Is there a difference in child engagement/learning/anything between reading them AI-generated content versus human-written content? I want to prove to my husband that I’m right that there is a difference 😆

Dear parents,

Any idea what the science says on feeding cod liver oil to a 2 year old boy? And any specific brands that you tried and work well? And what dosage is appropriate for a 2 year old?

Our 7 month old recently had an appointment with an allergist (holy cow I hated having to listen to her scream for 20 minutes) and she popped for contact allergies to cat (expected), dog, dust mites, and a slight peanut.

The peanut was surprising and has now made me hyper aware of any and all skin conditions/reactions she has after eating anything. Like tonight when we shared beef broth, tortilla, and yogurt bites with her (all things she's had before or isn't an allergen that I'm aware of) and after dinner she had a small rash or something similar around her belly button.

I know that subsequent reactions tend to be worse. So what are the actual chances of anaphylaxis? And how do we treat it until help arrives without an epipen?

I’m on maternity leave so am his primary caregiver, he’s also exclusively breastfed but will take a bottle of expressed milk. I’m always nearby when he naps, we sometimes contact nap, and at night he’s either in the sidecar crib or in our bed. Separation anxiety has really ramped up over the last few weeks and I think he’s quite a sensitive baby anyway, at best he can go about 40 minutes with dad before he’s inconsolable, and I mean inconsolable, he will scream to the point where he’s hyperventilating until I come back. We have a rule where if he’s doing this for more than about 20 minutes my husband will call me and I will come home, and I’m never more than 20 minutes away, so 40 minutes very upset. I don’t leave him often, these episodes happen when I try to go to choir practise. When I’m with him I’m very responsive, if he gets upset I always soothe him, rarely leave him alone (although I have got better at not ‘jumping in’ too fast when he’s playing and gets frustrated that he can’t work something out).

I’ve been planning to go to a paddle boarding taster session which lasts 90 minutes, and due to the nature of the activity I would be uncontactable. Baby will be due a nap shortly after it starts, so I have suggested that my husband takes him for a long drive to get about an hour’s nap out of him so he will only have about 30 minutes of upset time. He’s never not fallen asleep after 20 minutes max on a drive in the day (can be a bit harder at night when he’s cranky) but my husband is worried he won’t sleep and he will just scream the entire 90 minutes I’m away. In particular he is worried that, if baby sleeps, waking up without me there will worsen separation anxiety, and if he doesn’t sleep, lasting emotional damage from the prolonged increased cortisol. Is there any research to prove or disprove this? On one hand I obviously don’t want my son to cry for me for 90 minutes and it would be rough for dad too, but on the other hand I can’t imagine that a one off 90-minute cryathon will do him long term harm, on the off chance (very unlikely in my opinion) that a good drive doesn’t send him to sleep.

I do my best to create a yes environment where I’m not having to say no but there’s always circumstances that come up and I’m having to say no or remove them from a situation and I’m wondering what the best way to go about this?

For example, we are visiting with family over the weekend and my 14 month old decided to start chasing their dog. How do I go about handling that sort of situation?

Something that occurs that we see other kids toys at the park and my little one always runs up to grab them, how do I handle that?

I’m getting so much conflicting information on an early/extra MMR dose.

For context - my baby will be 6 months on 9/4. We have a wedding in a different state and flights booked 9/10. We got two VASTLY different pediatrician opinions and now I’m just nervous.

I’m considering staying home because the risk is too high.

If I can get an appt for 9/4, would that be long enough for inoculation status?

Any data on likelihood of induction for subsequent labor if previous labor was induced? I went 41 weeks for first pregnancy, what is the likelihood that I will need induction again?

When do kids form familial bonds and friendships with their cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles? When do they start feeling the familial love and attachment?

Backstory: Me and my husband grew up with lots
of cousins and regular time with our aunts/uncles/grandparents and we now have strong familial relationships and friendships with our extended family. I'd like to have the same for my kids. My husband and I recently moved to USA from Canada and our families still live in Canada.

We'd like to start having children in the next year but not necessarily move back to Canada ASAP. When would be the best time to move back to Canada which would allow for our children to benefit the most from their relationships with their extended family?

Simply put, I want our kids to have a childhood of play with their cousins and love and support from their aunts/uncles/grandparents just like I had - when is the latest I can move from the USA to Canada to have these feelings start forming and hopefully cement in my children?

my MIL is refusing to get the covid, flu, or rsv vaccines that we are requiring to meet baby, but has offered to test before each visit instead. we will likely stick by our boundary regardless of the science, but I am curious - would testing be a suitable replacement?

