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I got a press release about this a while ago, and thought it would be great either for Father’s Day or, hey, moms for whom a wristlet is even too much. The idea is that it’s a case for your phone that also has a stretchy elastic strap to hold up to 6 credit cards or cash. Nice! I’m eyeing one for myself — whenever I go to the gym I always lose my little membership card unless I shove it in my bra, and as attractive a look as that is, this might be better. The jimmyCASE website has a ton more options, but you can also buy a few through their Etsy shop. They’re $39.99. iPhone 6 Wallet Case Handmade In USA Rainbow Stripe (L-2) (Psst: if you’re still forming ideas about Father’s Day (June 19!), here are some of the Father’s Day gifts I’ve gotten my husband in the past.) ALSO: I am still working on the survey for CorporetteMoms, but the reader survey for Corporette is up and running — we’d love to get your feedback if you read both sites!Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
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Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
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See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
Pumping while travelling says
I have the opportunity to take a vacation (for fun) when my son will be 8 months old and need to figure out pumping and getting the milk back. It would be 4 full days (so about 28 bags of milk). Flight + layovers are 10 hours each way, hotel has a fridge and microwave, and I will not have a car. Any tips?
Anon in NYC says
Are you open to shipping it back? I’ve heard good things about Milk Stork.
Spirograph says
Domestic or international travel? I took a similar vacation, and had no trouble with domestic air travel and carrying on a small, soft-sided cooler full of frozen milk. It was 12+ hours from when I packed it up to when I finally got home, and everything was still frozen solid, amazingly enough. Freeze the bags flat and pack them in the smallest cooler they will fit in – the less dead space there is in the cooler, the better they will stay frozen.
Pumping while travelling says
Domestic travel. How did you freeze the milk? I will have a mini fridge so probably no freezer.
Spirograph says
I had a full-size fridge/freezer, but even a mini fridge’s freezer might be sufficient. I remember the one that was in the nursing room at my office had a little freezer compartment that was surprisingly effective. If you’re staying at a hotel, you might be able to request — it’s worth a shot!
If you can’t freeze the milk solid, I’d put it in a cooler in your checked bag with an ice pack or two. The cargo hold of a plane is pretty cold anyway, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the milk getting warm. You probably could carry on a cooler full of liquid milk without issue, but I would call ahead and check the TSA/airport policy just in case.
biz traveler says
You can carry on. See below.
In House Lobbyist says
I traveled a lot and pumped all over the place it seemed. I never had any problems with TSA or milk but I agree they were inconsistent. Hotels will usually bend over backwards to help you – just mention “breast milk” to a man and they want to do anything you want to make you not say that word again. I also brought cloth diapers to lay my pumps parts out to dry on for the hotel bathrooms and would make sure to pick it all up before the maid came in. Also, I always used a website that I can’t remember now to look up where to pump in each airport. Or I would use the family bathrooms which were always roomy and had a plug.
Anonymous says
The webpage is MomsPumpHere. It’s got a terrible UI. I find it’s easier to just google nursing room or mother’s room and the airport code.
Carrie M says
I’d bring your regular pump and, if that doesn’t have a batteries-only option, then I’d also bring either a hand pump or a small one that can work on batteries given the length of your travel days. I’ve found it can be hard to find an outlet in an airport bathroom. You might want a cover or wrap or something in case you have to pump on the plane or in a more public setting on your travel days.
For transport, you could either ship it back, or buy/bring a cooler and pack it with dry ice. I’d also print out the TSA website guidance on breastmilk so that you have it with you in case an agent gives you a hard time. If you’re flying internationally, you should check the guidance for those airports, or ask here. I think I remember people recently talking about issues going through Heathrow with pumped milk.
I’d also bring the Medela wipes to quickly clean parts on your travel days, and the steam clean microwavable bags so that you can use them for your pump parts at the hotel. I had a Medela pump and bought the Medela bags, which worked well. You could just rinse with soap and water in the hotel sink, but depending on where you’re going and water quality, it might be nice to have the additional cleaning option.
ChiLaw says
I had success freezing milk in the minifridge freezer at a hotel. On the last day, I had to check out then do a bunch of stuff before heading to the airport, so I left the milk and my ice packs with the hotel and they put them in a freezer for me. I had a small-ish soft-sided cooler that I brought in my carry on. No security problems at all, though they did ask “where’s the party” when they saw all the frozen liquids (opposite of a party, dude) and make me do that scan-for-explosives thing. I did dump some of what I pumped in gnarly airport bathrooms and plane lavs, but the clean hotel stuff all made it back to baby!
biz traveler says
I travel regularly for business. I use a polar bear 12-pack cooler – all coolers are NOT created equal. You want a heavy duty one with serious insulation that can keep things cold for hours and hours on a plane. I carry on only.
