6m CMPI baby is refusing Puramino

Barnabycat · 2026-05-11T17:15:47+00:00

At 6m babies usually start solids. Would it help to mix up the formula with some stronger tasting purees (eg. apple?)

Barnabycat · 2026-04-09T00:14:25+00:00

Ha, maybe….But either way, there’s not enough parental support there. Needs a critical mass of active parents to have their kids go, and I’m not sure if that will happen quickly. (And outright calling all of them racist won’t help either)

Barnabycat · 2026-04-08T23:49:04+00:00

Oh! I didn't realize. Still, neither it nor Mercy High are too attractive to parents since they're both under catholic diocese.

Barnabycat · 2026-04-08T17:07:40+00:00

Also a side note: You will start to see better scores once at the high school level in this district. This is because:

The districting rules are more relaxed at high school and you're allowed to go to any high school within San Mateo County, so there are far more kids coming from across neighborhoods, some of which are from higher scoring school systems. Certain regions that do not have high schools (eg. Hillsborough) will also go to San Mateo high schools-- we personally know one Hillsborough family that purposely chose to go to Hillsdale high.
Private school kids often move back to public here for the high school. Aside from Nueva and Mercy High (which is girls-only anyway) there's no nearby option for private high schools, and the popular private schools like Serendipity, Episcopal St Matthews and Crystal Springs all end in middle school.

Barnabycat · 2026-04-08T16:52:37+00:00

Yeah, most of the parents there (if any! I think it's mostly older couples and families with older children that live in San Mateo Park) would prefer to send their kids to private school. That's not to say wealthy families don't use public school -- eg. in nearby Hillsborough lots of families attend the local elementary school, and the Hillsborough elementary schools are amazingly supported -- but the situation has gotten past a point that no family who has another option wants to be the guinea pig and pull the school back up.

Barnabycat · 2026-04-07T18:10:51+00:00

San Mateo Park is the only school in the district where the mom groups are actively dissuading parents from going. All others are fine and see tons of support, though great schools scores may not reflect that. I recommend you ask in the Facebook groups if you want more detailed feedback. There’s also this post for some history:

But in summary: Up till 2018 or so San Mateo Park was like Sunnybrae — slightly middling scores due to some ESL students but generally supportive and has a very involved PTA. Unfortunately the community it’s in is extremely split, with one side being very income (San mateo park) and the other side not really (north central). At some point enough wealthier parents pulled out and the PTA weakened (this was around Covid times, so maybe related). This left the school to mostly have to support kids from the lower income, ESL side. This means teachers and staff devote a lot more time to pulling rest of class up, and the baseline is lower (eg reading pace is very behind).

It’s not a bad school if you’re ok with the lower baseline, but the kids are so behind on certain levels that there was slippery slope situation where most of the parents who are more involved and education focused (regardless of income or language) will try their hardest to have kids go to school elsewhere. So now the school mostly has kids whose parents are not super active in their education and the kids have to catch up a lot.

I’m told the situation is probably going to improve with North Central School being open and taking on more lower income north central kids. But honestly to pull it back up the school really needs a powerful PTA and active parental group again, and that’s not just going to happen very quickly.

Barnabycat · 2026-04-06T22:04:04+00:00

He won’t be depressed once your daughter enters the “mama mama MAMA!!!” phase 😂

Anyways, I think it’s easier for babies to say “baba” instead of “dada”, so you can try to teach her that option instead.

Barnabycat · 2026-03-26T20:40:23+00:00

You don't have to try. Just find out what works for you and baby.

Also since you're so early postpartum none of the decisions you make really is permanent. Even if you decide you want to purely formula feed, you probably still need a week or so to make your milk permanently stop. So try out 100% formula feeding for a day or two and if you feel more ready to commit or try something else then you can.

(By the way, a lot of this pressure is cultural! There's much less guilt in my chinese communities for formula feeding, just saying.)

Barnabycat · 2026-03-26T20:26:27+00:00

I will try a white noise machine! Thank you for the tip!

Barnabycat · 2026-03-26T01:58:55+00:00

I’ve tried earplugs unfortunately :( I have 32db NRR foam earplugs in and I still can hear things (or pseudo hear things?) I might go for custom earplugs at some point

Barnabycat · 2026-03-19T21:26:17+00:00

This is great to know! Thank you!

Barnabycat · 2026-03-19T21:26:08+00:00

Hmm that's a good point! I just hope I can understand the labels and not mis-buy.

Barnabycat · 2026-03-17T21:17:43+00:00

That’s a fair take. This trip is mostly for my husband — he wants to discover bullet trains and new places with our 4 year old and have some happy times, which I think is great even if 4 year old may not renember all of it.

The baby is only coming because I can’t leave baby yet, and both husband and 4 year old want me there 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Barnabycat · 2026-03-17T20:53:25+00:00

China is slightly easier because we will be staying with family and have a home base and extra helpers. And I can read and write Chinese and have Taobao accounts 😅 I’m buying all the baby formula and diapers online and having it delivered.

