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Washable Workwear Wednesday: Circle Cardigan

Machine-Washable Work Clothes

I’ve mentioned this sweater a few times, but: have I mentioned that it’s one of my FAVORITE things that I bought recently? It’s ridiculously soft and cozy, holds its shape, and — huzzah! — is machine washable. I love the bamboo knit so much I got my aunt a waterfall cardigan and my brother a pillow for the holidays. Nordstrom keeps showing this cardigan with leggings, and the waterfall cardigan with lingerie, but both are more than appropriate to wear to work for a casual day. (I just went through several pages of reviews to make sure I’m not crazy, since Nordstrom literally has this in the “robes” section, but no, a lot of other women mention wearing it to work as well. Regarding the complaints about the arms running small, I found it true to size, and I’ve never considered my arms particularly svelte.) The sweaters do have a nubby texture, but it doesn’t strike me as schlubby at all — and thus far it’s held up better than other cashmere and other sweaters that pill like mad. This cardigan is $115, available at Nordstrom and Amazon. (Nordstrom also has it in plus sizes.) Barefoot Dreams® ‘Circle’ Cardigan (To discuss: what is your favorite sweater material to wear around the house with the kids? I bought a ton of cashmere last year on sale and am finding that my littlest seems to make a beeline for me as soon as his hands are gross and I’ve got cashmere on. If I’m not wearing this cardigan I often opt for sweatshirts on the weekends, but I have yet to find a brand or style that I really like.) Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear. (L-all)

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Sales of Note…

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Comments

  1. GCA says

    In this week’s scintillating episode of Why Is This My Job: how do I get husband to remember to brush kiddo’s teeth? I am going to lose it if I have to remind him again. Seriously, we do this twice a day, you’d think he’d remember by now. You don’t forget to brush your own teeth.

    • NewMomAnon says

      Picture charts showing the order of activities for bedtime prep/morning prep? Alternatively, what’s been effective for me in remembering kiddo things is to set some reward for kiddo (it’s usually a favorite song or tickle fight or dance party, but stickers would work too). That way she looks forward to it and reminds me. But my kid also has a memory like a steel trap, which I know isn’t true for all little ones.

    • Anon in NYC says

      lol. I think my husband “forgets” to do basic things like this too – probably because it’s a bit of a hassle. I think in his mind he thinks that skipping one tooth brushing isn’t going to be the end of the world (correct), but then it turns into multiple brushings.

      Something that makes it less of a hassle has been letting kiddo cycle through all of our toothbrushes (she’s 19 months and wants our things now – not her water, Mommy’s water. Not her toothbrush, Daddy’s). Although I shudder about the germs and am thinking of having designated Mommy and Daddy toothbrushes that are really just for kiddo. She likes to chew on the toothbrush and it makes her more amenable to us actually brushing her teeth.

  2. Anon in NOVA says

    I got an open cashmere cardigan from neiman marcus’ cashmere collection for Christmas and am in. love. However, I can’t imagine wearing it when my son was younger! I try to be very honest with myself about how (not) often I truly go to the dry cleaner’s.
    I like circle cardigans (is that what this cut is called?) for the weekend, errands, etc. but for some reason I just can’t reconcile the cut with my opinion on what constitutes a professional appearance. If a waterfall cardigan isn’t TOO overdone/dramatic in cut, I think it looks more professional. This may just be the case with my body type, though. I’m much smaller on top than on bottom and the circle cardigans always look so bulky on me.

  3. Toilet Trainer says

    Advice please!

    We toilet trained our son last month using the Oh Crap method (plus small rewards, minus nap/night training). He is on the younger side, but we forged ahead because he clearly had some control over when he was peeing and pooping and he was a terror during diaper changes.

    He has been doing really well with the peeing since the first days. Pooping, unfortunately, is a different story. He sometimes goes in the potty, generally at his own direction. But he was also saving it for overnight or naptime from the early days of training. And now, in the past week, he has started simply pooping in his pants, sometimes multiple times a day. He doesn’t like it, and he tells us right after it happens, but still it recurs, I think because he has some fear of pooping in the potty.

