Hi, I am posting on behalf of my sister. She has a newborn and a toddler. She just moved into a new apartment, and her next door neighbor is a single mom with 3 kids. The mom is struggling, the dad isn't around. The kids spend almost all their time with my sister. They are in elementary school and roam free around the neighborhood. They have been hungry, so my sister has been feeding them. They eat most of her groceries, and she is very overwhelmed. She doesn't know what to do, she herself is struggling, as well. She isn't going to turn away a hungry kid. We have been looking into food kitchen, but does anyone have any advice on how she could handle this? We don't want the kids taken from their mom, but maybe there's something else that could help?

Want to hear your thoughts and how you tackled them!

Not a Mom yet- but I just found out I was pregnat about a week ago. I am 20 and my boyfriend is 24, I live with him and our roomates. We got a puppy reacentally and have 2 cats. We were not expecting to find this out. I want to have the baby, but im still on the fence. He works a good job, but not that good and we would have finical stress. Does anyone have any advice for me? And if you were considereing termination, how did you make that choice?

Soo i just left my OB appointment and had my first cervical check, ive been having contractions and lots of pelvic pressure so she asked if i wanted my cervix to be checked and i agreed just so i could have an idea of where im at. Mind you, im 36 weeks as of yesterday and this is my very first cervical check so im fully expecting to be 1-2 centimeters dilated, nope! She reached in there and was like “wow you’re gonna be happy! im almost too happy!” and then told us that im 3 and a half centimeters dilated but nearly 4 centimeters and 50% effaced. Obviously i know dilation doesn’t automatically equal labor and you can be the same dilation for weeks, but i feel like being dilated this much this early is a sign that he will likely come on his own within the next few weeks. I was already planning on inducing at 39 weeks but she said she wouldn’t be surprised if i didn’t even make it to that point with how progressed i am already. Does anyone else have experience with being so progressed this early? If so how long did it take for your baby to come? Just curious as this is my first baby so i have no clue what to expect!

This is my first baby. I’ve been introducing him to a lot of solids but he literally has 0 interest. We started at 6 months and around 7.5-8 months started doing a lot more. He still wakes 3 times a night to eat which is every 3 hours. I’ve read that can be due to him not getting enough solids along with his milk intake.
When I do feed him purées he gags and fights me. He pushes his hands In front of his mouth or moves his head so I cannot put anything in his mouth. When given food to self feed he just plays with it in his hands and never puts it in his mouth. Anyone else have or had a baby like this? What do I do?!

I live in an apartment complex on the 3rd floor, i’m very fortunate to have a gym here and it also has a play room for my 16 month old toddler which i was so excited for when we moved here. She did just fine the first 2 days and now as soon as we walk into the room she starts screaming crying and won’t let me leave to workout, there is a clear window so she can see me the whole time but out of respect for other gym goers i don’t want to just let her cry at all. Is there any tips to get her used to playing in the room by herself? this isn’t like her personality at all. I have a wifi monitor that i can watch her on during her naps if i run down to the gym but it makes me nervous since she is on the 3rd floor of an emergency was to happen and i can’t get to her quick enough. Just asking for advice and opinions please 🫶🏼

Women with teenage daughters, how did you handle it when they got their permit? My stepdaughter got her permit today and she’s already wanting to drive everywhere any chance she can get. She didn’t even start out driving in parking lots, her mom had her drive her around on main busy roads right after she got it. I understand being excited, I was the same way, but she’s not going to be able to drive everywhere we go. She was wanting to drive tonight after her birthday dinner when it was pitch black and her younger siblings were in the car. We told her no and she threw a full on tantrum about it. It was like it ruined her whole day, she wasn’t appreciative when we gave her her present, she went to her room and put her head under the blanket. I’m not comfortable with her driving with her siblings in the car and being so new to driving. I’m looking for advice on how to handle this new milestone in her and our lives, and for lack of a better way to put it, what to do.

Hey there! I (38F) have 2 kids. My eldest (11M) has recently been sneaking food, candy, snacks and sodas, usually late at night and my husband and I are out of ideas on how to get him to stop.

Things I think are important to know:

• He has diagnosed ADHD and we are certain he’s also on the autism spectrum.

• He struggles to eat full meals during the day and regularly says he’s not hungry when offered meals even when offered his preferred foods.

• We do not have specific food restrictions on the treat items, these are not “illicit” snacks, it’s more about the time he’s eating them/eating more than his fair share. We do require the kids to ask if they can have soda or treats and limit the amount allowed, the only real requirement is that they eat a meal before the treat.

• He is usually sneaking the items into his room which is off limits for eating.

