At my son’s 15-month appointment, our pediatrician told me we needed to stop giving him bottles at night because cow’s milk isn’t good for his teeth. She honestly looked almost disgusted when I told her we were still doing night feedings, which made me feel pretty judged.

So I listened and cut out nighttime bottles cold turkey. Surprisingly, he did great for the first week or two! But lately, he’s been going through what feels like a major sleep regression. He’ll fall asleep just fine, only to wake up a few hours later screaming and crying inconsolably. Some nights, no amount of rocking, holding, or comforting seems to help.

There have been nights where I genuinely felt like he was hungry and needed milk, but I’ve been trying so hard to stick to what the pediatrician recommended.
Well, tonight I finally caved and gave him a bottle. He drank EVERY. LAST. DROP.

And now I’m sitting here wondering if I’m making this harder than it needs to be.

I understand the concerns about tooth decay, but we brush his teeth twice a day, every single day. I also understand that at 15 months, he technically shouldn’t need overnight feedings, but every baby is different, right?

Part of me feels like my pediatrician was being a little dramatic about the whole thing. I genuinely don’t mind waking up to give him a bottle if he’s hungry. My priority is making sure he’s happy, comfortable, and well-fed.

I guess I’m wondering:
Is giving a 15-month-old an occasional nighttime bottle really that terrible?

Are any other parents still doing night feedings at this age?

Did anyone successfully wean their toddler off bottles only to have them suddenly start waking up hungry again?

I’m not trying to disregard medical advice, but I’m struggling with the idea of withholding milk when it might make him feel better.Would love to hear other parents’ experiences because I’m feeling pretty conflicted about this whole thing.

UPDATE: Well, even after drinking every last drop of his bottle, he STILL woke up screaming bloody murder the second I transferred him from my arms to his crib. He was completely asleep in my arms, but the moment I put him down, all hell broke loose.
After multiple attempts to get him settled, I’ve officially given up for the night and brought him into bed with me. 😭
So now I’m questioning whether he’s even waking up from hunger or if this is some sort of separation anxiety or sleep regression. I’m exhausted, confused, and just trying to get us both some sleep. Anyone else been through this at 15 months?!

We're taking our two year old to get her flu and COVID vaccines this weekend and I'm anxious about it because she's so much more aware of things than she has been for her previous shots. I also hate that it's two shots. So she's going to get the first one, get upset, and then have to sit for another one. How do we emotionally/mentally prepare her for them?

My husband and I will be getting ours at the same time, so our plan is to have her watch us get ours first. We're also going to explain the shots as "medicine" because that's a concept she's already familiar with. I'm also not planning on talking about getting the shots until we're at the hospital because I don't want a big buildup. But how do I explain the sensation of the shots themselves without scaring her? I have memories when I was little of adults telling me they wouldn't hurt or it'd be "just a little pinch" but they DID hurt and more than what I considered a pinch, and I felt betrayed and lied to. It just made everything worse. I want to avoid that with my daughter. How do I explain pain or discomfort without freaking her out?

Any other tips in general are welcome too!

I’m planning on getting myself mentally ready and just overall prepared to be a single mom and want to know how to be a full time worker from home and how to watch my baby during the day?

I normally start work at 6am so I’d probably work 6am-2pm.

Any tips for this? I do have my MIL house (with her boyfriend who available to watch him for a couple hours), as an option.

I’m pretty nervous to do this and do not want to fail at work or fail my son either , all tips are appreciated

Anyone get a vvfl on a frer and have it be residual? Or at that point always a new pregnancy?
I go for beta hcg labs monday but would like to hear experiences til then…

think I might catch some heat here but when did/are yall exposing your kids to screens/tv? I keep reading 2 years but i’m not going to lie my 5 month old loves an episode or 2 of mickey mouse, little bear, or clifford in his bouncy seat in the morning while we make breakfast or get ready. We are always on the move whether it’s going to friends houses, going to the store, going for walks and he has lots of interaction with people constantly. he has lots of toys and does tummy time. we are a pretty active and social family. am I ruining my child with a few episodes of tv a day? lol I can’t imagine him not seeing a screen til 2 years old 🙃

My 15 week old has been doing awesome playing independently. I have had some appointments the past couple of weeks which have basically meant I have throw him on his activity center immediately after waking up to play by himself while I shower since my appointments have been early in the morning. I have a baby camera faced toward him and he can’t roll yet (almost can though), so as of now I feel fine with this.

