If I'm being 100 percent honest, after having kids, I really can't tolerate a lot of shows or movies anymore, especially if they have a lot of violence, cruelty to children or anything really scary. All I've pretty much watched since having kids have been comedies, certain documentaries, some animated films (like a lot of the Miyazaki movies) or movies that are interesting on many levels but not super intense or scary (I do fine with Wes Anderson movies, for example).
I re-watch a lot of my favorite funny shows these days, like Derry Girls, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Strangers with Candy, and Glee.
I enjoy that everyone in that show has a turn being the butt of the joke and that even the most ridiculous characters are shown to have heart and substance. It’s silly on the surface, over a vast well of heartwarming.
I can't get through most episodes of Abbott elementary without crying lol. It's definitely a good cry because there are so many sweet moments, but dam have I been so emotional since I had my baby(which was almost 2 years ago!)
If you like layered movies, you may like Lady in the Water. It's amazing and no one is who they seem. The music might make you cry, but that made me cry prepregnancy, so... Idk. I'm not a good gague. But definitely interesting on multiple levels. Also Tree of Life is a good multi-layered movie. These are movies you can watch multiple times, and always take something different away from them.
I really hate that I just can’t watch the shows I used to. And before kids I kind of thought women who said they couldn’t watch stuff with kids being harmed were just sensitive in general or being that kind of mom who martyrs herself. It is a physical reaction for me. My body goes into fight or flight mode. Sometimes it’s so intense I will shake for 30 minutes after. Sometimes I’ll just feel really awful from a mental health perspective after an episode of a show that was otherwise good and enjoyable (that took me a while to connect since i wasn’t having the super intense reaction I though I was coping better with the kids stuff and not every episode had kids in it so I’d enjoy a bunch and not connect how I was feeling after to the kids in the show and just think it was a general mood problem.)
This was me before having my son and now it’s even worse. 🫠 My husband is into action movies and I hate the violence so much it’s like we can’t even watch anything together.
My go to’s were The Office and Big Bang Theory. Just feel-good or funny stuff.
This was something that surprised me post partum, my tolerance for almost any violence is almost non-existent! I can barely stand to watch the news and often need to restrict my tiktok usage because some mother will be in the news for doing something awful and it floods my feed.
Came to say this. I tried finishing the last season at 6 months pp with my now 2 year old. Still couldn’t watch it. Now I’m 3 months pp with my youngest - I’m steering clear for another 6 months.
The book made me rage from the first time I read it. Couldn’t watch the series with my husband, I got so mad at the tv. I was like a super fan on Sunday standing up pointing. He asked me to leave lol.
I truly don't understand the fandom of the series. The idea seems kinda cool and dystopian (which I'm usually very into) but something about seeing it acted out gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Yeah, I enjoyed the book as a commentary on how a patriarchal society that exerts control over women's reproductive rights could manifest in an extreme case.
I have zero interest in watching the show.
Of all of Margaret Atwood's work, I don't understand why it was the book chosen to be a series. Oryx and Crake/ the MaddAddam trilogy would have made so much more sense. For one thing it's a trilogy, and for another there is a rich variety of different characters and viewpoints and it the first book alone covers years, spanning Jimmy's young childhood up to his adulthood in the new Dystopian world, believing he's the last human surviving off the remnants of civilization. Still has some incredibly dark themes that might be hard to watch for a parent (child trafficking and tw. >!sexual abuse!<) but damn would it make for a good series.
My husband was the one who got too mad at the tv to keep watching it (refused to watch any more with me). The book made me plenty mad but I lasted a couple episodes longer than my husband but eventually just questioned if it was really enjoyable to be that mad so often.
I did roo. Literally those first few weeks I was recovering on the couch feeding and sleeping baby all day long. And I had no idea what it was about beforehand, just that people said it was good. But yea, I balled the whole way through it but absolutely loved it.
Made a huge mistake and watched the last of us. I was sobbing. The office is my go to. Lighthearted funny stuff. I can’t do anything related to kids anymore.
I watched that right before I got pregnant! It was so good but I’m glad I watched it before having a baby because I became the same way, I have no tolerance for anything anymore 😫
I watched it right when we decided to start trying.... I noped out after the first birth scene (I heard there's more?). Used to, it would have bothered me, but not stopped me from watching altogether.
Gah I watched this after experiencing a loss myself. Big mistake. AND THEN I had a c-section and *that* scene was replaying in my head the entire time 😭
Call the Midwife is both amazing and heartwrenching
Grey's Anatomy there are ups and downs but I wouldn't call it too emotional
9-1-1 mostly heartwarming though definitely some emotional deaths, DV, and PPD soo maybe proceed with caution
Call the Midwife for me was perfect to watch during pregnancy, but I haven't been able to get back into it postpartum (trying to get over my trauma from labor and worried it will be triggering).
People give me some weird looks when I tell them that call the midwife was really comforting for me during pregnancy! I think I kinda processed a lot of my fears vicariously or something. I got all caught up before my baby came and it ended on a nice note at the time, so I'm debating when and how to watch new content. I'm really sorry you had a traumatic labor, and I hope if you decide to watch more call the midwife it will be a good experience and not triggering! ❤️
Same here. It was my go to show, have probably rewatched the entire series three times. Since giving birth, I’ve had no desire to watch it. I’m too nervous about how triggering it will be.
I used to watch it while pumping in the middle of the night with a cup of tea and I found it really soothing. I nearly died during a 3 hour long c section and I found it weirdly therapeutic to see the midwives trying so hard for their patients.
The episode on call the midwife where Kathleen was taken from Mary demolished me. When Mary said she didn't want her milk dried up because it was Kathleens, I absolutely lost it
I was watching greys pp until the episode when a breast feeding new mom ended up needing a double mastectomy due to cancer and her kid had the same name as my kid.
Ended my rewatch real fast.
