[Adam Prime]

I know of about three other families that have had babies in the past three weeks or are going to have some coming up, so this leads me to assume it's "baby season" and someone on GAF is going to be or have had child soon!

My firstborn daughter was born yesterday at 12:34am, all-natural in a birthing tub! It was an amazing, awe-inspiring, out-of-this world thing to watch... and yet, completely natural! I'm sure I'll never see anything more amazing in my entire life. She's 7lbs 4 ozs. We actually left the birthing center and returned home about 5 hours after the baby was born, and she was alert and ate all day. She slept about five hours last night, which felt like 30 minutes, but apparently is really really good.

Let's hear some stories, or support each other when you're rocking your baby to sleep at 2:13753821omgwtftimeisit in the morning!

[bjb]

Your wife gave birth without the use of any drugs?

The pain....it....I can't...

[cackhyena]

My baby girl is 5 and 1/2 weeks old now. 5 hours sleep? That's cray cray. The norm is 2 to 3 hours before needing to feed. First week was suuuper rough on the wife. The tears, bad, bad hemorrhoids, sore in so many places, baby not attaching properly, so it was a trying time at first. Now everything is much better, but holy shit am I glad I'm not a woman. Oh yeah and same for my wife with no drugs, all natural. The nurses said it's pretty rare nowadays. At one point I thought she would juts explode from the searing pain in her back. Jesus.

[HeySeuss]

Congrats! My daughter slept through the night her first night home from the hospital and ever since. My son took about a week to start sleeping through the night.

I thought this was normal until all of my friends complained about never getting any sleep. I thought they were exaggerating. Turns out I was extremely lucky, so now I brag about it every chance I get.

[adamsappel]

Congrats!

[legacyzero]

The first couple months with my daughter (who is 2 now) was a trial and error experience. As far as the sleepless nights go, it'll be over before you know it!

My biggest challenge with my daughter was burping. It was torture! Everytime I'd sit down to burp her, she would scream like I was killing her! It took me weeks to figure out that simply STANDING while burping her was all she wanted. Peace and quiet at last.

My child also had reflux like crazy. I had to feed her an ounce at a time just so I didn't wear what I just fed her every time I burped her.

Good luck and congrats OP! Having a little one really is life-changing and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[sext0n]

Good luck to you both. Our little one did not sleep through the night for the first six months. She would be up every three hours. My wife was a saint and let me sleep through alot of since I had a 60 hour a week job at the time.

Now, shes almost 2, goes to sleep at 7 and gets up at 8 every day. Life is good.

[Double D]

My third kid is currently 9 months old. My wife doesn't work so she doesn't affect my sleep. My oldest son, who has become a pretty regular sleepwalker, is the one jacking up my sleep patterns. Once you wake up to find your kid sitting in the backseat of your car at 2 am looking for his homework, it gets a lot harder to get a good nights sleep.

If your wife works, get a co-sleeper and just alternate nights or something. Both of you not sleeping is going to benefit anyone.

[sefskillz]

wife is 38 weeks. so, yeah... any day now

[Pkm]

First week from the hospital...HELL!

My sons first week home all he did was cry 90% of the time. My wife was going mental from already being exhausted and to top it off she had a C-section so she was sore plus had intestinal problems (gas/the shits/etc..)

After the first week tho, smooth sailing.

My job switched my hours for me to 10am-7pm and gave me Wed. and Sundays off.
He slept well and got up maybe once a night (3am?) and then at 7am.
I got lucky I know, I hear alot of horror stories and always thank god my little boy has been such an easy to kid to raise.

Its funny to me now thats he's 11 and now I have to fight with him to get out of bed. Went from ages 0-6 or 7 waking my ass up early Mon thru Sun to now him edging into teen territory.
Last night I caught him playing CoD at 1am...took his controllers..its 11am and the little fool is still passed out...god I feel old.

[Badgerst3]

Our daughter just turned 4. Best advice- know it gets a tiny bit easier each and every day.

First year was the most difficult, we were learning how to parent. At 3 weeks we discovered pacifiers and learned our daughter was crying a ton because she was hungry.

Breast feeding was just not easy for my wife and we finally went to formula. Things improved then. At about 3 months she started sleeping through the night.

