“Surprises and learnings from almost two months of Leo Panickssery” by Nina Panickssery

Leo was born at 5am on the 20th May, at home (this was an accident but the experience has made me extremely homebirth-pilled). Before that, I was on the minimally-neurotic side when it came to expecting mothers: we purchased a bare minimum of baby stuff (diapers, baby wipes, a changing mat, hybrid car seat/stroller, baby bath, a few clothes), I didn’t do any parenting classes, I hadn’t even held a baby before. I’m pretty sure the youngest child I have had a prolonged interaction with besides Leo was two. I did read a couple books about babies so I wasn’t going in totally clueless (Cribsheet by Emily Oster, and The Science of Mom by Alice Callahan). I have never been that interested in other people's babies or young children but I correctly predicted that I’d be enchanted by my own baby (though naturally I can’t wait for him to [...] ---Outline:(02:05) Stuff I ended up buying and liking(04:13) Stuff I ended up buying and not liking(05:08) Babies are super time-consuming(06:22) Baby-wearing is almost magical(08:02) Breastfeeding is nontrivial(09:09) Your baby may refuse the bottle(09:37) Bathing a newborn was easier than expected(09:53) Babies love faces!(10:22) Leo isn't upset by loud noise(10:41) Probably X is normal(11:24) Consider having a kid (or ten)!--- First published: July 12th, 2025 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vFfwBYDRYtWpyRbZK/surprises-and-learnings-from-almost-two-months-of-leo --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article: