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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

It takes a village to raise a child?

204 replies

newmummy21 · 13/07/2021 10:40

Bear with me. I'm extremely sleep deprived and mentally and emotionally worn down.

How do you cope with a new baby when you have no "village"? Our baby is almost 3 months and we are on our knees. We have no family help - we are just an exhausted 2 man team. We speak to each other like we hate each other most days (not all... but it's a LOT). It's a constant game of oneupmanship - "I had less sleep than you" / "you had 5 minutes longer in the shower than I did"... etc.

I kid you not, yesterday I started an argument with him because he had a shower that lasted five minutes longer than mine, and this isn't "fair". 🙈

To listen to us most days, you'd think we were sworn enemies. Yet pre baby, we were the best of friends and very strong in our relationship. I am so sad about where this has gone and if it will ever come back. 😥

So my questions are - at what point do you stop wanting to kill each other after a baby? At what point do you get any semblance of your pre baby relationship back? And are we finding it harder because we have no village to help us? Or would most couples be like this post baby?

Thanks for any thoughts Smile

OP posts:
Royalbloo · 13/07/2021 12:01

I tried to do nice things for him in the hope that he would do them too. Make him a cuppa etc. Didn't work for me and he just took the piss but might be worth a try? Maybe have a chat and see what each of you can do to help the other and what you can give instead of take? Best of luck x

Sally872 · 13/07/2021 12:03

@Notimeforaname your responses are very unhelpful. And I have never noticed anyone blame a child for their relationship problems. You have completely missed the point.

Often the change in dynamic or requirements of having a child causing stress in a relationship but not the child. Especially not in the case of this OP.

LondonJax · 13/07/2021 12:05

@newmummy21. The problem with babies, including DS who both DH and I would fight to the death for, is that they don't play by the rules. They don't care if you've not eaten, showered, been to the loo. If they want something they want it now. If they're awake, you should be too. In other words, this wonderful little being throws everything you've learned about structuring your lives against a very hard brick wall.

But it will get better. DH and I worked out a routine which worked for us. You and your DH need to work out yours.

Before I start I will say that my sisters were both working and lived 50 miles away. My mum was 78 years old when DS was born, his other gran had dementia and my DH's family live 600 plus miles away. We moved to a new town when DS was 5 months old. To add to it I had an emergency C-section, DS has congenital heart defect and I got an infection in the C-section! We survived however. None of that is to say 'we all have it tough' it's just to give you some background.

So our routine. I bottle fed, not through choice but DS wouldn't latch on and with everything else going on I gave up (there I've said it). That helped because it meant we could take things in turn. So DH would go and prepare the feed, I would check nappy and change if need be, get DS ready for feeding, DH would take over and I'd go back to bed. DH would feed in another room so I wasn't disturbed. Next feed, we'd turn about. The feeding always takes longer. Could you express for night feeds? Some manage it, others can't but it can be a solution.

Friday night I'd take over the lot and DH would sleep in the spare room so he'd have a rest. Saturday night I'd have the spare room and a lie in. I loved Saturdays...

I used to shower in the evening, when DH was home. I'd put our dinner on, DH would feed DS then give him his bath (their boys time - I only bathed DS half a dozen times in his babyhood). Then I'd go for a shower and wash my hair. That way I could get away with a wash if need be in the morning. I'd make a sandwich and put it in the fridge overnight in case I had a hard day with DS - at least I could eat!

When DS napped, I napped. We'd put laundry in the washing machine the night before and DH would switch it on before he headed for work. I'd haul it out as soon as I was up and it would get hung up throughout the day (if I was having a hard day with DS). That way I didn't have to run about cleaning whilst DS napped away my down time! Hoovering was done by one of us whilst the other gave DS his evening feed. Other cleaning we did between us at the weekend and ironing was done once DS was down in the evening unless I had time.

After a few months, having had the lie ins, the naps when DS napped, DH doing the bath so I could have get dinner ready in peace, DS began to get a routine. I felt better and could do ironing etc during the day. By then DS was our baby and we began to realise he had to learn to fit in rather than us being at his beck and call (until he became a teenager but that's another story!)

The point is, don't beat yourself up if everything isn't perfect. It will come back. These few months has our brain competing with itself. One part saying 'I must look after baby every second of the day' and the other half saying 'the house is a tip, I'm a mess, why can't I do this' all the time. Eventually your brain will start saying 'fine baby, I know your tired/hungry but you will just have to yell for a few minutes whilst I make a cup of tea/go to the loo'.

