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We got these stickers a while ago through a Groupon, and loved them as a great way to “mark” Jack’s cups, spoons, and Bento trays at daycare. We got the small rectangle labels, and they have held up amazingly well to dishwashing, handwashing, regular wear-and-tear, and more. (A lot of the stickers still look like new!) Word to the wise: if it’s your first kiddo, think about getting just your family name on there, because you will be passing these down to your younger kids. Prices are around $15 per page of labels (depending on your choices). StickerYou Personalized Labels
(L-3)
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?
Jdubs says
So far have told only my boss and my two direct reports about my pregnancy (still early)… this morning a coworker from another department loudly congratulated me on it and proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions in front of about 4 other people including my clients by the coffee machine. gee thanks.
Clementine says
http://www.reactiongifs.com/nope-nope-nope-octopus/
Ugh. People.
Jen says
Unless you specifically told your boss and direct reports that you don’t want to share this news publicly, this is sort of how it goes. Hopefully you won’t have these people wanting to rub your stomach.
Jdubs says
This is #3. I am just waiting for the rubbing to start. bleh. And yes, they knew it wasn’t public knowledge. I only told since my department is specifically planning for a something a few weeks after my due date that I wouldn’t be able to participate in – and they all knew that, but I’m more annoyed at the coworker who thought it was ok to blab in front of my client.
Alana says
We got something similar through namebubbles and I LOVE them. They are so cute and customizable, and hold up so well.
RDC says
+1 to namebubbles. I ordered matching tags for his clothes and bottles and it’s kind of ridiculous how happy it makes me.
Babyweight says
Inchbug, which also does the silicone bottle huggies.
Clementine says
Guess what! I’m feeling like I have my registries fairly complete!
My husband and I fully nerded out and read probably 20 articles on ‘what you do and don’t need’, used Lucie’s List, Consumer Reports and every piece of unsolicited advice we got. I had my best friend and wise mom-guru go through it and give suggestions on what to add.
For someone who doesn’t love shopping and HATES ‘stuff’, this is actually a big accomplishment that I had to share with someone.
Carrie M says
Congrats! It’s not easy sifting through all the garbage out there. I’ll be interested in you reporting back post-baby on what were hits or misses!
HSAL says
Yay! I felt so much better once ours was done. Decisions are hard! I loved Lucie’s List and relied on those recommendations the most, especially for bigger/more expensive items, but we also had lots of things we didn’t care about, but knew we needed. Even though we didn’t have most of it yet, we seemed “ready” once we’d finished the registry.
Preemie Mom says
Hi ladies – I had a mini-freak out this morning about feeding my DS and was hoping you all would have some good advice. Any tips for what a busy working mom who can’t really cook could feed a one-year-old? Would love some ideas for food with more flavor and slightly more texture than purees, that I could easily make ahead in large batches and freeze or that wouldn’t take too long to prepare the night before, and also that doesn’t spoil quickly. DS had been doing great on store-bought purees of all varieties and pureed ground chicken or turkey that I cooked myself, with baby oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, but lately he’s been turning up his nose at everything he used to love. “Just feed him what you’re eating” isn’t a great option for us right now, for a variety of reasons – we eat more take out than we should; nanny gives him dinner because we’re home late and it’s a nanny share so having her cook isn’t an option either; we’ve tried giving him what we’re eating when we do cook (e.g. spaghetti) and he hasn’t tolerated the textures well (he’s 11.5 months but 9.5 months adjusted and no teeth yet). Yesterday, he wouldn’t eat his baby oatmeal or pureed fruit, but couldn’t get enough cut up watermelon and scrambled egg – but since he wouldn’t eat it on his own (I don’t think he likes picking up things that are slimy – I know I could try coating it in Cheerio dust, but that’s another step and yet more time), I had to slowly feed it to him, which took 45 minutes for prep and eating – and I don’t have that kind of time in the morning. (Again, because of the nanny share situation, having the nanny give him breakfast also isn’t a great option – and I do enjoy getting to do one meal with him.) To top it off, because he’s not eating as many solids, he’s up again nursing at night. Any advice would be appreciated – thanks!!