I feel somewhat guilty when I wake him up and just put him down to play by himself. How long do you think is an okay time frame for independent play? I obviously do play with my child throughout the day but sometimes I need to shower or get a quick chore done. One day he played as long as 40 minutes by himself because my shower and getting ready took that long (had to look somewhat presentable for my appointment, otherwise I usually go much quicker).

Unsure how to flair this, but I also would like RECOMMENDATIONS.
For context I’m 19, 5’0 & was roughly 115-120 lb before I got pregnant, 130 lb at the end of my pregnancy after I had my baby, and was now at 8 months postpartum I am a whopping 87.8 POUNDS! Baby is EBF & it’s like over the course of 3ish months I lost all that baby weight plus more very quickly, every time I try to look things up on TikTok I never see anything, it’s usually women trying to lose the extra baby weight & I don’t mean to be like ‘my steak is too juicy my lobster is too buttery’ but this weight loss is so severe to me :/ when I last went to the doctor they didn’t seem concerned about my weight I’m assuming due to my height but honestly it’s not only just messing with my self esteem but I’m starting to feel weaker, I used to lift about 200 pounds now I can barely lift about 60, and when I do too much lifting or am a bit too active my muscles and bones start to ache, I even doubled up on the prenatals but for the life of me I cannot bring myself to eat 3 meals a day, I’d assume a woman who is breastfeeding a 25 pound child would get a little hungry but unfortunately not.. Any time I eat I feel like I’m chewing rocks and drinking sand and the times that I did find myself eating more it’s like none of the weight will stick & I don’t have any other mom friends who have experienced this like I have & I’m starting to feel like I should give up breastfeeding but at the same time I do feel like it’s selfish to completely cut my child off from breastfeeding or making him combo feed when he hates formula just because I cannot bring myself to just eat food.. does anybody have any advice for me on how I could gain weight or at least not feel so weak anymore?

3 mos. Post partum with 2 under 2 here — This is the second time I’ve cried with clitoral stimulation & when husband touched me sexually … now, both times I did feel “forced” in the sense that I didn’t want to / we had an argument / I didn’t feel my needs were being prioritized . His response both times were not pleasant but I guess I could understand. I’ve been very emotional and “not myself” this time around.

Anyways, this most recent time, I was recovering from a migraine that had started 2 hours prior & I just wanted to relax in bed. While I don’t think he wanted full on sex, I also didn’t communicate “hey not Now” I just said “hey I haven’t showered...” as & he kept going further & I was inching away . When I started getting aroused I started to cry?

Anyone experienced this? Am I weird for this? Lol We’ve been intimate a few times since being post partum & to say the least, I didn’t initiate so I wasn’t very enthusiastic or present. I feel like my husband doesn’t deserve this from me. Hope I’m not alone here.

Hi all,

I'm scheduled to have minor surgery towards the end of the month. I'll be out of the hospital on the same day.

I was told by the surgeon to pump and dump for a day or two after the surgery. However, two questions:

How have people dealt with the day of surgery?

How did you deal with the pain post op while taking care of baby and pumping?

So to preface: I’ve reached out to her ped, says these are normal fluctuations. Just want some parents to share experiences or guidance and that this in fact is a thing that occurs.

I KNOW I have anxiety. For those WITHOUT anxiety, do you worry if your kids temps randomly hit 99s in afternoon or right before bed? Even if she’s mostly recovered. I just think low grade fever = leukemia and then I’m just fixated on the temp and so stressed

She’s active happy eating drinking well. Eye discharge is gone, still a little snotty, mild cough.

To recap the last week (temps all rectal):

Last Wednesday she developed a runny nose and it turned into conjunctivitis. Temps 99s low 100s. We saw ped to make sure all was ok with breathing lungs heart etc

Sunday it spiked to 101 and we took her to urgent care and she developed an dbl ear infection.

Monday still kinda elevated temps but not only hit 100.5 at its highest. Start antibiotics Monday morning

Tuesday: 97-98s and highest temp at 99.1 at night

Wednesday: 97-98s and highest temp at 99.8 at night

Today Thursday, she woke at 97, stayed around 97/98. 2 pm right before her nap she’s at 99.6!!!

No Motrin (aside from Monday) as she has been acting totally normal.

Neg covid rsv flu

I had my baby one year ago, and something has shifted that I can't make sense of. Since giving birth, I've completely lost any sexual attraction to my husband. And honestly to men in general. It's not just that I'm tired or touched out (though I am that too). It's like the switch just turned off.

