Parental Thread

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by Jonydakiller

me and the wife are mandarin speaking but our nanny only speaks canto to him hoping that he would be able to pick up canto as he grows.
Then it comes the grandparents who only speak native Taiwanese to him hoping he would pick up that as well. I hope the kid isn't just confused AF right now. he is 5mth old

Kid'll be fine. My kids (8/6) speak Mandarin canto and English, my MIL only speaks to them in Mandarin since they were born. My parents speak canto to them and we speak canto/English to them. If my wife lectures them in Mandarin, they know they're in real trouble lol.

[inv4zn]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

We ran into a pickle last night as we started this: what happens if they wake up again before a night feed, and they keep crying all the way til the feed time?

Do you delay the feed then? Or do you go ahead and feed them, even if that might cause them to associate their crying with you eventually showing up?

Define night feed? By that age they don't need to be fed during the night if they're sleeping.

Either way if they're waking because they're hungry, then feed more before sleep. Don't feed when crying, they need to learn to settle down lol. It sounds heartless but honestly kids are a lot more resilient. And a Lot smarter than you think, even at that age.

[RabidRat]

We do a full feed and put him to sleep at around 8:30pm, then do a dream feed at 10:30pm, and he sleeps til 4:30am, at which point he wakes up and cries til I get him a bottle.

If I take the bottle away at any less than 90mL, he cries for more.

He is doing fine keeping up with his weight percentile so I'm not worried about his caloric intake. But my wife says everything she reads is that babies at 6 months can only go 6-8 hours at night without feeding.

[AzNightmare]

My 10 month old will wake up in the middle of the night hungry.
Before bed time, we feed him as much as he wants to eat before he refuses to eat anymore.

We tried feeding him less milk in the middle of the night, but that only makes him cry for more.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by AzNightmare

My 10 month old will wake up in the middle of the night hungry.
Before bed time, we feed him as much as he wants to eat before he refuses to eat anymore.

We tried feeding him less milk in the middle of the night, but that only makes him cry for more.

We are dealing with the samething with our 10 month old. But my wife said.... She goes to bed at 7-8pm and wakes around 3-4am needing a feed. That's 8 hours typically in one sleep and that's really all I should expect from a 10 month old.

[inv4zn]

In the end, whatever you read online or hear from others may not work at all for your kid. I mean think about it, if some source says kids at 6 months can sleep for 8 hours, well what about kids at 5.99 months. What if they sleep for 7.5 hours only. etc. etc.

Use whatever you read/hear as a guide, and figure out what works for your situation. Don't worry if your kid is a bit different, and don't compare with other kids.

The biggest one is my niece, refused to crawl. She sat and sat and sat, and then suddenly one day decided she was gonna walk. Things like that.

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by inv4zn

In the end, whatever you read online or hear from others may not work at all for your kid. I mean think about it, if some source says kids at 6 months can sleep for 8 hours, well what about kids at 5.99 months. What if they sleep for 7.5 hours only. etc. etc.

Use whatever you read/hear as a guide, and figure out what works for your situation. Don't worry if your kid is a bit different, and don't compare with other kids.

The biggest one is my niece, refused to crawl. She sat and sat and sat, and then suddenly one day decided she was gonna walk. Things like that.

100% this.

First kid slept 5 hrs through at 3 mo. 6-7 hrs at 5 mo. People used to ask us what sleep training method we used.
"Uh, white noise machine and turn off the lights." That was all we did. He would fuss for a bit then sleep.

Second kid was more fussy though, would need skin to skin contact for 2-3 hrs to fall asleep and then would wake through the night. We had a mattress down in their room where one of us would need to be woken up from a few hours later. Eventually, it turned out they wanted a bed rather then a crib ("no crib. want bed" <points at brother's bed>, so at 14 mo, they moved to a toddler bed and it worked better. Kid wanted the option of getting up at night to go to our room. Just wanted control of their environment.