    Honestly, my husband and I prefer the accidents to the diaper tantrums, but we don’t want to fight an unwinnable battle or drive our kiddo totally crazy. I’d love to hear whether this is a relatively normal phase that we should just power through, or if we should revert to diapers for a while, or if there are any other approaches we should try. Also, he is in daycare, so a lot of the burden is falling on his teachers rather than on us, which I feel bad about.

    Thanks so much for any advice. Including ideas for a thank-you gift for his teachers for all their help / suffering.

    • AnonMN says

      I think this is a normal phase, but a friend of mine who potty trained on the early side had it last for months. I was terrified while we were going through it that it would take that long, so I told my husband we would give it a month and then switch back. Two weeks later and everything is making it into the potty. We spent a long weekend filling him with fiber filled foods so he could have lots of poop success at home, this seemed to do the trick. He is, however, 3 years 2 months, so not on the early side at all, haha.

      • CPA Lady says

        Months??? Oh no. It’s like looking into my future, probably.

        To the OP- mo advice, just commiseration. My kid turned 2 about 4 months ago, and basically pee trained herself right after she turned 2. But she is nowhere near poo trained. She’ll still go pee in a toilet if she’s wearing a diaper, so that’s what we’re doing, because I cant deal with scooping every poo out of her training panties. Heave. She seems to be taken by surprise and traumatized by pooping every single time, no matter where or how she goes– toilet, panties, diaper– hysteria no matter what. It’s not hurting her, so I don’t know what the issue is. UGH. Toddlers are so confusing.

    • NewMomAnon says

      Ugh, my kiddo has been potty trained for almost a year and we’re still struggling off and on with the poop battles. I haven’t figured out how to resolve it yet – kiddo seems to wait until she’s almost asleep at night or nap time, then either demands to sit on the potty or goes in her diaper. Obviously, that pushes bedtime much later. And when I try to force the issue (insisting on no potty at that time, or trying to rush her because bedtime is getting late), she starts withholding poop and gets painfully constipated, which then makes her afraid to use the potty, rinse and repeat.

      The only things that have worked temporarily are respecting her potty time and suffering the late bedtime consequences, time outs for “bedtime stalling” fake potty requests, and celebrating her potty accomplishments. I’ve been trying to implement a routine of sitting on the potty with a bunch of books for 15 minutes before we start bedtime routine, but she has resisted so far.

      Good luck. Let us know what works…I’m curious.

    • Anonymous says

      We just went through this. Our doc (who wrote Baby 411 and Toddler 411) recommended putting a diaper on and having the kiddo sit on the potty if they are resisting #2 without a diaper. Worked like a charm and now she’s comfortable using the toilet for poo.

      • EBMom says

        I’ve hear this can work. First, they sit on the potty and go on the diaper. Then you cut a hole in the diaper so that the poo falls in the toilet. Then you can get rid of the diaper. Small steps.

    • Anon says

      I am not one to dole out advice related to poop training (had a kid who pooped in his night diaper for a solid year after being pee trained – then suddenly stopped when he saw a friend poop in the toilet and it clicked, so yeah, not a strategy to emulate). However, we worked closely with the pediatrician, and the pooping multiple times a day + telling you right after + him getting upset about it (kids who don’t really care may not be ready physically yet) ironically may be a sign of chronic constipation.

      It’s pretty common with fearful potty trainers (ask me how I know), but they hold it until it gets hard, then pushing hurts, and (TMI ahead) some of the muscles down there get stretched out when pushing out hard stool. Which leads them to where they physically can’t hold it in. That is, they temporarily loose some feeling about needing to go, and they literally don’t know to hold it in. To combat this, our son was put on a diet of stone fruits (there is a jelly called “Fruit Eze” we ordered online and put in everything for a while), and some bowl softeners. We also had an eventful weekend where he had to be “cleaned out” via actual laxatives (use only with ped advice, of course).

      It really helped – both the fear of going and the uncontrollable going. Which led to him being willing to train, and now all is well (one year ago, I legit thought I’d send him to college with a night diaper). We’ve since weaned him from all supplements – though try to add lots of fruit, and do well with maintenance from the Smarty Pants + Fiber vitamins.