I have the hotel bellman freeze my big igloo ice block every night and pick it up from the bellman in the morning (my hotel room minifridge doesn’t fit the ice block and doesn’t get that cold anyway). I bring two or three sets of pump parts, one set of bottles to pump into, and transfer pumped milk into lanisoh storage bags, which then go into a gallon size ziploc separated by day, and those get stored in the hotel room minifridge. I clean in the sink (bring sponge and dish soap) and sanitize in a steam bag in the microwave.
On the travel day, I put the gallon size ziplocs of milk bags into the cooler and pick up the ice block from bellman.
TSA will not allow the ice block through unless it is frozen totally solid, so the hotel walk-in freezer and a really good cooler are key for me. I worry about traveling with mostly frozen but not totally frozen milk.
TSA is inconsistent about how much extra screening I get with the milk. LAX and SFO could not have cared less. MCO treated me like a very suspicious person, and ORD and DEN nicely but thoroughly did a full body pat down and opened all my bags. Allow plenty plenty plenty of extra time to get through TSA.
TSA may ask you to open or taste your milk. You have the right to refuse. MCO really pushed on this.
Save yourself some trouble and warn the TSA screener before your bags go into the machine and they freak out about liquids.
SFO and ORD have truly lovely nursing mother rooms on site. LAX is under remodel and will soon. Check your airports for nursing rooms.
If you have to pump on the plane, enlist the help of the flight attendants at the beginning of the flight and ask when a good time to occupy a bathroom for 20 minutes is. Virgin and Southwest were both very cool about it.
All that said, I’ve never had any milk confiscated.
JEB says
I typically didn’t freeze mine when traveling because I was worried about it defrosting on the way home. To travel home, I’d bring a small, soft cooler and several Ziploc bags. I’d fill the bags with ice from the hotel ice machine and layer the ice bags between the milk bags in the cooler. If I had a layover, I’d request ice from a restaurant in the airport and replace the melting ice with new Ziploc bags. It always worked very well, and my milk was always nice and cold when I arrived home. I always carried the soft cooler on with me, and I never had any trouble with TSA (one TSA agent called me a bad*ass for pumping on a work trip). I’d simply tell them in advance that I was carrying pumped milk, and they’d take it aside and inspect it. They always let me watch. I’d advise that you double check everything after they re-pack it to ensure that all of the bags are closed. And line your cooler with a bag (I always used the hotel laundry bag) in case anything leaks.
I often checked a bag when traveling (for work), so I’d usually pack my electric pump in my luggage. I had the small Medela hand pump which I’d throw in my purse, just in case anything happened to my luggage. The hand pump was also so much easier for airport bathroom pumping anyway. And like a prior poster, I usually dumped my bathroom pumps, but I kept everything I pumped in the hotel.
Finally, bring a small container of dish soap and a sponge or bottle brush. Oxo (I think) actually makes a small brush which comes in a case that doubles as a drying rack for your pump parts.
Good luck! I had a lot of anxiety about pumping before my first trip, but I quickly learned that it’s totally doable.
BTanon says
Not the OP, but thank you to the posters here and in the past who have detailed their travel strategies. I don’t think I would have attempted traveling with pumped milk without the advice of the veterans on thissite. Now have a few short trips under my belt and still refining the details, but the advice here is gold. It CAN be done.
Anonymous says
Yep, I was able to do it thanks to posters here talking me through it. I have traveled twice for multi days away from my now 6-month old. The first trip was so short (hour flight) that it wouldn’t be super helpful to hear about it, but here’s how I handled the cross-country flight:
You get an extra carry-on bag if you have a pump (it’s considered a medical device). I bought one of the 12-pack Polar coolers, and on the way there, packed it with my pump, pump parts, milk bags, and several gallon-sized ziploc bags.
I pumped just before leaving for the airport and decided I would attempt pumping in the airplane bathroom. This was a huge mistake: I didn’t realize there were no outlets, and my batteries were dead. So I hand expressed as much as I could, directly into the bags. It was horrible. Definitely pack extra batteries if you will need to pump on the plane. Hopefully you can swing doing it in a nursing lounge on your layover– check with the airport (some list online if they have mothers’ lounges).
In the hotel– I requested a mini fridge, but it wasn’t chilled enough that I felt comfortable relying just on that, so I filled the ziplocs up half with ice and 1/4 with water and used that to keep milk and pump parts cold. I just stuck the bags of milk in the ziplocs and put the ziplocs either in the fridge, or in the cooler when I ran out of room. I was there for a workweek, and I go by the milk-can-stay-refrigerated-for-6-days rule. I would change the ice-water mixture as needed.
On the way back, I just carried the cooler filled with ice and water and milk, again as a separate, extra carryon. TSA was a pain about it. I was late for my flight, and they had me open every single bag of milk so they could test it (this just involved opening the bag and holding a swab over the bag to check for fumes– no tasting, pouring out, or contact).
