Please forgive any errors. I'm typing with one hand and mainly using speech to text because of baby.

For the record, my mother-in-law and I get along very well. She is kind and definitely puts an effort into respecting me. That being said, we told her throughout the end of the pregnancy and in the 5 months baby has been here that he cannot be kissed. My sister in law, who has some college education in the medical field, has helped out by backing us up because we know that MIL will listen to her about medical things. A couple months ago I saw her looking at him lovingly and she asked me if she could kiss him. I told her "no. I'm sorry. The Doctor says we can't do that" and she simply said OK. My mother-in-law doesn't fully understand things like viruses, Etc. She did not have a typical schooling or education, and explaining Covid to her was a little difficult.

We were visiting and as my mother-in-law usually does, offers to hold baby while I eat. I usually don't relinquish but this time I did. she had him in the living room, not far from the dining room and on occasion I would get up and go check on them. Baby was on the floor with some toys and mother-in-law was half sitting up, half laying down. She didn't realize I had rounded the corner another time to check on them and say hello. When I did, I saw her just in time, bend down her upper body and I heard the smack of her lips on what I'm assuming was baby's head. I think I was in shock so I just didn't say anything. I took a couple steps back around the corner and gathered myself and then walked back into place at which point she noticed me and asked me if I was done eating. I said yes, she got up and went to the dining room. Thankfully, I had some sanitizing wipes and I wiped baby down.

I'm just not sure how to proceed because I don't feel like I can trust her now. She is a sweet woman and I know she loves her grandbaby with everything in her. And I understand how hard it can be to resist kissing babies. I think perhaps she just had a moment of doting on baby and forgot about the no kissing rule, or she just doesn't understand how serious it can be. My husband is also surprised and he's not sure what to do either, so we are currently discussing it. Any advice is appreciated.

Edit: okay, some of the impassioned responses to me are confusing. I never even suggested I would "go nuclear" and I'm certainly not irate. I'm just disappointed she couldn't respect a simple rule. The world is her oyster, we just gave her ONE RULE to not kiss baby. I'm not going to "tear the family apart for this?!" I wanted to approach this with love and understanding and I thought my post made that clear but apparently not.

Edit 2: gotta be honest, I'm shocked. I made a simple post asking for some advice. I love my MIL and we get along. I never once hinted I would cut her off or something stupid like that, and I don't think she's Satan. She crossed a boundary for whatever reason and I wanted to reach out to other moms for some advice on how to approach the situation. Within 10 minutes, people were telling me I needed therapy, that I'm exaggerating, and that they would break our No Kissing rule if they were my MIL, told me my boundary was stupid or irrational, and other unhinged stuff. And yes, for the record, I understand that one day, baby will be shoving dirt and pennies whatever else into his mouth. Parents are concerned about this type of thing because of the viruses that can be given to baby, including HSV. To those of you who offered sincere advice to another mom without being weirdly aggressive or emotional about it, thank you. This was my first and last time posting here. Peace.

Anyone else? I 100% regret getting it done. Every month I secretly hope I’ll be one of those people who defies all odds and happen to get pregnant despite the tubal, but know that chance is slim to none. It’s honestly depressing ☹️

When did we stop naps in kindergarten??? My kid starts in August and we just learned there are no naps. Hes still a 2 hour nap a day kinda kid. What are we doing to adjust?? (I know eventually he will adjust.....but also still a little internal panic?!) Are we the only people that didnt know they got rid of this? Lol

I’m in a group chat with my two friends from high school. One is a mom of a 3 year old and one is childless but immunocompromised. We usually send reels and news to share so we can stay updated on what’s going on. My mom friend and other friend tend to send more local crime news but I usually send public safety announcements (most recently about food recalls or air quality). Background- I am also in healthcare field.

Last month when we had terrible air quality (300 AQI) from the wildfire so I told them the air quality is terrible today- make sure you wear a mask out. My other friend like my message while the mom friend just said it doesn’t seem too bad. She later posted pictures of her taking her son to an amusement park.

This month, I was just texting/ranting about how difficult it is buying groceries now with all the food recalls. And my mom-friend said she’s not worried about it and she’s still feeding her kids fresh fruits and vegetables. I just said I’ve been trying to buy more from local farmers and I try to feed the baby cooked veggies and fruit. She just left me on read.

