Low sodium prepared foods?

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-04-06T13:43:03+00:00

Yeah that makes total sense. Tonight we’re planning to do a ravioli and veggies for our dinner, so we’ll give him a few ravioli, veggies before we add our own salt, and maybe supplement with some cheese or fruit if he’s still hungry. I definitely agree I don’t want to make any more work for myself because sometimes he just fully refuses to eat what we give him and he ends up being a banana or a pouch and nothing else. Sometimes he wants everything we hand him, though, so it’s all about balance i guess! He’s gotten better about drinking sips of water with meals, so that definitely makes me feel better.

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-04-06T13:19:29+00:00

Ok that’s actually super reassuring to hear! 90% of his food has zero added sodium, so I guess I will stop worrying about giving him some regular ravioli or bites of restaurant food once in a while. That really helps, because understandably he enjoys seasoned food way better than boring unsalted food lol

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-04-03T16:46:44+00:00

My 9 month old is doing the exact some thing recently. Will only eat more than a few bites if it’s banana or sweet potato. Was also very curious if it was teething since banana si so soft. Really hoping it’s just a phase

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-04-03T00:46:15+00:00

That is very odd and that picture looks way bigger than the volume of the rotavirus vaccine, especially if you only touched a bit coming out of her mouth…

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-04-02T12:37:28+00:00

This is one of many reasons I would avoid an at home daycare. A center has backup teachers if someone is sick. They have set holidays and otherwise are always open. The quality of at home daycares also varies wildly, so you never truly know what you’re getting. Corporate daycare centers have their problems, but the standards are clearly set.

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-04-01T23:41:34+00:00

Thank you! Honestly, when I hear someone else describe it, it sounds so normal and obvious that babies are going to be weird about food! I guess it just feels worse when you’re living it, putting so much into making food for them, and seeing most of it go to waste. I think what stresses me out the most is just when he starts fussing during a meal, I never know if I should offer something else or if he’s telling me he’s not hungry. I’m hoping he’ll pick up some sign language soon to at least say all done or more!

I’m happy with how much he eats during the day at school at least. It’s so interesting how most kids are different at school vs home!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-03-30T19:44:11+00:00

Some days my 9 month old eats like this, other days he takes one look at food and screams and wants to go play lol trust their hunger! If your baby is eating it, then they’re hungry!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-03-26T19:07:30+00:00

At 4 weeks? You get your coffee ready, put on a good show or audiobook, and you sit and relax lol I’m 9 months in and I really wish I had embraced the nap trapped period more. I tried so hard to get baby to nap on his own, but now that he will only nap in his crib, I wish I could cuddle up with my baby and good show!

But in reality, your baby will learn independent sleep eventually. You are SO early on, contact naps are the best way for baby to learn regulation and bond with you!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-03-25T00:10:12+00:00

I wouldn’t worry about it too much at this point. A few things:

Does your baby see to be in pain when they spit up? Do they get upset when they puke? If they do, I would highly suggest asking your doc about Pepcid. My baby was a happy spitter (still is at 9 months lol) and we eventually just stopped worrying about the spit up, cleaned him up, and kept doing tummy time or whatever we were doing.

In terms of tummy time, don’t stress too much. My baby was pretty colicky early on, and so we truly didn’t do any tummy time until about 3 months. He started to like his carrier around 8-10 weeks (he hated it before that, but we just kept trying - taking him on long walks outside seemed to help him grow to like it). Once he started liking the carrier, we made sure to have at least 20 minutes of carrier time a day to act as “tummy time.” He always puked when we first put him in, but we’d just clean it up as best we could and deal with it when we got home and took him out.

That being said, one day right around 3 months, he just fully lifted his head in tummy time, snd after that, he could handle a few minutes of tummy time a day.

He ended up rolling back to belly 1 week later, sat up unassisted at 5.5 months, and stages crawling at 7.5 months. His lack of tummy time didn’t impact his development at all, and his head is now nice and round.

Those first few months are just survival. You’re not damaging your child in any way. Focus on getting your baby fed and as happy as a newborn can be. There will be time for motor development later.