Jen says
My daughter didn’t get teeth (any!) until 11.5 months, and even then she only had ONE. She was done with purees at about 9 months and had no trouble at all with food that required chewing, as long as the bites were small. Steak was probably the one exception– had to be teeny tiny or she spat it out.
Things that are sort of easy:
– Scrambled eggs with veggies and/or cheese mixed in (spinach, broccoli, etc) (can your kid start to use a spoon? mine was slowly but determinedly using a spoon herself ~10 months). to save time, you could do make-ahead crustless quiche cups (like these http://www.food.com/recipe/vegetable-quiche-cups-to-go-382550) and then just heat and cut and serve– or send with kid to nanny share.
– pancakes ripped up into teeny pieces, or presented in large pieces to gum on (can make ahead or just buy the frozen ones)
– smoothies- as soon as she could do straws (about 9 months?) I made fruit smoothies and threw in some veggies. She sucked them right down and now at 2 LOVES helping “cook” the smoothie (dump things in blender). You could just stick fruit in the freezer, toss in blender with yogurt or milk (assuming you’re switching around now?) and be good to go
– yogurt- either in pouches or start getting him to use a spoon. This is a giant mess at first but they do get the hang of it
– not baby oatmeal- upgrade to steel cut and make ahead in batches (mine started digging that with a tiny bit of maple syrup and berries around 11 months)
– slimy things: can you put on a fork for him and then jus tlet him put the fork to his face? Takes less time.
For dinners:
– tiny cut up meatballs (premade by you on teh weekend or store bought lower sodium turkey meatballs) + sauce with veggies (spinach etc) + pasta like raviloi or the like cut up into tiny pieces
– sweet potatos, roughly mashed (not pureed), can use fingers or spoon. Can definitely make ahead. Throw in some peas (pureed if you can’t get him to eat them solo, else, just extra cooked)
– grilled cheese, cut up into tiny pieces
my best advise is to ignore the fact that he has no teeth. that is 100% not the issue.
kc esq says
My answer is always to cut off the nursing at night. Cuddles, yes. Food, no. Nighttime is not a time to eat. Successful low-maintenance finger foods for us were avocado, chick peas, sweet potato (cooked whole in the microwave, then cubed), meatballs (usually bought pre-made at the deli), simply baked and shredded salmon, and rotisserie chicken. Food that requires a spoon and likely adult assistance was often buttered orzo mixed with frozen veggies or ground meat.
CHJ says
Around that age, DS really started preferring real food to purees. A few of his favorites:
– Chicken pot pie
– This brisket recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/sweet-and-sour-brisket-recipe.html
– Meatballs
– Pot stickers / dumplings. (You can mash these up with a fork.)
– Hamburgers
– Sticky rice (easier to pick up)
– Mashed potatoes
I would just keep offering him things, including the foods your eating even if that’s spaghetti and take-out, and let him try different flavors or textures. All babies get the hang of solids eventually, so don’t sweat it if he doesn’t seem to be that interested yet.
Famouscait says
Semi-related Q: my son is almost 11 months old. He has 2 bottom teeth and happily eats purees and Cheerios, and takes bottles. Not so happy about trying sippy cups, and frankly, we have not tried any other food with him. How is there time? We don’t cook. He goes to bed around 7:30pm, so there’s not a ton of time in the evening to mess around with new feeding tactics. I guess you could say we’ve been operating off the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model, i.e. I don’t want to change things up on him when he is eating fine and gaining the appropriate amount of weight, etc. Is this terrible? What’s an easy way to start in on some of these great food ideas listed it the thread?