It starts getting pretty fun at about 16-18 months. Walking, exploring, trying to talk- awesome.

also- nap when they nap if you can. If just to recharge.

[Captain Tuttle]

Congratulations on all the new babies!

First week or two home from the hospital both our kids slept well enough, up every two hours to feed and diaper change and then back to sleep. After that things got tougher, not sleeping at all etc. We sleep trained my son at 6 month, a tough weekend and he was done. My daughter was much tougher, she's 5 now and is just starting to sleep through the night
She also had brutal reflux, we gave her some prescription medication and it knocked it right out. She outgrew it in a couple of months

[Pkm]

This shit too saved our asses from many sleepless nights or nerve wracking days.



Doctor made the suggestion to give him a drop after feeding, changed our world for the better right after his first drop.

[The Lamonster]

A+ thread title :)

[Adam Prime]

This shit too saved our asses from many sleepless nights or nerve wracking days. Doctor made the suggestion to give him a drop after feeding, changed our world for the better right after his first drop.

Going to Target RIGHT NOW to pick that up.

I got married when my wife's first child was about ~18 months old. So I know pretty well what to do after that point.
Our first daughter is now four, I like to call this newborn my "second first child" ! :) My daughter LOVES being a big sister. Almost a little too much, she wants to hold the baby every minute of the day.

[JGS]

My wife and I divided into shifts. I took the late shift since I'm up later and she took the day shift since she woke up earlier.

Worked like a charm despite our kids having different sleep behaviors.

Diapers and teething were worse IMO. The way poo changes in a year ,starting with that icky tar stuff at birth all the way to potty training, is the stuff of nightmares.

[ronito]

I'll tell you one of the best tips I've gotten on newborns I actually got on GAF of all places.

Go out and get this book:



I got this tip with my last kid and I'll tell you I wish I had had it with all my prior kids it would've made a huge difference.

As for my tip is to take "shifts" with the wife about sleep and get a comfy chair from which you can game and get a game to play.

For example, my youngest used to have a wakeful period from like midnight til 3 or 4. So my wife would let me sleep until midnight then when the kid woke up I'd take him and sit in the recliner and rock him while playing SotN then around 4 I'd go to sleep and the kid would sleep until around 6 so my wife and I would both sleep. Then he'd wake up at 6 my wife would take him until 8 and then I'd take him and so on and so forth.

That way you both get sleep and the game will keep you awake and you make good memories of gaming with your kid.

[Ivan A Nguyen]

My son is now 18 months old and he just started sleeping though the night last week. I can't tell you how good it feels to sleep though the night. He used to wake up 2 to 3 times a night. I would get him, go down stairs to make a bottle, give him the bottle to buy time while I change his diaper, and then take him back up stairs.

I did this for a year. My wife took the first couple months while she had maternity leave, but afterwards I took it over full time. It turns out that being able to fall asleep inside of 5 minutes meant that I was always pulling the short straw when it came to night time crying.

Eventually we slowly phased out the formula. Then we added a few stuffed animals to the crib. Now I just hand him a bottle with some water in it and set him down in his crib.

Teh Crib... My god. Getting him to sleep in that was another battle all in it's own, but that's a story for a different time.

[Dorrin]

My wife and I have four, 8, 6(twins) and almost 5. Zero to four kids in 42 months.. Obviously having twins and a kid who just turned two the month before was a nightmare. The stress about took down our marriage, I basically have blocked almost all of that time from my memory.

No help from grandparents at all. I talked to my parents about it a year ago and my mom actually bragged 'Well we did watch all four while you picked up your wife from getting her tubes tied!'.. yep she bragged about watching all of them for 30 minutes, wouldn't even watch them long enough so I could stay with my wife during the procedure. We've had two nights alone together without kids in the past 8 years(we had to pay my in-laws family.. I shit you not). That may change as they are getting old enough for a sitter now.

We still have someone get up almost once a night with a nightmare or some other issue. We get maybe one or two days a week without anyone getting up. All four are also early risers, up at 6 to 6:30am every fucking day of their lives, doesn't matter what they did the day before or how late they stay up. This morning my wife and I slept in till 7:30 it was a fucking miracle.

Also we have found their are 'good/easy babies' and 'hard babies'. Our youngest was a good baby, so easy, sleeping through the night in a just a few weeks, our oldest three were very tough. So hope you get an easy one.

