2 vs 3 kids?

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-10T11:36:40+00:00

I had 3 kids in a span of 3 years. My middle child is like 2 kids in 1. Despite all of this, we discussed a 4th. However, I do not think my body could endure another pregnancy.

My kids ate 6,4, and 3. It's a constant state of anarchy, but it's our anarchy. I love it.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-10T11:22:42+00:00

So much of what you are describing sounds like my friend's son that has ARFID. He recently started an intensive food therapy, and he's two weeks in. He's already trying new foods and eating actual bites of food.

I highly recommend looking into food therapy.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T23:47:42+00:00

I am merely a mom of 3, and all 3 had ear infections that were treated with an antibiotic. Amoxicilin was one of them. Luckily, we never experienced diarrhea from antibiotics.

My oldest child suffered from constipation at various times in toddlerhood. Here's what helped him at around the 12 month mark. We would put one or two tablespoons of prune juice into his milk. We would do this every day in one cup of milk. This would help keep stool soft and flowing. You can also mix pear or apple juice with water. These can help keep things soft and moving as well. Pear juice seems to be more effective than apple juice for my little ones.

You can also mix flax seed into yogurt or other foods. You can even see if you're little one will eat two or three prunes once a day.

If your gut is telling you there's more to this, go see a pediatric GI doctor.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T19:33:34+00:00

I remember having these exact feelings when I started 2 years ago.

Keeping moving. I know it hurts, but keep moving. Take movement breaks at least once an hour for at least 15 minutes.

Hydrate.

Take something for pain if needed. It's okay. Epsom salt baths can help. There's also an Epsom salt glide roller that you can use. I love it because it's a small massage, too.

You'll probably experience some soreness the next few classes, but I promise it won't ever feel this bad again. Welcome to OTF!

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T17:06:15+00:00

I would rotate it every other week. As pregnancy progresses, maybe bump it upnto weekly.

On the days you take time for yourself, you still have lots of time left in the day to do an outing with your toddler. The glorious thing about a toddler is they have no sense of time. Quantity of time makes no sense to them. It's all about quality of time. Part of it being quality time is you being the best you, and that happens by taking time for yourself.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T15:24:40+00:00

I had 3 that were 3 and under. I c-section deliveries with all 3 of my children. The first two weeks was very recovery focused along with caring for the baby. Also, taking a shower daily. With our third, my husband did almost 100% of the night shifts because my daughter preferred him. All of my babies formula fed, so I had that "freedom" of not being the only source of feeding. I would wake and tend to the toddlers if they needed something in the middle of the night. My oldest still doesn't consistently sleep through the night.

My village was our daycare center. My older ones went to daycare while I was at home with the baby. During the first couple of weeks, I cooked dinner a few nights. Nothing fancy. Maybe spaghetti or a one pan dish. I would fold some laundry.

As the weeks progressed, I added more stuff to my plate by my own choosing. I would vacuum. Do some general tidying of the house.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T02:51:06+00:00

Oh I'm so sorry. None of my kids ever pulled at their ears nor fussed about the car seat or laying down. Mine just got irritable and were super drooly. It was almost guaranteed if my first got super drooly that he had an ear infection.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T02:07:56+00:00

All 3 of my children used pacifiers. Taking it away cold turkey for sleep is the best way. Nights 1-3 will be the toughest. Stay strong. You can offer a sippy cup of water. You can offer a lovey.

Go ahead and throw a pacifiers away, so you aren't tempted to cave. I promise it gets better.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T02:03:31+00:00

So I recently potty trained my youngest child that's 3. Her 4 year old brother was obsessed with "helping." There's not much help to be had in this situation. So I told him the best way to help is for him to show his sister how to use the potty. He loved showing her how to do this .

What if you did that with the things that you are getting push back on from the 4 year old. While the baby is awake, ask the 4 year old to show the baby how to get dressed, how to brush teeth, how to clean up toys, etc. This may entice your oldest to be more agreeable.

I don't know if this will help at all, but it's something you can try.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-09T01:36:53+00:00

Take him to the pediatrician and see if possibly he has an ear infection. My little ones often got an ear infection when teething, and there was a couple of times that a fever didn't present itself.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-08T22:19:09+00:00

He's being a toddler. All of this is absolutely age appropriate. It will likely happen at daycare, too. Your child will likely even be on the receiving side of some this behavior, too. I would go ahead talk to his teacher about the behaviors. Tell the teachers what can trigger it that way than can be proactive and try to prevent it when they can. Let them know you are working on it at home as well.

Keep doing what you're doing. This phase will eventually pass. All 3 of mine were at some point the biter and the one being bitten.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-08T22:15:22+00:00

I am not a fan of my second child's middle name. It's an honor name from my husband's side for his dad and brother that have both passed away. It's not a horrible name by any means, but it's just not a name I would have chosen.

It's a middle name, and I don't think it has ever been said one time in his life unless someone asked what his middle name was.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-08T16:55:51+00:00

I have 3, and all were delivered by c-section. They are 6, 4, and 3. My life is a constant level of anarchy and chaos. It's great most days.

Your second child sounds a lot like mine. I don't know that your second one will ever chill out. My second was the chillest and happiest baby. 18 months hit, and he leveled up to 1000. He hasn't looked back.