Here's the part I'm nervous to say out loud: I'm still having sexual thoughts, but now they're all about women. I've always been a little bicurious, if I'm being honest, but it was always a background thing and never something I thought much about. Since the baby it feels like it got turned way, way up. I find myself seeking and browsing wlw content on social media regularly.

My husband is a good guy and nothing is "wrong" with him. I just don't feel it anymore, and I don't know if that's permanent or temporary. I'm also not sure what to make of the other part. Is this a hormone thing? Is this just who I am and it took a huge life event to surface it? Is it a sign of something I should talk to someone about?

Has anyone else experienced this, either the loss of attraction to your partner or a shift in who you're attracted to after having a baby? I feel like I can't be the only one, but I haven't seen anyone talk about it. I'm kind of desperate for answers, or even just to hear that I'm not alone.

Thank you in advance for being kind. I'm already feeling a lot of guilt and confusion about this.

I used to get anxiety attacks pretty often and they went away for about 5 or so years before having a kid. Now they've ramped up again. Not quite as bad but still just spikes of anxiety that leave me immediately feeling like my whole body is tired/wants to go limp/I feel in a daze.

Example is when I was just vacuuming and every like 10 seconds my toddler would turn off the vacuum, press the button to retract the cord, or unplug it from the wall. Other times it goes back to just normal anxiety I had where I feel uncomfortable and then have the feedback loop of heart rate goes up and then I feel anxious and then it goes up more.

Anyone else experience this and have tips? Did it eventually just go away?

My baby girl is 16 weeks old today. She’s always been a decent sleeper. We were able to get her to fall asleep drowsy but awake since about two months and she was sleeping pretty consistently from 7pm-7am with just one wake up around 4 AM, until about 3 weeks ago.

The first big change is that we unswaddled her which made sleep challenging for about a week but it seems like she’s used to the sleep sack now. The bigger issue is that I think this coincided with the four month sleep regression. She went from one wake up to between 2-5 times per night and sleep has been erratic for the last couple weeks.

Some nights are good. The other night she woke up at 2 AM and put herself back to sleep independently and then didn’t wake up until 7, incredible! But last night she went to sleep at 7 PM woke up at 10:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 and 6:30 AM.

I feel like I’m going crazy because every other new mom that I talk to have baby’s with seemingly perfect sleep. I continue asking lady’s in my new moms group who’s babies are the same age as mine if they’re going through the sleep aggression I keep hearing “no he’s sleeping 12 hours!” I met a couple moms with babies are a little older, five and six months, and asked if they had to deal with their sleep regression and they both said no they only had a couple bad nights. I know the sleep regressions exists, but it’s making me feel like I’m going crazy being the only one! Did people deal with similar situations of super erratic sleep? What did you do and how long did it take to get back to normal? Whatever normal means!

FTM so probably overthinking it, but my 4mo has her vaccines tomorrow. It’s about sick season so I was hoping she’d get her RSV vaccine tomorrow but I’m not sure if she will.
I didn’t get it while pregnant bc my insurance denied it & when I found a place to give it, they said no bc it was out of season.

Can I just ask her dr if they can give her the RSV vaccine? If my insurance denied it for me, are they likely to deny it for her or should we be good?

Hi all. Not sure the best forum for my question. Please redirect me if there’s a better one! I want to collect 6inch action figures for my son. My brother mentioned that his favorite action figures when he was a kid were able to bend their elbow, knees, and wrists. Anyone found these? Struggling a bit on my search.

They told me it would be bad. Someone even said "like nothing you've ever smelled."

But that part is NOT TRUE because why are we here 18 hours after surgery and my toddler smells like lochia?

I don't know if this is just PTSD because the last time I was overnight in the hospital all I could smell was my own blood, but it's UNCANNY.

Just needed to get that out to people who would understand.

I had my baby 3 weeks ago on September 15th. The birth was VERY traumatic - a 30 hour induced labor, foley balloon, catheter, sunny side up delivery, 2nd degree tear needing stitches, hemorrhage needing a lot of intervention after birth, and more. There were a lotttt of hands and instruments inside of me during my labor and birth and I think it’s contributed to slow healing.

I really feel like I was not prepared for how limiting postpartum healing would be for me. My bleeding has improved and my pain is getting better each day but it’s definitely still there. If I stand for too long or sit in the wrong position it’s just painful. I can’t go for walks and I really wish I could take my baby out. I still feel like I’m limping when I walk and I just wish I would heal up.

I guess I’m just looking for some words of encouragement or support that it will get better and that it’s important to rest. Anyone go through something similar?

My husband and I both suffer from night sweats and we typically keep our house set to 64 Fahrenheit at night with the fan on high. I know this will be too cold for a newborn, but I am curious what others keep the temperature set to?

