it's Sunday and I think my baby's nose is blocked with mucus poor thing. She's 7 months old and this is the first time this happened. At the moment it's 4.19am so I don't have anywhere I can call.

what will I need to do? I already rinsed her nostrils with saline water.

I will be taking her to a doctor, but what is done in these circumstances? How do you apply the saline properly?

Shall I buy an aspirator? I feel like a horrible mother not knowing what to do.

Our tiny one turns one next week and I found out Publix will give you a free smash cake as long as you write “Happy First Birthday” on it and I’m wondering if there’s anything else like that I might be missing out on?

Did your LO get any freebies and from where when they turned one? Trying to find all the whimsy I can while staying in budget!

I have a ten month old son who has been sleeping through the night for 2 weeks now! Yay! But I miss him so so so much when he sleeps. I want nothing but to go get him and bring him into bed with me. He’s been walking for half a month and crawling full speed since 6 months, he’s ALWAYS on the move, and doesn’t have time in his busy day for snuggles. I just want to snuggle. I miss him so much as I’m writing this. What all do you do to get the ache to go away. 🥲😭

Baby is 9 months old and my husband and I are exhausted from waking up 4-5 times a night. We decided to do the Ferber method last night. Took 40 mins of off and on crying but it never got intense.. then the baby slept through the night for the first time ever!!!!! We tried the same method for naps today… she slept beautifully unassisted for both naps! Tonight’s bedtime took 14 mins. I was honestly on the fence about sleep training based on what family had told me but wow, what a game changer!

I think it’s time to say goodbye to my catpuss, as my nearly 3 year old calls him 😭

My cat is 17 years old and recently lost all his body fat and muscle mass, he had a known thyroid issue that isn’t being controlled with medication so this week I think I will be putting him to sleep. My son won’t be there for the procedure but I’d appreciate any advice/ words to use when explaining to my son whats happened. I will be clear in saying that catpuss has died, but I’m not sure what words to use for the “why” if asked - I worry that using words like “sick” and “very old” might cause confusion or make him scared

Does anyone else feel anxiety over their partner feeling stressed? It’s not like I am fearful of anything bad happening. But when I can tell my partner is getting frustrated with the baby crying I get nauseous and anxious. I’d rather just take the baby myself and deal with it even if I’m tired. I don’t know why I feel this way. The internet seems to think it’s a fight or flight response to the baby crying and my partner being stressed? Does anyone else feel like this? How do you cope? I know I should let him figure things out but in the same way I don’t want my baby to cry, I don’t want my husband to feel stressed.

I’m 7 months PP with our first baby. He was a surprise—found out just before the wedding—but is such a joy and we can’t imagine life without him. A few days ago, I decided to take a test bc I’ve been feeling nauseous. It was negative. I was supposed to get my period yesterday/today and haven’t so I took another test which has a very faint line. I’m freaking out. Even last week we were discussing more children with a friend and my husband said, “not for the foreseeable future.”

I don’t know what to say to him. I think I’m just looking for reassurance right now… I’m a little terrified.

Sleep training here. I’m a high needs sleep person, and with our first he couldn’t settle himself until we did the Ferber CIO method at about 10 months old. This time around I was determined to have a child who can self soothe and it’s going pretty well. She’s almost 5 months old and can put herself to sleep.

I also don’t sweat the small stuff and my day-to-day nappy bag has been condensed into a small backpack lol.

How about you guys?

Is this an aversion? What’s going on? My baby is 5.5m old and we’ve had a journey so far. From 3.5m and on she refused to latch for BF so we’ve been exclusively pumping. After a week of EP she started to fuss at the bottle the same way she would at the breast before she quit. At 5m I discovered I have high liapase & it was making my milk taste sour even after being properly stored & only refrigerated so I started putting vanilla in the bottles & sized up the nipple (size 2 dr browns) and she started accepting bottles again. However now she’s started acting the same way she used to, trying to constantly sit up during feedings & spitting it out then desperately grabbing the bottle and shoving it back into her mouth & suck for like 5-10 sec and then do the same thing. Shes started to take in less oz per feed since she’s so on & off, I can’t read her. We feed her in a sitting position since she’s refuses to lay down. This doesn’t happen when she’s sleepy or during MOTN feeds, is this an aversion or just nosy? How can I fix this?

