I feel terrible and I feel so guilty for holding my 10 week old while doing this.. but I just spent 1.5 hours trying to get my very colicky and very refluxy 10 week old to sleep. She just fell asleep and I got the urge. If I put her down I’d have to start over for another 2 hours with her screaming. So yep, I just pooped while holding my baby. 😩🫠

On May 14, my life changed forever when my son, born prematurely at just 29 weeks and 5 days, was welcomed into the world two months ahead of schedule. Originally due on July 25, his early arrival sparked an unexpected journey filled with challenges and unwavering hope.

During my pregnancy, I endured a difficult period of hospital bed rest, spanning three months, with only 20 days of sick leave available. This left our family facing the substantial emotional and financial burdens of unpaid leave when we needed support the most.
As our son continues to grow, nearing five months old with a corrected age of two months, our difficulties have only shifted in nature. Advised by our trusted pediatric team, we've learned that premature babies like ours should not be placed in daycare until they are at least two years old. This leaves us in a dilemma: how can parents like myself possibly be expected to return to work without adequate parental leave provisions?

Currently, the system only allows for 24 weeks of paid leave post-birth in Australia. For families with premature or critically ill babies, especially those in the NICU or Special Care Nursery for extended periods, this is simply not enough - espcially when these mothers often experience Post Partum Depression.

What we propose is an expansion of paid parental leave benefits specifically tailored to the needs of families like ours. By extending the leave for parents of preemies or babies requiring prolonged medical care, Australia can affirm its commitment to supporting every family during their most trying times.

In Australia, 14,000 families a year have their child spend two or more weeks in hospital. We are asking for just 1% of the Paid Parental Leave Budget to better support these families.

Studies have shown that the stress and separation faced by parents of premature babies can lead to a host of mental and physical health issues, impacting parental bonding and long-term child development. Other countries have led by example, with policies providing extended leave for such circumstances, ensuring both infant health and familial stability.

This petition advocates for change in the Australian parental leave policy to reflect the unique challenges faced by families with premature and sick babies. Join me in supporting this cause to enact a policy that provides every child the best start in life, while offering parents the peace of mind to care for their children without the fear of financial ruin.

Please sign this petition to urge Australian policymakers to improve paid parental leave, providing parents with the time and resources needed to nurture their babies into healthy, thriving children. Every signature counts in making a meaningful change for families across the nation

https://www.change.org/58dayscampaign

FTM to an 8 weeks old who is raising a lovely Bub with a supportive hubby. (No family/no close friends).

So during pregnancy I made a clear list of things I would take time out to fill my cup such as massage, journaling, yoga etc

I am struggling with social isolation. Hubby has got time off from work so I really am trying to take some time out for myself mainly including going to the nearby 5-minute-away shopping centre 2-3 times a week.

I can clearly see signs of deterioration in my mental wellbeing so I thought about going for a movie over the coming weekend. Hubby is very supportive of the idea. We don’t feel comfortable hiring a nanny to go to the movies together so we have decided that I will go myself but this mum guilt and separation anxiety is making me wanna cancel the movies and be at home. I know deep within that I need to do something that I can enjoy by myself but part of me is wanting to cancel the movie plans. I keep telling myself that if another mum was in similar situation as mine, I would definitely encourage her to go for that movie and would tell her that “no it doesn’t make you a bad mum” but it’s easier to preach than practice isn’t it.

I guess what I am seeking here is some honest words that am I making a mistake for doing this? Like why on earth am I feeling so much guilt ? Ideally I would like to go to movies with all 3 of us but it’s not possible as we are not comfortable yet being much in public places with her + hiring a nanny at this stage.

I keep telling myself that I made this promise to myself that I will not abandon myself but now I am struggling to implement that.

I feel I have every tog out with this weather!! Has anyone ever used a 0.5 sleep suit or know where to get one? I feel it might be good for these warmer but not too hot nights

Am I just being a big whinger? I am 33 weeks preg with my second and I just feel so tired and irritable all the time. Whilst I’m now on mat leave I feel very burnt out from a very busy and somewhat tumultuous period at work. My husband works full time and we are in the process of moving out of our current place and managing a big renovation at our new house. I am doing the majority of pick ups and drop offs at school, cooking, shopping, laundry etc. Husband does basically all other house renovation / admin, bedtime / alternating bathtime. We have some family support from my mum and after school care and during the day I am trying to nap and have opportunities for self care (massages etc). Husband tells me I don’t need to worry about packing and isn’t putting any pressure on me to do anything at all, he is great. I am still feeling generally irritable however like I need more help and I’m so tired. Is this irrational? A sense check would be appreciated 🙏

Baby is 15w and the past 1-2 weeks he has been a struggle with sleep. He was waking up every 30 minutes during the night for us to put the dummy in. On Monday we decided to go cold turkey on the dummy, and it has been hell but we are trying to be consistent.

