ParentERA |OT| What To Expect When You’re Not Sleeping

[eZipsis]

Thanks for the support everyone. We are home now, we have a plan in place to help him eat with an appointment every week to monitor him. Also getting my wife some support to help her cope with her stress and anxiety. I think everything is going to be alright, it's just going to take some time. I'm looking forward to having my healthy son, and healthy wife back.

 

[H.Protagonist]

So, at 37 my wife and I are having our first child. This was all unplanned, but it's an exciting moment that we both never really thought would happen.

It's been really tough these last two weeks because we aren't talking about the pregnancy until we have confirmation that there isn't a problem with the fetus. We're both a little frightened by the idea of a "geriatric pregnancy" but I think once I can talk about it with people IRL I think i'll be in a better place emotionally.

We just bought our first house and my dream of having a man-cave lasted all of 4 months before I had to sell all the furniture and my TV to make room for the eventual kid. Of course my wife's guest room will not be sacrificed to the eventual Lord/ Lady. Convenient, that.

I am on the edge of overwhelmed, and I don't even know what I don't know. Where do you even start?

Click to shrink...

Start by looking forward to a very interesting, strange, and often funny experience!

Haven't posted in ages, but as someone who had their second at the 'advanced' age of 36 maybe I can offer some advice/comfort on the geriatric pregnancy thing. First off, what asshole came up with that terminology? Nothing makes you feel more ready to have a kid than being labeled 'geriatric'. But fear not. What we lack in energy we make up in dark, inappropriate humor, especially when the birthing part comes.

Health-wise, I won't lie, it was pretty draining. I don't know if it was age or it being the second, but I was wiped with #2. What did help, and might give you guys some confidence if you get to that point, are the things you can do to prep physically that made a big difference for me (and many others). Squats. Do squats. Do looooooots of squats. They don't just work the area that's going to take the brunt of the birth, they make the whole process easier and speed up recovery like no ones business. If you do nothing else exercise-wise, at the very least do squats. Kegels, sit-ups, stretching (yoga-type stuff), and keeping limber are also really great too. If your wife starts now, a good few months before the birth, I think you'll feel less nervous about the whole thing.

Tests-wise, yeah, it's pretty stressful all the things they throw at you. Best you can do is remind yourself that they're just going through their own checklists and the odds are still very, very small. We did the same as you and kept mum until we got the results back from our tests, which made us feel silly after for worrying so much (over the tests, not the keeping mum part). :P

Life-wise, it sounds like you're in a good place, so rejoice! One of the few advantages we have over younger parents to be is generally we're in slightly better position. While having a kid may feel bizarre after having everything to yourselves for so long, it's not that bad. Really. I had my first at 34, and I still get my free time, my alone time, I still play games, my husband still goes to the gym 4x a week and gets his private time, etc.*. Life doesn't end after a kid. It just adjusts. You guys'll figure it out.<--And that'll take time and poop. Don't think for a second any of us had a clue at first, so don't stress.


*YMMV in the first 6 months


Also, congrats to all the new parents! And best of luck, eZipsis. You're not alone in the eating stress area.

 

[Hiphopopotamus]

First off, congrats!

Take it slow and don't panic, pregnancy is a long time. As far as genetic disorders you can do DNA testing and have mom tested if you so choose. My wife was 35 and very small so she had a very high risk pregnancy (especially with twins!). Just listen to your doctors and if anything feels abnormal give them a call. They'll explain everything to expect during the pregnancy. Staying active early on is a good idea, the better shape you are in the easier of a pregnancy sometimes. She'll have to find ways to deal with nausea, aches and pains, and insomnia throughout the pregnancy. Just be supportive.

Closer to 9 months take a birthing class at a hospital and basic baby care class. There's plenty of books like Happiest Baby on the Block and What to Expect when Expecting that are pretty standard fare to get you up to speed. In the end every pregnancy and baby is different and what you read/learn will likely only apply a bit. The key takeaways are how to help prevent SIDS which the hospital classes will teach.