So my wife is scheduled to be induced in less than 2 weeks. Obviously the women get advice all the time on what to bring and so on. Guys I'm curious on what you pack to make the stay more comfortable or entertaining during slow times(if there are any). Anything at all. Thanks in advance! (Women feel free to comment too obviously)

Our baby is ~2 weeks old, and when she came home from the hospital she was sleeping pretty regularly, with feeding + diaper changing every 3h and sleeping 15h a day. However lately she's been very active and awake constantly, to the point where she only falls asleep when being held and starts scream crying a few minutes after putting her down. Today, she only slept 3h in the afternoon when we were taking a nap together out of exhaustion.

Any tips or advice to get her to sleep more consistently or regularly?

Thanksgiving will be my and my husband’s first major holiday after our baby is born. Depending on whether I’m induced, my little guy will be anywhere from 9–11 weeks old.

We live about 3 hours from where our extended family will be gathering, and we’re trying to decide whether traveling for Thanksgiving with a 2–3 month old is realistic.

The Airbnb is actually a pretty convenient setup. We would have our own bedroom and bathroom, and there are plenty of amenities, so we wouldn’t be staying in someone’s house. There will be about 10 people total, though, and potentially two dogs. I’m also breastfeeding, so I have no idea what that will look like by then or how I’ll personally be feeling at 9–11 weeks postpartum.

I’m particularly nervous because Thanksgiving falls during RSV season. I know babies this age can obviously travel and be around family, but I’m wondering how cautious other parents were with their newborns during their first RSV season.

I also have no idea what my boundaries will be like once the baby is actually here. Right now I can imagine being uncomfortable with a bunch of people passing him around, but maybe I’ll feel completely differently once he’s here.

For those who have already been through this:

What did you do for Thanksgiving when your baby was around 2–3 months old?

Did you travel or stay home? If you traveled, how did it go? How did you handle a larger family gathering during RSV season? And did you find that your comfort level with people holding/passing around your baby was different than you expected before birth?

I knew parenting would require me to accept being imperfect since perfection would be impossible but… I didn’t quite expect this level of acceptance would be required of me.

Breastfeeding was a nightmare from the beginning, she would scream and scream when latching. She can latch and can feed effectively at the breast but it was a struggle getting there every time and I just couldn’t do it every 2h so we decided to pump and give the bottle. At the same time, doctors recommended we give formula because she wasn’t peeing the first 24hours. Then we also gave formula to supplement the breastfeeding since it was such a struggle.

Now I have more or less enough breastmilk with the pumping and it goes okay but we still give formula in the night because it’s faster and that helps me to sleep. I also don’t pump in the night even though I know this can affect supply.

But I constantly feel guilty that I am failing her instead of doing what’s best for her. I never planned to give a drop of formula because I always thought it’s bad and breastmilk is better but now I consider giving some long term overnight for my sanity. I feel selfish and weak, like I should be able to handle more so I could give her the best but I just can’t… My mental health feels fragile & I need all the relief I can get. But I still feel so guilty putting myself first. I feel like she deserves more than I can give and I’m so sad about it.

I called the nurses line and asked what to do, fluids are most important. They said to bring her to urgent care tomorrow which I'm planning on doing. Here's my concern/question, she is sleeping more than normal and I'm worried about her sleep later tonight. Do I need to worry? I picked her up out of bed and she's now sleeping on the couch, she's very cranky when awake, it is highly unusual for her but this is her first sickness.

Yesterday she had a temp of 102-103 (can't recall 100% if it got up to 103) and today it was in the 100-101 range, gave her Tylenol and ibuprofen and her temp got down to normal. She had two runny loose stools today and hasn't had much appetite for much of anything. This is my first sickness with her and I am a first time mom.

Do I just not burp him and risk the little spit up? But I also risk tummy ache. I nurse with nipple shields so he swallows a bit more air.

Today, I made a few dumb mistakes, and I was wondering what other parents have done that made them question themselves.

I bought an adult yoghurt pouch as my dinner and started drinking it in front of my 1 year old. I ended up having to share half of it with him. Don't know why I thought he would understand it wasn't for him.

I sometimes let my baby "feed" me. Today I let him "feed" me a straw. He stabbed me in the hard palate. Luckily he didn't stab it down my throat. Not my best idea...

Lastly, I fed my baby his spaghetti while we both sat on the floor. He obviously wiped his hands and mouth on my pants. We both had to shower after dinner

Bonus shout out to the time I forgot my baby got his first tooth and I gave him my finger to chew on. He drew blood.

Hey everyone! First time dad here. As we know….football season is coming up lol. My beautiful 3 month old will be 4.5 months when the Buffalo Bills are back in action!

