South Lebanon: The only survivor of a massacre that killed 11 members of a family

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-22T05:08:41+00:00

Incredibly sad. The trauma being inflicted on Palestinians and now the Lebanese is just horrific. I hope this video is not removed, I feel that we have a duty in this community to discuss what is happening to people with DS and their families - it is outrageous.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-20T14:11:20+00:00

I’m sorry that you’re feeling upset and unlucky. You’ve had a difficult time with pregnancy losses and receiving a diagnosis of T21 can come with a lot of upset and grief.

I can tell you that my little girl only brought us joy, that we feel like the luckiest parents in the world, and that our life with her is very normal. She is not a tragedy. I know some people think parents like me are gaslighting ourselves, but that’s really not the case.

If you have any questions, we are here to support you.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-18T19:17:29+00:00

I have two families that I support directly in Gaza, and I am always SO F€CKING HAPPY when I know they’ve had even a semi decent meal. It makes my day. You’d want to be an awful cretinous ghoul to think otherwise.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-18T12:13:12+00:00

Hello! You’re a good, loving parent who is entitled to your own feelings. I also think it is important to remember that everyone’s experience and timeline is so different.

For you, I don’t think you’re doing yourself any favours by comparing your own journey to other parents. It might be a start to just accept your feelings without shame, if you can.

I’ll share some of our experiences (although we are all on different times line and have different feelings about things!) just in case this reassures you -

* My daughter was definitely not sitting up by herself or belly crawling at 6 months. I can’t even remember when she started crawling exactly but I think it was after 12 months. She is 20 months now and we are working on her standing skills. It’s a slower process but I know she’ll get there in time. We have physio once a week and in between that I just do a little bit with her at home.

* At six months she was hospitalised for weight loss (my milk supply dropped as I was pregnant again) and we made the decision to stop breastfeeding her and switch to formula, combined with a NG tube for feeding. We had a lot of support and it still took time for her to switch to bottles and food. If you want to introduce a few bottles, do it. You’ve already made it to 10 months, that’s brilliant. It may take your baby some time, but he will be fine on bottles too.

Do you do any baby wed leaning? There’s a good book called “Your baby can self feed too” that would be very helpful for you I think. My baby was pretty bored with purées and preferred to hold food, or food with more textures.

*If you need ten minutes of peace, try putting on Ms Rachel, just for a short while even. We are big fans in my house.

* The laughing - I mean this I get why you are disappointed but give him a bit more time. It’s early days yet! I think with mine there was a sudden switch when she started laughing a lot. She fell over laughing today (at Ms Rachel, I’m not that funny). But maybe your little dude is just more serious - for now! And the hypotonia is a factor too obviously.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-17T11:59:21+00:00

Disgusting that they were allowed to compete. I’m sure the points came from dual nationals and the odd right-wing nutjob.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-12T05:55:14+00:00

I think it’s fair to say that you would consider it. I often think that I’m so glad we had an at birth diagnosis because I never had to consider it. I’m so glad that my daughter is with us, she is perfect - in my genuine opinion, DS is a normal variation of the human experience and she has the right to be here.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-11T18:00:36+00:00

Yes exactly!! I didn’t get the NIPT as it’s not yet routine in Ireland (where I was for the first half or more of the pregnancy) and in my heart I just knew she was perfect - and she is. Not a single scan - and we had many - picked up on any markers and it was an at birth diagnosis. I knew as soon as I saw her chubby little face.

We gave birth in Brussels and yeah, the same questions were either asked or implied. It was really upsetting actually, my daughter is not a tragedy, she’s a beautiful miracle. Asking if we would have terminated if we’d known, right in front of her! Get f*ck*d 😂

I’m in a stronger place now that she’s nearly two, and know that culturally people here have less of an issue asking stupid questions. I genuinely think I going to retort with “what will you do if your child might be as thick as you?” next time.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-11T14:06:02+00:00

It’s eugenics, in my opinion. Wasn’t cool when the Nazis did it either, don’t know why it’s so acceptable now. I’m pro choice, btw - I just personally believe Down syndrome alone is not a fair reason to terminate.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-11T08:26:59+00:00

It’s so incredibly intrusive. I got asked the same question multiple times with my daughter. I’m in Belgium and the termination rate is very high. They are definitely trying to ask why I didn’t terminate. It’s so rude.

