Stressed all the time

[ollie2]

Can someone please let me know i am not on my own!! I have a 6 week old DS but i still cant relax and enjoy being a mom. I feel soo anxious all of the time and worry if i am doing the right thing. He is a good little boy who feeds well and doesnt whinge unless there is something upsetting him but still cant relax. My current thing is when i should start to put him upstairs to start a night routine. at the moment i bath im at 6.30 then feed him at 7 but he is downstairs with us till we go to bed. i feel i should be enjoying being a mom but i cant.

you're doing the right thing, he's only tiny, it's nice for himto be in the same room as you.

Please be assured that all he needs is your arms, a source of milk (you or formula) and a clean bottom. That's it for at least the next month.

thanks, i was really looking forward to being a mom but i made the mistake of reading the contented baby book by Gina Ford and now i feel i sould have everything in a routine!!

Try to be as easy as you can on yourself. Your DS is so little and having a baby is such a huge change- it's going to take a while to relax. With my DD I used to stress about everything with routine being a particular concern. And with the sleep deprivation and constant feeding I found the first few weeks really really hard. Now she is 2, I look back and I realise that all the things I stressed about really weren't such a big deal. I spent ages trying to get her into a routine and then when she was old enough she just fell into her own natural pattern.

The thing about putting him upstairs, I kept DD with me in her moses basket in the evening but it really is whatever feels best for you- there is no right and wrong.

Gina Ford is NOT right for everybody, it's not the only way of caring for a baby. If it feels right for you, great, if not chuck the book away and go with your instinct.

There are certain women who, never having had ANY children of their own, decide to write a very well selling book about how they imagine they would do it if THEY had a baby.

I imagine these women to be narcissistic and arrogant.

You have more experience of YOUR baby than anyone else, including any author in the land, and YOU are the only person entitled to judge whether or not YOUR family would like to have a routine.

Seriously, all you need is the NHS Birth to Five book - bin the rest, they're all ego and opinion.