RDC says
Let daycare (or nanny) handle it. We outsourced the feeding of baby cereal to them and he eats that like a champ now. They’ve now (9.5 mos) started giving him snacks as well (fruits and veggies). I figure around 10 months I’ll ask them to start giving him the full lunch too (they provide meals). For dinner, it’s usually two items, ideally one protein and one fruit or veggies – falls backs are cheese, yogurt, banana, and whatever veggies we happen to have. fwiw, we did a lazy version of baby led weaning and just gave him table food from the get-go.
Pigpen's Mama says
+1 to leaving a lot of it to daycare/nanny.
They led the sippy cup introduction — she was better about drinking from a sippy cup at daycare than at home, and only just recently starting drinking more than a sip or two of water out of a sippy cup at home and she’s just a year old.
She’s been finger feeding herself for the last few months — mostly because I didn’t have time to spoon feed her in the evening.
We do a lot of:
nuked pre-cut/small frozen veggies — mixed vegetables, corn, peas, lima beans
beans — canned, black beans are her fav, but also kidney and garbanzo
quesadillas — shredded cheese, whole wheat tortilla
steamed baby zucchini
cucumbers sticks (excellent when teething)
veggie burgers
mac and cheese
small pastas — rotini andpesto was a big hit last night
bread
Natasha says
For the bottle to cup transition, we just kept sending different cups to daycare until he liked one (Nuk FWIW). We continued to breastfeed at home until weaning, so he rarely drank from cups at home until he was almost 2, but he was very attached to his “milkies”. He was really picky with food from the beginning, didn’t really start on any substantial food until almost 9 months… just no interest. It’s a constant struggle to feed the kid still at 3. He will eat something for months and then all of the sudden stop eating it at random. Now cut to kid #2 at 7 months and he’s so distracted I can barely feed breastfeed him. He loves any and all food you put in his mouth.
TLDR, do what works for you and do not feel bad about not doing everything “right”. If your kid is happy and healthy and not malnourished, you’re doing better than basically the entire rest of the world.
NewMomAnon says
I liked to throw chicken thighs into the crock pot with some broth, and let them poach until they shred off the bone (thighs only have one bone, so shredding is easy). Then you can pop the shredded chicken in the fridge and add it to pasta, mashed potatoes, BBQ sauce (if you’re feeling brave), pizza, quesadillas, etc.
Other ideas – sloppy joes (can make this ahead and reheat), grilled cheese (my kiddo eats it cold hours later), stews with chunks of soft meat and veg (including curried stews), dumplings of any kind, steamed buns (like you get at Vietnamese restaurants). My kiddo really liked gnawing on pizza crust and that’s what got her into solid foods. Although she was really eager to eat table foods, which I know isn’t a universal thing.
Preemie Mom says
Thanks for all the great and helpful replies, everyone! These are some great concrete suggestions for LO – now, here’s hoping he’ll take to eating with a spoon…. :)
anonymama says
instead of pureed ground turkey or chicken, throw some seasonings or veggies in it and cook like a meat sauce or meatballs. Also, raviolis are fantastic and easy, just chop into bits and give to LO to eat with fingers. Does he eat crackers or will he gnaw on a good hunk of crusty bread? I also give my LO bigger pieces of watermelon rind with just a little watermelon left on it, so he can gnaw on it. The cold feels good on his gums and he can’t get off big enough chunks to choke. And defrosted frozen peas, steamed broccoli cut into little bits. Instead of pureeing whatever you’re pureeing, just chop into little bits, and maybe throw in some sauces or seasonings. I don’t know about the texture thing though, my kid was the opposite and pretty quickly stopped eating purees because he wanted to feed himself. It’s sooo messy….
Anon in NYC says
For bottles we bought these reusable Inchbug bands that you can wrap around bottles/sippy cups. When we were touring daycares one of the providers mentioned them to us and said they were great.
Also, update! I’ve returned to work and am in training. I’ve figured out the pumping situation but it was a rough first two days where the HR person didn’t respond to any of my voicemails or emails related to the nursing moms room and I had to get other people involved. It’s still not perfect, but once training is over it should be fairly routine. Thanks to everyone for their advice!