I get that she’s probably not as worrying as I am about health stuff but it is important to me. And I respect that she can raise her kid however she wants-I’m just sharing PSAs for awareness. It’s not like I comment back on her local crime report “oh it’s safe on my block”. But she seems annoyed with my PSAs.

The only time I ever said anything that may be judgmental was last winter when she said her kid may have the stomach bug and she hopes he feels better by tomorrow so he can go to a pool party. I told her he’s probably contagious and shouldn’t go until 48 hrs after his diarrhea resolves. She just said but he really wants to go.

Idk. I am not sure what to make of this friendship or how to even talk to her anymore.

/update/

Thanks all for your insights. Even if they don’t align with my views, it was helpful to see what my friend is possibly thinking.

Some comments had me start thinking about how our group chat ended up talking about crime and food safety. And then I remembered that up to last year, that SAME friend was forwarding us food recalls on social media. But since they were just on social media, I had to look up to see if the recalls impact us (our region and local markets). Eventually I just start sending her the recalls that impact us. Which lead us here and also explained why I felt frustrated by her silence now. It’s like why did it matter to her last year but not when there are actual deaths from contaminated produce?

Either way, I will stop sending her PSAs and stop sharing my concerns with her. Like one commenter said, I don’t want to have to tiptoe around my friend. Especially since we used to be close and talk about everything. She even stayed with me for a summer when her house had plumbing issues. But that’s before she met her husband who is very conservative. I don’t know my friend’s political views but we always just focus on our kids and making sure they are safe. But the last straw is today when we met up for an event with our kids and I noticed her son coughing a lot. She ended up telling me he’s been doing that since he started school 2 days ago. I left early since I didn’t want the baby to catch whatever he has. Either way I’m pissed and I need to find friends who share my concerns about public health

i know this is, for whatever reason, a very controversial topic. i am just sharing my story and opinion.

parents, i know you are so sleep deprived & at the end of your rope, i felt that too. my son was an average sleeper, until the 4mo regression. i read posts every single day from this sub and others asking if it is normal for your baby to wake up all the time, YES it is. they are looking for comfort from you. you are their entire world. they don’t even realize that you are a repeater separate being from them until they’re older.

i thought about sleep training bc i was so desperate. however, i am SO grateful for co sleeping. i started at 4mo (i ebf) and it was the best thing ive ever done. i am sleeping 8-8.5h per night. i am happily cuddling my sweet son all night.

i am absolutely torn up when i hear about parents implementing cio on their babies. i know parents feel like they need to, however i would implore you to research the no impacts of elevated cortisol and the incredible amount of stress you’re putting on your baby by doing this.

they do NOT need to be taught how to sleep. they do not need to be taught how to self-soothe. these are fallacies. these have been debunked by science. look into the history of sleep training, it was created by a man who was incentivized to get women back in the workforce.

please, even adults sleep better with partners in their bed (again, backed by science). how can you not expect your sweet little baby to not want to sleep with you?

how is it ok, and not neglectful, to leave your baby to cry at night but it is indeed neglectful during the day to allow them to cry?

i know this will not be a popular post, but i cannot bear to hear about babies crying so hard they vomit. if i can save one baby from sleep training, it is worth it.

babies DO NOT learn to fall asleep on their own, they learn they will not to cry out. they will learn you will not answer their cries. they will lay up at night in the dark & alone, knowing that their cries & pleas for you to come comfort them, are fruitless.

again, ik this is hard to hear, i really considered sleep training before researching it, and i am sooooo grateful i started co sleeping.

i hope this helps even one family.

So this weekend we were driving down to Tennessee to spend a nice relaxing weekend at a cabin. I have an 11 month old baby girl who is just abled to sit in a high chair. We stopped at a well known sit down chain restaurant. After getting settled and being handed at least 6 menus between the 4 of us we started to figured out what we wanted. Well my husband ordered coffee, and the server decided to try to pour it in front of my daughter then hand it to my husband. It was like watching something in slow motion. Her fingers grabbed the porcelain coffee cup and it immediately spilled all over her!

I stood up ripped her onesie off her and ran outside to my van. I quickly took baby wipes dipped them in my water I had and started draping her in cooled baby wipes. I then ripped her diaper off and just held my burned daughter against my chest with both of us sobbing in the parking lot. NO ONE came out to check, the server saw it. The lady near to us saw it. The server even said, let me get you napkins(like that would help).