The long lead items are daycare applications (sometimes can take up to 6 months in busy areas) and picking a pediatrician and getting on waiting lists for preferred ones if needed. Get your flu shots and tdap shots (have Mom check with doctor on when to get hers).

Setting up a baby room sounds fun, but for the first 4-6 months they'll be sleeping in your room so don't rush to tear down your man cave just yet.

You'll be fine, we've evolved to be good parents and know what to do. I had never handled a baby before and its amazing how quickly I adapted to becoming a dad.

Click to shrink...

Start by looking forward to a very interesting, strange, and often funny experience!

Haven't posted in ages, but as someone who had their second at the 'advanced' age of 36 maybe I can offer some advice/comfort on the geriatric pregnancy thing. First off, what asshole came up with that terminology? Nothing makes you feel more ready to have a kid than being labeled 'geriatric'. But fear not. What we lack in energy we make up in dark, inappropriate humor, especially when the birthing part comes.

Health-wise, I won't lie, it was pretty draining. I don't know if it was age or it being the second, but I was wiped with #2. What did help, and might give you guys some confidence if you get to that point, are the things you can do to prep physically that made a big difference for me (and many others). Squats. Do squats. Do looooooots of squats. They don't just work the area that's going to take the brunt of the birth, they make the whole process easier and speed up recovery like no ones business. If you do nothing else exercise-wise, at the very least do squats. Kegels, sit-ups, stretching (yoga-type stuff), and keeping limber are also really great too. If your wife starts now, a good few months before the birth, I think you'll feel less nervous about the whole thing.

Tests-wise, yeah, it's pretty stressful all the things they throw at you. Best you can do is remind yourself that they're just going through their own checklists and the odds are still very, very small. We did the same as you and kept mum until we got the results back from our tests, which made us feel silly after for worrying so much (over the tests, not the keeping mum part). :P

Life-wise, it sounds like you're in a good place, so rejoice! One of the few advantages we have over younger parents to be is generally we're in slightly better position. While having a kid may feel bizarre after having everything to yourselves for so long, it's not that bad. Really. I had my first at 34, and I still get my free time, my alone time, I still play games, my husband still goes to the gym 4x a week and gets his private time, etc.*. Life doesn't end after a kid. It just adjusts. You guys'll figure it out.<--And that'll take time and poop. Don't think for a second any of us had a clue at first, so don't stress.


*YMMV in the first 6 months


Also, congrats to all the new parents! And best of luck, eZipsis. You're not alone in the eating stress area.

Click to shrink...

Wow, first of all, thank you so much for taking time to share your experiences. I am still freaked out, but every day it gets a little more 'normal'

I have so much I need to learn--I'm a planner by trade, so that's my jam--but I just feel so inundated with baby theories, and regimes, and fads. I actually caught myself thinking, "maybe we should do cloth diapers". I have no clue what sort of hellscape comes with cloth, or why I want to do that other than bathing in a culture that shames parents for not doing the most difficult things possible.

I am going to re-read both of these responses and start prioritizing activities and purchases. Thanks again for everyone's insights, and I hope to be a productive member of this thread

 

[GiJose]

It's really that raising a child is stressful enough.

No need to feel extra stressed by the societal pressures to do cloth diapers, to breast feed, all of these things you just HAVE to do. You're probably going to get a ton of unsolicited advice (like this) and you can safely assume that 95% of it is wrong, though most likely unharmful

It's an adventure for you to enjoy, really the main challenge is sleep deprivation. It helps a lot to have a relaxed approach to pretty much everything. Do what makes sense for you at each step of the way

 

[CrudeDiatribe]

I actually caught myself thinking, "maybe we should do cloth diapers". I have no clue what sort of hellscape comes with cloth, or why I want to do that other than bathing in a culture that shames parents for not doing the most difficult things possible.

Click to shrink...