Famouscait says
We’ve been using Whoozem’s labels on bottles for the past 8 months, and they’ve held up very well. Just this weekend I finally noticed that a few had started to separate from the laminate after almost daily dishwasher runs:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0048SOBGO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
Octagon says
Curious as to what other people had as a pregnancy food indulgence. I’m about midway through and recently discovered full-fat dairy after a lifetime of skim and low-fat products. Liberte and Noosa yogurts, I’m looking at you!
And was it hard to break the habit postpartum? I’m already sad at the thought of not having these on a regular basis.
CHJ says
Those sound awesome, so my first suggestion would be to not cut those out of your postpartum life at all, because yum. But I will also say that my pregnancy cravings very much subsided post-pregnancy. I was addicted to Cosi lemonade when I was pregnant, but haven’t been interested in it at all in the two years since having my son. So, be kind to yourself and eat your delicious yogurt if you still want it, but you might find that your cravings for it aren’t as intense post-pregnancy.
Pigpen's Mama says
Cravings were for watermelon and pineapple — in January!
Now my little one can’t get enough watermelon — I think she’d pack away an entire personal size one on her own, even though she’s just a year old.
Indulgence — at the end of my pregnancy I got a milkshake at Potbelly several times a week. I paired it with a salad for justification. While I’d never turn down a milkshake, I don’t NEED it like I did then.
If you end up breastfeeding, you’ll want to keep up on the full-fat dairy — I was so much hungrier nursing than I was when I was pregnant.
Also, the coconut and lemon Noosa flavors — YUM.
JJ says
Milkshakes were absolutely my pregnancy craving and indulgence. And during my first trimester for both my boys, the only food I could keep down was Chik-fil-A or Raising Cane’s fried chicken. I miss those…
RDC says
+1 on being hungrier while nursing. I think I out-ate my husband for a few months there.
sfg says
+2 on nursing hunger. Still starving all the time.
NewMomAnon says
My entire life turned upside down once baby came – literally everything changed overnight, including the foods that I had time/hands/mental faculties to eat. I had been eating baked potatoes almost every day during pregnancy; now I eat one a month, and I don’t think I had any for the first 3 months postpartum because who has time to wait 60 minutes for a potato to cook! I think changing your eatng habits will be a relatively minor adjustment (this is not meant to scare you, the changes are necessarily good/bad just different).
Famouscait says
During pregnancy I could taste artificial sweetener a mile away, so I switched to full-calorie soft drinks. Now, I can’t seem to go back to diet drinks, but I think it’s a win because now I drink far less overall because they’re full -calorie.
Maddie Ross says
Not to scare you, but yes – yes it was incredibly hard to go back to eating as I did before. Especially because I nursed a year and literally could eat every.single.thing while nursing. I ate like a 14 year old boy and still ended up almost 10 pound below pre-pregnancy weight. Now nearly 2 years out from that, I am up about 10 pounds OVER my pre-pregnancy weight. The years of eating habits I had created – no dressings, sauce on the side, low-fat dairy, snack-free, half-sized portions, split entrees, and low carbs – were totally blown and I’m fighting hard to get it back now with tracking, etc. I saw this as a warning, as that nearly 20 pounds totally crept up on me. At first, because my clothes were bigger after nursing on me, it just seemed like I was normalizing. But I’ve since blown past normal. It’s depressing.
anne-on says
I craved full-fat dairy like nobodies business. That went away a bit after delivering, but adjusting to eating like a regular grown woman after eating like a growing teenage boy while I was nursing was hard. I probably gained about 5-6lbs in total that were just not going away. After weight training and kicking up my cardio, I finally started a diet that is starting to work. But my metabolism tanked quite a bit after 30 and it was hard to come to terms with reordering my eating.
