Parenting Contents Archive

Would it be weird to reach out to my college aged daughter's boyfriend/family?

My daughter is almost 20 and recently finished her sophomore year of college. She has been dating her boyfriend for about 8 months. We live in Connecticut, the boyfriend lives in NYC, and they go to college in upstate NY. The boyfriend came here for Christmas (he's Jewish and doesn't celebrate with his family) and all was well. My daughter plans on going to his house next month. We have no issues with this at all but I was thinking about sharing contact info with the parents mainly to thank them for having her and I think it would be good for them to know my number just in case of an emergency. Is this weird? Would it be odd to reach out to them? They didn't when their son came to stay with us but he said they do track him with Life360 (we don't). I just need honest answers on how odd this would be.

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Ass-goblin update.

Day 8 post op. Relief! I weighed myself this morning at 205.8lbs. I also weighed myself after successfully evacuating my bowels. 199.2 6.6 lbs, bromos. More than my second child weighed at birth. I’m exhausted.

New baby smell.

They just smell so amazing. It’s been four years since I held such a little baby and I almost forgot that they smell like this. That’s all ☺️🥹

Moderna CEO hopes FDA advisory meeting on under-5s will be early June; ready to ship doses in June

Making kindergarten mandatory may help close CA's widening achievement gaps because some children who skip kindergarten may have a hard time catching up with their peers, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. @KarenDSouza4 @EdSource https://t.co/sFxvX76pTZ

Toddler hurting baby

Help. I’m doing something wrong. My 2 y 10 m old is hurting my 9 m old baby progressively more each day. She bites, sticks her fingers in baby’s eyes, hits, pulls ears. Today, dad took the baby out for half a day. I spent almost all day with the toddler dancing, drawing, doing play doh, she helped me cooking, we read a lot. In the evening the baby returned and they started playing together. And the toddler bit her so hard she got a deep mark and bruise left on her arm. The baby was crying hysterically from the pain. I took the baby to comfort her and scolded the toddler. I try to follow the gentle parenting method and we talked through these situations so many times I lost count. I don’t hit or punish my toddler physically. How can I help the situation??? My poor baby is constantly under attack.

How often do/did you bathe your 3 or 4 year olds?

I keep reading that you shouldn't bathe young children too frequently, like maybe 2 or 3 times a week, but my 3.5 year old sons feet are SO stinky every night, it seems like he could really benefit from daily baths. Like my hands smell like cheese after I change his socks, guys, it's out of control. Would I be an awful parent if I bathed him daily?

The latest KiddyCharts Parenting Daily! https://t.co/ZD8ygw6jQ5 Thanks to @themomtessorian #parenting #blog

Newborn won’t let us put him down

We are first time parents to our 5 day old newborn (premature) son. Since coming home from the hospital, he will only sleep when held. He sleeps all day despite our efforts to keep him awake after feedings for a little while. He LOVES his sleep, and will pass out quickly once we are holding him, but the second we put him down in his bassinet, he screams and doesn’t stop until picked up. We are now sleeping in shifts so he’s always held. Anyone have any advice, experience, or a resource you can direct me to? I know newborns are a tough stage and don’t have a circadian rhythm like adults, but there has to be something we are missing? Edit: figured I would add that he’s eating A LOT and we are changing him a lot. He does get gas and hiccups, but he also chugs when we feed him and have to slow him down and take burp breaks.

World is cruel to working parents on shift work

New mom here, and frustrated. I am a Navy veteran and active reservist. I found out I was pregnant the week before my contract ended, so it was convenient. My husband is active duty. My son is 6 months and I am returning to full time work, with a police department (non-uniformed position), but it’s shift work. Almost every daycare is outside those hours! All are M-F from 0700-1700. And they want almost $300 a week. My job doesn’t pay that well. My husband’s schedule isn’t stable because he’s on sea duty. Looked into private in-home daycares, but most aren’t licensed and/or don’t vaccinate their children (or require proof of vaccination for the children in their care). I guess I’m frustrated because, I knew childcare would be pricey, but I didn’t know it’d be impossible to find! The waiting list for the base childcare is a minimum of 6 months! I don’t want to give up this job, it’s in my field that I’m working on my master’s degree in, but I just don’t know what to do. ☹️

Tell me I’m not a shitty mom for having an afternoon of screen time

I think I’m coming down with a cold. I’m probably getting my period tomorrow. I just got home from work. It’s been raining all day. My 3 year old is bouncing off the walls Tell me I’m not a shitty mom for putting on movies until bedtime in 4 hours, please. Cuz I’m sitting here feeling guilty af Thanks y’all.

Is anyone breastfeeding while supplementing with formula or pumped milk?

I could use all the advice to help my baby gain some weight. How does supplementing work? Do you breastfeed first and then give formula immediately after?? If so how much? Baby is six days old.

STG it just HAS to be healthier to be a full-on crack fiend than it is to be a mom to multiple toddlers

Like... I can think of dozens of notoriously unhealthy lifestyles that probably don't fuck up your executive functioning like toddler momming does... I'm trying to remember my last full night of sleep and I can't 😭🤣

Possibly unvaccinated family member wants to visit at 3 months

They will be traveling from out of state and just kind of announced they will be coming/booked a plane ticket. They will be staying with other family members but want to take day trips to visit us and the point of the trip is definitely to meet the new baby. Based on their opinion about the vaccines this past 2 years, I doubt they are up to date on other vaccines. What is reasonable in this scenario? Refusing visit altogether until baby is older and offering to refund their flight if airline won’t? Limiting visit to outdoors? Masking up if indoors?