Feeding Tuesday: Placemat + Plate

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Placemat and plate for kidsAs I’ve mentioned before, I don’t bend over backwards to plate overly cute meals for my kids, but I like to think that ANY meal would look cute on this placemat/plate. It’s 100% food grade silicone, BPA, PVC, lead and phthalate free — and says it’s ok for the dishwasher. It looks particularly cute for the messy years… which, hmmn, both my boys are still in. It’s $24.95 at Amazon, available in four colors and eligible for Prime. ezpz Happy Mat (Blue) – One-piece silicone placemat + plate Psst: Ladies, what are your favorite non-toxic but dishwasher safe cups, plates, and more for your kiddos? I’ve been thinking about it since our discussion on the melamine soup spoons and spent far too much time perusing The Soft Landing’s 2012 guide last night.

Sales of note for 11.25.24 (Great Black Friday Sales!!)

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

Kid/Family Sales

And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interestworking mom questions asked by the commenters!

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Do not buy. Your tot will pick it up and throw it. This is why you should test products before posting about them.

My breastfeed baby won’t take a bottle and I’m returning to work in a few days. Anyone dealt with this and what did you do? I’ve tried formula and expressed breast milk, as well as different bottles.

Sounds weird but — ask the pediatrician.
My 1st kid almost never had a fever. So when our 2nd got a fever, I freaked out and called in the evening and then brought the kid in in the morning. I explained to the doctor, “I swear I’m not hypochondriac mom, I just don’t know about fevers!” and she said, Good! Bring him in! Would much rather you did that!

Also, some people I know HATE doctors’ offices, and (relatedly) swear their kid gets more sick there, in the waiting room, etc. I’d rather take the kid to the dr. office and deal with it, honestly, I don’t mind the doctors’ offices and I’m not convinced the doctor’s office is any more of a petri dish than daycare, etc.

Do you have a travel placemat you like to use at restaurants? I have been thinking about getting something to put down on the table so that DD isn’t eating directly off the table. It doesn’t bother me that much, but it just sort of looks weird.

Stuck in moderation, so trying again: Any other moms have a different call-the-pediatrician threshold than your SO? If so, how do you handle it? I grew up in a military household where it was a high threshold to go to the doc, and the ER was reserved for true emergencies (life or limb) and a parent who was a RN. For my SO, it was the exact opposite: to the doc to check out every cough and fever, and the ER was used as a doc for when the doctor’s office was closed. Now that we have kids, we disagree over when a visit or call to the pediatrician or visit to the ER is warranted. I get frustrated at what I perceive to be panic at every cough, fever or bloody nose. Any advice?

Any other mom rettes have a different call-the-pediatrician threshold than your SO? If so, how do you handle it? I grew up in a military household where it was a high threshold to go to the doc, and the ER was reserved for true emergencies (life or limb) and a parent who was a RN. For my SO, it was the exact opposite: to the doc to check out every cough and fever, and the ER was used as a doc for when the doctor’s office was closed. Now that we have kids, we disagree over when a visit or call to the pediatrician or visit to the ER is warranted. I get frustrated at what I perceive to be panic at every cough, fever or bloody nose. Any advice?

In theory, this is a great product, because if you lift up on the “plate” part it is suctioned to the table. In practice, it took my son about 30 seconds to figure out that he can lift up the corner and move the entire thing.

That said, we still use it everyday, because he likes it and it’s easy to clean.

Question for the Hive: how much fatigue is reasonable/expected as a parent?

I used to be an energizer-bunny-type: no tiredness as long as I got my 8 hours of sleep at night. I did take up napping during pregnancy. Now, (my son is 15m) I still get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, but I am so.tired.every.day around 3:30/4pm. Lots of days I leave work to head home for a brief nap before I go back out and pickup my son from daycare!! Does this sound normal/relateable to you all? Based on no evidence whatsoever I’m concerned that this is a side effect of my Mirena IUD (which I’ve had in for about 13m). I drink more caffeine now than I ever did before (one huge cup of light black tea in the morning; none for lunch; sometimes a coke in the late-afternoon if I can’t get home for the aforementioned nap). I get moderate exercise each week (a couple of runs and/or long walks) and am trying to incorporate more protein into my lunch. I guess I’m just trying to figure out if this is what being 32 and a full-time working mom is like (i.e. my new normal), or if this is off-base. Thanks for your insights!

I gave up on suction bowls because they were just a fun game for little TK. When he applied enough pulling force to overcome the suction function the bowls shot upwards quickly and the food flew further. Hilarious for him, not so much for me.

So I know several posters on here have dealt with a high lipase issue. I happened to notice that some of my frozen and thawed breastmilk has a slight soapy taste to it; however, my kid has always taken it with zero issues. I did the check where you put a bottle in the fridge and check it at 8/12/24 etc hours and mine seems to slightly switch around 48 hours and keep that same slight taste difference once frozen and thawed.

Like I said though, the baby guzzles down thawed and reheated milk with no issues. What would you do here? Should I start heat treating the milk that’s going into my freezer stash (I currently have a huge one) just in case baby starts rejecting it? Should I not worry at all about this? Honestly- I wouldn’t have even noticed except that I got some on my hand while prepping a bottle and just licked it off the other day.

Le sigh. This is one of those cases where I’m wondering if ignorance is bliss.

I like this in theory, but reviews I’ve seen say that kids can still pick them up and flip them. Does the pink unicorn that is the unflippable toddler bowl exist? Since my kids have become self-feeding, I’ve mostly fed them directly from their high chair trays. B is moderately successful eating yogurt with a spoon from a suction Munchkin bowl, but when he gets toward the end, he’ll pick it up and lick the yogurt out of the bowl, spilling what’s left into his lap (i.e., the suction is basically useless). I tried giving them chili in bowls this past weekend and A just picked up the bowl and flipped it all into his lap. B struggled with the spoon for awhile, then picked up the bowl and licked out the chili, again spilling what was left into his lap. I realize that toddler meals are messy, but if a bowl exists that actually stays put, that would go a long way toward helping to teach my kids to eat with utensils (won’t stop them holding the spoon in one hand and digging the food out of the bowl with the other, but it would be a start).