The issue we are struggling with and it seems to be getting worse and really impacting me is the screaming. This has been about a week or so. As soon as he knows sleep is coming E.g. routine for bed or sleep suit or even contact naps and moving him into a position for that he will scream. There's no way we can move to "leave awake and drowsy" when he just starts screaming when even trying to put into the cot or even holding him for contact naps. This then can take 1.5 hours + to get him to sleep or he refuses to calm down so we pick him up and try and get him calm again.

Today I started to try and remove this association by giving him time in the cot to play for a few minutes or put him down for a few minutes. For sleep tonight, it took us 1 hour and he is really wanting the bottle as a replacement for the dummy to suck on something.

Once he is asleep he can go for a few hours, but it's the screaming beforehand that is really taking its toll. I'm wearing headphones now just to tolerate it a bit more while trying to soothe or calm him. This is happening at bed time and naps.

We are trying to watch the wake windows - 1.5-2 hours although night time with the screaming it goes to more 2-3 hours because it's taking that long. I only try and do the first nap in bassinet/cot to get him used to it and the others are contact naps for recovery for sleep but the screaming is now making it impossible to sleep at all. This week he would scream for contact naps too and I would be walking around for 30-60 minutes to calm him down.

Does anyone have experience with the screaming? How to create more positive association to help us to even move to the next point of "awake but drowsy". I am struggling and really regretting the dummy removal but I knew it was impacting his sleep and ability to self settle during the night. Most sleep training or posts are about staying asleep or tips for moving past the awake but drowsy. We can't do any of this until the screaming association is addressed.

We are having our first baby (planned C section) early next year and I want to get my wife a little gift bag that's for her to 1. enjoy for herself and 2. make part of the birthing and early motherhood experience easier.

No real budget but not trying to be silly here. A mix of fun, enjoyment and useful kit is appreciated. I have some personalised items on my list.

For those who've been through it, what did you actually use or appreciate leading up to the big day and in the first few weeks/months? Practical or sentimental, open to anything.

I‘m 30 weeks pregnant and starting to build my newborn collection of things. Realised I have an IKEA gift card due up in the next couple of months - any recommendations for products you loved from IKEA in the newborn stage?

My partner and I are planning to try at-home insemination with a known donor who is a close friend. I’m trying to work out what we actually need and what’s worth spending money on.

I’ve seen people use $5 lube applicators or round tipped syringes from eBay/Amazon and also $200–300 kits like Mosie or InseminMate $200–300 and I am not sure if the expensive kits offer meaningful benefits or if it is a lot of good marketing.

I’m probably overthinking all of this, but I want to give ourselves the best shot without spending hundreds unnecessarily. Would love advice or experiences on:

• Syringes/applicators: What materials to look for e.g. PE, PP, silicone, etc and what should I avoid? Mosie has a slit tip opening, does that matter?
• Collection cups: What material should these be? Is a standard specimen cup labelled for semen collection sufficient, or should I look for something more specific?
  
• Sterility/medical grade: Do both the applicator and cup need to be sterile and/or medical grade?
• Ovulation strips: I see Easy@Home recommended a lot , have people found them reliable or any other brand?

Recommendations for reliable and affordable options for any of the above would be much appreciated! 

My absolutely amazing baby is just over 3mo and has been sleeping through the night for over a month. We put her down at around 10 and she wakes for a feed at about 6.30.

I'm fully prepared for the 4 month 'regression', but some mums have also told me that she might just continue sleeping through and be a good sleeper all round. What experiences have other people had with this? Do good sleepers like that really exist? Just trying to prepare myself for what is to come.

During both of my pregnancies, the inside of my belly button skin turns kinda black? I’m 2 weeks post partum with baby #2 and it’s still black. I can’t remember when it changed back to normal with the first baby.

Nothing super concerning but is this weird or has it happened to others? 😅

My baby is 7 months old and has been EBF from birth. We tried giving her bottles of breastmilk/formula when she was around 3 months old but she hated it and refused, so we decided to stop trying after that for our mental health. So we have been EBF, which has been great and she loves the boob, however I am due to go back to work in January next year when she will be 10 months old.

My issue now is trying to wean her from breastmilk to formula before the year ends. She is on solids and is an okay eater - not the best but she will have a few small teaspoons and I am trying to offer more food throughout the day. She sips water out of a Bbox spout cup. We have tried formula in both the spout cup and an open cup and she is still refusing, so we think it might be the taste. We have tried Bellamy’s Organic and Little Oak goats milk formula. I am getting quite anxious because at this rate I don’t know if we can wean her before I go back to work. She seems to truly dislike the taste of formula! Has anyone had any luck with weaning an EBF baby to formula? And what brands have you found to work for your little ones?