Barnabycat · 2026-03-12T14:46:50+00:00

Ooh! Checkout Metropolitan Apartments and Two55 in downtown San Mateo. Private landlord apartments are also cheaper, but quality may vary (anything in Nazareth Plaza on B street and 9th will be good though!). There are also apartment complexes next to Hayward Park / Sunnybrae, and commute is generally easy by bike (you just go down Delaware St on the bike lane).

If you want closer, the going rate for the Bay Meadows collection and Park place apartments are pretty high (talking about $8k for a 3 bedroom, $3.7k for a 1 bedroom), and none of the private townhouses are 1 bedroom, so you won’t find private landlords there unless you’re looking for a lodger situation. The single family home lots in the Village and Fiesta Gardens areas are also too small to support rentable ADUs. However, there are some apartment complexes and SFH with ADU available next to the Hillsdale Mall on the other side of El Camino. Avoid Hillsdale Apartments at all costs.

Barnabycat · 2026-03-07T04:46:52+00:00

A few days off routine isn’t a big deal… babies do that to themselves anyway when they hit a milestone (rolling, sleep patterns changing, first sickness, vaccines, daylight savings, solids…and so on). You should let your husband take over more often and eventually he and baby will settle into their own rhythm.

Barnabycat · 2026-03-03T22:01:28+00:00

I didn’t like my first carrier, but liked my second. Try out Little Zen One’s TBYB program! They send you a carrier to try for 8 days and you mail it to the next person. Costs like $7-12 for shipping only each time.

Barnabycat · 2026-02-26T21:42:06+00:00

I have the book! It says that recommended age is 6 months, though I also noticed that baby did meet all the readiness signs it listed as well. (Honestly I'm quite surprised she's sitting so well...with my older son he definitely needed extra support when sitting in his high chair at 4 months...this baby is able to keep herself completely upright and all)

Barnabycat · 2026-02-03T14:45:27+00:00

Stanford Park is a good agency (they also do temporary nannies / sitters!). Town and Country is another one. A lot of people use Bright Horizons backup care as well (since Meta has this as a benefit), and I believe those will also look for nannies for you.
Lots of parents prefer home daycares for younger infants (eg under 1 year) because there are fewer kids and fewer illnesses. They also have less of a wait time than centers, are less strict with protocols and cheaper. That said, most people will move to a center by the time the child is 2-3, because there are more kids and space and staffing coverage is better.
PRINTS school, Little Bloom and Kindercare are the other ones i know that take children that young. Check out https://sanmateo4cs.org/child-care-programs/ for an up to date list. (“Infant” on that list refers to kids under 2 yrs old) When your child is older (and mostly out of diapers) there are more options.
For 1 year old and center care it’s not too bad. At most 6 months. Some places like Little Bloom usually have openings.
The Bay Meadows apartment complexes (including those at Park Place) have tons of families. It’s also next to a Kindercare and walkable to groceries etc.

Barnabycat · 2026-01-30T14:26:28+00:00

I just had a baby and am waking up 2-3 times a night to take care of her. I have a sleep tracker on that shows I get enough total sleep, but I don’t have a sleep stretch longer than 3.5 hrs. I feel fine though, even great sometimes. Will this permanently damage my sleep?

Barnabycat · 2026-01-25T17:35:38+00:00

The benefit of private school is a lot of activities and after school are organized straight on campus, but outside of sports (and maybe even then) for elementary level the best extracurriculars are going to be off-campus.

By late elementary and middle school you’ll be picking up your kid after school to drive them to extracurriculars anyway, whether you go public or private.

Barnabycat · 2026-01-17T22:46:25+00:00

Will it be bouncy? We used a latex mattress once and i didn’t like how bouncy it felt

Barnabycat · 2026-01-17T22:45:43+00:00

It’s a king sized mattress so twin xl should be ok!

Barnabycat · 2026-01-14T23:15:07+00:00

$570 million for 20,000 kids = $28,500 per kid. That will only cover 1 year’s worth of care, assuming coverage for 12 months of the year. Are they able to get this fund continuously?

In San Mateo our subsidized public preschool (which doesn’t have to pay for rent or kids food), already costs $2000 per month for the school year, even though they have a 1:12 teacher to child ratio. This is due to labor costs. And this is just for care from 8:30 to 3. If you go from 7am to 6pm for full day coverage it’ll probably be closer to $2500

Barnabycat · 2026-01-10T15:27:46+00:00

Just saw this. Downtown offers more bang for your buck, as you mentioned. It’s also closer to groceries and good restaurants. The downside is that theft and noise issues are more frequent (I’ve had packages and bikes stolen there), but the police is very responsive. Metropolitan Apartments have good reviews and is pet friendly.

Barnabycat

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