What are the best bits about having a baby?

[Lemondrop99]

Ok so the "what's so hard about having a newborn" thread has scared/depressed me. I know it'll be hard but there must be reasons why people do it all over again with second, third children etc.

So I thought we should have a thread to balance it. Those of you who have already had a baby, what were the best bits of that first year? Anything you found surprisingly easy when you thought it would be hard? Perhaps solutions you found to turn a tough phase into something enjoyable?

The way they all scrunch up, with little legs and bum all tucked together.

Smiles
Laughter
Cuddles
Watching them learn

I love the feeling of 5 month old DS's warm little hand on mine or on my chest. His smile and giggle are wonderful to see. Cuddles, him falling asleep on my chest, naps spent on my chest whilst I read a book on the rocking chair. His yawns. The little noises he makes when feeding. The noises he has started to make at other times, to communicate. His reaction to new stimuli, like bubbles and regular everyday things too. I love seeing him learn new skills, and watching his persistence, e.g. to roll over.

People keep asking me when I'm going to leave him to have a night out and I genuinely don't want to leave him for a night out (I'm sure this will change eventually!)

The sleep thing hasn't been anywhere near as bad as I feared. We cosleep and breastfeed, which helps. He just helps himself now

I love watching my husband and family members with him and enjoying him.

It hasn't all been an easy road but my word, he's worth it

Everything!!
I honestly thought it would be so so horrible but I love everything. I am rarely annoyed or stressed with my baby BUT she's an easy baby I think, very calm.
Everything is a phase, not sleeping, screaming at everything, you get through it.

One of the things that surprised me after my first baby was the kindness of strangers. People would often say lovely things when they glanced into the pram or would let me go ahead in the queue once they realised I had a tiny baby. You will find that you will have conversations about babies with random people who will often be thinking back to when their own were that small. I will never forget chatting to an elderly gent in Lidl who was saying that it's such a lovely thing to have a small baby in the house and such a blessing to have a healthy child and that I was so lucky.

I had a long labour ending in emergency c section. I'm usually the biggest wimp ever, but it was fine and recovery was quick - I was walking the dog round the block a week later. I didn't get a rush of love, or anything like that, but my 12 week old little girl is just a delight. I've grown to love her more each day, and she is so much fun. Watching her learn new skills - smiling, babbling, holding up her head - fills me with joy. I love going out and about with her - it's just like having a little mate with you!

I found the first few days a huge adjustment, but now it's like she's always been here. Sleep is fine, c section recovery was fine, and I found breastfeeding physically fine (gave up at 6 weeks though).

The feel of their chubby cheeks on yours when they've fallen asleep on your shoulder. Embracing the really tough days and nights (such as when they're poorly) by just snuggling up in bed with them (benefits of having only one!).

The little grunting snoring noises they make
When they are perfectly content just being on you, such simple, beautiful love.
The cute tiny clothes
Pushing a pram around/wearing them in a sling and they fall asleep.

Still a bit of a shit time though. Much prefer toddlers and getting a full nights sleep!

When you're breast feeding and they just stop to look at you and smile 💗😭

Orange
Yes definitely that! He looks at me with his big beautiful eyes and it makes my heart melt 😍

And then they go back on and look so sleepy and content ❤️

Or when they're feeding and very hungry and their faces looks so serious, like they're really concentrating on it.

Oh yes Anabelle - ds almost frowns in earnest concentration 😂

The smiles, cuddles, smell, feel, the unconditional love... the list is honestly endless!

After today I have to add the hilarious straining to poo face!

Surprisingly easy:
how (relatively) easy my planned c section (2nd) was;
how having a toddler and a new born is much easier than I thought after having been told over and over how having 2 is more than twice as hard;
getting a newborn into a routine who wants to be in one (my first wouldn't no matter how hard we tried, this one had slipped into one naturally).

Lovely:
When their eyes lock onto you with recognition, then smiles then giggles;
The absolute knowledge that yiu would out their life before your own - I had never understood this before;
When they make you smile/laugh/amazed at things they say and do

My DD is nearly 11 months, an lots of tings have been easier than I expected. The birth wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be (I'd read lots of horror stories! Was amazed that everything went to plan). It was surprising when breastfeeding suddenly got so much quicker and easier at the six week mark. My DD has always been a 3 feeds a night girl, but the sleep deprivation really isn't all that hard to live with - they feed quite quickly and you go straight back to sleep yourself once you get used to it, so you hardly remember waking up.
Lovely things are kind of obvious, but it's so lovely the way she looks at me when she's just woken up or when we've been separated. I'd been dreading my first day back at work, but she was fine all day and was so happy to see me when I got back to her :-) I also can't believe how easy it is to spend time with her, I thought I'd be bored stiff.