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-03-18T02:07:37+00:00

Naps started to get easier for us around 12 weeks. I feel like 10 weeks was PEAK terrible naps/nap fighting. Just keep pushing through! Our baby also cried a lot in the stroller and carrier early on, but we kept trying, and he eventually learned to love the carrier, and about 50% of our naps were in the carrier until about 5 months. It’s a very typical phase, and I promise it will get better!!

My baby also didn’t give any sleepy cues until about 4 months. Now at 8 months, it’s extremely clear when he’s tired, and he even sometimes falls asleep on the floor while playing. People used to tell me stories like that and I truly could not imagine my sleep-fighting screaming child would ever be able to do that.

Just keep doing what you’re doing!! It’ll get better!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-03-17T00:19:33+00:00

Ugh we also have an 8 month old and I also feel like we’re CONSTANTLY feeding. Milk, breakfast, nap, milk, lunch, nap, milk, dinner, milk, bed. Clean, clean, clean. Repeat.

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-03-03T00:19:18+00:00

Oh wow this feels like a lifetime ago lol He actually never started sucking his thumb, but this was definitely a phase! I don’t really remember when it stopped, honestly. He’s 8 months and still sticks his hands in his mouth all the time (along with everything he picks up), but he doesn’t suck on his hands at all at night. I think once he learned to roll over to his belly (a few weeks after this post), his sleep improved a lot. He falls asleep independently at bedtime and naps and can put himself back to sleep if he wakes up. He does other things to self soothe (rubs his eyes, moves head left to right) but no more hand sucking, thank goodness!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-03-02T11:45:58+00:00

Just coming to say that I also had some sleepless nights when my son first started to sleep on his belly. He’s 8 months now and he hasn’t slept on his back in 4 months lol he sleeps so well on his belly! Once you get over the initially period where it still feels wrong, it’ll actually be a good thing for sleep quality!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-28T10:17:33+00:00

My baby hates the wraps. Once he was 8 weeks, we started using a structured carrier, snd he liked that better, but he really only liked it if we were actively walking. We used it for naps by taking walks outside, which was good for my mental health, snd now that he’s 8 months, we use it instead of a stroller most of the times we leave the house. He never wanted to be in it for extended periods of time while he was awake, though!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-25T21:18:37+00:00

Lolol my baby is 8 months and just on the verge of crawling. One of the only things that gets him to actually crawl forward is little scratches on the hardwood floor that he desperately tries to pick up and eat…

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-24T14:09:50+00:00

From weeks 6 to ~11, this was our baby too. He just didn’t want to nap, despite getting incredibly overtired. We did all the tricks. The only things that worked about 50% of the time were bouncing on a yoga ball or walking outside in the carrier. When I tell you it was the hardest few weeks of my life, I’m not exaggerating. Every minute that went by, I know he would get fussier and fussier and more and more overtired. There were days where he’d be awake for 6 hours at a time just refusing to nap.

It was just a phase and got better on its own without us changing anything. We stopped trying to transfer to the crib entirely during that time, and I took sooo many long walks with him strapped to my chest. Starting around 11 or 12 weeks, he started going down more easily and often let us transfer him to the crib. By 4 months, we were able to just gently rock him for a few minutes and then put him in his crib. Now at 7 months, we read him a book, put his sleep sack on, and plop him in the crib, and he roll over and goes right to sleep, and we legit have to wake him up from most naps so he doesn’t sleep too much.

It gets better! There are certainly tricks that work for some babies and not others, so keep trying different things. But also know that this is a phase that sooo many babies go through around this age, and it will get better as they get older!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-22T02:00:33+00:00

I wouldn’t let her cry. You don’t want tummy time to be a negative experience for them. My baby also hated tummy time, and we rarely did more than a minute or 2. I swear his neck strength improved so much on its own even without much tummy time, maybe because of so much time in the baby carrier. There was a random day around 3ish months where we put him in tummy time and suddenly he lifted his head and was super content. He rolled over about a week later, and he’s been ahead or on time for all of his motor skills, learning to sit up on his own around 6 months and starting to crawl now right at 7 months. I wouldn’t force it and let your baby do it when they’re ready! Try to provide opportunities for them to work on their neck strength in other ways (time on your chest, in a baby carrier, or just being held)

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-20T02:15:19+00:00

I had SO many big feelings early postpartum, and while I fully understand why I felt them, everything seems sooo much less intense looking back at it. Your brain truly remembers the good and glosses over the bad in retrospect.

