u/gkdfp

My five year old son is a really wonderful kid! He’s smart and funny and his dad and I are so proud of him.

He’s had a lot of changes recently. He was in daycare from the time he was four months old until May. We had a baby, his first sibling, in April. He was home with me from end of May-August since I was on leave.

As you can imagine, with a newborn, it was basically the Wild West for him around here. I did my best to prioritize him, so activities, take him places, have friends over or go to friends houses, but with a newborn it was a lot of solo play or screen time.

He has always been pretty strong willed. His daycare teachers would tell me if he didn’t want to do something or listen, sometimes he would really dig his feet in til the point of screaming. We see that at home too. Often times he just needs to cool his jets solo for a minute, and then he’s good to go.

This issue has gotten 10x worse the past couple weeks since school started. His teacher has reached out to say that when it’s time to practice writing, it results in a meltdown - screaming, stomping, kicking chairs.

She’s a great teacher. Doesn’t back down, makes him follow through, but obviously this is distracting for all the kids. At home, we can let him cool off and talk about better ways to handle his frustration. She doesn’t have the luxury of time to do that at school.

We are not permissive parents. We follow through with consequences and we reward positive behaviors.

I’m wondering if this is just him adjusting after a pretty lax summer and it will get better, or if there’s something else his teacher and us should be trying?

I’m trying to make his afternoons after school a little more structured. No tv until he practices writing his name once, either does his flash cards or practices counting, and reads four books with either me or his dad (all things the school wants him to be doing daily).

With a baby, me going back to work, him starting school… I am feeling a little stressed and just want to support my son, who I know is wonderful.

Any advice is welcome!

Sleep regression may kill us - what did you do?

My daughter is 14 weeks, she’ll be 4 months on the 22nd of August.

She has always been a decent sleeper. Usually one long stretch to start (5-7 hours) and then shorter stretches til morning.

Well, it’s been falling apart the last few nights. Shorter and shorter stretches until last night was every 30-45 minutes. It’s the 4 month regression, I’m sure of it.

We do not want to sleep train, especially since she’s so little. She goes to sleep easy, and goes back to sleep easy, with or without feeding (bottle fed breastmilk).

So…

1. how long did your 4 month regression last?
2. did anyone just power through, keep doing what they’re doing, and LO figured it out and went back to longer stretches?

It’s got me considering bed sharing at this point which is something I’ve never wanted to do before.

She hasn’t been swaddled for a long time. We don’t adhere strictly to wake windows, we follow her cues. She’s so easy to get to sleep that I know she’s tired and I’m reading her cues correctly.

Thank you for any advice!

My baby is 14 weeks. She nursed for the first week or so and then got extremely agitated at the breast and yada yada, I EP.

I try once in a while. Sometimes she latches for a few minutes but usually not.

I tried today. She bit the SHIT out of my nipple. So anyway, I’ll stick with the pump lol.

My main pump is my spectra with medela wearable cups attached. I respond better to wearables, I don’t know why.

For a fully wearable pump, I have the eufy S1 pro and it’s amazing. Same output as the spectra for me.

I got a momcozy wellness 1 and it just doesn’t work for me. I’m going to sell it (if you’re interested, feel free to let me know).

I’d like to have a second portable pump. What do you swear by? Do you like the willow? I keep looking at it.

I’m 11 weeks today so maybe I’m just regulated. But the entire time I’ve been pumping 25-30 minutes a time, usually 30.

Today I noticed the cups were pretty full at 20 so I stopped and have been just been doing 20 every time.

Same output! About 8oz each session. I wonder if I’ve wasted a lot of my time or if my body is just more efficient.

This is my second child, but my first had a lot of health issues his first year of life. He was in the ER at six weeks with breathing issues. He had COVID and RSV at six and fourth months, respectively. After that, every cold landed us in the ER.

So my daughter is 10 weeks and she’s fussy and congested. I’m assuming it’s a cold. I’m sure it will not be a big deal but the old feelings from my son are coming back. I panicked every time he got the sniffles because it usually turned serious.

I know what to do. Offer plenty of breastmilk (I pump), monitor for fever, cool mist humidifier, saline and suction if needed, Tylenol if needed.

I’m just freaking out a little. I’m just venting I guess! We’re also out of town at my parents house, of course. So can’t take her to her doctor if we need to.

I use a spectra and a Eufy and they both work really well for me. 45oz a day on average.

I got the momcozy wellness 1 and noticed my output is considerably lower sometimes with it. Maybe it just isn’t right for me, but thought I’d ask for tips before I try to sell it.

I do stimulation on level 3 for five minutes with massage and heat, then expression for 15, stimulation again, then expression. I use flange inserts, all that good stuff.

Anyone had luck with this pump?

I’m staying with my parents the next two weeks. I’m on maternity leave with my 9 week old and I have a five year old son. We are mostly here for him - he’s been so bored this summer and he loves my parents! Plus my mom is great with the baby (as is my dad but he’s recovering from surgery currently).

My husband has to go back home (five hours away) during the week to work. He took a few days off around the fourth but I will have a lot of nights by myself.

My mom will put my oldest to bed and get up if he gets up which he almost never does, my issue is pumping at night.

She usually goes down around 10 and pretty reliably gets up around 2 to eat and goes back down, and up for the day at 6. Guess what my pumping times are? 10, 2 and 6 lol. So obviously my husband usually handles these, though often she’s up after my 2am pump so I can get her then.

It’s just going to throw my schedule off and that’s fine. It’s only a handful of days. It won’t hurt my supply and we will get through it.

Right??

Night time solo with her just has me anxious and on edge.

My daughter is nine weeks and your pretty typical baby. I hold her for all her naps but she does well at night in her bassinet. She’s given us 5-7 hour stretches a few times! Usually it’s more like 3 hours though which is fine.

My husband is an excellent partner. I’m on maternity leave, and we’re equal parents when he’s off the clock. We also have five year old at home. He starts school in August.

I do not want to give up pumping but I hate it. It’s just so annoying and I have an oversupply. I don’t want to bag milk and manage all that. I’m gonna drop to 5 PPD in the hopes that my supply decreases in a couple weeks.

I just feel like I cannot get anything done besides holding my baby and pumping and doing the bare minimum for my older kid which makes me feel like absolute garbage. His screen time has been off the charts unless the babysitter is here or he’s at the neighbor’s house playing with their kid.

We’re leaving tomorrow morning to go stay with my parents for two weeks. My husband will be with us sometimes, but will have to come back home to work for some of it. So that means night time by myself, managing the baby and pumping. My parents will be great help during the day but I just rely on my husband so much, I’m nervous.

I’m just venting. I want to make it to six months pumping but honestly we will see.

I have an over supply. I pump about 45-48oz a day. I went to 7 PPD at 5 weeks and 6PPD around 7 weeks. My supply has continued to increase during these drops. Tomorrow is 9 weeks.

I know it’s bad to complain but I don’t want an over supply or a freezer stash. I want to just feed my baby, maybe a SMALL stash. I don’t want to bag milk every day. I don’t want to manage it and do all the extra dishes. I’d be fine making 30oz a day, she only drinks 20oz on average.

So all that to say, I’m fine if going to 5 PPD at 12 weeks means I lose some over supply.

Just looking for anyone who’s dropped that early, and what your schedule was.