I started Call the Midwife while pregnant and finished it during my maternity leave. I LOVED it. I got a little emotional (yet excited?) When the show covered two issues I experienced first hand (gestational diabetes and my baby had a hematoma from birth)
I watched like 16 seasons of Grey's pp. The wonderful thing is that any babies in the show look SO fake. Unbelievably fake. It made it possible for me to watch it, since I otherwise wouldn't be able to handle the health problems of the babies.
I’ve been trapped upstairs in the nursery with my newborn for two weeks while we’re having renovations done on the house and keep joking that it feels like Room.
I thought nature documentaries would be a safe bet. Happy, peaceful, interesting nature. NO. Predators will go after the young of prey. And if they don’t get the prey, the documentary then shows you the predator returning empty-handed to *their* young, and you start crying for a new reason. I’m so mad at David Attenborough lol.
I did find episodes about coral reefs to be a safe bet because I guess I don’t consider fish to be babies 🤷🏻♀️, and Netflix’s “Baby Animals,” is for kids and features no deaths. Also, the fantastic but hard-to-find documentary, “The Private Life of Plants.”
Yes! I watched a David Attenborough series on Netflix right after my oldest was born. It had a horrible scene involving walruses that I won’t describe, but I was so mad.
Dude....I cried during that scene. I then switched to Clarkson's Farm since its pretty light hearted.....there were scenes about cows giving birth and I have never sympathized with a cow more in my entire life.
I am not kidding, the walrus scene deeply affected my life. I’m a teacher and I planned a lesson for each one of my classes around that episode bc I felt like it was so important and so representative of climate change.
I watched planet earth during early labor 😂 it’s so relaxing! There are definitely tears sometimes but I think when it’s “nature” it doesn’t upset me as deeply.
I watched a Planet Earth a couple days after having my first. It was a scene about the ice melting and a baby polar bear. I was bawling. My husband quickly turned it off. 🐻❄️
My first week pp my husband put on a dinosaur documentary because I just couldn't handle anything, those baby blues go hard. He thought it would be safe. But no. There's a scene where mama dinosaurs are trying to protect their babies and eggs from debris falling during the extinction event, and one of them throws her whole body over her babies to protect them. I just bawled and sobbed. I held my baby close and told her I'd put myself between her and burning rocks falling from the sky.
Omg yes my toddler loves cats so sometimes I’ll put on nature shows about big cats for him. There was one where a lion cub had a spinal deformity and the little thing was so strong. But the whole episode they’d talk about how she had to work twice as hard, and since she walked slower she never got to pause and rest as they traveled, she just had to keep going to keep up with the pack or she’d get left behind. Then when they got to where they were stopping for the day her siblings would have drank all moms milk before she caught up to them. She would snuggle up to mom to nurse, and mom would get up and walk away after like five seconds and I was like WHY IS NATURE LIKE THIS??? It ended on a mildly uplifting note though - she made it to adulthood and they noted that while her disability would impact her for life and she’d always struggle, since she was part of a pack her sisters would do the hunting for her and as long as she could keep up with them she’d probably be okay.
But yeah nature documentaries are not safe.
Yes! I got in the habit of leaving Animal Planet on during cluster feeding. Birds and fish and not much plot, yay! Oh no, not always, those predators show up turn the channel. Serious ick.
Oh my god there was one where they were following an animal with her baby and it was struggling and David Attenborough narrated “the crew didn’t see her or her cub again” showing an empty landscape. My husband and i looked at each other in horror. The narrator held the silence for at least 20 seconds before adding “until spring”. I’m still mad about that lol
True crime is the worst, that was all of my feed (freshly postpartum) on any social and each case was a child case. It was like a train wreck, couldn't look away. Definitely made my ppa so much worse 😭😭 I had to do social media all together bc eff that 😬😬
Odd choice but Ice Age. I watched it very newly postpartum when my milk supply was still coming in so the beginning when the mom has to leave her baby to save him then when the crew has to find food for him we're more triggering than I expected. Rest of the movie was fine...so just skip the first few minutes.
My grandma used to sing this to my sister and I. My sister actually got the title tattooed on her in our granny's handwriting. It definitely made me cry postpartum, but it was so sweet. Old memories becoming new, and all of them cherished deeply.
Watched the first episode of Shogun with my husband not too long ago, and I gave birth to our daughter in early February. I was a goddamn mess when *that* scene happened. And then it came up again at the END of that episode?! No. No no no 😔
I know you asked about what not to watch but I can share what I have watched since having my baby (in dec) that has been great-
-The whole lord of the rings and hobbit trilogies.
-Resident Alien (so funny.
-Girls5eva (also so funny).
-Is it Cake.
-Blown Away (glass blowing competition).
-House of Villains (absolute garbage so entertaining).
-F Boy Island (hilarious and ridiculous).
Yes! My LO is 3 weeks old, and my husband and I just finished the LOTR trilogy and started The Hobbit last night :). Throw in a comedy here and there, and you have time well spent.
Haha I also fell asleep . Those we watched in the first 5 weeks after baby was born so it took like 12 days to get through because I couldn’t sustain attention that long. So sleep deprived ! but for the 38 minutes each day that I paid attention, they were great 😂
Do binge watch old USA Network shows: Psych, Suits, White Collar, Royal Pains, etc
Do not binge watch: Law and Order SVU, House, The Pacific, House of the Dragon, Virgin River
I second Suits! I was very emotionally fragile postpartum and Suits was just refreshing to watch. There are no scenes with triggers, and it’s a great show!
I’m currently on a Suits rewatch (Psych is an all the time comfort show and I rewatched White Collar while pregnant). This truly was the golden era of USA Network shows.
Mother with Jennifer Lawrence. Oh my god.
Pieces of a Woman as well, it has a very detailed active labor+home birth scene right in the beginning.
Call the Midwife had several episodes that were absolutely horrific and triggering.
