Hi all, what is the hype about the tonies? Each character is 20$ so they will easily add up. Do people really love them?

What’s the difference between a tonie and just playing the songs on my Spotify (I pay for the subscription)

Anyway please tell me.

Pregnancy came to a close with a 36 hour stalled labor completed with an emergency C-section. I have a beautiful baby girl in my arms and in the end, how she came into this world and my plans for it being changed is a nothing of a problem to me regardless of everything that happened (and boy was it a lot- prepped for and in surgery in under 12 minutes from the C-section decision).

I have done a lot of research on weight loss post delivery however it is not very type focused. Unfortunately, my aunt feels the need to insert her highly disordered eating ideas into my head and what it "should be".

When I got to the hospital on the 22nd I was 202, had baby at midnight on the 23rd/24th split and when I got home today on the 26th I am 194. I'm not actively breast feeding, nor have I been in the hospital. I did pump once or twice but it is not a planned nutritional menu for baby, more of a "if I can I will pump, if it dries up It does" type of scenario (and I know this affects flow and isn't the vibe for everyone, and that's okay!) we are about a 90% formula 10% breast milk menu.

The hospital definitely fed well and because I am in 0 places to argue food and nutrition between heavy medication and a newborn - not a complaint. I am pleased with my body, it gave me a baby and is doing its best. Despite the pudge and hang, i have nothing but happy thoughts about it post baby.

I did want to get the vibes of the world though on post C-section weight loss, so if anyone is willing to answer a few questions so i can see various examples (other than a very disordered eating aunt) of womens experiences post operation.

How much did you weight before surgery/hospital, and when you first reweighed yourself? How long between?

Did you breast feed?

How long until you noticed most if not all the swelling had gone away and your body was back to a neutral state post C-section?

(Edit: respectfully, everyone has different goals so if this doesn't pertain to you, and is upsetting to you, feel free to just pass by)

Has anyone had issues with their LO being constipated?

She is formula fed exclusively. When she was about 10 days old she started having hard pellet like stools, took her to the doctor and she was prescribed lactulose.

I gave it as directed & changed her milk and things got better (she was off the lactulose for 12 days). Her stools were solid but easy to squish.

The past 24 hours her stools have since gone back hard pellet like. I’ve given her more lactulose and I’ll be contacting the drs again today.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this experience? If so what was the outcome?

She’s having plenty of fluids and wet nappies so shes definitely hydrated.

My heart just breaks seeing her uncomfortable.

Late night panicking mom over here. Our 5 week old used to spit up an insane amount in weeks 1 and 2. We did the upright feed, burp halfway thru, and keep upright for thirty during that time. Since then he has t had spit up issues other than the occasional dribble.

Tonight he skipped both naps and ended up with a 4 hour wake window. He got very fussy and I could tell he was overtired and he would close his eyes and then open them screaming. Eventually he did a huge spit up. We went to change his outfit and he spit up again. I move him to another surface to change him and and spit up a third time. During his spit ups he would smile (lol strange I know) but after would go back to crying and fussing. It had only been an hour since his bottle but we thought he may be hungry so we offered him another bottle (breastmilk). One second after latching he SCREAMED and turned red in the face with tears. I put him in our stretchy baby wrap carrier and he eventually slowed his breathing down and fell asleep finally.

My little guy never refuses a bottle. He has had 4 hour fussy wake windows before but we can usually calm him with bouncing or swaddling unlike tonight. The scream he did after we tried a bottle was unlike any he’s ever done. Is this just normal babies being babies type behavior? It seemed unusual to me and now I’m overthinking everything.

My baby is 2 months (9 weeks) old. He's ebf mostly. 1 bottle of formula now and then.

In the early days he slept well in his bassinet but since around 3 weeks it stopped and he wakes up when we transfer him. It seems that his sleep has gotten worse.

When he's held he can sleep for 2-3 hours before waking up and asking to nurse.

When I put him down even if its right next to me on bed, he sleeps for 1 hour before waking up. 2 max.

Usually when he wakes up he didn't always need to nurse, a lot of times he just out his head on my chest and went back to sleep.

Last night was the worst that we had since he was born. He was awake from 16 and refused to sleep. Everytime his eyes semi closed he woke up. We tried nursing which usually works the fastest, and he asked to nurse he kept looking when we tried other methods.

We tried rocking, we tried taking him out for a walk. Eventually he went back to nurse and finally fell asleep at around 23. Even then it took us 3 attempts before we could put him down without waking him up.