The first time I flew, security could not care less when I brought milk through– they didn’t even open the cooler. So allot lots of time and maybe bring a printout of the exemption for milk in case you run into trouble.
AnonMomToday says
Tell me your success stories of changing daycares. We switched from an in-home who we and daughter (2) loved to a Montessori center. She’s doing ok once she settles in (other than being back in diapers and refusing to use the potty despite having been almost fully day-trained — diapers for naps and sleeping only — prior to this week) but the drop offs are roughhhhh. I think I just need to hear that it will get better and change/transitions are rough but necessary. She never cried when we left her before but she has been at the same in-home daycare since she was 8 weeks through 2 years, so pretty major change.
Anonymous says
Did you have any sort of transition at Montessori? Did you stay with her for a few half-days before leaving her? Maybe stay with her for half an hour, and try to get her playing. It sounds like more is going on than just the daycare transition — my kid has been in 3 daycares and each transition is rough, but we get through it fairly quickly (a week or two). She still cries at drop-off but her teachers tell me that she’s off playing within minutes of me leaving.
AnonMomToday says
She does ok after the initial drop off (this is only day 3) other than not wanting to use the potty there yet. I’m just not used to this level of separation anxiety at daycare since she was at the same place so long. She has cried with babysitters before (even people she knew) and is always fine once she gets distracted and playing. Also, it’s easier to be distracted having fun on date-night with my husband than being at work for 8+ hours. I realize it’s normal developmentally, just been a rough week.
Anon says
I had a potty regression when my son was younger and went to a different place for “summer camp” under similar conditions.
It helped for me to walk in with him, walk him to the potty, show it to him, and remind him where it was – like every day for a week. Presumably, he “knew” where it was, but it still helped to go with me. Then, I took him to a kind teacher and said “[Son], you know Ms.______. She would love to help you use the potty if you need it!” I always like to make him feel like he had a teacher “assigned” to help him if needed.
He’s now 5, and I still do this (maybe not as much with the teacher, but make sure to walk to the potty in a new place). Montessori focuses on independence, and you may need to encourage the teacher to prompt her. I don’t know how this class works, but most Montessori programs just let the kids go when they need to. My guy still needed prompting and reminding up to around 3.5. Girls train earlier, but in a new place, she may just be over processing and forgetful.
AnonMomToday says
Those are good ideas. I have been showing her the bathroom cause we walk by it to put her lunch away. The teachers have asked her cause they know that she uses it, and she tells them “No. I go potty at home.” lol
CPA Lady says
My daughter’s been in the same daycare since she was 12 weeks old and is now in her third classroom at that daycare. Even though they do a transition where she spends a few hours a day in the “bigger kid” room to prepare the kids, both times she moved up it took about two weeks for her to adjust to the change and get back to her normal self. Lots of crying and clinging during drop off at first, and being very tired and cross at the end of the day. It totally gets better and once she gets used to it, she does great. She’ll be 2 in a few months (HOW????).
JJ says
We’ve changed daycares four times (through either moves or the daycare closing) for my 4-year old. Each time it takes about a month before drop offs return back to normal. It’s so rough to drop them off when they’re crying, I know. But kids are super resilient, and my son has flourished and each move gets a little easier. (Here’s hoping he’s in this one until kindergarten…).
Carrie M says
+1. Our 2.5 year old has been in 3 different daycares. It will get better. It took us about 4-6 weeks to finally have our routine down and for everyone to feel settled and for drop-offs/pick-ups to go well. Hang in there!!
mascot says
Up until age 3, we’d still get random bouts of separation anxiety, even if nothing else changed (same daycare/same classroom). Hang in there, this gets better.
AnonMomToday says
True.
Drop-off for 2s says
I think it’s more the age than the actual daycare transition.
I mean, can you hang out in the hall after drop-off and see/hear if kid’s crying stops?
Usually it stops in 5 minutes or so. One time I saw it with a child at my son’s daycare – mom went out of earshot, kid stopped crying – and my joke was that all the toddlers/early preschoolers tell each other to cry to make their moms feel guilty, then remind each other that it’s playtime and quit crying, let’s go play!
AnonMomToday says
There’s not a place to “hide” cause the room is open to the entry area and there’s a big window to outside where I leave. They’ve said it stops though. There is another kid who was new last week and he cried like all day 6 days straight, so I know she’s not on that level at least.
But yes, I agree that some of this is definitely age-related. I swear she turned two and someone flipped a switch. She’s still generally a really good kid, but man, we had like a week where bedtime was really rough (prior to daycare switch) where it had not been a problem before.