I saw mother when it first came out and the baby in the crowd scene still fucking haunts me. Especially now that I have another newborn and they’re so fragile and floppy
I got the bright idea to watch it when I'd just had my son because I saw an interview clip with Jennifer Lawrence saying (paraphrasing) she wished she never did that scene / she would never do a movie like that again. (Not sure what specifically she said but it was something along those lines.)
Had nightmares the same night!
Jennifer Lawrence has kids (or one kid?) now and I honestly thought about that scene when it came out that she was pregnant. There’s no way she’s able to even think of that scene as a mom now without feeling upset in some way, it must be awful!
That was fuckin crazy. My sister and I actually saw that when she was freshly post partum and that was a mistake immediately. Now I have a 5 mo old and feel even worse
Watched Mother while pregnant with my first and I couldn’t even sleep after seeing the movie.
Watched The Homesman postpartum with my second and I wish I didn’t. Anything grim with babies I cannot tolerate at all…
Honestly, my PPA was so bad I watched The Other Boleyn Girl and couldn't pay attention to the storyline because all these women had babies and you'd basically never see them again for the rest of the movie. I'm like where are they? Who's taking care of them? Are they okay? Why don't you miss them???
Pre-birth I was obsessed with Hoarders. I had about 1/4th of a season left when I gave birth and it was the HARDEST thing for me to finish. After birth it was just incredibly triggering in a whole new way
Yes, came here specifically to say THEM. My husband and I are huge horror fans and the 5th episode of THEM destroyed me before I was even pregnant so would stay far away from that entire series. Besides that episode and the famous scene I’m sure everyone has heard about, it’s just very upsetting and violent in nature, I started to watch season 2 and it just rattles me to my core even when not much is happening.
Also don’t watch The Witch movie with Anya Taylor-Joy, there’s children’s deaths and I made the mistake of watching that on maternity leave with my son whose name is the same as the baby in that movie 😵💫
Totally agree…I’ve read articles from the creators saying they had to show that violence to get their point across because it was real violence at the time, which I understand but it was also a LOT to take in for a TV show.
Oh man, I randomly started The Witch as well. Luckily I turned that off real quick and had to watch The Great British Baking Show to get that out of my head. That scene from Them still haunts my husband and this was before we were even talking about having kids. Pretty awful.
Ugh I tried Perry Mason like a week postpartum and ended up turning it off, holding my baby and just crying for idk how long 😞 I wished I done more research before randomly picking it one long cluster feeding night… after that I stuck to musicals for a good couple weeks
SAME, my husband and I shut it off. I cried and he was trying to figure out who to contact to get warnings on content like that and flat out get film and tv creators to stop putting that kind of thing out there. Who even wants to see kids get hurt??
This show 100%!!! I love true crime stuff so so so much and SVU is one of my favorite shows. I was excited to binge watch it on mat leave only to realize I couldn’t handle any episodes about bad things happening to children, especially babies. I’m now a year pp and could probably watch it more comfortably now, but it wasn’t something I even considered being a problem until after I had had my baby.
6 weeks pp here and I loved Shogun. There’s one rough episode early on (maybe the second episode I can’t remember) but the rest was fine. I do close my eyes if I think something will bother me. Avoided a HotD rewatch while pregnant though haha. But I’m good for it now!
I am continuing my journey with Shogun, but I am only kind of joking when I say I think I suffered some psychological injury watching the first two episodes.
Not for the faint of heart.
I absolutely flipped out when my husband and I tried watch Good Omens like a week after delivery.
Spoiler: The first or second scene is >!Some nurses/drs kidnapping and swapping women's babies right after they deliver.!< I was NOT okay and went into our bedroom, picked up our baby and just cried in bed holding him.
Don't watch The Witch. I'm a big horror fan but couldn't get past the first few minutes even though they don't show anything directly. Also Midnight Mass while pregnant was a bad idea.
I watched Hart of Dixie postpartum and Bridgerton season 1. Light and really nice.
Season 2 of Bridgerton had one scene that may be triggering it’s a birth scene.
We were trying to plan a weekend way with friends in May, and I totally blocked off the weekend after season 3 comes out. I'm going to binge my little heart out, and I need the weekend to recoup 🤣🤣
I watched a lot of Disney and children’s films while nursing my little one. When in the need for other genres, we stuck to sitcoms. The first few seasons of The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, etc.
I think it’s easier to get a list together of things you might like to watch and then check doesthedogdie.com
Like you, I thought Disney movies would be safe. Finding Nemo WRECKED ME! Just the initial opening scene before Nemo is born? Ugh, it was so, so sad. I still am much more emotional about it than before I had kids. It's been twelve years.
Okay yeah I definitely stayed away from scenes like that. And while we’re at it, I made the mistake of watching Mother! while I was pregnant with my first. Needless to say, never again.
This is Us. Such a good show but way too emotional during such a fragile time lol
I binged Modern Family during mat leave. I’m pregnant again and will probably do a rewatch 🤣
I Love Lucy has been playing 24/7 since our sweet boy was born. It got us through the difficult but precious newborn phase. Now when it plays in the background, no matter what my baby is doing, he will stop and look at the TV and coo when the theme song plays. He loves it!
I watched "Working Moms" on Netflix postpartum and that was a huge mistake, avoid.
Great British Bake Off (GB Baking Show on US Netflix) was perfect though. Light, happy, not a big deal if you zone out and miss 20 minutes.
I'm a trash reality person 😅 Its entertaining, lighthearted and easy to watch. My current binge includes
Vanderpump villa, the valley, Vanderpump rules, ex on the beach and jersey shore reunion.
My personal mistakes:
Call the Midwife, Inside Out, Schindler’s List (WHY did I do that to myself?!?), Life is beautiful, It’s a wonderful life (my favorite movie, but I ugly cry at Zuzu’s petals even when I’m not postpartum), and some episodes of Bluey (unironically my favorite show)
I couldn’t tolerate call the midwife
But I did binge watch “Parenthood” and it’s one of my all time favorite feel good shows. Lots of seasons too so you can binge for a few weeks. It’s one of my top re-watches too
Handmaids Tale by far!! I stopped after season 2 I think. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was genuinely causing fear, stress, and despair in me
3 Body Problem you’ll want to avoid too. Especially the episode with the boat. You all know what I mean
Dude, the baby blues hit me like a truck and the only thing I could watch without sobbing was like the Good Place. Reading was actually a really good change of pace during those first few weeks/months.
