r/irishmammiesanddaddys

I'm pregnant with my second child and there will be a 2 year age gap. Any book suggestions to read to my toddler to prep him for arrival of new baby?

Hi

At wits end my 9 month old had a few bad vomiting episodes and an egg reaction and now has a food aversion.

Will only eat strawberry yogurt, knaws on some bread/pasta and some other “bland” food. He won’t take anything savoury for me.

Wondering if anyone has any tips or been through same?

I’m seeing doctor nearly weekly trying to get help/him into feeding clinic. he’s gaining weight at least but very slowly and small for his age (nearly dropped the two centiles)

He’s starting crèche in 5 weeks and I’m worried they will all be horsing into their dinners and he’ll be miffed being spoon fed yogurt

If a company has a 12-month maternity pay clawback clause, how is that usually calculated where additional leave is taken afterwards, such as Parent’s Leave, annual leave, parental leave etc.?

For context, my employer topped up my maternity pay for 6 months, but due to a combination of additional leave entitlements I won’t actually be returning to work until over a year after going out on leave.

Would those additional leave periods count towards the 12-month return requirement, or does the 12 months only begin from the date I physically return to work?

EDIT - it’s not stated in my contract or the employee handbook

We are having a nightmare with our almost 2.5 year old. He used to love pasta, rice, bread, salmon, porridge, fruit etc, we’d make a meat sauce for the rice and pasta so he’d be getting protein that way. Over the last few weeks he just refuses any meal at the table, he might eat snacks/lunch in the living room at a smaller table but even then he just mostly messes. He is in creche 2 days a week and will eat there, and sit down at the table with the other kids. I’m really not sure what to do, last night i tried to be strict and insist he sit at the table but he just got upset and wouldn’t eat a thing. We find ourselves making alternative meals when he refuses the meal on the table after 30mins or so because we don’t want him to go to bed hungry, which I’m sure probably isn’t the best thing to do.

My 11 old will randomly gag herself sometimes even making herself sick. She could be happily playing, relaxing in her bouncer and will do it! She doesn’t understand when we tell her to stop I think she does it more when we draw attention to it. I know babies like to explore with their hands but she has made herself sick from doing it.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips appreciated too

With the warmer weather (hopefully) next week, I’d like to try bring my 8 month old to the beach for a few hours, park for a picnic etc but I’d like to have something that covers her and keeps her in the shade. What do people normally do? Do you buy one of those small sun shade tents?

My employer has refused my part time request, I am devastated to be leaving my child for 5 days only to have 1 hour an evening with them and weekends cleaning, cooking, meal prepping, laundry… How do people cope with the emotions?! I have literally been crying for 3 days straight over this

The only reason I am going back is because they pay full pay for maternity leave and I would like to have another child

I have less than 48 hours before our first ever trip with my little one. I’m not a single parent but the circumstances I am in led me to a decision to travel with my baby on my own. The trip would be over 26 hours including the drive up to Dublin and 2 layovers. I would appreciate if there’s any tips that would make our journey easier as I’m really very anxious about this trip on top of feeling devastated that my husband will not be there on our “first flight” and other “firsts.” Thank you.

My baby girl is 11 weeks old, and has always been a fantastic sleeper. As a newborn I would have to wake her for feeds, from week 4/5 she slept in 4 hour stretches, by week 7/8 she was sleeping in 6 hour stretches, only waking once in the night for a feed and a change.

This last week that has gone completely out the window. She’s now waking up every 1.5-2.5 hours, and her daytime naps are non existent, we’re getting 30min naps maybe 3-4 times a day and that’s it. I’m trying hard to follow wake windows but it’s impossible when she won’t go down. I have to assume this is some kind of sleep regression, I know there’s one coming up at 4 months but is it possible she’s getting this early?

She feeds to sleep, so I’m having to feed her constantly throughout the night (she’s fed breast then bottle), and often she’s not even eating, just using the food as comfort.

I’ve always been very specific about making sure I’m making night and day obvious for her - her daytime naps are all done outside of my bedroom, we have a cot downstairs, and I don’t adjust the light or noise in the room. At night she sleeps in a bassinet next to my bed, the room is dark, there’s a little soft red light for nighttime wake ups and I have white noise on throughout the night.

She doesn’t roll yet but is out of her swaddle. She doesn’t seem like she’s about to roll and she’s not using the nighttime wakes to practice. In the last two weeks she has learned how to bring her fists to her mouth and chew on them (can’t tell if maybe she’s teething?). I don’t pick her up when she fusses because I want to give her the opportunity to self settle, but every fuss turns into a cry.

After a week of this I’m starting to crack a little, I’m exhausted, she’s exhausted, my partner works long hours and commutes so isn’t available to help during the day, and my mother who usually can help me is away. Could this be the 4 month sleep regression coming early? Or is there something I’m missing? Is there anything I can do to help this?

Hi all, we have a 6 month old baby at home, all
Is well with him, however I’m not sure about how the process of getting my child set up and applied to go to schools, I hear it is a nightmare from some people, a person in work told me today that they were already applying for schools while his wife was still pregnant with the baby!

Is this true? Am I way behind? I assumed it would be an easy process, should I already be applying? What is the system, do I just go to a schools website and fill out an application form in nearby schools?

Thinking of going away to Salou in August with my husband and our son will be 9 and a half months old. My sister and her partner would be coming too with their 4 year old and 4 and a half month old. Are we mad going away with young kids like that??