Meg Murry says
Can you teach her to go to the window and wave to you? That is part of the drop off ritual at my son’s daycare – coat, etc goes in cubby, quick hug, quick kiss, then if they don’t go on their own a teacher will take them by the hand and say “let’s go watch Mommy from the window” or I’ll say “go to the window and mommy will blow you kisses”. Then we leave, and many parents have developed a ritual around the window wave – some always stop and turn around at the same spot and wave, many blow kisses and pretend to catch the kisses if the kid blows back, etc.
Identifying an activity to do after we leave also helps. “Ok, you go blow kisses to Mommy at the window, and after that you can go play with Jane in the block area/go sit next to Miss Sue who is reading a story/etc!”
AnonMomToday says
Yes, we do that. I like the idea of encouraging the next activity after the wave.
hoola hoopa says
With any change, including changing daycares, give it a month. It will get easier when she settles into the new routine.
MDMom says
Question about transition from bottle to cup. My kid is 12 months. He drinks water (and sometimes milk) out of a munchkin miracle 360 cup with meals and between, but still takes milk mainly from bottles- he gets 3 small 3-4 oz bottles at daycare and a bottle before bed where he drinks anywhere from 2-5 oz depending how much he had for dinner. Should I try to transition straight to the 360 cup for everything? I think he likes the slow sucking of the bottle, especially before bed. Should I try a soft spout cup? I’m willing to try whatever as long as it’s easy to clean ( this is my concern about straw cups). Any advice on this transition?
Carrie M says
We bought a soft spout Nuk cup for the reasons you described, and she used it just fine. In my search to find a cup that travels well without spilling, I branched out and bought many different types of cups. Now we often have battles over which specific cup she wants (no, the one with the giraffe! no, the elmo cup! no, I want to climb on the counter and pick myself!). So my advice would be to keep your cup inventory on the low (if not identical) side, to avoid such battles in the future.
pockets says
This is the only sippy cup I’ve found that doesn’t spill despite vigorous shaking in the crib:
http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Graduates-Grips-Assorted-Colors/dp/B015YYAA24?SubscriptionId=AKIAINJNYNCDYDBGXQVA&tag=bab0284-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B015YYAA24
MomAnon4This says
Second this question, please! I figured out sippy cups for my 1st kid about 6 1/2 years ago, but sippy cups have really changed since then! And my parents like offering sips from a cup to the 1 year old. So he still takes milk from a bottle and water from a sippy cup that he hates and throws on the floor. I have reconciled that he will, eventually, drink from a cup. But in the meantime— any suggestions?
rakma says
Soft spout cups were what got DD to decide to make the switch. She will drink water/juice from just about any cup, but milk needs to be in the soft spout.
This may be unique to my kid, but she insists that her milk is still in a ‘baba’–even though it’s now in the soft spout sippy cup. Calling it a cup, or anything else, makes her irrationally angry.
Lkl says
We used a Gerber one with a rubber spout to convince our then-12 month old to accept any liquid from a cup (which he had been refusing to do for months). It wasn’t as n!pple-shaped as some soft-spouts, but still softer than hard spout. We did a cold-turkey switch from bottles as soon as he demonstrated he could drink from the rubber-spout cup, and it was totally fine other than a couple days of crankiness. Then a week or two later we got him to drink from a take-n-toss and immediately switched to those. Even at 15 mo, he’s not very good at an open cup or straw cup so we haven’t made the switch yet full time, just offer those occasionally. Also won’t drink much water ever under any circumstances so we end up using a lot of watered down milk, if anyone has suggestions on that front.
pockets says
Do the nighttime bottle last. Outsource the others to daycare. Once he’s all set at daycare you can make the call as to whether you’d like to do a full switch or just accept that he’s going to drink one bottle every day, and there are worse things he could be doing.
I think a soft spot cup would be the easiest to transition to (I used the Nuk ones) but they’re probably not the best orthodontics-wise. Straw cups can be annoying but I found the Thermos foogo straw cups easy to clean. Now if I only I could stop leaving them everywhere…
MDMom says
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I’ll introduce a soft spout sippy this weekend with the goal of having that replace bottles at daycare next week. Then we’ll work on the nightime bottle. We’ll keep up with the 360 cup at mealtimes.
PinkKeyboard says
Once mine figured out straws (ours are easy to clean- I just had to train my husband to remove the straw before putting in the dishwasher) we started trying milk in them. She had a few meltdowns but in unfamiliar and hungry settings (errands at Target or Home Depot) she did it. So I tried it at home in non-traditional bottle locations (I always held them for her/snuggled on the sofa or in the rocker) and she did it!! After 2 weeks we did the bedtime bottle (we do a very upright snuggle on the chair with a straw cup) and are bottle free! She seemed pretty open to it so I just went with it even though it’s kind of early (she’s only 11 months now).