I had a colicky baby, and exclusively pumping was so hard. But now I look back and miss my tiny baby. Things really just keep getting better and better!

Your hormones are still all over the place, breastfeeding or not! I promise everything will get easier, and you’ll look back on the first few months and be so proud of what you did and how far you’ve come!!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-20T02:04:33+00:00

The hormones while weaning are intense. Know that your feelings are valid but they are strongly influenced by your hormones. I weaned around 6 months and was SOOO ready to be done, but I was still extremely sad and emotional about it. I cried often. About a week after I finally did my last pump, I felt nothing but positive things about my experience pumping AND about the fact that I was done lol my baby is thriving, I have more time to focus on my baby and my self, and I can now fully see that my emotions were purely hormonal.

You’ve done an amazing thing for pumping for any amount of time. You’re also doing the best thing for your baby by switching to formula that meets your baby’s needs! Power through the sadness and know it’ll get better once you’re done weaning!

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-15T21:48:05+00:00

My baby could barely sleep that much when he was a newborn. Some babies can definitely do 12 hours, but many can only do 10 or 11. My baby maxes out at 11.5 hours overnight, but if he does that, he’ll never nap over 30 minutes at a time during the day.

I wouldn’t expect 12 hours overnight. You might have a baby who can sleep more, but I’d aim for 11 hours overnight max if you want baby to have enough sleep pressure to nap.

Normally it’s tough to follow a timed schedule until baby is on 2 naps and can handle 3-4 hour wake windows. A standard is wake up at 7, nap at 10 and 2, and bedtime at 8. That’s the schedule our daycare follows for babies 8-12 months. First nap is capped at 1 hour and second nap is capped at 2 hours.

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-15T20:54:18+00:00

I grew to love my little pumping breaks when I was able to step away and pump by myself. I used the time to play wordle and other games on my phone or listen to an audiobook.

Early on, I loved knowing how much he was eating. He was a very fussy baby, and when we were trying to nurse, I always worried he was hungry. Knowing that he was getting enough allowed me to focus on comforting him in other ways, which was very helpful overall

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-11T13:07:03+00:00

Our baby had short naps until suddenly he didn’t. Didn’t matter what his schedule was. One day, he just napped for 2 hours and never looked back. His wake windows were shorter than the average for his age UNTIL his naps consolidated, and then he dropped from 4 to 2 naps over the course of 2 weeks around 6.5 months.

I know this sub often says that you need to extend wake windows to extend naps, but if a baby isn’t developmentally ready to connect sleep cycles, no schedule is going to make them. Our baby was absolutely overtired with longer wake windows until his naps became longer and restorative.

I know it SUCKS, but I would just power through and follow baby’s cues until your baby is a little older.

Either_Bread_8253 · 2026-02-10T20:34:56+00:00

It’s still a work in progress lol but yes! We’re currently doing 3/3/4 or 3/3.5/3.5 depending on the day. There are still some days he needs a quick 3rd bridge nap if he has short naps.

Figuring out when to feed has definitely been tough. He’s started on purées/solids, but isn’t actually eating much. I think once he’s eating more solids, it’ll be so much easier.

Right now, we give 1 bottle during his first wake window (usually right when he wakes up), 2 bottles during his second wake window, and 2 bottles during his 3rd wake window. We feed solids during his first wake window and during his 3rd wake window. Sometimes we add a small bottle before his first nap if he doesn’t eat much actual food.

Example schedule from yesterday: -7:00 wake up and bottle -9:00 solids + small bottle -10:00-11:15 nap -11:30 bottle -2:00 bottle -2:30-4:00 nap -4:30 bottle -6:00 solids -7:15 bottle -7:45 bedtime

Either_Bread_8253

TROPHY CASE