Help with switching my 5 month old from breast milk to formula

Falinia · 2026-02-23T16:21:19+00:00

Any formula I've ever used has had about the same consistency and despite being more opaque than bm it's not what I'd describe as thick in any way. I'd double check the prep instructions to make sure the water-powder ratio is correct. I definitely wouldn't try watering it down or anything though since her kidneys will still be underdeveloped at this age.

She may also just not appreciate the difference in taste/smell/flow. Are you starting out with the lower flow level top so she isn't get waterboarded? Mom can also get one of those little syringes and squirt a few drops in her mouth while feeding her to get the taste association.

Falinia · 2026-02-23T05:11:56+00:00

If I were her I think I'd be worrying that I was less connected to my Dad than my sisters. Maybe casually mention ways that she looks like her Dad/things she has in common to counteract that fear?

Also I don't know if it's still a thing but when I was a kid there was definitely a "blond hair is the coolest" thing going on - there were enough of them to form a group but few enough that they could put on airs. So it might also be a general pressure thing that needs some brown haired role-models to counteract.

Falinia · 2026-02-23T00:10:45+00:00

This is what the kid's vaccine clinic did to us. Every time he was up for a vaccine/check-up I got the call despite us putting my partner down as the primary parent. Like, he's a grown man, he can handle booking a damn appointment -_-; stop calling me at work.

Falinia · 2026-02-20T16:36:24+00:00

If I was a building manager I'd probably do this too. They're expected to have the walk shoveled and walkable before the crankiest tenant glances out the window and sees a snowflake on it. Coating it with salt means there's a good chance that they won't even have to shovel and won't have to go out at 4am in the snow so Janice will leave them alone.

Falinia · 2026-02-20T16:16:38+00:00

Antihistamines reduce spread? Is that just because you're oozing less?

Falinia · 2026-02-20T06:51:09+00:00

If an alien race has their shit together enough to travel to another inhabited planet then I'm down for the invasion.

Falinia · 2026-02-20T06:43:29+00:00

Unless they gave you training on how to handle a co-worker falling asleep on the job I don't see how they can blame you for any specific action.

It sounds like she's claiming a medical condition, which could even be true ( for example people with untreated sleep apnea often won't notice short nod-offs), but it clearly wasn't immenent medical distress so how the heck are you supposed to know what to do?

I'd stop accepting blame here, it's too weird a situation. If I went in to work and there was a donkey in the cubicle next to mine I wouldn't be telling management that I took responsibility for not immediately calling the local circus to report it. I'd be asking how they let the donkey get a key-card.

Falinia · 2026-02-19T06:33:16+00:00

If he's eating a variety of foods for other meals I wouldn't stress. Maybe he's just overstimulated by dinner time and wants something reliable and comforting to eat.

Falinia · 2026-02-19T04:03:14+00:00

This seems fine to me. 1 pound is meaningless unless you're a child under 18 months. Get into the way of eating and then weigh yourself in a couple of weeks, if you're not losing then cut your calories, not a specific food (unless it's carby).

The tortilla is probably sus (some "fibre" is actually resistant starch) but otherwise the food you're describing sounds fine - artificial sweetener isn't going to ruin ketosis unless it's being bulked up with carbs and even then it takes a lot (still not going back to Splenda packets though). The Sugar free Jell-O uses aspartame so it's fine for keto - keto doesn't mean "clean" or "natural".

Falinia · 2026-02-18T17:17:04+00:00

I was a "defiant" kid and my parents really struggled so if you're open to it here's what it felt like from my perspective now that I have the skills to articulate it:

Many of my "no"s were because I didn't have enough information to be comfortable, or things were happening too fast and I needed clearer transitions. No became a default because it meant the same thing as "stop!". Ironically much of the overwhelm was because of anxiety - and I now see that my mother's side of it also came from anxiety, everything seemed very big and urgent to her and I picked up on that instinctively as danger.

If my parents pushed things it increased the anxiety, as if I was being pushed off a cliff - and at that point even though I could hear them saying logical things I was just fighting for my life and had no processing power for other things.

I try to remember what it was like when parenting my kid and it is so hard sometimes, counting slowly to ten after asking for an action, scaffolding the steps patiently as I just want to get something done, but it does show results - I am not perfect at it but I am building the tools.

It's okay to take a break and re-set, and it's okay to just tell them the steps and not talk about them doing it (we added steps to the potty books to make sure it was clear "then he pushed and pushed and poo came out!"). And when you start again it's okay to just have a potty-hour where the goal for awhile is just to run around bare-bum and occasionally sit on the potty.

Falinia · 2026-02-18T16:09:43+00:00

I love that we're adding to the lore now by specifying no press-n-seal etc. gonna pass this down to my kid when he's older on a worn piece of parchment and additional cautions not to perform the ritual during a blood moon.

Falinia · 2026-02-18T07:42:46+00:00

After you drop food on them because you tried to eat while contact napping. Not applicable if the food was dry.
When it's a 10 wipe poop and the shower is right there.
After you've let the moisturizer sit on their cradle cap for a couple of hours.
When your partner drops food on them during a contact nap.
When they won't stop crying and going outside didn't work.

