New mums have been sharing their fears about not enjoying the “baby stage” online, following one mum’s comments on Mumsnet.
The poster explained that she had two children, a two-year-old and a two-month-old, but occasionally feels she wishes her eldest was a few years older.
She posted:
“I obviously love them to pieces but after having DD2 I’ve realized I don’t really enjoy the baby stage much at all.
“Feeding, sleepless nights etc. I don’t enjoy them depending on me for their every need and I find myself daydreaming about [two-year-old] DD1 being a few years older and being able to watch movies with her and having more conversation etc.
“I just wondered what age you started to really enjoy your child or have you just loved every minute from the newborn stage and I’m just a selfish, sh*t mum?”
Her fellow Mumsnet users were quick to assure her that all parents could find different stages of parenthood tougher than others, while some agreed they found the baby stage quite hard.
One person commented:
“Nice to see I’m not the only one who feels like this.
“I found the baby stage hard, the toddler stage less so as I wasn’t as tired.
“Ages four-six were great. Seven is hard work as there seems to be constant challenging behaviour and arguing.”
Someone else wrote:
“Hated the baby stage, started enjoying a bit more from 1 onwards and honestly have enjoyed them more and more as they have got older.”
One of the commenters said what she enjoys “comes in phases”, adding that it feels “normal” to feel there are times that were harder to enjoy.
She said:
“It comes and goes. I’ve enjoyed the phases birth to three months, 15 months to three years, and then age 7+.
“Of course all children are different and some might have more challenging phases than others but it’s normal for there to be periods which are harder to enjoy or feel like a drag.”
Another Mumsnet user added:
“I hate the baby stage.
“I’d quite happily be pregnant longer and pop them out aged 3 when they can talk walk and poop solo.
“Much more civilised.”
Meanwhile, someone else said:
“Hated the baby stage. Tiring, relentless and both hard work and mundane and the same time. Found it marginally easier second time as I knew things would change.
“Enjoy toddler stage but still tiring. I find it gets better and better the older they get.”
