This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
You know, it’s funny — I thought I used everything sensitive and safe for babies. Laundry detergent! Bubble bath! Sensitive bath wipes! Yet we never used this dishwashing liquid, which I’ve heard so many mothers rave about that I must be the rarity. It’s “all natural and baby safe,” and claims to remove the residue and odor associated with breastmilk and formula. Nice! It’s $10ish at Amazon. Dapple Fragrance-Free Baby Bottle & Dish Liquid
(L-2)
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
Click here to see our top posts!
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
TBK says
Grandparents are already asking what Santa Claus should bring this year. The boys will be two in March — favorite toys/gifts for 2 yr olds?
mascot says
Balance bike (they might be a little young, but should be ready for them by summer), tricycle, tent, Bruder-style trucks, duplos
RR says
Toy kitchen, dress up clothes, blocks, train sets.
POSITA says
MegaBlocks
Maddie Ross says
Favs in our house – tent, play kitchen, train table, blocks.
CHJ says
My 2 year old loves his train set (Melissa & Doug – it’s compatible with Brio and Thomas), his Duplos (especially the farm set), his toddler-sized basketball hoop, and all the books.
FWIW, I think a train set is a great gift from grandparents/Santa. It’s grand, it’s fun, and you can add pieces (tracks, trains, tunnels, bridges, etc.) year after year. For example, we live in Boston, so DS is getting one of these for Christmas:
http://www.mbtagifts.com/shop.php?c=25
NewMomAnon says
Duplos have become a huge hit in my house in the last month. Our set has a little cat and a dog, and I have to be so careful when doing laundry because the animals keep showing up in kiddo’s pockets. Add-ons to the Duplos set are definitely on our Christmas wish list.
Anonymous says
bikes. tunnels. tents. soccer ball/goal.
train table says
Oh, another good big ticket item is a train/activity table. We have a Nilo one and love it. You can get two different heights of legs so it grows with the kid. As we are aging out of trains and into Legos, we are still getting good use from it. And, it’s tall enough to fit storage baskets underneath.
Lorelai Gilmore says
My 2 year old son is really into a big set of Duplo train tracks that we have. They are a little bigger and really easy for kids to put together, unlike some of the other track sets. I think it’s a really well-made product. If you ask for it, you should ask for the train set and for extra track pieces – you can never have enough track IMO.
Tunnel says
At first I thought Dapple soap was a gimick, but it really works! I feel that it cleans bottles so much better than regular soap and gets rid of all of that slimy residue. For breastmilk bottles, adding in a squirt of the Medela Quick Clean Soap was a must for me.
mascot says
Yeah, this was something that I never worried about. I can’t imagine breastmilk and formula are so different from all other milk based and other food products that I need a special dish soap. But then again, we just ran everything through the dishwasher and called it good.
Marilla says
Still pregnant (less than 3 weeks to go!) but this is our approach too. I figure I’ll switch to “sensitive” products if we have any issues, but I washed all baby’s clothes with the same Tide we use, just with an extra rinse added to the cycle. I can’t imagine spending $10 on dish soap. I sort of think if babies have been fine up til now before all these products were invented, they will continue to be just fine with regular Tide/Palmolive/whatever. (Other than baby shampoo and soap, obviously.)
NewMomAnon says
The advice I got was the “free and clear” versions of regular detergents are essentially the same as the baby detergents, and much cheaper. I use the Target “free and clear” detergent for both my clothes and my kiddo’s clothes, and switched from dryer sheets to vinegar in the wash cycle since it doesn’t leave any residue behind (which is how dryer sheets work).
I found that breastmilk was harder to get out of bottles than regular milk; the fat isn’t homogenized so it tends to stick to the sides. But a good bottle brush is cheaper than this detergent and worked fine for us.
Marilla says
Thanks, that’s useful info!
EB0220 says
Totally agree with Tide Free & Clear and scrubbing the bottles before putting in the dishwasher!
Meg Murry says
Yes, the fat from breastmilk tends to leave a slight residue on the sides of bottles, especially if you are only handwashing and not using super super burn your hands hot water. I never had a special soap, but found a good bottle brush, sponge or wiping once dry with a paper towel was necessary to get out all the greasy residue – just rinsing with water and dish soap isn’t enough, and the dishwasher may or may not be enough, since depending on the bottle shape it may not get water into the bottle and on the sides enough.