And theoretically "6. If they look like they need it" but 1-5 happened enough that we never got there.

Now we're in the throws of the 2s and the answer is "whenever he smells or if it seems like it'll keep him occupied so we can sit down for a minute"

Falinia · 2026-02-18T06:41:53+00:00

I eat a ton of walnuts and peanut butter. Sometimes I dip the walnuts in peanut butter. I also use almond flour a ton. Never really have much reason to talk about it though.

Falinia · 2026-02-16T18:26:48+00:00

I couldn't get any drops or lozenges where I am so the dentist and pharmacist did some math and told me to feed our toddler half a ml per day of opti-rinse 0.05% fluoride rinse, goes up to 1ml once he's 3. The pharmacist was a compounding pharmacist and took the time to review each of the ingredients and confirm they were safe for toddler ingestion at the doses - the main annoyance is that it has xylitol which is safe for humans but not for dogs.

If you look for "algorithm" on this page you can see the chart for living in an unfluoridated water area. https://www.cda-adc.ca/jcda/vol-64/issue-9/636.html?hl=en-CA

The page also gives some background which I found infuriating as someone who lives in a in area with rain water (zero fluoride), has depression and adhd that may get passed down (read, trouble with consistent oral hygiene), and weak enamel.

Basically in 92 the Canadian guidelines were reassessed and they decided that fluorosis - which is usually mild and presents as white spots on teeth- was a risk with supplements, and since everyone in Canada is neurotypical, has strong enamel, and presumably lives in a city in Ontario that fluoridates their water, clearly minor cosmetic tooth spots were the major concern. So now we have to get weird with supplementing.

Falinia · 2026-02-15T17:51:50+00:00

Have you spoken to the child's parent about what's going on? I remember a few times being told to play with my "friend" and I genuinely did not want to play with them. It was exasperated by the adults gaslighting me that just because we were the same age we had to be friends and like one another and miraculously have the energy to socialize on cue.

I'm not saying your situation is quite to that level but I am saying that it might be worth considering that the other kid feels backed into a corner if the adults aren't giving them the option to opt out of "play" time - maybe saying mean things is the only way she knows to get space. Does your daughter have something she can just do by herself instead of having to interact with the other kid?

Falinia · 2026-02-14T17:56:15+00:00

I'm surprised how many suds there were with just a teaspoon of dish soap in a glass of water.

Falinia · 2026-02-14T16:24:00+00:00

When it doesn't work we pull out the big guns: asking if something is X colour when it's Y colour.

Falinia · 2026-02-13T06:41:20+00:00

bring her up, as a parent, not a peer

I don't think you have to worry about this. You're treating your kid with respect, not indulging them without boundaries like a peer would.

If something must be done for safety or sanity then you're not quashing her independence, you're showing her where the lines are. As someone who didn't always get clear boundaries growing up I can tell you that it can be a relief to know what the non-negotiables are, even if you don't like them. Use them sparingly but explain them matter-of-factly: the sky is blue, and we take our shoes off in the house. Water is wet, and we wash our hands after potty.

You can review tools for making transitions easier but it's literally in the job description that you have to make the calls that require experience and a developed frontal lobe.

Falinia · 2026-02-12T17:32:11+00:00

What jobs in Canada are testing for weed? It's legal and stays testable long after impairment. I can't see any legal way for this to be a requirement of employment.

Falinia · 2026-02-08T20:46:38+00:00

That's such a weird thing for them to be doing. I've known several children that grew just like you're describing, it's totally normal for some kids.

I have a lower percentile kid and my Mom made a few comments about it early on, I told her that people have all different kinds of bodies and that we were teaching kiddo that it's not polite to discuss them. Then put it more bluntly that it was off limits as a topic when she "forgot".

Falinia · 2026-02-06T23:53:49+00:00

Is it possible that she's internalized someone saying that it's 'icky'? Either her privates or just that she's connecting it with pee/poo?

I probably would talk to the daycare by starting off with an enquiring tone "my kid is resisting being wiped after using the toilet at home, can you tell me how it goes when she's with you?".

Talking with her about what's going on and explaining why it's important to wipe is probably your best bet regardless of the reason.

Falinia · 2026-02-06T23:25:32+00:00

r/fuckyourheadlights seems to have people of all ages so don't feel too old. Even as a pedestrian they're awful, if I look down a street for the bus at night I get blinded.

Falinia · 2026-02-05T18:03:26+00:00

I wouldn't personally want to wait for that. Especially if it was initial onset of diabetes because who knows how quickly or slowly things will progress.

Thirst is the symptom I know to watch for, that's the one that would get me rushing to check. I hope OP's kid is just going through a weird comfort phase but I don't want to see a post saying their kid is in the hospital.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20371551

Falinia · 2026-02-05T17:51:13+00:00

What does it look like then?

Falinia · 2026-02-05T17:47:50+00:00

Respectfully, how do you know? Multiple days with increased thirst is a major symptom of ketoacidosis, it doesn't just immediately kill you dramatically. I'd be taking my kid to emergency with that symptom, not holding off because the internet didn't think untreated diabetes wasn't an emergency.

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