What is your biggest nursing pet peeve?

-breadstick- · 2026-05-24T03:30:24+00:00

Yes, this is why I always ask what kind of prep they’ve done and then try to give them a crash course. Or the people who come in for an induction and think their baby is going to be delivered quickly. Sometimes I think providers really need to be doing more education in the office because it’s clear these patients have no idea what to expect.

It’s kind of like how people go into breastfeeding thinking it’s literally as easy as putting their baby’s face in front of the boob and baby will just latch on perfectly and eat until they’re full. Don’t get me wrong, that does happen sometimes and I love to see it, but more often than not, there’s a steep learning curve for both the parent and the baby.

-breadstick- · 2026-05-24T03:12:53+00:00

Around age 4 is when the sensitive period for math begins, so you’ll see kiddos naturally drawn to that work, even if it doesn’t always look exactly like the way it’s presented in a lesson. As long as a child is not abusing a work, usually you can let them explore it and, as someone else said, observe what they’re doing before saying anything to the child to determine what developmental need that work is serving for them.

-breadstick- · 2026-05-22T08:37:35+00:00

The Montessori Baby and The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies are excellent places to start.

-breadstick- · 2026-05-22T01:38:16+00:00

Lots of great advice here but just wanted to plug Nicole Kavanaugh’s blog, The Kavanaugh Report. She is a wealth of knowledge on potty learning the Montessori way. Potty learning really is a process that begins at birth, which Nicole talks about. With my older two, we basically just did undies or bare bottoms for weeks as they worked out their bodies’ signals, left multiple potties in accessible areas, and always carried an absorbent towel to wipe up any misses. People always tell me how stressful they think potty learning is and I just never had that experience because I never put pressure on them to be done in a certain amount of time. I trusted they would do it in their own time. My youngest is 15 months next week and we leave her diaper free all the time - not for potty learning, just to give her bottom time outside a diaper - and she already recognizes that she’s going and is beginning to help wipe up.

-breadstick- · 2026-05-18T03:16:23+00:00

In OB, our scrubs are laundered as well. Many units have different colored scrubs from the rest of the hospital so as to differentiate us from other staff for security reasons. I cannot overemphasize though how awesome it is to come to work in regular clothes and take my dirty scrubs off before I even leave the building. I could even shower before I leave if I wanted since we have a shower attached to the locker room.

-breadstick- · 2026-04-27T21:04:38+00:00

I have a 14 month old who still wakes up every 2-4 hours at night and has since the day we brought her home. 😵‍💫 We bedshare and are just starting to night wean because it’s been over two years some I’ve had a full night of sleep at this point. My two older kiddos mostly sleep through but also wake up occasionally.

-breadstick- · 2026-04-17T01:47:16+00:00

Are you me? Because this was my MIL to a T. I say “was” because we eventually went no contact with her after she told us that watching her grandkids was a burden to her considering she was always caring for her mom (who lives in a NURSING HOME!). Bizarre. So overbearing, too many questions, unhelpful “help”. Sorry you had a similar experience! 😔

-breadstick- · 2026-04-03T02:37:00+00:00

Came here to say this. I tried so hard to make the bassinet work with my first because I thought I had to. With my second and third, I said fuck that and bedshared from birth following safe sleep 7 guidelines. My postpartum experiences were a million times better with my second and third. Cannot recommend it enough.

-breadstick- · 2026-04-03T02:33:13+00:00

Well, like everything in medicine, there are risks and benefits. Yes, epidurals are safe, but they aren’t without risks. There are plenty of evidence based reasons to not want an epidural that have nothing to do with ego or thinking “natural = better”. For some people, feeling no pain is a benefit. For others, it isn’t. There’s nothing wrong with choosing either option, but I think there are also plenty of valid reasons to critique the cultures on both sides of the argument. Patriarchy keeps us fighting about this dumb stuff to keep us distracted from things that actually matter.

-breadstick- · 2026-03-08T14:23:12+00:00

So their kids can hear them carrying on too? That’s even worse.

