I regret having a baby — I’d rather watch Netflix

A new mom birthed a hard truth — she regrets ever having a kid.

Posting on the forum Mumsnet earlier this month, the anonymous mom captured the feeling of many new parents, detailing her growing exhaustion with parental life —something no amount of love she has for her child has been able to quell.

“I love her more than anything in the world. I constantly worry about something bad happening to her. She is a lovely, bright, happy, sweet, and quite independent child. But I just can’t shake the feeling that I regret having her,” the woman, whose username is The Berry, wrote in her post, according to The Sun.

The mom, whose baby is 10 months old, reminisced about the peace and quiet she felt before becoming a parent.

“I just want to go back to my old life. I had a quiet, peaceful, unexciting life, and that’s what I like. I’m a very introverted, self-contained person and I was always happy just being by myself, working from home, watching Netflix in the evenings, enjoying nature, having dinner out now and again. Maybe a holiday once in a while,” her post continued. 

There’s no sugarcoating it, the mom sometimes wishes her daughter had never been born because her old way of life “is gone now.”

“I don’t like parenting. I think it’s mainly the constant sense of responsibility, constantly having to entertain a baby, never being able to just sit and relax and do nothing all day, always having to be on alert,” she lamented. 

Feeling helpless, she asked the parenting forum whether or not things might get better over time. 

“I know having an older child will bring its own difficulties, but I’m wondering if I’ll enjoy it more once I can reason with her a bit and she can entertain herself more?? Or will I always regret the loss of my old life?” She asked.

Luckily for the tired mom, many on the forum said things would get easier as her child gets older. 

“It gets better!I found the baby age mind-numbing because you are constantly on alert but never really doing anything YOU want to,” wrote LionMummyRoar.

“Once you don’t have to watch every single thing they do, and they actually want to do quite fun things with you, it definitely gets better. Don’t get me wrong, long boozy brunches are a thing of the past, but you get much more of yourself back once they get to school age,” she continues. 

Other moms said they felt similarly disenchanted after having a child.

“I was googling local adoption services in the early stages of DS’s life. Don’t panic, OP. You’re in the trenches now. It gets better by itself. Just hang in there. I found returning to work was the catalyst for motherhood suddenly starting to feel manageable,” wrote Caolite.

And some moms just weren’t supportive at all: “Oh dear. Perhaps if you try to remember why on earth you decided to have a child it might help? You must have felt you were gaining something?”

Regretting having children has more common than some might think, and could be a symptom of postpartum depression. 

One in five women will experience a maternal-related mental health issue like postpartum depression, according to Hellopostpartum.com 

And in 2019, a survey by Orlando Health found that 40 percent of women feel depressed, anxious, and overwhelmed following their baby’s birth, reported Yahoo.

In addition to seeking out therapy, women could soon be able to take a pill to treat postpartum depression. 

The FDA could approve a first-of-its-kind pill for postpartum depression called Zuranolone as soon as August.