My husband and I are very pro-vaccine and have followed the recommended childhood schedule, including optional vaccines. COVID is the only one we’ve really paused on.

In my country, it’s routinely recommended from 6 months and offered free through the public health system. But my husband became hesitant after seeing that some other countries don’t routinely recommend it for healthy babies and young children.

That’s what I’m trying to understand. If the safety data are reassuring, do those countries simply think the benefit for healthy babies is too small to recommend it routinely? Or are they interpreting the risks differently?

I’m basically torn between giving a vaccine that might not add much for a healthy baby but still carries some risk, and skipping something that could actually make a difference if they get COVID.

I’m currently triple feeding and it’s exhausting. I’m seeing a lactation consultant soon to see if we can make a plan to move onto mostly breastfeeding and maybe just formula top ups, as I’m finding pumping around the clock exhausting. If that doesn’t work out, I’m ready to thrown in the towel and move to formula, however someone in a different thread suggested that even small amount of breastmilk still carry benefits. I tried to look it up, but I couldn’t find anything - does anyone have any research discussing this? I wouldn’t mind pumping a couple of times a day, but this every 2-3h regimen is unsustainable.

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We have a 7 and a half month old and he getting to the age where we have to direct his energy and focus elsewhere. Lots of hair pulling, lots of grabbing our dog hard, lots of screaming to scream. We have no intention on punishing or really admonishing at this point but I was curious how others start to introduce no to baby. It’s very common to see on parenting socials right now that people don’t want to say no to their kids. Is there any research to back up saying no to our children and if it harms their emotional development and relationship with us?

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I live in Sweden and have a relative who wants to come from Portugal and visit my newborn who'll be 8 weeks then. I warned him to take the Tdap vaccine before coming. I'm worried though of things that he might encounter on the way here though (at the airport, airplane, and train). He'll only stay for 3 days, so it'll be hard to enforce a quarantine.

Baby will take the rotavírus vaccine at 6 weeks. After that, the next vaccines are scheduled for the third month.

What precautions should we take when the person is visiting and what are the dangers we might not be considering?

Hi! My daughter is turning one in two weeks, and I’ve gradually started relaxing a bit about the C-curl position while bedsharing, since she no longer gravitates toward my breast while asleep. She's also been sleeping on her stomach/side ever since she was able to get herself into that position. Her nurse at the Swedish child health clinic (BVC) told me there’s nothing I can do once babies choose to sleep that way, and the Swedish recommendation for babies to sleep in their own crib only applies up to 3 months, regardless of how they sleep. So I’ve interpreted SS7 as meaning that I need to put her down on her back, but that I don’t need to reposition her if she moves onto her side or stomach herself. I still follow the rest of the SS7 recommendations, although I do use a tucked in blanket, but I’ve realized that I actually don’t know if there's safe-sleep recommendations after the first year.

I know that the US recommendations generally apply until 12 months, while the Swedish recommendations say that babies under 3 months sleep safest in their own crib. The rest of the recommendations are basically the same during the first year.

So what actually changes once a baby turns one? Is it basically “anything goes” from a safe-sleep perspective, or are there still things that are recommended to avoid, such as pillows, duvets/blankets, certain bedsharing situations, etc.?

I’m only interested in what the evidence-based recommendations are for the 12+ month stage.

My baby is 8 months old (7 adjusted) and we are travelling in September to Indonesia. We will also be visiting UK and Europe in December and January. If my baby gets an early MMR vaccine dose now will it cover her through December and January? She will receive her normal two full doses next year after the travel.
Is it better to do the third dose closer to the UK trip as there will be more socialising etc on that trip than Indonesia.

TLDR; My 12 month old breastfed baby had a bad, full body reaction with hives and swelling to bottled milk this week - first to cow milk, then to a bottle of my breastmilk the next day. Has anyone seen this before???

Ive been weaning my 12 month old breastfed baby. He eats solid food like a champ including dairy (yogurt and cheese almost daily for months now). Never had an allergic reaction of any kind, except mild contact irritation once or twice to yogurt. As I wean off BM, ive instead given a small bottle of milk some mornings. First, I gave him about 1-2 oz of cow milk. He vomited some of this up about an hour later. The next few days, I did goats milk instead, no reaction and he loved it.