Meternity Underwear says
I’m pregnant with my first and need recs for maternity underwear. Thongs are out (you can imagine why) and my current full bum underwear is getting a bit tight and uncomfortable. I still want underwear that will not show under dresses or skirts. Recommendations appreciated!
EE says
Possibly not what you’re looking for, but I’m in month 9 and still going strong in VS bikinis. They sit comfortably below my bump, even now that baby has dropped.
Maddie Ross says
Yeah, I bought a bunch of Target cotton undies that just looked comfy and decided d**n the VPL. The bonus was I was able to use post-partum too and didn’t have any attachment to them if they got, um, sullied shall we say.
JJ says
Same. I bought some cheap cotton underwear that I was happy to throw away once it had sacrificed itself to my post-partum time period.
lsw says
Same. I ordered a size larger than my normal size and styles that dipped a bit in the front.
hoola hoopa says
Yep! Go up a size. I did well with jockey string bikinis.
anon says
Aerie has some extremely low-rise cotton string bikinis that worked well for me (below the bump).
lucy stone says
I’m still fitting in my regular sized Hanky Panky boyshorts at 31 weeks. God bless stretchy lace.
anon says
+1. I wore HP thongs all 40 weeks. They were a little worse for the wear at the end and stretched out, but they worked.
I also bought a bunch of cheap cottons bikini style from Target and wore those when I didn’t care about VPL.
PEN says
Belevation. They are amazing. I bought for my first pregnancy, put them away, wore them for my second and have now put them away just in case. They are the best underwear I have ever worn and are worth every penny.
Costco FTW says
I bought two packs of Felina cotton bikini bottoms one size up from Costco for pregnancy. Still wearing them 8mo pp.
Baby K'tan sizing question says
I am wondering if I should exchange my K’tan (not used yet) for the smaller size. I am a size 12 and had registered for the large, but now I’m reading on the box that M fits 10-12 and to order down if you are between sizes or short. I’m tall so maybe that’s what I was thinking when I registered? But now looking at the box it looks like it would be better to have it fit on the small side rather than the bigger side. For those of you who have used this carrier, does it not matter too much since it’s stretchy, or should I exchange it now for the smaller size? I’m pregnant right now so trying it on wouldn’t illuminate much.
anon says
I would say to get the M. You want it to snugly support the baby. The S worked for my husband — 5’8” and very muscular, with 15-20 lb on on me — as well as for me.
anon says
updated to add — the S was too loose on my mom, who is thinner than my husband and me although about the same height, and she just couldn’t use it at all because it wasn’t supportive enough.
Anonymous says
I would also get the medium. I am the same size as you and got the large in the JJ Cole Agility carrier (very similar to the K’Tan) and it was too big to be any use – you really want it to be snug to support the baby. Even my 6 foot tall, size Large wearing husband found the Large JJ Cole a bit too loose for his liking.
Carrie M says
I’ll dissent slightly here. We got the small and it worked well while baby was little. By about 5 months, she was too uncomfortable in it, and she wasn’t even that big a baby. I tried all the different positions I could find on Youtube and just couldn’t get it to work comfortably for her after that age. That said, we LOVED it when she was an infant. So if you do go down a size, just know that it may not last as long as you hope. I plan to use it again for #2 because it is so awesome, but I’m also looking into other soft options that will hopefully last us longer.
Sarabeth says
I think that’s par for the course with the k’tan, though. Babies outgrow them fast, just like the Moby or any stretchy wrap. If you want soft but longer lasting, try something like the Wrapsody Hybrid wrap, which only stretches in one direction, so provides support longer.
Paging Mom of Baby with Heart Murmur says
Just wanted to check in on you and hope you’re feeling better. Internet hugs.
Frozen Peach says
Thank you!!! It’s me. And I am feeling much better. Thank you all for your kind words. And you’re not wrong about the discussion with my ob/gyn — except that we had it many months ago and I’ve been working hard since then on PPD with good help.
Your hugs and support got me through the day yesterday. We’re going in for a full cardiac workup tomorrow morning. And I’ve been tremendously comforted by talking to friends who work as peds nurses or doctors and hearing how common this is, and how likely benign. Trying to stay calm and even-keeled today, and man do I welcome your well wishes tomorrow AM.
twin mom says
FWIW both my kids have had murmurs detected since birth and they told us we could wait until a certain age to get them checked out because there were no other scary symptoms. We’ve taken the doc up on the grace period and I anticipate hearing at the next visit that they still have murmurs and we should get them checked out. I am relatively easily worked up but nobody seems too concerned about this one — – it’s just so common and scary things are usually accompanied by scary symptoms (according to my ped, when little babies are concerned).
puffs? says
I want to start feeding my 7.5 month old chunkier solids, and would like to try the puffs. But, the packages all say that they are for crawling babies. My baby is a champ at rolling but pretty content with that for now. Does this matter?
puffs? says
Also, how do people feel about these from a nutritional standpoint?
anon says
They are flavored air so from a nutritional standpoint, they are weak. BUT, for developing the pincher grasp/ buying you a few minutes of quiet at a meal, they are pretty great.
