u/mytranceformation

My son is 99th percentile, 19 lbs and just shy of 4 months. He has adorably chunky thighs and a big belly. I'm researching high chairs and I've read that some people with bigger babies don't like the Tripp Trapp because you have to feed their legs through the leg holes. Are there any high chairs that don't require you to do this? It looks like the Abiie doesn't but I'm not 100% sure. It looks like you can remove the tray, set baby in, then secure them and put the tray on. Can anyone confirm or provide other recommendations?

I wanted to start EC much sooner but I had a C section and my baby was 9 lbs, so I couldn't hold him without support for a while. He's always been in the 95th to 99th percentile for his weight, so he's a big baby. He gets weighed on Thursday but we're guessing he's 20 lbs now. He is 16 weeks.

Any tips for EC with a bigger baby? My arms and back are sore from just day to day with him. Any ideas for how to help him squat or hold him upright without needing to fully support his weight?

Also just looking for general encouragement since I am starting this much later than I planned and am a little intimidated by his weight. When I originally learned about this I thought I'd be holding up a little potato baby. Now I genuinely don't know if I can bend and use my arms/core to support him for several minutes. I'm also a little nervous because he is past the infant dyschezia stage, so he doesn't grunt when he has to poop anymore, and I don't really know his cues. Appreciate any advice!

My 10.5 week old is feeding from one breast now, and has recently started sleeping through the night on occasion.

Is it normal for a baby to completely empty a breast when feeding, to the point where there isn't any leftover milk that can be pumped?

Is it a sign of low supply, just enough supply, or adequate supply?

Edit to add: Previously, I've been able to pump milk after feeding him from that breast, and now I can't. I'm just concerned with my supply adjusting (and becoming an under supply) now that he is occasionally sleeping through the night.

Does your baby make eye contact when breastfeeding, and if so, when did it start, and is it only in certain positions?

My baby is 9 weeks old and I breastfeed cross cradle with the My Breast Friend nursing pillow 90% of the time. He has never looked up at my face. Just curious if it could be due to the position, his age, or maybe it's just not something that will happen with us.

To those of you who have little ones that sleep through the night, was it gradual or did they just randomly sleep throughout the entire night one night? My 9 week old velcro insomniac grunting and doing a 360 in the crib party animal baby just randomly slept 8 hours last night, woke up to feed, then slept for another 3 before I had to wake him up to go to an appointment. If he's going to start sleeping more then I am super excited and grateful, but it worried me how much he slept and how deep he slept. I kind of assumed it would be more gradual. He had vaccines on Monday but didn't seem tired at all for the first 4 days after, so I don't think its related. He normally wakes up every 3 hours or so. I want to be excited but he has a heart condition so part of me is a little worried. His ped said it is normal, just curious to hear everyone else's experience.

I've had insomnia for years. I had a baby 9 weeks ago. Everyone says to sleep when the baby sleeps. Even though I'm so exhausted, I still can't fall asleep and take naps when the baby naps. I was hoping that sheer exhaustion would overpower whatever happens in my brain that keeps me wide awake when I lay down, but it doesn't.

Has anyone else dealt with insomnia with a newborn? I'm not taking any meds because I need to wake up during the night to breastfeed, and I can't risk being excessively groggy and having a med hangover the next day. I'm able to sleep a little at the start of the night but it takes me a long time to fall asleep between the baby's wake up times/feedings. I've found it impossible to sleep when he naps during the day because I just don't have sleep pressure and don't fall asleep.

Any tips or tricks for how to use a nipple shield? I turned it halfway inside out/rolled it and popped it on and it pulled my nipple closer to the tip but it still has a lot of dead space inside. My baby is really frustrated when trying to nurse from it and I don't think he's able to pull any milk out unless I hand express it first. I've tried size 20 (seems too small) and size 24. He has a heart condition so I don't want to make him work harder than he needs to.

My right nipple seems seems elongated and has a white mark on it after he nurses from it and it is pretty painful. The white mark does go away so I don't think it's a bleb, maybe a vasospasm? I've met with an LC several times and she said his latch is good and I have no pain or issues with my other nipple. I thought using nipple shields could help and give it time to heal but I just can't get it to work.

I have personally never felt my milk let down. Whether I'm hand expressing, pumping, or baby is eating, the milk just comes out with suction right away and only comes out with suction (or gentle manipulation if hand expressing). I've read stories of "the baby popped themselves off and milk was spraying everywhere" or "I collect passive milk with a haaka" and those things just don't happen for me. The only time milk comes out on its own without suction is if I'm really full and they leak.

Is my experience not a typical experience? My baby has a heart condition so I don't want him to work harder at the breast than he needs to. Am I missing something?

