u/PumpkinSuitable4385

My 4 (almost 5) year old needs to get bloodwork done and I genuinely have no idea how the heck you do bloodwork on a child. There’s no way he’s not going to freak the eff out, he’s not just going to sit there and willingly get a needle in his arm. It’s not like a shot where it’s in and out, this is so much worse.

Anytime he’s had to get a needle, or if his baby brother does, I kind of hype it up and make it seem like it’s no big deal, but then when we play doctor and he gives me a “needle” he always talks about how much it’s gonna hurt, so I know he’s going to be terrified.

So please tell me how you take your littles to get bloodwork done? Any tips or tricks?

My 4 month old has outgrown his bassinet. We live in a small house so he’ll be sleeping in our room until we move within the next year. My husband wants to set up the crib in our room, but I was thinking the pack n’ play (nuna sena aire) might be a better option.

Our room is very small and we have a standard size crib, it’s not like it’s a mini crib. If we set it up we’ll need to move my husbands nightstand, not even sure where in the house we’d put it, and we’d have absolutely no room to move around, like at all.

I’m thinking I’ll buy a mattress for the pack n play and he can sleep there, since it’s smaller and we’d be able to move it if we need to.

Has anyone had their kids sleep in a pack n play long term?

I’m 4 months into an 18 month maternity leave and my boss texted to let me know he has resigned. I’m so, so sad. He was the best boss I’ve ever had and I’m crushed to see him go. I’ve been his EA for almost 2 years.

There won’t be any kind of goodbye thing for him, but I do know he’ll be in the office on Monday. Would it be weird if I popped in to say bye? I’d bring the baby so it’d kinda be like other people can see the baby and I’ll also say bye to my boss kinda thing. Like two birds one stone.

No one would know I’m going, I could maybe tell one person but it would be more of a surprise very quick drop in to say bye and wish him well. I think it would be more strange to text him and let him know I’m coming to say bye than it would to just pop in. It would be very casual and the office isn’t too far from my house so it’s not like I’d be going super out of the way.

My husband thinks it’s a horrible idea and very very weird. Would I be crazy to go say bye?

Stomach flu has gone through our entire house and now it’s my turn. I don’t know how I’m going to function tomorrow taking care of a 3 month old. I can’t keep water, pedialyte, or zofran down.

I’m so fucking miserable I feel like I could die

My parents are having my entire family (about 30 ppl) over this weekend to meet our son who’s 3 months. I’m nervous about people kissing him on the head. I don’t think anyone would kiss his face, they know better than that, but I’d still prefer they didn’t kiss him on the head either. When my cousin had her baby last year and her parents had us all over, my aunts were kissing her on the head so I know they’ll do it with my son.

I didn’t have to worry about this with my first because we had him during Covid so we didn’t have any kind of family get together to meet him.

I’m *extremely* non confrontational. I get awkward and am a coward anytime I need to speak up or stand up for myself but I’m reeeeeally working on doing it for my kids. I’d like to have a response ready to go if someone kisses him or tries to. If I don’t plan something and wait to say something in the moment, I end up sounding rude when I don’t mean to.

I know some of you will say just say don’t kiss him, and I could, but I’m looking for a neutral way to say it, without sounding rude

Any recommendations for control top underwear that actually work? Had my second C-section a few months ago and am still getting used to this new body.

My 4 year old had the stomach flu this past weekend and my anxiety has been almost uncontrollable.

I have emetophobia and a lot of trauma around vomiting, but I went to therapy for it and have come a VERY long way but the fear is still there. It’s not fear for myself anymore, it’s for him. I become a nervous wreck when he’s sick (behind closed doors, I’d never let him see how much it affects me). My mind goes to the worst places and all the fears I used to have about myself throwing up, I now have about him.

This was the most he’s ever thrown up and I just cannot shake the anxiety of it all. Last night at 1am he came to my room to get me, which never really happens anymore because my husband sleeps with him while I sleep in our room with the baby. So it really freaked me out that he came to get me and wanted me to sleep with him. I thought for sure he was going to throw up again, even though the last time he threw up was Monday morning.

He has no problems throwing up. He’s not terrified of it like I am thank god. But I can’t stop replaying the events of this weekend and all the episodes over and over in my head. Just waiting for him to throw up again. Wondering when he’ll say “mommy my tummy hurts” and my blood will run cold.

I’ve washed everything I could possibly wash. I’ve cleaned his sheets several times. My hands are cracked and bleeding from how much I’ve washed them.

I’m terrified of this happening again (which it will). I’m terrified of my 3 month old getting sick. I’m terrified of so many things. I don’t even want to go to sleep because I don’t want to be woken up by him coming into my room or getting sick.

Clearly I need to go back to therapy 😭😭😭

My 4 year old is just getting over the stomach flu. Puked a ton on Saturday evening into Sunday 2am. No puking Sunday, then puked once on Monday morning after having toast with butter (stupid of me, I know).

It’s now Wednesday evening and he’s asking for milk. I’m terrified to let him have it and would like to wait but am curious if we’re in the clear?

