u/HermioneGrangeeee45

I recently bought a parenting book called The Parent You Aspire to Be by ‘Miles Carter’ through TikTok Shop.

The book itself caught my attention, but when I started looking into the author, I realized there is almost no information about him as a person. I can’t find a normal author bio, background, website, interviews, social media presence, education, career history, etc. The publisher’s page basically just lists his name.

I’m not necessarily looking for him to be a psychologist or have any particular credentials.

I’m more curious about the bigger picture:

Is this common with books being sold through TikTok Shop? Are there authors who publish books under a name but have very little public presence or biography?

For anyone familiar with self-publishing, TikTok Shop, BookTok, or the publishing industry:
Is this normal for newer/self-published books?
How can you tell who is actually behind an author name?

Does TikTok Shop make it easier for relatively unknown books/authors to get traction?

Have you come across books where the author has essentially no online footprint?

I’m genuinely just curious because I’ve never encountered a nonfiction/parenting author where I could find so little information about the actual person behind the book.

We’ve suddenly started finding an odd number of mosquitoes inside our house, and this has never happened before. They’re showing up in random rooms (kitchen, bathroom, guest room), not just near one window or door.

We never leave our windows or doors open. We have central AC, and an HVAC technician came out but couldn’t find an issue or explain how they could be getting in. We also have a basement, but I haven’t seen any mosquitoes down there—only fruit flies and spiders here and there.

Has anyone experienced this? What ended up being the cause? Is this something HVAC would miss, or is this more of a pest control issue? We’re at the point where we’ll likely have to hire someone, but I’m not sure who the right person is.

Also, I’m absolutely meticulous and a bit of a clean freak, so it’s not like the house is messy or there’s standing water sitting around indoors.

We’ve suddenly started finding an odd number of mosquitoes inside our house, and this has never happened before. They’re showing up in random rooms (kitchen, bathroom, guest room), not just near one window or door.

We never leave our windows or doors open. We have central AC, and an HVAC technician came out but couldn’t find an issue or explain how they could be getting in. We also have a basement, but I haven’t seen any mosquitoes down there—only fruit flies and spiders here and there.

Has anyone experienced this? What ended up being the cause? Is this something HVAC would miss, or is this more of a pest control issue? We’re at the point where we’ll likely have to hire someone, but I’m not sure who the right person is.

Also, I’m absolutely meticulous and a bit of a clean freak, so it’s not like the house is messy or there’s standing water sitting around indoors.

We’ve suddenly started finding an odd number of mosquitoes inside our house, and this has never happened before. They’re showing up in random rooms (kitchen, bathroom, guest room), not just near one window or door.

We never leave our windows or doors open. We have central AC, and an HVAC technician came out but couldn’t find an issue or explain how they could be getting in. We also have a basement, but I haven’t seen any mosquitoes down there—only fruit flies and spiders here and there.

Has anyone experienced this? What ended up being the cause? Is this something HVAC would miss, or is this more of a pest control issue? We’re at the point where we’ll likely have to hire someone, but I’m not sure who the right person is.

Also, I’m absolutely meticulous and a bit of a clean freak, so it’s not like the house is messy or there’s standing water sitting around indoors.

Looking for advice/experiences because I’m not sure what to think.

My son is almost 3. At home he is extremely verbal — full conversations, tells stories, asks questions, sings, jokes, talks about his day, etc. His language seems totally fine.

The confusing part is school. He has been in the same classroom with the same teacher for about 1.5 years and I just found out his teacher has never heard him speak or even whisper. He will nod, gesture, and communicate nonverbally, but he does not use words (even for things like telling them he needs to go potty).

The part that makes this confusing is that he actually loves school. He is excited to go, talks about his friends, tells me everything that happened during the day, and says he has fun. He plays with kids on the playground/water play, but apparently does it nonverbally.

In 2 months he moves to a new classroom with a new teacher and new kids, so I’m wondering if that fresh start could help.

Has anyone experienced this? Did your child eventually start talking at school? Did anyone’s child have selective mutism but still love school and have fun?

Things I’m wondering:

- Is it possible for a child to have selective mutism if they seem happy and not anxious about school?
- Should I be pushing for an evaluation now or wait to see what happens with the new classroom?

Thanks

Looking for advice/experiences because I’m not sure what to think.

My son is almost 3. At home he is extremely verbal — full conversations, tells stories, asks questions, sings, jokes, talks about his day, etc. His language seems totally fine.

The confusing part is school. He has been in the same classroom with the same teacher for about 1.5 years and I just found out his teacher has never heard him speak or even whisper. He will nod, gesture, and communicate nonverbally, but he does not use words (even for things like telling them he needs to go potty).

The part that makes this confusing is that he actually loves school. He is excited to go, talks about his friends, tells me everything that happened during the day, and says he has fun. He plays with kids on the playground/water play, but apparently does it nonverbally.