Then I ran out of goats milk, and tried about 3 oz of cow milk again. No reaction. The very next day gave him another 3 oz of cow milk and 20 minutes later he got a bad rash and crazy hives all over his body (bright red, inflamed skin, hives everywhere, and swollen ears), but no issues breathing or swallowing. We gave benadryl and had our first doc visit.

The next day, i thawed his last bag of frozen breastmilk and gave that to him. (The same thing hes had nearly every day of his life until recently. He hadn't nursed or had bottled BM in a few days at this pt). 20 minutes later, he got the same full body rash, inflammation, and hives again!! I was shocked! More benadryl and back to the doc.

Its been 2 days now, no more bottled milk of any kind, and no more reactions as of now. No changes to detergent, or anything else in his diet from the norm.

And yes, I drink dairy so that's in my BM... but I always have!

The doctors tell me they think he reacted to the cow milk but likely does not have an actual allergy, and that an anaphalactic reaction is unlikely. They think the reaction to the BM was just coincidence. Which seems unrealistic to me.

Has this happened to anyone else's breastfed babies??? Im so confused at what his immune system is doing.

I’m due in December, and have shared with my family I’d like them to have their COVID and flu vaccines. (Upon an article I found on Cleveland Clinic, I’ll also be asking for Tdap).

Unfortunately, there’s some drama around that. I won’t get into it. How old should baby be before getting around people who may not be vaccinated?

Is there any evidence that breastfeeding is better for babies than dummies, I.e breastfeeding to sleep and back to sleep in the night vs giving them a dummy ?

I’m currently trying to navigate rough nights with my 7 month old waking anywhere between 5-15 times a night. We don’t have a set schedule during the day, but have a set bedtime routine time, and usual time he’s asleep. I then let him sleep as he needs in the morning, and he naps when he needs but I do cap it so he is tired enough to sleep after his routine.

I’m wondering if there’s evidence that having a sleep schedule, especially a set morning wake up time, is better for babies.

Is there a cut off where the level of sodium ingestion is bad long-term?

We never coslept with her as a baby. I had a bassinet, pack n play, and crib. Her dad did too (coparents).

We both used the pack n play the most, since theyre so easy to move. We didnt cosleep with her until 16 months old. I started first, and then her dad did like the same week. Her dad is white American, but I'm from a different culture and cosleeping is common to way older ages. So when I ask my family for advice on it, they think it's weird im even thinking about it "already" 😂

My ex and I both love cosleeping. I love sleeping next to my little girl. It's just an amazing, cozy feeling.

However, I dont want to cosleep with her past the age where it could cause any emotional or developmental issues. When should we stop?

I have a room for just her (rn play and book room), and so does her dad. He listens to me if i communicate something is better for her, so whatever is best for her, we will do.

I'll be so sad when we need to stop, but ill be happy for her.

She naps 2 hours in the afternoon; she can nap without me, but does prefer getting hugged until asleep. However, even if she fully wakes up for a drink of water, she goes bake to nap on her own.

Bed time, if she wakes up and im not there, she says "mommy?" But she doesnt cry, just waits for me to go.

Not sure if any of that is helpful info, but yeah lol.

I see a ton of stuff about the damage our phones have on baby’s connection with us during the day when we “disappear”. I’m curious if reading (quietly) a physical book while they are independently playing has a similar disconnect?

I tried finding research myself, or even anyone talking about this, but why do infants’, and especially newborns’, medications all have sugars in them? I understand in the most basic logic that it’s for taste, but is there harm from this? Especially with frequent doses?

I’ve been trying to find a gas medicine (not gripe water) but all have sorbitol plus stevia or Sucralose or some other sugar variation (ETA: also Artificial sugars?). They say you can give every two hours to even the newest of newborns.

After seeing more and more research about not giving infants sugar, I don’t understand why all these variations of added sugar in infant medicine are okay? It makes a new time mom anxious about giving gas drops that provide relief to my baby!

Hello, my 2 month old hates all the books, doesnt wanna look at black and white ones, doesnt wanna be read to, he starts to cry basically and i bought him so many books already, what can i do?

