Parenting Contents Archive

Inadvertently starving my family

I made a new rule in the house, no dishes in the sink. Basically, if you use a dish, rinse it off and put it in the dishwasher and I'll run it before bed. No biggie. The caveat is that if in the morning the dishwasher is full, you'll either have to wash your dish by hand or empty the dishwasher. No one. And I mean NO ONE will eat before I get around to unloading the dishwasher. I have to say, I'm glad they listen but man I was really hoping to get out of loading and unloading the dishwasher lol!

Advice on sleepovers

My daughter (12) wants to have a sleepover with her friend at our house. Her friend is openly gay, and has expressed that her friend has feelings for her. How do I approach this? Her sexuality is NOT an issue, by the way. I fully support any body's way of life, it's just a confusing thing to navigate as her father.

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Cocomelon and Christmas Clean Up

Do I like Cocomelon? No. Do I want to clean my house? Do I want to have one day of personal productivity? Yeah. Am I putting it on and watching my children become zombies shells of who they once were so I can finally get this shit done? YOU BET!

Rant about people gifting clothes!

Don't people think about clothing sizes and the season/age of your kid when buying clothes??? Our boy was born in March and we asked for some clothes in bigger sizes for Christmas. We asked for winter clothes in 9-12 month sizes (for December to March) and summer clothes in 12-18 month sizes (for March to September). He's not going to be wearing shorts and a tshirt that says "Hello Summer!" in December to March!!

How can I use Technology to make Parenting easier?

I’m a 36 year old dad and decently tech savvy (god I sound so old just saying that). Anyway, my 3 year old runs out life and we are expecting twins soon. I just bought a Hatch Rest Light in hopes that it will help us get a bit more sleep in the morning. That got me thinking. What other tech tools can I use to make parenting easier? What do you use to help your daily routine? Do you let Alexa read bedtime stories (haha). I’d love to hear your ideas!

Preemie swaddlers

Hell everyone! I have a 5lb 8oz baby who loves being swaddled and would love to find some preemie friendly easy swaddlers. I have some for newborns but they are way to big for her. She just slides down in them so I cant use them yet. Any suggestions?

Why hadn't I heard about post weaning depression?

We hear all about ppd and ppa but I never knew that stopping breastfeeding can also cause depression. My guy has started solids, and severely reduced his time at the breast. He also has decided he prefers the bottle and solids and is rejecting my breast alot. I had been EBF for a long time and thought I was looking forward to this next step. Turns out not so much.

In afraid of the consequences

I really want a divorce. I just spent half of the day crying because it sucks so much to be with my husband. He is loud, he is aggressive, doesn't do shit around the house and all he ever does is pestering me for physical intimacy...oh, and yesterday was my birthday! Guess what he got me? Right... nothing. He massively complained that my parents wanted to come over though. I really want to leave him, but I'm deadly afraid of what that might mean for our kid. I can't share custody with this person. He's so incompetent, he might harm our LO. And that's why I'm stuck here. I'll just wait for my baby to get a little older, maybe then I'll grow a spine and dump my husband.

Newborn cries to be put down?

My son is 2 weeks old and sometimes cries to be put down? Not to be put down to sleep, just to be put down while he’s awake. This isn’t all the time, maybe once a day. I try to play with him and entertain him while he’s awake during the day but sometimes he just isn’t having it. I’ll hold him, bounce him around, talk to him, sing to him, but he just wants me to lay him down in his crib so he can kick his legs around and look around. Anyone else experience this? I feel bad when he’s laying in his crib awake because I feel like I should be doing something with him during his wake periods

Advice on how to get baby to take a bottle.

My daughter is 11 weeks and I’ve exclusively breastfed since she was born. She took pumped bottles very nicely until she was about 6 weeks old and now refuses them. I’m freaking out because I return to work and she’s starting day care in the new year. She’s my third baby and bottle feeding was one thing I failed at with both my older two kids so I’m clearly useless here. But with my older 2 I cared less because I was SAH. I don’t want baby to starve at daycare so I’ll take any and all advice! Thank you!

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Lingering milk supply

LO is 5 months old and I pumped for about a week after she was born and since then she’s been EFF. My supply isn’t established but it’s there - if that makes sense. When I take my bra off I’ll be leaking almost immediately. I’ve tried cabbage, compression bras and avoiding warm water. How long did it take for you to completely dry up?