I mostly need to vent, but I also genuinely want some reassurance/perspective from other parents who believe in attachment parenting.

I have an 11-month-old baby and I made the decision to stay home with him until he's around 1.5 years old. It was a conscious choice. I wanted to have this time with him while he's still so little and be the one caring for him for these early years rather than rushing back to work.

I know daycare isn't bad and I have nothing against parents who use it. Everyone has different circumstances and choices. But for me personally, I really wanted to be there during this stage.

I have a friend whose baby is around 14 months. Her baby has been going to daycare every day from around 6am until 7pm. She's also currently buying a house.

Lately I feel like she makes comments that shame me for being on a break from work and staying home with my baby. It feels like she's portraying herself as moving forward financially while I'm sitting at home with a baby and not progressing.

And I hate that I've started comparing myself. I was actually very happy with my decision before this. Now whenever she talks about the house or work, I start wondering if I'm being irresponsible or whether I've somehow put myself behind.

What I'm really wondering is:

Does my baby actually benefit from me choosing to be home with him during this first 1.5 years?

I'm not expecting anyone to tell me daycare is bad or that staying home is automatically better. I know children can thrive in both situations. I'm just wondering whether having that extra time with a parent during these early years has meaningful benefits, especially from an attachment perspective.

I also want to know if anyone else has made a similar choice and then felt insecure when seeing friends financially getting ahead.

I don't want to spend my baby's first years constantly wondering whether I'm falling behind everyone else. I chose this time with him because it mattered to me. I just need some perspective because lately I'm questioning myself.

My son has been and is very high needs since birth in what seems like every way. Horrible sleeper, not a fan of eating, can't figure out how to drink water consistently without getting choked up, hates the car if it's not nap time, hasn't let me leave the room he is in for months without a meltdown, hardly lets me sit him down next to me while I do any chores without meltdown. Upset badly at diaper change time, after bath time sometimes. We've struggled at times with him biting, pinching, hitting me a lot out of what seems to be excitement but also sometimes frustration. He had 8 teeth by the time he was like 8 months old so that contributed. He's at the top of the growth charts so wearing him constantly isn't simple anymore, I can't see what I'm doing and he tries to grab everything. Logically attachment parenting makes sense to me, emotionally and in reality it's extremely difficult most days to stay calm through it all. Is there a point where even the most high needs babies start being a little more chill? I know I need to work on staying regulated regardless of the situation because me getting frustrated all the time isn't helping, but a lot of days I'm at my wits end. Things have definitely improved over the last few months but I thought we would be tipping the scales to where I could say we had a good day more often? Are my expectations too high? I'm afraid that my exhaustion/lack of ability to cope has already done damage attachment wise.

For context if it helps:

-just turned 12 months old

-we have coslept since 5 weeks old (has slept more than 4 hours in a row maybe 3 times ever, usually awake every 3 hours or less and wants to nurse constantly if I'm sleeping next to him. Won't nap on his own more than one sleep cycle, needed bounced vigorously to go to sleep most of his life etc etc his sleep needs it's own post, recently changed a lot and saw improvement from hourly wakes at night at least so I'm shelfing that)

-breastfed except one bottle of formula at night for the past couple months so that I can pump + give his dad a bottle of fresh milk to give him so I can get a stretch of sleep in another room and pumped milk while I'm at work

-I'm a sahm who is home with him for about 10 hours a day most days by myself before his dad gets home (I do have family nearby, babysit my niece some and go to work 2 days a month while my sister+mom watch him and he does fine there. His dad is also very helpful.)

-just learned he has low iron, started supplementing (hoping that helps things all around)

-crawled right at 6 months, pulled up right before 8 months, has been surfing ever since but just now started standing and thinking about walking. Won't follow me around crawling most of the time, wants held.

-had a rough start- c section to NICU, had to be on bottles at first for pacing because he would stop breathing if at the breast or fed too quickly

-we also lost our first son at 8 months old, he was born at 25 weeks, we lived in the hospital for his entire life. I'm sure this has contributed to my emotional/mental state with this son, especially starting off in the NICU again unexpectedly and not getting the "more natural" bonding experience I hoped for

I know that's a lot of info and honestly I think I'm partially posting this for myself to just get all of it off my chest and maybe help someone else not feel alone if they're struggling as well. He's also hilarious, loves music and dancing and is very happy in between his hard moments-I have to give him credit and love him so much through all this.

My son is 5 years old. Dad and I have had a couple of months of arguing and some has been in front of our son. How can we do this in the least traumatizing way possible? I am heartbroken for him.

It starts in 2 weeks. My almost 8-month-old twins will start daycare together.

Apparently your baby will cry when you leave. You're supposed to leave anyway. Then they'll be fine, they say, they'll start playing.

Except I don't know how I'll physically be able to leave them if I see them cry. It keeps me up at night.

Positive experiences please?

Im 19yo Mom who has 7months preemies they were born 33weeks and theyre identical twins. Honestly on preemie and newborn stages they were really calm. They ate well slept always all the time. Ant then about 2-3months came. And they started eating worse sleep worse. Im not single my man works at home so he helps me much. But still i feel too overwhelmes. We started feeding them solids. For about 3months now. Pediatricion said we can. Their adjusted age is about 5 months and a half. I make them food 3 times a day because they dont drink milk as much like i dont remember last time they drank all of their dose. Then i need to clean house because its always a fking mess i need to make ourselves something to eat. Every day i walk at least 15k steps. I have this thing about ed im getting better though. And honestly everythings feels like work. They dont sleep at night they dont sleep on day time. And i find myself super overwhelmed when they scream. And sometimes it was more often before then it stopped and now i find myself screaming at them like some wild animal. I feel like im a bad mom like they didnt do anything bad to deserve someone like me for a mom im always negative always on the edge (when theyre not eating or crying) what do i do i dring ashwaganda it kind of helps though but i really want to be better mom and give them best emotions. What do i do?