      • Anon says

        Oh, and this threw me as well, but this condition can occur even if what comes out appears to be soft (I assumed all output had to be hard for constipation to be an issue). There may still be a build up of the hard stuff inside that is causing some stretching and pain, and as a result, only a little can get out. The inside stuff also can contribution to the kiddo’s inability to “feel” that it’s coming. That’s why we had a “clean out” weekend with the laxatives. Just, you know, FYI. Sorry about the TMI….

      • EBMom says

        For anyone else reading this that has a poo-holder, I’ve found warm prune juice to work almost as well as the laxatives.

  4. anon says

    I love this shape but I can’t quite justify spending $100+ on a mostly nylon sweater that errs on the side of shlubby. Can anyone recommend a similar sweater that would be warmer, like a wool blend, and also affordable ($50 ish)? I don’t need cashmere, I just want something warmer than cotton.

  5. Swaddle question says

    My previously great 12 week old sleeper has gotten too big for her bassinet, and also has begun violently resisting being swaddled. We have the magic Merlin sleepsuit, but she is slightly too small for it and can still startle herself inside of it, if that makes sense. We’ve gone from 1-2 wake-ups a night to every other hour or so. She’s also gotten much more dependent on having a pacifier in her mouth- it used to fall out and she wouldn’t notice, now she wakes up. We’re thinking of trying a swaddle again, but I have never seen her cry as hard as she did the last night we put her in it. Advice? Suggestions? I start work again very soon and am pretty nervous about the transition anyway, never mind doing it on no sleep for either of us.

    • Anon says

      which one did you use? We loved the Halo swaddle sleep sack. Do the swaddle part loose enough that she doesn’t feel too constrained but tight enough that she doesn’t startle. There is often a 3 month growth spurt so she may be waking more easily if she is hungry.

    • FTMinFL says

      Sleep issues are the worst, especially when staring down going back to work! Unfortunately, like everything with little people, there are several things that may be going on and perhaps may be happening in combination.

      1. There is a leap at 12 weeks that can cause intense fussiness/crying (look up Wonder Weeks if you haven’t already).
      2. Is she over-tired when you’re swaddling? Babies that age can usually only manage 1-1.5 hours of wake time in a stretch. Before my little guy gave up the swaddle (more on that in a minute), I would swaddle him at around 50-55 minutes of wake time, nurse, then bed. Something about having a pleasant association (swaddle=nursing) made it more palatable to him.
      3. When my little guy was done with the swaddle (13-14 weeks?) he was D-O-N-E. After about two weeks of no swaddling he sorted his sleep out, just in time for the four month sleep regression. We ended up bedsharing to get through the four month sleep regression/my return to work and, to my surprise, my husband and I really loved having him in bed with us. YMMV.

      I wish I had a magic bullet answer and I hope someone else can give you one. Regardless of whether you find a solution or not, your transition back to work will probably be much smoother than you think. There will be times that you feel like you are failing at everything. Come back here to be told that you’re not. There will be times that you realize you are way stronger and more capable than you imagined. Come back here for a celebration and a few pats on the back. You’ve got this!

    • lsw says

      Have you tried the Love to Dream SwaddleUp? Our baby LOVED it around that age until he grew out of it. He could still use his hands to self soothe but he wasn’t whacking himself in the face. Might be worth trying.

      We also use sleepsacks so the arms are free but he is warm and the legs are in a sack. Currently we are really liking the Boppy bunting sacks. They have had some on Nordstrom Rack recently.

      Good luck and hang in there! The worst thing is when what works, doesn’t, and you feel like you’re starting over. It’ll get better.

    • lucy stone says

      Have you tried swaddle blanket with arms out? We’re currently using the Halo Sleepsack because our wild child started breaking out of her swaddle around 18 weeks.

    • BTanon says

      We also really liked the SwaddleUp, especially the convertible one, and the equivalent Woombie around that age. Once the kid started rolling and we couldn’t use those anymore, we had success with the Zippadeezip.

