Anyone who actually enjoyed the first few months with a newborn?

[Marghe87]

I am just hoping to hear some good stuff from women who actually enjoyed the first few months of motherhood.

I read a lot about all the hard bits: breastfeeding, sleepless nights, colic, teething, being tired and feeling lonely etc etc… But I am sure that the goods somehow overcome the bads (I think?! Otherwise I don't understand why people would have more than 1 !). So have the first few months of motherhood been good for any of you? Or is it just tiredness and desperation one has to expect? :)

Nope, but if I had to do it again then this is what I would do. Make EVERYONE understand I am doing fuck all for 3 months apart from feed, cuddle & change my baby. I would want a freezer full of excellent food, a cleaner, sheets changed for me daily, sleep constantly except for feeding! Just a big comatose sleepy whale eating crisps & drinking tea.

Yes me!

I loved it with my first, we totally followed his routine initially as DH was away in the forces and we had no firm plans whilst he was still tiny.

I took him to Barbados when he was 8 weeks old and it was a breeze. I went to stay with my dad for a couple of weeks and we had a lovely time being spoilt there too.

I breastfed, dressed him mostly in babygros and the whole first 12 weeks was a joy.

I loved every single second and absolutely relished it .... with my second
First time around was great but really hard and I had no idea what I was doing.
This time round I'm kind of bracing myself like before you get on a rollercoaster. You know you're going to like it but it's going to be loud and you're gonna be all over the place.

I cried a lot from exhaustion...but still loved it. Was terrified most of the time, constantly thought I was going to damage her in some way. She was amazing and fascinating and I spent hours looking at her. I loved breastfeeding, but that was also exhausting, as she’d take an hour to feed, then an hour and a half later was hungry again! The best bit was not having to go to work, although at times I missed the structure of that. It’s a joyful, terrifying rollercoaster time - amazing

I enjoy newborns - partially because I have tough pregnancies so love not being pregnant anymore, partially because it’s lovely to just be in the little cocoon of newborn snuggles. However, once the newborn phase had passed with my son I didn’t want to go back to it - I much prefer him as a toddler, tantrums and all. Am currently doing round 2 with 2.5wk old DD and once again loving sleepy newborn nightfeeds and snuggles...but am sure ill once again be happy to be out of it once I’m through it.

@Bitchfromhell

You made me laugh... I hope your day improves. If I lived close, I'd come and make you a fresh cuppa.

DD is 7 months and I probably look on the newborn days with rose tinted glasses already. I look at her newborn photo shoot and tear up sometimes.

I loved it when she was feeding or asleep. But otherwise it was colic, screaming and crying (me and her). That’s the reality, she was never one of those squishy portable babies you could easily take out to coffee. I wish I didn’t force myself to go to Mum groups so early. So much stress and not worth it.

I don’t know if it’s harder then or now- she’s crawling and very demanding. It’s all just really hard and very physically difficult. I’m looking forward to the more mentally demanding stuff tbh...

I had pnd with my first but even so there were moments of pure joy every now and then. With my second I pretty much loved the majority of it tbh. There was the odd night where things got on top of me and I had a cry mostly out of tiredness, but in the most part I was just entranced by my jolly little dumpling of a baby! Especially when she started smiling! But even before that she was lovely. The way she smelt and the cute way she curled up and flung her arms and legs out when startled. Watching all her first times, her first tooth, the first time she really looked in my eyes.... all that has been lovely

Ribbon those startled arms, ohhh and the windy smiles and little noises they make. It’s bringing it all back.

I also loved it when she would get milk drunk and unlatch after a feed all happy and content. Maybe I do miss my little newborn sometimes.

I enjoyed it. We bottle fed along with me pumping breast milk for the first month so this meant I didn’t have to do all the night feeds. DP had quite a bit of time off (over Christmas and new year) which made it nicer. Basically I stayed in my pyjamas for a lot of the time and didn’t do much but watch tv and hold a baby. Once we got the Tommie Tippee Perfect Prep machine my life really did seem so much easier.

It was all still a shock though and I was very tired due to dd being fed 3 times through the night - as babies tend to do. Once she gave us 6 hours of undisturbed sleep though things became brilliant.

