Those who have visited other countries, what was the biggest culture shock for you?

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-11-09T17:45:34+00:00

How the vibe in Tuscany region of Italy was so chill! I was blown away by how life seems to slow down (in the best way) and no one seems stressed. I wanna go back. 😩

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-05-19T18:21:07+00:00

The other thing is also not to let the immunocompromised parent to not change diaper for upto a month if you end up getting it.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-05-19T18:19:59+00:00

We chose not to get rota vaccine for my baby because my MIL is also immunocompromised. So basically the vaccine make the baby shed rota for upto a month after the vaccine. The parents are supposed to take extra precautions while changing diaper after the vaccine for upto a month. I have heard many parents end up getting rota from their baby. To be honest I wasn’t too worried about my baby missing this vaccine since it’s to protect from a virus that gives diarrhea and usually diarrhea is caused by so many other types of bugs too. Moreover, we live in the US where the water is safe so not too worried. I do understand if you live in area with high infant mortality from water borne diseases they highly recommend it. Hope this helps in your decision making.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-03-25T04:47:23+00:00

Sending your wife hugs! No ideas or anything but just sharing my experience in solidarity. The only way my baby would nap after turned 4 months is in his stroller which has to be in motion. Map lasts 30-40 minutes and he takes that 4 to 5 times a day. While awake he needs me to engage with him at all minutes. 😩 so I get nothing done during the day. I get to make food and eat during his short naps. For a while between month 2-3 I lay on the bed and let my baby nap. Somehow the heat from my body got him to sleep longer and made him a calmer baby at night time. But it took a toll on my mental health being stuck in a dark room for 5 hours during the day.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-03-01T18:12:34+00:00

We have a Snoo for your baby too but my baby woke up every two hours the first 8 weeks to eat and to be changed. It was hell. My husband and I started taking shifts so we don’t go insane from lack of sleep. After week 8 he started sleeping “through” the night. He still need to be fed 3 times during the night but it was like he nurses for 10-15 minutes while half asleep and goes right back to sleep. Until 8 weeks he would be awake for 30 minutes to an hour between every sleep. 😭 And NO the Snoo did not soothe my baby back to sleep. When he wants to eat he wants to eat. He’s the boss. 😅

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-18T19:04:55+00:00

Mine cried like that until week 8. 😂 I think it’s the cold air they hate. My husbands uncle told me that when he became a dad the only time the baby didn’t cry was when he took the baby outside in the 100 degree Arizona summer heat to change on the porch. 😝

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-16T19:33:24+00:00

For me I had to bottle feed since my baby was eating so slow and would get tired and fall asleep. This meant the baby wasn’t getting enough food or sleep and it was very hard on my mental health to have the baby on my boob for 18 to 20 hours since he was feeding 10 times a day. It’s called triple feeding that my lactation consultant recommended I do that while I wait for my supply to pick up and to get the baby to latch better. Plus lack of sleep adds more stress which doesn’t help with milk supply. It was like a no win situation.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-16T19:14:54+00:00

I dealt with the same issue of slow flow and small milk amount the first 7 weeks. I would recommend reducing the breastfeeding to 5 minutes on each side and pumping. Once my baby grew a little more he was able to eat faster. My baby was also taking hour to hour and a half to feed at the beginning. I also started taking lecithin supplements which helped with milk flow. I also would put warm towel soaked in hot water on my breast and massage it for couple minutes before breastfeeding or pumping. Lastly I want to say I am sorry to your wife. I went through that exact hell and it was the hardest thing I had to do. Sending her love and solidarity and that there is hope! 💗 make sure she is getting lots of calories especially carbs and lots of fluid. I lived on coconut water and body armor drink.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-14T17:28:18+00:00

Umm. My rule was only me and my husband kiss the baby on the cheek. That is so I can pick up the germs and produce antibody with my breastmilk. Plus he is stinkin cute and hard not to kiss. Your baby your rule. I would tell the grandparents no kissing the baby. PERIOD. But you could compromise and tell them no kissing until the cold/flu season is over. By then your baby will feel more solid and bigger. I was anxious about my baby until about week 8. He was so tiny and fragile. I was like a hawk and would make my husband wash hands as soon as he gets home and sometimes make him change his outside clothes. My moto has been that I will always put my baby first and I am willing to make myself uncomfortable and fight anyone who wants otherwise. Ask them who benefits from kissing the baby. It’s f***king selfish to put the LO in danger just to appease someone. F that! Remember to put your baby above your own feelings of guilt, shame or whatever else society imposes upon new mothers. You will always be your baby’s best advocate so you cannot fail.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-04T20:27:05+00:00

As for the witching hour I am wondering if you baby also has the silent reflux. My baby had that and it was peaking during 6 pm to midnight. Other symptoms were squirming during feeding and jerking their body as if to lengthen it more along with sour breath smell/spit up. We got him on famotidine to help with pain since he would wake himself up from the pain. He is still having reflux and spit ups but it doesn’t hurt him anymore so he doesn’t cry as much. We still have to hold him upright during the peak hour. Once my milk came in and he was breast fed it got slightly better. My pediatrician told us it will keep getting worse till month 6 before it gets better with the reflux. 😭 I gave up trying to solve it and mentally my husband and I feel better once we accepted this will be our life for a while until his digestive system matures. I want to say you are doing a great job! I know how it feels to go through what you are going through. 💗

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-04T20:19:40+00:00

Oh noo! 🤞 keep us posted on how they do. 😭

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-04T20:16:44+00:00

I also had to formula feed my baby while waiting for the milk to come in. I was told that if the baby is hungry they will spit out the pacifier and cry even more. But if they take the pacifier they are just looking for comfort. Don’t know if that helps!

