to help.

She woke once in the night until about 3 months, then dropped her night feed and slept through. She (generally) goes to sleep at about 9pm after her last feed and wakes between 7am and 8pm, has a breakfast feed and goes back to sleep for an hour.

Main issue with sleep in the early stages was me sitting up all night watching her! But that was entirely on me. She was sleeping quite happily!

We have the odd whingy day, but then so does the 11 year old 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think we've been very lucky, but also we haven't tiptoed around her and she has very much slotted into an already busy household (me, DH, DSD11, DSD17 and two dogs). She'll happily sleep in a light room with us all milling around and the dogs doing their thing. If she'd have needed quiet and darkness for a sleep, she'd have been buggered!

I had/have what I'd call an easy baby. To me, when I say that, I mean there were no concerns, colicky issues or allergies. She fed easily and I produced enough milk without having to top up in any way and without pain. She was also a quiet sleeper, so no grunting or thrashing around. I was also happy heading out for walks with her strapped to me and cuddling up on the sofa for long hours of feeding.
I had friends with babies who grunted and screamed, were allergic to everything so that mum, due to feeding, had a very restricted diet, friends who couldn't feed etc. those challenges couldn't be avoided but definitely made the journey a little bumpier than they'd hoped for.
Congratulations and enjoy those newborn days. They last forever while also flying by and being nothing more than a hazy memory!

You're baby is going to be the cutest baby ever! (Biological thing, even if they look like churchill as a mum you feel like you never saw a more beautiful child). So even if they do wake up at night, they're so pretty and cutethat it won't be as bad as you think.

What utter bollocks.

Both of mine have been very easy because that’s just their nature.

If you do get difficult babies OP… the benefit is that the toddler stage will seem a breeze by comparison!!

I have 3 DC and easy or not or any variation in between, the biggest shock to me was learning to always be “on”. Going from only having to sort yourself out to suddenly just thinking about how to keep this tiny human alive and happy and nurtured was a big shock to the system. It’s that adjustment to the new normal.

I have two close friends who gave birth recently. They both said it’s fine. It’s all fine. They’re sleeping and the births were fine and they’re feeling fine and it’s all fine. I don’t know if I believe them or not. Perhaps they are fine. I hope so. I felt horrendous after each birth, like I had been hit by a truck. I struggled with breastfeeding and the lack of sleep and birth recovery. Hearing that they’ve apparently sailed through it makes me feel like there’s something wrong with me for finding it so hard. DH is a very hands on father but regardless, I just felt awful. So I don’t know - I’m sure there are women who do genuinely find it a breeze but largely, I would say some people have broader definitions of “easy” and maybe we should encourage more authentic conversations about their experiences. It’s ok to find it hard because it can be!

My DD was a really easy baby. They do exist! Slept 22 hours a day from day 1 up to the first 6 months, when she slept 'just' 16! I thought there was something wrong with her. I never ever had to get up to her in the night. I was so worried I went to see health visitor about her. HV said nothing wrong. There are plenty of babies that just sleep. We just don't hear about easy babies.

@JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn did you not have feed her during those long sleeping hours?

With my first DC, the night we took him home, he slept ten hours. I was overjoyed as I was exhausted from a 40 hour labour. The HV came round the next day and asked me how many feeds had he had during the night. I answered none and she wad horrified - said he should have had 3 at a minimum and he was likely dehydrated and too hungry to cry. She sent my DH out for milk whilst I sat on the couch and cried whilst she hand pumped my breast for colostrum. I was distraught as I hadn’t realised they needed feeds very 3 hours and after that, spent a short period of time where I would obsessively note down time of feeds and length of feeds.

I know lots of people including us who had easy babies but we don’t really say it as we get accused of lying!

I have had one easy baby and one nightmare baby so I don't think people are lying when they say they have an easy baby but I get really, really pissed off when people say that they have an easy baby because 'we co-slept; we are just so chill; we just go with the flow' blah blah blah.

No. You got lucky. There was not a single bit of difference between how I approached raising my two babies but one was incredibly easy and the second almost killed me, she is a joy now but even my MIL who is the most no nonsense, deal with anything type person you can imagine could not deal with her.

So yes easy babies do exist but it is 100% the luck of the draw.