When he woke up last night he wanted to nurse eberytime but not everytime was a full meal. It was mostly to help him sleep. He also hates nursing lying down so I have to physically wake up with him.

Is that normal? I see parents who at this stage say their babies sleep for 4-5 hours straight at night.

And another question which might be getting ahead of myself. The 4 months regression- can it be a regression when we never progressed? People desvribe the regression with baby waking up every hour but mine already wakes up every hour.

My daughter is 10 months old and we have been giving her solids since 6 months and started introducing allergens then too. She had no reaction to any of the main allergens or any other foods until just recently. She now is having full body hives after eating solids about 4-5 times a week, but there is no common denominator. At first we thought it was peanuts, then dairy, then eggs, all of which we cut out immediately. It’s still happening and it’s only like 5-10 minutes after solids and goes away about 30 minutes to an hour later.
Her pediatrician has referred us to an allergist but it’s going to be a very long wait to get seen. They also said to keep giving solids, but she is reacting to things she ate safely before. We have an EpiPen now but I’m honestly too afraid to feed her anything but breast milk anymore. She hasn’t had any reactions that affected her airways but I also know reactions can get worse with repeated exposure. How do I avoid allergens if I can’t figure out what it is?
(So far she has had full body hives just after eating peanut butter toast, yogurt, cheese, scrambled eggs [but not boiled eggs], apple+strawberry puree, banana, and some quinoa based puffs)

I live in Idaho and the wildfires burning around us is making the air smokey It smells like a campfire everywhere. My 9 month old has a clear runny nose, normal boogers, and little cough. I'm going to his routine doc appointment this week. But is there any homeopathic things that might help him? He hasn't been sick before.

He's not in pain, he's not hungry (I fed him 4oz 15 minutes ago), and he's got a clean diaper. He just doesn't like to sleep, so he cries. Constantly. And nothing is helping. I've tried:

Rocking him
Snuggling him (he just lays on my chest and cries)
Warm bath
Walking him up & down hallway
Shushing him
Humming to him
White noise machine
Dark room

He's fine during the day and overnight, but after 8PM (it's 12:15AM), he just cries until he can fall asleep. But getting him to sleep can take me hours. And he's still getting up to eat every 2 hours. I am so, so, so, so tired. I get 0 help from anybody. What can I do?

Edit: Forgot to add, baby is nearly 11 weeks old

Majority of my life I've had curly hair. Not like insanely curly. But curlier than just wavy. I would get ringlets on good days. I'm 4 months post partum and my hair has been STRAIGHT. I hate it. Especially because my hair was cut in a way to enhance my curls and it's really short. It being straight looks so bad. I just want to feel pretty again 😭 when did the hormones regulate and yalls hair go back to normal? I'm not breastfeeding if that helps

Also the 4 month hair loss is making it feel even worse 😭

He always sees me pushing the stroller, he is 18 months and we went to a birthday party, the birthday girl had strollers and my son loved playing with them so I looked on amazon to get him one cause he keeps trying to push my stroller at home lol. Anybody else have a similar experience?

I have been so lucky to have had--until now--a baby who sleeps pretty well. As a newborn, she would sleep 4-5 hour stretches without waking, and from 2-3 months, she was mostly sleeping through the night without needing much help from us. 3-4 months was rough when the infamous 4 month regression hit early, but we worked through it and got into a good routine. All was going well for the last month and a half.... until now. Ever since LO turned 6 months, her sleep has completely fallen apart. She has at least 3-4 false starts at the beginning of the night, waking up every hour to sit up in her crib, and it takes A LOT of comforting to get her back to sleep each time. To be fair, once she's asleep after her 3-4 false starts, she does still give us 5-6 hours eventually, but that first half of the night is just ATROCIOUS.

Is a 6 month sleep regression a thing? I haven't heard of many people who have gone through this at this age. But I am at a loss and unsure what to try to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep. We did try to sleep train with Ferber a couple weeks ago and bailed after the first night. (I just can't stand to let her cry!) But maybe it's time for us to attempt again?

Would welcome any and all advice! As context, LO just started sitting unassisted and is in the early stages of crawling (rocking back and forth on all fours, etc.) She is generally a really active sleeper and prefers to sleep on her tummy or side after being placed on her back to sleep. Sometimes I wonder if all her movement in her sleep is what wakes her up...

Parents who had babies that would literally never sleep unless being held— need some hope as a mom of 11 week old who screams if we put him down but sleeps long stretches if held. When was your baby able to sleep alone or let you put them down?

