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Antenatal/postnatal depression

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Postpartum Anxiety or Just motherhood?

1 reply

OnMyJourney · 14/04/2024 05:31

Hi,

I have a baby who is about to turn 6 months old and next month me and my husband are going away for a few days where I can't bring her unfortunately so my sister has offered to watch her for a few days which don't get me wrong I am very grateful. But in the last few days I'm having massive anxiety about leaving her, I just don't want to, my sister has 3 kids (they're all in their late teens & early 20's) and she literally thinks she knows everything about raising a child so anything you do differently you get judged for, if she doesn't agree it's a 'I did that with my kids and they're fine' and she has no idea about car seat safety at all and doesn't know the laws around it (this terrifies me!), she lets her kids walk all over her, she is constantly trying to hand my baby off to random people that she knows (but I don't know!)she did that when my baby was 2 weeks old but my baby was a preemie and was very lucky to have a very short hospital stay but still! she tried to send my baby to her neighbours house with one of her teenage children just to 'show them the baby' like no! There's just a lot of questionable things where I'm like... are you gonna do this when I'm gone? Are you gonna respect my boundaries and especially the car seat safety? Is my baby going to be in a safe sleep environment (massively scared of SIDS), I'm having massive anxiety about it but is this normal anxiety or is this more of a postpartum anxiety? Like will I get over it or do I just rearrange this trip? My sister is always begging for us to let her have the baby overnight to give us a break but I just don't need one, I'll stress the whole time! What do I do! I'm so conflicted and really anxious about it all!

OP posts:
Hiddenvoice · 14/04/2024 05:54

It’s absolutely normal to feel worried about leaving your baby with someone else, especially when it’s the first time and for a few days!

What I would suggest is chatting to her about her plans for when you’re away. Get her to come over and try putting your little one into the car seat etc. Remind her that jackets need to be taken off but she can put a blanket on your baby if she needs to. Where is the baby sleeping at night? Do you have a travel cot? You could ask your sister to try all naps in the cot but remember this will also be different for your baby so your sister might do things slightly differently to help settle your little one.

Talk to her about feeling worried about leaving your baby. She will hopefully understand that it’s nerves and can reassure you.

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