Parenting Contents Archive

What do parents/baby sitters are expected to do while baby lays awake in their crib?

My husband and I will become FTP and our baby will arrive in December. I brought up an example of what should be expected of us while caring for the baby and I’m curious what other parents typically do. While baby is awake and enjoying her own company in her crib, already been fed and changed: Should the parent stay awake and be nearby by the baby at all times? Is it okay for the parent to take a nap while baby is awake in the crib? Can the parent step away from the room to shower or do house hold chores?

Teenagers using their phones to film everything at home!

I have a 10 year old and 3 year old so not a problem with my own kids yet but…. This weekend I was looking after my friends 13 year old for a night or two who has her own phone, has snap chat, Whatsapp and god knows what social media platform the teens have these days. The whole time she was here she was voice recording, secretly filming, taking pictures of anything and everything. I kept catching them doing it as she would accidentally leave the flash on, or even bracingly tell me she recording. I hated it. Although she was just recording every day interactions within the family home, it felt horrible being secretly recorded to be uploaded to god knows where. How do you deal with this with your own teenagers?

I don’t feel anything towards my daughter

I have always wanted kids and l gave birth to my daughter the third of September and during this three weeks l haven’t developed any feelings for her. If anything l am happy when she sleeps because otherwise she is crying and needing something from me which honestly has taken a negative toll on me mentally. I thought l would love her after birth when l met her but l feel nothing. She is constantly needy with no emotions and when my family want to carry her l gladly give her a way for a break. They told me because because she was my first that my heart would break when hearing her cry, well it quite the opposite l just find it annoying and feel no empathy for her discomfort. I soothe her because l want her to be quiet. I am a heartless mother who doesn’t love her child when l always thought l did want kids and would love them endlessly

Public restrooms

Hi I am wondering how dads with young daughters who are old enough to not be in diapers but not old enough to go potty alone take their daughters to public restroom when they are not with their wife? Do you take them to the men's restroom or do you go into the woman's restroom? Any advice? Asking for my husband.....

Remedies for toddler with cracked/chapped mouth?

Daughter is two and recently has developed some tearing or cracks between where her top and bottom lips meet in both sides of her mouth. Problem is she won’t stop touching it so it’s obviously getting worse. She licks creams off because it smells good(bath and body works doing their job I guess) and she said the aloe burned so i was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions!

16 month old smeared shit on the couch

I'm so pissed right now. She reached in her diaper and smeared shit on the couch. I immediately brought her to the tub and hosed her down and washed her, dried her off then put her in her crib with a bottle. She ugly cried the whole time I tried to clean the shit off the couch. But I did not care. Pretty sure she's sleeping now. Am I an asshole for the way I handled this? Idek exactly how I should clean the couch. I wiped most the shit off with baby wipes then sprayed bleach and water on the couch then scrubbed with more baby wipes then put the fan on to dry it. Idc about the color running in the couch I just don't want it to smell like POOP UGHHHH

What is your kid going to be for Halloween?

My nine year old just cannot decide and we usually have this locked down by October first. We've done generic stuff like a scarecrow and a unicorn. One year, she went as Ginny Weasley and that was fun. This year she keeps looking at gross out dead, zombie, whatever costumes but we live where it's usually cold for trick or treating so not much store bought stuff is warm enough. I'm stumped. Any good ideas out there? I don't mind buying props or makeup but I like to diy the costume... What's fun this year?

Apps or services to share pictures?

I have opted out of sharing my baby on social media so I am looking for a convenient way to share photos with family & friends. Does anyone use Tiny Beans, and does it cost anything? I tried looking it up and got conflicting answers. I tried google photos but it will only allow me to upload my whole camera roll, which I don’t want to do. Does anyone have any other recommendations of free photo sharing apps or websites? Thanks!

Hair Band for Baby

Is there anywhere I can get hairbands that aren’t god-awful tacky, or *scream* “I am a girl, just so you know!?” Everywhere I look it’s just really stupid garbage with giant flowers, giant bows, and everything pink. Why the fuck is there only this ultra “girly” shit everywhere? Why can’t I find just a plain coloured headband to keep my daughter’s hair out of her eyes? Edit: I’m in Canada…

Baby only poops while breastfeeding…

It’s been 4 weeks and my 3 month old only poops when he’s on the boob. It was funny at first, like “haha it’s like he only poops when he’s with mommy” but now I’m worried about when I go back to work if he’ll just be in pain all day. Is this normal? Help please?!??

Anyone else's baby talk like a demon? 😅

Nanny share and napping schedule - help!

Seeking your collective wisdom! My 3 mo son is starting a nanny share (at another home) this month. I have gotten him into a great napping routine (not a set schedule per se, but I carefully monitor is wake windows and sleepy cues which (I think) is resulting in great sleep for him at night as well). I'm worried, however, that between watching him and another infant, the nanny is not going to follow this routine. She has already indicated that it will be hard for her to keep both of them on their current routine balancing their naps and feeding at once - which I totally understand. Any guidance on how to help her follow/track his napping flow better so that I don't have an overtired baby (or one that slept for 3 hours) when I pick him up in the evenings?

Please tell me being a parent gets better....

I feel like such an awful person for not enjoying being a parent. It just seems like each year it gets worse and worse. I only get a break from all of this while I'm at work, other than that I'm constantly with my child because there is no one we can drop our kid off with to get time to ourselves. It has been almost eight years and I don't know if I can take anymore tantrums, talking back, punishments, home schooling, everything. Please tell me it gets better, I need the motivation to not rip my hair out.

Will blackout curtains make day/night confusion worse for newborn?

LO is 3 weeks today and he gets so cranky before his naps and sometimes refuses to take them at all and then he’s overtired later. I saw today as I was trying to rock him to sleep that he kept looking out the window over him even though the blinds were closed but obviously light still comes through and the room is still fairly bright even with the blinds closed. I really wonder if I need to get blackout curtains because he seems overstimulated when I try to get him to nap, but I also don’t want that to get his night/day confusion even worse. Honestly I know nothing about newborn sleep and I’m a FTM so I’m just trying to figure this all out. (I do use white noise to get him to fall asleep and then I turn it off once he’s asleep, but should I leave it on the whole time? We live next to a busy road btw and sometimes the cars startle him).

Weird bumps on 8mo… Help please