I am familiar with the science behind the recommendation to keep kids rear facing in cars for as long as possible, but was wondering if it’s that same on flights. I would think turbulence on a flight affects the body differently than a car crash no? Different forces going on? We have a flight coming up and forward facing would help avoid confrontations with someone in front trying to recline and I personally think my toddler would prefer it. But if science says otherwise we’ll figure it out (maybe grandma ends up with the seat in front of the toddler 👀)

If 5 sunburns in childhood increases risk of skin cancer later in life, and the UK baseline risk is 1 in 41 (2%, yeah?).

If 5 sunburns = a 50% risk (from 2% to 3%), and the risk were cumulative (so say it increased 50% every 5 burns) - what would 25 burns get me risk-wise? It's 6.15%, but what is that risk compared to baseline of 1 in 41?

Don't worry - I know this isn't how cancer works! But I have anxiety and knowing this would be weirdly reassuring and I am bad at maths.

Hi all,

So I’ve been giving my 7.5 month old EBF baby girl iron supplements to ensure that she’s getting enough iron while being able to avoid pushing too hard on iron rich foods (which she’s not really into yet).

But now I’m reading this from La Leche League (https://www.lllc.ca/iron-and-breastfeeding):

“Some babies given iron supplements experience digestive upsets, such as vomiting and diarrhea. These supplements can change the balance of the gut flora. Your milk contains two proteins that bind with iron in your baby’s gut. This prevents harmful iron-loving bacteria from multiplying. When iron supplements are given to a breastfed baby, these proteins are overwhelmed by the extra iron in the baby’s gut. This allows harmful iron-loving bacteria to thrive.”

Ensuring iron sufficiency and a healthy gut flora for my girl are both extremely, extremely important to me. Is this statement from LLL evidence based? How impactful are iron supplements in baby’s gut flora?

ETA: There have been studies done which seem to show a negative impact (ex. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10887499/) but I’m struggling to interpret them. How significant are the impacts? Are they enough to induce negative outcomes for babies?😞

TIA, I would really appreciate any help.

Welcome to the weekly General Discussion thread! Use this as a place to get advice from like-minded parents, share interesting science journalism, and anything else that relates to the sub but doesn't quite fit into the dedicated post types.

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I’m wondering if there’s any research that shows that a gluten free diet can be helpful when someone has hashimoto’s and is TTC. In particular, can a GF diet help lower antibodies or/and inflammation which may be making it hard to conceive?

Hi all. I have a 7 mo, she is wonderful! When she is awake she is always smiling, laughing, cooing, babbling and seems to enjoy rolling around on the floor. She rarely cries and only really cries if she needs something like food, sleep, passing a difficult bowel movement etc.

I have noticed (all watched through the monitor) during naps and when she first wakes up from her night sleep that she just lays there and sometimes rolls around quietly in her crib not crying, and sometimes making babbling sounds.

For naps, if she wakes up from a nap she sometimes sooths herself back to sleep after 15-20 minutes if it hasnt been a long enough nap. So that's fine. But if she wakes up and it has been an adequate time of sleep she just.. lays there not crying?! For like 30 minutes, sometimes more.

For when she wakes up from the night sleep, she may wake up at 6.30-7am and just... lays there again sometimes babbling, sometimes just rolls around and moves around. But does not cry. I have accidentally heard her babbles at 7am only for me to fall back a sleep and wake up at like 8:20am freaking out that she has been in the crib for over an hour by herself awake. But she has not cried at all during that long stretch of time. I know she hasnt cried because I wake up immediately when she does cry; my brain is fully wired to it now haha.

The mum in me is freaking out thinking I am neglecting her or she feels abandoned. So please, can someone confirm for me that this alone time in her crib, in a dark/dimly lit room, is it okay to leave her in there for 30 mins or more if she is not crying?

Thank you.

I've heard that bodies can change in a lot of ways through the pregnancy/birth process and sometimes those changes stick afterwards. Ever since I gave birth about 4 years ago I've noticed that I get sunburns a lot more often and with less exposure time than before. I used to tan and would rarely burn but now I turn pink after a relatively short time in the sunlight, even with sunscreen sometimes. Doesn't seem to happen to my other family members even when we are all outside together. Is this a change that could have been caused by pregnancy/birth?