[quasi]

I just wanted to say all you parents of younger kids enjoy the moments even the ones that have you getting up early and sitting in the rain and cold if they're into sports. My son is playing football but he's in grade 12, attended his last home football game last Friday and his last road game is this Friday followed by at least one but hopefully more playoff games.

We started him at the age of 5, it's been 12 years of 8am and 6PM practices, sun, rain, sleet and snow all over the Province, even playing in Ontario, LA, Las Vegas and many trips to Seattle. I've made some really good friends through the parent group, one of the dads is one of my best friends now we even vacation together.

We're still hopeful that he'll have an opportunity to continue playing football in either University or possibly the CJFL but until he gets an offer that's all up in the air. If this is the end it's been a hell of a ride, so many memories.

[EvoFire]

PSA for parents with young kids, the urgent care centers now carry dex to deal with croup. We called last year they did not carry dex and directed us to Children's Hospital ER. So if for whatever shitty luck your young'uns start barking and you don't want to go wait for 5 hours at ER, go storm an urgent care center at 9am when they open and you'll be out by 10am, 10:30am latest.

[AzNightmare]

How did you guys deal with teething? My 11 month old is constantly crying like crazy and refuses to bite any of his teethers. He only likes chewing on his sleeve but trying to put him to bed every night has been an excruciating battle.

I heard baby tylenol is an option, but is that good in the long run? I tend to not like to use meds in general for things unless really necessary so I'm a bit hesistant.

[RabidRat]

Update on sleep training: it's working great so far, hope it keeps up knock on wood!

We're doing the cry it out. Even on the first night he cried way less than when I bounce him. Turns out maybe he just wanted me to fk off all along hahaha. It's been 6 days now including an overnight trip. Tonight it only took 3 minutes for little buddy to put himself to sleep. I'm glad as hell that he's empowered to do this on his own, and repeatedly get back to sleep throughout the night as well. I'm getting way more sleep as well, can't complain!

Next challenge, figuring out sleep training for the naps.

[inv4zn]

Originally Posted by AzNightmare

How did you guys deal with teething? My 11 month old is constantly crying like crazy and refuses to bite any of his teethers. He only likes chewing on his sleeve but trying to put him to bed every night has been an excruciating battle.

I heard baby tylenol is an option, but is that good in the long run? I tend to not like to use meds in general for things unless really necessary so I'm a bit hesistant.

We bought those ones filled with water, and kept like 5 of them in the fridge, and pulled them out. It helps soothe because they're cold, it also 'surprises' the baby a bit so they stop crying enough to start nibbling on it.

Use the tylenol man, have you ever had dental pain? Even as an adult it's unbearable, imagine being 11 months and your teeth are cutting out of your gums, your mom and dad have great tasting juice in a cupboard that will make you feel better but they refuse to give it to you because they want to raise you strong. Just dose it properly and give the kid some relief.

[inv4zn]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

Update on sleep training: it's working great so far, hope it keeps up knock on wood!

We're doing the cry it out. Even on the first night he cried way less than when I bounce him. Turns out maybe he just wanted me to fk off all along hahaha. It's been 6 days now including an overnight trip. Tonight it only took 3 minutes for little buddy to put himself to sleep. I'm glad as hell that he's empowered to do this on his own, and repeatedly get back to sleep throughout the night as well. I'm getting way more sleep as well, can't complain!

Next challenge, figuring out sleep training for the naps.

Once they associate certain activities with "sleep", naps become easier. I ended up spending like $100 on blackout curtains though because she wouldn't nap in a somewhat lit room.

Also, one thing to remember, there will be sleep regressions. Don't panic because in 2 weeks it all seems like it's falling apart again, they come and go. It's not a switch you flip, it's like a year long process lol

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by AzNightmare

How did you guys deal with teething? My 11 month old is constantly crying like crazy and refuses to bite any of his teethers. He only likes chewing on his sleeve but trying to put him to bed every night has been an excruciating battle.