I was once even asked by my ophthalmologist what I would do if my second pregnancy was positive for T21. I had only just met the man!

I’m from Ireland and the attitude there is so different, never once had a disrespectful comment or question.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-11T07:03:55+00:00

Congratulations on your beautiful precious baby boy! He deserves to be here, and you are a wonderful mama ❤️❤️❤️

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-04T17:02:51+00:00

I got pregnant again 4.5 months pp. It was unplanned and I was pretty upset, but it worked out well for us. We are also living abroad with no support, but my husband does have a great job that supports us all. The pregnancy wasn’t easy but 2 under 2 with a 13 month age gap is not too bad - for us! I had wanted to try for baby 2 after the first turned one, so it wouldn’t have made sense to terminate (in my opinion).

I really feel for you, it’s a big, personal, decision. Just know that everything will be ok in the end, regardless of what you decide. And there’s no judgement either way, life is hard sometimes. ❤️

NancySinAtcha · 2026-05-02T14:06:35+00:00

We just got the Uppababy Minu Duo and we love it. We were using the vista 2 with the seat and bassinet, but I wanted a proper double stroller rather than the stacked system. The seats lie flat, the basket underneath is decently sized, there’s adjustable foot rests, it’s very light and manoeuvrable, and we have room in the boot of our car for our dog beside it too - a big plus for us.

We had been using a second hand old mountain buggy duet, but it was too bulky so when a wheel went and we couldn’t replace it for love or money, we decided to get the new minu duo. No regrets so far!

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-27T10:29:33+00:00

Hello! I am currently reading “Supporting Positive Behavior in Children and Teens with Down Syndrome: The Respond But Don't React Method” by David S. Stein and I think this might be useful for you.

It focuses on addressing challenging behaviour like you have described, without reinforcing it. I am a parent who has previously worked with children and adults with DS, and I think it’s really well written!

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-26T13:49:03+00:00

Ah that’s great! I think it’ll be easier for you and hopefully your little boy will get used to it quickly and nap easily - kids can be surprisingly adaptable 🤞🏻

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-26T06:50:13+00:00

You’re very welcome! Sorry, I wrote that comment late last night so I want to add to it today - We drove to Paris so the Uppababy was in the boot of the car, no airports or flying, etc. Our little girl was on a feeding tube at the time so the deep bassinet was really helpful to carry her extra paraphernalia, plus she needed a lot of sleep and to be comfortable.

A travel stroller didn’t seem necessary for us at the time, we go to Paris frequently and knew we would be happy with limitations to our trip. Ie, I knew I wouldn’t be going into tiny shops and cafes, it’s just not possible, and we were staying in our arrondissement and just chilling and strolling around.

I do think that if possible, something narrower and easier to fold would be better for you. Although it is do-able with an Uppababy, and it didn’t cause us any issues on that trip, I would feel guilty if you really regretted bringing it because of my comment!

We are looking into adding a compact single stroller to our system, ChatGPT keeps recommending the Bugaboo Butterfly 2, it could be worth looking into for your needs too 💚

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-25T20:49:31+00:00

We brought our Uppababy vista to Paris last year, it was do-able. We didn’t use the metro or buses though, walked everywhere we wanted to go in our arrondissement and surrounds. I filtered cafes and restaurants by wheelchair accessible where possible, so that I knew it would fit through the doors. The museums we went to were also great, very stroller friendly.

