Did you enjoy having a newborn?

[Apregnantworrier]

I am pregnant with a very much loved and wanted baby.

But everyone around me seems desperate to tell me how awful it’s going to be - I won’t have time to eat, sleep or wash. I will hate my body and never be slim again or even have time to care how I look and my relationship will be the worst it’s ever been.

I know it’s luck of the draw as to how easy you’re baby is but I’m so excited for the next stage and to meet my baby and for them to get here safely and be healthy but I’m also looking forward to feeling a bit better than I do in pregnancy and more myself eventually.

Surely (given a lot of people have more than one child) the good outweighs the bad?

This is so true! It's not black and white - like anything in life there's positives and negatives - fine for others to share their opinions but really should be balanced. No one's experience will be identical to another persons

I loved it, everything from finding out right through to the 12 year old we have now. My pregnancy was fairly straight forward although I did end up having emergency c section. The best time in my life 💕

Glad you’ve taken on board all the comments from posters about prophets of doom. 🙄

It was terrifying and brilliant all round into one.

Oh another thing - having a baby definitely put my marriage in the worst place it's ever been. It was a challenge to put it mildly! But getting through a challenge like that has now made us closer and stronger than ever before.

Some people won't experience any relationship issues at all. Some will and won't get over them and will split. It's impossible to say, I'm afraid. Such is life!

Newborn is my absolute favourite stage.

I’ve had 9 babies and honestly, the newborn stage is my favourite, absolutely love it! I’ve had a mixture of babies, some really content and slept lots, some screamed for the majority of the day, but I loved it. Actually found it easier the more I had, you have to be in a routine around the other children. It goes so fast too, so do try and enjoy it 😊

It has really varied for me based on a number of things.

Ds1 - absolutely hated it. I had a very bad birth which I was traumatised by with no time to heal, mentally and physically. Very colicky baby. Missed my old life. Was quite isolated from family and friends as they were all far away and hadn’t made any close friends nearby. Really did not enjoy the newborn period.

Ds2 - newborn period was ok. A bit tough considering ds1 was only 17 months so didn’t get to ‘enjoy’ him as a newborn. Didn’t have the time to just sit on the sofa snuggling him and taking it all in as was too busy. But it was fine. He was an easy baby and the birth was ok.

DD1 - loved every moment of it. Easy birth. Bigger age gap so older boys played together and didn’t need me as much so I could just rest, enjoy the cuddles, have her sleep on me as long as I wanted and bonded with her properly.

Despite the very different newborn experiences I love and am bonded with all my children equally. If you don’t enjoy it that’s ok. It doesn’t mean you won’t later love and enjoy your baby. It’s a short amount of time so if you need to just take it one day at a time and things will get better.

Yes and no.

I found the first 6 weeks very very hard, I had a lockdown baby, I’d had a difficult birth and feeding didn’t go the way I wanted. I had postnatal anxiety and cried a lot. My baby refused to be put down basically ever and due to lockdown we didn’t have much support.

However, even in the midst of all that there were moments of loving it. I loved HER so much and besides refusing to be put down she was fairly easy, so once we’d been embraced the idea she would be permanently attached to one of us (and got our heads round cosleeping) there were bits that I could really enjoy.

After 6 weeks, and then again even more so from 14 or so weeks on up I absolutely loved it all. Got harder again once walking and now at 2 theres some really tough bits but it’s still all broadly wonderful.

I absolutely loved the baby stage. Not so much the toddler stage but then I had 3 under 2 at one point!

I think people like to say things like "enjoy your sleep now" and don't get me wrong, it isn't all roses but it certainly wasn't terrible. Each person is different though.

Hated it. I now have a tantruming, whiney, opinionated toddler. I'd choose this stage every time over the newborn stage. He's great fun! Babies are demanding potatoes who deny you sleep, but it gets easier, and if you're lucky you get an easy one. From 4-6 months onwards they're more interesting and less sentient potato.

