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Most work places don’t “celebrate” Columbus Day. However, a lot of school districts — and many daycares — are closed today. Uh, hooray. So if you’re home (or working from home) today, let’s talk about maternity jeans. Which were your favorite? Nordstrom Rack has a bunch of designer ones on sale, and I like the look of these James Jeans boyfriend ones, featuring a full belly band, and, at $96, a price 53% off the original. Nice. James Jeans Boyfriend Maternity Jean
Here’s a plus-size alternative.
And here’s an interesting opinion piece on what to tell your kids on Columbus Day.
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
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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?
(former) preg 3L says
H moved out on Friday. The weekend was rough, he kept asking me to figure out his plans and he seems to think I’m going to foot the bill for his hotel(s) and apartment. I told him to sign a 6-month lease somewhere, that the baby is going into full-time daycare, and we will arrange his visits with her around that.
In other news, the baby is.not.sleeping. She wakes up every 1.5 hours overnight and won’t nap for more than 40 minutes at a time. She’s 8 months old and she has also stopped taking bottles (she only nurses). Any advice?
KJ says
I don’t have any great advice about sleeping or eating (we struggle with both). But, wow, that is a lot of stress going on at one time. How are you holding up?
mascot says
She may be picking up on your stress, she may be going through a growth spurt, she may be working on a new skill or a new tooth. All of these are totally normal and the only way out is just to keep going. Will she take bottles at daycare? If she doesn’t like bottles, how about offering a cup or straw sippy? It takes them a little bit to get used to it, but it’s possible at 8 months.
JJ says
Congrats to you on going through with this. And agreed that at 8 months, it could be a growth spurt, teething, or about to hit a milestone. Has she been snotty? It could also be an ear infection – that would keep our boys up and they wouldn’t want bottles, I think because the suction bothered them. I’d give it a week (easier said than done, I know) and then see if she has improved.
If she doesn’t improve, my pediatrician swears by the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. She used it for all three of her kids and recommended it to us to get our then 9-month old to sleep through the night. It took three or four nights, but it works.
(former) preg 3L says
We have that book… somewhere. I can do 3-4 nights. I’ll dig it out and read it. Thanks.
RR says
Second Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. That book is the reason I survived twin infants.
I’m a big fan of cry it out–I think it results in the least crying overall, and sleep is so important to everyone. Either extinction CIO or a Ferber-type method. But, I know it’s not for everyone.
Best of luck on the H front and the sleeping front.
pockets says
Our daughters are the same age. I’ve been following your story and I wish I knew you in person so I could give you a hug. Hang in there!
Sleep Training Questions (Paging Nonny?) says
I don’t have any advice (see my question below), but I wish you the best.
Anon says
You have no obligation to foot his bills. Mr. Unemployed By Choice Since February can figure out his own damn housing situation.
Meg Murry says
Especially if you are paying all the child related expenses. Keep track of that (get receipts from daycare, etc). I understand you said at one point you never combined finances, so there is no reason you need to pay for his housing since there is no “our” money.
Anonymous says
stay strong. wish i could say things will get better but i am sure you know that things will only get worse.
FVNC says
I know you just started your job a few months (weeks?) ago, but is there any way you can take a day or two off to catch up on your own sleep? Drop your daughter at daycare and nap for a few hours? Sleep deprivation can be brutal on your mental health under ordinary circumstances; you don’t want it to affect your decisions and actions in the coming weeks. In any case, take the issues one at a time. For sleep, try to mask your stress around the baby. I know from experience how perceptive babies are at picking up on stress. As much as you can, try to relax just around her; let her sleep with you if that’s what it takes, but find a way for both of you to get some sleep. Then work on the bottle issue — ask daycare teachers for tips. Do you have friends or family members who could give her the bottle? She may not take it from you since she knows if she refuses she can nurse. By the end of the week if there’s no improvement, take her to the pediatrician to rule out ear infections.
If it’s any consolation, my daughter went through a sleep regression from 8-9 months and it was really tough. It coincided with teething and an ear infection, but eventually she settled back into her regular sleeping pattern. I hope your baby is back to herself quickly!
Sleep Training Questions (Paging Nonny?) says
I’m torn about whether to begin sleep training my 6 month old. He wakes up every 1 – 2 hours at night and needs me to go back to sleep. He eats a fair amount when he gets up, so it seems as though he is not just sucking for comfort. He can and usually does fall asleep on his own when we put him down for naps and at bedtime. It is hard to keep having my sleep interrupted so many times at night and I feel that it would be better for him to be able to sleep longer, too. I mentioned something about sleep training to his teacher at daycare (who I trust and respect), and she said she would try giving him solid food/cereal first to see if that fills him up more. The past two nights we got him to eat some bananas, but I didn’t notice any difference in his sleeping habits. Part of me feels that he really needs to learn to self-soothe but the other part of me is hesitant to sleep train because it seems like he really does need to eat at night. Any advice?
KJ says
I am in the same boat with my 6 month old. Over the weekend I talked with a parent whose daughter didn’t sleep through the night until age 2, and a parent who recently did Ferber with great success, and this helped me conclude that we really need to do something. Husband and I talked this morning, and decided we are going to try sleeping training, either the Sleep Lady or Ferber, in 2 weeks. (We are traveling next weekend.) Mine eats for a solid 10 minutes at each wake-up, so I was thinking she must be hungry, but the pediatrician said she absolutely can go all night without eating. (She’s very big for her age, though.) We added solids a few weeks ago and didn’t notice a difference. Good luck, whatever you decide. Hopefully I will have a success story to report in a couple of weeks!
pockets says
He probably does like to eat at night, but one point of sleep training is to show him that he doesn’t NEED to eat at night and should be eating during the day. How much milk does he drink during the day?
