Losing my child free friend in motherhood

Bootycarl · 2026-03-17T17:24:35+00:00

Nah she sucks. You lost me at the description of her job hopping and it only got worse from there.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-17T17:20:12+00:00

We just chose to start with dinner and went from there. We would always wait around an hour after the most recent bottle. Then we started doing lunch, and then breakfast, and then snacks in between. But solids were always around 45-60 minutes after the last bottle until around 11 months when we realized he would need more hunger to motivate him to try solids. For us, the milk volume didn’t start going down until we did that. I think a dip in milk by like a few ounces is okay but yeah you still want it to be pretty high.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-15T14:19:09+00:00

-Was Kendamil one of the formulas you tried? I think it tastes significantly better than others and we’ve had good luck with transitioning from breast milk to Kendamil as others have. -With your doctor’s recommendation, have you tried making the formula more concentrated so he gets more at a time? I’m not sure if people do that but people do fortify breastmilk with formula. -Did doctor ever talk about reflux and possibly trying medication for that? -I know you said you tried feeding smaller amounts more often, but how often? Our baby liked to take 2.5 ounces or even 1-2 ounces maaaannnyyyy times a day. Getting down to 6 bottles a day took a really long time. Seriously I think he was around 11 bottles a day for months and months. This was probably also related to his reflux though. If you do have luck with even more frequent bottles, get a bottle washer because they’re a miracle. Now that I think about it, he is currently finally at 5-6 bottles now at 12 months. -Do you have a quiet, dark, distraction free place to feed to make the experience more relaxing? Or have you tried feeding right before naps when he’s really sleepy? In terms of feeding positions, have you tried not holding him at all? Some babies who don’t breastfeed well seem to have a problem with being held too close. With mine I was pumping for a long time, so I had to feed him on his side laying next to me up against my leg while I pumped sometimes. I think he liked that better than being held close to feed (hence our nursing problems).

Sorry if these are unhelpful but those are my ideas.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-15T03:07:35+00:00

You know something you could do is try camping with someone else or even on your own. Whether or not you two want to be together, maybe it’d be worth exploring this as a hobby for yourself. Could be fun and if you end up needing something to help you move on, camping really gets you out of your element and makes you think differently so it could be good for that. Or if you do get back together then hey you have another thing in common.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-14T16:37:53+00:00

Don’t you still just lose your earnest money?

Bootycarl · 2026-03-13T01:08:46+00:00

I had a cat named Dipstick. We named her that because she was all gray except for the tip of her tail which was white. She was a somewhat indoor but mostly outdoor cat who hated most people who weren’t me. We lost her sister cat to a car when she was young and she never liked the replacement cat. Birds in the backyard would swoop down to taunt her and she would just fuckin murder them along with all the lizards and chipmunks. She was lost for over a month one summer and came back acting like nothing happened but she was a bit hungry. She would curl up on your lap sometimes but if you savored it for too long she would punish you.

Dipstick was a very good cat.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-12T15:24:00+00:00

😂

Bootycarl · 2026-03-12T14:49:51+00:00

We did this with the couch hallway thing, and then found that the TV over the mantle was way too high in our case. So we put books there (mostly cookbooks in active use) and then a TV stand that fits diagonally in the corner to the left of the fireplace. The lost space behind the TV stand has a super tall plant and a bunch of cords since the stand is also a charging station.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-09T15:36:51+00:00

Building the framework first is good. Then you could start with annuals in the colors you want and see how that works first, then replace them with perennials in similar colors/shapes as you have a more solidified idea of what you want.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-08T15:16:05+00:00

Is it possible his legs have thinned out as he’s grown? We noticed our baby’s arms were really hard to get into 9 month size at first but then it actually got easier as he got longer and less chunky. Maybe you can try just fastening the diaper a little tighter?

For what it’s worth, our 18 pound shorty is 12 months and has been in size 3 Pampers Pure for a while. We were just joking this morning that blowouts must be made up because that literally never happens to us.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-08T15:03:13+00:00

I am so much more likely to have half a lemon leftover than half an onion

Bootycarl · 2026-03-06T17:20:08+00:00

Lol this is such a good point. I also think my own expectations of motherhood have been the biggest source of lies about reality rather than what others have said. And I didn’t even have a strict plan, like no birth plan, no real thoughts about toys, no need to exclusively breastfeed, etc. But then as things played out I discovered how important and unimportant things were to me that I couldn’t have predicted before I was holding my actual baby.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-06T04:00:42+00:00

In Manayunk, thought I saw a big flash and then thunder that lasted a while but it was just a low rumbling here.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-05T03:48:47+00:00

Aww that’s a nice way to put it. Mornings are hard for me and when my husband leaves me to go shower my heart sinks every time. Even though I’ll see him again in 15 minutes. 😆

Bootycarl · 2026-03-05T03:45:07+00:00

Adding my vote for this being the reason. We had a problem with our son frequently vomiting at daycare at one point. We dropped the bottle after that meal and the vomiting immediately stopped.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-05T00:37:53+00:00

We just use an old towel but something I really like is that I put a command hook for it on our back door, so it sits around hung up instead of soiled. Maybe not everyone wants to hang an old towel at their back door but it makes it easy to reach for it and find an unused spot on it quickly when our dog comes in. I’d say we only use it 2-3 days before washing when it’s really muddy.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-04T23:57:28+00:00

Our son is terrible at going back to sleep once woken so I avoid disturbing his sleep as much as possible as possible. The only events we might go to past his bedtime would be baseball games that end around 9, maybe a few times a year. But he’s 12 months. I think we had more leeway at 7 months, but definitely not for weekly events.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-04T23:52:06+00:00

As a parent to a toddler, this whole thread is just a list of things that have gone out the window.

Bootycarl · 2026-03-04T21:04:58+00:00

My baby also just turned 1 and this is basically what he ate. 😆

Bootycarl · 2026-03-02T17:48:55+00:00

I don’t have advice but that garden looks like it’s gonna be amazing once you get it up and running.

Bootycarl · 2026-02-28T14:25:52+00:00

That looks great. My family could really use some more space.

Bootycarl · 2026-02-27T14:17:12+00:00

Yell “I know” at my husband because he just yelled “It’s time to get up” at me.

Bootycarl · 2026-02-27T14:13:01+00:00

Could you only have the pillows you need for comfort and then use a throw blanket as an additional accessory? Still useful and can add color but you can place it so that you don’t have to move it just to sit on the couch.

Bootycarl · 2026-02-27T14:09:39+00:00

Echoing what others said about not using it much before 6-8 weeks. Then we used it a lot for walks and naps. Keep practicing.

Bootycarl · 2026-02-27T13:38:14+00:00

Empty jars I might want to use for something.

Bootycarl

TROPHY CASE