      • anne-on says

        May I just say how jealous I am that products like this (and the sleep suit) exist now? My son rolled over at 7 weeks (needed to video it before my pediatrician believed me) and all swadling was promptly off the table. He was a [email protected] sleeper from then until about 1.5 yrs old. Sigh.

    • PregLawyer says

      We had the same situation. You can try the Halo sleep sack and leave her arms out, but swaddle tightly across her torso. That added pressure may be soothing. Or just try swaddling again and see how it goes.

      Has she rolled over onto her belly yet? As soon as she can roll over, the night sleep will be better. They all like to sleep on their tummies, so getting through the ‘back is best’ phase is key.

      For pacifier, try getting a pacifier clip to attach to the sleep sack. Eventually she will have the hand dexterity to put the pacifier back in her mouth. Start now so she can practice.

    • ChiLaw says

      I swear by the Miracle Blanket. It was a game changer once our kiddo was busting out of the plain blanket swaddle.

      • Closet Redux says

        That’s what we use too. It’s awesome and idiot-proof for the not-so-talented swaddlers out there.

    • S says

      Try the miracle swaddle. We did that after the regular swaddle but before the Merlin.

  6. Pogo says

    oooo I love this! I have a couple similar cardigans ranging from super cheap (from target) to $100+ like this one. I do think if you spend more you end up with less pilling & wear.

    I disagree about work though. It just feels too casual. I’ve worn once or twice to work with jeans on a Friday and even then it just felt like I was wearing pjs.

    • Anon in NOVA says

      I agree. at least on my body, this particular cut screams “cozy”, which rarely equates to “professional”

    • PregLawyer says

      I have this – actually bought it for myself postpartum. It’s very comfortable and warm, but definitely weekend lounge wear and not work appropriate. Also, it shrinks a bit if you wash it and dry it, even if you dry it on low. Beware.

  7. Termite Toddler says

    My almost 16 month old son has recently started gnawing on his crib. Any advice on how to break him of this newly acquired habit? He is a great sleeper and good at occupying himself when he does wake up but now I’m wondering if it’s because he is spending his time practicing his termite skills. He’s also coughing in the middle of the night. He doesn’t need cry so I’ve been assuming he’s coughing in his sleep, but this wood thing is making me paranoid as well.
    Thank you!

    • PhilanthropyGirl says

      Mine was a major chewer – dining room chairs, piano bench, piano – every manner of wooden item he could find (except the chic wooden teethers I purchased) – but never on his crib. I’d find a way to deter until he finds another way to occupy himself.

      I’ve had friends make fabric covers for their cribs because of the chewing – both to protect the crib and the child from chunking off wood. They were no-sew out of fleece and I believe simple directions can be found online. Perhaps there is also a product available on the market to achieve the same ends?

      • EBMom says

        We did the no-sew fleece covers and it worked much better than anything I could buy. I’m not crafty, and they were easy to make. Plenty of instructions online.

    • NewMomAnon says

      Is he getting one year molars? My kiddo chewed all the finish off the top rails of her crib when she got her molars. Cycling Advil/Tylenol helped somewhat, but I think it just felt weird so she wanted to chew on everything. The Zoli teething sticks were also a helpful distraction.

      At one time, I found some gel strips that stuck to the side of the crib with adhesive. I never put them on the crib because of sleep deprivation, etc, but they are available on Amazon and I think my kiddo would have loved them.

      Also watch out for ear infections if it is teething – my kiddo picked up every cold known to the human race while teething, and had a number of ear infections.

  8. lucy stone says

    I have three of these and love the hell out of them, they were my NICU mom uniform, but I would not wear them to work for anything other than a casual Friday where I knew I didn’t have any meetings and even then I’d keep a blazer on the door.

  9. Night nurse? says

    Looking for advice from those who used a night nurse. I have a three week old and was planning on a long maternity leave, but I just got a job offer that might require me to jump back into the workforce in a matter of weeks. I’m currently a wreck from sleep deprivation and don’t think I could function at a demanding new job without a better night’s rest. Does anyone have experience using a night nurse? Was it helpful even if you were breast feeding?