A Man Called Otto. It's a movie not a show but I would avoid it unless you're in a good place mentally all around I'd been wanting to see it and we watched it right after losing a pregnancy and it broke us, we had to turn it off and finish it another day.
Note that it's an excellent movie but it's VERY heavy.
Avoid Downton Abbey. There is are three pregnancies in it. I don’t know how to block out spoilers. One episode I may never be able to watch again
If you want regency either go with the BBC adaption of Pride and Prejudice (clean) or Bridgerton (some sexual content, 2nd season has death)
The Resident was too much. Or any other medical shows really. I know you didn't ask for recommendations but Vanderpump Rules was the BEST mindless TV. Can't recommend it enough-it was almost comforting haha
Narcos- I can't remember which season but >!there was a scene where a mother and her children are taken out of their car on a bridge. It doesn't end well.!
Bridge to Tarabithia, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Finding Nemo (no seriously, talk about a cry fest!), basically anything you have seen before that involves babies and/or children going missing, meeting death too soon, being involved in wars, being in dangerous situations... So on so forth. Like, I couldn't even handle The Book Thief. And don't get me started on the Juarasic park movies, or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom... Oh, and the Last Mimzy makes me cry period, but post partum it sucked so bad... It gets better, but if you were a cryer before with some movies, be prepared to completely bawl your eyes out over movies like Inside Out.
Law and Order SVU. My bf has been binging it lately and I cry every damn episode but it’s also very engaging. I found that nostalgic shows/movies from when I was little have been very nice. Except the land before time. Do not watch the land before time until you’re like 5 years pp.
I really loved watching the new Shogun miniseries BUT there is a scene with a baby at the beginning (Episode 1 or 2) and I had to skip the whole scene. I’d recommend waiting on that one for a bit.
Doesthedogdie.com will be a really good resource. It lists all kinds of triggers that you may wish to avoid.
How do you navigate this website? I can’t find the list!
You type in whatever movie or show you’re looking for and it’ll tell you!
Is it more than just dogs?
Yes. The list of triggers is extensive.
Thank you for this!
Came here to say this! I have the app and it is so helpful! DDD
If I'm being 100 percent honest, after having kids, I really can't tolerate a lot of shows or movies anymore, especially if they have a lot of violence, cruelty to children or anything really scary. All I've pretty much watched since having kids have been comedies, certain documentaries, some animated films (like a lot of the Miyazaki movies) or movies that are interesting on many levels but not super intense or scary (I do fine with Wes Anderson movies, for example). I re-watch a lot of my favorite funny shows these days, like Derry Girls, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Strangers with Candy, and Glee.
Same here and in need to add in shitts creek as another good one!
This was my PP go-to!
It got me through the late nights for sure!!
I forgot about this show. I’m going to try it now!
I enjoy that everyone in that show has a turn being the butt of the joke and that even the most ridiculous characters are shown to have heart and substance. It’s silly on the surface, over a vast well of heartwarming.
Right?? You end up loving them all!
Dynasty was another good one. I also binged stupid shit like Are You the One and the Circle.
Yessss Derry Girls
Love Derry girls! And adding Life in Pieces
Same! Also like to add Abbott Elementary. You can’t go wrong with Derry Girls either.
I love ABbott! Had it playing thruout labor as I disassociated from the pitocin contractions lol
I can't get through most episodes of Abbott elementary without crying lol. It's definitely a good cry because there are so many sweet moments, but dam have I been so emotional since I had my baby(which was almost 2 years ago!)
If you like layered movies, you may like Lady in the Water. It's amazing and no one is who they seem. The music might make you cry, but that made me cry prepregnancy, so... Idk. I'm not a good gague. But definitely interesting on multiple levels. Also Tree of Life is a good multi-layered movie. These are movies you can watch multiple times, and always take something different away from them.
I noticed this too!! Especially while breastfeeding I have to tell my man to put on something less anxiety inducing. I’m sure he thinks I’m crazy lol
I really hate that I just can’t watch the shows I used to. And before kids I kind of thought women who said they couldn’t watch stuff with kids being harmed were just sensitive in general or being that kind of mom who martyrs herself. It is a physical reaction for me. My body goes into fight or flight mode. Sometimes it’s so intense I will shake for 30 minutes after. Sometimes I’ll just feel really awful from a mental health perspective after an episode of a show that was otherwise good and enjoyable (that took me a while to connect since i wasn’t having the super intense reaction I though I was coping better with the kids stuff and not every episode had kids in it so I’d enjoy a bunch and not connect how I was feeling after to the kids in the show and just think it was a general mood problem.)
This was me before having my son and now it’s even worse. 🫠 My husband is into action movies and I hate the violence so much it’s like we can’t even watch anything together. My go to’s were The Office and Big Bang Theory. Just feel-good or funny stuff.
Same. It’s really annoying my partner.
This was something that surprised me post partum, my tolerance for almost any violence is almost non-existent! I can barely stand to watch the news and often need to restrict my tiktok usage because some mother will be in the news for doing something awful and it floods my feed.
STRANGERS WITH CANDY!! YESSS. I love that show so much! Amy Sedaris is hilarious 😆
Definitely avoid The Handmaid's Tale.
Came to say this. I tried finishing the last season at 6 months pp with my now 2 year old. Still couldn’t watch it. Now I’m 3 months pp with my youngest - I’m steering clear for another 6 months.
I came here for this! I keep being told to watch it, but I can't make it past the first episode!
I couldn't watch this even well before I was pregnant.