Meg Murry says
Me too. And for some crazy (and wonderful) reason, my body that had been previously rather lactose intolerant decided that it could handle cheese after all. And I ate a looooot of cheese, which has been a hard habit to break – and I still indulge more than I should (or at least, more than I should without making better choices the rest of the day to balance it out).
The other hard habit to break was sweets – I turned into a cookie monster.
The only thing that worked for me after the first pregnancy was strict Weight Watchers. After the second, I wasn’t able to force myself to be as strict about it and stick to it, so that didn’t work either – what did work, in fits and spurts, was relegating starchy carby things to “treat” food – so bread, pasta, cookies, etc became only special occasion foods, not a staple main part of my meals. But I fall off that bandwagon pretty regularly. And it doesn’t help that my husband has the metabolism of a 14 year old boy still, and actually has to actively try to eat more calories.
But yes, once I re-discovered full fat dairy like yogurt and good cheese, there was no going back to 0 or 1% yogurt – I opt for 2% or more, in smaller portions, mixed with real fruit instead of the 0%, fake sugar stuff that I was willing to eat in the past
KateMiddletown says
I had the same cheese/milk/yogurt cravings during pregnancy and breastfeeding. After we stopped I had to switch back to nut/soy milks. But boy do I love the pumpkin Noosa!
Natasha says
Ben & Jerry’s. So. Much. Ben & Jerry’s.
Clementine says
Pregnancy eating has been oddly freeing for me. I have always been really conscious of what I eat, but since getting pregnant I’ve been much more relaxed. I’ve just sorta been following a plan of ‘eat healthy, real food and not too much sugar’ and at first was really concerned that I would gain a ton of weight. What has actually happened is that I’ve gained a normal amount of weight and have come to the realization that my overall healthy lifestyle is already in place- the anxiety over food was pretty unnecessary.
My pregnancy indulgences have been: lots of low-fat string cheese, bread/sandwiches (in moderation), and my big indulgence is the every so often sugar sweetened fizzy drink as my evening ‘cocktail’.
Butter says
Me too, in that I have given myself full permission to eat whatever I want, but in reality this is not nearly the nachos-three-meals-a-day plan I was envisioning. I think this is partially because loss of appetite has continued and because food just doesn’t as great as it used to, but I wonder if there aren’t some psychological affects at work too with (almost) all constraints up. It’s really weird, but an interesting new experience. I do hope food goes back to tasting as good as it did before I was preggo, but wouldn’t mind keeping the inability to stuff myself that I have now.
Also, just had to say that the Liberte coconut yogurt has to be one of the most amazing things in the world.
Lorelai Gilmore says
I had this experience and it was so weird. I feel like my relationship with food during pregnancy was way more normal than it was any other time. I ate when I was hungry, stopped when I wasn’t, and didn’t feel emotionally invested in it. When not pregnant, it’s like my body doesn’t have that “off” switch – I don’t ever really feel satiated or like I don’t want more food. But when pregnant, my body just naturally knew how to manage calories. I kept thinking, “This must be how normal people think about food.” I really wanted it to stick around post-pregnancy, but it did not (oh well). It does make me think about the relationship between hormones and food – I wonder if something about the pregnancy hormones was helping regulate my appetite.
Anon says
I am experiencing a similar effect. Despite going 3 years pre-pregnancy with no fast food or soda, I have started eating Don & Millies 2-3 times a month and enjoying a regular (fancy) soda once a week. I also eat 1-2 slices of bread with breakfast every morning (something I rarely would have done before). Otherwise I haven’t changed my diet much and just eat when I’m hungry (with no guilt) and stop when I’m full. I have always been slightly overweight and my weight gain is on the low, but still healthy side, which is a total anomaly for me.
Anon says
low-fat string cheese as an “indulgence” is just sad.
