Finding it hard to adjust to life with a baby

[tinygigolo]

Hi all,

I'm a first time mum with a baby daughter who is now 10 weeks old. I love her very much - but I don't enjoy being a mum and I don't feel like I'm doing a good job. I'm finding it difficult to get through every day and as the weeks go on it seems to be getting harder. She likes to be held most of the time and gets very irate very quickly whe put down. She doesn't seem to like to sleep anywhere during the day and I feel constantly on edge waiting for her to start wailing. We tried baby yoga last week which she wailed her way through and I felt terrible, so judged, like I don't even know how to keep my daughter happy. It feels like she's only satisfied when she's feeding (I am ebf)

I'm in tears most days and I know my husband is starting to worry. It's always worst on Mondays when I think "how the hell am I going to fill this week?" I spend so much time googling for ways to keep her happy and reading parent books, but they just seem to bear no resemblance to my life. I'm starting to wish I could give my pre-pregnancy self a good talking to.

Lots of sensible advice. It's a huge adjustment.
Bit of a suggestion from someone doing it second time around (that is another whole story!). You don't have to go to mums and babies groups at this stage / do baby activities - I have enjoyed taking the new baby along to toddler activities (lucky really as needs must), pushing her round shops in the pram, seeing friends etc.
Is there a cinema that does baby-friendly showings?
Have you got friends who work part-time that you could meet up with? I enjoy seeing friends I have known from pre-baby days and have made some good new friends with older kids too.

I remember taking the mick out of mumsnet before I had DS, but this is why I actually love it. There are such lovely people on here and it makes you realise you are not alone.

I HATED the first 8 weeks with a baby who cried all day. Some days I don't know who cried more: me or him. I felt so guilty about hating my current life and that made me cry even more.

However, DS will be 3 months this week and it really has gotten that little bit easier week after week without me even realising it. Once I realised my feelings were normal and that a lot of people felt the same I started to feel better.

Sometimes I go to baby groups sometimes I don't depending on DS's mood. I used a carrier a lot at the start, but less now that he's napping better in his cot. I also have a wonderful husband who does a lot of the parenting at the weekend.

Hang on there; you're doing a fantastic job.

The newborn storage is so hard! So so hard! I remember being told it got easier after 12 weeks and I counted down the days, honestly! I can no longer remember what I even did. I'm in a very rural area so I couldn't just go out to the shops or for coffee with the pram, it was a massive effort to do anything and overall I'm glad I didn't do too much. It DID get easier after 12 weeks, a bit, or at least I got used to it!

People are always saying "they grow up so fast" and "don't you wish they could stay small forever?" And I was like HELL NO! I've enjoyed every stage and it has got easier. Once he could crawl it was great, now he's 14 months and walking and I feel like this is what I was made to do. Babies just aren't for me, however I'm going to do it again so that I can have two lovely squishy cheeky toddlers the first year is so up and down but it's worth it I promise

I've got 4DC and am expecting #5 on NYE. The one thing I've learnt -possibly the only reliable thing over the various ages and stages - is that everything is just a phase that passes. Take whatever shortcuts you need to make life work in the short-term and go easy on yourself. In 2 days or 2 weeks or 2 months, your beautiful DD will have moved on to the next phase and life will change as you both adapt to that.

Like the other pps, I promise this will pass, tiny