Do you let him cry at all during the night before you go to him?
Sleep Training Questions (Paging Nonny?) says
Yes, I do let him fuss for a few minutes to see if he settles back to sleep. If the fussing ramps up into crying, I usually go in at that point and pick him up. I don’t normally wait more than 3 – 5 minutes because I figure the sooner I go in and feed him, the sooner I can be back to sleep. You make a good point about showing him that he doesn’t need to eat at night. He drinks about 16 oz at daycare and I would estimate about 12 oz during the day when he is not at daycare. At night I would estimate he eats perhaps another 12 oz? It is hard for me to tell since I nurse him.
pockets says
so for comparison purposes only (and I know each kid is different) my daughter was eating 20-24 oz of formula when she was 6 months old and one 3-4 oz. solid meal.
Sleep training is so hard the first few nights (having to hear your baby crying for what could be over an hour – not only it is sad but it’s really annoying) but it is so worth it. We did CIO and after two nights she slept through the night and except for a two recent nights of backsliding (due to teething I think) she hasn’t woken up in the middle of the night since. (I know CIO doesn’t work for every baby but right now you don’t know whether it will work for your baby and the only way to know is to try).
I think it really depends on what you’re willing to tolerate. If you’d rather wake up every few hours for the foreseeable future and spare yourself/your baby CIO, that’s fine. But if you’re at the end of your rope CIO is a very reasonable option.
mascot says
hmm, can you encourage more eating during the day? Perhaps add an ounce to feedings? Another thing that worked for us was the dream feed. Rather than wait for him to wake up at 2 am, we’d feed our son at 11-ish. That seemed to get him a bigger block of sleep in the middle of the night. We’d keep the room dark, do half the feed, change his diaper, feed the rest (or switch sides if nursing) then back to bed.
JJ says
I just replied upthread, but this was the same situation we were in. Our baby would actually eat a fair bit during his night feedings and I felt like it would be cruel to wean him from those if he was hungry. Our doctor told us that he probably liked to eat at night, but if we eliminated those feedings, he would learn to eat more during the day.
If your baby is 6 months, are you doing solid foods daily? We started with baby food (or mashed bananas/avocados) in the mornings and right before bed, and that also helped with his hunger.
Anonymous says
We had the same issue with my son, and actually hired a sleep trainer because I could not safelycommute 2.5 hours per day on practically no sleep any longer. She said we weren’t feeding him enough before bed, and suggested that we give him 2x as much milk as he would take at a regular feeding, and that I use the milk I pumped first thing in the morning at bedtime because it had a lot more fat. This got him to wake up only once per night instead of 4 times. If you are pumping at all, this might be an option for you.
anon says
We just used this weekend to sleep train my 5 month old. We have not started her on solids yet and she had gotten into a pattern of waking and nursing 3-4 times per night which was really impacting my job and my ability to not be a miserable B to everyone. We used a modified Ferber (I guess?) after her pediatrician assured us she has plenty of weight on her to not eat for 8-10 hours at night. The first night, my husband comforted her (patted her back or her head, rubbed her back, said reassuring things, but did not pick her up) for 1-2 minutes after 1 minute of crying, then 3 minutes of crying, then we had planned to do 5 minutes of crying but she always fell asleep before the 5 minutes was up. One time and one time only during the night (about the middle of her sleep block) he brought her to me to nurse and then I put her back in bed. 4 nights later, she woke up once and had to be comforted before we went to bed and then woke up once more and nursed but otherwise slept all night. We can’t believe how quickly she went to sleeping most of the night. The night before she actually went back to sleep once with no comforting after about 2 minutes of crying. Starting this coming weekend, we plan to try and wean her off the nighttime feeding.
I was very surprised that she conks out as quickly as she does because when she wakes she screams her head off and I feel like the worst person in the world for not going and getting her and nursing but at the same time, I also am starting to feel like I can do my job again. YMMV.
pockets says
my nanny is so unreliable. I’m so close to letting her go but I dread the process of finding/training another nanny. Ugh.
Lawmom says
What have you pumping lawyer moms done during depositions? I have a very lengthy deposition coming up next week, my first since returning from leave. I have a pretty cordial relationship with opposing counsel, so I think I could request a private conference room in advance for my use but it is just . . . awkward. Any advice?
(former) preg 3L says
I had 3 days of training a few months ago (still nursing) so i just called in advance and said “I recently had a baby and I’m still nursing, so i will need breaks at X times for X length. What is the best way to fit that into our schedule?” The training was only for 8 people and it ended up working out perfectly (I skipped a building tour and similar things).
Anonymous says
I just asked and it was no problem. It was more awkward for opposing counsel (who actually didn’t know what pumping was) than for me, but I was 9 months post partum at that point and pretty much over any discomfort with talking about pumping.
Gap vs Old Navy says
Price difference aside, which are the favorite maternity skinny jeans? For 3rd trimester and most likely full-panel, if it matters
I’m thinking probably Gap, but ON can be surprisingly good with some of their staples. Looking for flattering/stylish, but comfort is a must.
JJ says
So I generally wear a lot of Old Navy (because I’m cheap and I need clothes that I can ruin and replace without heartache). But I HATED Old Navy maternity jeans compared to Gap’s. The Gap jeans were way more comfortable and well-made.
(former) preg 3L says
Ditto. Gap for the win.
mss says
+1 for Gap
Anon says
Got a pair of old navy skinny maternity jeans for free, found the fit completly uncomfortable.