Parenting Contents Archive

Where does the “village” go when baby turns into a toddler?

Everyone was obsessed when my kid was an infant. When I didn’t really want to share and I was breastfeeding and feeling very on edge. Now that she’s a toddler it feels like everyone disappeared. Now that she’s difficult and needs more attention through out the day, where did my “village” go? Why do they only care about kids when they’re infants? Now that I need help, I’ve never felt so alone. Not to mention family asking when we’re having another. As if they’re bored of my first born and just want another infant to obsess over then leave me to fend for myself during the difficult stages of toddler-hood. I love my kid and I know I got this. But someone else helping give her attention (like they all did when she was a newborn) would *seriously* help me out now too.

At what age do you start teaching your kid their address & phone number?

I mean I know some people are going to say “from birth!” but I mean like actually what age do you really start teaching them? And how? I have two boys who just turned 2 & 4. Oldest knows his parents names, the name of his city and how to get home from anywhere in our large neighborhood, but that’s the extent of it. I would like to start teaching him his address and our phone numbers but it just feels so abstract to him still, like the concept is hard to grasp. He’s never used a phone really so he doesn’t understand how phone calls even work. He knows to “call 911” in an emergency but I’m not sure he actually knows what that means. Maybe I should start there. How old were your kids when you taught these things? How did you go about it?

What was a gift your kids were given that made you think, the gift giver must hate me?

Mine was a book for my 1 year old son that has a button that when pressed lets out a loud pig squealing repeatedly. My MIL thought it was cute…. He presses it non-stop.

How often does your daycare say they are at “capacity”?

At a bright horizon center in a major city in the PNW, it feels like it is almost every week. Today, they sent our baby back saying no capacity. They did that last week. We at 45k/year. Is this normal?

Do you nap at the same time as your baby? (My baby is 11 months)

My baby is 11 months and I would say 5/7 days of the week I take a nap too when she naps in the morning. I just am tired. I’m worried I’m overly tired. Just wondering if this is weird

"It's really impressive how well you've handled the newborn stage!"

My mom said this to me 🥹 This just seems to he a day full of feels. She said it's amazing I made it to EBF after all my struggles with feeding and how well I persevered, and is impressed by how well I oushed through the newborn stage and I really seem to have developed my character. I used to be extremely lazy and procrastinate everything so I can see why she finds it shocking. I never even thought about it but she's totally right. It just feels so lovely. I'm so happy I made my mom proud. I'm so happy she can see her parenting pay off and witness me growing into a better person as I push through the struggles of motherhood.

Kids friendly sofa fabric and color

Dear parents on Reddit, partner and I are planing to buy a sofa. We are planning to have our first kid in a couple years, so I want to plan ahead and get a kids friendly sofa. I like beige and light colored fabric sofa, but worry about young kids’ destructive nature. Can’t not imagine a toddler with a bowl of pasta and spill them on the sofa. Do you have any suggestions on what color and fabric we should get? Ideally I want light colors, and we both hate leather… Big thanks for a future mom ❤️

Mother’s Day Wins?

Did anyone’s husband just rock Mother’s Day? Let’s use this as a master post to show all the men in future. I’ll start: my husband woke up with our son, made my favorite brunch + French 75, we went to church and church lunch, spent a sunny day in the park where he played with our son while I phoned our moms (all 3) and my grandmother, we walked home, he cleaned the kitchen while maintaining childcare and I took a short nap, then he called his mom with our son. He ordered my favorite curry for dinner, we watched the latest Ted lasso, he put our kid to bed and then did some delightful NSFW stuff, after which we went to sleep. The next day he picked me up a scooter from high street Ken (the color I wanted was out of stock) and I’ve spent two blissful days pretending to be in a scooter gang with my kid and his friends. A+.

How long did you bleed postpartum?

I'm currently almost 6 weeks postpartum and I'm still bleeding a good amount. I feel like it will never end! I just want my body and sex life to atart going back to normal. Is 6 weeks normal?? I feel like I only bled 3 weeks with my first pregnancy

9 month old not interested in moving around

My 9 month old isn’t really interested in moving around and never has been. She rolled a few times at 8 months and never has again. She doesn’t crawl or even attempt to. She’s always perfectly content sitting and playing with toys. She does like to stand holding onto furniture, but doesn’t move her legs or try to walk while holding onto the furniture. We have her 9 month appointment in a week, and as far as other milestones, she is right on track. I’m not necessarily worried, just wondering if others have been through this and what the outcome was.

Siblings at birthday parties

My son is having his party at a kids play place, we will have food and cake for everyone, they only count kids if they will be sitting at the table during cake and presents, it's kind of odd but at least siblings can come and play, it's a few siblings who are right around a year old. My sister is saying I need to have goodie bags and places for the siblings as well, it's $10 extra for every child past the 12 we invited, I feel like I shouldn't pay an extra amount for kids who around a year and come up with extra goodie bags. Would love any thoughts. No one has asked me about bringing their younger siblings so I guess I'm more expecting them to just be brought along.

My husband is getting the shits with me for having to do the night shift with our daughter

I have epilepsy, and one of my biggest triggers is sleep deprivation and disruptions. Being abruptly woken numerous times a night is a recipe for a seizure coupled with my pelvic floor issues from child birth which causes me to wake three times a night to use the bathroom anyway (I’m seeing a physiotherapist) In the newborn days my anti epileptic dosage was ramped up to a huge dose to fight off seizures which left me as a mindless zombie. I knew this would be an issue which is why I refused to have children (really the only reason I always wanted to be a mum) but my husband was heartbroken over never being able to be a dad. I think this result in divorce Fuck my life

My 3yr old wants to play "fight"; I have questions about that

Did you do that with your 3yr old? Did you call it fighting, wrestling, or what? I know where his request comes from. His mom (we're split up) shows him lots of violent TV, including Power Rangers (and far worse) We did it 1x already. We got on the bed, he sort of ran around erratically, and I kept grabbing him, turning him upside down, knocking him over (slowly), tickling him, etc. He wants that again Which all seemed normal enough to me But I don't like the idea of him focusing on fighting at this age, or punching or kicking, not even pretend, not even in slow-motion. Not until he's more mature

Cows Milk vs. Other Foods for 1+ Year Old

Hi There! We have a now 1 year old and entering the phase of life beyond breastmilk! He has been almost exclusively breastfed his first year with some supplement formula for bottles here and there. We just had our 1 year pediatrician appointment who mentioned that we can now start introducing Cows Milk. I also had an appointment with a lactation consultant/nutritionist about this next stage who said that while we can do cows milk, we can explore alternative ideas to meet those nutrition needs instead. Does anyone have any **evidence** showing the long term affects of offering cows milk vs. alternatives (no milk? Only foods? etc.?). Or any great books to read on this stage? Feeling a little lost as we enter this second year. Our guy is super super active and its been a little difficult to keep his weight progressing despite ample *ample* feedings and heavy fat and protein solid foods so want to ensure we are supplying what he needs to grow. Thank you!

What is life with a 3 mo old like?

Planning ahead…we have a family “vacation” we always do with my husbands side of the fam for about 5 days. Baby will be 3 mos. All of the other kids are much older, none of them babies anymore. What is a baby that age doing? Can they sleep well? Can I still stay there or should we find our own nearby air b n b?