On the plus side my eldest son is a good Terraria player, although he is a loot whore.

[Cat Party]

My baby girl turned 7 today.

I still remember those sleepless nights though. There is nothing that can prepare you for those first few weeks or even months. Consider it character building.

[artist]

My wife had our baby girl without pain killers too. Its been almost 8 months now and I still have sleepless nights. Mainly because we havent tried to get rid of the 3-4 hr feeding routine and my wife suffered from PPD, hence I tend to my angel during the nights. Still the best time of life <3

[DJ_Lae]

Our second is due a month from now, although I expect him (or her) before then.

My daughter turned 2 a couple of months ago and has never been the world's greatest sleeper - she's more stubborn than her mother and has put up one hell of a fight about going to bed since she was born. I love her, but jesus christ do I miss having a good night's rest.

[linkboy]

You guys are going to hate me.

My son is 17 months old and he's been a great sleeper since he was born. His bedtime now is about 5:30 to 6:00 and he wakes up about 5:30 to 6:00 the following morning.

[Ivan A Nguyen]

You guys are going to hate me. My son is 17 months old and he's been a great sleeper since he was born. His bedtime now is about 5:30 to 6:00 and he wakes up about 5:30 to 6:00 the following morning.

So my wife and I have been talking about this. Our son goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps till about 7 to 7:30. It used to be 8, but I've stopped counting on that. She tells me that some kids sleep from 7 to 7. How is the early to bed early to rise working out?

[RedNumberFive]

I've got a baby girl on the way in about a month, so I fully support this thread.

Subscribed.

[linkboy]

I think it's working great. He still takes a couple of naps.

I go to work at 4:30, my wife gets him ready for daycare and he's there by 7:30

Getting him to sleep at times can be a pain (he cries when he sees his crib), but that only lasts about 10 minutes at most.

Obviously, it's going to vary by kid, what works for some won't work for others.

[Ivan A Nguyen]

I think it's working great. He still takes a couple of naps. I go to work at 4:30, my wife gets him ready for daycare and he's there by 7:30 Getting him to sleep at times can be a pain (he cries when he sees his crib), but that only lasts about 10 minutes at most. Obviously, it's going to vary by kid, what works for some won't work for others.

Ah that's the difference for us. I watch my son for most of the week so there's no daycare. In fact, I'm quitting my job to watch him full time because our relative who did so can't do it anymore.

I was thinking of starting a dad thread in the community Off Topic, but it looks like people are settling into this thread.

[Captain Tuttle]

One more thing, learn to swaddle. Ask the nurses at the hospital to show you how.

[teruterubozu]

Singing Lullabies - don't be embarrassed cuz it does work. Puts 'em right out if you can find your "sweet & quiet" voice.

[artist]

One more thing, learn to swaddle. Ask the nurses at the hospital to show you how.

Swaddling helps initially but is one of the toughest habits to get rid off.

[Badgerst3]

One more thing, learn to swaddle. Ask the nurses at the hospital to show you how.

Absolutely. We used it call it "the baby burrito" and bought a Houdini like swaddle. Our daughter still got her arms out after about 3 months. It helped her sleep though.


Our toughest fight was getting rid of "binkie" at age 3.

Still it seems like we say "no" 100 times a day. She is just starting to get it.

Also- a portable video monitor with sound/night camera is great if/when your kid sleeps in their own room. I think we used a "summer" brand.

[Javaman]

My wife and I divided into shifts. I took the late shift since I'm up later and she took the day shift since she woke up earlier. Worked like a charm despite our kids having different sleep behaviors. Diapers and teething were worse IMO. The way poo changes in a year ,starting with that icky tar stuff at birth all the way to potty training, is the stuff of nightmares.

Meh, poo ain't so bad. I got used to it and just block it out after the first couple of months. Our oldest (now 8) spit-up while I was changing a crappy diaper then decided to pee everywhere while I was cleaning up the spit-up. Our other two are still in diapers but that stuff doesn't even phase me anymore. Biggest tip I can give is to get about three sets of the playtex "drop-ins" bottles. we've used those for all three of the kids and it's saved a lot of hassle. If you're using formula just premeasure the formula into a bunch of bottles and you're good to go.