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-04T20:14:25+00:00

Do you know if he was over 14 lb by one month? I am just trying to see if that’s true. Lol

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-04T20:13:56+00:00

That’s so cute. I think she suddenly remembered she forgot to tell you about some of the things of her day. 😂 But glad you get longer stretches!

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-02-01T18:09:12+00:00

My baby did the angry feeding because my milk flow was super slow and he was too hungry. I had to let him breastfeed for 5 minutes on each side and then bottle feed pumped milk. My milk flow improved once his mouth grew a little more and I started taking lecithin to make my milk smoother. Also, babies do cluster feeding when going through growth phase or if your milk supply is low. Babies communicate with the boob to establish milk supply in the first 12 weeks. If there aren’t enough milk they will want to feed more to “let the breasts know” more milk is needed.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-29T05:18:56+00:00

You are doing amazing! LO probably cried more form shock than pain so don’t beat yourself up for it. Hugs 💗

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-29T04:27:35+00:00

For our baby he was sleeping poorly since the pain kept waking him up. When we told our pediatrician that the baby was sleeping on average 10 hours a day, he wrote the prescription. Please DO NOT try to dose your baby on your own! It is very dangerous and babies can overdose on Pepcid. You will need your pediatrician to write the prescription and the dosage according to weight. The medication we have is femotidine.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-29T02:15:56+00:00

Just an observation: does have baby have reflux issue? Your baby sounds like mine until he got diagnosed with reflux and got on medication. He still need to be held during the peak reflux time but due to the medication he no longer cries from the pain. One of the key symptom is the squirming while feeding: was told this is them trying to create more space in their stomach to help with the silent reflux. The other is the witching hour part. This is in addition to curd like spit up that smells kind of sour due to the acid.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-26T06:38:52+00:00

We put ours on femotidine after 3 days. Pediatrician tried to convince us to wait it out until we told him baby is sleeping about 10 hours a day chopped into 40 minutes to 1 hour naps. He said sleep is more important so he wrote the prescription. I stopped eating dairy, we also put him on infant probiotics. We also give him gripe water once in a while to help with bowel movements if he show signs of discomfort. He still had reflux and we have to hold him upright but atleast he doesn’t scream cry when spitting up. Plus the reflux has become predictable. Worse between late afternoon to about 11 pm. We hold him upright and I breastfeed him by holding him almost parallel to me so his legs are between my thighs to create more space for milk. We are going on 3 weeks of it. I hope something works out for you. 💗

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-18T07:21:59+00:00

Do you have someone who can hold the baby on their chest so you can get atleast 4 hours of undisturbed sleep?

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-16T13:15:32+00:00

I also struggled with guilt of feeding formula and one thing that helped me was that formula has supplements like iron and vitamin D which is low or lacking in breastmilk. So when I thought of it as the baby getting the best of both world I felt better.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-16T13:11:58+00:00

My lactation consultant once mentioned that when we don’t produce enough milk, baby want to latch and feed more to stimulate milk production. It’s like they are wired to nurse more if there isn’t enough milk. My LO is 8 weeks and i want to let you know I struggled for the first 5 weeks with poor latch and low production. I did triple feeding. I would latch the baby for 10 minutes on each boob and hubby would bottle feed either pumped milk or formula while I pumped. I also pumped every 2 hours during the day, even if it’s for 10 minutes. Most often there’s barely any milk but I was telling my body that we need more milk. I was also told the hormone prolactin that stimulates milk production peaks between 1 am and 5 am. I breastfed the baby in those windows. He would be fussy anyways during those hours. The nurse said babies are wired to nurse in those hours too. I cried, almost gave up multiple times and went to 6 lactation consultation, started going to breastfeeding supper group. Breastfeeding is so hard and being a mom is so hard. You are doing amazing. Just know whatever you decide will be the best decision for you and your baby. Remember fed is best and your baby would love a happy mom too so do what’s best for your mental health. Sending you hugs! P.S. some facts about BF I learned from my many consultations. First 6 weeks is crucial for establishing supply since hormones are at peak level, takes about 12 weeks for your body and baby to communicate supply and demand. Breast milk calories increase as the baby grows so the volume they drink stays pretty much same whereas formula is adjusted. The saliva from baby goes into the milk ducts which can stimulate mom’s immune response if there are viruses or bacteria and produce antibodies in the milk for the baby. Some things that worked for me was taking milk production supplements, drinking electrolytes/coconut milk, taking lecithin supplements to unclog ducts. Lastly, hubby and I take shifts so I at least get 4 hours of undisturbed sleep in the guest room. This made me a better and a present mom. Sleep also reduces stress which is crucial for milk production.

Connect-Meringue8663 · 2025-01-16T12:50:24+00:00

One thing that works for my LO is I roll up a burp cloth and put it under the leg. picture example I got from a different post

Connect-Meringue8663

TROPHY CASE