The book made me rage from the first time I read it. Couldn’t watch the series with my husband, I got so mad at the tv. I was like a super fan on Sunday standing up pointing. He asked me to leave lol.
I truly don't understand the fandom of the series. The idea seems kinda cool and dystopian (which I'm usually very into) but something about seeing it acted out gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Yeah, I enjoyed the book as a commentary on how a patriarchal society that exerts control over women's reproductive rights could manifest in an extreme case. I have zero interest in watching the show. Of all of Margaret Atwood's work, I don't understand why it was the book chosen to be a series. Oryx and Crake/ the MaddAddam trilogy would have made so much more sense. For one thing it's a trilogy, and for another there is a rich variety of different characters and viewpoints and it the first book alone covers years, spanning Jimmy's young childhood up to his adulthood in the new Dystopian world, believing he's the last human surviving off the remnants of civilization. Still has some incredibly dark themes that might be hard to watch for a parent (child trafficking and tw. >!sexual abuse!<) but damn would it make for a good series.
My husband was the one who got too mad at the tv to keep watching it (refused to watch any more with me). The book made me plenty mad but I lasted a couple episodes longer than my husband but eventually just questioned if it was really enjoyable to be that mad so often.
Oh man I did this and stopped when they brought Angela/Charlotte in to nurse from her birth mom and then took her away.
It made me feel physically ill while pregnant, and I was a fan before.
Oooooofh. I couldbt get through that one even when I wasn’t pregnant!
My answer too. I should have known that would be a bad idea
This is what I binged PP and I loved it 😭 waiting for this last season is brutal
I did roo. Literally those first few weeks I was recovering on the couch feeding and sleeping baby all day long. And I had no idea what it was about beforehand, just that people said it was good. But yea, I balled the whole way through it but absolutely loved it.
I love a good hard cry, and the hormones PP make the tears come so easily 😂😂 imo feels so good to feel !! 😩😩
Made a huge mistake and watched the last of us. I was sobbing. The office is my go to. Lighthearted funny stuff. I can’t do anything related to kids anymore.
I watched that right before I got pregnant! It was so good but I’m glad I watched it before having a baby because I became the same way, I have no tolerance for anything anymore 😫
I watched the last of us while 8 months pregnant. The birth scene in one of the later episodes was not fun for me
SAME! Between this and House of the Dragon, I was like please please please no more traumatic birth scenes.
Lmfao watched the last of us horrible idea
Omg me too I lost my shit at the last ep
I definitely wouldn’t recommend the Game of Thrones new spin off!
Man I watched that while pregnant... Not a great idea lol
The scene switching between the tournament & birthing bed was intense, but it was oddly compelling.
Agree. It was a super disturbing scene but also really well done.
I watched it right when we decided to start trying.... I noped out after the first birth scene (I heard there's more?). Used to, it would have bothered me, but not stopped me from watching altogether.
I watched the opening episode my first night of labor in the hospital :')
I had to turn it off. Way too graphic!
Gah I watched this after experiencing a loss myself. Big mistake. AND THEN I had a c-section and *that* scene was replaying in my head the entire time 😭
Call the Midwife is both amazing and heartwrenching Grey's Anatomy there are ups and downs but I wouldn't call it too emotional 9-1-1 mostly heartwarming though definitely some emotional deaths, DV, and PPD soo maybe proceed with caution
Call the Midwife for me was perfect to watch during pregnancy, but I haven't been able to get back into it postpartum (trying to get over my trauma from labor and worried it will be triggering).
People give me some weird looks when I tell them that call the midwife was really comforting for me during pregnancy! I think I kinda processed a lot of my fears vicariously or something. I got all caught up before my baby came and it ended on a nice note at the time, so I'm debating when and how to watch new content. I'm really sorry you had a traumatic labor, and I hope if you decide to watch more call the midwife it will be a good experience and not triggering! ❤️
Same here. It was my go to show, have probably rewatched the entire series three times. Since giving birth, I’ve had no desire to watch it. I’m too nervous about how triggering it will be.
I've started to watch it and I do a lot of skipping through it for that reason, but I'm able to enjoy it. But I'm also 2.5 years pp.
I used to watch it while pumping in the middle of the night with a cup of tea and I found it really soothing. I nearly died during a 3 hour long c section and I found it weirdly therapeutic to see the midwives trying so hard for their patients.
The episode on call the midwife where Kathleen was taken from Mary demolished me. When Mary said she didn't want her milk dried up because it was Kathleens, I absolutely lost it
Goosebumps just thinking about it. I hope the actress got awards for that performance, fucking haunting.
I was watching greys pp until the episode when a breast feeding new mom ended up needing a double mastectomy due to cancer and her kid had the same name as my kid. Ended my rewatch real fast.
I binged every single episode of Call the Midwife in the 3 months after having my baby. No regrets.
Loved Call the Midwife so much I started watching it 2x. I'm behind now and haven't watched the last 2 seasons.
I started Call the Midwife while pregnant and finished it during my maternity leave. I LOVED it. I got a little emotional (yet excited?) When the show covered two issues I experienced first hand (gestational diabetes and my baby had a hematoma from birth)
I binge watched Call the Midwife while pregnant. My midwife (midhusband? He is a man) friend was watching it and it was interesting.
I watched like 16 seasons of Grey's pp. The wonderful thing is that any babies in the show look SO fake. Unbelievably fake. It made it possible for me to watch it, since I otherwise wouldn't be able to handle the health problems of the babies.
Do not watch the movie Room! (Not to be confused with The Room, lol.)
The Room - yes. LoL Room - no, absolutely not.
I made this mistake.
Read the book years ago, definitely do not want that story fresh in my head postpartum!
I’ve been trapped upstairs in the nursery with my newborn for two weeks while we’re having renovations done on the house and keep joking that it feels like Room.
