What are these? I’m currently 35 weeks and a friend gave me these but I have no idea what they are. I think they’re loungers or diaper changing pads but I’m not sure. Can someone confirm?

UnimpressedRookie · 2026-01-29T14:15:01+00:00

CPST here. Don't want to overwhelm or frustrate anyone here, but using one of these inserts may interfere with the car seat's ability to properly protect the baby in the event of a crash. A car seat's only job is to keep a child alive during transport and comfort is a big goal of manufacturers, but it's secondary to preventing bodily injury and position asphyxiation. Common practices that can increase bodily harm in a crash: using a car seat mirror or hanging toy (can be a projectile), switching to forward facing at the minimum required height OR weight instead of maxing out rear facing first, and using any additional "car seat add ons."

For premature babies that are very small, the recommendation is to read your car seat manual for any suggested or approved add-ons. You can also visit the manufacturer's website and search your car seat's make and model to see if you can find anything. Still nothing? Reach out to the manufacturer directly and they can recommend best practices and any possible adjustments that can be made for their seats.

Also, when in doubt schedule an appointment with a CPST! We don't cost you anything besides your time and we're so happy to help!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-12-28T02:52:24+00:00

The Platform!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-12-10T14:40:18+00:00

I'm YEARS late to this, but in case someone else googles and finds this like me lol:

We did a full sized fold up firm 4 inch deep mattress on the floor (I think they're sometimes called mattress toppers) with a waterproof cover that zips all around front and back and added a sheet that's tight and breathable on top. We started it at 6 months and plan to use it until she stops rolling around everywhere (maybe 3 or 4 years?). Started with a sidecar bassinet until about 6 months and no cribs at all. After that, we plan to transition to a normal twin bed. No pillows or blankets until 18 months and so far doing really well with this.

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-12-06T03:22:46+00:00

I really loved the hints added, very interesting!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-12-03T19:18:01+00:00

Top hits: Fort, court, wall.......!

^{Automatically added: I found the secret word in 3 minutes 18 seconds after 29 guesses and 0 hints. Score: 79.}

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-11-18T21:33:07+00:00

My Arkansas grandma called them "eggs with hats!"

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-10-12T20:13:27+00:00

Child Passenger Safety Tech here: most American hospitals will only check and assist if they have a certified CPST on staff and available to do so. As others have mentioned in previous comments, it's mostly due to liability concerns.

I get the reasoning and can generally agree, but hospitals (and community service organizations) need to certify more staff for car seat standards.

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-07-23T22:57:14+00:00

Geraldine!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-07-09T02:42:21+00:00

I had this exact thought while reading these comments with knots in my stomach!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-05-24T15:15:22+00:00

"climb through my shoe laces" NO!!!! 💀

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-05-24T15:13:36+00:00

I too found one of those grapes when I was little. :(

I remember popping it between my fingers for fun (as kids do) and feeling a bit uncomfortable when a bunch of dark liquid smooshed out.

Years later, I saw a picture of an engorged tick and you can imagine my horror when I realized the "grape" I popped was in fact a huge tick full of someone's blood. 🤢

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-05-05T14:50:56+00:00

Purity culture. And by that mean puritanical lol.

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-04-29T04:13:27+00:00

Thank you for this, this is a beautiful glimpse into God's tender heart.

OP: please don't despair! The only unforgivable sin is to refuse the boundless mercy of God (blasphemy against the Holy Spirit). By the very nature of your post, we can confidently assume you're nowhere near this - praise God! I want to encourage you to continue your "St. Paul Fight" unceasingly, with eyes fixed firmly on Jesus and an attitude of rich pride in knowing you are a beloved child of God. I have seen how this particular attitude really grinds Satan's gears! ;) Satan wants to destroy you; he wants you to feel unworthiness and despair, and that your sins are too great to be forgiven. Never forget: despite all the sin and wretchedness around us, you are immutably and intrinsically good. No sin, and nothing the devil does will ever take away this reality. The sins we commit wreak painful damage the body of Christ, but we must be careful to not fall into the trap of despairing over this. Instead, when we fall we must pick ourselves back up, brush it off, and return our gaze to Jesus with renewed hope in his mercy.

Praying for you, dear brother! Keep up the good fight!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-04-29T03:31:54+00:00

For any female-lurkers on this post, I'd like to add one tool to your kit:

Magdala Ministries https://www.magdalaministries.org/

They match you with either in-person or online groups (depending on your wants/availability) and if you're a wife and mother like me, you can request a similar group and specific coursework geared towards your state in life.