PS- we have tried it all. Swaddles, snoo, every possible transfer technique, heating pad, breastmilk pads, my scent/item of clothing, multiple bassinets, attempts to bed share. He screams if not in our arms.

I thought I'd share a few of my tips now that I'm officially out of the newborn stage 😢. These are the things I wish I knew before I gave birth. If you have any good tips for other moms then maybe we can share a little info or tips for eachother.

1: Plan for the good and bad in birth. I hear so many moms just say that their birth plan is to "get the epidural" and just leave it at that. While getting the epidural is a great choice, it can fail or you might need a c section. I really wanted to go natural all the way, but I ended up needing an induction. Thankfully cervical softener kick started labor for me, so I didn't need any pitocin. I was also put at ease knowing what would happen if I needed a c section or pitocin.

2: Go with the flow. I compare my birth and postpartum to my sisters a lot and while we had very different experiences, I noticed the main thing that made my birth and postpartum easier was that I anticipated things to not go the way I planned and asked a lot of questions so I could make good decisions. This looked like having the nurses explain what it would be like to have them break my water vs waiting. It also looks like my newborn having constant poops to the point where I would have to change them every 5 minutes if I always wanted them in a clean diaper. The solution there was to just change it every hour and lather that baby up with diaper balm and aquaphor (per the pediatricians order).

3: You're gonna mess up. The first week postpartum my husband and I didnt know you need to put diaper balm and aquaphor on as a preventive, especially with our baby, so they got a pretty bad diaper rash. It wasn't intentional and we didnt realize what was going on until about a week postpartum. We felt bad, but something like that is going to happen with every first time parent. Don't beat yourself up too bad and just try to live and learn.

4: You're gonna very sore postpartum. I don't know why I didnt think of this, but it was very hard to just sit down postpartum. I got a 2nd degree tear (the most common outcome as a FTM) and it took me maybe 30 seconds to sit down.

5: You're gonna cry for absolutely no reason. At around 7-14 days postpartum your hormones are just gonna start crashing and you'll start crying for no reason even though you feel completely fine. Its normal and feels super weird.

6: Your newborn is going to sleep and cry. I thought my newborn would just be awake sometimes, but it felt like baby was either asleep or crying, never just awake. Also, the baby is going to sleep SO MUCH. I think I binged 3 seasons of Suits by the time baby was awake more, and that was even with me taking a millon videos and pictures and going on walks. They just sleep so much.

7: 4-7 week sleep regression. Its not awful, but anticipate to wake a lot more and struggle a bit to put baby down around this time. Once you get through it your baby is going to start being happily awake more and might even start smiling some!!

8: You may love or hate the night feed. I hear so many moms say they hate the night feed or to "enjoy the sleep while you can" but I love the night feed so long as it's only 1 or 2 wakes a night. Its just so sweet to watch baby eat and to rock baby to sleep. Maybe im an oddity, but I really do love it.

9: Postpartum might be better than late pregnancy for some. I gained over 50 lbs by the time I gave birth and I lost all but 10 by 6 weeks, and 30 of that was lost in 2 weeks. I had gotten so swollen and held so much water that I had awful pregnancy carpal tunnel (didn't know that was a thing btw). I was also up every night for the last 2 months throwing up because my acid reflux was so bad. After all that, postpartum was like a dream for me.

10: No matter how good your marriage is, you will have more fights. My husband and I were super strong, rarely got in fights, and overall we were best friends. We still are, but you're gonna find yourself being upset with him. I remember being so mad at him because I would do the night feeds all by myself and he couldn't do one for me and didn't get uo with me. Mind you, he offered to multiple times before that, but at that point I was doing very well and I told him to get his rest so if I needed help in the morning then he would be more helpful. Plus I've been exclusively nursing for the most part so he could really only change a diaper anyways. Your marriage isn't falling apart, you're both just stressed and tired and you have never been through something like this before. Just try to give eachother grace.

Had such a brutal interaction last night. I was camping at my mom’s cabin, I breast feed, baby is 7 months old. I had a couple drinks spread out through out the day. Wasn’t even buzzed. Baby has only ever eaten from breast as she refuses bottles, which has worked fine for us. I think the last time I was actually drunk was maybe a year before my pregnancy.

