re: How difficult are babies really

My whore ex didn't tell me about my daughter till she was already two so I didn't get to experience the whole baby thing unfortunately

quote:

---

Seriously, you will surprise yourself at how well you adapt. Relax.

---

this. The human body will quickly adapt to getting absolutley NO SLEEP and still doing all the other mundane shite you have to do during the day. Sometimes you just need to crash though, and if you have relatives around to watch her just for a night it really really helps.

Another key thing you need to do is to sleep whenever your baby sleeps.

quote:

---

Let them sleep in their own room from day 1. Let them cry themselves to sleep. You'll thank me later.

---

You let your kids cry themselves to sleep from day 1?

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being most difficult, rate having a newborn baby and a newborn puppy

quote:

---

It's not hard.

---

I would be careful not to throw around this phrase. Perhaps for you and your spouse, it wasn't.

People process things differently than others. Some individuals find it quite difficult to acclimate to changes in environment. No one can deny that being catapulted into a world of utter sleep deprivation coupled with adjusting to a newborn's existence isn't hard.

This also can be expounded with, you never know what your newborn can and will bring to the table. They can be the easiest baby, hardly fussy, sleeps a good 3-4 hours within the first month of life,eats well, etc., overall a pretty easy newborn; However, you could have one with feeding issues, latching issues, mother's milk drying up for a myriad of reasons and having to find which formula suits their sensitive digestive microbiome. The list goes on and on.

Bottom line though, you adjust, you power through, and it will pass.

As they develop from newborn, to infant, to toddler, to "big-kid", it gets easier in some ways, yet harder in others.

You'll do fine.

Great feeling.

3 year old daughter who is just the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Make sure she is a daddy's girl!

quote:

---

rate having a newborn baby and a newborn puppy

---

I'd venture to say this could perhaps be a difficult situation.

Training is a crucial part of puppyhood. I doubt there will much time devoted to the proper training a puppy needs in order to flourish into a great house dog. (e.g., not getting into the trash, sitting when told, heeling when told, mainly knowing you're Alpha.)

quote:

---

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being most difficult, rate having a newborn baby and a newborn puppy

---

Baby: 6
Puppy: 15

I wanted to kill our puppy on several occasions when we first got him. Haven't even gotten a little bit frustrated with our newborn. She's pretty easy though. Rarely cries unless you change her diaper or give her a bath. Then all hell breaks loose!

quote:

---

By the second one you'll be a pro.

---

This is also a phrase that is commonly thrown around that I perceived as truth.

It can have the ring of truth, but again, it all goes back to sailing the murky waters of newborn-hood. You never know what kind of newborn you will have.

In retrospect, my first was the easiet. Generally a very calm, well-adjusted baby, no feeding issues, slept like a champ, etc.

The second had terrible reflux, feeding issues, breast milk drying up, slept awful (due to reflux) , etc. etc. Then on top of those newborn issues, there was a 20 month old in the house that was going through those developmental milestones and overall, you felt stretched thin.

Again, you just never know what could be bestowed upon you and your wife.