D. Meagle says
For the water temp – I wear dishwashing gloves, protects my hands from the hot water and keeps them from getting too dried out from (what feels like) the never ending washing. Also cheaper than special soap :)
The Second says
Advice re weaning (to formula)? I have an eight month old and start back to work full time in three weeks. I do not want to pump at work for a variety of reasons. She will take breastmilk from a bottle but not always formula. Would love to hear others’ experiences, favorite formulas, what worked for you…
One problem is I am the one home with her now and she def doesnt want to take a bottle of formula from me. Also am nervous about wmotions w going back so plan to keep morning and night feedings for now. TIA!
anon says
I don’t have much advice on getting the baby to accept formula, but do have advice that is more for you. When I weaned to formula over the course of a month, the hormones were VERY MUCH something I had to deal with, every time I dropped a nursing session — even while I was still nursing/pumping some. I might consider starting in advance of when you go back to work, or after you’ve been back a few weeks, so that you aren’t having to deal with that during the first week or two back at work.
Meg Murry says
Yes, the weaning/hormone thing hit me really really hard. But FWIW, I am prone to anxiety/depression, and I think the hormonal part was just the straw that broke the camels back – I was already pretty borderline from the stress of going to 2 kids, a stressful time at work, and the year of not nearly enough sleep catching up to me. And I was/am always prone to anxiety and depression worsening with hormone shifts/PMS, and I was one of those super super weepy women throughout my pregnancy.
So yes, watch for it – especially if you know you are the type to have your emotions fly around a lot with hormone swings – but it may not actually be that bad, or it might be – just something to watch for.
Famouscait says
What if you put the formula in a sippy cup? Maybe a new method of delivery will work.
CPA Lady says
My niece refused to take any bottle at all, and my SIL was pulling her hair out over it. But within three days of starting daycare, she was taking a bottle no problem. Babies are really smart and I think once they realize that the bottle is the way you get fed at daycare, they adapt pretty quickly.
Also, FWIW, the weaning emotions thing didn’t hit me that hard. I was emotional over it, but more from a standpoint of “my baby is getting older” rather than some kind of uncontrollable hormonal depression or anything, so just know it doesn’t happen to everyone! I ate an entire tin of altoids and took a bunch of Sudafed the weak I dropped the last feeding, and I was good to go. Within a couple of weeks I’d gotten over being sad, and within a couple of months I had really moved on and could barely remember what nursing was like, which was simultaneously baffling and comforting.
EB0220 says
Do you have enough frozen breastmilk that you could do a slow transition once she starts daycare? I weaned my kiddo to formula around that age. I started mixing breastmilk and formula in the daycare bottles – first 25% formula, then 50% formula, etc. until the bottle was 100% formula. The only difference was that she was already in daycare and used to taking bottles from them. But it did work well for us. I also taste-tested a bunch of different brands of formula and decided that Gerber Gentle was the closest to breastmilk. It is a pretty different taste, so she may just need time to get used to it.
And – I have no good advice but I totally understand the weaning hormones. I am almost done weaning my kiddo and it has been tough on me. The good news is that it only lasted about a week for me.
Anonymous says
I was in the exact same situation. My kiddo refused any sort of formula at age 8 months when I was going back to work. We tried every brand, every type of bottle — no success. So he just drank water from a sippy, and we snuck in scoops of formula in his food (e.g. if he was having a little jar of apples we’d mix in 2 scoops of formula and thin with a few drops of water). Not ideal but it worked well enough. He also would never drink cows milk but would eat yogurt, so we went with that.
Two Cents says
Thanks for the recommendations yesterday on good books for a 3 year old. I already checked out several from the library and look forward to reading them.
To answer someone’s question, the books I thought were very “bratty” are the Froggy Goes To… books, Vera’s Baby Sister, and the Dumb Bunnies series (true to its name, it is extremely dumb).
Meg Murry says
Yes, we have one about Froggy making a clubhouse, and you are right, he is mean to his sisters in that one, telling them they can’t come in to his clubhouse, and I think it might even say “no girls allowed”. Plus he tries to boss his mom around – but I think she puts a stop to that.
Along the same lines, we have to watch my almost 4 year old son with shows and books like Curious George – we’ve definitely caught him trying to do some of the things George does. I also feel like some of the books that address issues like bullying are a problem when introduced too soon – the takeaway sometimes is how to be mean to your friends, and a new list of rude names to call people, not about how you shouldn’t be mean.
Spirograph says
I don’t remember the name of the book, but I read a (pop literature-ified) description of an interesting study about exactly this… I think it specifically mentioned the Arthur series, but the point was that many of these books (and cartoons, too) spend way more time establishing the problem and describing the bad behavior than they spend on resolution, and often the wrong idea sticks. It makes a lot of sense: everyone makes up and is happy on the last page, but you read 10 pages of name-calling before that! If your kid is already exhibiting the bad behaviors, the books can be a good tool to discuss how that makes other people feel, but sometimes it just gives the kids more ideas on how to be mean.
Anon says
Has anyone tried the dockatot? There does not seem to be any unbiased (not from the company or a paid reviewer) online so I am curious if it is as great as they make it out to be.
Anon says
Permission to be annoyed?