It's relearning your structure that's the key.

Notimeforaname · 13/07/2021 12:05

Em thanks ,MaverickDanger but I shall decide when I want to stop talking about my point. Thanks for keeping an eye on me though. I'm fine Wink

Notimeforaname · 13/07/2021 12:07

Oh , Sally872 I didn't mean I heard people saying it on this particular thread. I mean I...me, I hear it a lot in life. So I was expressing that here. I'm sorry it bothered you. But I am free to express my thoughts as are you.

newmummy21 · 13/07/2021 12:08

@Notimeforaname

Oh , Sally872 I didn't mean I heard people saying it on this particular thread. I mean I...me, I hear it a lot in life. So I was expressing that here. I'm sorry it bothered you. But I am free to express my thoughts as are you.

Well please do feel free to go away and express them on your own thread - they are irrelevant to mine.

OP posts:
EKGEMS · 13/07/2021 12:08

There's a reason sleep deprivation is a torture method! I had a medically fragile preemie and he needed treatments throughout the night and I went to pick him up in our pitch black room and grabbed him by the ankles! (I was mayor of guilt city that day!) I would get the poor kid sleeping through night and he'd be ill and be hospitalized and the staff would come in and disturb us and we'd have to start all over. I had maybe two hours of help caring for him his first year (besides my DH.)
Hang in there-no one really understands the difficulty of parenting until they've had a baby.

newmummy21 · 13/07/2021 12:09

To all the helpful posters - thank you Thanks

I am slowly reading through all your replies and digesting it. Thank you - it's appreciated

OP posts:
Orangeinmybluelightcup · 13/07/2021 12:10

Babies are hard. I survived by getting out of the house. I went to baby groups, I met people in the same boat, they became my village. We hung out at houses and drank coffee all morning.

Really, it's sleep deprivation that's the issue here. You need to make sure you're both getting an unbroken chunk of sleep, and if not then gradually change things so you do.

My husband really struggled with our second child and got diagnosed with depression, spoke to the GP, did a course of cbt. We weren't a team at that time and really our marriage hadn't been the same since. This was 4yrs ago.

Woeismethischristmas · 13/07/2021 12:11

So hard. I didn’t have help either. The village comes later helping out with an after school pick up, play date, party drop off. It’s reciprocal though so as not to be a cf

Topia · 13/07/2021 12:15

Actually, I’m recalling now that my first son nearly broke me. The true turning point was when he started sleeping through. Then I began to feel human again. The first 3 months are the toughest & after that they start going longer and longer through the night. Hang on in there. It will pass!!!!!

Sally872 · 13/07/2021 12:16

Oh ,Sally872I didn't mean I heard people saying it on this particular thread. I mean I...me, I hear it a lot in life. So I was expressing that here. I'm sorry it bothered you. But I am free to express my thoughts as are you.

@Notimeforaname in that case now that you have inadvertently upset the OP perhaps you should have backed off or explained at first reply from her rather than continuing. Of course people will assume you are talking about this case. Re read the first line of this new mums first post before responding further.

Peanutbuttercupisyum · 13/07/2021 12:18

You need to lower your expectations! Your life will be nothing like the calm organised procedure it was before. Or at least it won’t for a while.
I’m on dc#4 and have never had a village! All my family live more than a 3 hour drive and always have done, and my DH has never got in before 9.30pm. I haven’t washed my hair in a week! My house is slightly grubby and very messy - most days I look a bit cave woman. It’s just how it is with children I would say!

Heronwatcher · 13/07/2021 12:19

Yes it’s hard. But

Heronwatcher · 13/07/2021 12:20

fighting makes it worse. I would recommend a really frank chat when you’re both feeling ok. Also it’s fine to get a childminder to push the baby around in a pram for a couple of hours in a day if that would help?

Peanutbuttercupisyum · 13/07/2021 12:20

And if you’re hungry or need a shower put the baby in the cot and just do it. They’ll be alright crying for a bit. X this newborn bit passes quickly enough x

Heronwatcher · 13/07/2021 12:23

And I do think it sounds like you might be wanting to achieve too much. In the early days all I aimed for was to eat and baby eat. Literally nothing else. Again if you can get a cleaner that will help. And for me getting out for a walk was essential and really helped with baby’s naps (especially if you can leave them in the pram once you get home).