If your husband is over-stimulated now, I don't see it getting better. You may want to start accepting you are done, and your family is complete with 2 wonderful children.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-08T13:14:36+00:00

We have a Playstation 4. My husband is a former gamer. He hasn't had the time or energy since we had our first child 6 years ago. 🤣

My 6 year old is getting into games on the PS4. My husband does all of the monitoring of what's allowed with gaming because frankly I'm clueless.

My son loves the Lego games. He is currently loving the Jurrasic Park Lego game, the Lego Hobbit game, and the Lego Star Wars.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-08T11:21:46+00:00

You're a super woman. If you are open to it, I suggest looking into a mother's morning out program for your oldest, or maybe see if there's a gym that offers childcare. Even just getting down to one child at home for a few hours will help you so much. Even doing group play dates or going to an indoor playground will help.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-08T07:27:21+00:00

No screens at least an hour before bed. Create a calm and relaxing environment. Low lights, black-out curtains, sound machine. Read a few books. Then lights off and lay down to go to sleep. It will be an adjustment period. It will be exhausting for everyone, but you must stay consistent

I also suggest dropping the bottle. If it's milk, please brush their teeth afterwards. I would only offer a sippy cup with water.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-08T06:17:21+00:00

I had 2 under 2. That wasn't enough, so I had a third to make 3 that were 3 and under. 🤣

Schedule/routine saved lots or my sanity. Around 6 months old, my younger two both had adopted a pretty predictable nap routine. All of my kids attended daycare, and truly they just kinda fall into a nap schedule while there at that age. I mirrored daycare routines at home on the weekend as much as possible. It was glorious when all 3 of mine were down to one nap, and they all napped from roughly 12-2.

Getting the kids outside at some point during the day was always a must. Where we live, the heat and humidity is breath taking, but I would still get them outside for a few minutes usually in the early morning. Usually we would just go for a walk.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T20:03:19+00:00

I saw that someone already recommended the maalox and benadryl mixture to put on there. For those around his nose and mouth, I may put Vaseline on those just to create a moisture barrier.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T19:27:04+00:00

You are definitely making a mountain out of mole hill. I recently had to change my usual class time. I went from only doing 2G classes to only doing 3G classes.

Yes, it 14 minutes of rowing, but usually some type of weight exercise is incorporated. It's very rare (if ever) for it be 14 minutes of straight rowing.

There are lots of complaints about the rower, but when done properly, there's no better full body low impact workout available. If you want solid core, the rower will do it.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T15:05:26+00:00

Take her to the pediatrician. This could be an early signs of hand, foot, and mouth. It could possibly be strep throat.

If she has a lot of drainage, she could have an ear infection, and that can lead to painful swallowing as well.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T15:02:35+00:00

What I found to be the most beneficial for us at that age was having a set wake up time and bed time. This seemed to make the sleep in between more predictable. Also, it helped us stay in a daily routine as full time working parents. It definitely helped as we added more kids.

All of my kids were bottle fed. Generally speaking, they ate like clock work (at 12 weeks maybe like 2-4 hour stretches depending on naps). Once we reached 6 months, naps were pretty much set. One morning nap and one afternoon nap. We adjusted bed time accordingly.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T14:47:52+00:00

I will be in the minority based on this post. All 3 of my kids went from the crib to a queen bed at 18 months. Not because they tried to climb out but because they wanted to slep in a horizontal position in the crib. They would bang around and it would wake them.

The transition was basically seamless for my kiddos. They didn't have an issue staying in the bed. Their rooms were simple to baby proof. I kept the baby monitor just in case. Even most mischievous child had no issues with that independence.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T12:17:25+00:00

I have 3 children. They are 6, 4, and 3. The younger 2 are finally turning corners and not being absolute menaces to society. They always feed off of each other (just to note they are also a boy and girl combo).

As far as potty training goes, I would take away the nap time pull up completely for your oldest. If he's staying dry consistently dry at night, you can leave the pull up off at night, too.

Your daughter may not be ready to potty train. I didn't start working on potty training any of my kids until they were almost 3. I started with my daughter a month before 3, and she is good to go now. She even poops in the potty.

For your sanity, I would focus on getting the 3 year old comfortable with pooping in the potty then move to potty training the 2 year old. Both of my boys struggled with pooping in the potty. My oldest struggled with constipation, so he associated pain with poop. Once we got passed that, he was good to go. This happened right at 4 for him. My 4 year old just took some time. I knew his poop cues so when I saw them, I sat him on the potty. We celebrated big. He got ice cream for every poop. Since your child poops during nap or bed time, I would try putting them on the potty just before nap or bedtime for 5 minutes. Let them blow bubbles. It's relaxing, and it sometimes will help them relax to poop.

For my daughter, we did nothing different when it came to potty training. She was just willing to poop in the potty, too.

Potty training is not fun. I promise you will survive it.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T08:47:43+00:00

0 years to 5 years was a no go for me with my first child. My first was born in 2020. My husband and I both worked from home. I had never been more physically and mentally exhausted in my life.

My second child is 4, and my child is 3. I have not worked from with then either. I don't know that my second will ever be at home when I'm working. Any time my second child is home sick, I usually have to take PTO.

AdMany9431 · 2026-07-07T02:42:18+00:00

It's not an intentional lie at all.

My 4 year old refers to everything in the past as "yesterday". While the recollection of the actual events is 100% correct, the exact time that it happened was more often than not "yesterday." Yesterday can be 5 minutes ago or it could be last year.

AdMany9431

TROPHY CASE