Nursing/Postpartum Tuesday: Newborn Lounger
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A few products that truly saved me during the newborn days were the Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play, the Fisher-Price swing, and this: the Boppy Lounger. When my son was mobile enough to start rolling, I think I shed a tear when it went to the back of my closet. I think my most googled phrases during the first few weeks were some variations of “sleeping on Boppy Lounger safe?” Before we put him in his crib, he slept on this for most of his naps and nighttime sleep (while supervised). Heck, I even brought it down to the basement with me and put it on top of the dryer when I was doing laundry. In basically all of my son’s newborn photos, he is on the Boppy Lounger. Have I mentioned I loved this thing? It’s $29 at Amazon (with Prime and free returns). Boppy Newborn Lounger
Psst: Looking for more info about nursing clothes for working moms, or tips for pumping at the office? We’ve got them both…
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This is not a safe sleep surface.
HA, I’m in m o d for pointing out that this is not a s a f e s l e e p s u r f a c e.
I loved this for my first baby and am hoping to reuse it for my second baby. Has anyone washed it?? I am sort of grossed out about reusing it since it has been stored in a plastic bag in my basement for almost two years…
All my friends have this and rave about it, but I never understood the point of it. You can’t leave a baby unsupervised in it (right?) so if you’re going to be watching them constantly, why not just put them on an activity mat, or wear them in a carrier if you need to do chores? And if you need to leave them unsupervised, a crib or pack-n-play is much safer. But then again, I’m the most anti-baby gear person I know. I never bought a swing or a Rock n Play either. A breastfeeding pillow and activity mat were really my only purchases, besides the mandatory stuff like a crib, carseat, clothes and diapers.
Ha, I just ordered a second one yesterday so I could have one on each floor for my twins. I won’t do overnight sleep in it (but I will do a rock and play) but sleeping next to me on the couch? Totally.
But what I really came here for was thoughts on transitions to toddler beds. I had my twins three weeks ago and two weeks ago we bought a new house, closing next month, because June was a big month for us. My older daughter is still in her crib (with no interest in climbing out) and will be 2 years 10 months when we move. I had planned on waiting until after we’d been there awhile to take the side off for the toddler bed conversion, but my brother suggested doing it when we move – a new house/new bed situation – since he had success with my niece under similar circumstances. Thoughts?
Interested in the crowd-sourced view on this very minor parenting dilemma:
I have a six month old who usually goes to bed between 7 and 8:30, with 8 as the norm. He is, blessedly, a good sleeper and will often (although not always) sleep through. His room has blackout shades and we use a white noise machine and sometimes music early in the evening while we’re up making noise.
We live along the river in NYC and the fireworks are going to go off basically outside our building tomorrow. Probably around 8:30 or 9 for about 20 minutes, probably? We’re new to the building but I expect it to be LOUD and lots of bright light.
How would you handle this? Would you put him to bed, maybe a little on the early side, and hope that he gets deep enough sleep to sleep through? Would you try to keep him up a bit later (maybe with a late nap) so he’s awake during the fireworks and then put him down? I’m a little worried that he’ll be in a worse mood if he’s awakened/frightened by loud noises when asleep versus being with us to see the pretty lights — but will I regret it if I mess with his routine? (I know this is very Know Your Baby, but interested in how others would handle).
Finally, I had this exact pillow and my son LOVED it for the first 3 months of his life. He took most of his newborn naps on it before he transitioned to the rock n play. He was always in the livingroom with us and never unattended, so I didn’t worry too much about safe sleep. Now he naps and sleeps in his crib like a champ, thank heavens, but he didn’t like it much when he was younger.
Just need to vent – since having kids, I feel like we never see our friends despite constantly trying to. If we try to plan things a few weeks ahead, no one wants to commit to anything but then if we try to do something last minute then everyone is busy. I know life with kids is unpredictable but even if we schedule something like, let’s meet up at this park whenever the last of our kids wakes up from a nap, then a friend will say “oh johnny is in a bad mood so we’re going to skip!” (but then later I’ll see them playing on instagram with their neighbors) I just feel like I’m constantly trying and trying to make play dates or invite people over (we even have a pool) but I’m exhausted from feeling rejected all of the time. I know it’s silly but I can only make so much effort!