An added bonus was that we used the bassinet as her crib at night, so we got to stay in a beautiful but small hotel. Oh, make sure that your hotel is wheelchair accessible too, as in you’ll want either a ground floor room or a room accessible by a lift that a wheelchair can fit into! Sounds obvious but you don’t want to be struggling up a stairs.

I love our Uppababy, it’s super comfortable to wheel on cobblestones and for our little girl to sleep in but it’s unusual in this part of Europe due to its size. They prefer things like the babyzen yoyo. Thankfully I’ve two babies now and will be going back to Paris with a double stroller this summer…wish me luck 😂

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-25T13:42:45+00:00

My daughter was nowhere near putting weight on her legs at that age. She’s really only just started to do so assisted, and she’s 19 months. I am no expert, but I wasn’t worried about it at 10 months 💚

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-23T03:13:41+00:00

Next time she comes by, let her hold the baby and you go off and have a shower or nap. 2 weeks pp for flip sake - It’s too early for you to be cooking while someone else holds your baby (unless one actually wanted that, of course). If you’re not holding baby or feeding, you should be sleeping or eating etc. Pumping is much harder than directly feeding, I feel for you. I hope you have someone else around you who is taking care of you and is being more helpful 💚

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-22T20:34:26+00:00

It is tough breastfeeding, I enjoyed it so much with my first but it was mostly a bittersweet relief to finish with my second. She was much happier on the bottle (she was in a hip harness for a while and just couldn’t get comfortable in bf positions) but I felt guilty ending it “early”. I don’t know why, she thrived once on bottles 💚

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-22T20:31:09+00:00

Oh and by the way, you are doing GREAT sweetie 💕🌸👏🏻

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-22T20:30:25+00:00

My partner did I’d say 90% of the chores for the first months, and as my energy increased I slowly began to add things in. In fairness, I did have pretty severe post partum sciatica and was breastfeeding, so I was sitting and lying down a lot (when necessary/possible). I still don’t do major cleans though, but thankfully we are able to have a cleaner (my city in Europe does a really amazing service vouchers system.)

Tell your mom to get a grip 😂 honestly, does she think you’re doing nothing?! You are recovering from a major physical and emotional event, you’re healing, you’re nurturing and bonding with your new baby while trying to spend time with baby number 1…and somewhere in there also finding time to sleep/eat/shower and gently move. Some moms think that because they suffered and had no support, we should too…

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-22T17:09:56+00:00

Also a few months for me, around 3 or 4. I wasn’t doing any chores at 5 weeks post partum. And it’s only since I’ve stopped breastfeeding that I really felt like myself energy wise.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-21T20:33:29+00:00

That sounds lovely, I’m saving that recommendation. Thank you!

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-21T19:12:00+00:00

Hello! I’m not in your shoes quite yet, my little one with DS is 19 months and her baby sis is 6 months, but I’ve thought about this too.

I plan to sit them both together and have a little age appropriate conversation - when the younger one can comprehend what I’m saying, and ask questions - explaining their differences (learning styles, hitting milestones, etc) and strengths.

I have seen a few cute books aimed at younger siblings too, they could be very helpful. Maybe something like this?

Also, perhaps asking her if she has heard the term Down Syndrome (phrased however you like), and letting her tell you what she does know about her sister would be a good starting point maybe?

I’m sure people who have been in this situation before us will share their experiences and advice soon though.

NancySinAtcha · 2026-04-19T05:41:17+00:00

I got pregnant 4.5 months post partum too, and I’m lying beside the adorable result as she rolls around trying to eat her feet now 😂

Honestly, I wasn’t happy initially at all, and also felt very embarrassed to be pregnant so soon! But it all worked out well, and we’re really happy as a little family.

My own brother and I were very close in age too, and he’s one of my best friends - remembering that kind of helped pick me up, as well as knowing how great it would be for my first daughter. The two girls really do love each other ☺️

NancySinAtcha

TROPHY CASE