u/pbmisfit

I was very much into fitness before I got pregnant so I had been following a bunch of fitness influencers (just unfollowed every influencer for my sanity now). This particular influencer is out here giving tips on “how her 6 week old sleeps through the night”, which is how she’s at the gym everyday. Like we’ve haven’t heard of “full feeds” and “sleep pressure” already lol.. Debilitating SPD, baby that keeps screaming every night like clockwork, husband who’s back at work, alone in a foreign country with no village, I haven’t seen the inside of the gym since I was 30 weeks pregnant. I mean good for you I guess but every parent awake at 3am has googled “how to keep baby asleep at night”. 🙄

I have tried purées and finger foods but it’s always an uphill battle. We started solids just before hitting 6 months and initially I wasn’t worried much because at this stage they’re still getting nutrition from breastmilk. But now it’s been 2 months and sometimes he’d take a bite or 2 of some food but on most days he’d just spit it out. I’ve tried almost all allergens.. the first time he had peanut butter he almost devoured the entire tiny bowl of PB oatmeal I prepped but now when I offer him the same food he’d spit it out 😑🫠. I see kids of his age eating so much more and this kid would barely open his mouth. I’ve tried feeding him, baby led weaning, nothing works.

Oh and he hates water too 😑. I’ve tried every hack I saw online, he just wouldn’t drink even a single drop of water. I felt so helpless so I started offering it in a bottle and he’d barely drink maybe 5ml throughout the day. I feel like we’re so far behind regarding helping him develop eating/drinking skills. Please help me. Give me some ideas on how to get food into him.

Our baby has been a good sleeper who slept 7-8h uninterrupted since he was around 12 weeks and only 1 wake up overnight. We didn’t even go through the 4 month sleep regression. But a week leading up to his 7 month, he started waking up more and has to be rocked back to sleep. Yesterday he woke up every hour, sometimes even less.. we never considered sleep training because 1. I’m not comfortable and 2. He’s always been a good sleeper. I know many people are going to suggest sleep training and absolutely no judgement to parents who do it but me personally, I can’t sit through his cries and I won’t be able to do it.

I guess I’m just here to ask if anyone has gone through something similar and if it’s temporary. Is this going to get better? Is this just a normal regression? Or do they just stop sleeping normally as they age until you sleep train them? I’m just tired ya’ll.. we thought we were done with the shifts but for now they’re back again! 🫠😑

So in light of the recent events on social media re Pranit More and that Biriyani guy, as soon as women started outraging, they dug up an old video where a girl was passing obscure comments on a cadaver. And she went on to become an influencer after that because people (re men) thought she was funny (re conventionally good looking). Now men have a problem that we’re outraging over that biriyani guy and didn’t do the same for the girl. But it’s men who followed her for her looks. Why didn’t you outrage then? Do they not realise the irony? Is critical thinking dead with men? It’s giving we’ll celebrate men’s day because there’s women’s day. Men loves to do whataboutery when it comes to women’s issues. Another one just posted in a different sub regarding the cadaver joke “imagine if men did the same”.. well, men don’t just joke but rapes women corpses, they don’t even leave mannequins and paintings alone. So we don’t have to imagine it when we’re actually living the horror!

I’m so hurt, furious, angry, done with all the “oh you’ve gained a lot of weight” comments.. we live abroad, which has been a boon and a bane. I’m 6 months postpartum, naturally I’ve gained some weight and unlike a lot of women, I’m one of the few who didn’t lose it all while breastfeeding. Since I got pregnant, me and my husband have done everything without any help. No grandparents, no family dropping by to babysit, or to drop home cooked meals. We survived every night shift, we ate freezer meals while our chores piled up. There’s surviving postpartum with a village, there’s surviving PP alone and there’s surviving PP alone in a different country.

All this to say that fitness has been last on my priority list. Not to forget that I developed pelvic floor issues along the way, which means a lot of physical therapy and no intense workouts. I’ve been shielded from a lot of these unsolicited comments because I’ve the privilege to block it out. But some of these comments comes from MY OWN MOTHER AND MY MIL. Ironically, I was (still am) very fitness conscious. And they used to mock and berate me to eat more (eat more puris, more aloo, more fried crap) and workout less (because intense work out will hamper my fertility 🙄). It’s like there’s no winning. And hearing these comments from women who’ve gone through this stage is so hurtful and mean.

Baby is 6 months old and starting to sleep longer stretches. Last night he slept for 9-10h straight, which is good but I had to wake up after 6h to pump because I was so engorged. Is there a way to avoid this? Or everyone sleeps and I’m doomed to wake up ITMN to milk myself? 😩😭

My profile:
PhD in Physics. Working at a quantum computing startup. Reviewed more than 10 research articles, published peer reviewed articles, citation count ~150 (this was the weakest point imo). Had letters of recommendation from distinguished scientists all over the world.
Filed in Apr 24, pp. Filed through company lawyers, since the company was willing to bear all the expenses.

Have been lingering in this sub for a while, thought I’d share the good news.