So my little one is 20 months and still in a parent facing buggy, it's the Panorama XTi. We absolutely love the pram, had it since she was born and it's been through a lot and still no faults with it. Only thing is now baby is too big for it. Max weight is 15kg and baby was 10kg at her 12 months PHN app. She hasn't been weighed since, but safe to assume she's over the weight limit. She's too tall for it now, she can sit in it grand but if she's asleep and is lied back in it, she's just huge in it.

Finding a good toddler buggy that parent faces is so hard! She loves facing us, we have the chats and she still looks around at everything. We've faced her outwards before and she (and myself) hated it.

Anyone any recommendations for a pram that faces parents for a bigger child?

My baby sleeps absolutely brilliantly at night in her own cot… we’ve never had an issue. Like she wakes up once or not at all, we are lucky. During the day however, she has genuinely never encountered a bed in a professional capacity. Pram only. Preferably outside, moving, ideally with a slight breeze and the ambient sounds of Dublin city life.
If I don’t want to clock 15km a day, we compromise on the apartment balcony. She’ll sleep out there in the pram like a little feral angel while I stand inside staring at her through the glass like a hostage.
Crèche starts in 10 days. Today I attempted - for the first time, I’ll admit- to get her to nap in her cot during the day. She treated this as a personal insult. Rolling, pulling herself up, laughing first and then a bit of indignation. I gave up after 20 minutes of increasingly desperate shushing.
So my question is: have I completely ruined her? Or is this a common pram napper situation?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s been through this. Did crèche fix it? Did they just… figure it out?

(She’s fine btw. I know she’s fine. I just need someone to tell me she’s fine.)

I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety my entire adult life. I knew parenting would be hard but I’m struggling a lot more than I expected. Everything that helped treat my mental health problems is now gone. Meaning good nights sleep, gym, hiking, saunas, massages, acupuncture, fun activities with friends, reading, movie nights. My baby isn’t even very challenging and is prob overall an easy baby (I’ve no other baby to compare to) but I am soooo unbelievably drained. I get no me time anymore. It feels like I’m working 24 hours a day. I don’t have much help. Babies Dad is not and will never be involved. I don’t have siblings and my parents health isn’t the best so they can’t help all that much. I can’t afford child care.

I’m totally overwhelmed, drained, depressed and feeling like this was all a big mistake. I do love my baby but god this is torture and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to get better. My old life looks so appealing right now. Sooo much easier than my new one. I know that probably sounds selfish, immature etc and I chose this and I owe it to my baby to get my shit together now and make this work I just feel so hopeless and like I’ve ruined my life taking this on when I’m clearly not mentally able for it.

Did anyone else who has really struggled with mental health feel similar post partum and manage to turn stuff around? I really wasn’t doing the best before baby either but baby seems to have completely pushed me over the edge and I can’t convince myself there’s light at the end of this very dark tunnel. My life is just all work no play and as much as I love my baby she’s driving me crazy and I wish I didn’t have kids

Any tips for helping 8month old with constipation? They are very hard and pellet like and when she’s trying to go she’s pushing very hard. Gave her some prunes earlier and extra water but anything else to help?

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lovely question! My 8 month old has been having really dark green almost black 💩 the last 2 days. She has suffered with constipation since she was 9 weeks, she had really bad silent reflux and was on Losec for a few months. We started weaning at 6 months and was able to take her off the Losec then but still the issues with constipation. It was so bad one day she was roaring crying trying to push it out and was bleeding, took her to doc who examined her and said it was a fissure from trying to go and to increase the amount of lactulose we give her.

She is still breastfed, sometimes I use formula when making her porridge (the milupa one) and she has normal porridge or weetabix with dairy milk in the mornings with me. Dinner wise she generally has what we’re having I just whizz it up, we’re not a massive veg family -my son and husband hate veg. I love veg but i have a stoma so only certain veg I can eat now.

Is this normal, the colour? Trying not to spiral, as I have a history of doing, and we’re in with the doctor for my son in the morning anyway so will ask him too when we’re there!

Just looking for some reassurance really 🤣

It's my toddlers birthday and her first one in creche. The creche have said that we can bring in a cake but it has to be labeled nut free and also can't have eggs! It also can't be homemade unfortunately

I've found a nut free cake in tesco but it has egg. Is there anywhere that sells a cake that's labeled nut free and also has no eggs? Or is it a lost cause?

I have a nearly 4 year old, I am toying with the idea of getting him a yoto player for his birthday, but I keep flip flopping.

I'd be interested in hearing other parents views and experiences, good and bad. What are the pros and cons you have experienced?

Returning to work part time query

Just looking for experiences/advice from anyone who’s been through something similar returning from maternity leave .

I’m due back to work next month and requested a four-day week, with one day per week taken as parental leave due to childcare arrangements. We have childcare for four days only.

I submitted a formal written request and my manager has verbally come back to say it’s been declined after discussions internally. They did suggest I could instead use one day of annual leave per week.

What I’m finding confusing is that other colleagues in the company have been facilitated with part-time hours/flexible arrangements, including taking one day per week in this way.

I’m trying to understand:

- has anyone else had a request like this refused?

- were you able to take parental leave in this way?

- and generally how flexible were employers when returning from maternity leave?

Just genuinely trying to understand what’s normal and what options people found worked for them.

Thanks 🙂

Does sleep training with a sleep coach actually work? My friend did it and it worked for the duration of the 2 weeks sleep training but as soon as a sickness or holiday happened and routine changed ect sleep went back to how it used to be? Has anyone done sleep training with a sleep coach and it's worked long term?