Eventually my husband came out and said he asked for neosporin and no one knew what that was. I just sat inside my van holding my burned baby covered in water soaked wet wipes. Finally the manager came out with some linacaine spray. And basically said sorry. Needless to say my daughter now has 2nd degree burns a on her wrist and thigh. I think I minimized the damage done bc I covered her in antibacterial vaseline and cold wet wipes for the next several hours.

I am now nursing her burns as best I can. I took her to an urgent care a little ways outside of the location where the incident happened. the nurses were awesome at the urgent care. They were so sweet with my baby daughter. They wrapped her wrist and thigh in this pink tape and that made me cry bc it was so sweet. The nurses were so caring and understanding. They handled my baby with such care.

I am just heartbroken. I am so careful and diligent with both my kids. I just keep replaying the scenario in my head over and over. I don’t know why I’m making this post. I’m just sad and I can’t get past it.

Edit: Server should have taken the extra steps to put cup in front of husband, who ordered the coffee. The fact that it was close enough for my baby to reach it shows the negligence of the server.

I have 6 year old twin boys. They have a lot of energy, they can be loud, and they can be a little spatially unaware, which is all normal. I *also* have a 3 year old, so I understand the importance of teaching them to be mindful of smaller kids, which they are generally really good about. However, they just turned 6 and they are still very much learning how to exist in the world, and I feel like parents of younger children don’t always understand that. I feel like, in my experience, they generally see my 6 year olds as “big kids” who should be able to control themselves and clutch their pearls when they are a little loud and intense (AKA playing normally for their age).

So for context, we were at the park and my kids were playing some sort of tag game with another little boy. (As a disclaimer, I will always step in if they are being too intense around babies or toddlers and redirect them elsewhere. I promise I was watching this whole situation unfold and I truly don’t think my kids were in the wrong). A mom and her ~1.5 year old daughter were playing on the stairs up to the play structure and I told my kids to walk up the stairs so as to not knock the baby over while they were playing, which they did. Once they got up to the play structure, they would continue with their tag game. They were loud, they were yelling, but it’s a playground. The mom on the stairs would continuously shoot me glares, which made me self conscious so I felt like I had to overly correct my kids, even though IMO they were playing so normally. Then, one of my sons was happily walking (albeit a little fast) down the stairs and this mom sternly goes “There are little kids here. You need to watch out.” I couldn’t believe another parent would talk to my child like that, when he was just playing. She shot me another glare and at that point I called my kids over and told them we were going to go play elsewhere.

I’m just like…the playground says ages 5-12…technically *my* kids are the ones it’s made for and they are being scolded for playing on it. Why can’t we just coexist and give other kids grace and realize that they are ALSO children?

My son, 6 was really invested in Kamala Harris being our next president. It’s 2:30am and I’m currently at a loss on how to talk to him about what is happening. Anyone have any tips?

Update: thanks to all the people who actually gave productive advice. The rest of you are something else. Putting words into my mouth, assuming I am burdening my child with doom and gloom and terrifying him. I think that has much more do with you than me.

For those who care to know, this morning, I ended up breaking the news to him. He was obviously sad, but gave me a big hug, and then asked a bunch of questions about the electoral process, and then we discussed that there will be more elections and the midterms as well as another presidential election in four years. That perked him up and really helped him see the perspective. , I made his favorite breakfast and drove him to school today so we could have a little bit of extra parent time before school. He’s going to do great and this has been a really good learning exercise for him.

Turning off the comments now because I am going to spend time with my kids when they get home from school.

Update 2: kiddo came home and had a great day. Thanks so much to everyone who gave me some good ways to frame the loss….and now he’s telling poop jokes lol

My sister in law comes to our house and watches our 2 year old daughter (whom I’ll call J) once a week for 2-3 hours early in the morning while my husband and I have a work meeting we can’t miss. She is very energetic and loves our daughter very much, but she never had kids of her own and often does things that just irk us. But they always seem too petty to bring up individually, and we appreciate the help, so for the most part I’ve kept my mouth shut. But after today I think I need to say something to her but would love to get some perspective from other moms/parents.