I think I'm the only one that posts here who's doing the cloth diaper thing. We've been using covers (plastic, in theory waterproof) with inserts (cotton and absorbing) vs all-in-ones, but just pick one. We bought all of our inserts used and most of the covers— if you can swing this you can save a bunch of money. "We" (my partner) made washable ass-wipes from old/cheap face clothes cut in quarters and new edges sewn on to prevent fraying.

Here's the gameplay loop:

You have a diaper pail with one of the two water proof bags it came with in it. It lives near the changing table. When you change your child's diaper, you throw the insert or all-in-one in the pail (after dumping it out if needed). The pail has a lovely airtight lid that you will appreciate.

Once your child starts eating solid foods you need to clean the shit out of the shitty diapers— or you'll be picking undigested food out of your laundry machine (raisin skins, corn, pieces of fluff). After the first attempt at this you'll buy a diaper sprayer that attaches to your toilet (or be smart and do it first; I instead picked raisin skins out of the machine a few times). This isn't needed when your kid is only on breastmilk and/or formula, at least it didn't matter to our washing machine.

When you go out, you take a small water proof 'wet bag' to throw unclean things in. When you get home clean out the poop as needed (yay). It gets washed with the diapers.

Every day or every other day you take the bag of stink to your laundry machine. You wash everything twice, once to clean out the shit, a second to clean. I'm not sure the second wash is needed now that I'm rinsing the poop out, but I'm not feeling adventurous. Hang covers to dry, dry the inserts on high. If it's hot and sunny the clothes line works well.

Periodically (4-6 months?) you need to rinse your clean diapers and covers in a chemical bath to get rid of chemicals that build up from your kid's urine and cause the (covers especially) to stink.

With daycare, her diapers are dumped in the wet bag and I empty it out every night while kiddo is nursing before bed, rinsing as needed.

I was (and am) super squeamish about poop, and really it hasn't been bad. My horror stories are from my kid's acrobatic endeavours during a change when she was 8-10 months (or 6-12, memory is fuzzy). Used disposables when she was a new born and when we vacationed at a cottage without a washing machine and I really didn't find it much faster— totally not worth the added cost/waste to me.

 

[lt519]

It's really that raising a child is stressful enough.

No need to feel extra stressed by the societal pressures to do cloth diapers, to breast feed, all of these things you just HAVE to do. You're probably going to get a ton of unsolicited advice (like this) and you can safely assume that 95% of it is wrong, though most likely unharmful

It's an adventure for you to enjoy, really the main challenge is sleep deprivation. It helps a lot to have a relaxed approach to pretty much everything. Do what makes sense for you at each step of the way

Click to shrink...

Hiphopopotamus This so much. My wife put so much pressure on herself to be eco friendly and was super gungho about breastfeeding. It's all nice in theory, but in the end it was going to make us insane which in the end is worse for the little ones. Really just make sure you follow the basic SIDS guidelines and then do whatever keeps your sanity in check. If its a money thing it might make more sense, but we're finding that we ditched eco-friendly diapers that were 2x expensive for Amazon brand diapers which while being cheaper, actually felt softer and had the pee indicator which is a lifesaver right now.

Definitely try it if you want, but we found immediately that the extra 5 minutes it took per diaper change to do cloth diapers/wipes added up to a couple hours a day which we just didn't have. The internet is a rabbit hole of fads and theories and what materials should be used for furniture, etc. It gets crazy and the only thing you need listen to is the bonafide research on SIDS.

 

[Anno]

I'll definitely reiterate not feeling pressured about breastfeeding. My wife was 110% committed but the milk just never came on. We tried special cookies, drinks, vitamins, everything that even begins to help promote milk production, it just never showed up and my wife felt awful guilt about it for almost a month. When we finally got her to accept that it wasn't her fault and the baby is going to be 100% fine on formula she felt so much better about everything and it was a great stress relief for everyone. So if it's something your wife is struggling with be really straightforward in supporting a different plan.