I LOOOOOVED the new born stage. more than any other stage/thing in life. I hated being pregnant and I don't much like older babies/toddlers. but new born stage is like being in the best drugs, imo

T'was hard work initially, recovering and learning what to do with a baby. I'd only held a newborn once before for maybe 5 minutes so I was very much a novice.

Can't have been that bad though as we were trying for DC2 by the time eldest was 6 months and she was less than 18 months when her sister arrived.

I absolutely adored motherhood from the second DD1 could smile and onwards. DD2 I loved every second. (Mostly because I knew what I was doing by then!).

High needs baby here and I’ve still found it better than expected. But my expectations were truly rock bottom, so I’m reluctant to reveal the good bits!

Congratulations @HayleyBean !!

I did not enjoy the newborn bit at all. She smelt weird, I did not cope with no sleep and I was so so bored. However, the toddler stage was amazing and we had so much fun, I'd have done that ten times over. Teenage years now, bit of a mixed bag!

I loved it. He was so peaceful and beautiful. I was honestly overjoyed. Yes the sleep is shit but the days were gentle in terms of exercise and I did lots of lying around feeding watching Netflix and reading. It was a happy time for me.

It's amazing and so much easier than when they are older. The cuddles are the best and they are so portable. I carried mine mostly as I couldn't be bothered with prams and I liked having them close. I say that even though my second was a terrible sleeper, but that was just hard because I had a 2yr old, so was up early regardless of how my night went. Lack of sleep is the hardest bit, but sometimes that doesn't even happen. Good luck and enjoy ❤️

I LOVED the newborn stage. My two were both easy babies though.

The toddler years have been a bit more trying...😂

I loved it - newborn was easy it was not being able to walk after 3rd degree tears, infected stitches , mastitis etc and the breastfeeding pain in first few weeks that was hard.

I love newborns. I think I should've been a wet nurse in the olden days.
Struggled with ds2 because he screamed on and off all night, but other than that I enjoyed both my 2.

I have 4 children and I loved the newborn / baby stage!

To be honest, no I didn't. I love DD but I found the entire 1st year a struggle. It was worse when everybody around me was saying how it was the "best age" and how "the toddler stage is worse". I loved the toddler stage and all stages after that (including the teenage years...I hit the jackpot there). If I could miss out the newborn and go straight to toddler I may have had more than 1, but I honestly think I would not have coped with a baby again.

Pish - I loved the newborn stage, he was so tiny and helpless. Everyone wanted to look at him and I wanted to show him off to everyone I was so proud.
He hardly ever cried, he was a lovely peaceful little thing. I never got up more than every 4 hours to feed him and sometimes had to set the alarm.
By 6 weeks he was sleeping through the night.
I loved dressing him up in little babygrows and taking him out.
I did have a tedious 4 stone to lose but that was my own fault for eating for 2 - it took a year.
I was a single mum at 21 so I can't tell you about any relationship troubles but if dad wants this baby as much as you I'm sure it will be ok.
He is the best thing in my life even now he is 40.

I had twins, so it was hard going, but I look back with only fondness. They were born in the winter, so in my memory it's lots of homey-based snuggles.

Loved having my three babies. I just wish the circumstances had been different when they were tiny so I could have enjoyed them more. With my first, a much wanted baby after several years of unexplained infertility then two miscarriages, I fell pregnant when we had just moved to London with my (then) husband's job and I had started a full time teaching job which necessitated 3 hours travel a day.

We couldn't afford for me not to work as we had moved away from my parents who would have helped with childcare plus London rents were expensive. So he went to a childminder from 3 months, from early morning until about 6pm which was really hard.

With baby #2, we had just moved abroad, so again, uprooted from all things familiar plus a new language so while I was lucky and didn't have to work, it was still unsettling, although I did make some very good female friends.

Baby #3, yet another country move but this time I felt more confident, baby was a dream, born at home and I didn't work until he was about 5 so spent lots of time cuddling and feeding while the older two were at school.

I loved them so much when they were tiny. It felt like I was the only person in their world for the first few weeks and that felt so special. ♥️