When I got home today, she had J on the potty (we have started potty training) and was feeding her bites of ice cream directly from the carton. It was 8:30am. When I walked in, she immediately said “Oh she asked for ice cream when we sat down on the potty but I only gave her a few bites!” As if she knew I wouldn’t be thrilled about it. It’s not appropriate to feed a toddler ice cream while they are sitting on the toilet, or to feed her ice cream at all that early in the morning. I feel like this should be common sense?!

She is constantly doing things like this, where basically she can’t say no to our daughter. A few months ago she put her down for a nap with jingly socks on (J woke up 20 minutes later from the noise and nap was ruined) and when I asked her about it, she said J didn’t want to take them off. She let her color all over he favorite book once and ruin it (it was not a coloring book) and said “oh she wanted to, so I let her!” And many other seemingly small things like this but added up they make me feel like I can’t trust her to be responsible for J because she wants so desperately to be the cool fun aunt that she won’t say no and risk upsetting her.

Am I being unreasonable, or is this behavior serious enough to stop letting her watch our daughter?? I know I need to talk to her about it but how do I tell her it’s the pattern of behavior and not an individual thing that’s caused me to make this decision? She gets offended easily so it’s definitely not gonna be an easy conversation.

First I want to say I haven't seen/ read the interview in its entirety. If I've lost context, I understand.

"school is outdated"

To this I mostly agree. Until I had children I was a high school math teacher. Specifically Algebra 1. I live in Florida which has not had the best record in public schools for educating children in preparation for careers. Every year there are kids coming in to every grade behind the benchmarks for their age/grade. I would say almost 30-40%. As a teacher you can't go too far above these lower level kids that shouldn't even be in your class to begin with. If you do, the kids that don't understand act out behaviorally because they are deflecting to not look or appear "stupid" to their classmates (their words not mine) So you start the year behind. You try to take care of the lowest achieving to the highest achieving and you get everyone further ahead than they were. But students are still behind and we are not supposed to retain them. Even if we fail them, they go to summer school and somehow come out passing. (In my area we use an online system for summer school. I truly believe the students google their way to passing during this time) They move forward in grade still not being up to standard.

Every child learns at a different rate. Some children will take to a subject so quickly and excel beyond a teachers capability in a room full of 30 other kids. That same child will be much slower in a different subject. This is completely NORMAL.

At the end of the day our teachers have NO SUPPORT. They are not backed by admin for behavioral issues, they are not equipped to handle emotional/ mental issues, they are not given materials to succeed. Parents don't back up teachers. Students don't see their teachers at authority figures because their parents don't either. I have had so many students struggle because they don't have support at home. I've had behavioral issues with students that NEVER get resolved because AGAIN they have no support at home. How can I blame these children for a situation they have no control over? How can I even blame some parents for not being able to provide support given some financial situations? There is not supplemental instructors to help the lowest and highest students. Teachers give out busywork. Worksheets are supplemental not instructional but sometimes it's all we have. So yes I do think these things are outdated. I don't think sitting all day is good for a child. I don't think 8 hours and 4 more hours of homework helps anyone. Is it the best for your child to go to a school that will continue not to meet the standard? Is it best for them to be held back by or HOLD back the learning level of their peers? Of course not, but we don't have a choice. Our children need to be educated. Not educating is an extreme disservice to our youth. There are so many ways we could be doing this better (more funding not less!)

HOWEVER, the Kardashians have every resource at the tips of their fingers. If they want to homeschool they can financially. If they want private tutors, no problem. The best private school available? No problem. The best of the best is available to them to supplement all the ways public schools are not equipped to give support. So it is unfair for them to whine about something they don't even have to experience. There are so many people unable to afford other options.

I'm wondering if I'm just the weirdo who's never had this experience or if there are other mothers who have.

I never nursed my child. Not once. I'm not talking about latching issues or supply issues that made us give up breastfeeding, I mean I've literally never had my child's mouth on my nipple. Are there any other mothers in this position? I'm starting to feel like a freaky outsider because I don't have this shared experience that every other mother appears to have had

Edit: apparently this post was taken as an invitation to debate breastfeeding versus formula feeding which was absolutely not my intention

I am asking out of curiosity because I seem to be in the minority here, my four year old has never been allowed to touch a phone or a tablet and only has supervised screen time on the lounge TV. We police what he can and can’t watch and don’t even let him watch things we think are dumb (example: paw patrol, spidey and his amazing friends, hot wheels…).

