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Agree. I also sorely miss the ability to comment on a specific post.

I second this. Knowing we’re not alone. Mutual suffering being comforting is true for so many situations. As strange or selfish as it seems on the surface.

Same experience here! 6 months has been the hardest for us.

I feel a little silly saying this given all the beautiful advice in this thread but maybe it will resonate with someone. I found a lot of peace in thinking about how lucky my baby was to be in a first world country, with an air conditioned home, wrapped in her organic cotton swaddle… etc. when I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing or that I was messing up, I thought about the fact that there are women all across the world without the safety or comfort that our lives afford us, and they are raising babies too. Women raised babies when we lived in caves. By the light of kerosene lamps. In poverty. In other time periods where there was no such thing as diapers! (I can’t even imagine) Babies are resilient. All they really need is you.

I appreciate this perspective. My mom is the eldest of three and unfortunately handled the care for her parents entirely on her own despite two siblings. It is simply not a guarantee that siblings will provide the same mental, financial or emotional capacity to help or care for their aging parents. I feel I will run into the same with my sister as my parents get older. My mom has accordingly paid very close attention to the estate planning and financial means necessary to ensure they can care for themselves and it’s not all up to me. A privilege, but something they’ve decided was a priority through learned experience. Emily makes this point. Siblings don’t “guarantee” anything so I think it’s important to leave space for those choosing to have single children that they aren’t necessarily burdening their only children with their aging… and something to give advanced planning and thought to!!

Oh man this resonated with me! Would love to see others advice because I struggle with this immensely. The amount of time I spend worrying about phthalates and microplastics and chemicals around my baby is taking years off my life. I recently deleted social media for this very reason. My feed was full of posts that made me feel bad…like I wasn’t doing enough. Sometimes a little bit of ignorance is bliss. Stress is probably worse for our lives and our babies than the thing we are stressing about.