I get up with our toddler about 95% of the time. On most mornings I’ll get him dressed, then drop him off with my (still in bed) husband while I get the kid’s breakfast ready. I do daycare drop off and pick up. Dad works longer hours than I do, and has quality (if not quantity) time with our son as often as he is able.
Anyway, I stayed up late to work last night, and when the kid woke up at his usual time, I asked husband if he’d go get him. Response? “Ok, but what should I do with him?” Really? Is it that complicated? A few minutes later, as I’ve dragged myself out of bed and begun getting ready for work he asks, “should I feed him? What should I make him?” Seriously? Has he not at least observed the morning routine for the past 20 months?
Tips on handling the learned-helplessness of Dad and/or getting out of default parent status at least for a morning or two a month?
Wow says
You need to nip this in the bud pronto. Honestly? Leave the house for several hours on a weekend so that your husband will be alone with his son. He will figure out how to play with him, dress him, feed him, change his diaper (I hope he knows to do all of this already but if not, here is his chance). You don’t want to create a situation where you are the only one who knows what to do with your kid.
anne-on says
Do you want the rip the band-aid off approach? Leave. Go to an early gym class followed by a coffee run. Run an errand or two. Your husband will figure it out. It might not be the healthiest breakfast ever (my son and husband go out for chocolate chip pancakes when I do an early morning gym class, but they have daddy/son bonding time).
The phased in approach? Set up a checklist on a fridge/chalkboard wall ‘for your son’. List the things that need to be done in the morning before school (this is also helpful as they get older and ‘help’ more). Check off things like, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on shoes, pack lunch, put on book bag, etc. with your son as he does them. Your husband (or sitters, grandparents) can also follow along with your morning routine if you’re not there.
Famouscait says
I don’t have any advice, but a little commiseration. Is it possible your husband was just too asleep/tired to be as helpful as he should have been? I got similarly annoyed with my spouse yesterday morning, but didn’t say anything because it was his birthday. Long story short, hubby was super-duper tired after a birthday weekend getaway, and just wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
mascot says
My husband, who in all other aspects is a “we don’t need instructions, I can wing my way through this” handy guy, had this tendency with our son. A couple of things we did that helped- dad will do it his own way and I do not comment or criticize. Is the kid seasonally dressed? Fine. Does it match? Don’t care. We also did periodic reviews of what made good menus. My husband doesn’t really cook so we kept frozen steamed veggies, fruit and protein sources our child liked on hand so dad can just make a quick dinner picking one from each category. That got easier once our son was old enough to tell you what he wants to eat. But, it can be hard to take on a role you don’t normally do. I handle mornings, my husband handles evenings. We switch a couple of times a week and I will tell you that those may not go as smoothly. It’s timing, tricks, little routines we’ve come up with. So we try to stay out of each others way, unless we can help prevent a meltdown from lack of knowledge.
But, even with all of that, we still have those days. “What does he need for his soccer game?” was this wknd’s question. Really? We’ve both been to every game. What does he normally have? So I feel your frustration.
Lorelai Gilmore says
I do cook – but I also find it really helpful to keep a running list of things my kids will eat and pick one from each category. Sometimes when I’m completely worn out at the end of the day, it’s nice to look at the list and remember that I can always feed the kids chicken nuggets, frozen peas, and an apple and they’ll be happy and not generally malnourished. (Though I’m not claiming that chicken nuggets are the dinner of champions.) I am a big fan of “paint-by-number” dinners.
Pigpen's Mama says
Ditto to the above. My husband kind of does the same thing — needs what I see as detailed directions about what to do with our 1-yr old — drives me nuts, because 50% of the ‘work’ with a little one is the decision process of thinking about what to do — at least for me. I find just leaving the house the best solution. She’s not really verbal yet, but isn’t shy about expressing her needs, so it’s less of a concern than when she was older.
The other thing to do is just have a few to-go things set up — that’ll make your mornings smoother as well. I’ve gone back to putting outfits in gallon zip-lock baggies for the week so my husband can grab one and get her dressed. We try to get bottles of milk ready the night before.
Pigpen's Mama says
Less of a concern than when she was YOUNGER. Because the other doesn’t make sense.
TBK says
” 50% of the ‘work’ with a little one is the decision process of thinking about what to do” YES YES YES!! My husband does this helplessness thing, too, and it makes me insane.
NewMomAnon says
Yes, I get this. A few things I’ve learned:
Store kid’s breakfast items in the most prominent place in fridge/on counter. It helps you in the morning too, and it will be the first thing dad grabs if he’s fumbling around half asleep.
When dad is around, talk about what you do with your kiddo and what your kiddo enjoys eating. When I talked about my kiddo enjoying playdoh, her dad went out and got playdoh, and now it’s a staple of their weekend time together. Same when I mentioned her love of yogurt, or peanut butter.