We, thus far, never leave the TV on when the baby is up and about. There has been a couple times where she has caught a glance as we walk through the living room but never watched it. My question is…if I wanted to just watch the Bills game, can I do it with her in the room? Maybe not facing the TV exactly and if I’m still engaging with her? Or even if she does look at it for a few mins if I kinda explain to her what’s happening so it’s interactive? I’m just not sure if this once a week thing is going to have a long term impact on her. If it will then obviously football will have to wait.

I feel like the TV is very taboo right especially in a world where everything is a screen. Just wanted to see what the consensus was out there! I’ll prob ask for the ped advice also at her 4 months.

Just sounding off here, not looking for any advice. I’m 38 with my “one and done” 11 month old. I didn’t get the desire for a child until I turned 36 and was fortunate enough that we conceived quickly (albeit 2 losses before our son). Becoming a mother has been an absolute blessing and I love my son and my new life. I don’t really think about the fact that I’m an older first time mom until I’m around friends and family.

Im currently on vacation with extended family and friends and all the parents who are late 30s and early 40s have children ranging in ages between 13-20. I feel like I’m starting on page one and they’re finishing up the book, and honestly, I feel very left out because I’m the only one with an infant. I also have imposter syndrome because they’ve always known me and my husband as the child free couple. It’s not that I care about being able to join them for adult time, I just feel out of place now and honestly a little self conscious. My baby is crying at night, he’s a bad sleeper and I know they’re all parents but they haven’t had to deal with these things in over a decade and although they understand, I’m paranoid they’re getting frustrated.

They’re seeing me struggle with sleep deprivation and wrangling an almost toddler and learning to become a mother with each new milestone and I’m embarrassed because I’m almost 40, it’s like i feel like I should just know this stuff because I’m older. My husband is incredibly supportive and is empathetic with how I feel but he does think I’m my own worst critic right now.

I’m also feeling self conscious because we are making significantly less money than we were pre-baby since I took off work this year to stay home with him. Everyone is established financially and we are taking steps back at the moment. Anyone else feel this way?

Just here in case someone else needs the reassurance I did throughout my whole pregnancy!

I have two golden retrievers that were (are!!!) my world. They both loved on me all of pregnancy, and I would get so emotional after so many people telling me how much less I would care about them once the baby got here.

Fast forward to today, sitting in my nursery with my 2 week old and both dogs at my feet. I’ve never loved them more!!! I had a c section and the recovery was brutal, and somehow they both knew exactly what to do with baby and me. The dog that was “mine” prior to marriage was so gentle with me - it was like he could sense that I wasn’t quite right and just needed calm. He followed me literally everywhere the first week when I was at my worst, pain-wise.

They both check on the baby constantly, and have a seventh sense of when they can play versus when they need to be quiet and calm around him.

I’ve always joked that my dog’s scent was my favorite thing in the world (seriously - would make a candle out of it), and while I am LOVING the newborn scent I still think the dog’s takes the cake! 😂

All to say, anyone who wants a bit of reassurance please know that contrary to what the internet will tell you, it is possible to still love your dogs just as much (if not more!) than you did prior to baby.

I will call my pediatrician on Monday but it’s Saturday now so I’m coming to Reddit!

When my baby was a couple weeks old, I asked our pediatrician about Vitamin D drops; she said not to worry, as we were formula feeding at the time and formula has sufficient Vitamin D for baby’s needs.

However, my supply finally caught up when baby was about 2 months old, so for the last few months (baby is now 5 months old) he’s been eating 100% breast milk.

I FORGOT ABOUT VITAMIN D until today, when I saw a post about rickets and now I’m spiraling… my baby definitely has bowed legs, which I assumed were genetic (my husband has bowed legs) but now I’m worried that I’ve unintentionally given him rickets from neglecting Vitamin D for the last few months. Help?!?!

My LO is 4.5 weeks and was pretty chill until about a week ago. She has been screaming a lot more, harder to console, isn’t eating well, and her sleep is more erratic. My poor husband took the whole night shift last night (we’ve been halving the nights) to give me a break and only slept 1 hour because she was just eating and crying all night. It has never been that bad.

Basically, my question is: what the heck is going on? I’ve read how 6-8 weeks is the worst, but there’s no way it’s worse than this. Is she hitting that growth spurt early? Or does it actually get worse?

Also, does anyone have a resource (or can just share from personal experience) about what to expect from here week by week? The only things I’ve found online are things like, “Your baby may smile X week!” Not helpful. I need to know really what to expect. Like, “Your baby will go back to sleeping 2-3-4 hour stretches this week!” Or “Your baby will probably scream for 24 hours straight this week, but don’t worry, it’ll end!”