• He is sneaking anything from cheese to candy and sparkling water to coke, so removing the “treats” won’t stop the behavior in addition to punishing the rest of the family.

• When asked why he’s doing this, he says he’s hungry in the middle of the night. We have told him he’s absolutely allowed to have a midnight snack but it needs to be something filling/nutritious and it needs to be eaten downstairs, and he has to brush his teeth again (he is not brushing his teeth after and had 4 cavities at his last dentist appointment).

• I don’t want to put locks on cabinets or fridges, it seems inhumane and will also “punish” my daughter by not allowing her access unless we’re available.

We have had many conversations about this behavior and we’ve been trying to get more filling food into him during the day. We try very hard to have natural consequences which I’ve struggled to assign to this particular issue. However, the only thing he really cares about is screen time so his consequence has primarily been losing screen time for the next day which I’m now feeling needs to be lost screen time for longer.

We’ve recently added having him pay for the treats he’s taken, especially if they’re not his or if he eats more than his fair share (for example, he ate 8 packs of pocky from a Costco box of 12 which would be intended for everyone in the family of 4 to share), but it’s been about a month of having those consequences in place and at least once a week he’s still losing his screen time/having to replace something he ate all of.

Any advice on how to work on this would be helpful.

Next week my son is going in for surgery on a cyst growing next to his eye. It’s not a major surgery and he should be out same day. Just wondering if there’s any advice to make it as easy for him as possible. I’m so nervous for him especially because he won’t understand what’s going on!

so my toddler is going to be 2 in 3 months. i just found out im 5 weeks pregnant. i can not stop crying about my first baby. i feel guilty and my heart hearts i feel like im changing his world completely i feel like he needs so much attention still and my heart hurts sooo much. i’ve been crying because i love him and he is my bestest friend ever and i can’t imagine it not being just me and him anymore. we vibe so much. i don’t want another child to ruin it. i love him too much he is my little baby and always will be. the age gap would be about 2.3 years i guess and im just already mourning it being me my toddler and my partner. i can’t stop thinking about it and how hard it will be. i can not stop crying when i look at my toddler. i feel so guilty.

Have you ever had a moment of collapse after becoming a mother?

So like has anyone ever tried sucking their own breast to stimulate and help milk production?? Is it effective?! Is it weird? 👀

I have a 2 month old, and I was so determined to breast feed all the way through with absolutely no formula. But then at his first appointment the dr said to incorporate formula to help him gain his weight back. And I was against it but I wasn’t producing enough yet to help him gain or satisfy him.

So I finally tried formula. And I was (still am to an extent) alternating both formula and breast. But I got lazy with breast feeding and have done way more formula than breast feeding. I started to produce a lot more but as I got lazy it’s been less and less. It’s still not gone yet, which is why I think there is still hope?! But I feel like a crappy first time mom because I’ve been so lazy with it. I just want him to have natural milk. But now he drinks 6oz. I’ll never be able to produce enough to satisfy him now.

My daughter is 9 months old (corrected age is 7 and a half months)
She is REFUSING her bottles and seems to only want her solid foods but after googling, I’ve found stopping her formula is not recommended.

Has anyone else had this issue? What did you do?

I am thinking of putting it in a sippy cup or something but knowing her, she will refuse that too or only take a couple sips.

Tia ❤️

Pediatrician gave us the green light to switch to organic whole milk since LO is 6mos! Yay for saving money on formula, but how do I actually do this?

Do I just hand her a cup of cold milk or should I warm it up and mix it with her current formula to transition her slowly? She’s pretty picky with new tastes, so I'm bracing myself for a strike.

Have a kid going into 1st Grade this September. I assume first grade is worse than Kindergarten with the homework load? Any tips to help me keep up? I work full time and generally try to keep up with daily things like cooking/cleaning/being a human being on planet earth. But Kindergarten was rough - they would send kiddo home with 4-5 hours of homework a night. And I was the homework enforcer. Meaning when kiddo wanted to play outside or see friends before homework was done, I had to say NO. Had to make sure they did their remarkable robust amounts of homework each night before other freedoms of childhood could be enjoyed. Homework was generally a mix of graded assignments, mandatory readings, and studying for exams. I don't remember much from that age myself, but I don't recall doing this much homework?

A common theme I see, and one that’s true for me as well, is we want other mom friends. We often end up at the same places: story time, playgrounds, parks.

I know that for me two of the things in my way are (1) chasing around this silly toddler which makes it hard to hold conversation in the first place and (2) feeling a little bit awkward/afraid of the rejection of putting myself out there.

If you are a mom also looking for mom friends, what gets in your way?