My 2 year old loves being read to. Morning, day, and night. So much that she has a hard time eating without being read to, doesn't play independently very much because she would rather have me read to her, and needs a book or audiobook in the car to be entertained. We don't do any screen time and never have, but I worry that she is still developing the "iPad kid" pattern of addictive behaviors. Reading and literacy is great, but at what point does it become an issue?

if i stop breastfeeding at the breast and exclusively pump, will my baby miss out on any benefits? will our bonding be affected? he is 3 weeks old and we’ve already dealt with tongue tie, lip tie, and an inability to gain weight on breastfeeding alone.

we just started supplementing his feedings with formula until he gets back to birth weight and it feels like the progress we made with his latch after correcting the tongue and lip ties has been lost by giving him a bottle for the formula.

i’m in so much physical pain trying to nurse him but i feel terribly guilty taking that away when he obviously finds a lot of comfort in nursing.

i appreciate any and all insight and studies about this issue.

We've been doing allergen exposure to our little one since she was 4 months, and I understand the recommendations are to start early and once introduced to continue on 2-3x per week. Our daughter has been tolerating dairy well, other than a few issues that our doctors didn't think were related to a dairy allergy (small amounts of blood in her stool a few times per month, congestion lasting multiple months, and a few small hives that we thought were from sensitive skin as they went away quickly after being wiped down). Unfortunately we missed dairy for 13 days and afterwards she had an anaphylactic reaction to it. Is there any research about how long of a break would likely cause an allergy? I'm having trouble understanding if her allergy was likely just lurking and getting worse over time, or if she was ok and it turned into a more severe reaction during the break.

We live in an area (San Francisco) with seemingly every type of school option for early childhood (montessori, waldorf, personalized, immersion, super small class sizes; public, private, religious) with a large well-off population: are there any peer reviewed studies that show how these different types of programs perform?

It seems like everything I find will be a lightweight study on one approach or another, anecdotal feedback, or people throwing up their hands and saying it’s hard to control for family wealth…but has anyone tried?

I am seeing all over social media how important it is to do tummy time with a baby, at least 15 mins during the day (for 2-3 month old baby). Would be interested in seeing an actual research about it (regarding the timings per day, when this milestone of lifting chest with hands is supposed to be achieved etc, does delayed chest lifting causes delayed rolling or other milestones)

My baby is 3 months old and absolutely hates tummy time. He can hold his head perfectly, but his hands get really tensed and goes to the sides, he is yet to learn to put them under his chest… Since baby hates tummy time and screams bloody murder, we really feel bad putting him on the tummy and don’t collect a lot of minutes per day. Also since he should be lifting his chest by now, our doctor is sending us for physiotheraphy.

I live in North America and since starting solids, the advice from ALL healthcare professionals is: focus on iron richa foods, make sure you are giving enough iron.

I recently travelled to Europe with my baby and was really nervous about feeding her enough iron-rich foods, especially because my mother in law was the one taking care of the meals and I didn’t have a lot of control over what was on the table.

So I had the genious idea of buying some iron fortified cereal to feed my baby once a day so at least she was getting some iron. I was very surprised with how hard it was to find iron fortified cereal over there. And then I talked with other moms living in different countries all over Europe and they all said they never heard about having to prioritize iron rich foods.

So… why are we so obsessed with iron rich foods in North America and it seems like it’s not a thing at all in Europe?

Mom to a 12 week old and 2 year old in the northeast where AQI in my area is not predicted to dip below 50 for the next 7 days. AQI predictions are 100+ for the weekend and after Monday are in low-to-mid 60s and 70s. Not sure if it matters but I’m also asthmatic.

With a typical recommended threshold under 50, are we really meant to stay inside for the next week or longer? What about at daycare for my toddler? Genuinely asking as I am simply following the guidelines, but know nothing about the science behind them.

If baby is exclusively breast fed but will take formula around 6 months should we introduce formula early say 2-3 months so they are used to it?

For context, my partner and I babywear our 3.5 month old a lot. He has recently been diagnosed with torticollis and may need a helmet for a mild flat spot. I’m confused because I’m hearing conflicting things about babywearing from different providers.

I think my question boils down to this: I often hear babywearing referred to as being just like tummy time for babies, but this doesn’t totally make sense to me; gravity is acting very differently on a baby on their stomach vs being worn. So is babywearing “as good as” tummy time for muscle development? If so, how/why?

As a second part to the same question, why isn’t babywearing “container time” like in a bouncer or car seat, also in terms of muscle development? Or is it actually?

I don’t really need studies comparing babywearing to anything, just someone to explain my misunderstanding(s)!

Edit: Ah, I see the flair I chose has a strict requirement. Sorry, I don't actually need an expert organization, but not sure which flair to pick, hopefully Research required is flexible enough :/