    On a more general note, I’m totally terrified of starting a new job with a newborn, and worried I’m not up to the challenge. But I don’t feel as if I can pass up this opportunity–it’s a highly respected white collar boutique that almost never hires, and the partners seem like truly decent human beings. Advice on weathering the first few months? I also have a toddler; toddler + newborn + new job seems really overwhelming right now.

    • Anon in NYC says

      I have not used a night nurse, but a friend did for both of their kids and I think it really helped her/them in the beginning. The nurse would wake up with the baby and do all the usual things (diaper change, etc.) and bring the baby to my friend to nurse, and then would take the baby and get the baby to go back to sleep.

    • anon says

      It was The Best Money I Have Ever Spent Bar None. And it was a fortune – $25 an hour. Still no regrets. I had one from 1w-12w a few nights a week. Baby ate every three hours or so and didn’t SSTN for months and months. She would change the baby, bring baby in and wake me up, I would nurse while she left to fold laundry or something, I would text her when done, she would come take baby back and I would go back to sleep while she burped swaddled and soothed the baby. Sometimes she would bring baby back and say, I think baby could eat a little more, so I’d nurse more and then she’d take the baby away.

      Once baby hit 2m, she would bring baby in to nurse for the feeding before midnight, and then do a bottle of pumped milk for the feeding around 2-3am, and then bring baby back for the 5 or 6am, which mean I would get a 5 hour stretch of sleep in the middle of the night, which was sanity saving.

      Contrast nights I didn’t have the nurse, where I would have to have the monitor next to me, wake up with every cough or gurgle, get out of bed to nurse, be up to change, burp, soothe, deal with spit up, and swaddle baby back down. Nursing itself is like 20 minutes, but all that other stuff is another 30 mins or more, plus it’s way more work, so it’s not only a lot more time but you’re a lot more awake for it, so it’s harder to go back to sleep, particularly when you look at the clock and thing ughhhh baby is going to wake up again in two hours.

      Best Money Ever Spent.

    • PEN says

      I’m not sure I am weathering it well—-but I took a similar jump while in a similar situation (with much support from the hive) and I don’t regret it even for a second. It is hard. And recovering from pregnancy/labor/birth was certainly more challenging with a shorter leave. Despite being in the new position for a year (minus maternity leave), I do not yet feel like I am excelling at my job. BUT, it was the right decision for me and it is doable and rewarding.

      • PEN says

        and the advice part: throw money at everything. grocery delivery, cleaning service, mothers helper, child care, laundry pick up and delivery

    • Sarabeth says

      Do it. I haven’t, but a close friend did when her baby was still not anywhere near sleeping through the night at the end of her (short) maternity leave, and her husband had to travel a lot for work. She was still breastfeeding, like the poster above, but she said it was sanity-saving. She could turn off her brain and not listen for the baby in between feeds, which made a big difference to her quality of sleep.

  10. Ennui says

    WHINE ALERT

    This always hits me mid-January– I feel doomed to the rat race forever. I love my job and am not cut out to stay at home, but I have literally been crying leaving my toddler this week. And crying because I feel like my spouse is totally cool with all family administrative labor (bills, calls to customer service, scheduling, planning) falling on my shoulders and gets indignant if I don’t handle something quickly enough/ to his liking. And I have zero energy, emotional or otherwise, to even start a conversation about it. I’ve been battling a cold virus for going on three weeks. Have taken sick days, worked from home, and still can barely open my eyes. I feel like I’m going about the world through a shield of corn syrup. I know this will all get brighter, but right now there isn’t anything good on TV, and my husband quit eating carbs for his new year’s resolution, so the dinners he was making have evaporated and most nights I just go to bed hungry because I don’t have the energy to plan/prep/cook something just for me. I’m a walking ball of resentment and trouble and I know it, and as a result I’m just not saying anything about any of this to anyone and crying a lot. FUN TIMES.

