Parenting Contents Archive

I don’t get why everyone thinks it’s so hard to put an infant to sleep.

Maybe I’m just a natural parent, but it’s pretty straightforward. Just put him in the crib in a full swaddle with his pacifier. When he starts to cry, remove one arm from the swaddle. Now, he’ll use that arm to knock out the pacifier. Put the pacifier back in, but make sure he doesn’t see you or he will wake up (alternatively, make sure he sees you so he knows you are there). Repeat this step 2-3 times. At this stage, he will be overtired and begin screaming. Remove him from the crib and swaddle, wait 10-15 minutes, then put him back in the swaddle (alternatively, don’t do this as it will make it worse). Find his pacifier, which he has violently thrown across the room. Insert pacifier by delicately navigating his thrashing arms. Allow him to cry for 10-15 minutes in the crib before eventually holding him in your arms while he sleeps restlessly. It’s called good parenting. Not that tough.

Not allowing family to see my newborn if they won’t get the Covid vaccination?

My newborn is due in November, there’s some people I’d love to meet him but they refuse to get the Covid vaccine. This puts me off letting them meet him until he’s 4 months and has a slightly better immune system. Am I being over the top or is this sensible? I feel it’s quite sensible.

My hospital sold my info to weight watchers

I live with my husband in an apartment and hyphenated my name when I got married. All of my credit cards are still only in my maiden name, and most still go to my father's house as a billing address. The only places I have used my hyphenated legal name are with the government, work, and medical. My husband purchased the apartment before we were married and my name is not on the utilities. My hospital does not have the capability to deal with hyphens, so they squish the whole name together for medical billing. I had my baby almost 8 weeks ago, and this week I received a mailer for weight watchers. It was addressed to my apartment with my legal name squished together, with no hyphen, just like hospital records reflect. I can't think of any other way they would have gotten my name. I am a teacher off for the summer, I might make a few phone calls to complain.

Am I right to be annoyed at neighbour?

Vent time! We have three girls, ages 5 and under. Our next door neighbours have a 5 yr old daughter. Whenever my girls and I go outside to play, they send their daughter out while they carry on with their chores or whatever they're doing inside, leaving me to watch her. Obviously I can't do the same thing because I have way more kids than they do but I can't help but feel annoyed. I mean I can't just leave them on their own since they're so young. It's like they're using me as free babysitting. They also want their daughter to have some social interaction since she's an only child. Not sure what I'm looking for here. Would you be annoyed? Am I making a big deal out of nothing?

Emotions are a bit like muscle memory. To help pull out of the pandemic blues, it's time to start "practicing" positive emotions. @FoodieScience https://t.co/OAhu6A9IE7

Shingles

My wife and I have been planning on going over to my dad's today. We fed the baby, changed her diaper, grabbed the car seat, set the diaper bag, changed her clothes, and we're getting ready to eat a quick lunch and walk out the door. I decided to call my dad because we have a couple steaks in the freezer and we were probably going to be there until 6 or 7. I ask them what their plans were for dinner and find out that they didn't really have any. You see, my dad has had shingles for 3 or 4 years now. He gets terrible blisters on his scalp and scratches them because he can't see them. He's currently experiencing a flare-up and doesn't feel like dealing with dinner. What the hell? I am not about to take my 2 mo daughter who's never had a chickenpox vaccine over to my dad's. I'm livid, now we have to completely change our plans and my wonderful SAH wife is going to take longer to get to her well deserved nail appointment.

Ever think about running away

I mean yeah I’d come back. But here I sit, three days unshowered, surrounded by five baskets of unfolded laundry while hearing a giant tub of legos being emptied into a room down the hallway (as it wakes baby up), and think maybe a few da.. hold on someone is screaming mom .. maybe a few days of laying low in a hotel room in Cabo sounds lovely.