Anon in NYC says
We introduced puffs to work on my daughter’s pincer grasp, and found them easier to use than something more slippery like carrots or cut up blueberries. We did this before she started crawling (she started crawling at around 10-10.5 months). My daughter loves cheerios and puffs now, but when we first introduced them she hated them. So if your LO hates them you might want to return to them at some point.
From a nutritional standpoint, I can’t imagine they have much value so we don’t make them a large part of her diet. For us they are usually a filler if we’re out. When at home we’re more likely to give her something like cheerios (which seem healthier to me – maybe just because we grew up with them).
In terms of other chunkier solids, we started in with things like peas and carrots, small pieces of sweet potatoes, chopped up broccoli, etc. It was amazing watching her go from not really being able to pick something up to feeding herself in a matter of weeks.
Edna Mazur says
I think the whole can has something like 150 calories. I think the can has some ‘we are healthy’ type claims but if you want to feed your kid something super nutritional, puffs probably aren’t it. For practicing chunkier foods they are good. I think I started mine on puffs around that age but I would dole them out one at a time. They dissolve/get mush pretty much on contact with the tongue so unless they inhale them I think it would be hard to choke on one at a time.
Then when they cruse around furniture you can put them about six inches apart on all the couches and it keeps you baby entertained for about 3-4 minutes a time.
Navy Attorney says
I totally use them as a distraction during dinner prep. I’m glad everyone else does!
Anonymous says
That’s weird- in Canada I have never seen that on the label, it always just says “for self feeders.” Mine definitely had puffs before crawling- some babies skip crawling altogether! Nutritionally, you need to eat like a million to eat 100 calories, but my LO loved practicing her pincer on them. They are also basically the only crunchy things babies can eat at that age so a big hit. We only used them for a couple of months before moving onto plain Cheerios. Are puffs a nutrition staple? No. Do babies love them and can be happily and safely munching for a while? Yes. Win in my book!
Lkl says
That’s so weird! I have never heard of that. We just started finger foods when he developed a pincer grasp — he developed the fine motor skills to not gag on chunky things at the same time as developing the pincer. For our baby that was about 9 ish months, maybe closer to 10. We didn’t use puffs specifically but did use broken-up and then whole cheerios. For working on learning to eat thicker foods without gagging, we found cottage cheese to be THE BEST. But we had a major gagger.
Carrie M says
IMO, I don’t think it matters at all. They melt instantly in the mouth. We didn’t care re the nutritional value – really we saw them as a way for baby to practice her pincer grasp and hand/eye coordination. They are also great for distracting a fussy kid for a bit.
MDMom says
You can always give baby smaller pieces to try it. I wouldn’t suggest them as a very first solid finger food just because they are hard and dry. My kid did a lot better with wetter/softer foods to start. Like chunks of banana or avocado. And watching a baby chase peas around the tray is great entertainment. I think the package instructions are just a general guideline that’s more based on development than age. All babies are different.
Nutritionally they’re basically crunchy air. Baby should be getting all/most of nutrition from milk at this point so I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I do prefer cheerios to puffs for a variety of reasons including that they are cheaper and have some nutritional value.
PinkKeyboard says
Mine is 11 months and still not crawling but she can eat steak. Yours will be totally fine, they dissolve into nothing. They don’t have much nutritional value or calories BUT they are delicious baby crack and take a long time to eat. For those reasons alone I like them!
ChiLaw says
We started our kiddo on those around 7 months and she LOVED them for a while. It was great because we could put her in the chair and give her some puffs to nom and prepare our own dinners, and/or hers. At that point she was still nursing, so I considered the puffs just practice, and reassured myself she was getting nutrition from nursing. As she got older and weaned, we started more in on potentially nutritious foods. She does still (16 months) love crunchy foods the best, though now we give her slightly more substantive crunchy things.
Pogo says
Hey guys.. looking for some success stories/commiseration on the infertility front.
Honestly we’re not that far into it (starting IUI next month after three months of clomid not working), and only about 2 years since we initially started trying – I know many people have much worse “infertility journeys”. Anyway, every month I just get SO down, and start this terrible mind game of “how long will this take, what if we never have kids”.
I mean, honestly, we would live our life VERY differently if kids weren’t on the map (like, we would have bought a nice condo in the city or moved to Europe for a few years, or both!), and I think about that sometimes. I almost feel like we were *too* prepared – we’ve been together 10 years, saved up lots, bought a house in the suburbs and I transitioned to a cushier job very close to home. People we know in 300 square foot rented apartments and no car in the city magically get knocked up on their first try!