 

[WillyGubbins]

Wow, first of all, thank you so much for taking time to share your experiences. I am still freaked out, but every day it gets a little more 'normal'

I have so much I need to learn--I'm a planner by trade, so that's my jam--but I just feel so inundated with baby theories, and regimes, and fads. I actually caught myself thinking, "maybe we should do cloth diapers". I have no clue what sort of hellscape comes with cloth, or why I want to do that other than bathing in a culture that shames parents for not doing the most difficult things possible.

I am going to re-read both of these responses and start prioritizing activities and purchases. Thanks again for everyone's insights, and I hope to be a productive member of this thread

Click to shrink...

First of all, congratulations :) Don't panic!

FWIW, our first was born the day after my wife's 40th birthday, and our second 18 months later. There are extra tests and precautions in place at that age, but it's all quite manageable.

 

[RDreamer]

Cloth diapers seem like such a pain in the fucking ass when you're already not sleeping and using up all your time to try and do what's best for the baby. As others said, don't sweat that. Prioritize things, and also realize that when the baby is here you'll change your plans based on them quite a bit.

In the past cloth diapers and such may have been fine, and I think that's a big issue with changing standards in parenting. There were and can be options for services that pick up cloth diapers for you, but we didn't really find anything acceptable here. And then just reality is everything your parents probably did to survive is now heavily frowned upon and/or dangerous. It seems parenting gets harder as we know more. My parents generation just fucking slept with their babies. On the couch or in the bed or wherever. And now it's like holy shit no you can't do that. It's dangerous as fuck. So you're sleep deprived and have to stay awake with this baby on your lap that's sleeping because it won't sleep in the crib for at least a while. My parents response to that? "Oh have you tried laying him down on his stomach?" Yeah, again, can't do that. Just everything is more difficult because of what we know about SIDs and the risk.

So yeah ideals like cloth diapers get dropped quickly.

 

[Septimus Prime]

I'm a planner by trade, so that's my jam

Click to shrink...

Don't worry too much about planning. When the baby comes, you'll be switching to agile.

 

[CrudeDiatribe]

RDreamer
We co-slept. It wasn't a big deal. The risks are overstated in the US. My problem with it is that at some point everyone's quality of sleep goes to shit and (apparently) the longer you leave it the harder sleep training can be.

As you say, do what you have to do. Lots of single moms do it it merely get by (if you think you're tired as a couple...). We spend so much effort to mitigate already extremely low risks.

While I am sharing unpopular opinions: give your baby peanut butter sooner than later, too.

 

[RDreamer]

RDreamer
We co-slept. It wasn't a big deal. The risks are overstated in the US. My problem with it is that at some point everyone's quality of sleep goes to shit and (apparently) the longer you leave it the harder sleep training can be.

Click to shrink...

Yeah my sister gave in and co-slept and her son is well beyond awful for sleeping. He's nearly two and sleeps like ass and a half. We don't want to run into that issue. Not knocking anyone who does co-sleep, but it's too big of a risk for us and if something did happen it would basically destroy us.

While I am sharing unpopular opinions: give your baby peanut butter sooner than later, too.

Click to shrink...

Our pediatrician said we could have ours try some at 5-6 months.

 

[Briareos]

We did cloth diapers but we had a service (urban west Los Angeles), so it wasn't a big deal. I don't remember the rationale; possibly absorbency capacity, possibly because of a notion that it helps with potty training (at the end of the day I'm pretty sure it was 99% the M&Ms).

My wife breastfed mostly because it was just easier; but to some extent that was a self-fulfilling prophecy as we didn't attempt to bottle-feed more and when we did it was a hassle.

Anyway, at the end of the day you figure it out, as Hiro said most of us are hilariously cynical about this stuff so don't feel bad about sharing your anxieties. We are 100% unforgiving cry-it-out parents for instance, and lots of people consider that weird/cruel. On the other hand, it's better than our "exit plan" ("I will put the baby down in the crib, and then I will walk into the ocean, and I will not stop").