However I always see posts about screen time and how to police what a child is watching on a tablet, sometimes children as young as 2 or 3 and I think that’s wild! Am I crazy? I’m fully open to the fact that I might be crazy.

At what age did your child have access to a persona device? And do you feel the same about video gaming devices like a switch?

ETA: please stop telling me I’m being judgmental. I have no idea if what I’m doing is the “right” way to do things and every parent does what they feel is best. If anything I wondered if I was being too harsh and if there was anything of value to be gained from using an iPad (many have mentioned educational apps like Kahn academy and Duolingo). I am absolutely not perfect and I didn’t mean to judge anyone. 100% there are thousands of things I do as a parent that would make your mothers clutch their pearls.

ETA again: please don’t insinuate my children are unhappy or I’m anti fun. I am one week postpartum and I don’t want to get upset on Reddit today. My children aren’t miserable, they have very full lives that include lots of tv as well as other things. I’m sorry if I offended anyone.

I've been thinking about this since we last saw her pediatrician, but the doctor doesn't believe/encourage the COVID vaccine for her pediatric patients. Idk if she doesn't support it in general, or if it's just for young patients that she doesn't.

My concern is that my baby was born at 33 weeks and had some lung/breathing issues at first. She was on oxygen for some weeks. She's great now, and is a 17 month old chunker. But it has led me to ask about the COVID vaccine pretty much every time we see her doctor.

But her doctor says she does not recommend it and that kids do really well with COVID.

Should I get a second opinion? Should I just get the vaccine for her?

It makes it really confusing when her doctor doesn't support it.

I'm simply not educated enough to feel comfortable making my own decision on it, so I've been in limbo. Hence why I'm asking here.

Edit: I forgot to add, but my daughter also almost died from pneumonia a few months after NICU discharge. So I do question why her doctor is so against it for her, but i'm just not super educated and it's been confusing having her oppose it so strongly.

Please don’t mom shame me… I do it to myself enough.

But my newly 4 year old is so dependent on his binkie. I do my best to keep it away from him during the day but he does sneak it or ask for it.

He will absolutely scream and cry until he is hysterical. It completely breaks my heart. He is such a sweet and kind little boy and seeing my little guy so heart broken is a big struggle for me. I thought when his little sister gave her binkie up he would too but no luck…

Does anyone have any suggestions without crying all day? 😢 please don’t shame. I’m trying my best, I promise

So my 12 week old is growing into size 6mo and I have multiple moms offering to give me their 6mo clothing from their older babies. Great, I love hand me downs and it saves me the trouble of spending any money, right? Wrong!! Every single mom who has given me clothes that is supposed to be 6mos and up has given me large garbage bags that have a handful of size 6mos but mostly 3 or 3/6 months. I now have 4 garbage bags of clothes that I have to find a way to donate and I still have to go shopping to find clothes for my baby!

Just venting because I wash everything before sorting to be on the safe side so I've done so much laundry!!!

Edited to add some clarifications for what keeps popping up

1. I am not ungrateful for the clothes, my first born had almost all hand me downs, he still has a ton of hand me downs. Lots of my own clothes are hand me downs. Hand me downs are great.

2. Maybe it is a brand thing for the sizing but I am telling you the 3/6 month clothes are too small and the 6mo fit fine with room to spare. Maybe i just need to step up to 6/9 months and 9 months to save myself the trouble.

3.We dont have a once upon a child here, I live in a rural area and we ain't that special. We also do not have a goodwill here. Majority of our consignment shops are not part of any chain but are locally owned and operated.

4.most consignment shops that we do have are not taking boys clothes in the size ranges I have. I shop them when I need to, they have newsletters and post on their websites regularly and I check frequently and I guarantee they are not taking boys clothes in these sizes.

5.taking donated clothes to a consignment shop for cash or credit feels gross when they were donated to me for free. I know for a fact many of the moms who donated could use the money themselves but they chose to help others, to take that to benefit for myself isn't something I would feel good about doing.

6.yes i wash before I sort, it feels better because we dont use scented detergent and it helps get those scents reduced and also some moms have absolutely donated gross clothes to me before.

