Nursing/Postpartum Tuesday: Soothies Gel Nursing Pads
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Like many of my friends and acquaintances, I could probably write an essay about my breastfeeding “journey.” Even though I read a lot about it before having a baby, I think I still underestimated how much it could sometimes just plain HURT. Because I had supply issues right from the start, my baby stayed latched for a long time, which led to a lot of nipple pain — mostly of the stinging and burning variety. Even though I passed these by on my first shopping go-round, I remembered them postpartum and ordered them, and they helped so much! A big thank you to the internet stranger who recommended that I put them in the fridge in between uses. They not only cool and soothe but also provide a barrier between your skin and your bra/shirt/anything that touches your skin that now feels like sandpaper on your poor boobs. A set of 2 is $9.59 at Amazon. Lansinoh Soothies Gel Nursing Pads
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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Sales of note for 11.25.24 (Great Black Friday Sales!!)
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Early Black Friday, up to 60% off — great deals on Natori, Vince, Theory, Boss, Cole Haan, Tory Burch, Rothy’s, and Weitzman, as well as gift ideas like Barefoot Dreams and Parachute — Dyson isn’t marked down at all but you do get 3x points on beauty purchases.
- Ann Taylor – 40% off your purchase, plus extra 15% off full price styles
- Anine Bing – Shop more, save more (spend $200-$300, get an extra 15-25% off)
- A.P.C. – Shop 40% off
- ba&sh – Up to 40% off Fall/Winter styles, including select colors of reader favorite Gaspard & Guspa cardigans (also included in Tuckernuck’s sale)
- Banana Republic Factory – 60% off everything + extra 20% off (or extra 30% off with your Gap Inc credit card) ends 11/26
- Bloomingdales – Take $25 off every $100 you spend on items labeled BLACK FRIDAY; ends 11/24
- Boden – 30% off on 1000s of styles, including reader favorites like this blazer and these dresses
- Cuyana – Free shipping over $95 (and 10% off your first order over $150)
- Demellier – 20% off with code, free worldwide shipping & returns
- Design Within Reach – 25% off sitewide (including reader-favorite office chairs Herman Miller Aeron and Sayl!)
- The Fold – Black Friday, up to 30% off everything
- Eloquii – 50% off everything + extra 10% off $125 or more
- Everlane – Up to 50% off everything
- Furla – Up to 50% off select styles
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off almost everything – LOTS of winter coats 40% off, down to $204-$230
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off everything, plus extra 25% off orders $125+
- Kule – 30% off sitewide
- Kohl’s – Earn $10 Kohl’s Cash for every $50 Spent – includes Travelpro luggage!
- LaLigne – 30% off in their ONLY sale of the year
- Lo & Sons – Up to 70% off – reader favorite laptop tote is under $200
- Macy’s – 20-50% off beauty brands like Clinique and Armani, 50% off designer handbags, 50-75% off sparkly jewelry, and 40-50% off women’s boots
- Mansur Gavriel – Winter sale, up to 60% off
- M.M.LaFleur – “20% off everything” (but exclusions apply)
- Ministry of Supply – 30% off sitewide
- Mulberry – Up to 40% off, including Bayswater, Islington, and more
- Neiman Marcus – Earn a $50-$1250 gift card, including on beauty and fragrance purchases
- Rothy’s – Everything up to 30% off (some also on sale at Nordstrom)
- Shopbop – 25% off storewide with code, including great blazers from Rag & Bone, IRO, Smythe, and select L’Agence (also lots of nice Black Halo dresses)
- Soma – Early Black Friday $29 bra event (up to 50% off)
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off, plus free shipping on everything (and 20% off your first order)
- Sue Sartor – Week of Joy sale, 30% off sitewide
- Steelcase – 25% off sitewide, including reader-favorite office chairs Leap and Gesture
- Strathberry – Pre-black Friday, enjoy up to 30% off select styles!
- Stuart Weitzman – Extra 25% off full-price and sale styles
- Talbots – 40% off your entire purchase + daily deals
- Theory – 25% off sitewide + up to 40% off select outerwear
- Tory Burch – 30% off $250+
- Tuckernuck – 20% off sitewide
- Universal Standard – At least 30% off sitewide, up to 70% off all styles
- Victoria’s Secret – 30% off everything, and 7/$35 panties
- White House Black Market – 60% off clearance, 30% off sitewide for WHBM members
- 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
- BabyJogger – 30% off sitewide
- BestBuy – Lots of deals on gaming consoles, including PS5, XBox Series X, and more
- Carter’s – 50-60% off entire site and store
- ErgoBaby – 25% off bouncers
- Graco – Up to 30% off sitewide
- Hanna Andersson – 50% off sitewide
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 50% off almost everything, prices marked
- Nordstrom – Lots of deals on Stokke, Maxi-Cosi, BabyJoger, Posh Baby, Silver Cross, and more
- Old Navy – Everything on sale
- SNOO / Happiest Baby – 30% off Snoo, up to 50% off sitewide
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?