Your first baby is basically a bomb thrown in to your life and everything is hard, because you're learning on the job. By the second or third baby you realise that actually babies are easy. You only wish you knew hat to start with.

Don't buy all the parpahnelia. Don't refuse to leave your house without everything. 2 nappies, one change of clothes and some milk or a boob are all you need. Fit in your hand bag.

Stick it in a sling. Find a library and get a sling hat works for you. Don't worry about dragging a massive buggy about. If the baby will only sleep on or near you, stick the baby in bed near you. It's fine and generally very safe if you plan for it.

If the baby wakes when you so much as breathe, stick the baby in a cot away from you. It'll be fine and you'll both get some rest. Babies are hard because we try and force a human to rigidly adhere to our completely naive ideas of how a human baby should behave.

If you need the toilet, go to the toilet. It'll be fine. Have a shower, it'll be fine. That's what mothers of two, three, four kids have to do. We have to leave the baby and it's fine. You don't have to do any special brand of parenting. Gentle parenting, BLw, cry it out, sleep training, these are all bollocks terms created to sell books. Just do what's easy for your baby and it will be easy for you.

Babies are so fucking adorable and squishy and lovely and milk drunk face is the best thing you will ever see in all your life.

Gina
babies are easy

Well I've already posted this but it seems I need to post it again:

It's all well and good to say "babies are easy" - yours might have been, but not all babies are, and comments like yours risk making someone feel even worse if they're having a difficult time.

ginafordcortina exactly! People should worry less. I know lots of people with several kids and older children can be hard work, but babies are easy.

namechange30 the OP specifically asked for positive stories to cheer her up after a depressing thread about how hard newborns are. Everyone knows all the misery tales because it's currently the fashion to put on a serious face and talk about how terrible life has been since the baby arrived. Why not let there be at least one thread where everyone coos and gurgles about how lovely babies are?

Lost
No need to explain, I know why the thread was started! And I have contributed to the positive stuff. I also posted on the other thread and said that it was all worth it despite the negatives. I just wonder if one thread with both good and bad points might have been better - if you don't read both you get a very one sided picture! And I stand by my point that reading about other people having an easy wonderful time can be upsetting if you're not. Having said that I think there are easy, wonderful moments for everyone - just not necessarily the same ones at the same stage.

The cuddles.
Kissing their fluffy head.
Watching them sleep.
Celebrating all their tiny achievements.
It's fascinating watching them change in the first two years from totally helpless to a little person with their own thoughts and feelings.
Being able to talk to yourself in public without looking weird (people assume you're chatting to the baby!)
Meeting new mummy friends.
Buying tiny, cute baby clothes.
Dressing them any way you like because they can't object.
That " won the lottery" type feeling when they actually start sleeping for blocks of 4+ hours at a time.
That unique baby smell.
Regular naps.
Discovering what they like and dislike together.
Suddenly looking at them and thinking "I made a human!!"
And best is that overwhelming feeling of love you have for them that makes even the shitty bits bearable!

I came to actually enjoy the night feeds after a while - I read a lovely poem about being awake in the quiet with your baby, tending to them and loving them, and thinking of all the other mothers of newborns quietly doing the same across the land - it made me realise that despite the tiredness there was something really precious and (hopefully!) peaceful about those times. Nurturing a tiny being is wonderful.
I LOVED having tiny baby in a sling and just strolling, singing, pottering about with him, like he was my little sidekick and I could show him everything in the world for the first time.

I didn't usually co-sleep but I actually loved the kind of animal closeness of it the odd occasion we did, when nothing else would soothe him but just sleeping next to Mummy (and boob!) was all he needed. Sleeping next to a warm sleepy baby is a lovely experience.
And milk-drunk squashy baby faces are hilarious!

This is a lovely thread, Lemon, thank you for starting it. I'm 30 weeks pg and, as an anxiety sufferer anyway, pregnancy has been hard. Today I've been crying on and off because I'm knackered, I'm scared I'll get PND, I'm scared I won't be good enough for my wee guy and won't make him as happy as he deserves to be. Threads about postnatal care, breastfeeding, newborns, they've all had me in a state, basically expecting that I'm going to have a breakdown.

I am under no illusion that it'll be hard and emotional, and completely new. But to read some positive stuff along with all the horrible stuff does help. I love this wee guy so much already and can't wait to meet him.