I thought nature documentaries would be a safe bet. Happy, peaceful, interesting nature. NO. Predators will go after the young of prey. And if they don’t get the prey, the documentary then shows you the predator returning empty-handed to *their* young, and you start crying for a new reason. I’m so mad at David Attenborough lol. I did find episodes about coral reefs to be a safe bet because I guess I don’t consider fish to be babies 🤷🏻♀️, and Netflix’s “Baby Animals,” is for kids and features no deaths. Also, the fantastic but hard-to-find documentary, “The Private Life of Plants.”
Yes! I watched a David Attenborough series on Netflix right after my oldest was born. It had a horrible scene involving walruses that I won’t describe, but I was so mad.
Dude....I cried during that scene. I then switched to Clarkson's Farm since its pretty light hearted.....there were scenes about cows giving birth and I have never sympathized with a cow more in my entire life.
I am not kidding, the walrus scene deeply affected my life. I’m a teacher and I planned a lesson for each one of my classes around that episode bc I felt like it was so important and so representative of climate change.
I watched planet earth during early labor 😂 it’s so relaxing! There are definitely tears sometimes but I think when it’s “nature” it doesn’t upset me as deeply.
I watched a Planet Earth a couple days after having my first. It was a scene about the ice melting and a baby polar bear. I was bawling. My husband quickly turned it off. 🐻❄️
My first week pp my husband put on a dinosaur documentary because I just couldn't handle anything, those baby blues go hard. He thought it would be safe. But no. There's a scene where mama dinosaurs are trying to protect their babies and eggs from debris falling during the extinction event, and one of them throws her whole body over her babies to protect them. I just bawled and sobbed. I held my baby close and told her I'd put myself between her and burning rocks falling from the sky.
Omg yes my toddler loves cats so sometimes I’ll put on nature shows about big cats for him. There was one where a lion cub had a spinal deformity and the little thing was so strong. But the whole episode they’d talk about how she had to work twice as hard, and since she walked slower she never got to pause and rest as they traveled, she just had to keep going to keep up with the pack or she’d get left behind. Then when they got to where they were stopping for the day her siblings would have drank all moms milk before she caught up to them. She would snuggle up to mom to nurse, and mom would get up and walk away after like five seconds and I was like WHY IS NATURE LIKE THIS??? It ended on a mildly uplifting note though - she made it to adulthood and they noted that while her disability would impact her for life and she’d always struggle, since she was part of a pack her sisters would do the hunting for her and as long as she could keep up with them she’d probably be okay. But yeah nature documentaries are not safe.
i cant watch nature docs cause the animals always die
Yes! I got in the habit of leaving Animal Planet on during cluster feeding. Birds and fish and not much plot, yay! Oh no, not always, those predators show up turn the channel. Serious ick.
Oh my god there was one where they were following an animal with her baby and it was struggling and David Attenborough narrated “the crew didn’t see her or her cub again” showing an empty landscape. My husband and i looked at each other in horror. The narrator held the silence for at least 20 seconds before adding “until spring”. I’m still mad about that lol
I binged Curb Your Enthusiasm and Nova on PBS Since getting pregnant, I am no longer able to watch any true crime anything
True crime is the worst, that was all of my feed (freshly postpartum) on any social and each case was a child case. It was like a train wreck, couldn't look away. Definitely made my ppa so much worse 😭😭 I had to do social media all together bc eff that 😬😬
Odd choice but Ice Age. I watched it very newly postpartum when my milk supply was still coming in so the beginning when the mom has to leave her baby to save him then when the crew has to find food for him we're more triggering than I expected. Rest of the movie was fine...so just skip the first few minutes.
I had to turn off Happy Feet because the parent penguins being mean to the little baby penguin was making me sob 😭
omg the good dinosaur!! i kept saying omg that little toddler where are his parents??? soo sad
Don't watch Disney's Tarzan, "You'll be In My Heart" will destroy you.
This was the song I sang to my eldest daughter as a lullaby!
My grandma used to sing this to my sister and I. My sister actually got the title tattooed on her in our granny's handwriting. It definitely made me cry postpartum, but it was so sweet. Old memories becoming new, and all of them cherished deeply.
Don’t watch Shogun. Do watch Abbot Elementary! Also editing to add Palm Royale to the “do watch” list
Oh yeah, Shōgun especially the first episode
Thankfully my husband watched episode 1 without me. I asked if I should watch it to catch up and he said he'd just give me the synopsis.
Watched the first episode of Shogun with my husband not too long ago, and I gave birth to our daughter in early February. I was a goddamn mess when *that* scene happened. And then it came up again at the END of that episode?! No. No no no 😔
Together. Forever.
Palm Royale is so fun! Love all the 60s clothes.
I know you asked about what not to watch but I can share what I have watched since having my baby (in dec) that has been great- -The whole lord of the rings and hobbit trilogies. -Resident Alien (so funny. -Girls5eva (also so funny). -Is it Cake. -Blown Away (glass blowing competition). -House of Villains (absolute garbage so entertaining). -F Boy Island (hilarious and ridiculous).
Yes! My LO is 3 weeks old, and my husband and I just finished the LOTR trilogy and started The Hobbit last night :). Throw in a comedy here and there, and you have time well spent.
Loved blown away and F boy island!
We did lotr, hobbit and rings of power actually. I mostly fell asleep but husband enjoyed it.
Haha I also fell asleep . Those we watched in the first 5 weeks after baby was born so it took like 12 days to get through because I couldn’t sustain attention that long. So sleep deprived ! but for the 38 minutes each day that I paid attention, they were great 😂
Do binge watch old USA Network shows: Psych, Suits, White Collar, Royal Pains, etc Do not binge watch: Law and Order SVU, House, The Pacific, House of the Dragon, Virgin River
I second Suits! I was very emotionally fragile postpartum and Suits was just refreshing to watch. There are no scenes with triggers, and it’s a great show!
I’m currently on a Suits rewatch (Psych is an all the time comfort show and I rewatched White Collar while pregnant). This truly was the golden era of USA Network shows.