I only let my kids (one is 22 months) use devices on long hauls (1 hour+ car trips, airplanes etc). We just let them use an iphone. They do not *need* a larger screen.
My toddler looks through photos and movies of herself for 30 minutes, happy and silent. If yours likes movies/games already, they can do that on a tiny screen too. ODD watches movies on my old iphone 4S and is delighted.
Not saying you CAN’T buy them their own, but you don’t have to.
Is 18 months too young to buy a Kindle Fire kid? We have four flights coming up (ouch) to see various family members and my son is in a major “I don’t want to be contained” phase. He has never used any kind of ipad or anything else, but our last flight was kind of a disaster.
Does your car have built in TV? When do/are the kids allowed to use it?
My kid has been having playdates where she’s transported by the parent and apparently Parents These Days [in my town] are allowing their kids to watch TV basically whenever they are in the car. Our car is a dumb car on purpose. I hate gadgets and we had to shop around hardcore to find a semi luxury car with no tvs/devices that yell at you and correct your driving. We have old ipads/phones that we allow the kids to use when we go on long car trips (typically to visit grandparents, who live 2-3 hours away [kids get devices at the 1 hour mark OR if the baby falls asleep and we need Car Quiet Time, whichever comes first], or something >1-1.5 hours away). I literally could not believe it when my daughter said she watched a few minutes of Thomas the Train between our house and the playground that they played at.
WTF. Am I just an Old here? It’s almost disturbing me to the point I’d ask a playdate parent not to allow my kid to watch TV in their car to LITERALLY DRIVE TWO MILES. My kids are all under 6, if that matters.
Reposting as a separate thread.
I work closely with two men who are senior to me. Although we used to be a great, collaborative team, over the past few years the environment has become quite toxic. The less senior of the two men (let’s call him B) has just announced his resignation. He is currently directing a project on which I am second in command. The more senior co-worker (we’ll call him A) has had very little involvement with the project thus far. I have been doing most of the actual work and client management on the project, and I have plenty of experience directing this type of project.
I have suggested that I take over directing the project. Our department head has informally indicated that he supports this plan. A thinks he should take over the project “to show the client that we take them seriously.” This makes no sense to me, as I have basically been running this project myself quite successfully. If A takes over, I will still have to do all the work and all the client management but won’t get any credit for it internally. If I take over, I will not be taking on any additional real work, but will position myself well for a promotion for which I’ll soon be eligible. B is avoiding me, but I have reason to believe that he will support A instead of me.
I am meeting privately with our department head this afternoon. How would you handle the situation? My first instinct is just to make my case logically–no matter what A or B says, I am the one who’s actually been doing the work and am the logical person to take over the project, and it will make the smoothest transition from the client’s perspective. To make things more challenging, the department head is not a strong manager and is inclined to take the path of least resistance, and A has a lot of power in certain spheres of the organization.
Can anyone offer thoughts on logistics of sharing a bedroom? We’re thinking about #2 soon. If all goes to plan, #1 will be 2.5 to 3 years. We have a 3 bed / 2.5 bath townhome. Master bedroom and 2nd bedroom are on one floor and the 3rd bedroom is up one flight of stairs. Currently, baby has bedroom on our floor and the 3rd bedroom is study/guest room.
How would you have #2 share bedroom with #1 based on different sleep schedules etc? What if they are different genders?
If baby #2 is in our room for 6 months, baby sleeps a lot earlier than we do, so how do we stay up in bed, get ready in our bathroom etc without waking baby up? This was an issue with #1 and she always started the night in her own room from the beginning..
Is it better to just give up our home office and move baby #1 to her own room? We use the home office a ton and we could just move it to our bedroom I suppose, but this is definitely not ideal..
Speaking of swim lessons…
My kiddo 4.5 and loves the water and will jump off of a boat into a lake wearing her PuddleJumper, but does not know how to swim. The Y is telling me she needs to be in the stage 1 toddler group, called “water acclimation,” because she cannot swim 5 ft. on her own. But, is she going to be bored? I definitely want her to learn the fundamentals at the right level, but I feel like Stage 1 “water acclimation” doesn’t seem to describe her level of comfort in the water. I’m tempted to sign her up for Stage 2 “water movement,” but also I want to keep my tiger momhood in check.
I couldn’t agree more. Another CPA here. After a work day spent in front of spreadsheets and a winter that won’t end, the last thing I want to do is stay inside with the kids playing with Paw Patrol toys, which is my son’t favorite pass time aside from watching the cartoon. I have three (one 3.5 year old step daughter, one 3 year old boy and a 15 month old girl.) The oldest one’s occupational therapist said that her muscles are “exceptionally weak” and my son has a love affair with food, so I have the older two enrolled in sports and swimming classes on weekends. The baby is enrolled in swimming because she loves the water. I’m considering adding a MyGym (gymnastics) class to the mix. The older two attend preschool full time and the baby has a nanny for a half day and daycare for a half day. Although it may seem like overscheduling, I’m more concerned that they don’t get enough exercise. I didn’t grow up with all these classes either, but I also grew up in a house with a pool and spent weekends at a cousin’s house with acres of land for us to safely run around. Also, my step daughter is in the stage where she think’s it’s funny to run off, so having her exercise in a confined space is a big plus. We could save money just going to the park now that the weather is nice, but it’s really hard to corral three toddlers simultaneously.
