u/Capakhutch

My baby slept through the night from 3 weeks old all the way until 5 months. For the past two months, she’s been awake anywhere from 3 to 7 times per night. My brain cannot handle sleep deprivation. When I have multiple nights in a row of broken sleep, I get extremely irritable and start lashing out at my kids. It’s so bad that I had to recently start an SSRI. My mental health was pretty good when she was sleeping.

What do I do? I even tried embracing cosleeping and put a mattress on the floor in her room and it made no difference

I’d love to know your stories

I had my third baby 7 months ago. I have not enjoyed being a SAHM for the past 3 years. I want to enjoy it because I love my kids and want to be there for them, but I am a shell of a person. My psychiatrist suggest that I add Lexapro to my meds (I’m already on Ritalin for adhd). I’m not sure if this will finally help me lift myself out of this funk and enjoy my kids again or if the solution is to go back to work.

My psychiatrist and my therapist both think that I could benefit from an SSRI. I'm 7 months postpartum and have had pretty bad mood issues with my previous two kids and promised myself that if I was struggling after this most recent baby, I would consider medication. I'm already on Ritalin for my ADHD and that has actually helped me immensely compared to previous postpartum periods. The issue is that it still doesn't help some of my mood issues. I often feel like a failure, struggle to find joy even when I objectively know that my life is great, and am often overwhelmed and plagued by the feeling that I'm a terrible mom. I've been working hard at changing my mindset, outsourcing things, getting breaks from the kids, eating better, adding vitamins, etc, but I still can't just stop and enjoy my kids.

I know that I need this. But I'm terrified by horror stories and things that pop up on my various social media feeds about how SSRIs destroy your brain. I am prescribed 5mg per day, but have pretty bad medical anxiety and overanalyze every physical sensation in my body and am terrified of psychiatric meds, so my psychiatrist said that I can start with 2.5mg.

I'm scared of the side effects too and not knowing how it will affect me as I try and care for my children. I need to be functional for them.

I used to obsess about reading medication experiences on here before I tried Ritalin for the first time. I was terrified of side effects and it took a lot for me to take my first dose. I first was prescribed Focalin and it was pretty terrible, but Ritalin IR has been an incredible experience for me.

I wanted to share how life changing this med has been for me just in case anyone else is scared of starting. I used to struggle with paralyzing overwhelm, explosive anger, impulsivity, and focus issues. This med has helped with all of it. I’ve been on it for about 6 months and I’m a much better mom and wife on this medication. I also have virtually no side effects. Even my heart rate hasn’t changed much and I have no crash in the evenings. There is a little appetite suppression, but that’s a good thing for me because I’m 50 lbs overweight.

Obviously YMMV, but I hope by sharing this, anyone anxious about starting can jump in knowing that it is possible to find a med that works well with your body and brain chemistry.

I have 3 kids five and under. I have ADHD and am 7 months postpartum. Ritalin has improved my typical postpartum irritability immensely, but I feel a lack of joy in life. Despite having an objectively wonderful life, I feel like my feelings don’t match how good I have it. I’m tired of feeling flat all the time. I know it’s not related to the Ritalin because I felt this way when I was pregnant too and wasn’t taking it.

My psychiatrist prescribed me 5mg of lexapro to try, but I’m worried that it’s not going to help. I basically want to regain my spark. The enjoyment of life I had with my first baby and before I ever got pregnant.

I have three kids. A 5 year old girl, 3 year old boy, and a 7 month old baby girl.

I do love them and have moments that I cherish sometimes. My 5 year old had a bad dream and came to bed with me the other day and actually cuddled with me, which is so unusual for her since she’s not touchy feely and I savored it. I feel joy reading her stories that she writes and am in awe at how smart she is. I love how sweet and empathetic my 3 year old is. I love watching them play together. I love my baby’s chubby cheeks and the funny sounds she’s starting to make. I love her cuddles.

Despite these positive feelings though, I dread my kids coming home from preschool every day and often don’t want to do anything with them. I hate playing with them and getting out of the house and doing something “fun” sounds exhausting and miserable. They fight a lot and whine constantly and I get very easily overstimulated. My 5 year old is so intense and does not stop talking. I want to escape whenever I’m with them.

I get breaks. They’re in preschool for 4 hours per day and I have a gym membership with childcare. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year and Ritalin has helped me a lot with some major irritability I had during previous postpartum periods. The ritalin gives me motivation, focus, and helps me not snap at my kids, but my joy is still gone.

I became a SAHM to take joy in my kids in these younger years. I don’t know why I can’t. After my first daughter, I was so happy. I used to take joy in every single thing she did. I used to sing with her and swing her around and dance. I was truly happy. I don’t know what’s wrong with me now. I want to feel like me. I want to cherish my time with my kids and feel the surges of joy that I used to.

My psychiatrist prescribed me Lexapro if I wanted to take it, but I’m terrified.

Has anyone else gone through something similar?

I posted here a little while ago about how I finally realized that I need to take my life back and not have my world revolve around my kids. I had started a volunteering thing every other Saturday and was on the moon, I was so happy.

Well, my baby apparently had other plans because she started completely refusing a bottle, won’t be comforted by anyone but me, and I joined a gym with childcare and she only lasts about 30-40 minutes before needing me. I had to cancel my volunteering because there’s no way I can leave her for 6-7 hours.

I feel trapped. She also hates solids. I’ve tried a straw cup with milk too and no luck so far. Anyone else deal with something similar?

We have always been pretty inconsistent with offering bottles to my baby, but up until now, she at least would take them begrudgingly if I wasn’t around.

After having 3 kids in 5 years, I finally found something that gets me out of the house doing something I love once a week, and now she is completely refusing bottles. She won’t do the straw cup either and has HATED any purees that I’ve tried so far.

I want to cry and run away. I feel trapped. I love breastfeeding but the fact that I couldn’t even wean if I wanted to now makes me resentful.

I was diagnosed with ADHD last year and I strongly suspect my 5 year old daughter might have it. We just went through an evaluation process where she was diagnosed with selective mutism, social anxiety, mild ODD, and won't meet the criteria for ADHD unless the teachers' survey also points to ADHD.

At school, she's always the first one to complete her work, she is at the 97th percentile in her standardized tests, sits still, follows directions, and is a very quick learner. She doesn't ever throw tantrums, cry, have outbursts, etc.

At home, she is very easily distracted, struggles to follow instructions even when she's not being defiant (she will start doing something then find something else she wants to do and then says, "Oh I forgot!"), cannot sit in her chair properly for meals without constant reminders, is always losing things, has emotional regulation issues, etc.

When I was a kid, I was also very intelligent, school initially came easy for me, and I was a model student. I started having attention issues around 4th grade, but my teachers would have never known because I compensated by teaching myself at home using the homework. I would cry every night and have panic attacks because of my procrastination and having to spend SO much time doing homework because I wasn't focusing in class. So because of this, I probably wouldn't have even met the criteria for ADHD until I was a preteen. Is this going to happen to my daughter too?