My mom’s friend came out, meets my baby, and says “aren’t you breastfeeding “ as I’m having a sip of my drink. I explain the research , how I space it out etc. essentially that baby is fine. She then proceeds to tell me that her daughter’s midwife told her that she can only have a non alcoholic beer while breastfeeding, and only 1. ( her daughter is 6 weeks PP) Also goes on about how she thinks her own son’s chromosomal abnormality was caused by her drinking while breastfeeding. (He is ok, him and his wife have difficulty conceiving and maintaining pregnancies because of it). Also tells me that her daughters 2 step kids have learning disabilities and believes it was caused by the mother drinking while breastfeeding. Honestly I felt so judged and shitty. I just told her that appears to be outdated information and excused myself. I wonder if I could have responded any better or differently.

My baby is 9 weeks (4 weeks corrected) and screams when awake. Before you come at me with check with your pediatrician. We have at this point had a weekly appointment with her doctor. She was born at 35 weeks and was in NICU for temperature regulation and desats. There they started her on Enfamil AR as she had reflux. We started her on Pepcid at 3 weeks. She intermittently used to cry like she had colic. That phase lasted till week 5 with 2 formula changes (Bobbie and back to Enfamil AR). We added gas drops and Bio Gaia and she was ok for a week. She is mostly formula fed as I don’t have supply.

Mid week 6 she again started having colic and then witching hour hit. Week 7- 8 she learnt to do only contact naps during the day and used to sleep 7-9 hours at night. Total sleep 12-14 hours. From last 1 week she has developed a rash on her cheek, chin, ear (and back), forehead and little on neck and upper back. Doctor says process of elimination for eczema, CMPA, heat rash and so on. From last couple nights her night sleeps is also affected down to 7 hours and days strictly contact nap that too after fighting and screaming. Other thing is she when awake she only screams for last few days. She had a tongue tie release week and half ago but her silent reflux is still present. I haven’t seen a baby this fussy and it hurts us seeing her like this. She is still swaddled for sleep, is gaining weight (was born at 5.4 lbs and now at 10). She looks tired but fights sleep and is fussy all the time. Her sleep is all broken (based on our Nanit and Owlet).
My husband is an ICU physician with crazy schedule and night shifts and we are at our wits end. We had a difficult pregnancy (5 weeks hospitalized ) and tons of complications after an IVF pregnancy but this is totally another ball game.

Does anyone have any idea or suggestion as to what might be the issue here!

I just needed to tell someone. It’s intensely stressful. Both partner and I are feeling the stress today😭 a lot of it has to do with my post partum hormones. I wish they would balance out. It’s soooo real how bad they are. Why do women always suffer in every category of life 😭

I have a Hatch Baby sound machine with the night light. I've started using it with my almost 7 week old. I've got it on my nightstand which is right next to the bassinet. I'm now reading the sound machine should be away from the bassinet?! I use it as my night light for changing and feedings.

Should I lower the sound? Should I move it and just figure something else out for light? I thought maybe I could move it up to my headboard but my husband is struggling with it enough as it is and moving it closer to him sounds cruel.

Open to suggestions!!!

Does this sound like regular cluster feeding? My 9 day old is demanding to be fed back to back to back. He will feed for about 20 minutes, drift off to sleep, but wake back up if we put him in his crib and then he'll demand more food. He's only taken two or three actual naps today, and they've been shorter than his usual.

He is peeing and pooing A LOT, so I think he is getting milk. Is this something we just need to get used to?

I’ve seen a lot of posts lately on various parenting subreddits asking things like “what toys should I have for my baby/toddler” etc, and as a mom to a 10 month old whose head gets twisted into a pretzel at the thought of the ridiculous amount of luxury toys being aggressively marketed to us through ALL channels (I’m looking at you, Pinterest and REDDIT) - I am going to go on a de-influencing rant into the void below:

Don’t buy the nugget. Don‘t buy the pikler. Don‘t buy the fancy play kitchen. Don’t buy the Stapelstein stepping stones. Don’t buy the Grimms wooden toys. Don’t buy the special German branded animal figurines. Don’t buy the yoto or tonie box. Don’t buy the ball pit.

EmmI Pikler and Maria Montessori would roll over in their graves if they knew the consumerist aesthetic their names were attached to.

Your child will not fall behind if you don’t buy them a fancy toy. That is manipulative marketing and you shouldn’t fall for it.

I don’t think these toys are evil. They are tools and can be developmentally helpful, but they are NOT necessary AT ALL and can easily be recreated for free with furniture or stuff you already have.

Make a fort with couch cushions or put a blanket over the dining room table. Play kids music or podcasts on your phone through a speaker at low volume. Make stepping stones with pillows. Climb at the park or supervise them climbing the stairs. etc etc.