SC says
I loved the full-fat dairy when I was pregnant! Iced coffee with whole milk, Wallaby whole milk Greek yogurt, cream cheese on my bagel, cheese plates for date night, ice cream and milk shakes! But I also had a huge aversion to meat when I was pregnant, so I think the increased calories from dairy was balanced by the lack of meat and pregnancy.
So far, it hasn’t been too hard to go back to “normal” eating. I’m eating my normal variety of foods and have mostly gone back to low-fat dairy (except cream cheese – I will never eat low-fat cream cheese again! – but I only have bagels and cream cheese once or twice a month). I’m still breastfeeding though, so I haven’t had to cut calories yet. The thing that helped me get back to normal habits was going back to work. In some ways, the change in lifestyle and spending habits have helped me avoid some high-calorie pre-pregnancy habits – I drink much less often, we eat out less and cook more, I bring my lunch sometimes (still working on making this a regular thing), we make coffee and breakfast at home, we don’t go out for frozen yogurt after dinner because the baby is asleep. And I’m making more of an effort to go to yoga and take walks with the baby. Not sure what will happen after I stop nursing and pumping — but for now, the ability not to worry about dieting sometimes keeps me motivated to keep pumping even when I’m tired of it :-)
AIMS says
I’ve never been a fan of low fat and especially skim anything so I don’t consider it a problem. I’m in my 3d trimester now and can’t say I’ve had any cravings yet (as in, I basically want/eat what I’ve always wanted/eaten) and I’ve been pretty indulgent so far in my pregnancy but my indulgences have been things like fresh pasta, good cheese, nice bread, good dark chocolate, etc. I find that processed food tends to gross me out now more than before, not that I ever ate much of it to begin with. So while I thought I’d “indulge” in Dominos or other fast food, the thought of eating anything like that tends to turn my stomach now. It’s weird because normally I am a very “love all carbs” kind of person, but I seriously just want to eat all the berries now and only have things that are fresh and wholesome. The funny thing is I normally gain weight pretty easily if I’m not paying attention but I’ve actually had to make sure I am eating enough to gain with this baby – very unusual for me. Anyway, all that is to say that I wouldn’t worry about the full fat yogurts! If you’re gaining weight at the recommended rate, you’ll be fine. If you were eating nothing but nachos and bacon cheeseburgers, then I’d worry about creating bad habits. But full fat dairy is a beautiful thing (at least if you’re going to eat dairy in the first place).
anonymama says
I actually think full-fat dairy can be healthier, because it actually has more protein and fewer sugars, and the fat slows down how your body processes the sugar (it seems like I read an actual study about this, but it might have been wackadoo). Anyway, when I, for example, eat cereal with whole milk I tend to feel fuller and more satisfied, and have less of a weird carb-sugar rush, then if I eat it with skim milk. Same with whole-fat yogurt – I just feel better when I eat it.
MDMom says
Ice cream, chocolate milk, and lemonade. I haven’t drank chocolate milk since I gave birth (and prior to pregnancy probably hadn’t since age 10). I have always loved ice cream so hard to say if that was really a craving or if I just let myself indulge freely. If we had ice cream in the house, I would still eat it every day. I still love lemonade but don’t crave it as much. I’m nursing and I find I am just as hungry as I was when pregnant, if not more so.
Anonymous says
First: popsicles
Second: Rice pudding and ice cream… and stuff like cheap lasagna and ravioli (white bread, cheese, tomato sauce)
Third: dark chocolate
The items that aren’t normally tempting to me where super easy to kick. Basically, I was no longer pregnant and no longer interested in them. The items that are always tempting to me, I had to consciously cut back on and it was a sad, sad day.
Even though you’re pregnant and craving, limit it to a normal quantity. I knew I had a problem when my husband started buying ice cream containers two at a time.
Mrs. Jones says
Mabel’s Labels are awesome.
EB0220 says
We’ve been happy with the Name Bubbles labels. I have the laundry-safe small round ones to label clothing and larger rectangular ones for bottle labels. We used them on bottles for 9 months, washed every night in the dishwasher, with no damage to the labels. Same for the clothing labels. I’m still finding labels from kid #1 as I pull out the clothes again for #2.