My 2.5 year old fell at daycare a couple of months ago. He was running inside (a no-no) and tripped over his own feet. He landed on his chin on the carpet. It skinned a one-inch circle on his chin… scraped the skin off, leaving a raw red circle. That has now healed, in that skin has grown back over it, but it is still red and noticeable. I am worried that it is going to leave a large and permanent red welt on his chin. Is there anything I can do to help it?
Any suggestions or anecdata about interviewing while heavily pregnant? I am 36 weeks pregnant, interviewing at 38 weeks via videoconference. It’s a position in academia (not faculty) so I am banking on the fact that this can take weeks and hopefully months, so I can have the baby and a leave before potentially taking this job. I wasn’t planning on mentioning my pregnancy during the first interview. However – if they follow up quickly for a second interview, I won’t be able to travel anywhere (city is a ~2 hour flight away). Ugh – terrible timing but such a good opportunity. Any help??
Anyone ever tried/used the Willow wearable pump? It’s expensive but I’m intrigued. First time mom, expecting in early August. Wondering if its a gimmick or the future of pumping?
worth it? or scam…?
Help me end this unimportant struggle with myself over… a tote bag. I have a Kate Spade tote that I love that I got via the Black Friday sale online last year. Ever since she passed, I felt a little weird about carrying a bag with her name on it, for reasons I can’t fully articulate. A few weeks after that happened, a family friend committed suicide. So now, I really dislike carrying the bag and am in the market for a substitute. I have a carried the Kate Spade constantly, for work and at home with two little kids and it’s just perfect. I’ve been debating the Tumi Voyageur M-Tote. Will I be satisfied? Is it the same level of good looking for work and casual enough to beat up with the kids? It’s down to $206 on Amazon, sold out on Tumi, and there’s allegedly only 18 left, so I need to decide whether to click Buy Now… now.
Fun question. We are taking a family trip to NYC in a couple of weeks. I have no idea what to wear, as I haven’t been there in a while and I am usually there on business anyway. What is the sort-of-cool mom who doesn’t want to look like a total tourist wearing these days? I am thinking of bringing an Old Navy swing dress, a maxi dress, and flowy linen pants + tank top, all with Birkenstock Mayaris and probably a not-huge bucket bag. What about shorts? I have denim cutoffs, white denim cutoffs, and slouchy roll-up chino shorts in fun colors.
3 year old son loses his marbles every single time he is frustrated — lid won’t fit on jar? Meltdown/jar is thrown. Doesn’t like the way his guitar sounds when he plays it? Meltdown! Milk not microwaved the exact number of seconds he specified? (Because all milk must now be warm..) meltdown! I feel like these have suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Normal? Is it the result of being out of preschool routine for summer? Stopped napping a few weeks ago (because we found inconsistent napping led to inconsistent nighttime sleep, with associated behavior problems wtc) but was only napping a couple days a week before that. How will we survive this??
So…it’s been about a year of my being out of control ragey, mean, unhappy, hating everyone (but surprisingly productive at work). I’ve been acknowledging to DH that something was wrong with me but unable to do anything about it myself (like…pick up the phone and make a doctor appointment). On good days, I KNOW intellectually that I am depressed and/or have anxiety and that I should get help. Those are the days I asked DH for help. He made an appointment with my doctor and took me yesterday and actually told her what was going on because I was a wreck of tears and embarrassment and shame. (I KNOW mental health is just health and there is nothing to be ashamed of. But. Not for me so much.)
Anyway, doctor was great, immediately wanted to medicate me. I was hesitant. I don’t know why but the thought of medication is just…not good. I don’t like taking medicine for anything unless it’s really extreme. I don’t do any drugs. She called in a “tiny” dose of Zoloft and is going to find me a competent CBT therapist (I live in a small town with serious shortage of these so I don’t know when that will happen). But I’m scared of the side effects (I’ll be honest, mostly about the weight gain, because I’m already struggling with being more overweight than I like, but also headaches and sleeplessness and stomach issues).
So I am feeling really OK today (except for random tearing up but that’s just par for the course these day) and strong enough to ask this community of smart women, many of whom have repeatedly mentioned their own struggles with these issues, hit me with your best advice for getting through this.