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 13/07/2021 12:25

A couple of things I remember from when ds was young that helped..
Split the night into chunks; I was better at getting up then dozing back to sleep, so I think I dealt with night wakings until about 4 or 5am. His dad was better with early starts, so any time after that he got up with ds, and I could sleep until he left for work.
Ditto weekends. One of us got Saturday lie in, one of us got Sundays. The other person took ds downstairs, and the lie in person got until an agreed time (9 or 10 o’clock I think).

Peanutbuttercupisyum · 13/07/2021 12:28

Re: the resentment towards your husband, I get it. Particularly when they are small babies and you aren’t getting anything back as a reward!

Through years of talking to other mums, it’s often this way. It helped me to know this. It’s unpopular but the roles of mummy and daddy ARE different and the role of you as the mother is more intense. Which is hard because you had the baby for both of you and it’s equally yours. But pregnancy, breastfeeding, maternal guilt..it’s all on you and that is just the way it is. Which during the newborn stage is very difficult. But accepting that made it easier for me and my DH knowing how much more intense it was for me was very very nice to me.
Secondly, as they grow up, the bond between you and your dc will strengthen and make it all seem worth it. My children love their daddy but I am their main parent. I didn’t do those sleepless nights for nothing!
That’s how I see it in my particular situation anyway xx

katmarie · 13/07/2021 12:29

Op I'm glad you're going to see the gp. Pnd is a really tough thing to deal with on top of the huge grenade having a baby throws into the middle of your life. The newborn months are bloody hard. But I swear, it will get easier. And if you and your dp can work together, be on each others team, then you'll come out of it ok. As pp have said having a baby can change the relationship, but for lots of people it is a positive change, you can learn to trust, support and rely upon each other, share an enormous responsibility, but also an incredibly rewarding one too. Dh and I had rocky moments after ds was born, our biggest fight ever was when ds was about 5 months old. But we are stronger now as a couple. And we actively chose to do it all over again with Dd. But it was a series of active choices, to show love, respect, kindness, to consciously dial it back when I was getting irrational. I always made sure he knew how I was feeling, I never hid anything for the sake of marital harmony. But we both did our best to behave like adults through it all.

Dixiechickonhols · 13/07/2021 12:30

It is ok to put baby somewhere safe (cot/pram) and get on with your shower etc. Bottles of formula, dummies, bouncy chairs, play pens are not the devil. Popping them in a pram in garden for a bit is fine. This don’t leave to cry at all /attached to you constantly is not the only way. If you had another few children the baby would have to fit in. 2 adults and one baby should be ok most of time if it’s not try something else that suits you it’s not one way fits all.

elizabethdraper · 13/07/2021 12:31

You need to read the book how not to hate your husband after kids.
Saves my marriage Grin

Dixiechickonhols · 13/07/2021 12:33

Good you are going to Dr. Best wishes. Remember what is best for you us best for baby. You matter too.

Pigeonpocket · 13/07/2021 12:34

I felt like this in the newborn days too. For me, there was a big change after 3 months, another after 6,another after 12 etc. My baby didn't sleep, still doesn't, but how I felt about it changed a lot. Partly I think it's hormones regulating, mentally adjusting to being a parent and things. Part of it was my husband acknowledging my feelings. And reading a parenting book - the book you wish your parents read by Phillipa Perry. It helped me change how I talked to my husband so it was less blaming and more just communicating my needs and how I feel. It's a great book, so much more than a parenting book!

twiggytwoo · 13/07/2021 12:35

I haven't read all the responses but I just wanted to say it does get better (although it might actually get a little worse 4 - 6 months is the hardest for me as you have no reserves!)

I absolutely HATED my DH with baby #1 for at least 6 months - all the similar things you mention, plus felt like I had little or no conversation and we just stopped laughing. It was definitely back to normal when I went back to work.

We've had #2 now and I probably hated him again but it didn't bother me this time as I knew it would pass. #2 is 9 months now and still not sleeping through but it gets easier, they nap, you have more time to yourself, more of a routine. I still deeply resent when DH has more sleep (basically every single night) and I still think he doesn't really get the physical toll of carrying, birthing and breastfeeding a baby - let alone the emotional one - but we are laughing again, and it will be back to normal again.

The early months are SO HARD.

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