Have a set time each week when dad is alone with kiddo. Make it a substantial enough amount of time that dad has to figure out diapering, feeding, and entertaining; if it’s just an hour or two, dad might just punt on some of those things until you get back. Resist the urge to pre-set food and entertainment for them. Make dad rummage through the fridge and toy box (or pick up fast food, if he must).
POSITA says
I’m not especially receptive to those types of questions. I would just give minimal answers–he should realize for himself that they are silly questions.
What should he do with him? Get him ready.
What should he wear? Clothes.
What should he feed him? Food.
He can figure it out.
Jen says
Weekends. Make dad do all this on the weekends.
CPA Lady says
Leave for a long weekend with your girlfriends. He’ll figure it out.
Spirograph says
Yes! Do this, just because it’s fun and you need that in your life.
(My husband is very capable with the kids and I leave him with them at bedtime or in the morning regularly to be sure it stays that way. He still asks dumb questions, though. It drives me insane. I’m glad I’m not the only one!)
Meg Murry says
Totally get you on the annoyed front. But I also get him, to a point. My husband does 90%+ of the morning routines, and when I am home on a weekday morning for a change, I am completely out of my element and half of what I do is “wrong”. For instance, last month, my older son wanted peanut butter on his bagel every morning. Yesterday, giving him peanut butter on a bagel produces “ew, I don’t want it, I want cream cheese like Daddy does it”. So then I have to decide whether I want to get into a debate with a cranky kid to prove the “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” or whether I want to just make another bagel and cater to his crankiness. Then the younger one throws a fit because I put jelly on his sandwich, and apparently he doesn’t want jelly anymore, even though he was fine with it just last weekend.
So while I get that your husband is irritating you, I think he’s maybe just saying “what is the latest thing he eats for breakfast?” but I think you are also fine with just ignoring it and letting him figure it out.
To be fair, we are a divide and conquer household. I am clueless on morning routine – my husband is clueless on activities. Any evening I can’t be there, I get a million texts from my husband. “what time is karate?” “where is the uniform?” “what time do I have to pick him up?” “who are we picking up for carpool?” etc
Nova childcare says
I’m moving to northern Virginia (specifically to the Tysons/Vienna area) and am going to need infant childcare in early September 2016. I was hoping that someone could point me in the right direction in terms of parent blogs or other resources that might help us make a decision. And if anyone knows whether I’m already very late in terms of getting a spot (we’re only 12 weeks pregnant now, but I’m moving from NYC so I may be primed to have this fear), that would also be helpful to know. Thanks so much!
TBK says
You can try the DC Urban Moms site, which has some useful information. I would caution you though that it’s notorious for being catty (of the “I can’t imagine doing [x] with my child — it would be so damaging! — but I guess if that’s what you have to do…” where x = benign thing like getting a babysitter off of care dot com). I’ve heard good things about the Bright Horizons and Chesterbrook Academy daycare chains (they’re pricey though). There are also a number of what are called “in-home” daycares, which are unlicensed by the state. They tend to be a lot cheaper than the big daycare centers and the quality is really all over the map. I think you can find a list online if you search for Virginia day care. I’m not sure if you’re late to get on wait lists, but I definitely wouldn’t lose any time. People typically start signing up for lists as soon as they have a due date. If you have a spare bedroom, au pairs are extremely popular here. (My au pair said that probably 3/4 of the families she talked to were in the DC area.) They’re usually more popular with families with more than one kid, which is when they become cheaper than paying for two day care slots, but there are also families who have them who have just one kid.
Nova childcare says
Thanks, this is really helpful. We’ll just have the one baby (for now) so I don’t think we can afford to go the au pair route, but I will definitely look into the other daycares.
Pigpen's Mama says
We’re in the NoVa area and I got on about 5 wait lists when I was ~3 months along — about 9-10 months before we needed to start considering maternity leave. The daycares in DC proper that I looked at (all chains/centers) pretty much laughed when I asked about availability, but in our area of NoVa (not North Arlington/Alexandria) it wasn’t too bad and we got in our first choose when we needed it. One of the other places called with availability, but I never heard from the others.
I found places by web searching, DCUM, and asking around.
I think the farther out you are from the city, the better luck you’d have, but I don’t know if the Tysons/Vienna area is an exception because of the number of companies out there. Any chance your or your partner’s employer has an on-site daycare?
Spirograph says
I’m in MD, but several of my NOVA coworkers used some daycare-hunting site or service. It is a network or database of vetted in-home providers, and also finds you backup care if your regular provider is sick or otherwise unavailable. (The Montgomery County counterpart is called Monday Morning Moms, if any Marylanders out there are interested). I’m sorry I don’t remember the name, but I bet google could point you in the right direction.
Shah says
We have been using the Avent Natural bottles since our baby started day care (about 8.5 months ago) and they have never once leaked. We have been very happy with them.