I think my 3 month old is starting to outgrow the wrap carrier. I’ve also been using the ergobaby embrace but am curious what other carriers (not wraps) you have and love

My 4 year old has been throwing up since about 5 or 6pm, it’s now 9pm. He’s now throwing up bile and the small sips of water/pedialyte he’s had. The longest he’s gone without throwing up is maybe 30 minutes.

Not sure if it’s a bug, flu, or something he ate. He says he has pain in his lower belly before throwing up.

I’m panicking because he’s not even keeping water or pedialyte down.

I’m in Ontario, we don’t have urgent care centres, so if we take him somewhere it would be the ER.

My almost 3 month old takes like 15-45 minute naps all day. Is that normal? He’s usually either in the carrier on me, or in the car seat cause we’re always on the go.

Kind of just a vent, but also would love if someone could tell me how to handle this situation, even though I know there’s no good answer.

My cousin is my best friend, we’ve always been very close, but have had some bad fights when we were younger and went periods without talking. We always came back to each other though and since both getting married and having kids, things have been solid and we’ve remained very close. We’re both in our early/mid thirties now.

One thing that hasn’t changed too much is how flaky and unreliable she is. This was the reason for most of our fights when we were younger. She would constantly bail on me, wait till the very last second to cancel plans, lie to me about why she was cancelling, she always found something better to do. She even asked me to be a bridesmaid and then didn’t tell me that she changed her mind and decided to just have her sister as her maid of honour and no bridesmaids, after I put a deposit on a very expensive bridesmaids dress 😂

Although it’s much better now, she’s still flaky and still cancels plans. Not as bad as before, and I’ve accepted it so it doesn’t bother me as much now, I’ve come to expect it to be honest.

Anyways my husband and I are looking to buy a house in the next year. Both my cousin and his best friend are realtors and my husband refuses to use my cousin because of how unreliable she is.

She’s usually good about people in her life not using her, she says she doesn’t expect anyone to go with her, but I feel like it’s different with me. I feel like not using her is going to blow up our entire relationship and things won’t be the same. I’m so nervous I don’t know how to tell her.

My husband and I have discussed this at length, this was not a decision we made lightly and we tried to come up a solution (using one for selling our other property, one for buying our new house, or using neither) but ultimately this is the best decision for us.

I don’t know what to do or how to tell her 😭 this is going to put such a strain on our friendship and I don’t want to lose her again.

Counting calories is the reason I fail over and over again. I can’t do it. I know the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat in a deficit. Is there any way to do that without having to count calories?

I’ve never had to lose weight before. After 2 kids, one bad pregnancy, and one absolutely horrible pregnancy, I’m 40 lbs heavier than I should be, or would like to be.

I’m so miserable and I want this so bad, but every time I try to track calories I give up after a day. I become obsessed and exhausted. There has to be a way to do this without having to count calories right? 😭

My almost 11 week old typically wakes between 1am-2am and I always feed him and put him back down. Lately while I’m waiting for his bottle to warm up, I give him his pacifier and by the time his bottle is done, he’s out cold. I always feed him though cause I figured if I don’t, he’ll be up again soon cause he’s hungry. But it’s essentially a dream feed cause he’s still sleeping while I give him the bottle.

But I’m curious what would happen if I didn’t feed him? If I just let him sleep once he puts himself back to sleep with the pacifier. What do you think the chances are that he’ll continue to sleep for another few hours?

Worth trying it out and seeing what happens or bad idea?

I’m two months pp and have never had to lose weight before. I’ve always been a healthy weight for my height, and have never struggled with my weight, until I had my first. I’m now two months pp with my second and I can’t even look in the mirror, I’m so disgusted with myself. I know it’s early in my pp journey but I’m so ready to start feeling better.

My oldest is in school from 9am-3pm, and the baby is usually napping on me, or I try to get out of the house daily cause it’s good for my mental health, so he naps on the go. It’s not often he’s napping on his own and I’m free to do what I need to.

Between caring for the baby (feeding, changing, putting to sleep, trying to keep him happy), cleaning, making dinners, lunches, snacks, picking up my oldest from school, I feel like I have absolutely no time to workout. But I’m on mat leave for the next 16 months so I want to try and find some kind of routine that allows me to get a workout in.

I’m hesitant to workout after the kids are in bed because I need to prioritize my sleep, so I go to sleep as soon as they’re down. When my husband gets home from work usually around 5 or 6, we’re having dinner and then tidying up and then it’s bedtime. So I guess the only way I can do this is if I put the baby in his bouncer and workout whenever he’ll let me lol

If you have a good relationship with your parents/in laws, do you think it’s possible for them to be overly involved in your life/your kids lives?

I do. Lol.

Other than Vin, Vinny, Enzo, Cenzo

My husband and I are looking to buy a house. Due to different circumstances throughout my life, I’ve never had (or gotten) to chose where I live. It’s always been decided for me, again due to the circumstances at the time.

I work remotely, and my husband goes into the office most days, so it would make more sense to live somewhere convenient for him. He can take the 407 for work (paid for by them) so that’s something to consider.

I have no idea how to make this decision and it seems like so much pressure to decide where to buy a house. Of course if we absolutely hate it we can always move again, but that’s like absolute worst case scenario, I do not want to do that.

How did you choose where you want to live? What advice would you give someone who needs to make this decision?