    • anne-on says

      Oh my, all the hugs. My husband did a diet that required lots of specialized food and wasn’t eating with us most nights and it seriously SUCKED. I feel you on that.
      For everything else – two things – let it go (and for what you can’t let go) throw money at it. Can you have meals delivered? do peapod for groceries? amazon or other services for gifts/other things? hire a cleaner? heck, hire a sitter on a weekend or weeknight and power through the sucky stuff you need to do for the house?
      And then book yourself a massage. My local massage envy person is GREAT and can do a facial/sinus massage which is like magic when I have a cold or a migraine coming on.

    • CHJ says

      I’m sorry – that all sounds very overwhelming. And I wanted to jump in with solidarity on the no-carb husband point. My husband does this no carb diet from time to time (Tim Ferriss – ugh) and it is the worst thing ever. He’s grouchy, we can’t share meals, and he gets totally obsessed with the scale and his daily weigh ins. My only advice? IGNORE HIM. Make your own easy meals (quesadillas, sandwiches, Trader Joe’s frozen stuff) and get yourself some treats that he can’t eat anyway (Ben & Jerry’s). And get some rest so you can get over that cold!

      • Anon says

        Yes this! My husband has a medically restricted diet (which has the same impact as any other restrictive diet, except that I feel like I lose a little bit of the ability to complain about it). Regarding the shopping – we both put an Instacart app on our phone, and add our own groceries to a joint list as we need them. When there’s a deal for free delivery (or if we just get desperate), we hit order. Caveat that I’ve always done most of the cooking, but he’s got a few meal staples and this way he’s in charge of making sure whatever he needs to make a quick meal is in the house. Also, his diet isn’t very kid friendly, and I have just let all the guilt go about making gobs of buttered pasta during weeks where I don’t have time to navigate his menu needs and deal with the inevitable rejection by the kids.

    • NewMomAnon says

      OMG, I get the January sads too. Right now, all is Objectively Fine but I feel completely underwater, easily irritated, worried about everything, and anxious that I should be job hunting, house hunting, or doing anything other than what I’m doing.

      Have you tried therapy or SAD interventions? Extra Vitamin D is helping me this year, as is my happy light and getting outside more. Journaling is also helping. Mindful breathing, exercise, and trying something completely new help me too. I’ve now made a standing New Year’s resolution to do something in January that is completely new and/or scares me, and it really helps keep me moving through the worst month of the year.

    • Meg Murry says

      Hugs, I feel your frustration. I’ve also having a crap January, I’m seriously in danger of losing my job (as in, put on a PIP and told to shape up while meanwhile almost everything that can go wrong has, averaging 1-2 true family emergencies a week right now plus joyous things like 2 tires blowing out).

      Can you get yourself a stash of frozen dinners or protein drinks etc so you can at least have something in your stomach before bed? Premier Protein chocolate shakes are my go-to for “maybe not the healthiest choice but zero effort and better than fast food”. They sell them at the drugstore down the street from my office, so I try to keep a few in my desk drawer and the back of my pantry. They are far better cold than room temp, but throwing one in the freezer for 20 minutes or pouring it over ice is better than nothing. When cold, it tastes somewhat like a thin milkshake or thick chocolate milk.

      And as for your husband, can you just say “no, I’m not going to make that call this week. You can do it yourself or maybe I’ll get around to it next week.” My husband does this and I’m working on it. It annoys me in the short term, but it’s better than having the “did you take care of X? No? Why not, you said you would” conversation/angry text exchange every day or two. We’ve also started a system where we say “OK, when will you do [annoying task that neither of us want to do but can only be handled by one person for some reason]”. Then we put it on the calendar for a when from then or whatever and promise not to nag the other until that deadline.

    • Betty says

      “I’m a walking ball of resentment and trouble and I know it…” Right there with you. I blame it on this time of year. Its gray and the days are so short, and I get home and want to put on pjs, curl up with a glass of wine, a book and just be left alone. My children and husband apparently didn’t get that memo. I feel like last year (the year from h$ll) drained every ounce of my physical and emotional reserves and there is just nothing left right now. Plus, I was supposed to have a work trip yesterday, but instead the trip was cancelled and I had to work all weekend, so I am cranky on top of my general mid-January angst.