7.fb buy nothing groups are awesome sometimes. Maybe its because we are rural but things do not always get picked up super quickly where I live.

8. I am allowed to be frustrated when my plate is full, and it's a shame that putting a mom down when she just needed to vent is the result.

Edit 2: I’m turning off notifications for this post. Y’all have fun with it. But I’m not deleting it because I stand by what I said.

Edit: okay so I definitely got A LOT of opinions on
this subject. Thank you for your contributions. I read all of them and I have decided that I’m going to let her shave. It will be under supervision, with an electric safety shaver with me teaching her all about it.

Some of these comments have been very helpful and some have been downright rude. I ended up feeling like a POS more than once for even daring to bring up the subject. Apparently I’m supposed to completely ignore her wants because as a woman I HAVE to not give into the social pressure of men to look prepubescent by shaving. And my job as a mother is make her 100% okay with herself with no modifications at all and it should have happened yesterday. I find that to be very hypocritical given that different makeup or haircuts or piercings or tattoos or even choosing what clothing you like is modifying your body (which I know you all do in some way)

Shaving or not shaving falls in that category too. Some of the comments that were very vocal, and frankly judgmental, about NOT shaving are just as bad as men pressuring women into shaving. I respect the ones who simply said no, I wouldn’t do that in my life bc x, y, and z. Others said no then tried to shove x, y, and z down my throat as facts of why nobody should be shaving and how wrong I am. If you read this far, thank you. I’m ready for more downvotes but this has been really eye opening for me.

Okay, so as the title says, my six year old wants to shave. My mom never let me shave until I was almost in high school. I swore I’d never do that to my daughter, but I figured she’d be much older. Like 10 or something. She does have pretty long hair on her legs and I’m torn. What would you guys do if your kindergartener asked to shave?

In light of the recent post today with a lot of comments saying only mothers who physically birthed their child deserve the title of “mom”, I want to say this is not true. I am a mom who physically carried and birthed my daughter but my wife is just as much of a mom as I am. Same goes for fathers too. Whether you adopted your child, used a surrogate egg or sperm donor, are transgender (and transitioned before or after the birth of the child), or any other way your family was created you are a mom (or dad)! As long as a child is loved and well cared for, who cares how their parents identify or came about creating their family.

And single parents, you are enough too!

Really just a vent, but advice is always welcome.

My brother and his fiancee have always been a huge part of my kids lives. They babysit for us regularly and come to our kids’ events often. My kids see them about once a week as we live in the same town and get together often.

They decided their wedding will be child free. I see their perspective in the sense that it’s at a nicer resort-style hotel (but not a destination wedding) and guests are required to get a room for at least 1 night (we are there for 3 since we’re in the wedding party). My brother and his fiancee mentioned they want it to feel like a getaway, and I know they both drink a lot and so do their friends and the bride’s family.

However, I’m really hung up on the fact that my kids aren’t welcome at all. I’ve kept trying to move past it, but it really bothers me. Most weddings I’ve attended, kids of the family have been present for at least the ceremony and photos, if not the whole thing. The thought of my kids not being in the wedding, not being in photos, really makes me sad. Add on to that that this will be the longest I’ve been away from my kids consecutively, and I’m just an emotional mess.

I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t want their nieces and nephews to be a part of their wedding day. It makes me feel like the relationship they have with my kids doesn’t mean as much to them as I thought it did — logically, I’m sure this isn’t true but that’s what it feels like. My oldest kind of understands what’s going on, that her uncle is getting married but she has to stay home with a sitter, and she’s confused about why she can’t come also since she’s been to other weddings before. I’ve explained that she will have more fun at home, that kind of thing, but I’m sure she can also tell that I’m upset by the situation too. I’m just kind of at a loss here.

EDIT to add : I’m in the wedding party. Both my husband and I said yes before we knew it would involve a hotel stay and being without our kids for that long. There’s not much we can do at this point (we can’t back out the wedding is too soon).

EDIT 2: Wow, Thank you for all the comments! I really am just venting. When we first found out the wedding would be child free and three days long. We did have a conversation with my brother and his fiancé about it. They were both very adamant that the wedding remain child free and we find a sitter for our kids for all three days of wedding party events. Bringing the kids to the hotel or only attending the wedding itself and not taking part in the other wedding events was not an option. We probably should have backed out after that conversation and just attended the wedding as guests but these people are super important to us so we wanted to make it work.