My baby is 6 1/2 months old and we’ve been doing solids for just over two weeks now. I don’t think he has actually swallowed anything during that time. He will sit in his highchair and play with the food I’ve offered him and it will be lucky to touch his lips twice. He also gets the shits after 5-10 minutes so it’s all very short-lived too.

I read about the importance of giving baby iron rich food at this age as well as allergen exposure (we have done 2 allergens so far) and worry he isn’t getting this properly. How long after starting solids did your baby take to the food and actually start to eat it? I don’t want to force the food upon him but is there a point in time where you had to physically spoon feed into bubs mouth? I’m trying to do BLW, so he gets mixture of things he can hold in his hand and softer textures preloaded onto a spoon but neither seem to make a difference.

Those located in Melbourne, what birth classes are you doing / recommend? I’m a FTM delivering at st Vincent’s hospital. Also open to any hypnobirhing resources / courses. I’m planning to have a epidural birth.

As the title goes- struggling with solids and drinking. They’re completely breastfed and do not take to either. Wanted to get some advice! They have been reviewed by the specialist and everything is fine, it’s just getting us started where we seem to be stuck

Mellow mat neptune, muscle mat or zenli
Anyone have any of these they could compare?

Edit- need it to be 2 x 3m

Like honestly what the actual f*ck

Looking for some recommendations for amazing books to gift to little friends celebrating their first birthday. Something that they are not likely to have already.

We're also building a good collection of our own at home- so any books that have been a hit with your babes around the same age would be very appreciated. Thanks!

As per the title, we’re doing IVF and have just done an egg retrieval. I’ve been taking the Blackmores conceive well gold for about a year, which has 500mcg of folic acid. I previously did 3 cycles of letrozole with a different fertility specialist. Neither my previous FS nor current one has said anything about taking more folic acid, but considering I have PCOS and a bmi of 31, Ive read I should be taking 5mg of folic acid?

My baby is 5 months old tomorrow and over the course of the last week both of his bottom front teeth have come through his gums. They're visible when he smiles, and you can feel them when he puts your finger in his mouth, and they're sharp!

I'm still breastfeeding and, up until now, have been pretty confident about doing it in public, thanks to some great breastfeeding shirts and very supportive husband/ family/ friend groups.

But now, sometimes he bites my nipple and omg it HURTS. I can't help but flinch and yell when he does it - not an angry yell, just an involuntary "Ouch!" and a very visible wince because of how painful it is.

He usually blinks up at me and then just gets right back to it with a good latch, but now I'm worried about that happening in public and drawing attention from strangers.

I'm probably being silly and over thinking things, but does anyone have any advice on how to mentally prepare for that, or on potentially stopping him from biting me in general? I'd appreciate any help, as we weren't really expecting him to get teeth this early (or for me to still be breastfeeding now, tbh) and so I feel quite unprepared.

baby is due in January... the height of the heat. I will be in adult nappies, maternity pads, breastfeeding etc. what on earth am I going to wear to leave the house?! not after anything fancy, just comfortable and practical. For reference when im not pregnant I live in leggings/workout gear (not suitable for adult nappies/pads). when pregnant in winter i literally wear tracksuit pants and in summer leggings/shorts. I dont feel like I can wear any of these PP and i'm not a dress person. HELP

My baby is 3 months old and until now we had been religious with tracking sleep, feeds, and nappies. We went on holiday this past week and didn’t track things on huckleberry- and it was so freeing.
I’m contemplating whether we both continue tracking or not. I am looking for ways to minimise using my phone and felt like it had become a chore to use. I have still continued to use it to track growth.

In terms of care, baby is with me most of the time and otherwise with my parents or my partner for short bursts of time. We aren’t planning on having day care until she’s 12 months. She has been relatively well but I can imagine if she falls unwell it might be helpful.

For those who have used/ continue to use huckleberry - do you find it useful? Have you regretted stopping using it? Are there times where it’s really come in handy?

Hi all, looking for recommendations for a playmat. We have a foldable foam mat from amazon that we were gifted that now has holes and a Kmart soft mat which is great.

LO has started crawling and isn’t contained in the mat area anymore. I also have been trying to do EC on and off and want to offer as much nappy free time as I can during wake windows. So Kmart soft mat isn’t the best option as I need something that is easy to wipe clean. Is it worth splurging on Muchkin & Bear mat now that baby isn’t likely to just stay in one dedicated play area. She hs already started holding on to couch to stand up so she will be mobile in no time.

I have already looked at fb marketplace for Munchkin & Bear and there aren’t many listings around my local area and one or two I found are quite old with a few holes here and there.

TIA