      It is counter intuitive, but the best thing for me is exercise, even when I feel like I can barely walk, getting my heart rate up lifts my mood (even if that lift is from total B on the warpath to cranky). Oh, and my husband has Celiac’s, so when I am in extra-cranky mode, I order a large pasta dish with a side of garlic bread for lunch. It makes me feel better in many ways. So, I’m not much help, but know that you’re not alone. NPR even did a thing on this time of year in 2008: Google NPR JanuFeb.

    • Anononymous says

      If this happens every January, I’d look into Seasonal Affective Disorder. Basically depression caused by lack of Vitamin D. Do your periods/cramps get worse in the winter? That’s a big clue that you need more Vitamin D. Get some Vitamin D pills (or fish oil pills — get the lemon or orange ones to avoid fish burps) and a daylight lamp. Use the lamp first thing in the morning if possible, but anytime before noon is helpful.

      Then give your husband a list of things he is now in charge of.

  11. Cate says

    Did anyone have sleep issues around six months? Baby finally rolling over so unswaddled the arms, but I think he also just wakes up a lot these days – several times a night. He was previously sleeping through the night. I feel like he’s a little past Magic Merlin? He weighs 19 lbs and is definitely capable of STTN… Is this a sleep regression? He wakes up crying like he’s uncomfortable. I don’t think our presence is soothing so Ferber seems like a funny method. Agh.

    • Em says

      My son went through a sleep regression starting at 3 1/2 months and lasting until 5 1/2 months when our pediatrician gave us the green light to CIO. He was waking up 4-7 times a night and it was horrible.

      • Em says

        I should add, he was still in the Merlin suit at that point, although I think we transitioned him out around 6 months. It didn’t help much once he stopped startling himself awake. Our issues started as a sleep regression and continued because I enabled it by nursing him every time he woke up.

    • EBMom says

      Sleep regression or possibly learning to crawl (or both). The crawling is a huge milestone and seems to disrupt sleep for a few weeks as baby gets all of it sorted out. Some babies even seem to be practicing the crawl in their sleep and it wakes them up . . . one of those funny/not funny things.

    • Meg Murry says

      There is a 6 month growth spurt, not quite as intense as 6 weeks or 3 months, but it can definitely result in a couple nights in a row waking up actually hungry.

      Has he started solid foods, perhaps something is upsetting his tummy? Or has he learned to roll one way but not the other as well and is getting mad when he rolls and can’t get back? Or basically just rolling in his sleep and then waking up mad like “hey, who rolled me over”?

      • Cate says

        Ha, funny how these are all starting to crawl. He’s not awesome at tummy time yet (he’s kinda lazy) and has only rolled over twice, so I don’t think it’s that yet! We probably need to up the tummy time.

        Started solids yesterday! I’m hoping that improves things! Otherwise I’m inclined to CIO although my husband seems to think we should wait.

    • anon says

      I don’t remember but there is always something – could also be teething at this age.

  12. 1st Tri 2nd Time Around says

    Wow, I thought I knew first trimester fatigue from my first pregnancy. But battling it while also dealing with a toddler who isn’t sleeping well because he’s sick is a whole new ballgame. How on earth did people manage to get through a second pregnancy with all the exhaustion that comes from parenting your first child?? Every day so far has been a struggle, and although I know enough to know that the fatigue will let up a bit, I also know there’s other difficult stuff to come yet as well.

    • Anonymous says

      Short answer is that I made my husband do everything, which honestly seems fair to me!

    • Anon says

      I used to put toddler in his bed, then walk down the hall to my room and get in bed for the night. I had husband bring me dinner in bed, and I just stayed there. I didn’t always fall asleep right away, but it just felt so good to be in bed for the day.

  13. going to get this sweater.... says

    You read my mind, Kat! I just tried the Barefoot Dreams Circle cardigan on yesterday at Nordstrom and have been looking for reviews to justify the price….It is so cozy and love the pockets and slightly more tailored fit than the drape version. I am due any day now and might have to pull the trigger just to get me through the thought of sleepless nights and never-ending (but lovely) nursing sessions. thank you.

  14. S says

    Kat – in terms of sweatshirts try the brand American Giant. I’m not affiliated with them in any way but I really love their hoodies.

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