How stressful is it having a baby?

Question

FTM and a part of me thinks eh everyone has kids it can't be that hard ..but then the other part is the sleepless stressful nights, the never stop crying part is hard. Idk why I'm going into this thinking it will be easy. Can someone give me a wake up call please.

Answer

Continued:

I am a firm believer in looking at how other people in other countries raise their babies, they keep their babies with them, on them, in their beds. The 'developed world' is the only part of the world that puts our babies in separate rooms and expects them to learn how to sleep away from us. (And humans are the only in the animal kingdom who also seperate ourselves from their babies so young).

When visitors or family come and say what can I do to help, ask them to help by holding baby so you can have a nap if you need to!

Also baby wearing is so good because it means you can get stuff done while baby is settled on you and you have two hands free!! I'm going to be doing a lot of baby wearing when my second baby comes in september, so I can still play with my son and do stuff that I need to get done!

I hope some of this advice helps. 
Just also remember, even when it is hard (and some days are just plain horrendous no matter what you do, and other days you feel like a flipping super mum)
 the days are long but the years are short!! They are only babies for such a short time, even when sometimes it feels like such a long stage. I can't even believe that my son is old enough to be going to preschool next year! It's crazy! So take heaps of photos, take heaps of videos! Because they literally grow before your eyes!!

Answer

Lol I don't think it will be easy at all.  When I first found out I was pregnant I panicked because it's a huge commitment and a lot of work.  Everyone does it not cause it's easy but because it's rewarding and they love their kids...But I'm not a mom yet, this is just my impression!

Answer

I'm a midwife and I always tell my ladies this piece of advice, and from my friends and family that I have told this, they said that it helped them heaps! The ones who didn't listen to it I could see them struggle.

This is the advice...don't focus on sleep (or the lack of sleep). 
If you focus on it and that's all you can think about, then you will struggle and you will make yourself feel even more tired. 
Instead celebrate the naps and the blocks of sleep you are able to get. My son was a terrible sleeper and wanted to nurse all the time when he was a newborn and all the way up until 1 years old. He naps way better now (before it was only 20-30 minutes if I tried to put him in his cot) now I get a daily 2 hour nap (he is two and four months) the naps started getting better after 1 for me and he would sleep in his cot and finally I was able to get things done. 
If I lay down with him to have a nap, I was able to get an hour to two hours of sleep! He just wanted to be close to me. 
At night I also survived by cosleeping sometimes, I was not a smoker and either was my partner, I don't drink alcohol, I had no drugs in my system, my son was not a premie baby, these are some of the risk factors for SIDS (read the book, or the website on cosleeping by dr Andrew McKenna). 
I would be cheering if I got a two hour block when he was tiny!! Instead of looking at it as annoying he didn't make it to three-four hours, I recognized that it is baby led feeding, baby doesn't know the clock, they are just hungry! Or maybe they need a little drink, just as we might go and grab a drink, or a snack.

Answer

It won't be easy at all, but it also won't be a hellhole like so many people try to suggest. If it were really so difficult and stressful, why do people go on to have a second or third or more? Because it's rewarding. You will be tired, exhausted, strung out but you will be enlightened, loved and enthralled with your new little one. Pros and cons. It's not all bad - if it were, our population growth wouldn't be exploding. 😋

Answer

I heard first week home is the worst

How stressful is it having a baby?

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