Parenting Contents Archive

Is it safe to bring children under 5 to holiday gatherings where everyone is vaccinated?

I know there isn't a clear cut answer but I was wondering how everyone else is dealing with this and what your risk tolerance is. A month ago, the answer would have probably been 'yes' for us. Now with breakthrough omicron cases and high transmissibility, the possibility of our children(who have no vaccine protections) being infected seems much higher. Chances are they will have a mild infection and be fine, but mild cases can also lead to long covid. We have immediate family who have remained cautious, but also friends who have no children/elderly/vulnerable family and are out and about. Is it enough for everyone to take an rapid self-test? Please keep it civil, thanks. Edit: I’m not looking for anyone to tell me what to do. I’m wondering how everyone else is treating the situation. Obviously there are different factors in play for everyone.

Did having a baby change your perception of your partner?

In the movies it always just shows dad (or partner) taking on his new role and it making the parents’ relationship stronger. I’m curious as to how normal this is (and also want to feel less alone!). My husband and I have a 1 year old and he’s not the engaged, hands on, supportive father/husband I thought. We’ve had conversations about it but he thinks I expect too much. I think we need to be a team, but I’m the only one doing all the work. I guess I picked up more of his slack pre-baby and now I’m tired and lonely. Anyway I think I’m just wondering if other people have been here too.

Middle school is one of the most formative and sometimes chaotic periods of development, when adolescents begin to grapple seriously with who they are and their place in the world, while dealing with hormonal and physical changes. @rnz1 @hechingerreport https://t.co/GmdTmCD3Rb

How long did it take you to get pregnant for baby #2?

More specifically, for those who were pregnant on the first try for #1, did you have the same luck the second time around? ​ My daughter was a 1-month-of-trying unicorn and I'm curious whether or not we will have the same luck second time around. Interested to hear other experiences. ​ \*Sorry if this question is sensitive for some. I know I am extremely lucky to have had my daughter on the first try\*

2 month old isn’t very engaged other than first thing in the morning?

After waking up with our 2 month old this morning to some smiles & new noises from him which was really exciting but he then didn’t smile or repeat those noises again all day. The rest of his time is either spent with a face full of boob, screaming, staring off into the distance, the ceiling or at lights or soundly sleeping. We make an effort to wave bright, colourful & noisy toys in front of him but he won’t track them & will look elsewhere. Am I just being impatient?

Inventors get invention please

My son farts so so so much... If you could go ahead and invent see-thru diapers so I can know if he's just had a huge fart or taken a giant dump, that'd be great. Kthnxbye.

Has anyone ever actually stopped/reversed a slowdown in their milk production?

Everything says I just need to increase the demand so I’ve been pumping as often as possible. However, I’m not seeing much of a difference and if anything my supply has continued to drop. I’ve read that it’s possible to reverse this but I’ve never actually met anyone who has successfully stopped their milk from drying up. I just got the booster shot and would really like to continue breastfeeding the next couple months to pass on the antibodies. Should I keep fighting the good fight or accept that this chapter is coming to an end?

Posterior (OP, Sunny side up baby, back birth) Delivery Recovery

I gave birth to an amazing little girl at the end of October. She was in the posterior position throughout the labour and delivery so it was an incredibly difficult and painful back labour. I ended up pushing for four hours and they still needed to do an episiotomy and use forceps to get her out. I'm at almost two months PP and I'm still in so much pain. Whenever I walk more than just around the house I end up limping from the pain. I keep trying to look up information on recovering from OP delivery, but all the articles I'm finding are just reassuring mothers of how rare it is (8-5% of births apparently). Does anyone have any experience with their own recovery from this? Have you found any information on recovering from it? Should I still be in this amount of pain? I expected to be better by now. I want to at least be able to walk my dog around the block again. Thanks very much.

How do you reconnect with your husband?