 

[CrudeDiatribe]

We stopped co-sleeping at 7 months because she was moving around too much. The transition was pretty easy for us— went into crib until she woke up then co-sleep till morning. The amount of time in the crib just increased from there until she was sleeping the night on the crib whether she woke up or not. Recently co-slept a few days (at 18 months) due to daycare plague and molar teething striking at once.

About the peanut butter— earlier reduces risk of severe allergy.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

Hey guys I got a problem with my 7 month shepherd and wondered if anyone has some advice. She has shown to be distressed by the baby. She would bark when she hears him cry and even if she just sees him. I hope getting her fixed will calm her down but other than that we're thinking taking her to a behavioral trainer for more training.

 

[Hollywood Duo]

Don't worry too much about planning. When the baby comes, you'll be switching to agile.

Click to shrink...

Lol, so true

 

[Anno]

Babies are weird. We wanted to get our 9 month old off of her feeding schedule that included two bottles when she was asleep (like 10-11 and 3ish). So we picked a weekend to change her schedule thinking we wouldn't get much sleep, compressed her feeding schedule and eliminated one of the bottles. Since then she's dutifully slept all the way through the night for more than two weeks now. I don't think we've had to go console her even once during that time.

 

[Hiphopopotamus]

What other things should you be exposing your kids to? My wife is vegetarian, I am not, so when I cook it's vegetarian. Do you need to give kids meat like they're cats? Vitamins? I apparently had a slight allergic reaction to spinach as a kid--but I did and still do love it. Are there vegetables we should avoid or seek out while they're still babies?

 

[Something Creative]

Nice, just discovered this community! We're expecting our first in a few months. May take some time to read through the thread this weekend, particularly for delivery and first weeks stuff.

 

[eZipsis]

What other things should you be exposing your kids to? My wife is vegetarian, I am not, so when I cook it's vegetarian. Do you need to give kids meat like they're cats? Vitamins? I apparently had a slight allergic reaction to spinach as a kid--but I did and still do love it. Are there vegetables we should avoid or seek out while they're still babies?

Click to shrink...

No you don't.

As far as I'm aware it's best to expose young children to as many different types of foods as possible. Eggs, peanut butter etc.. I was talking with a nutritionist in yesterday about my son and my wife asked about Vitamins, (She is Vegan and I'm Vegetarian, we're raising our son Vegetarian) the nutritionist said she doesn't prescribe vitamins or supplements for young kids because they get it all from the food they try, as long as their eating a good variety. She said she only prescribed them for some autistic children because they tend to not want to eat a certain colour sometimes, which threw me off a little, because I don't eat anything that is orange.

 

[splash wave]

We're having a girl! It's both what we wanted, so we're both incredibly excited. It feels sooo good to know.

Does anyone on here have experience getting an amniocentesis? Our chances of down syndrome are less than 1 in 10,000, and our baby isn't showing any of the "soft signs" for it, but my girlfriend is still feeling a little paranoid. To me, the chances are so unlikely that I don't feel it's worth the risk.

 

[Something Creative]

Does anyone have good parenting podcasts or websites to recommend? I've heard We Knows Parenting is good, but haven't tried it yet

We're having a girl! It's both what we wanted, so we're both incredibly excited. It feels sooo good to know.

Does anyone on here have experience getting an amniocentesis? Our chances of down syndrome are less than 1 in 10,000, and our baby isn't showing any of the "soft signs" for it, but my girlfriend is still feeling a little paranoid. To me, the chances are so unlikely that I don't feel it's worth the risk.

Click to shrink...

Is this the test that would detect downs earlier? We didn't get it so I can't really speak to what it actually entails but it's all about peace of mind. It also comes down to the decision you two would take if the test is positive. Does it dictate? If yes then that is more reason to pay for the test

Also, congrats! We're also having a girl... she's going to be so spoiled.

 

[Nephtes]

24 week ultrasound over, and the intracardiac focus the doctor found on the 20 week ultrasound appears to have either resolved on its own or was mistaken for something else...whew.

I'm feeling much better with our kid no longer having any markers for Down's Syndrome. Still holding off on finding out the gender till the due date in May...