Edit: I am 7 weeks pp. Milk will spray during hand expression or pumping but just never on its own.

I only track what time I feed him, which breast I feed from, and his wet/dirty diapers. As far as wake windows and amount of naps and nap duration... no clue. I just wing it and go off vibes. If he seems sleepy during the day, I'll let him nap after nursing or in his stroller if he's grumpy, I will walk around with him and bounce him until he's tired. During the day he will stay up for hours, sometimes 4 or 5. His Dr. said its fine and he's what she calls a "FOMO baby". I don't really have a bedtime routine other than changing his diaper, putting him in a sleep sack, feeding him, then rocking him until he is in a deep sleep.

He's 6 weeks - should I be tracking this stuff? Should I be trying to get him to nap at a certain time based on a pattern? Will knowing this help us set him up for a good sleep routine when he's older?

Edit to add: if my guy didn't have a heart issue, I probably wouldn't be tracking his feeding frequency and diaper output either at this point.

Just curious...

How long would you wait to allow family/visitors to meet your newborn who has CHD?

Would you allow toddlers or other kids around them right away?

Would this change if the newborn didn't have CHD?

Edit: I'm asking because my baby has mild aortic stenosis and our family is in an uproar over our visiting rules. I'm not budging but just curious what others have done.

What is it about babies that makes people go insane? My mom is jealous that I am lettting my mother in law watch my baby for an hour.

I had a baby 4 weeks ago. My family lives an hour and 20 minutes from me and I have invited them to my home several times to visit but there's always an excuse. The biggest issue seems to be that I will not invite my mom to stay the night at my house. I've told her I don't want overnight visitors because it is too overwhelming. I'm an adult woman who is married and has a baby and don't want her staying overnight at my house. Because of this, she just hasn't visited at all.

My husband and I want to go out to dinner so my mother in law is going to watch the baby. My mom laid on the guilt with the sad emoji and "so it begins..." because she is worried the other grandma will have more access to the baby, even though I've told my mom in the past that the access she gets depends on the effort she puts in. I told her she doesn't get to make me feel bad about this. I have invited her several times, and I am doing the best I can with a very fussy and colicky baby. She then said I should have invited her to babysit and offered her to stay the night, then said fuck it have a happy birthday.

I called her to have a rational conversation about this and she was yelling so hard I couldn't even make anything out. I hung up, she blocked me.

We didn't talk for 3 weeks in Jan because I wouldn't tell her the gender of my baby. She and my brother are the only family I have so I haven't gone NC and usually greyrock etc but the jealousy over the in laws and the baby have made greyrocking difficult, because I shouldn't have to lie about my baby spending 1 hour with his other grandma, who actually does make an effort to see us.

I'm expecting a very long stretch of not communicating. It's extra hurtful because she won't get to know my son as a newborn this time, and she clearly doesn't care about supporting me postpartum. I guess I'm just looking for advice and reminders of how to not let this weigh on me so much.

Edit to add: she said her eyesight and fatigue are the reasons she doesn't want to drive here and back in the same day, so I have suggested my brother drive with her.

Also adding that I went NC with my dad when I was 20 and he died when we were NC. He tried to contact me regularly and I ignored him. He was a good dad but started having a drinking problem and I went NC and he died thinking I hated him, so I carry a lot of guilt with that. I think that is why I struggle with going NC with mom.

I have a 4 week old and his pediatrician just gave him famotidine because she thinks he has reflux. I was wondering if anyone else had a baby whose symptoms were similar, or if anyone has any tips or tricks.

-He does not have issues gaining or maintaining weight. In fact, two doctors have called him a tank.

-He spits up frequently, only projectile one time. He will arch his back and seem a little fussy before he spits up. He does not fuss after he spits up. Sometimes he spits up well after he has eaten (1 to 2 hours). He is breastfed.

-He does not like to be horizontal. He can fall asleep in my arms but wake up the second I turn him horizontal. Getting him to sleep in his crib (or anywhere other than on me) is very difficult. I've stopped trying to get him nap in the crib because once he wakes up and cries it will take an hour or two for him to settle again.

He only settles or is soothed by breastfeeding. He wants to eat all the time, even when he's not cluster feeding. Sometimes he sounds congested when he is feeding.

He has FOMO. He just doesn't nap at all during the day and can be up for hours at a time. He only naps if he feeds and then I don't move and keep him there.

He does have times when he is chill and happy but lately it seems he is more agitated and crying. Hoping the famotidine could help him feel better.

My son is 4 weeks oldand I am a FTM. My little guy was born via c section after a long labor and he has mild aortic stenosis. Does this sound like the typical newborn experience? I know babies are supposed to sleep a lot but my guy doesn't and I'm not sure if its normal or if it could be reflux or something else.