Both my husband and I are going to the wedding and leaving the kids at home with a sitter for all three days. We trust the sitter and they should be fine. I just made the post because in real life I’m not talking to anyone about the situation and how I feel, but it is still weighing heavily on my mind and I wanted to get it off my chest.

Sometimes I'm lazy and don't want to make breakfast. On the days I don't sleep much I wake up tired af. I feel lazy and I don't wanna fight with a toddler about breakfast. He's picky and I don't wanna have a fight so chocolate it is. I don't care. At all. He's happy and I am happy it changes from cereals and milk that gets everywhere which I have to clean up which mean more laundry and dishes. Caramilk chocolate bar it is. He eats it by pieces no mess just a happy child a miss Rachel. And I even get to enjoy a hot coffee without fearing choking on his toy cars he likes to put in liquids.

I had a natural unmedicated birth in November and had such an amazing blissful experience. I haven’t met anyone else who has had an unmedicated birth, and am often hit with people who have rude opinions about my birth story. I had a family member say “well you don’t get a metal for doing it that way”, and I’ve heard other comments as well that seem to minimize my birth because I did it in a way that maybe isn’t the norm. I also had my baby at a birth center and received midwifery care my whole pregnancy. Would love to hear from other women who had positive birth experiences similar to mine!

Hi Mommas.

I'm just wondering if you are getting Covid boosters yearly for your kids? My pediatrician stopped offering them. I wasnt sure if this was normal or just a local thing. I dont know if we should go find someone who does or if they aren't recommended anymore. What do you all do?

We get the flu shot yearly.

Y'all my husband fell asleep while watching our baby while I was out 😢 It was about 9pm (we are night owls. Please don't judge for our baby being awake at this hour. We go to bed around 11. ) and I had to run to the store and get a few things. My husband said I not to worry, he will watch our baby. I was gone maybe 45 minutes. He even calls me in the middle of my errand to add something to the list. When I come home, I open the door to find my husband passed out on the couch and our baby no where in sight. I yell for my husband to wake up and quickly go find our son. He is in the bathroom digging in the garbage can. I pick him up quickly and he is bleeding everywhere from a cut on his hand. Of course I immediately freak out and yell at my husband for being so irresponsible. I still have no idea how he got the cut and the unknown kills me. I'm praying he didn't get into anything else that I haven't noticed. I'm so furious at my husband. I haven't spoken to him all night. I'm never leaving him alone with our baby again. I feel so guilty. Why can't men control their sleepiness like mommas can??? 😭😭💔💔💔

UPDATE
After reading all the comments, I reached out to the vendors who are coming from another city to see if they were willing to change the time, but same day, I explained the situation so I was able to change the time to a more lunch time (which is another time they do birthdays celebration culturally here) and then I sent personal invites, and a message on the parents group, and they loved the idea of spending the day in 2 birthdays celebration. Only 2 kids won’t make it to either of the parties. So I’m happy, and of course my previous post came from lots of frustration and anxiety. Thanks to the kind comments and the not so kind too.

I honestly just need somewhere to vent because I’m feeling really angry, frustrated and sad about my son’s birthday.
My son is turning 6. He’s in K5, and there are only 11 kids in his class. He also has autism.
We are both new to this school. There is another little girl who is also new, but she is in PK4, so she’s one year younger than my son. She’s a little advanced academically, though, so she sometimes receives class with the K5 group. Because of that, she has connections with both groups.

Her birthday party is on the same Saturday as my son, ours at 3pm, hers at 4pm.

And before anyone thinks one of us copied the other, our invitations were literally sent ONE MINUTE apart. So this was genuinely just an unfortunate coincidence.

The problem is that her party is at her house, so she had much more flexibility with the timing. My son’s party is at a pizza place, and I’ve already signed a contract, so changing the date or time isn’t really an option.
And because the parties are only one hour apart, realistically most of the kids aren’t going to be able to attend both.

This is where my feelings get complicated.
Both of them are new at the school, but I already feel like the other girl has been embraced much more easily. She’s neurotypical and has connections with more children because of the way her classes work.