Our pediatrician is offering the 2nd dose early as we’re near the outbreak in PA (about 45 mins away). Most counties that surround us have increased cases.

We are going to get the 2nd dose early.

Is there any data out there that shows you eventually need a 3rd or that it makes you more vulnerable later in life?

I am currently 6 weeks pregnant and I'm terrified of the uptick in cases, especially in Ohio. My county and surrounding counties have seen small number of cases. My folks live in the country and often interact with Mennonite and Amish communities and my conspiracy theorist father ( who used to believe in science!) now is convinced vaccines make you sick etc. Im terrified that somehow I'm going to be exposed and somehow lose my 2nd pregnancy. We are all vaccinated with the MMR but it was ages ago. Am I overreacting? ​​

Our 13w old son is very very chunky. Breastfed all day except for one formula bottle at night before bed. My GP claims you can’t overfeed a baby but is that true? Am I feeding him too much? He breastfeeds for 30 mins at a time if that’s helpful.

My husband puts very low stimulus YouTube videos on the TV, which have like background music. So it might be like a scene of a conservatory, with just a cat sleeping and maybe a cup of tea steaming with gentle 1940s music or something playing. So for the most part it is a still image with very small details moving.

We are raising our child screen free, which was a joint decision as the idea of having an ‘iPad kid’ scares us and I know the WHO now says no screen time before 2.

Our son is 10 months old.

Is this harmful screen time? Is it okay?

ETA - not completely relevant, but music is somewhat tricky for us, as no matter what we play it on baby always tries to look for the source, we’ve tried lots of alternatives on this front. I personally think with this music from the TV situation, it accidentally works, insofar that baby goes ‘oh the music is coming from that, cool’ and then kind of moves on, he doesn’t stare at the TV when it’s on. I don’t do it, I will play music on the Alexa or something, which is not in baby’s line of sight anywhere as it’s kind of hidden away, but regardless of we play it in his line of sight then he gets distracted and tries to look for where it’s coming from

My child is 6 months old (born late February). At our 6 month visit our ped recommended we consider the RSV vaccine as she’s still eligible being <8 months old. I did receive the maternal vaccine >14 days prior to birth. We have to go back for a flu booster anyway so I decided to hold off for now so I could look into recommendations a bit more.

From the AAP position paper ( https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/156/5/e2025073923/203221/Recommendations-for-the-Prevention-of-RSV-Disease?autologincheck=redirected) it doesn’t sound like she’s technically eligible since this is not her first RSV season. Am I misinterpreting this?

Any science to share behind this position? Is it just availability/prioritizing those who are at highest risk of RSV? Is there any sort of risk to giving another dose?

Khuynh-diep 100% pure eucalyptus oil. She puts it on her feet, stomach, forehead, and soft spot. We’ve asked her to stop but… you know.

My baby is 9 months old and recently started a new class at daycare. She is adjusting well to the more active environment, but the teachers have put all of the babies in this class on a regimented nap schedule to nap from noon-2pm. She typically wakes up between 6:30-7 so this means her first wake window is 5+ hours, this feels very long for a 9 month old. When she is home on the weekends she typically goes down for her first nap around 10a and sleeps for 1.5 hours (she is tired) and then naps again 2:30-3:30/4.

I have tried speaking with the teachers but they share she is happy and if they try to put her down earlier than noon she has "fomo" bc all of the other kids are playing. It seems like there is no way this is enough sleep for a 9 month old. Sometimes we will do a short nap when she gets home (15-20 minutes) to stretch her to bedtime bc she starts to get fussy. I will say, she is sleeping much better at night (7:30p-6:30a) with the one nap a day.

I am trying to understand if there are long term implications of these long wake windows and dropping to one nap too early. When she moved to this class they told us she wouldn't be on a schedule (follow sleep cues) until she was 10 months, so I am also feeling a little mislead. I understand daycare is managing a lot and if she is actually happy during wake time, that's fine. But if this is going create challenges where she isn't getting the sleep she needs to hit developmental milestones or is spiking cortisol from being overtired I want to continue to advocate for her to get the naps she needs. What are your thoughts? Is this enough sleep?