MDMom says
Pumping at work question. My baby only likes MAM bottles which have a wide neck. I have a medela pump so there is no way to pump into these bottles. What is the best way to handle transferring milk from medela bottles (or whatever else I pump in?) to the MAM bottles. If I keep milk cold all day, it will separate and stick to side of bottles, so do I warm it up to room temp when I get home in order to prep bottles for next day? What is best way to do this?
Maddie Ross says
I would pump into Medela bottles and either store in those same bottles in the fridge, or transfer to freezer bags at night. When I prepped bottles for daycare, I just poured the fridge-cooled milk into the bottles she took and stored them again the fridge overnight. Transported to school with ice. Swirl the milk in the storage container pre-pour and again post-pour to mix. Don’t shake.
Meg Murry says
I wasn’t required to prep bottles for daycare (woo hoo, totally didn’t know that wasn’t typical but so happy looking back) so I just sent the appropriate amount in the Medela bottles, which daycare warmed and then poured into the drinking bottle once warm. They actually preferred to do it that way, because the bottles we used for the baby to drink from were Avent, which had weird cutouts on the sides so they would get warm water in them if you put them in too much warm water, and the Medela bottles were thinner so they warmed faster than the thick plastic on the Avent ones.
They liked it when I sent in Lanisnoh bags even better (even faster warming, just throw away when done) but I didn’t like the idea of throwing away 4-6 bags every day (either environmentally or on my wallet).
I had adapters to convert my Medela to hold Avent bottles – not sure if they are the same neck size as MAM or not. I think it was these, or similar. I only used those with my oldest when I didn’t have enough Medela bottles – with my youngest I just bought a crap ton of the Medela bottles.
The other option is to pump into the Medelas and then pour into the Mam bottles. I would pour bottles together after pumping, and then cap the (now empty) Medela bottle and put it in the fridge and re-use it the next session.
EB0220 says
Similar system to Maddie Ross:
Pump into Medela bottles and refrigerate at work.
Once home, store Medela bottles in fridge overnight.
In morning, swirl Medela bottles to blend the milk, then measure into bottles for daycare.
Swirling worked fine for me to deal with separated milk. There might have been a little on the sides, but not a significant amount.
Natasha says
I found that vigorously rubbing the fat that lumps to the side of the bottle for about 30 seconds or just holding that part in your hand for a while you do other things is just enough to loosen it up to get swirled into the milk.
MDMom says
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m a little overwhelmed by all the logistics of pumping, daycare, and returning to work generally. I’m hoping he will start being less picky about bottles once he’s accustomed to taking bottles more often- I hate the stupid MAM bottles with their screw on bottoms. At home I put the MAM nipples on wide mouth glass bottles, but daycare won’t take glass.
Are avent bottles wide mouth? I saw that adapter but couldn’t find one for MAM.
Anonymous says
One of mine preferred MAM bottles, and those suckers are leaky mofos. I pumped into evenflo glass (which thread into medela pumps) for pumping. I also sent the milk to daycare in them, along with empty MAM bottles.
If you do hands-free pumping, you’d want to use plastic evenflow or medela for weight.
Mrs Q says
Hi all – this is my first time posting on the Mom’s site. We’re TTC (just starting) and I’m trying to find reasonable blogs/websites to read and the best ovulation tracker. Any recs?
6plusmonths says
For ovulation tracking I’d just spend the $30 or so for the Clearblue ovulation tests (or similar from another brand).
Tunnel says
I recommend the Fertility Friend app to track your cycles and Wondfo OPKs. Wondfo (brand) makes cheap, but reliable, ovulation predictor test strips that you can buy on Amazon so you don’t feel bad using 2 a day – one in the morning and one in the afternoon/night during peak times. Note that the Clearblue monitor or OPK with the smiley face does not work if you have PCOS or any sort of hormonal imbalance. Have fun and good luck!
anon says
I used the Clearblue Fertility monitor versus the OPK sticks. It might have been a bit of overkill, but it made it really easy to track everything and recognize patterns for me. I also used Fertility Friend app and input the information there. I was going to try temping as well, but got pregnant before I could institute it.
