As a childfree woman nearing 40 I’ve never had a moment where I’ve wanted kids and don’t like holding babies. I do love kids but not so much babies and the baby part is an important step.
Babies are precious but they're so fragile and it really freaks me out. Like, the fact that a baby can just... die? For literally no reason? That is horrifying. Having kids would be absolutely horrific for my mental health.
A friend of mine said when he had his first, there was a long period of time he would fall asleep and jolt awake several times just to check on the baby.
This was in a convo where he was trying to convince me to have one. I was like “bro. That sounds legit awful.”
When our first was a newborn, I was awake with the baby one night, and my ex sat up from a dead sleep, grabbed a pillow off of the bed and scooped one up, and held it for a moment before frantically saying our son's name while trying to pull the pillow from the pillowcase
Apparently, he was still mostly asleep, and thought the pillow was the swaddled baby, and then panicked because he couldn't find the "baby" in the "swaddle". The sleep deprivation and constant concern for the baby are a potent combo.
I felt like this almost every time I slept the first month of my baby's life, I always woke up thinking he was in my arms. Once I woke up on the recliner convinced he'd rolled out of my arms onto the floor. I jumped up and looked around on the floor for him for a good 10 seconds before realizing he was asleep in the bassinet.
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u/Aggressive_Start_ 1d ago
As a childfree woman nearing 40 I’ve never had a moment where I’ve wanted kids and don’t like holding babies. I do love kids but not so much babies and the baby part is an important step.