I actually think this is one of those things where it totally depends on the baby and sometimes isn’t as necessary to wake the baby to feed as other times. Our babies both slept at night for 5/6/7/8 hours from birth and with my first baby, I woke her every 2-3 hours to feed but with the second, was far more relaxed and let her go for longer in the night from birth. They were both big babies - over 9lbs, full term and actually I think my milk supply was much more ready with number two so feedings were shorter but more efficient. For us, it made more sense to let her sleep a bit longer through the night from birth.

for small babies / premmies / first babies where you’re getting a milk supply up im sure it’s more important for them to feed regularly and 10 hours is too long but I don’t think there is any harm in waiting a bit longer for feeds if your baby is otherwise healthy and has decent wet nappies etc

@GorgeousLadyofWrestling I sleep fed her every 3-4 hours during the day and evening but left her to sleep during the night.

Mine both slept x2 4 hour blocks overnight from the day they were born and only got better. My eldest was sleeping 8 hours from 6 weeks and 12 from 4 months, totally uninterrupted as she sucked her thumb. We gave the younger one a dummy as he struggled to drop off and whilst he followed the same sleep patterns as his sister, he needed that replacing every bloody night until he learned to do it himself at 6 months old! Both bottle fed so no concern with what they were getting and advice was 4 hours between feeds initially (if not demanding it before then) but no need to wake once they’d regain their birth weight, which in the case of DS was day 3 when we realised he hadn’t actually lost any but had gained instead! And both very content happy babies willing to go along with whatever, nap in the pram etc.

Let’s not talk about their behaviour as toddlers though, they will ALL have their tough phases 🤣

Bollocks. I had 2 "easy" babies. I honestly had no idea what the fuss was about. I do appreciate that not all babies are like this though.
My advice is don't listen to advice 😀. Even though you have no idea what you are doing, have confidence in your parenting, you've got this.
I parented very differently to my friends and siblings, I had routines, dummies, swaddled and always put them in their moses basket to sleep, absolutely no co-sleeping or sleeping.
I watched a lot of baby/ child behaviour programs whilst pregnant, the baby whisperer and supernanny etc, there was even a Mumsnet one where Carrie and Justine visited Mums to help out. I learnt how to breastfeed from these. Cherrypicked ideas to help me when the DC were born.

The thing is, when they’re born they don’t know what’s day and what’s night, so they wake up every few hours, I found it helped to try and sleep when they slept. By about 7 weeks both my kids slept from about 11pm til 5am which was pretty manageable. I loved the time when they were babies and I’d do it all again tomorrow if I could, do not fear OP, exciting times are ahead x

My second and third were easy but maybe I have that perspective because my first was difficult! No family help at all and 2 days nursery from age 2 ish.

Second and third both had very calm entries to the world (ELCS) and sleep amazingly and very chilled babies.

Second had reactive airways and some hospital time for that. He also was very very refluxy, a crazy climber and loved to scream for the fun of it. Sooooo happy though.

Third is 5 months old and was in a pavlik harness for 8 weeks (May have to go back in it), and had to go back into hospital as a newborn for jaundice.

So, my very easy babies were not without their problems. But the adrenaline and happy hormones from birth tend to see me through the newborn fog. And key is, they SLEEP. You just put them down and they sleep. I am SURE this is because of 2 things: I did this from day 1 at least once a day with both of them. And they had no stress/aches and pains from birth. And maybe because they never had my whole focus as they’re not first-born.

DC1 was born in 40 mins, induced, forceps (no pain relief, woo! 3c tear and episiotomy for me), had a resulting torticollis (could only turn head one way) which made feeding a pain. Plus he had a bad tongue tie which no-one picked up on until we moved to a new county. Ended up a failure to thrive (90th centile down to 2nd centile by 12 weeks. Breast is certainly NOT always best). He had to be pinned to our bodies a very specific way, and shhed and patted very specifically in order to sleep and then dropped all naps for his 2nd birthday. He’s 7 now and still struggles to sleep and still needs to be moving all the time.

But I STILL loved his newborn days.

Its very unfashionable to enjoy motherhood these days it seems. The negativity is so draining, I agree OP! Good luck, it can be great.