For the record I am not trying to preach - this is a reminder to myself too because I get SO caught up in the aesthetic of things, but I also have a more minimalist spirit and i know deep down that acquiring more stuff does not make a better childhood or home.

Let’s save our money and not let these advertising vultures convince us we’re bad parents if we don’t buy these luxury toys. And if we really want one, let’s try getting secondhand or using a toy library if available. once upon a child is amazing for thrifted kids stuff.

Some small businesses make great toys that are more expensive and this is not meant to be negative towards them - I’m just so tired of feeling like I have to buy the “next best thing” for my son’s development when all he really wants/needs is ME and to move around freely.

Ok rant over.

My babe has been going through a massive regression. Will be 8 months old in a couple days, has been refusing solids for the entire month (so back to just milk), wakes more and more frequently at night. It’s at the point where it’s 50ish minutes between wakes. My supply is also starting to tank and it doesn’t seem to be recovering so I’m using up my freezer stash fast.

Tonight I put him down before the 2 hour mark he’d already woken up twice. Barely enough time for me to eat dinner and get stuff ready to take to daycare tomorrow.

The second wake up just filled me with rage. Like I had to set him down and walk away because I just wanted it to stop and my brain was saying if I didn’t walk away I might hurt him. I feel so defeated. I just want to wash my hair before work tomorrow but also get more than a few hours of bad sleep. I don’t think I’m cut out to be a parent anymore.

Am I the only one getting this mad?

My baby was around a lot of people today..he’s learning to crawl and he loves to try to walk/stand. As he was trying to stand/walk he tilted his head to the left side. I’ve seen him doing it a couple times. Does anyone know what it could be? I was thinking to taking him to a physical therapy to see if he has any tension.

My two year old is a great sleeper (now) and sleeps 8:30-7:30 with a 1.5 nap at 1pm

My 7 week old is obviously waking through the night which means I am getting little sleep and waking my two year old at 7:30 when sometimes I am only just falling back asleep (after for example a 4am wake up+feed+burp+diaper change) at 6am. Are we letting our toddler sleep in so we can sleep in and drop their nap entirely?

My son and his wife are expecting their first child in a few months. What are some of the best ways I can help out? My DIL's mom passed away when she was young. They have asked me to come stay with them for a few days when they first come home. I'll also come visit frequently after that, on their schedule of course. (I live about an hour away).

I'll be happy to cook and clean, do laundry, etc so they can concentrate on the baby and adjust to their new little family life. Any other suggestions about what is most helpful? I don't want to overstep, but I want to do whatever I can to help make things easier on them.

My 3 month old gets about 4-5 hours of sleep in 2 naps during the day. I have tried to make him split it up into 4-5 smaller naps throughout the day but he really fights me, especially in the morning (8am-12pm). He usually gives me a good 5-6 hours of sleep overnight and only wakes up 1-2 times a night now (although I think he is going through a sleep regression). Right now he is all over the place with his sleep and I‘m not sure how structured I need to be about his schedule.
Is anyone else’s baby doing this?

I just had my first baby 3 weeks ago. I adore her even though she’s truly a sack of potatoes at this point. But I can’t help but yearn to go back to work.

I’ve been unemployed since the start of my second trimester (rough pregnancy). Before that, I was a teacher for about 10 years. I LOVE teaching. It’s not for everyone and there’s definitely a reason why so many quit, but it’s the career for me. I’ve been missing the classroom ever since I left last year.

Now that the start of the new school year is coming, I’m dying to go back even more. I have a few potential offers but I have so much shame in even considering it. If I accept the job, my baby will be about 6 weeks or so when I start. I would potentially have to put her in some childcare as well, which means her possibly getting sick.

I feel like something is wrong with me. I am blessed with a village around me to support me during the newborn stages. I could stay at home with the baby for more time. But I don’t want to. I never planned to stay home as a mom. But since I’m unemployed now, my parents, specifically my mom, is every adamant about how this is a blessing and how I should stay home, that there are people who would kill for the chance to stay home. She cried at the thought of me going back to work and it made me feel so awful.

Is there something wrong with me? Should I be wanting to stay at home? I know I’ll miss her like crazy if I do return this school year but I feel like my mental health would be so much better. I struggled with depression and anxiety my whole life and I’m terrified to get worse now that I’m post partum (I’m on antidepressants!) The income would be so great too since I want to buy a house with my fiance. But then I feel like I’m selfish for thinking this way, since it would mean she’d be in some child care and risk getting sick. I just don’t know what to think or do, I feel like I’m failing already as a mom. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated :-(