- He hates to lay on his back, whether in our arms, crib, bassinet, etc. He will be very tired in our arms vertically but wakes up and cries once turned horizontally. This means we are only doing contact naps.

- He does spit up a lot, sometimes while breastfeeding, then he wants to continue feeding. He is very difficult to burp but our ped said not to worry about it since breastfed babies don't burp as much.

- He only falls asleep if he is at the breast. Walks, shushing, swing, rocking, paci, white noise... he will get drowsy and go into a light sleep but wakes up as soon we he is moved or turned horizontally.

- He can only be soothed by breastfeeding. This has really started to hurt my nipples and take a toll on my mental health on the tougher days. I think I am offering him the boob a lot more than he needs for feeding because sometimes he will just cry inconsolably and nothing else works. He falls asleep with boob in mouth, sometimes I delatch and then he immediately gets fussy again.

- I'm thinking of giving up on trying to transfer him to a crib during the day after feeding him because he inevitably wakes up, cries, and needs boob again to calm down again. Lather, rinse, repeat. There are days where he eats for several hours in one stretch because the transfers don't work. They don't seem to be aligned with growth spurts or cluster feeds because if I just choose not to transfer him he stays asleep on me.

- Because of this, I don't even think about wake windows and I just go with the flow for what I think he needs in that moment. But when I see the typical schedule/wake windows for his age, he is nothing close to that. He will be awake for hours at a time if I don't let him contact nap. I thought he'd eventually get tired enough to sleep on his back during the day but he doesn't.

- When he is tired enough, sometimes we get him to sleep on his back in his crib for 3 hours or so at night (only if my husband puts him down and we follow a strict 2 hour feeding + rocking/shushing routine but even then it's just luck if it works). Then, he wakes to feed and he will maybe go back to sleep for another hour or so before he is awake. From there, lots of grunting, flailing, lifting his legs up and slamming them down, kicking, etc, which I've heard is normal, so I usually let him do it until he starts to scream/cry.

If this is all completely normal newborn behavior then I am hoping to get some tips and tricks. My husband was back at work after 1 week and I am struggling. I should also mention that I do think he is full after eating and I've done two weighted feeds with a lactation consultant.

I gave birth 3 weeks ago. I woke up in the middle of the night and one of my boobs was really sore. There was a little leakage on my shirt but not much. I fed baby from that side which softened the inner part of the boob, but the outer part near my armpit is still hard and sore. It doesn't look red or feel hot but just very firm and tender. I tried massaging the area and pumping but no luck. I've been taking ibuprofen around the clock for my c section, so I took another dose of that, and I am icing the area.

I plan on gently massaging and trying the manual pump in a little bit. Is there anything else I can do right now? I've read horror stories about how quickly mastitis can come on.

If this isn't resolved by the morning, would I call my OB or a LC?

My little guy is almost 3 weeks old and I adore the contact naps when I am awake and alert, but I need him to be in a safe sleeping space when I start to feel really drowsy. My husband is back at work and I am trying to power through the times when I am alone but sometimes I am worried I am going to fall asleep holding him during a contact nap and I know that isn't safe.

This is our first and I know you can't spoil a baby, he wants to be on us 24/7, etc and we are embracing that, but I am curious to know if there is anything I haven't tried. Pleaseeeeee give me your tips and tricks for transferring a passed out newborn to a bassinet or crib without them instantly stirring and waking up. This boy will be totally passed out and then wake up the second human contact breaks. Additionally, he will settle as soon as we pick him back up.

Currently: I breastfeed him, rock him, wait until he is passed out for at least 15 to 20 min and his limbs are completely limp, I bend over real slow and gently and lay him down feet/legs first, I keep rocking him with one hand and keep a heavy hand on his chest with the other, then I continue rocking and keeping the heavy hand, then slowly fade out the rocking, then eventually remove the heavy hand. The second human contact breaks, he will start stirring, kicking, rolling, and then eventually crying. This leads to another feeding session, lather, rinse, repeat. My husband has had some success gently holding his arms/legs still after setting him down so he doesn't stir but that is hit or miss. He is not in a swaddle anymore because he rolls on his side, so he is in a sleep sack with his arms free. I have the omni sleep sack, a magnetic me sleep sack, and a woolino.

I have tried: heating pad on mattress before setting him down, white noise, gentle music, heartbeat/womb sounds, keeping my hand in his crib (it is next to my side of the bed), talking/singing to him once he is in the crib.

I can babywear and contact nap all day but just don't know what to do when I am dangerously close to falling asleep with him. Appreciate any advice or just words of encouragement.