I had help... My mom! And she didn't charge me a dime...

No we didn't have any help. I know people that had their mothers move in for like a week or two to help. I just don't think it's necessary. But that's just me. I didn't want to get use to someone else always being there to do things for me. I naturally learned how to function as a zombie for a the first couple weeks.

Oh wait.....Unless maybe if you had other young kids. When I had my second my daughter was 6 at the time. So she was easy.

No we didn't have any help. I know people that had their mothers move in for like a week or two to help. I just don't think it's necessary. But that's just me. I didn't want to get use to someone else always being there to do things for me. I naturally learned how to function as a zombie for a the first couple weeks.

Oh wait.....Unless maybe if you had other young kids. When I had my second my daughter was 6 at the time. So she was easy.

I hear about these SAHM moms that hire night nurses and usually they also have a pretty penny sitting in the bank account. I just can't agree with it. I know if you can afford it, who really should care, but I think you put yourself before your baby by giving the duties over to someone else. That time with your baby is priceless and at night I think it's also good for the baby to know you're there for him/her.

I guess you can always ask, what's the difference between that and having a sitter come in for some time during the day. I feel like there is a big difference...I just can't find the words to describe why! How pathetic of me to not be able to fully defend my position. I know how valuable you are as a mom when you're well-rested, but to hire someone to come in to take over the night shift in order to do that isn't something I agree with. It's one thing if the baby is sleeping through the night on his/her own. It's another when you hire someone to take over that shift completely.

Well... my mom only helped me for like the first two weeks. And unfortunately, my son's father is not in the picture. If he was there, I don't think I would have needed my mom to help. But now I'm lucky enough to have my 3 month old sleeping through the night so I don't need anyone's help!!

By choice, we were on our own. I'm fiercely independent as it is, so I just couldn't see having anyone come to help us. Further, I would feel like I constantly had to entertain someone and keep my house clean, etc. That was the last thing I wanted to do after labor and delivery.

The best help I had was having my husband for two weeks. I really found that we had some exceptionally precious bonding time as a new family during those two weeks. I can't imagine what it would have been like had someone else been there constantly.

I didn't have any help, just me and my husband. I liked it that way!

I'd consider having my husband around, having help. I know he helped a lot after our second was born. He's in the Army and I've spent a lot of time over the years taking care of the kids entirely by myself. So, I always chuckle to myself when people consider it "doing it on their own" with their husbands are right there with them.

My husband had to leave a few days after our first was born, so my Mom came to stay with me for about two weeks. I took care of the baby and she took care of the house. We were trying to sell our house and it was showing quite often, so I couldn't just let housework go. I'm so glad she came to help me! It was a wonderful time for the two of us and I really appreciated her help.

My mother-in-law and my parents are life savers, they watch our little one the two days of the week that our schedules won't allow.

We do it on our own for the most part - we do have a sitter for 4 hours - 4 days a week (grandmas), but the rest of the time it is me or my husband. We both work fulltime.

What I don't get is that I work with some guys whose wives are SAHMs and then the husbands will come into work all tired because they were up all night with the baby. Maybe someone can enlighten me, but why? My husband and I shared night duty because we both work, but when I was on Maternity leave I took full charge of night duty so my hubby could be rested for work. And it would be different if the guys were like - I am using this as a bonding time - but they end up resenting their wives and complaining about not getting any sleep.

Eek, I'm one of those women, Jenny! I'm a SAHM but as soon as my husband walks through the door I expect him to give me a hand and to take turns getting up. I guess when you put it like that it isn't fair at all, but it certainly feels like a full time job looking after the baby all day, and at least when he walks in, the novelty of being with her makes it more of a break for him.

With our first baby, my mother in law and mother both stayed with us (one stayed one week, the other stayed part of the next) so that I could get some sleep.

With our second, I was on my own. Though my mother in law did take our oldest for a couple nights so that I could get back into the swing of things... oddly enough, I felt like I needed more help the second time around.

I voted no b/c I thought it meant if you had a nanny. However, I did have help my mother lives close by so she helped for the first two weeks officially and anytime afterwards, and my MIL came up for a week or two.

MacNeil...I am a SAHM and I handed over the baby to my husband too. We are working too with the babies. I am a night person and my hubby is a morning person...so he took the early morning hours.

What I have a problem with are SAHM that have a nanny that STILL make hubby do stuff when they get home. I have 2 sister-in-laws that are both SAHM. One has 2 nannies and still make her hubby do night duty. She claims that he HAS to bond with his children and that they are his responsibility(whatever you say lady). The other one had help with her for probably 2 months by her family members as well as a nanny and still would make her hubby take over when he got home. This one is so spoiled that she didn't even know how to operate her own stroller when the child was a year b/c that is hubby's responsibility. Both of them kind of freak out when they don't have help.

I could have had help but I don't want anyone constantly in my house and I couldn't justify being a stay at home mom and watching someone else raise my child.

With my first it was just hubby and I, but now that we're expecting a second, I really don't know yet. I have an aunt who is willing to fly here from Romania and live with us to help out. If things get tough I might consider that. But we'll see. If not, I definitely want to try and get a regular babysitter so I have a few hours a week to myself.

I hope I didn't offend anyone. I honestly don't understand it, and I guess since I hear these husbands complaining about not getting any rest to other people in the office, but not complaining or changing things with their wives - it just confuses me.

I know there are a lot of SAHMs on here and thought maybe I could have some comebacks to defend these wives.

And don't get me wrong - if you are lucky enough to have both parents involved sharing the childcare duties should be a given. I do kind of try and take over more then I should though because I love spending the time with our little girl and realize how fast she will grow up!