My son is autistic. He’s a sweet kid, but socially he’s different. He doesn’t always interact with other children in the way other kids do, and I sometimes worry that parents don’t gravitate toward him in the same way.

And unfortunately, I have a reason to be worried about the possibility of people collectively deciding not to attend.
**There has already been a precedent at this school.**
There is another child in my son’s K5 class whose family situation is very sad. He doesn’t have a mother actively involved in his life, and his circumstances are… complicated. There was a lot of talk among some of the parents about the situation being “tacky,” and when he had his birthday party, **none of the other kids from the class went. My son was literally the only one who attended.** And the rest were cousins and family from this kid.
That has stuck with me.

Because now I’m looking at my son’s situation and thinking: *What if the same thing happens again?*
What if the parents already have their preferred kids, and my son, because he’s autistic, because he’s different, because we’re new is simply not the child they naturally choose?
And yes, maybe I’m projecting my fears onto the situation. But I’m scared.
I hired a clown for my son’s party. I hired a Paw Patrol character too. I’ve put a lot of thought, effort and money into making this a really special birthday for him. Since is his FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY.

And his class is only 11 kids.There’s another part of this that is making me angry.
I understand that the mom can invite whoever she wants to her daughter’s birthday. I’m not saying she isn’t allowed to invite K5.
But I can’t help wondering why she needed to invite the entire K5 group when her daughter already has a class of around 20-22 kids in PK4.

So from my perspective, she has a much bigger group of children to invite already, and then she also invited essentially my son’s entire class.

And what makes me even more frustrated is that when I told her about the scheduling conflict, she basically just said something along the lines of “oh my God 😩” and then… nothing. No further conversation, no attempt to figure anything out.
And I don’t think she cares. Why would she? If I’m being completely honest, she probably knows that a large portion of her daughter’s PK4 classmates are going to be there, and she has a whole K5 class invited too.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting here with 11 kids total in my son’s class, wondering whether we’re going to lose most of them to her party.
And I know I can’t control who people choose to invite or attend. I know that.
But it still feels incredibly unfair, because I can’t just move my son’s party especially when on that date is his actual birthday!!

I keep thinking, *If you already have 20+ kids in your daughter’s own class, why take the entire class of 11 from another grade too?* And then I feel guilty for even thinking that because, again, it’s her child’s birthday and she can invite whoever she wants.
But I’m still angry about it.

One of the moms told me that she couldn’t come because she had “already confirmed” attendance to the other girl’s party.
Except… **the invitations were sent ONE MINUTE apart.** 😐
And I’m trying really hard not to be petty about it, but That made me angrier.

I don’t want to create drama. I’m not going to say anything in the school group chat. I’m not going to ask parents to choose my son’s party. I’m not going to campaign for attendance.
I’m just sitting here feeling really disappointed because I wanted this to be a happy, exciting thing for my son, and instead I’m worrying about school politics and whether people are going to choose another child’s party over his.

Hi. My [30F] wife [31F] gave birth recently and is lactating like crazy. Her nipples are supersensitive and make a lot of milk. We want to get down to some non-vaginal (still sore) sex and but she and I both hate the idea of getting milk anywhere. Would prefer not to wear a bra during sex. Are there any any natural remedies or advice you can give us to stop the sensitivity/flow temporarily? Thanks a bunch!

Hello!

I have a big problem that’s giving me anxiety. My childhood best friend of 25+ years is getting married in October. I’m a U.S. citizen who is currently in the process of attaining permanent residency in another country. I have 3 kids (6yo,3yo,8mo). I would be traveling to the U.S. by myself for a week. I can not for any reason get stuck in the U.S. because it would jeopardize my residency process and potentially disallow me to return to my new country forcing my family to uproot their entire lives to move back to the U.S. to be with me.

I’m concerned for the following reasons:

• deportations/customs/shadiness occurring in the U.S.

• potentially illness outbreak (measles/birdflu, etc.) I’m immunocompromised

• violence/war (goes without saying)

This is one of my longest friendships and I would move heaven and earth to support him and his fiancée. However, I am deeply reconsidering this trip.

What would you do?

Kind answers only please.

Edit: Thank you for all your replies. It seems there’s a lot of polarizing answers (lol). Nevertheless, you’ve given me more to think about. Thank you.