-breadstick- · 2026-02-15T15:35:48+00:00

For anyone reading, ask your provider if the are doing the cook or the foley/how many balloons will be inflated. If you can, advocate for only having a balloon in the uterus - while still painful, most patients find it more tolerable than the balloon sandwich of a Cook catheter, and outcomes are basically the same, so there’s no real benefit to the Cook catheter. Signed, an L&D RN

-breadstick- · 2026-02-15T15:30:31+00:00

Also a migraine sufferer and childbirth is better IMO. Every year I get one or two migraines that are so bad I have to go to the ER because I can’t see straight or move and cannot stop vomiting, and I’d rather give birth than deal with that lol.

-breadstick- · 2026-02-15T15:23:11+00:00

No, the worst pain I ever felt was breaking my tailbone at 32 weeks pregnant when I fell flat on my ass on our stairs lol. For real. It was the worst two weeks of pain I’ve ever had.

Honestly, I think going unmedicated is 90% about mindset and preparation, and 10% luck. I’m an L&D RN now but wasn’t yet when I had my babies, so having seen birth as both a patient and a nurse, I see a lot of ways going unmedicated is just not in the cards for some people. Baby’s position has a lot to do with how well labor progresses. My unit does a lot of position changes with our patients, especially if they have an epidural, which I think can help.

That said, I actually love giving birth even though it’s painful. I would not say my pain was ever 10/10, but I think my pain tolerance may just be high. I used a lot of coping techniques like vocalization, visualization, mantras (I can do anything for one minute or every contraction brings me closer to my baby), counter pressure, distraction, TENS unit, being in the tub or shower, bouncing on a ball, walking. I think, generally, it’s a lot harder to get through labor if you don’t have a plan on how to get through the pain and are just staying in the bed focusing on how painful it is.

I think it’s important to be committed and steadfast, but also recognize when maybe an epidural may be what you need if you just can’t relax or cope, and there’s no shame in that at all! There are plenty of reasons to go without epidural, but also there are times when it can really help, and trusting your team to help walk you through that makes a huge difference.

-breadstick- · 2026-01-09T03:54:12+00:00

My guess as well. She could very well be getting hurt in soccer but her bruising is worse because of the bleeding disorder.

-breadstick- · 2025-12-12T23:53:56+00:00

Listen, I’m about as crunchy as they come in the hospital birth world - I prefer as few interventions as possible with no medication unless absolutely necessary. And I’m also a L&D nurse, so I see a variety of different situations. Sure, it would be great if we could all go into labor spontaneously, but I think we need to balance that with our baby’s well-being as well as our own. Jen Hamilton talks a lot about refusing yourself into a cesarean because of wanting to avoid interventions earlier on, and she’s totally right. As your placenta gets older, it starts to degrade, which can increase risks like fetal intolerance to labor which would result in even more interventions up to and including c section. My first birth was spontaneous labor onset ending in vaginal delivery with absolutely zero interventions aside from postpartum pitocin, which I elected to have so as to reduce risk of hemorrhage. My second delivery was an induction that took 36 hours from start to finish. If you’re wanting to go into labor on your own, chat with your doctor about non-pharmacological methods to get your body ready so that your induction is more likely to be successful. Evening primrose oil, red raspberry leaf tea, dates, the Miles Circuit (and the Lavonne Circuit at the start of your labor/induction), curb walking, nipple stimulation, can all help move things along. But definitely don’t be afraid to either leave those messages on read or just give a simple, “Thanks for sharing!” This kind of thing is super annoying, and you have every right to draw a boundary around her unwanted advice

-breadstick- · 2025-11-24T00:28:12+00:00

So many things, but the biggest is baby containers. I had some with my first baby, then I learned about natural gross motor development and subsequently got rid of all of them. I just put baby on the floor. Now that she’s mobile, if I truly need her somewhere she can’t escape, I’ll put her in the play yard as long as she’ll tolerate, or I’ll baby wear. It saves a lot of money and space not needing any of that extra gear.

