First 12 weeks with newborn

[bubbles519]

Was the first 12 weeks with your newborn as hard as you expected or worse? All I keep hearing is about sleep deprivation and how hard it will be. Although I know it will be hard is it really THAT hard?

I thought that sleep would be the hardest thing but it was fine.

Harder- I had an “easy” baby but I wasn’t prepared for how much feeding she’d need. I think pre children you understand tiredness but you get to catch up on your sleep debt- with a baby you don’t and that’s so hard!

It’s tough, especially the second time round, but I was surprised how far I still was from reaching my limits. The first time you go deep into sleep deprivation is not easy (but once you’ve done it it’s never that bad again) but it’s surprising how much you can achieve. Looking after a baby is basically a long series of simple tasks so if you take them one at a time it’s fine.

Loved it both times! The world busy stops and you're with your baby. Magical.

World just*

It wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. I read lots of posts on MN and was petrified but it was fine. Yes you don’t sleep traditionally (go to bed in the evening and up in the morning) but I caught up on sleep when little one slept in the day.

Everyone is different and all babies are different though. My husband was incredible at helping with breastfeeding (support), making food, cleaning house, looking after baba while I showered etc and not everyone has that support.

Try to go into it with an open mind, yes new babies don’t understand night and day but I always think - if it was that bad, people wouldn’t have multiple babas! Good luck 😘

It's hard but billions of people have coped and most of them go on to have more children, so it is worth it.

I think I'd enjoy it more now I knew how it would be.

Now that I look back, my first wasn't up that much during the night. I just felt like he was because I was 18 and alone.
My second was a great sleeper at night and dp and I split night feeds, but he only ever really took 1. He was an absolute nightmare during the day though.
Third on the way. I'm praying for this one to be a good sleeper aswell.

Reflecting back, it was actually not that bad, my son is 10 months and its now I’m finding it tough because of things like teething and starting to walk. Missing the early days!!

It was lovely our daughter slept lots during this time! Every baby is different of course but personally we enjoyed this period.

Awful - harder than expected. But it totally depends on the kind of newborn you get.

Mine was a refluxy, colicky velcro baby who cried constantly for the first couple of months and couldn't be put down for a second. I also had a traumatic birth and difficult physical recovery, coupled with severe PND and anxiety. To say the newborn phase was not a walk in the park for me is an understatement!

I got through it though, albeit slightly traumatised, and I most certainly will never be doing it again.

Tiring and dull is main memory - bit of a slog of feed, sleep, nappy change, wash bottles, wash clothes. I found other ages much much harder though.

Very very difficult. Spent 7 weeks of those in SCBU and then reflux and colic hell. Only just getting better a little at 4 months....

Depends on the baby. My first was so clingy- she wanted to be held constantly and she wouldn't sleep well in her Moses basket. She also had bad colic. I used to dread the evenings as she would cry so much and then woke several times in the night. My 2nd was so much easier. Surprised I had a 2nd now I think about it😂.

It was much easier. Both of my babies were clingy, didn't sleep in their moses baskets, woke a lot at night etc, but their needs are very simple, and it was great. From my experience, the hard work comes later.

It was ok tbh, i was expecting completely sleepless nights as i heard horror stories when babies were ebf but he woke every 2-3 hours, napped well and no colic/allergies/reflux issues. Quite a content baby. Just dont put too much pressure on yourself, take it day by day, expect support from your DPand enjoy it. I definitely found it more difficult when he started moving/went through sleep regression at 6-10 months. Newborn stages are quite nice looking back, chilled shopping trips, coffee shops and nice baby groups.

Loved every second of it! But I was blessed with a unicorn baby who after the first week or two only ever woke up once a night and by 11 weeks was sleeping through consistently.. He's a late October baby so my days were spent going for wintery walks and watching box sets with him sleeping on my chest. Now my days are spent chasing an extremely mobile nearly 11 month old and TV is a thing of the past haha..

I found it very hard, as I barely slept and my DS didn’t either, because I didn’t know what I was doing. He’s now almost 5 months and I’m finding this age so much easier.

For me, it was far harder than I ever imagined, and I’ve worked with babies and toddlers so wasn’t expecting to find it too tricky. I think it really depends on the baby you get. We struggled so much with breastfeeding, plus he was a refluxy, colicky screamer. He literally screamed for the first 6 months. He woke every 2 hours through the night and the sleep deprivation made the screaming harder to cope with. It was exhausting.

It was wonderful at times too and I have 1000 photos of him sleeping on my chest etc. And No II is on the way so it must have been worth it in the end! Hoping for a more chilled baby this time.

But yeah, probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. DH said it felt like we were at war for the first few months.... and losing!

I found the first 12 weeks lovely (especially after you get after the initial shock of it all), if it’s your first the you can take your days slow and so recover from bad nights. For me the later stages of parenting are much harder work

Much harder. Couldn't breastfeed, so was trying to express every 3 hours, then feed, which took about 2 hours to start with, and I ended up with a breast abscess. Once the abscess was fixed and I gave up expressing and switched to formula everything seemed a breeze! That was about 12 weeks.

Harder than expected for me. For us it was the life change more than anything, not the menial tasks

I have three. The new born stage was the worst three times for me. With my first I felt like ripping the head off anyone that told me this stage was the best when I was living through it. ..the changing point for me all three was the first smile. Like you're getting some feed back that you're doing the right thing and your baby is happy! No other stage has even compared with difficulty!

But that's just me. Some people love (and go to great lengths to tell you) the newborn stage. I went in to have more so it's definitely survivable!

Harder for me. Colic and sleep deprivation nearly ruined me! Got loads better after 6 months. The new born stage scares me enough to worry about having another.

However, I know friends who found the first 12 weeks a breeze, but then were hit hard by the four month regression 🤷🏼‍♀️ there's always ups and down and plenty of good times to outweigh the bad!