[Lazy Man's Wallpaper]

OP and all new parents, congrats! Your baby sleeping five hours straight is a miracle. Be thankful!

[jossueinacoma]

One more thing, learn to swaddle. Ask the nurses at the hospital to show you how.

Yes absolutely!!! Newborns love that shit!

Well, i have a 5 month old and he is so rad. He waked up like 2 or 3 times a night but its kinda a routine now. Check his diaper, feed him, burp him which them puts him to sleep...then do it again when he wakes up. I swaddle him and then lay him in his crib. When he gets real fussy he sleeps next to me in bed. When im with him we listen to music and watch soccer...and its true, when he naps you should also nap.

My Gf was in labor for 8 hours and due to complications we had an unexpected c-section. She was in tears cause she didnt want to birth that way, but I just kept telling her that its for the best for them both. She did get an epidural and had morphine in the early hours of labor. My GF is on the smaller side so i kinda already figured she would have a C-section. The recovery kinda sucked but shes doing fantastic now. The doctors said she recovered rather fast.

Has anyone delt with postpartum depression with your partners? If so I would like someone to talk to about that subject.

[jossueinacoma]

Oh and i forgot to mention that after taking classes and reading books, we don't let my son sleep longer than 4 hours because going into deep REM patterns increases the risks of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) ...so at like the 3.5 hour mark we wake him up.

[Javaman]

Oh and i forgot to mention that after taking classes and reading books, we don't let my son sleep longer than 4 hours because going into deep REM patterns increases the risks of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) ...so at like the 3.5 hour mark we wake him up.

One of the likely causes of sids is the baby rebreathing the same air and deplenishing the oxygen. Babies don't have a good reflex to react to CO2 buildups so if his face is covered by a blanket or in the corner of some bedding he won't move to get fresh air. I've never heard of the 4 hour thing.

[Tapiozona]

Yes absolutely!!! Newborns love that shit! Well, i have a 5 month old and he is so rad. He waked up like 2 or 3 times a night but its kinda a routine now. Check his diaper, feed him, burp him which them puts him to sleep...then do it again when he wakes up. I swaddle him and then lay him in his crib. When he gets real fussy he sleeps next to me in bed. When im with him we listen to music and watch soccer...and its true, when he naps you should also nap. My Gf was in labor for 8 hours and due to complications we had an unexpected c-section. She was in tears cause she didnt want to birth that way, but I just kept telling her that its for the best for them both. She did get an epidural and had morphine in the early hours of labor. My GF is on the smaller side so i kinda already figured she would have a C-section. The recovery kinda sucked but shes doing fantastic now. The doctors said she recovered rather fast. Has anyone delt with postpartum depression with your partners? If so I would like someone to talk to about that subject.

My wife had terrible Postpartum depression in the weeks following our child's birth. Luckily there are medications you can take which do not pass through the breast milk into your child. It made a world of difference because my wife was an absolute wreck and didn't bond with our son at all..until the medication. Feel free to PM me with any questions about it for more details.

My wife's labor was 30 hours after her water broke and she only managed to dialate to 5cm. At that point they did a c-section. Epidural didn't do squat for her. I felt terrible.

[Ivan A Nguyen]

Oh and i forgot to mention that after taking classes and reading books, we don't let my son sleep longer than 4 hours because going into deep REM patterns increases the risks of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) ...so at like the 3.5 hour mark we wake him up.

This scared the hell out of me. Eventually I had to accept it as a possibility to stay sane, but the idea that a kid could bite it for next to no reason is so hard to come to terms with. My wife had a friend who was watching his kid while his wife went out of town to visit her mother. It was his first night alone with the baby and it died of SIDS.

I think at a year and a half you're officially out of the danger zone.

[JetBlackPanda]

Congrats everyone!! My baby girl is 8 weeks today! ( I even made a thread late the night my wife went into labor but never really followed up in it) it's smooth sailing now! She sleeps pretty good about 6-7 hours at a time. The first 2 weeks are like some kind of hell, the woman goes through so much pain and mental exhaustion all you can do is be a super partner and help them work it out.

Our labor and delivery nurse was so fucking awesome! We found out last week she lives 3 houses down from us.. Cool

Seriously greatest thing I have ever done, being a dad.

Fuck SIDS.. That shit scares me more then anything.