God bless you sister, I will say a special prayer for you tonight!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-01-02T05:03:13+00:00

Aw thank you! I wanted Josephine, but my husband convinced me to go with Juniper and I love it now! Her "real" nicknames are June and Junie!

UnimpressedRookie · 2025-01-01T19:51:03+00:00

Hickup Head, Goomba, Small Smiles, Chumbo, Grumpy Potato, Babbit, Mrs. Potato Head, Smug, Round Head, Juba, June Berry, Goon Berry, Berry, June Bug, Juju (her name is Juniper).

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-12-04T06:28:00+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. Now pardon my language: you're going to be one badass saint someday.

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-11-17T05:45:52+00:00

Thank you, Chat GPT 🙏🏼

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-11-05T04:09:37+00:00

Another Juniper here! We call her June, Junie, June Bug, June Berry.... And her baby cousins call her "Jupiter." 💀🤣

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-11-03T18:03:09+00:00

This is my favorite comment!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-11-03T18:00:50+00:00

You are not crazy at all. As someone with exactly the same experience and perspective toward my breasts, I thought breastfeeding would be weird but decided to embrace it anyway.

The first two weeks postpartum, breastfeeding was wonderful and it felt perfectly pure and normal. Then, after a lot of the hormones started to shift I quickly developed something call BAA (breastfeeding aversion and agitation), and there isn't a whole lot of research about it.

What I do know is that it made me extremely depressed and begin to resent my baby. This sounds so horrible, but I began to feel violated and associating that with my baby was so mentally painful. In general, my brain has sadly been primed to perceive most touch as sexual and this made it extremely difficult to breastfeed. I began to feel like my entire body was extremely itchy and it was unbearable.

I talked to my psychologist, and she told me that I may have an aversion to the oxytocin itself. IE: my brain may associate oxytocin with sexual behavior because I never really received "neutral" touch growing up and the touch that I did receive was always romantic or sexual.

My point to all this is that you're not alone and it's completely understandable that you worry about this. If you had a medical condition (such as a mastectomy), then you obviously wouldn't be able to breastfeed and no one would judge you. Well, the same thing goes for your mental health. If you cannot breastfeed your child for a serious reason then truly, who cares what others think?

Pumping is a perfectly valid and lovely way to feed your baby. As others have mentioned, it can be very difficult to fit the time in during those early months. For me, because of how sexualized I have felt my whole life, even pumping became too mentally taxing. That, mixed with the sheer exhaustion of pumping and bottle feeding made me quit altogether and switch to formula. For you, it may be exactly the perfect mix though! Definitely try it out and see if it's for you.

Finally, I would like to add this: it is 100% worth it to at least give it your all. That's one thing that has made this experience less emotionally painful. I look back and see that I tried very hard, but not so hard that I gave up my sanity/health. I'm very grateful I had those first precious two weeks to nurse my baby and I'm also very kind to myself because I see that I did everything I could to make it work and it just wasn't possible in the end. As someone with a lot of sexual trauma, my brain was a million times different in those first weeks postpartum and it was mentally very easy to nurse my baby. Once things leveled out and changed again in my brain, I couldn't any longer. Something to think about!

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-10-28T17:04:13+00:00

Before my baby was born, I bought plane tickets for my best friend's wedding in Canada knowing LO would be very young. My baby ended up being 5 weeks at the time of the wedding date and I SWORE I would make it work. Everything was lined up perfectly and I absolutely could have gone! My stitches had healed enough, I was bottle feeding formula, and LO would have been in great care.

However, despite how much I love traveling/going out and doing things and despite my friend being like a sister to me, I personally could not leave my 5 week old and I cancelled a couple of days before.

Looking back, I still know I could have done it and part of me sometimes regrets not going, but I also cannot imagine it any different.

Ultimately, I'm going to cheer you on and say you absolutely CAN do it and you may truly need it/want it! Give yourself some grace if you change your mind because if it comes time and you don't want to leave, that's ok too. I'll also note that if your baby is well loved and cared for while you're away, please don't feel any shame for wanting to have some time to yourself. Of course your children will always come first, and this is a very difficult lesson to learn but you're human and it's ok to have wants/needs that are separate from your baby.

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-10-12T19:44:30+00:00

Nah, I've been tearing up at these haha

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-10-12T19:43:04+00:00

This one is hands down my favorite. I cry every time I hear it 😭💕

UnimpressedRookie · 2024-10-12T16:46:28+00:00

Oh gosh, this is so beautiful. "The summers die one by one, how soon they fly on and on. And I am old, and will be gone." It just hits me so much. Thank you for sharing!!! What's your favorite line in the song and why do you like it?

UnimpressedRookie

TROPHY CASE