dd is two weeks old and we're all exhausted!

[pink76]

Our lovely daughter was born 2 weeks ago and sleep deprivation has well set in. Me and my bloke keep snapping at each other and I'm beginning to wonder in my sleep depraved brain that he may get fed up and just walk. This happened to a friend of mine, her son was 15 months tho any one else had this worry?

He may do. Men can be crap at the best of times and having a two-week-old is by no means the best of times.

Hopefully though you only made the decision to have a baby with a man you'd already decided was a pretty good egg, in which case he won't.

And if he's really the kind of crap bloke who'd up and leave after two weeks then long-term you'd be better off without him anyway.

Good luck for the next bit. It can be shit, all couples go through a rough patch, it's the tiredness. Neither of you mean half the things you'll say. Chances are you'll get through the other side though.

Tis normal

The first 8 weeks are horrid, I can't lie to you but as with all things baby this too shall pass

Sleep when the baby sleeps, have you family or freinds near who can take the baby out for a hour while you get your head down?

Let the house work go, any offers of help accept with alacrity, farm out your ironing

Congratulations on the birth of your baby

He is a good egg. This is all very new to both of us. DD doesn't know night from day yet so she sleeps all day and wakes a lot during the night. We live with his parents which is about 250miles from my parents so the only people I have are these three, all my friends and family are back home.

It's normal but by god it's knackering. grab every opportunity to sleep. Every time she closes her eyes, you slam your head down!

Try to get someone to watch her for a few hours so you can sleep. - you live with his parents so hopefully they will have her?

Oh, and I am reminded of something I read. A new father saw a picture of a half naked woman reclining on a bed, in a very seductive pose. He sighed deeply and said "oh, that bed looks soooo comfortable...."

Says it all really

And be in it together. Me and dh found that humour helped to bond us. We made jokes about it all and connected over a laugh!

God, I think contemplating seperating at this stage is mandatory. Try to keep communicating (nicely, hard as it is!) and one day you'll find that what hasn't killed you really has made you stronger. Tis bloody hard though.

It's normal - sorry!

Bit early for this yet, but after the first 6 weeks if you get any opportunity to have some couple time - take it! An hour chatting and laughing and re-connecting can work wonders.

Hecate

Normal normal normal - my dh is spectacularly brilliant, and we love each other to bits and rarely argue, but sleep deprivation had us at each others' throats A Lot.

Talk about this - remind each other it's because you're tired and this is all new and the snapping doesn't really mean anything. And try as hard as you can to be kind to each other. It will pass!

I was really kind to him yesterday and it seemed to work. I even slept down stairs so he could get a good nights sleep cos he had to get up dead early to work away today. Think he really appreciated it, doesn't bother me cos I don't have to drive anywhere today.

Think I will carry on like this cos it made me feel better too and dd seemed calmer last night.

my ds is 10 days old, and to start we had night and day mixed up, i started waking him up during the day, by changing his nappy, bathing him, putting him in bouncy chair in front of tv or dd who would entertain him for a few mins.
Gradually it shifted and he is more awake during the day now.

You will argue with dp/dh tis completely normal, esp if this is your first, I have a 3 year old so bless she is getting the brunt of my short temper

We had a rule in the early sleep-deprived days: anything grumpy said in the middle of the night didn't count

It is bloody hard but it will get better. Just muddle through the next few weeks as best you can, and things will start to fall into place.

Oh, and congrats