In 2 months he moves to a new classroom with a new teacher and new kids, so I’m wondering if that fresh start could help.

Has anyone experienced this? Did your child eventually start talking at school? Did anyone’s child have selective mutism but still love school and have fun?

Things I’m wondering:

- Is it possible for a child to have selective mutism if they seem happy and not anxious about school?
- Should I be pushing for an evaluation now or wait to see what happens with the new classroom?

Thanks

6 week old reflux baby refusing bassinet overnight.

He will sleep on our chest upright, in a lounger while supervised, on a Boppy pillow while supervised (NOT the recalled version), basically anywhere except flat in the bassinet.

Bassinet gives us maybe 1–1.5 hours tops overnight before the grunting, bubbling/snoring sounds, squirming, and waking starts.

He sounds congested/rattly but has no fever, cough, or runny nose. Eats well, normal diapers, normal color. Pediatrician thinks reflux/noisy newborn stuff.

We have tried heating the bassinet slightly, feet first transfers, 20–30 min upright after feeds, pacifier, Love to Dream swaddle, white noise, different transfer timing, and smaller feeds more often.

The second he lays flat he sounds uncomfortable and wakes quickly.

Our first born wasn’t like this and took to the bassinet way easier and even moved to the crib at 2 months old without any issues, so this is new to us!

Did anyone else have a baby like this around 6 weeks? Did anything actually help or was it just time? When did the bassinet become usable?

My MIL constantly wants to take my 2.5 year old son out alone and keeps pushing for park trips with his older cousin (4). The boys are complete opposites temperament-wise. My son is pretty calm, sweet, and reserved, while his cousin is very rough/physical, curses, talks back to his parents constantly, and hits/acts out a lot. We intentionally keep their interactions mostly to family parties because we don’t want my son picking up behaviors.

My son is also on the shy side with certain people/situations right now, which honestly seems normal to me for 2.5, but MIL is obsessed with trying to make him more social even when he’s clearly uncomfortable. I feel like he’s still little and will grow out of it naturally.

MIL also has a habit of saying they’re going one place and then making multiple extra stops without really telling us beforehand, which makes me uncomfortable with longer outings. We do trust her overall or we wouldn’t let her take him at all, but we have certain boundaries — for example no pool or beach trips without one of us there.

She acts like she should have a say in who he spends time with and keeps pushing these outings even when we say no. I also honestly want that quality time with my own kid sometimes.

Now, I’m not the confrontational type at all and neither is my husband. How do you politely but firmly handle this without creating family drama?

Looking to see if anyone in NY has dealt with this or knows what’s going on. I have 2 babies and bills/a mortgage so it’s not fun not being able to get any updates.

Last day worked: 3/5/26

Filed for unemployment: 3/6/26

Reason: straightforward layoff (lack of work)

Severance: lump sum (not salary continuation)

Timeline so far:

DOL asked for severance info → submitted over a month ago

They mailed a questionnaire → completed and returned over a month ago

Received a pending monetary determination about ~1.5 months ago showing $869 weekly benefit

Since then… nothing

I’ve been:

Certifying weekly

Working part-time (<10 hours/week) to stay eligible

Calling multiple times daily (can’t get through)

Sent a secure message in the portal (no response)

Still no payments, no updates, just stuck.

Questions:

- Does this sound like a hold or something else?

- How long did it take for payments to start after monetary determination?

- Did anyone have to do anything to “unstick” their claim?

- Is this just normal NY backlog or should I be escalating somehow?

Appreciate any insight — this system is impossible to get answers from.

Second time mom here, and this experience is completely different from my first.

With my first baby, he did well in the bassinet and we moved him to the crib around 2 months. At that point we used a weighted sleep sack along with a Nanit camera and breathing band, and everything went smoothly.

This time, my 3.5-week-old (about 8 lbs) is the opposite. He refuses the bassinet, hates being put down, and sleeps best with full contact. He also seems uncomfortable lying flat and likely has some reflux. He will sleep in a lounger for short spurts, but we know that isn’t considered safe sleep so we can’t keep relying on it.

We’re really trying to stick to safe sleep only. We already have non-weighted HALO sleep sacks, and we are not using weighted sleep products. We’ve tried everything we can think of—swaddling, sleep sacks, warming the bassinet, transfer techniques, white noise, upright time after feeds—but nothing is giving us more than very short bassinet stretches.

Right now:

Bassinet sleep is very short or doesn’t happen

Contact sleep is the only thing that consistently works

Reflux seems to make flat sleep harder

We’re exhausted and at a loss for what’s considered safe at this age

Main question: is a non-weighted sleep sack actually appropriate for a 3.5-week-old (~8 lbs), and what did people do at this stage that’s considered safe sleep when babies absolutely refuse the bassinet?