I am also a SAHM that needed my hubby to help with night duty. My son would wake up every 1-2 hours and cry for one full hour before going back to bed (for like an hour). This took place for at least the first 6 months of his life. He was very colicky. Nothing made him happy. We swaddled him and he would fight it, but if we left him unswaddled he would wail... we would put on radio static really loudly and sometimes that calmed him. It was a very tough time in our lives. When he was a month old I had an incident where I almost passed out and ended up in the emergency room with a very fast heart rate. After that I experienced frequent, almost constant dizzy spells and I was barely able to take care of my son during the day, so my poor hubby had to do a lot of the torturous night duty to try and let me recuperate. It took me a very long time. Anyway, I felt very guilty and spoiled at times, but looking back now, I don't think so. I just thank God I have a wonderful husband and I don't care what anyone else thought.

Romaniagrl - Well anyone who would think bad about that is crazy - you had a medical condition and a colicky child.

I am talking about completely healthy SAHMs with children who wake up a few times in the middle of the night having their husband take night duty.

My son is 3 1/2 weeks old and so far my husband still takes one of the night feedings/changes so I can get much needed rest. The baby is generally too fussy during the day for me to nap (or do anything for me), and even so, I'm not a napper (can't sleep during the day) and instead try to get stuff done when baby sleeps. My husband doesn't complain and feels it is his responsibility to help with that at night. After all, he is gone all day at work and it is a good bonding time for the two of them. I guess I never considered there was anything wrong with sharing night duty. And while he is willing and able to help out, I'll gladly take it. He's great that way.

I wasn't offended! I guess it just seemed natural to share the nightcare because both of us were so physically tired by having a baby - I'm amazed, personally, and AWED by anyone who does it alone.

I always did night duty by myself since I was nursing and there was little my husband could do anyway. Besides, I didn't mind it and I function well with little sleep.

But, being a stay at home mom is a job, too. Being tired and dealing with small children and the house all day isn't any easier than being tired and dealing with an office all day.

My husband and I have always shared night duty. But lucky for me my MIL lives with us (and has since way before the baby) so she would watch the baby for a couple of hours in the morning so I could nap when I was at home. Thankfully he started sleeping through the night a few days before I had to go back to work. But she is a lifesaver and am very glad to have her around.

I tend to think hired help is pretty silly. I'm all for family coming to help with laundry, dishes and such... but with the exception of my own mom, this just added to the work I had to do!

Sometimes I feel crazy with my kids (2 and 1), but that's what mothering is all about. I can't imagine someone else spending time with my children... they're mine! I am going to miss all these things that drive me crazy when they are older. All I will have are the memories, and I'd like to have as many of those as I can.

With my first my husband couldn't take any time off of work so it was just me, but with the first it's easy to do all those things they say to do like sleep when your baby is sleeping so it wasn't hard. With my second, my husband took off three weeks from work. Since he was adopted I didn't need that much help because I had no physical recovery. With my third, my husband took off five weeks from work but that is all the help I had. My mom will sometimes come watch them for an hour so I can take a shower and get ready but usually I am on my own since my husband works a lot now. You get used to it, learning how to care for all your kids with just a little bit of family help. And as they get older it gets easier and things improve. I never even considered having paid help, it just isn't done in my family.

My second son was very colicky for three full months, he would scream bloody murder from 8pm to midnight. After I would get my older son in bed he started and I would spend the next four hours walking him, rocking him, bouncing him, anything I could think of, until my husband got home from work right at midnight. It was an agonizing time and I was at my wits end. My mom would take him once a week on the weekend but it was still so difficult. I thought I would never get through it but after three months it all passed and is nothing but an unpleasant memory.

Why do mothers judge each other so much? I say whatever works for you is fine. If you want to have a nanny - fine. If you want to make your hubby sleep deprived b/c you are with the kid all day - fine. Who cares what other people do as long as you are happy with your situation?

I had the best kind of help...my mom! It is super to have someone you can trust and who loves the baby as much (if not more) than you! Plus my mom is a natural caretaker! It was especially super to have her around when I had my second baby...my oldest didn't even really notice anything different! Oh, and my sister is great with my kids too! I love them! I couldn't imagine raising my kids without my family close by.

My husband and I didn't have any help but now that I've returned to work, we have a nanny who watches our baby during the day 3 days and I work from home with the babythe other 2 days. I would LOVE to stay at home with my little one, but unfortunately, my husband's job isn't very stable at the moment and mine is, so I need to work! Breaks my heart.

We live a 1000 miles from any family, so hiring help was our only option. We considered hiring a post-partum doula/nurse to help in the first couple of weeks, mostly because we were freaked out about whether we would break the baby or something! We weren't concerned so much about the sleep, but more about infant care that you can't always learn in books. Neither of us had any newborn experience. In the end, we opted not to hire anyone and managed on our own.

We managed fine, but I think we freaked out about every little thing a lot more because we didn't have anyone experienced there to tell us the baby was fine (clogged tear duct = rush to the doctor's office, moro reflex = rush to the doctor's office, etc). Now we know better! It's funny in retrospect but we were terrified!

And for all the SAHMs... your 24/7 job is way harder than my 9-5 desk job so I think it's more than fair to expect dads to be "on duty" when they come home from work.

I find many of your comments judgmental. Every woman should do what makes her comfortable and best for her family. Stop being martyrs!! Stop judging other women for their choices!

I was very lucky, my daughter was born during a down time in my husbands buisness, so he was home with me for the first 3 months. After that he was only home for 1 out of 4 weeks but those first 3 months were a blessing!
There are many ways for fathers to bond with their children.