I really didn’t like it (sorry!) - found the tiredness and relentlessness of it all pretty killer. Plus the complete shock to my system of how much my life had changed! But, on the plus side, it just gets better, and better and better (in my eyes anyway). As soon as they start moving and then talking, it is pure magic!

DD is 20 months now and I would really like another - it is just so much fun!!

Pefectpeony yes thats so cute. She used to have her mouth open and head back like a little drunkard snoring with milk all over her face! I loved all the little animal noises she would make like a hedgehog or woodland creature... she snorts in her sleep and gruffles and grumbles and sort of nuzzles into things to get comfy. And the way she reaches up and grabs my nose when feeding! She still does that at 6 months!

I loved them too. I was in absolute agony from my stitches but honestly loved it.

I think it was because I went into it with low expectations though to be honest- Is never really been a "baby" person- always preferred toddlers and I teach secondary- so had assumed babies were a bit dull and it would just be a hard slog that I needed to get through. Prepared myself in advance by expecting it would take a while to bond with and get to know the baby.

Turns out we hit it off straight away. It did help that she was really easy going and chilled out!

With my second two the newborn months were lovely. With DS not so much, but I was struggling with undiagnosed thyroid problems, and he was a tricky little customer, didn’t sleep, very pukey (so every feed would go on for ages and then he’d barf it all up and be hungry again!) and he was quite a serious baby so I didn’t really get the giggles and affection I got from the latter two, which make all the work worth it!

(Turned out DS1 has Aspergers so it makes sense of his early years in retrospect, but it was a hard time, topped off by my dad having cancer and dying shortly after DS1’s first birthday, so without a lot of the other outside issues I think it would have been a lot more fun!

In fact with DS2 the midwife seemed quite worried about me, kept saying “you will have a little slump over the next few days so don’t worry if you start to feel down, you won’t be riding on this high the whole time” but actually I never did get baby blues with him, he was just a happy, quiet little bundle of loveliness who rarely cried and smiled a lot.

There’s a good reason there’s 5 years between the first two DCs, and less than 2 years between the next ones

No

I have 3 DC and I loved the first few months. They weren't all perfect sleepers but I was realistic about how tired I would feel and to be honest it was never as bad as I thought. I was a single mum to number 1 but my Mum used to come round every weekend and look after him through one of the nights so I could get at least one night of uninterrupted sleep a week.
With my second two my husband was very hands on and even while breast feeding did more than his fair share of getting up and settling them in the night, did all the cooking, cleaning etc while they were babies so I didn't have much pressure on me.
I expressed milk for DH to help out with night feeds and it was fine.
It got harder when they started full on teething and crawling, that's when I started to find it quite tough (around 6 months).

Another one who loved it all, too. DH was very hands-on and so was lovely mil, plus most of our friends were in a similar boat so there was lots of support. We could socialise at each other's houses and take babies with us. Anyone who wasn't holding one, would dish up supper and pour the drinks.
They're all grown-up now, and are all turning out well.

I loved it, very sad that I'll never do it again.

It depends on the baby, DS1 was awful at sleeping, eating and wouldn’t even sit in the pram for a walk but DS2 was a dream, slept all the time ate and settled himself. Don’t expect it to be easy but certainly don’t expect theworse, just keep your fingers crossed because it’s luck of the draw!

I have a three month old, and though the first 3 weeks were pretty grim, he very quickly became an absolute joy and I love every second I am with him.

As other people have said, ignore the doom mongering. I am actually quite cross about the amount of bollocks people threw at me when I was pregnant about how awful it would be. Hard? Incredibly! Awful?Not really. I can honestly say I felt much, much less tired and better physically at 8 weeks post partum than I had done in the final month of pregnancy, and I have a crap sleeper!

It totally depends on what challenges the baby will throw at you. Mine breastfed every 90 minutes, day and night for the first 6 or 7 weeks which in all honesty was absolutely horrific, but he never had colic, was never unhappy and other than the first week in hospital with jaundice didn't have any feeding issues or get ill. Now he has started sleeping better I have been able to get out of the house and meet other mums and certainly wouldn't describe myself as lonely.