Parenting Contents Archive

Using church’s playground?

We don’t go to church. Our property backs up to a church. This church just got a bitchin’ new playground put in. Is it a dick move to let my kids play on it? We wouldn’t use it during youth group time and stuff like that. But it’s huge and brightly colored and my kids can’t stop looking at it…It’s directly outside their bedroom window…thoughts?

Being sick and taking care of your baby is no joke.

I(30f) started off the weekend with a sore throat which is now a sore throat w/ pain, intense coughing and never ending sneezing. Started zoloft and WW on Monday as well so my body is all types of fucked up. On top of that, parenting. Icing on the cake? Baby is teething and is fussy. Somehow my brain and body is still powering through taking care of him (4mo) and his needs. Baby boy didn't want to eat, didn't want to play, kept rubbing his eyes, ears and just plain fussy. Luckily he's down for a nap and now I am too. Parents are heroes.

When I put my baby down for the night

How to handle neighborhood kids wanting to swim when I don’t know the parents.

My son recently befriended 2 very sweet children in the neighborhood. A brother and sister around eight or nine years old. These are the first kids whose parents I have never met. That hasn’t been an issue for me until the kids wanted to go swimming in my pool last week. I told them that I needed to meet one of their parents first. They asked if I could talk to their mom on the phone. I said I really needed to meet her. It’s my understanding that these two children and their mother recently moved in with the grandparents who live in my neighborhood. Am I being unreasonable? I want to let the kids swim but I feel like I need to confirm with a parent or guardian that they are even able to swim. How would you approach this?

Baby’s first birthday, can you guys help me plan the menu?

I don’t want to go too crazy on this but I sure would like some ideas!! We’re having a backyard barbecue - we live on a farm so we went with the “holy cow im one!” Theme lol I was thinking hotdogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob? Pop, water bottle, chips, cake and icecream, It’s mainly an adult crowd, with great grandma bringing a fruit tray, aunty bringing pasta salad and grandma is bringing a cream cheese roll up type thing What is something you look forward to barbecue season for? I feel like all the basics are covered

Ladies….I had no idea we are supposed to throw out and replace baby bottles every 4-6 months and nipples every 1-2..?! WHAT.

Am I the only one who didn’t know this? I mean, shit, is this common knowledge/ common sense?! Bottles/ parts are not cheap, especially if you gotta use the anti colic/ any special kind. I’m heated rn. Mostly mad at myself that I had no idea (I of course do not want my baby to be getting sick, wtf😭) but I’m also mad that everything is so damn expensive and money is tight!

Giving toddler Tylenol (14M) and she’s refusing so she didn’t get the whole dose- I just don’t know how much she got

She spit probably most out. What do people do when this happens? I know she got atlesst some in her system, although idk how much. I gave her 3.75 mL as recommended by her doctor. She has a fever of 102.1 but no other symptoms. Do I just wait another 6 hours and give her more if fever persists rather than trying to give her a little more since I know she didn’t get all of it? I don’t feel too comfortable trying to give her more but I want it in her system so this will go down

My 5yo wants to practice lockdown

My 5yo had a lockdown drill at school, and now he wants to practice at home too, just in case there’s “danger” at home. I tried so hard to tell him we didn’t need lockdown at home, but he was agitated and afraid and really wanted to know what to do. So we went into his room, locked the door, turned out the lights, and practiced sitting silently in his closet. Then I excused myself to go cry. I hate everything. (If it’s not somehow painfully obvious, we’re in the US.)

Turns out the cast iron pan we've been using daily for over a year contains lead

I got some lead testing q-tips off Amazon. I heard that some old cast iron pans were used to melt down lead in WW2 era so I tested ours. It belonged to my partner's grandma. I've been feeding our baby lead. She's 16mo. I feel awful. She received a finger prick test at her 1-year appointment and it was normal, thankfully. But she did not get one since then. Her solid foods didn't really ramp up until one year mark. I'm going to request another finger prick test at her 18mo appointment. Is there anything I can do to mitigate or is the damage done? Test your old cookware, yall!

Science behind ovulation while breastfeeding?

My mum groups often say things like "you can ovulate without getting a period" while discussing breastfeeding and birth control. If that's true (regularly, not because you got pregnant), what would be going on with the endocrine system to make that happen? Does breastfeeding somehow suppress the hormone that causes periods but not the one that causes ovulation? (I know it's not that simple!)

5 year old has a cavity - Advice

Hey bromos Just found out my 5 year old son has a cavity. I know it's not the biggest deal but I'm super anxious about it. His dentist told me not to tell him, just come in for the appointment and tell him it's another check up. He JUST got over his fear of the dentist and let them do a proper cleaning and x-rays. This was huge and I was super proud (as was my son!). Low and behold those x-rays found a cavity and now I'm worried he will revert to being scared of the dentist after this next appointment. I know that if I tell him too much about the appointment he will not want to go, I really hope I'm overly anxious and it will all be fine. He really surprised us all by how brave he was at the last appointment, he was extremely proud of himself and I don't want this next appointment to diminish that. Can anyone share advice on the situation? Anything i can do to help ease him into it? Thanks in advance for any advice!

How to allow my husband to help more with our 6 week old

I have a six week old baby girl. My husband has been amazing. He helps wherever he can and always encourages me to nap or take time for myself. Unfortunately, I have not been able to allow him to help much because of my anxiety. I only take 30 minutes a day to myself to shower. Even then, if I happen to hear her cry, I start rushing and can't relax until I'm with her again. I feel like this even though he has always been able to stop her from crying. He tries to get me to go upstairs and nap but that is a hard no. There is no way I would be able to sleep. I'm looking for tips on how to get over this. How did you other moms learn to let go?

Your experiences with Early Intervention. What Can I Expect?

So when he was about 15 mo I suspected a speech delay and possible ASD flags for my boy. An assessment crew came out today and LO qualifies based on speech and cognition. The cognition was just under their cut off score and it was explained to me that it was based on his attention. The speech score was well under. Everything else was in the average range. I’m relieved he qualified so that we can help him. I’m looking forward to learning how to help him develop. I really would have been bummed if he just passed the cut off because I don’t think my spouse and I know enough to help him bloom. What experiences have you all had with EI, especially if your LO needed help in the areas my LO struggled with? What can I expect?

My 3 month old slept through the night

I EBF and my 3 month old slept through the night last night. It was fantastic. Today I feel like I have mastitis or a clogged duct. Anyone have any tips or tricks to help my boobs out. They HUUUURT!

Come with me on this journey update 1

So I finally made the appointment. Its on the 8th and the 9th. My daughter is not allowed to come with so my fiance will have to hangout with her for it. My insurance will pay for the appointment. Now my biggest worry is gas money. I don't have the money to drive an hour away 2 days in a row, there's an organization that helps with transportation, hotels, food, and other stuff so hopefully they are able to help with atleast gas money. Now I just have to tell my fiance when he gets off work. I haven't told him he's been worried about alot of other stuff I just wanted to get all of it straightened out before I added more to his plate to have to worry about. I'll update more later