Having to restrain a 4-year-old who's hitting and laughing and having a meltdown

Just for context, we have a 1-year-old who he loves and she adores him, but the 4-year-old is getting either lack of attention or regression or just getting tired since he doesn't nap anymore... But... It has gotten to the point that I have to physically hold his wrists and hold down his legs sometimes whom he's going crazy and knocking stuff off counters and trying to throw things at his sister... Hit and kick me and his mother.. I tell him I love you and we are doing this to keep you safe and such. I say hands are for being gentle. We are gentle to each other. I try positive reinforcement. This has been going on for about 2 or 3 weeks. Tantrums are getting worse, whining is worse. We say adults can't understand whining. I'm not sure if I should ignore it or tell him we can't understand it. He says I need a tissue! I say how do you ask for a tissue? It's sometimes ends in him asking politely for a tissue, but sometimes him hitting us. Is this a phase? Do I need professional help?

My 10 year old show no empathy towards others.

My 10 year old son shows no empathy towards others, for example, I was helping him with school work and the question was to describe how they felt about the picture. They picture was about a poor family, living in a poor community. I asked him how he felt and he said he was thirsty hot, tired, granted it did look like they were somewhere hot, but he didn't feel sad or sorry or show any emotion to the picture or the people in the picture. He is not fazed by people getting hurt and shows no emotion to sad things he sees or reads his just very indifferent about them. He does show his family love and he adores his dog and the ground his little brother walks on, so I don't think his emotionally detached. He does have ADHD, ADD, OCD, all diagnosed and he is medicsted for school only, his is also under a child phycologist. Is there more I could be doing and do I need to be worried? His phycologist doesn't seem to be and she said it could be his ADHD ect.

Why does my baby's armpit smell?

I noticed a BO smell from my baby's (3 months) armpit, gave him a bath. Hour later, smell is back. Surely that isn't normal??? Like a grown man sweat smell! I can't smell it from his right armpit, just left but theres no redness on the smelly one.

My 15 year old nephew is now an orphan. Would it be wrong to send him to boarding school?

There is a good boarding school that is a 3 hour drive from his home. He is familiar with it and the surrounding area. His grandparents' summer cabin is 15 minutes away. He could potentially attend it for grades 10, 11 and 12. A few of his distant cousins went there. Sadly, both parents died tragically in the past year. Alternatively, I could have him move in with me. I live 2 hours away in a different city. He would need to attend a new high school.

My son hates diaper changes, help!

Has anyone else experienced this? Once my son turned 8 months old he screams bloody murder during changes and it’s like trying to wrestle an alligator! I feel so terrible for him and don’t understand it as he used to love them….We do give him a toy to play with but it doesn’t really help much anymore. Any advice?

Baby (8.5 months) is not yet crawling or showing any interest

Hey all! Looking to resolve some of our anxiety with reddit... Our baby is 8.5 months and is doing great (fully sleep and nap trained, good mix of solids, breast milk and formula) except she's not yet showing any interest in crawling or standing. We are able to put her on her feet and she can stand with minimal help, but that's about it. No trying to crawl, no trying to pull herself up in the crib, not much curiosity to explore or climb around. She loves just sitting and playing with her toys more than anything. Are we right to feel anxious about this? She's going back to her doctor for a 9 month check up and will let him know our thoughts. Wondering if any parents have experienced this - thanks!

I am hesitant to have another baby but I also don't want my baby to be lonely later in life. Details in the post

I had a smooth labor and delivery, but I hated being pregnant and hated the postpartum phase. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my LO. I just wish that it was not this painful. I also am worried that things won't go smooth the next time and my anxiety will be unable to handle it I also have chronic ADHD with very little attention span and fear that I will not be able to manage more than one baby. I am able to give my 100 percent to my LO and not be forgetful I also fear that he will be alone when we are gone. My partner wants another baby so that LO doesn't grow up alone . And both of us have great siblings and he doesn't want to my LO to miss out on that.At this point , we are unable to adopt either. (due to multiple reasons). We are unable to arrive at a conclusion. I don't know what to do.

Mom loneliness

my biggest struggle is feeling isolated. Motherhood can leave you bare at times, without anyone to lean on. You question your ability to be a mother on the daily and no one knows. You give and give…And you feel empty. I felt like that for a long time until I got help. Not meds. I found women who became like sisters for me on this app for moms.They were here for me. They listened to me. I posted this because I want to pay it forward. I’m here for you!Some days we all just need a little encouragement and support.Please reach out if you want to chat! [support ❤️](https://peanut.app.link/qgerzK5dWhb)