We got them when our oldest was 3, almost 4. We transitioned him to a floor bed first. The bunk bed we purchased is lower to the ground because it has a house structure on top. So the bottom bunk is pretty much on the floor except for some slats and about an inch of space, and the top bunk is surrounded by a few boards that make it so he cannot roll off. Based on this, we let him sleep on the top when he turned 4.
It has been really nice to have the extra bed for when we have guests over!
Our youngest is still in the crib, but it’s nice to have the lower bunk for him once he decided to climb out (hopefully never, ha).
Questions about the trade-off between full-time and part-time work: I currently work full-time (40 hours +/- depending on what is going on) in house with a fair amount of flexibility (two days from home, I can swing my work day from 7:30-3:30 to 9-5 or in between, and make up hours after bedtime, if need be). My husband works way more than 40 hours with at least 2-3 days of 12 hour days plus constant checking-in with work.
Our kids are 4 and 7, with our youngest entering K this fall. Our oldest has a chronic health condition, and we are starting to have him tested for ASD and starting on counseling for him next week.
Objectively, I can see that everything is being held together, but I feel like I am just barely keeping it all going. I’ve long considered asking about going to part-time (maybe 80%), but I am concerned that I will loose some of the flexibility that seems to come with full-time work. I am concerned about doing all the work I do now, but squeezing it in to fewer hours. To top this off, my new boss has made disparaging comments about others who are not committed in that they work part-time. She has also commented that she always worked full-time, and she has two kids in college. I feel like I need a bit more margin to do more than just barely keep it all together. Not sure exactly what I’m looking for here…
My son is having surgery for an inguinal hernia on Friday. I understand that this is extremely common, so I thought I’d ask if anyone can share what to expect from a parent’s perspective (how long things take, how freaked out kid got, etc.). He’s 2.
Thanks!
Bunk bed question. At what age can you get a bunk bed? We’re going to have 2 kids share a room and bunks are definitely part of that arrangement. Currently, however, we’d like to start transitioning our 2 year old out of her crib so that in a few months the baby can be moved from a mini crib in our room into her crib in their room. Oldest is definitely ready for a “real” bed, but I’m wondering if it would be totally nuts to just get a bunk bed now and not have anyone sleep up top for a while or if we need to just do a regular bed for a few years and then get bunks when both kids are older. We have occasional sleepover guests (cousins, etc.) and it would be nice to have the extra space now, plus I could throw a lot of the stuffed toys there, and it would save us from buying a bed that we’ll only need for a short while. FWIW, kids are 2 years apart and the oldest is fairly responsible/good about climbing.
these gel pads saved me w both babies. at least, the medela version did. i give one set to all my friends who are having babies.
Fwiw, these did nothing for me. N*pple shields saved me. I used them for a different reason (flat n*pples) but they made b-feeding so much more comfortable. My daughter is six months and I still rarely b-feed without a shield.
What helps you stay positive when dealing with toddler tantrum situations? DH gets incredibly stressed and anxious and kiddo can feel it which results in…more tantrums. DH never hits or even yells, he just gets terse and less joyful and kiddo will say that he is hurting her feelings. Sometimes he will sigh loudly. None of these horrible and toddler tantrum stress is real, so I understand why he gets upset, but I need him to understand the consequences to is reactions. For me, when things start to get a little crazy, like kiddo is refusing to brush teeth, I like to get creative and tell a story or have kiddo brush a teddy bear’s teeth, while I brush her teeth. DH says he finds that exhausting. I don’t disagree, I just would rather avoid the fight by being creative and positive, because I find the tantrum/fight/stress more exhausting. These stressful episodes have an impact on sleep also. Often if DH and kiddo have a fight during the nighttime routine, she will wake up in the middle of the night crying about it, even if she went to bed easily. I am at a loss about how to help DH control his reactions, I am not even sure if that is the best way to handle this. His emotions are not wrong – this is stressful – but they just cause more stress. Help
I posted on the main page as well but would love to hear thoughts here too since my question centers on living in the Bay Area with kids:
Question for those who live or have lived in the Bay Area (specifically Peninsula area):
If money was not a consideration, would you live in the Bay Area and why? DH and I are considering a move there. Both sets of families live there (about an hour apart) and DH’s industry is centered there (biotech). We currently live across the country and would like our children to grow up near their grandparents and they will be very helpful in terms of childcare.
Every time I mention a potential move to someone all they talk about is the cost of living. And yes, while I am very aware of the ridiculous costs, we are also doing well financially and it wouldn’t be impossible to live there I don’t think (HHI of 450-500K, roughly).
I would appreciate thoughts on living in the Bay Area, especially with young children. Thank you.