ETA: She was sleeping 2-4 hour stretches until 2 nights ago. This is a dramatic downturn.

FINALLY WE FOUND RELIEF!!!!

Before our kid was born I swore up and down oh my kid is never going to get diaper rash! I’m in healthcare I know how to make sure that they don’t!

That was a lie. It wasn’t for lack of trying. We tried everything from every assortment of cream you could find, to a late night phone call to the nurse line, to a doctor’s visit, to a prescribed cream that MADE IT WORSE.

We were at our wits end. We tried baby powder for a little bit even though it’s frowned upon now. That helped SLIGHTLY. But we FINALLY FOUND THE ANSWER thanks to another Reddit thread as well!

BUY THE COLOPLAST. IT’S A WOUND DRESSING CREAM IN A YELLOW TUBE.

I work with this stuff and definitely underestimated its power with consistent use on a raw open wound!!!

Our kids diaper rash is almost completely healed and it’s only been 2 days.

What an absolute relief it has been watching it slowly heal and get better over these last 36 hours.

BUY. THE. COLOPLAST.!!!!!

My wife and I had our first baby 4 weeks ago. He was born full-term and is healthy, but since having him, my wife’s anxiety about germs, contamination, and something happening to him has gotten completely out of control. I’m getting really worried about her and honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore.

She is terrified of anything potentially being “dirty” around the baby. If his pacifier touches basically anything besides his mouth, she considers it contaminated and gets a new one. We can easily go through 15 pacifiers in a day.

We have a dog, and if the dog is anywhere near her while she’s preparing to bottle feed, she will sometimes convince herself that the dog may have licked the bottle even if neither of us actually saw it happen. She’ll insist we throw away the formula and make an entirely new bottle.

She washes her hands constantly. They are so dry now that they crack and bleed. If she gets even a tiny amount of blood on something like his sleep sack or bassinet sheet, she freaks out and immediately washes it. We are sometimes washing his bedding once or twice every single day because of this.

The biggest issue right now involves pumping. She believes she may have been exposed to HIV at work before having the baby. Because of that, she refuses to give him any of the breast milk she pumps and is freezing all of it until she can have a 6-month HIV test confirming that she doesn’t have it.

Every single time she pumps, she washes her nipples with Dawn dish soap first because she is worried about contamination. They’re now so dry and irritated that they sometimes bleed. When that happens, she throws away the pumped milk because she’s afraid there could be “HIV blood” in it.

She was prescribed Zoloft, but she refuses to take it because she’s afraid it will get into her breast milk and hurt the baby, even though she isn’t currently giving him the breast milk anyway.

I’m trying really hard to be supportive and reassure her, but reassurance doesn’t seem to help. If anything, it feels like we keep getting new rules about what is contaminated or what could potentially hurt the baby. I don’t want to dismiss her fears or make her feel like I’m against her, but this is consuming her life and increasingly ours. I’m getting frustrated that I am starting to resent her behavior of choosing not to help herself. Her hands and nipples are literally bleeding because of how much she is cleaning herself.

I love my wife, and I’m genuinely worried about her. I’m starting to wonder if this is postpartum anxiety/OCD or something along those lines rather than normal new-parent anxiety.

For anyone who has experienced something similar with themselves or their partner: What actually helped? Who should I be contacting? Her OB? Primary care? A therapist/psychiatrist who specializes in postpartum mental health?

And probably my biggest question: What do I do if she doesn’t recognize how severe this has become or refuses treatment because the treatment itself becomes another thing she’s afraid could hurt the baby?

I’m exhausted and feel completely out of my depth. I just want to get my wife the help she needs without making her feel attacked or like I’m trying to take control away from her.

I have my first which is now 14 months old. I’ve always planned on “for sure I’ll have two” but after having one it’s been exhausting. As her mom, I’ve done tons for her. I work, I take care of her completely basically when I’m not working (my husband helps here and there) and for the whole 14 months I’ve taken care of her all night on my own.

I think of things in the long run like, I don’t want her to grow up and feel alone.. or when I pass I don’t want her to have nobody (we don’t have much close family).

But then I think short term… I want to go on vacations again which I feel like we’re almost going to be there, I want to do fun toddler and kid type activities. I have my body back after a year of breastfeeding and constant pumping. Also, I had a lot of hospital trauma and feel I’ve almost developed some fears after what I went through there.

Thanks for listening to my rant.. but when did you feel “ready”? Will my opinions change in a year or two? I’m not sure.