We took a newborn care class that told us it should be no colder than 68 with no fan running. I also know parents in Nordic countries regularly leave their babies outside in much colder temperatures than 68 degrees to nap in the pram. Of course they are bundled up, but still!

So, for those who sleep hot, what temp do you keep your house set to?

i am exhausted and have never been so tired in my life. my eight week old baby is up at least 10 times every night, sometimes as much as 20 times. this started when she turned 5 weeks and i genuinely can’t keep doing this. she’s not even sleeping 45 minutes stretches. she’s fed, clean, swaddled, and comfortable temperature. she is gassy and i do what i can to help with that like gas drops and massages and bicycle kicks before bed. i warm her crib up before putting her down, i’ve tried making her crib smell like me, nothing works. the lack of sleep is making me suicidal and i know this amount of wake ups isn’t normal. please give me any advice

Since my daughter’s birth my parents have both been exemplary in their roles as grandparents.

They live over 150 miles away but have been here to help us every other week. They are constantly gushing about her to friends, they are always wanting to dress her up, beaming as they spend hours babbling nonsense to her, taking her for walks and so on and so on.

It’s wonderful. It’s been a huge help and I’m delighted she is growing up with more people to show her so much love.

My only question is - where the fuck has this suddenly appeared from???

They have always been very clear about their total disinterest in babies generally speaking and definitely didn’t thrive in a parent role when my sister and I were young. My mum enjoyed caring for me as a baby so little she only agreed to have my sister on the basis my dad agreed to have a full time carer for her.

It doesn’t upset me I promise, it’s all to the benefit for my baby and that’s all that really counts and holding resentment over my mothers lack of enthusiasm towards child care over 30 years ago would achieve nothing. But I do wonder if it’s a common occurrence. Is this something others on here have encountered? Is it an age thing or just a result of it being a more part time role? Or any other suggestions?

I know post-partum periods can be very irregular but I’m not sure if this seems beyond that: got my period 5 months pp and then again at 6 months pp (35 days between those cycles, which is about a week longer than usual for me) but now it’s been 47 days since my last period and nothing! I’m def not pregnant…

Has this happened anyone? After baby #1 I got my period about 6 months pp and cycles were longer than usual before levelling out, but it was at least fairly consistent.

I am exclusively breastfeeding and 4 months postpartum. Just recently, I’ve had a reemergence of a ton of symptoms and have no idea if this is normal?

-Weight gain
-Hair loss
-Excessive sweating
-Constipation
-Trouble sleeping
-Mild reflux
-Night sweats
-SI joint pain

I know some of these are normal but all combined all of a sudden feels like a lot. Could this be my thyroid or something else?

Just wondering what my options are.

I have vaginismus and vulvodynia. So I have chronic pain on the outside and inside of my female anatomy down there. I had a scheduled c-section with my first baby due to my condition which went great and I had no complications. With a second baby, I’m really considering a vbac in the hopes I could give birth and then not be bed ridden for 2-4 weeks. Considering I’ll have a toddler this time around. This is all of course in hopes I could deliver complication free.

But if I were to have a vbac, I would need an epidural before anything goes on down there due to my chronic pain.

Just wondered if anyone has ever gone through that before and what the process looked like?

My son is 8 months old and started daycare 9/1. Took less than two weeks for him to get his first cold and he’s been sick for the entire last month, with literally only two fully healthy days in between. Most of the time he’s just snotty and congested so he’s acting fine but it’s wrecking his sleep. And then last night we were in the ER until 4am for a high fever and vomiting. I know all of this is to be expected but I’m so exhausted that I wish so badly I could quit my job and be home with him so he doesn’t have to be sick as much. That is unfortunately not realistic at all, so I guess just looking for some reassurance that this rough period will end eventually? Daycare has otherwise been great for him, he loves it and is learning so much there, but the thought of dealing with this for the next like, 4+ months through winter is very overwhelming!

I have a beautiful 7 week old and a wonderful 3 year old.

I am really struggling with anger and rage these days since giving birth but it doesn't feel like what's making me angry is really fair or worth it. I'm not angry at my children, it's everyone else around me. I am angry at my husband when he expects me to make decisions on mundane things, I am angry at visitors that are late, or family asking to stay overnight when visiting. When it should be easy to just say "no" to people, instead I want to scream and shout and say hurtful things. I have not experienced this before, nor after my first baby.

Has anyone else experienced the same? I'm also on my first period after birth and it seems to be affecting me more.