I know none of these are connected and I’m a terrible person for being jealous of/feeling superior to these other couples for our over-readiness and infertility, but it’s killing me. We’re the first one of our friends to get married, and we’ll be the last to have kids if it ever works. Every party we go to it’s “oh are you guys thinking about having kids yet?”
I guess I just want to know there’s light at the end of the tunnel?
LC says
I was in exactly the same boat as you — minus the house in the suburbs, but otherwise pretty much to the letter. Now I have a 7-month old, and the whole awful infertility experience seems like a distant memory. (Except when I think about conceiving number 2, which we’d like to do sooner rather than later.) Clomid also didn’t work for me, and we moved on to Femara after two failed clomid cycles (I didn’t even ovulate on clomid, so my RE moved me off it quickly). Have you tried Femara? What, if any, ovulation drugs are they giving you to work with IUI? I found it helpful to really understand everything my RE was doing. Good luck! I’ll be thinking of you — the infertility journey is miserable.
Pogo says
Thanks – no, we just tried the clomid. It worked the first time, the second had to be stair-stepped (ie, took it twice in one month which was actually like 45 days of constant ultrasounds, ugghhhh), and still waiting on the third but not holding out hope. I do ovulate, in the sense that I get follicles above 18mm and I trigger with HCG – though I don’t think she’s done my day 21 progresterone which is the only way to know for sure? Maybe I should ask for that.
She actually recommended IUI to start, bc DH has low morph (but perfectly normal in every other way). I think I should probably ask to use femara + trigger for the IUI, given that I didn’t get pregnant with clomid and all the s3x (seriously, this last month we were overachievers because we figured it was our last chance, lol).
As I’ve also written about I have a lot of unpredictable work travel, along with my unpredictable menstrual cycle (+ DH’s work travel) so just going through each cycle is a nightmare logistically. I’m sure that’s adding to my stress…
TBK says
Been there. We got lucky in that, since we were paying out of pocket, our dr suggested we go straight to IVF and we put two in and got twins on the first go. But I remember that summer feeling like every single woman I passed on the street was pregnant. I remember looking up every statistic and being like “but that doesn’t control for age” or “that doesn’t mention whether they included people with some sort of diagnosed problem!” The truth is no statistic is going to tell you whether *you* will get pregnant. I think the only real way to handle it is to just keep handling it. Time will pass and either you’ll get pregnant or you won’t. But to the extent that anecdotes help, I know eight people (including me) who’ve gone through fertility treatments and every single one of them had at least one baby. For some it took on the first try, for others it took several years, but it still worked. Good luck!!
Pogo says
Thanks. We have amazing insurance, and it doesn’t actually specify how many rounds of each you have to try, so the RE said we could go straight to IVF if we wanted (plus DH has a rare genetic condition that, while it isn’t life-threatening, does cause issues for him and we have a 50% chance of passing it on to kiddo without using PGD). My only consideration is that it’s so much more invasive for me. I know it’s not painful necessarily and all the direction to stop running etc is just an abundance of caution but… idk. I’d rather not do it if I don’t have to?
Though IVF at this clinic is like a 50% success rate. Which sounds real appealing right now.
TBK says
Our doctor advised skipping right to IVF because everything else is so much less effective. I mean, yes, it’s invasive but the overall timeline is pretty short. Honestly if you’re feeling stressed why muck around with things that don’t work very well?
MSJ says
Also out of pocket, straight to IVF and twins on the first try.
It certainly wasn’t pleasant but wasn’t as bad as I imagined and far less painful than prior months of disappointment.
PinkKeyboard says
We were undiagnosed (and I have a stepson so my husband is demonstrably fertile). We did 6 rounds of Clomid, 4 rounds of Follistim (with one IUI just to see-his sperm is great) with nothing. We did the first round of IVF and put 2 in and got a chemical pregnancy. Second round we put 2 in, I was pregnant with 2, lost one twin at 8 weeks (genetic abnormality- we had seen a heartbeat etc) but the remaining one kicked butt! She’s now 11 months! If it is weighing too heavily on you (I remember how depressing all those nos were) and it’s covered you could try IVF. I didn’t find it too bad, I felt worse on Clomid than the injectables and I got used to the injections (my husband had to do the first few but eventually I got really good at it).
Betty says
Hugs. Been there as well except we went straight to injectables (GonalF) plus IUI. We conceived our son on our third round and had two follicles trigger that month. He is now 5 and his little sister is 2.5 (magically conceived with no assistance). That others have been through longer journeys does not diminish your pain right now, and you feeling that pain doesn’t diminish theirs. It just stinks all the way around.