Guess I need to start building that crib and finish reading those parenting books...

 

[CrudeDiatribe]

We didn't get an amniocentesis either; we had an ultrasound scare at the first one as well; but a follow up scan with radiologists ruled out any problems; given my partner's age (35 by due date) she apparently should have seen them from the get go. Get one if it will reduce stress.

 

[Nephtes]

We didn't get an amniocentesis either; we had an ultrasound scare at the first one as well; but a follow up scan with radiologists ruled out any problems; given my partner's age (35 by due date) she apparently should have seen them from the get go. Get one if it will reduce stress.

Click to shrink...

Sounds like my situation, my wife is 34... I begged her to get the test after they found a marker on the second ultrasound, just so we could prepare earlier in the eventuality of bad news, but she overruled. It was a stressful month waiting for that follow up ultrasound.

 

[GiJose]

Amnio has some risks as well, it's a medical procedure

 

[Septimus Prime]

We opted against amnio. It wasn't worth the risk to the fetus to confirm something that was already 99.999% likely.

 

[Rocketz]

Just shy of 4 months and Aiden has started rolling over to his back. He's been really working at it the past couple weeks but he finally made it over earlier this week and now wants to do it all the time.

 

[Chopchop]

Does anyone have good parenting podcasts or websites to recommend? I've heard We Knows Parenting is good, but haven't tried it yet

Click to shrink...

Try this one: https://www.babycareadvice.com/

A consultation from the owner of this site solved my kid's feeding problems when nothing else could. Saved us from a really bad few months of depression and stress. This person is really nice and I feel like all the feeding articles (I haven't read the others) she's written are on point.

And for anyone looking for prenatal classes, this youtube series is really good and covers most of the things you'd see in an actual class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7YucfJuziU

 

[Something Creative]

Try this one: https://www.babycareadvice.com/

A consultation from the owner of this site solved my kid's feeding problems when nothing else could. Saved us from a really bad few months of depression and stress. This person is really nice and I feel like all the feeding articles (I haven't read the others) she's written are on point.

And for anyone looking for prenatal classes, this youtube series is really good and covers most of the things you'd see in an actual class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7YucfJuziU

Click to shrink...

Thank you, chopchop

 

[Menelaus]

My dude turned 6 this week, I went through the last few pages reading about your babies and reminiscing about when he was younger...things seemed so complicated back then, haha! Just wait till they start bringing home homework.

My only suggestion after looking back is...if you're going to co-sleep, you need to have a VERY solid transition plan. We didn't, and even now with him at 6, are having to work on him being comfortable in his own room. It's a lot of walking him back to bed in the middle of the night and occasionally he'll sneak in without waking us up and we'll find him in bed with us in the morning. It's not the worst thing in the world, but you'll sleep 1000% times better without them in bed.

 

[Madjaba]

In two months I'll be the father of a cute little boy.

It's an incredible feeling as I'm as amazed and impatient as I am affraid of it.

Good to see a nice hideout here, I'll lurk here :)

 

[vacantseas]

Madjaba - Two months here too - girl. April 25th due date.

 

[Kyuur]

Been a while since I've posted in here!

Little girl is 10.5 months old now. January was a rocket of development; she went from relative immobility to crawling and cruising at the speed of sound. Starting to hear words come through the babbling now too: yogurt and up today. She loves pulling things out of containers (books off the shelf, clothes out of hampers).

It's been a roller coaster of a year. Sleep regressions, colds, teething are all miserable. The highs have more than made up for it though. Wife is off mat leave and back part-time so I'm flying solo on the weekends. Nervous for her to start full time again and go into a daycare situation -- anyone here in Canada who has done the Kin Childcare thing instead?

24 week ultrasound over, and the intracardiac focus the doctor found on the 20 week ultrasound appears to have either resolved on its own or was mistaken for something else...whew.

I'm feeling much better with our kid no longer having any markers for Down's Syndrome. Still holding off on finding out the gender till the due date in May...