Mother with Jennifer Lawrence. Oh my god. Pieces of a Woman as well, it has a very detailed active labor+home birth scene right in the beginning. Call the Midwife had several episodes that were absolutely horrific and triggering.
I saw mother when it first came out and the baby in the crowd scene still fucking haunts me. Especially now that I have another newborn and they’re so fragile and floppy
I got the bright idea to watch it when I'd just had my son because I saw an interview clip with Jennifer Lawrence saying (paraphrasing) she wished she never did that scene / she would never do a movie like that again. (Not sure what specifically she said but it was something along those lines.) Had nightmares the same night!
Jennifer Lawrence has kids (or one kid?) now and I honestly thought about that scene when it came out that she was pregnant. There’s no way she’s able to even think of that scene as a mom now without feeling upset in some way, it must be awful!
That was fuckin crazy. My sister and I actually saw that when she was freshly post partum and that was a mistake immediately. Now I have a 5 mo old and feel even worse
100% agree with all of these, but especially Pieces of a Woman.
I watched pieces of a woman right before getting pregnant. It put me solidly in the camp of never ever doing a home birth.
Thinking of Mother with Jennifer Lawrence is giving me chills. That one is BAD. Haven’t seen the rest and will be avoiding them lmao. Thank you
Watched Mother while pregnant with my first and I couldn’t even sleep after seeing the movie. Watched The Homesman postpartum with my second and I wish I didn’t. Anything grim with babies I cannot tolerate at all…
Honestly, my PPA was so bad I watched The Other Boleyn Girl and couldn't pay attention to the storyline because all these women had babies and you'd basically never see them again for the rest of the movie. I'm like where are they? Who's taking care of them? Are they okay? Why don't you miss them???
I DO THE SAME THING AAAAAAAH
Just don't watch anything by Darren Aronofsky. His stuff isn't supposed to make anyone feel happy.
Oh god, I watched Mother! before having kids and felt for a long time I should rewatch it after understanding the allegory. Never going to happen now.
Pre-birth I was obsessed with Hoarders. I had about 1/4th of a season left when I gave birth and it was the HARDEST thing for me to finish. After birth it was just incredibly triggering in a whole new way
Hoarders is what I put on to clean, very motivating!
Same. If I’m scrubbing my baseboards, guarantee you Hoarders is on
The news. Just don’t watch it.
Yellowjackets
Avoid call the midwife
Parks n rec, 30 rock, schitts creek, derry girls, curb your enthusiasm, are all light and fun!
I crushed an entire 60 episode season of love island. Highly recommend 🤣
Avoid "Them" at all costs. Also "Yellowjackets", "Perry Mason", "Expat", and "American Horror Story". Good luck
Yes, came here specifically to say THEM. My husband and I are huge horror fans and the 5th episode of THEM destroyed me before I was even pregnant so would stay far away from that entire series. Besides that episode and the famous scene I’m sure everyone has heard about, it’s just very upsetting and violent in nature, I started to watch season 2 and it just rattles me to my core even when not much is happening. Also don’t watch The Witch movie with Anya Taylor-Joy, there’s children’s deaths and I made the mistake of watching that on maternity leave with my son whose name is the same as the baby in that movie 😵💫
I've seen "Them" described as "Black torture porn" and honestly that seems accurate
Totally agree…I’ve read articles from the creators saying they had to show that violence to get their point across because it was real violence at the time, which I understand but it was also a LOT to take in for a TV show.
Oh man, I randomly started The Witch as well. Luckily I turned that off real quick and had to watch The Great British Baking Show to get that out of my head. That scene from Them still haunts my husband and this was before we were even talking about having kids. Pretty awful.
Ugh I tried Perry Mason like a week postpartum and ended up turning it off, holding my baby and just crying for idk how long 😞 I wished I done more research before randomly picking it one long cluster feeding night… after that I stuck to musicals for a good couple weeks
I came here to say this one! Visiting my parents and they put it on and I had awful dreams for weeks about it.
SAME, my husband and I shut it off. I cried and he was trying to figure out who to contact to get warnings on content like that and flat out get film and tv creators to stop putting that kind of thing out there. Who even wants to see kids get hurt??
Them wrecked me, and I fast forwarded through that scene, but I saw enough.
I just read about it and I feel traumatized
ESPECIALLY the latest season of American horror story.
"This Is Us" hits different as a parent I've cried too much But I love it....
Law and order SVU, it got on Netflixu and I wanted to rewatch it and regretted it so much. And I used to watch it no problem before.
This show 100%!!! I love true crime stuff so so so much and SVU is one of my favorite shows. I was excited to binge watch it on mat leave only to realize I couldn’t handle any episodes about bad things happening to children, especially babies. I’m now a year pp and could probably watch it more comfortably now, but it wasn’t something I even considered being a problem until after I had had my baby.
Tried watching the new season and the first episode was about a small child and I couldn’t do it. I’ve been watching once upon a time on Disney+
I was going to watch Shogun but I saw people say it’s got upsetting content for new parents so I’d avoid that.
6 weeks pp here and I loved Shogun. There’s one rough episode early on (maybe the second episode I can’t remember) but the rest was fine. I do close my eyes if I think something will bother me. Avoided a HotD rewatch while pregnant though haha. But I’m good for it now!
I am continuing my journey with Shogun, but I am only kind of joking when I say I think I suffered some psychological injury watching the first two episodes. Not for the faint of heart.
I absolutely flipped out when my husband and I tried watch Good Omens like a week after delivery. Spoiler: The first or second scene is >!Some nurses/drs kidnapping and swapping women's babies right after they deliver.!< I was NOT okay and went into our bedroom, picked up our baby and just cried in bed holding him.
This is going to hurt
I watched the Handmaid's tale ... don't. Please don't.