I heard baby tylenol is an option, but is that good in the long run? I tend to not like to use meds in general for things unless really necessary so I'm a bit hesistant.

We are dealing with this exact same thing right now. We give baby tynenol at bed time but overnight has been challenging because the tynenol only lasts 5 hours.

Compound that with a runny nose and I haven't really slept for a week.

My older one just took it like a boss, didn't affect him at all. The younger one is pull her hair out, and our's too.

[EvoFire]

We got the little one a daycare spot, $375/m!

It's a little far, but it includes food! But we also have to pay empty rent to hold the spot because the spot is open in Dec but we don't plan to send her until March.

Fuck it. We got a spot.

[Traum]

Holy that's cheap! And not needing to prepare food makes it sooooo much easier.

Is there any reason why you guys are not planning to send her there until March? As long as she is already potty-trained, I'd say the little person is ready.

Another possibility is -- you can send her there on a part time basis starting in Dec. You'd still need to do a gradual entry over the first week or two (or three!), and then you can start putting her there part time -- like 2 days a week or something.

You guys are already paying for it, so you might as well use what you're paying for.

[EvoFire]

She just turned 10 months yesterday, Dec we feel is a little early. We also want to ride through most of the flu season first. We are considering sending her part time but the transition to part time and then full time may be too many changes.

We'll see when my wife will go back to work first. Her manager took a package during our mat leave and she doesn't even know who she's reporting to right now.

[Traum]

Ahhh~ that makes total sense. Somehow my mind just defaulted to something in the 2.5 - 3 yrs old range because that's when most places start taking in toddlers.

Finding daycare for toddlers under 2.5 yrs old is no easy task! Good luck in March!

[RabidRat]

We started the kid on solids! He had his first friggin meal of his life and it was carrot puree and he loved it! Shieeeeet what a grin on his face to have something with texture and taste other than milk lol.

[SSM_DC5]

Get your nerves ready for the first choking.

[EvoFire]

Our older one never choked, maybe cause he didn't self feed until much older.

Our younger one has choked twice and I've had to tip her forward and smack her back twice. Smile at us after.

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

Get your nerves ready for the first choking.

Yeah we've both taken the infant CPR training class so we're at least technically prepared. Good lookin' out on the psychological aspect of it though. Hard to see them suffer .

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Our older one never choked, maybe cause he didn't self feed until much older.

Our younger one has choked twice and I've had to tip her forward and smack her back twice. Smile at us after.

Lol!!

[Eff-1]

Does anyone have recommendations for a good 2nd convertible car seat for grandparents use?

It's not going to be used super often, so don't want it to be too expensive.

Something that's lightweight and/or easy to install and remove and/or swap between their two cars.

It's black friday coming up so I'm going to be hunting for a deal if possible.

[Tapioca]

^ Graco Tranzitions.

It has a harness and can be used as a convertible seat, but once your kid is old enough, the harness can be removed and can be used as a traditional booster seat.

It's carried by all of the major retailers such as Walmart, Canadian Tire, and Amazon. It's often on sale for less than $200.

[JqC]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

She just turned 10 months yesterday, Dec we feel is a little early. We also want to ride through most of the flu season first. We are considering sending her part time but the transition to part time and then full time may be too many changes.

We'll see when my wife will go back to work first. Her manager took a package during our mat leave and she doesn't even know who she's reporting to right now.

Our kids went from full time at home (mat leave) right into full-time daycare. We also have friends who did the same, and some friends who did the gradual thing too.
At the end of the day, kids will react and throw tantrums and cry however they want. In a few months, all kids will love daycare cause the daycares make it so positive for the kids with the activities and friends etc (barring any extreme circumstances).
I'd advise to not to overthink the transition part, and to use the part/full time if you're already paying for it. Even if it's just to give the parents a much needed break during the day.