Okay so we have a 16 month old who sleeps through the night. My husband works from home and I take care of the baby from home. Recently he went out of town and I had thrown out my back and I had to hire our babysitter to come 3 days in a row. Now he's back and I just feel like I can't get on the same wavelength as him. Or he can't get on my wavelength. He's constantly pointing out my mistakes. And we're always opposing each other. Last night we went to a party and we were bickering on the way there and then on our way back. It's like I can't do anything right. Any advice? Has anybody been through similar things?

I feel like a mean person

So my husbands dad wants to come for Christmas and my husband said yes without asking me about it. His dad is an alcoholic, mean and racist, and sliding into dementia. He will also probably insist on staying the night, which we will of course say no to, but I just don’t want to deal with this bullshit. I love Christmas. I don’t want him here. The alternative is that he stays at home alone and my husbands fam feels bad about that. I feel like his extended family (his dads sister) should deal with him. Why do I have to manage his bullshit on this holiday? Ugh. I feel like a horrible person. But I’m also the one who will be doing all the cooking and prep and decorating, I just want to enjoy my Christmas without this asshole in my house.

Can I get some tips for managing my 3 year old and my newborn?

I just had my 2nd baby 4 days ago, and I'll have my 3 y/o this week (split cust.). I'm a stay at home mom, so it'll be just me managing. Any tips to keep the peace/sanity? My 3 year old is definitely struggling with not being the only child anymore, which is fair, considering she has two new siblings at the same time (her father's girlfriend had a baby 3 days before I had mine). I know to let her help with the new baby, but what else can I do?

Many #parents may need support when talking to their teen about sensitive topics like #sexting. Elaine Byrne (@ebyrnesNUIG), Doctoral Researcher Psychology, explains why teenagers may get involved in #imagesharing, and offers advice on how to talk to them about it. #Parenting https://t.co/gDNHcxXWdS

looking for advice on how to get my 15 month old to leave our cat alone

He grabs the cat (who’s only about 1 1/2 herself) all the time, he grabs her by the tail or tries to pick her up by the neck and hug her. She used to not react, now she does. I stop him every time of course and I give a stern “no” and redirect him, but nothing helps. Honestly he has only gotten worse with grabbing the cat. She does go outside sometimes or will hangout in our room sometimes to get away from him, but I feel bad locking her away in places from him. It’s not fair to the cat and I’m really sick of him grabbing her every chance he gets. What should I do? At the end of the day if it meant my cat would be happier, I would give her to a new home but I really don’t like to just “give up” on animals and I love her so much

Advice from young moms that had to figure things out when they found out they were pregnant

I’m 20 and will still be when the baby is born in May. This pregnancy happen pretty fast and I’m still in school with no steady income at this moment. I’ve been an Uber eats driver at the moment but would like to find a better job. My boyfriend and I have been together for two year and he’s supportive and doing Uber eats as well. The goal is to get ourselves in a better place financially and get our own place together next year. I’m just wondering for young moms that weren’t in the best position to have a baby or even older moms that weren’t in the best position, how did you turn things around? Also any other tips or advice in general for now or after the baby is born? I’ll be incredibly grateful for any advice or tips you have to offer. Thank you!

Should talk to my teen son about how his dad “my ex” is a bad father?

Sometimes I just can’t help it. My teen son is so against me and he’s always on his dad’s side. A little background, I’m raising my kids on my own, father out of the picture a few years ago. He doesn’t want anything to do with kids and he doesn’t pay child support. He’s comes to see his kids from time to time and he takes them out to eat but that’s about it. My kids strongly believe that their dad loves them, when they fight with me they say that they love their dad and they want to live with him, when I tell them okay go live with your dad, they would say that they can’t because their dad is busy working and he can’t take care of them. Like what????? It hurts because I’m a single mom and I’m working so hard to be able to provide them with the things they need and also to pay rent and all the essentials by myself. I don’t understand why they’re like this. Especially my teen son he’s always mad at me. Thoughts?