I remember feeling like everyone around me was getting pregnant, and we felt so prepared and ready and it was just so unfair. There is a fantastic scene in the movie Julie & Julia where Julia Child receives a letter from her sister notifying Julia that her sister is pregnant. Julia starts sobbing on Paul’s shoulder and saying that she is just so happy for her sister. In my opinion, never has a scene captured that feeling so accurately. Its rough and complicated and raw and real. I don’t have any magic advice to get through it except to take it month by month and see how things unfold. Also, don’t stop living your life because of the “ifs.” Plan a vacation, go out for drinks and don’t stop enjoying your life. Hugs and good luck.
Pogo says
Thanks for all the virtual hugs guys!!
@Betty I remember that scene, it is so so much like what I feel! I’m so happy for all my friends but it is TOUGH.
My closest current preggo friend knew we’d been trying for awhile, and then right after she told me she was pregnant I told her how we’d finally moved on to a RE. She was like,”Oh this is great! We’ll be pregnant together!” I allowed myself to dream and was like, oh I’ll only be two months behind her… then three months….then four and now I’m just accepting the fact our kids will likely be born at least a year apart when all is said and done, and there won’t be any cute pictures of us preggo side by side. It’s silly, but these things tug at the heart!!
Anonymous says
Late to the game, but I can offer commiseration, if not (yet?) a success story. We’re just starting an IVF cycle after a year of trying, including 6 IUIs (3 with Clomid) and nothing has taken. It’s so frustrating, because everyone around us is getting pregnant after trying for only a month or two, but I’m hoping IVF is the magic solution! The plus side is that because of the 6 IUIs, the IVF is covered by insurance, so that makes those disappointments semi worth it.
JP says
Not sure if you’re still reading, but if you are…
I’ve been there and it’s so, so hard. We did six IUIs (needed to self pay before insurance covered IVF), I got pregnant twice and miscarried both times, moved to IVF (which is like 10 bad days tops, it is soooo worth it), transferred one and got pregnant and miscarried, did PGD on the five frozen ones and had two chromosomally normal ones (we had thought that the problem was with my husband but it turned out that I had a lot of damaged eggs), transferred one, and now I’m 12 weeks with a healthy baby girl. The moment we saw her heartbeat, the pain of the past year suddenly felt like it might have a happy ending, although are still cautious. During that year basically everyone in my life got pregnant and had kids, and it’s sucked.
PGD has given me tremendous peace of mind and it’s amazing that it is covered for you. I liked that with IVF you have so much more information every step of the way. With iui it’s sort of a shot in the dark, but we felt so much more in control with IVF and we actually got an answer as to why we’d had so much trouble attaining and maintaining a pregnancy. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it’s medicalized. Yes, it’s not the most romantic way to conceive a child. But when all is said and done, your baby is your baby and once you have him/her, the mechanics of how you got there will seem less important (or so I’ve heard).
Meg Murry says
Since no one ever seems to comment on the featured items anymore, I thought I would :-)
We don’t have iPhones, but I have strongly considered getting a case that can store cards on/in it. However, my husband and I are both extremely hard on our phones (like drop them onto concrete or down stairs hard on phones), so our priority has always been protective cases over anything else. Although since my Otterbox fugly case is 2 pieces, I have managed to shove my ID, credit card and a couple of 20s between the 2 pieces when I didn’t want to carry my full wallet.
I hate that my case makes my phone so bulky, and they start to look crappy after a few months of heavy use, but I don’t think I could have a phone last more than 6 months at best without a super sturdy case.
Anyone have a good case that is protective without being hideous or huge for Android phones (or iPhone case that also might be available for Android)? I had a ballistics case in the past that I hated less than my current Otterbox, but they were both huge.
Betty says
I have a Speck case that has stood up well to my rough usage and being handled by my kids. I have stayed clear of Otterbox after hearing that so many on the market are forgeries.
ChiLaw says
I have an incipio wallet case. It’s ugly. But it protects my phone and stashes my ID, so if the only thing I manage to grab on my way out the door is my phone, hey I have my drivers license too! At some point I switched to something cuter, but I was worried about the longevity, and it’s hard to beat the durability and practicality of my dumb case. It makes my phone look like a storm trooper.
CLS says
I have a Spigen – I love it because you can’t tell that there’s a place to stash cards, it’s pretty seamless and looks just like a normal card case. It’s not fancy, but it works. I’m not sure if they have one that is more protective like an otter box, but may be worth checking. THe version I have holds two credit cards, which is fine, would prefer if it held 3, but to do some quick errands, and running around with 2 kids, it seems to work. May be worth looking into… Hope that helps. :)
Anonymous4 says
I also had the incipio, but found the hinge on the wallet feature wasn’t very durable. It only lasted a few weeks. Something like the featured item might have been more practical for me, given that the stretchy portion would be less inclined to damage.