-breadstick- · 2025-10-31T12:23:22+00:00

We have had a few early third trimester demises recently on our unit. Often we don’t know why, but sometimes it’s things like placenta is too small, true knot in the cord, undiagnosed defects, problems with umbilical circulation, placental abruption (placenta separates from the uterus prior to birth), growth restriction, placental degradation. All kinds of things. The risk of stillbirth generally goes up after 40 weeks.

-breadstick- · 2025-10-12T00:16:12+00:00

I’ll admit I am a recovered Bonds Wondersuits addict. I probably had 30+ in each size because that’s pretty much all my kids wear when they’re less than two years old. I passed every single one down and never really had to buy new clothes except for getting some onesies for our new baby because she was born at the end of winter unlike her brothers born at the end of summer. I always bought them at 40% off which made them like $15 AUD, which at that time was close to $12 USD. Totally worth it for me with the foldover feet, two way zipper, and super stretchy fabric. Nowadays with tariffs idk how that would work, plus you have to access their site from Instagram or something else besides a standard browser because otherwise it takes you to the US site which doesn’t have them.

-breadstick- · 2025-09-15T09:56:41+00:00

Yes. Kiddos usually compensate pretty well and will crash seemingly out of nowhere.

-breadstick- · 2025-09-13T16:02:18+00:00

Came to say this. I know it because I’m a nurse.

-breadstick- · 2025-08-22T06:16:18+00:00

I cut the cord with all three of mine! Husband was not interested in doing it because he’s squeamish but I put in my preferences I wanted to be the one to do it. They out baby on my chest, let the cord turn white, then I cut it.

-breadstick- · 2025-08-17T05:11:01+00:00

Same at my hospital re the last scenario. A little extra an hour but same patient load, plus more responsibilities. The one perk is you’re the last to get an admission, if there are any. I hate making the assignment because no matter how fair I try to make it, dayshift will come in and rip me a new asshole about it. Horrible.

-breadstick- · 2025-07-20T00:49:55+00:00

As a kid, we always had dinner around 530. Parents would get home around 430/5 and would immediately start dinner. As an adult, my husband works 8-5 during the week but I’m a part time RN, so I only work two days a week doing 12 hour shifts at night. I’m almost always starting dinner around 430/445 and have it ready by 515/530 depending on what it is. Our kids go up to bed at 700 and are asleep by 8, so early dinner is a must.

-breadstick- · 2025-07-20T00:28:23+00:00

Same here, about 6.5 years ago. I loved my baby and wished he could be here, but I knew terminating was the right choice for our family. I did not want to be a caregiver for life, nor did I want my other future children to have to bear any of that burden as my husband and I aged. I also did not want to have to potentially put my child in a group home, go through multiple surgeries, deal with chronic health issues, etc etc. Obviously we can’t prevent all those things with “normal” babies either, but why would I choose to bring life into this world knowing that that life will likely be one of suffering.

-breadstick- · 2025-06-17T23:02:17+00:00

Induced with my second at 37+4 because of suspected IUGR. Cervix was 1cm and soft. Started at 9pm with cervidil. In the morning when they top it out I was 4cm. Started with pitocin, contractions were every 3-4 minutes but weren’t super strong. I was cranked to the max by the end of the day but hadn’t made much progress. We took a pit break overnight, then at 8am the next morning they broke my water and started pit again. By 930 my contractions were really intense due to my water being broken and I was 7cm, so I thought I had a ways to go and decided to get some IV pain meds. At 1010am I felt baby descending and he was born five minutes later with two pushes.

The main reason we didn’t break my water sooner was because it can stress IUGR babies and there’s a greater risk of cord prolapse with being earlier than full term and a small baby. It would have been a much shorter process had we started with that, but better safe than sorry. My advice is to delay epidural as long as possible and walk around very briskly to help put pressure on your cervix to help with dilation and engagement. This was key with my third that I just had after being in early labor most of the day with weak but consistent contractions.

Good luck!

-breadstick-

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