Guess I need to start building that crib and finish reading those parenting books...

Click to shrink...

Really happy to hear you guys are having good luck! You're almost in the final stretch :)

 

[RDreamer]

My wife's back at work and trying to get our 6 month old to take a bottle is a fucking endeavor. I feel so bad, he has to be starving but he will not drink more than maybe .4 oz at most and even then it's a fight. He recoils to the side and then starts crying. The more I try to offer it to him the more he throws a fit and cries.

 

[Rocketz]

Anyone tried Target diapers? We use Pampers Swaddlers and they're great but the Target one's are noticeably cheaper.

 

[RedNalgene]

My wife's back at work and trying to get our 6 month old to take a bottle is a fucking endeavor. I feel so bad, he has to be starving but he will not drink more than maybe .4 oz at most and even then it's a fight. He recoils to the side and then starts crying. The more I try to offer it to him the more he throws a fit and cries.

Click to shrink...

Is it expressed breast milk or formula? Could the nipple on the bottle be too fast/slow? Maybe he is having gas and is uncomfortable? We use the Dr Browns bottles and never really had a problem with gas.

Anyone tried Target diapers? We use Pampers Swaddlers and they're great but the Target one's are noticeably cheaper.

Click to shrink...

I tried the CVS brand once...never again. They leaked, alot. Ended up giving the remainder away. I'm all for finding cheap alternatives, but haven't found good diapers outside of Pampers.

 

[RDreamer]

Is it expressed breast milk or formula? Could the nipple on the bottle be too fast/slow? Maybe he is having gas and is uncomfortable? We use the Dr Browns bottles and never really had a problem with gas

Click to shrink...

Expressed. We've tried a few nipples.

Holding the fort now with frozen milk in a mesh feeder. Lol

 

[RedNalgene]

Expressed. We've tried a few nipples.

Holding the fort now with frozen milk in a mesh feeder. Lol

Click to shrink...

Damn. We never got so far as to use mesh feeders. Credit to you for trying that!

Just throwing a few thoughts out there - is the milk starting frozen and then being warmed and put in a bottle? My wife's milk has an issue with the protein in it that causes it to taste spoiled if it's frozen for more than a month or so. So we can't have a big frozen store, we have to cycle through frozen milk relatively quickly or give it fresh. And yes, I'll taste the frozen milk before giving it to my daughter just to make sure it doesn't taste terrible.

Also, my daughter got bored of bottles after a little while, so we started reading books to her while we gave her bottles. I didn't like the idea of using a "distraction" method to get the milk in her, but she needed the nutrition and hydration so we were willing to try just about anything.

So much of parenting is trial and error...it's amazing the human race has survived for so long. LOL.

 

[RDreamer]

Damn. We never got so far as to use mesh feeders. Credit to you for trying that!

Just throwing a few thoughts out there - is the milk starting frozen and then being warmed and put in a bottle? My wife's milk has an issue with the protein in it that causes it to taste spoiled if it's frozen for more than a month or so. So we can't have a big frozen store, we have to cycle through frozen milk relatively quickly or give it fresh. And yes, I'll taste the frozen milk before giving it to my daughter just to make sure it doesn't taste terrible.

Also, my daughter got bored of bottles after a little while, so we started reading books to her while we gave her bottles. I didn't like the idea of using a "distraction" method to get the milk in her, but she needed the nutrition and hydration so we were willing to try just about anything.

So much of parenting is trial and error...it's amazing the human race has survived for so long. LOL.

Click to shrink...

Some is frozen sometimes but yeah it's not that old. He refuses the stuff my wife got just this morning and put in a bottle for him.

He took the frozen mesh feeder stuff. Fucking loved that. Guess he's at least not starving currently.

 

[MikeRahl]

What a terrible weekend I had.