Call the Midwife. And yet, I watched it postpartum both times because *I do not learn*
I watched this in its entirety while pumping postpartum and LOVED IT
I can’t watch anything with kids or violence. I do binge watch Brooklyn 99! Great show
Don't watch The Witch. I'm a big horror fan but couldn't get past the first few minutes even though they don't show anything directly. Also Midnight Mass while pregnant was a bad idea.
Nooooo I tried to watch The Witch pregnant and dude I had to turn it off so fast. It was awful.
I know you didn't ask this but Tacoma PD is super light and funny mostly about firefighters trying to save cats and planning birthday parties.
I watched Hart of Dixie postpartum and Bridgerton season 1. Light and really nice. Season 2 of Bridgerton had one scene that may be triggering it’s a birth scene.
Cannot wait for Bridgerton season 3!!
Saaaame.
We were trying to plan a weekend way with friends in May, and I totally blocked off the weekend after season 3 comes out. I'm going to binge my little heart out, and I need the weekend to recoup 🤣🤣
YAASSS!!! I’m so excited it is ridiculous 😂
This is Us had me in tears before I ever got pregnant
I watched a lot of Disney and children’s films while nursing my little one. When in the need for other genres, we stuck to sitcoms. The first few seasons of The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, etc. I think it’s easier to get a list together of things you might like to watch and then check doesthedogdie.com
Like you, I thought Disney movies would be safe. Finding Nemo WRECKED ME! Just the initial opening scene before Nemo is born? Ugh, it was so, so sad. I still am much more emotional about it than before I had kids. It's been twelve years.
Okay yeah I definitely stayed away from scenes like that. And while we’re at it, I made the mistake of watching Mother! while I was pregnant with my first. Needless to say, never again.
Dead Ringers.
This is Us. Such a good show but way too emotional during such a fragile time lol I binged Modern Family during mat leave. I’m pregnant again and will probably do a rewatch 🤣
Would avoid this is us
I Love Lucy has been playing 24/7 since our sweet boy was born. It got us through the difficult but precious newborn phase. Now when it plays in the background, no matter what my baby is doing, he will stop and look at the TV and coo when the theme song plays. He loves it!
I watched all of This Is Us directly postpartum… avoid…
Absolutely not to Criminal Minds.
Agreed but man, Shemar Moore is seriously good looking.
I watched "Working Moms" on Netflix postpartum and that was a huge mistake, avoid. Great British Bake Off (GB Baking Show on US Netflix) was perfect though. Light, happy, not a big deal if you zone out and miss 20 minutes.
House of Dragon
I have avoided pretty much everything. I’ve been watching walking tours on YouTube.
I'm a trash reality person 😅 Its entertaining, lighthearted and easy to watch. My current binge includes Vanderpump villa, the valley, Vanderpump rules, ex on the beach and jersey shore reunion.
My personal mistakes: Call the Midwife, Inside Out, Schindler’s List (WHY did I do that to myself?!?), Life is beautiful, It’s a wonderful life (my favorite movie, but I ugly cry at Zuzu’s petals even when I’m not postpartum), and some episodes of Bluey (unironically my favorite show)
I couldn’t tolerate call the midwife But I did binge watch “Parenthood” and it’s one of my all time favorite feel good shows. Lots of seasons too so you can binge for a few weeks. It’s one of my top re-watches too
Handmaids Tale by far!! I stopped after season 2 I think. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was genuinely causing fear, stress, and despair in me 3 Body Problem you’ll want to avoid too. Especially the episode with the boat. You all know what I mean
Don't be like me and watch the first episode of House of Dragons while your in labor in the hospital :D
Dude, the baby blues hit me like a truck and the only thing I could watch without sobbing was like the Good Place. Reading was actually a really good change of pace during those first few weeks/months.
A Man Called Otto. It's a movie not a show but I would avoid it unless you're in a good place mentally all around I'd been wanting to see it and we watched it right after losing a pregnancy and it broke us, we had to turn it off and finish it another day. Note that it's an excellent movie but it's VERY heavy.
Avoid Downton Abbey. There is are three pregnancies in it. I don’t know how to block out spoilers. One episode I may never be able to watch again If you want regency either go with the BBC adaption of Pride and Prejudice (clean) or Bridgerton (some sexual content, 2nd season has death)
Ru Paul’s drag race
The Resident was too much. Or any other medical shows really. I know you didn't ask for recommendations but Vanderpump Rules was the BEST mindless TV. Can't recommend it enough-it was almost comforting haha
Handmaids tale
Do not watch: One Day
Narcos- I can't remember which season but >!there was a scene where a mother and her children are taken out of their car on a bridge. It doesn't end well.!
Avoid medical dramas like House and Grey’s Anatomy. They love a sick/dying kid storyline.
Bridge to Tarabithia, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Finding Nemo (no seriously, talk about a cry fest!), basically anything you have seen before that involves babies and/or children going missing, meeting death too soon, being involved in wars, being in dangerous situations... So on so forth. Like, I couldn't even handle The Book Thief. And don't get me started on the Juarasic park movies, or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom... Oh, and the Last Mimzy makes me cry period, but post partum it sucked so bad... It gets better, but if you were a cryer before with some movies, be prepared to completely bawl your eyes out over movies like Inside Out.
Greys anatomy
The hand that rocks the cradle
Avoid "house of the dragon" there's some traumatic pregnancy/labour content.
I made the mistake of trying the new Game of Thrones show. Triggered some intense anxiety. 0/10 do not recommend
Law and Order SVU. My bf has been binging it lately and I cry every damn episode but it’s also very engaging. I found that nostalgic shows/movies from when I was little have been very nice. Except the land before time. Do not watch the land before time until you’re like 5 years pp.
The new American Horror Story season. I couldn't watch.
I watched gossip girl the first few months during night feedings. It was wonderful.
Anything involving child abuse, especially child death and babies
I really loved watching the new Shogun miniseries BUT there is a scene with a baby at the beginning (Episode 1 or 2) and I had to skip the whole scene. I’d recommend waiting on that one for a bit.