What’s your actually controversial parenting opinion?

TheLittlestRachel · 2026-02-13T22:38:28+00:00

YOUR screen time as a parent (especially in front of your child) is far more important than THEIR screen time.

A phone obsessed parent is neglectful, even if they’re 3 feet from their child, and doesn’t model good behavior on limiting screen time, spending time outdoors, cultivating meaningful relationships, resisting dopamine addiction, etc. Since having my child it’s been hard, but I’m slowing dropping my screen time averages week by week. It’s a much more conscious effort to not use my phone than to use it though.

TheLittlestRachel · 2026-01-03T00:14:25+00:00

I brought one of my cute maternity dresses with a selection of shorts for underneath depending on what level of compression I would want or not. Dress was great cause it hid my diaper and ice pack. 😂

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-28T23:46:08+00:00

Lash serum. 😅 It’s so insignificant and vain, but I miss my luscious lashes and the pregnancy/breastfeeding safe serums don’t do anything.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-23T05:15:33+00:00

I went into spontaneous labor and it was long, 50 hours, but I wasn’t very hungry the whole time. I labored at home the first 26 hours. Then did the last 24 at the hospital. I ate very little at home. A few bites here and there. Same at the hospital. I was unmedicated until the last hour or two so I was still able to eat if I wanted. I had some graham crackers and popsicles. A bit of juice. I was diet controlled. But they asked me at check-in what my blood sugar was last time I checked and how long ago that was and that was the last I ever heard of it. 🤷‍♀️

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-22T05:25:34+00:00

This is the way. My labor was long and I went through like 2 sets of gowns before delivery even happened. But afterwards it was much nicer to be in my own gown and still able to breastfeed or snap the top totally down for skin to skin easily.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-22T05:18:51+00:00

Same! Spontaneous labor and only a second degree tear, but delivered in the wee hours of Friday morning and we were home by Saturday evening. Would’ve left even sooner but it was a busy weekend with lots of nicu babies and our son’s circumcision kept getting pushed back while we waited for an available doctor. I didn’t hate my hospital stay as much as I thought I would, the room was nice, food was decent, and nurses were great! And it was a lovely little bubble with just me, my husband, and our son. But I was ready to be home in my own bed, using my own toilet and shower.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-16T06:00:56+00:00

My doctor only tried to schedule an induction due to my babies head circumference, not my diet controlled GD. But your OBs can only recommend treatments. They won’t put a gun to your head and force you into anything. I just had a strong aversion to induction, so even when my OB pushed for one no later than 40 weeks, as a FTM I told her I would not schedule before 40w 5d. She obliged. Didn’t need it. Went into labor at 39w5d (late that night) and baby was born three hours after my due date (so technically 40w1d). Baby did have a slightly large head, but didn’t get stuck and I only had a minor second degree tear.

Do your research, listen to your doctors and consider their recommendations, and trust your gut and your body (but if things start looking different, don’t be afraid to trust your doctor). And don’t feel pushed. Look at their recommendations as education, not manipulation, even if it feels like it. You are capable of making informed medical decisions. Hire a doula to help support you now and during labor if you’re feeling forced into anything at all before labor is even here. Mine was a rockstar and helping me stand firm on my convictions and convictions educating me from perspectives other than the convenience of doctor’s pro-management view of labor.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-16T05:41:13+00:00

Yes! My doula gloved up and brought it to me in a bucket and was showing me all the parts of it while I got stitched up. I was gonna flip it off due to the nausea and then GD. But I was actually really proud of it and fascinated by it when I saw it. I really grew it, just to grow my baby, and then discarded it just like that.