Went home to visit family and had a neighbour come over on sunday to feed our cat. He was fine Saturday morning but was hiding on Sunday and the neighbour reported what seemed to be urine everywhere. Decided to cut our trip short a day and come home to figure out what was going on... he was stress urinating before when he was younger and thought maybe a slight change in cat food was making him unhappy. Come back and it was clearly vomit... which again maybe due to the food (we brought back his regular stuff). Vomit happened throughout the night and into the morning so we went to the vet. Had my daughter say good bye just in case (although I fully expected him to come home with some antibiotics after an IV)... got xrays of the his stomach and it was clearly a linear foreign body. Prognosis wasn't good so we made the decision to euthanize. Just before that I facetimed Spryo with my wife and children and my daughter said one last goodbye. She is 3 so I'm not sure she really understands but hearing her say Goodbye Spryo I love you in a dreamy voice was heart breaking. She said to me last night that Spyro was still at the vet and wasn't coming home but I expect a few questions going forward.

Also my 11 month old son is going through a phase of not wanting to go to sleep on his own. He finally got his top two teeth in to match the bottom and when he is JUST about to go asleep has taken to grinding them together and it is just the worst. I feel as though it makes MY teeth hurt.

Ugh, this was cathartic writing this out at least.

 

[Septimus Prime]

Anyone tried Target diapers? We use Pampers Swaddlers and they're great but the Target one's are noticeably cheaper.

Click to shrink...

Yeah. They're good and comparable to Pampers and Huggies. I still like Huggies Little Movers now because the clasps hold stronger, but the Target diapers seem to hold waste just as well.

 

[GiJose]

Some is frozen sometimes but yeah it's not that old. He refuses the stuff my wife got just this morning and put in a bottle for him.

He took the frozen mesh feeder stuff. Fucking loved that. Guess he's at least not starving currently.

Click to shrink...

Is this his first experience with bottles? It's not uncommon for babies to have tons of difficulties transitioning from nipples to bottles. Some babies refuse to drink except when Mom is home in the mornings and at night

Just keep trying with the bottles, could take a few days but eventually he won't starve himself

 

[Anno]

Anyone tried Target diapers? We use Pampers Swaddlers and they're great but the Target one's are noticeably cheaper.

Click to shrink...

They worked fine for us. Ultimately though Aldi's diapers ended up being the best cheap option.

 

[Rocketz]

Cool thanks everyone. I'll pick up a box tonight and see how well they do.

 

[RDreamer]

Is this his first experience with bottles? It's not uncommon for babies to have tons of difficulties transitioning from nipples to bottles. Some babies refuse to drink except when Mom is home in the mornings and at night

Just keep trying with the bottles, could take a few days but eventually he won't starve himself

Click to shrink...

Not first. We've tried multiple times and days. Probably a couple dozen times. Over a week or so.

They worked fine for us. Ultimately though Aldi's diapers ended up being the best cheap option.

Click to shrink...

Yeah we use Aldi and they're good but a bit cheap for overnight.

 

[Anno]

Yeah we use Aldi and they're good but a bit cheap for overnight.

Click to shrink...

Have you tried doubling them? We've found that works just fine and it's still cheaper than some of the overnight diapers.

 

[CrudeDiatribe]

My wife's back at work and trying to get our 6 month old to take a bottle is a fucking endeavor. I feel so bad, he has to be starving but he will not drink more than maybe .4 oz at most and even then it's a fight. He recoils to the side and then starts crying. The more I try to offer it to him the more he throws a fit and cries.

Click to shrink...

My daughter wouldn't take a bottle from me at that age when my partner returned to work and I began my parental leave. I ended up feeding her gruel for a while until she decided she was OK with a bottle from me.

 

[Rocketz]

For some reason my son poops every time we pick him up from day care in his car seat.

 

[Bladelaw]

Anyone tried Target diapers? We use Pampers Swaddlers and they're great but the Target one's are noticeably cheaper.

Click to shrink...

We've been using Target diapers for years after a couple blow outs from Walmart diapers. They've been great. We're almost, hopefully, done with diapers forever. In the process of training our youngest (3) who has zero desire to go on a toilet or anything resembling a toilet.