Also, if you haven’t read it, Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler was great.
I really enjoyed The Impatient Woman’s Guide to Getting Pregnant by Jean M. Twenge as well.
Anon says
+1 to Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I also really liked the Kindara iPhone app. Do the clearblue easy digital OPKs.
Anonymous says
+1 to the fertility monitor. Really helps you pinpoint your best days to try each month.
CLS says
Name labels are a MUST. As they get older, more and more things need to get labeled. My oldest just started Kindergarten and they require a label (or 2!) on everything, and I put them on anything that could even possibly come off his body. I’d hate to lose some of his and my favorite items. I didn’t love StickerYou as much. I prefered Mabel’s Labels or Label Daddy. Both have made it through one kid and still are holding strong for the youngest. Also love that they have packages that include a variety of sizes. One package I purchased even had a couple of pull tabs for sweatshirts or backpacks. We got some with each kid’s name on it (the preschool required first names so they can help identify their own things as well as others) with a cute motif, and then got some in black and white with just our last name on them. But seriously, they are a MUST.
Meg Murry says
See, I am the opposite. I handwrote my son’s name in his backpack, lunchbox and winter coat with a Sharpie, and everything else I am willing to take my chances on. But I’m willing to acknowledge that your MUST is my “eh”, and probably vice versa.
I also learned the lesson the hard way – he left a backpack behind on the last day of summer camp at a local school. It had his full name and address, as well as our phone number on the tag on the inside. I called the school more than once, and went and searched the lost and found myself – the backpack never turned up. Luckily, it was a cheap one, and the things he had in it were more a pain to replace than expensive, but I hold no illusions that having stuff labeled is going to make a difference as to favorite items that are lost being returned. I guess it might help my kid find his stuff in the lost and found, but I don’t even hold out that much hope, as I’ve seen my otherwise responsible kid stare right at the lost and found pile and not notice his own gloves 1 inch from his hand.
I am of the opinion that I’d rather buy less nice stuff that I don’t care about getting lost, and not spend my time labeling – especially for things that I don’t really care about.
Oh, I forgot, I also wrote his name on his water bottle in Sharpie, but that was more so he didn’t drink out of another kid’s water bottle than worrying about losing it. I briefly considered buying iron on labels for his clothes and stuff for summer camp as they had requested (first time at sleep away camp at age 8), but decided instead to send clothes I didn’t care if he lost or ruined, and just labeled the sleeping bag, swimsuit and towel – figuring those would be the only things that would be a problem if they were lost midweek. If anyone needs them, I almost bought the iron on labels that go in a Brother P-touch labelmaker – they have good reviews online, and that way you can make them custom as far as size, and if you want first name, last name, phone number, etc. We have a label maker at work that I could have used (policy is no one cares if you use it for personal use if you bring in your own label maker tape).
hoola hoopa says
We also use a combo of sharpie and luck/apathy. I’ve done vinyl decals when two of them (pre-readers) picked out identical water bottles.
And agree that when two of my kid’s nice jackets when missing from their small preschool, I doubt that a label would have made the difference.
Although after 6-years and three kids into this parenting thing, my youngest’s daycare might finally push me to the clothing labels, because they are CONSTANTLY (weekly) mixing things up and so many clothes don’t have tags (and I don’t want the sharpie to show through the shirt/pant.
EB0220 says
Absolutely! I label only that which is legislated (aka bottles and food). Otherwise, I was haphazard at best with labeling for #1 and I figure that #1’s name on (some) hand-me-downs is good enough for #2. We’ve lost some clothes over the years, but also acquired some. It evens out.