Parenting Contents Archive

Can we please talk about how incredible Bluey is

My husband and I JUST started watching Bluey. Just one little episode a day with our baby. Holy hell… this show can pack a punch sometimes! “Sleep time,” made me sob! And then “Flatpack!….” Jeeeeeeez my husband and I were crying and screaming at the TV. It’s also sooo much less annoying than other shows too! It’s legit funny and it’s developmentally appropriate. I adore the characters. Long live Bluey

What's something you've experienced as a kid/your parents did that you're going to do differently with your kids?

My husband and I both feel like our parents anxieties/paranoia got in the way of allowing them to let us do a lot of things. So together, we've promised to not to let the voice of paranoia get the best of us and let our son thrive. What are some of yours?

I’m so worried and scared.

My husband and I separated but agreed to finish off our lease together as we were both dependent on each other for certain things. Out of nowhere he got a new girlfriend and moved in with her last night. He texted me and told me all of the bills are due today, except rent which is due on the 1st. I have $200 to my name. I work making $17 an hour. I’ve always paid daycare out of pocket, bought groceries, and paid for extra household things like clothes and furniture etc. I have no idea how I’m going to come up with $1400 by the first. I can’t pay my car payment right now. I’ve already filed for child support, food stamps, and daycare vouchers but all of those things take time. I literally have no idea how I’m going to do it. Our son just turned 1. I have no help. Nobody to babysit, nobody to borrow money from. I literally do not know what to do.

just got mom shamed for baby wearing

I wear my 6 week old in my babywrap all the time. My husband works 12 hour days and we also have a 3 year old. I literally would not get anything done without baby wearing. My son absolutely loves being in his wrap and I have no issues with it. Some lady (without children) shamed me for commenting about how I wear my son about 75% of the time. She started going off on me for how thats WAY too much time in the wrap and how I need to learn to put him down. What in the ever loving fuck? Why must someone ALWAYS try to find a way to make us moms feel like we are doing something wrong?

My child doesn't lie. Should I be concerned?

My son is about 3 and a half. He has pretty good language skills, and talks a lot. But, as far as I know, I've never noticed him lying. If we ask him about something, he tells us the truth, even if it is something he knows we've asked him not to do (and we're not going to be happy about it). To be clear, I don't *want* him to lie, but isn't it an important developmental milestone? When does this usually occur? Given the way he communicates, it is intuitively surprising to me that he *hasn't* lied. He does try to justify his actions if he's done something we won't like (we usually get a pretty detailed explanation of this), but no lying so far. I should also say that he has (almost accidentally) said things that are not true, but these mostly seem to be confusion about time (i.e. what happened yesterday versus a few days ago) or misunderstandings. Any thoughts on this?

Husband leaf blowing with our 9 week old 😖

Sometimes, rarely, I ask my husband to hold the baby while I take a shower. This time I came out to him leaf blowing with the baby in a carrier. I'm so f'in pissed. I'm guessing this was going on for 5 minutes or so before I turned the water off. Do I need to worry about the baby's hearing? Are they signs of damage to look for? It was an electric leaf blower at least (not quite as loud as gas).

What are your plans for fathers day? (gifts and/or events)

What are you planning for fathers day?

Is it safe for a baby to eat something that has had alcohol cooked into it? Or not?

Please don't rip me to shreds. I'm asking for exactly this reason - because I do not know. I've never, ever actually cooked with alcohol personally. Still struggling to get my one year old to eat anything besides mash or puree. He does like some soups, though. I heard of a lovely cream of mushroom soup recipe that I would very much like to try - said recipe calls for the addition of a very small amount of brandy. However, it is only for flavour and the instructions even explicitly say, it is entirely optional. Is it OK to feed an infant a recipe that had something alcoholic added into it, but the end result has the actual alcohol totally cooked out of it? (soup in question is about a 2 hour boil with the brandy added at the very start). Again, please don't get mad with me. I'm asking because I do not know, but want to know what other parents think.

Do you cap naps when your baby is sick?

Our 3 month old has a cold and is pretty congested right now. She didn’t sleep great last night (I assume it’s hard for her to breathe/sleep when flat on her back), so she’s been napping a lot today (we’ve been contact napping to keep her more upright). Typically I’d cap naps at 2 hours to ensure good nighttime sleep, but since she’s sick should I just let her sleep as long as she wants? Typing this as she’s passed out on me and it’s been almost 3 hours…

I AM OVER IT

This is the 6th weekend in a row my SO has been gone to play fucking stupid ass disc golf. (It’s ok if you play I just hate him for it today) he works 24/7. I stay at home with our 7 and 5 year old. Now it’s summer break so hell is unleashing. He works 6 days a week and then on sundays is gone from 6:30 am to 7/8pm playing disc golf. I want to scream!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 months postpartum

I have a few questions for breastfeeding moms. How long after delivery do first period came? An was it heavy? Was it regular?

Husband doesn’t want to “coddle” three month old ?!?

Do any of you have husbands with this attitude? He has made some alarming comments and also wants the baby to cry it out. I already told him he is too young. I told him responding to a crying baby Isny coddling. I think he is crazy for thinking this way but is this common ? He ignores the baby when he is crying and doesn’t even really try to soothe him. I end up having to step in ultimately. Sometimes the baby is sweating profusely from screaming his head off I feel obligated to step in at that point bc I’m starting to fear the baby will have long standing physiological trauma from emotional neglect from when it’s his turn. I’m going to go back to work soon bd he will be on leave. I’m nervous. He thinks he’s gonna get all these household projects done during leave. I already told him no. You are going to tend to baby. It’s a little Alarming. Am I alone ?

Please tell me it will be okay

I just found out i'm pregnant... baby is 6 months old. I'm so scared. What are we going to do? I was on birth control, we have literally had sex once since we had our first baby. I know we will get through this but to be honest i'm shocked and a little devastated. We only wanted one. We have a lot of family help but how am i going to parent 2 under 2? Does anyone who has been through this have any advice?? sorry for ranting this was very unexpected. It took us 5 years to have our first. (abortion is not an option i live in a very hostile state and we would not be able to travel to get one. we are going to make this work)

Don’t feel like I’m doing enough as a dad though I’m running in empty

Alright so let me start by saying I love my partner and she does amazing, but I’m so exhausted In the average week I’m up at 430 when bubs(5 months) decides to wake up for their first feed and wants to stay awake so I look after him till 7 when I need 15 minutes to get ready for work and to leave I then work my average 9 hour day to come home and take back over baby so my partner can have some time and study I also take on I’d say 90% of the weekend with baby but I still feel like it’s not enough I sleep maybe 4 hours a night if not less depending on baby and am just burnt out but my partner is doing more than me should I still feel like I’m not doing enough to help sorry I’m just new to this all

How do I stop feeling bad whenever I leave my teenage daughter alone. Is this normal?

Daughter is 13 years old, wants to be alone a lot. Very happy kid, just when we are at home she likes watching videos on her phone and playing games. When she's bored she usually comes and tells me. We spend a couple hours "out and about" each day, then we kinda go do our own thing in separate rooms. Is this normal? If so, how do I stop feeling bad about it!? Like I'm neglecting her.