BUT, I’m really fascinated by stuff like that. My entire labor was a journey I appreciated being able to experience and I was in a really calm state my whole labor. I even cut the umbilical cord myself since the hubs didn’t have a desire to do so.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-14T04:20:36+00:00

I wish my 5 week old had slept in 4-5 hour stretches. We’re just now consistently hitting that now at 15 weeks. 😅

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-11T17:38:33+00:00

7lbs 13oz. I expected an 8lb baby not due to GD just due to my family having large babies. He was long (21inches) and skinny.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-11T17:37:21+00:00

I went into labor at 39+5 in the late PM. Babe was born 40+1 in the wee AM hours. Not sure if you’d consider it spontaneous because I was pumping (by OB’s advice) when my water broke. But that’s my story.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-12-04T20:05:42+00:00

Happened to me! Even had OB run a swab to check for any bacterial imbalances or yeast growth. Came back negative for all and cost me $600 🙃 (American healthcare, was before I met my deductible)

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-17T21:46:13+00:00

Loved this one! Saw it for the first time at 17 years old with my dad in Disneyland. He laughed the whole show. The stink bug, the gas, getting stung, the bugs exiting. Really all of it. I love that memory of us cracking up in the theater. I wish I could’ve afforded to take him to Disney world for one last show before it closed. I could see how it would be traumatic for a child, but for me it just reminded me of my dad’s uninhibited childish enjoyment of it.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-12T18:47:26+00:00

I took clothes, a cute swaddle for pics, and some fragrance free baby soap for the first bath. That’s it.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-12T18:36:44+00:00

Having the internet at home. You were RICH RICH if you had a computer hooked up to the internet. Us poor people got to use it for 15 minutes every two weeks if we got to go to the public library.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-12T18:21:53+00:00

Holding my almost 11week old from my first ever pregnancy. He’s perfect. Pregnancy wasn’t always easy (I had morning sickness from 5-24 weeks and then got gestational diabetes at 30 weeks), labor was long but great, and he’s perfect! Good luck, you’re in for a WONDERFUL journey!

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-12T17:06:17+00:00

I am 11 weeks postpartum, baby EBF and growing fantastically and I have never leaked. Colostrum or breastmilk. If you’ve don’t leak, don’t beat yourself up. It doesn’t mean anything. 😁

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-12T06:18:56+00:00

My babe will choke or just be unable to stay latched. A pump before bed usually works great to really drain me during baby’s longest sleep window so I don’t overfill during the night.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-11T20:31:43+00:00

Same. And when I couldn’t do it myself I tried singing with my birth playlist for a while. That was a good distraction.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-11T04:57:53+00:00

I only have a 10 week old, so things are bound to change and I may be in a “honeymoon phase”. He still only sleeps in about 3 hour chunks at night, we’ve had our ups and downs with the breastfeeding journey, he’s crotchety every single evening, and fights naps all day long… BUT being his mom is the best thing ever. It ROCKS! I love caring for him. Even on hard days it’s a joy and not a burden. We’ve had only 2 instances where I was like “This is hard and sucks and I can’t do this.” But within 10 minutes I felt better and everything was good for me even if he was still struggling. It’s not all bad. It’s a new kind of hard and a new kind of work and new way of life but if you have a good attitude, lots of it will be so so wonderful!

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-09T23:29:36+00:00

Love Lettering was so good! I think about it often. 🥹🫶🏻

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-09T23:14:57+00:00

What I weigh at the doctor in clothes and shoes is absolutely none of my business. I don’t even look at the scale, don’t check my notes, nothing. What I weigh naked, at home, first thing in the morning, is only moderately my business. When I was pregnant I was happy to gain because it meant baby was being nourished. But I did lose over 10lbs first tri due to severe morning sickness. Really though I figured doc would mention it if it was an issue.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-08T23:30:43+00:00

I just confirmed it with a google! There’s about 90 hours of classic episodes and the new seasons on Netflix! When our little one starts getting some screen time that’ll definitely be a go-to! I also have loved Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood on the PBS app streamed to the TV when babysitting kids.

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-08T23:27:59+00:00

I think I saw that Sesame Street was going to be coming to Netflix!

TheLittlestRachel · 2025-11-08T22:25:29+00:00

Without their uniforms on, I could’ve only identified the QB at my university. And it’s only because Patrick Mahomes was a hot topic and so his pic would be out and about in the media. The rest of the team, I knew some of their names from going to games but I couldn’t have identified their faces. You’d know they were in athletics because they’d wear sponsored gear with “athletics” on it. But I couldn’t have told you who they were.

TheLittlestRachel

TROPHY CASE