Post partum depression is no fucking joke, it played some crazy tricks on my wife's mind. So much so that she checked herself into a psych ward for a night. Doctors got her some anxiety medicine and talked to her about it and she is fine now. No more meds or anything. Back to her old awesome self.

[DanteFox]

This scared the hell out of me. Eventually I had to accept it as a possibility to stay sane, but the idea that a kid could bite it for next to no reason is so hard to come to terms with. My wife had a friend who was watching his kid while his wife went out of town to visit her mother. It was his first night alone with the baby and it died of SIDS. I think at a year and a half you're officially out of the danger zone.

What causes SIDS? Is it like the baby's early, developing brain fails to keep the baby alive or what?

[Captain Tuttle]

My wife had terrible Postpartum depression in the weeks following our child's birth. Luckily there are medications you can take which do not pass through the breast milk into your child. It made a world of difference because my wife was an absolute wreck and didn't bond with our son at all..until the medication. Feel free to PM me with any questions about it for more details.

My wife had it too. It wasn't as crippling as your wife's sounds but she ended up going to therapy and taking some medication for a bit. It's definitely something that new fathers should be on the lookout for and it's something that you don't want to take lightly. My wife told me that she was hallucinating about horrible things happening to the baby and shit. Luckily I'm the stay at home parent so I was able to take care of both of them full time.

Don't let people (ie. parents and in-laws) dismiss it as "baby blues" or something, it can get pretty serious. Fathers should go with their gut.

Anyway with the second kid she was fine, no problems or need for medication at all.

[JetBlackPanda]

My wife had it too. It wasn't as crippling as your wife's sounds but she ended up going to therapy and taking some medication for a bit. It's definitely something that new fathers should be on the lookout for and it's something that you don't want to take lightly. My wife told me that she was hallucinating about horrible things happening to the baby and shit. Luckily I'm the stay at home parent so I was able to take care of both of them full time. Don't let people (ie. parents and in-laws) dismiss it as "baby blues" or something, it can get pretty serious. Fathers should go with their gut. Anyway with the second kid she was fine, no problems or need for medication at all.

The hallucinations are what scared my wife the most! They question there ability to be a good mom and why are they having these thoughts at all. I think it happens a lot more then people like to talk about but the more knowledge out there the better it is for others.

[DarkFlow]

My boy was born yesterday at 1:27 pm. So far all he wants to do is eat, sleep be damned lol.

[Captain Tuttle]

My boy was born yesterday at 1:27 pm. So far all he wants to do is eat, sleep be damned lol.

Congratulations! That's all they do for the first week or two.

Then it starts to get interesting lol

[Ivan A Nguyen]

What causes SIDS? Is it like the baby's early, developing brain fails to keep the baby alive or what?

No one can say with 100% certainty what causes SIDS. Sometimes a baby just stops living. That's why it's called Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It's not the same as suffocating or anything else that can be linked to a cause.

[Ivan A Nguyen]

My boy was born yesterday at 1:27 pm. So far all he wants to do is eat, sleep be damned lol.

When my son was born and I first heard him cry I was like, "Well that isn't loud at all. This shouldn't be too bad." Damn was I wrong.

[DarkFlow]

Congratulations! That's all they do for the first week or two. Then it starts to get interesting lol

Oh I bet. Sadly my poor gf is getting no sleep and there's not much I can do right now since he's just getting boobie milk. Also you know they have baby lojack lol I was amazed at this and also slightly scared.

[f0nz0]

my little girl was born April 26th! Life changing for sure..she does seem to sleep for 4-5 hours at a time at night so that's pretty good....lately tho it seems she has been a bit more gassy than usual , my wife picked up some gripe water but I think we might try the other brand showed on this thread, anywho congrats to everyone with their little ones

[DarkFlow]

When my son was born and I first heard him cry I was like, "Well that isn't loud at all. This shouldn't be too bad." Damn was I wrong.

Lol oh I know, for a little guy weighing 6lbs 13 oz he sure has some pipes. Speaker company's could learn a thing from baby's.

[hayguyz]

Your wife gave birth without the use of any drugs? The pain....it....I can't...

Lots of people do it. My wife had all our kids naturally.

There's a good documentary The Business of Being Born which focuses a lot on natural childbirth. The only downside is seeing Ricki Lake naked in a tub doing a water birth.