Budget Thursday: Floral Print Shirtdress

Welcome any thoughts, advice, or rumination from the hive—

We’re going on week 5ish of the 18 month sleep regression. The past several weeks, kiddo has slept through the night in his own crib for five or six days total. Right now, it’s not as bad as it was, since he gets up around 2am for a bottle; sometimes he’s thirsty and sometimes he’s not. He only goes back to sleep in our bed (which is an improvement from a few weeks ago when he would babble and be wide awake in his room or our bed for hours).

Mind you, he’s been sleeping in his crib since he was six weeks old (and still naps, knock on wood, in his crib). I guess I’m wondering what your thoughts are on whether:
-We are forming an awful habit?
-He will revert back to his old ways like past regressions (he has never slept soundly in our bed before this regression)?
-I should sleep train him to go back to his crib soon, though I don’t know if it’ll work toward the end of a regression.

We’re kind of on autopilot right now because we have prioritized sleep, but welcome any thoughts on getting back to normal. In the past, we have let him fuss a bit and have let him cry it out a bit, but haven’t had to be very aggressive or draconian about it. He’s been good at self-soothing in the past, and I don’t know if this recent bout of issues is a result of separation anxiety or what. He has a well visit soon, so we will ask our pediatrician as well. Other data points:
-We give him ibuprofen every night since teething happens often
-He has a good bedtime routine
-He gets down with little to medium effort most nights
-He has a nightlight
-He’s down to one nap and has adjusted, and I don’t think this is a schedule issue?

I welcome any and all anecdotes, input, or superstition at this point, especially since I’m heading out of town for work soon an am nervous about how this’ll play out or what new habits will form w/ Dad solo parenting.

Particularly bad WFH-with-sick-toddler conference calls this morning….ugh.

Has anyone tried the Willow pump and been successful with it? Worth the money? I just got back to work after maternity leave (big law transactional attorney) and pumping at the office is leaving me in tears, and stress while pumping results in me producing very little milk… starting a very vicious cycle. I bought the freemie pump and tried that at home two weeks before I came back and I was barely pumping two ounces with those “wearable cups”, while getting five or six with the more traditional Medela parts.

When wearing a pumping bra and the parts for my medela pump, I literally cannot reach my keyboard as the bottles bump into the desk, so I cannot work while pumping (I also can’t eat lunch easily either), so now I am losing an hour plus of billable time a day to pumping and cleaning up/organizing after pumping. I’ve tried moving things on my desk, I already tried the freemie pump and that did not work for me. I also have a husband who is usually understanding and empathetic, but anytime we try to talk about breastfeeding/pumping, he just doesn’t “get it” and this seems to be the one topic where he is actively trying to avoid learning anything or trying to understand why it is difficult. So I’m getting a lot of “just don’t stress about it” and “you’ll figure it out” or “X at my office made it work” (he’s in house working in a far less stressful job than I am) responses from him.

Appreciate anyone who read this rant, and any thoughts on the Willow pump or just making pumping at the office work generally. I only have a 10 minute commute, so that’s not enough time to try to pump in the car. They put a lock on my office door and gave me a mini fridge, so I can just pump in my office and don’t need to go anywhere or schedule time in a mother’s room. I am actually completely okay with giving my baby formula and nursing when I can, I just am frustrated to tears that everyone else seems to have figure out “pumping at the office” yet I don’t seem to be able to do that. What am I missing?

For those of you with little ones on Zantac, how are you reacting to the recent fda warning? I asked our pediatrician about it and she recommended trying to wean off of it, which has just made it clear that kiddo still needs it. I have a call in to ask if we should resume or look at other medicines but it feels frustrating. I know Zantac is over prescribed and there’s other issues apart from this recent news but I feel so frustrated because our kid is in a lot of pain and not eating or sleeping without it.

Just received a notice of scheduling conference on my ex’s motion to modify child support. Ugh. I just want him to leave me alone, do the minimal stuff that he does with the kids and let us move forward with our lives.