Hellobee Boards

I voted 4-6 months. I was in love with M from the first moment I saw her but it took me a long time to feel really happy. She had such horrible MSPI and colic symptoms and it was so hard to love her so much and feel like I was failing her. We were both miserable.

@Mae: Hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones who is happy from the start. I like threads like this, though, because it was really really helpful for me to see that other moms were unhappy at first and came through it. After 6 months I started to feel like we were thriving instead of just surviving. Now, at 14 months, it's hard to imagine that I could ever be happier!

I voted 4 to 6 months. I never felt that instantaneous love that you are 'supposed to' I don't love the newborn stage and would say that I really fell in love around the 4 month mark.

Instantly - I never had any problems adjusting.

However, it was difficult figuring out breastfeeding! That gave me a lot of stress (SOOO much stress). And, I kinda got a little depressed that I was going to be changing diapers for the next 8 years of my life (I want 4 kids all 1-2 years apart).

Similar to other people, I felt extremely happy and at ease from the start. I never doubted in my ability to just figure it out, and that truly helped me to just figure it out.

That being said, some parts I have enjoyed more than others. Birth to 5 months were great because she was just my little side kick, and we ran all over the city having a blast. 5 months to 10 were harder, because she wasn't so interested in just hanging out in my moby wrap, but she wasn't even mobile enough to enjoy the toddler room at the museum. Then 10-18 months were another kind of hard, because she wasn't really walking, or not much, and she needed a lot of physical transport, which gave me a terrible back injury. She also got really intensely clingy in this period, and very verbal, and wanted a ton of interaction constantly that was hard for my introverted self.

At 18 months, she could walk well and for a ways, she started to play on her own more and to generally do more on her own. At 26 months I'm just enjoying parenting more and more - no more picking her up and carrying her, she entertains herself for long stretches, we can go all over and do fun things really well. Parenting just keeping getting funner and funner over here.

@Mae: Yeah, I never experienced any 'worst month of my life' parts, and maybe you won't either! Some people get handed harder babies than others, I think, and some people really get lucky. Being able to relax and enjoy as much as possible really helped me to have fun. And I had a very easy baby - I got very lucky.

But as lots of people here have said, if you do find it quite hard, you won't forever! And if you don't find yourself loving it from day one, don't feel like you're abnormal. I never had that instant overpowering love when she was put on my chest - I just thought, huh, squishy. I just knew that I needed a little time to get to know her and to let it grow. And boy, did it.

As soon as I saw her. I was blessed with an easy cruisy baby who had herself on a 4 hour schedule and didn't have reflux or anything so didn't feel like life changed too much - I just had a sidekick all the time.

I feel lucky that I was happy right from the start. I had an "easy" L&D so recovery was fine and felt like I could focus all my attention on getting to know L. I love being a mom so much. I love getting out every day and taking her to the movies, or to the library or to moms groups. She's a great sleeper which I'm sure helps too.

Erm... immediately and never. I had a hard time bonding with my son for a good while. I'd say his whole infancy was rough for me, and after his first birthday things have been much more fun. But 12 months isn't quite the right answer either.