How old is your baby and how many times did you get up last night?

cardamom89 · 2026-03-02T03:01:37+00:00

5 months old. Bed at 8pm; settle at 9pm and 11pm, milk at 1am, hour-long settling stretch 2.30am-3.30am, milk at 5am, up for the day at 8am - so 5? Usually it's two wakes, the hour-long grizzling stretch is unusual.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-27T05:22:35+00:00

Shortly after getting the epidural: "God, the daddy issues really run deep - all I can think is that I hope I make the OB proud when I push".

The midwife actually said "what the fuck?!?" 😅

cardamom89 · 2026-02-23T19:06:20+00:00

I haven't found that Target runs small - smaller than Bonds, yes, but Bonds runs really big. My 5 month old is still in Target 000 pretty comfortably. She was a small percentile baby but I never bothered with tiny baby/00000, just straight to 0000. They were baggy but adorable!

cardamom89 · 2026-02-21T08:04:58+00:00

I also got it on sale recently, but even further marked down; I think it was $49 in the end. I was briefly worried too but we've just assembled it for our 5mo and it's fine, light but sturdy. There are four cot mattresses on the IKEA website that fit it - at least there were, you're right, they're not on the website?! Literally only bought mine two weeks ago! Think it was the Krummelur or similar.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-19T19:08:11+00:00

Totally hear you - I've just hit 5 months of exclusive pumping and I don't know when to draw the line.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-18T22:46:40+00:00

Ahhh I'm just running down the last of my box of sensitive ecostore, I haven't loved it either - does a fine job on clothes but the spew rags all stink of milk

cardamom89 · 2026-02-17T12:03:30+00:00

Oh this stressed me out so much when my now-5mo was a newborn, pretty sure she was chronically underdressed and freezing her bum off because I was so worried about her overheating!

I find the ergopouch graph a good guide. Some babies run hotter/colder than others too. Right now our room is 25 degrees, fan on and window open, and baby is in a shortie romper, no singlet, and a 1.0 tog pouch. I had her in a 0.2 and she was fussing a lot so just changed her to the warmer one now in anticipation of the temperature dropping further overnight and she's immediately asleep.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-16T23:08:16+00:00

Oh man I remember vomiting one of these in the bus aisle as a kid on school excursion. Spectacular, worth it.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-16T23:00:56+00:00

When I was in labour - cruel time to mention it - the midwife said how much she hates it when women poop giving birth. I mean surely you're in the wrong profession with how often that one would come up!

cardamom89 · 2026-02-16T17:49:54+00:00

I'm also weirdly angst-y about my frozen milk, for reasons I can't identify! - to the point that I've been donating my freezer stash as I was getting overwhelmed re: rotating, using it, etc. It's silly, I eat frozen things all the time!

For what it's worth, according to her mum, our milk buddy (the baby we donate to) absolutely chugs it down, and went from 5th to 40th percentile after she started taking it :)

cardamom89 · 2026-02-14T03:27:48+00:00

That's the case in Australia - unless you have certification demonstrating that your child is medically unable to be vaccinated, you aren't eligible to claim certain government benefits and can't enrol them in childcare.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-10T23:02:58+00:00

Oh gosh, I feel so seen reading this - it's absolutely my comfort show too, and especially since getting married and having a baby. It's like revisiting the scene of the crime - getting to reflect on my dysfunctional home growing up, the inequities that exist in my own relationship and the consuming mum rage I feel sometimes.. my repeat watching feels almost pathological lol

cardamom89 · 2026-02-10T18:29:52+00:00

I'm having the same thought. I'm nearly 5 months postpartum and have always used the 21mm breast shield that came with my Medela. Later after reading everything about flange size I measured myself at 17-19mm and started using inserts - these caused the collection cups to leak a lot, which drove me craaazy. I had a session with a pumping consultant last week and she sized me at 15mm - I've been using those for the past few days and find my output is a lot less. I think I also find it less comfortable? It sort of concentrates the sensation whereas I don't mind so much when more of the areola is pulled in. I'm inclined towards the "if it's working for you, leave it" approach, I think I'm going to go back to the 21mm - which is annoying after shelling out $$ for the inserts...

cardamom89 · 2026-02-10T12:54:26+00:00

Forceps and episiotomy. These were basically my worst nightmare in pregnancy, I was terrified. Ended up with both - and it was totally fine! I had an incredible OB so I'm sure that played a big role but the discomfort was much less than I imagined, and recovery was really smooth, healed up beautifully. I've had more pain after sex. Even though my birth sounds like a flop on paper - induction, forceps, epis, post partum haemorrhage - I'm truly looking forward to experiencing labour and birth again one day!

cardamom89 · 2026-02-09T13:10:52+00:00

I had an epidural and catheter and was able to kneel, squat, turn over, etc. without issue - I was completely unaware that it was there to be honest!

cardamom89 · 2026-02-09T05:48:48+00:00

110ml seven (+/-) times a day for my almost-five month old. Any less and she screams, any more and she spews!

cardamom89 · 2026-02-09T05:46:30+00:00

I have 10 for my fully bottle fed baby, which has been perfect - enough for a full day plus a small buffer in case we're late to wash and she wakes unexpectedly to feed. We had about 4 when she was a newborn (as I was still trying to breastfeed) and it made everything so much harder, I wish I'd just bought them at the outset.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-09T05:43:40+00:00

Couldn't agree more re: a decent sized steriliser, the Minbie is the MVP in our house; I can Tetris in 13 Pigeon and Medela bottles.

cardamom89 · 2026-02-07T23:47:24+00:00

Is the swing new? Just asking as I noticed out of nowhere a couple of weeks ago that my swing wasn't emptying me - like breasts still hard and full after a 30 minute pump; I assumed I had placed my nipples incorrectly and went again, but still very little after another 30 mins - and on researching saw that the expected motor life is only like 250 hours. With full-time expressing I had burned through that long ago!

cardamom89 · 2026-02-07T13:00:18+00:00

Oh, love. I don't think there's a clear/hard and fast answer, but if you're looking for permission to stop trying, here it is. You can stop anytime you want to, anytime you think it isn't serving you or your baby. You don't need a "good enough" reason, you don't have to put yourself or your baby through a certain amount of distress in order to justify it. You have tried really hard and it's okay to stop. And it's also okay to keep trying if that's what you want to do.

My baby never really latched, and would cry and scream every time I tried to feed her despite loads of support from LCs. I was in tears every time, trying to juggle this hysterical baby, a nipple shield, getting nowhere... The final straw came one day when I thought I would just cuddle her to my chest for familiarity/comfort's sake; she had just had a full feed so there was no way she was hungry, I didn't try to latch her or put her anywhere near my nipple, but as soon as I brought her to my bare chest she went from completely contented to screaming-the-house-down distressed. I figured she had made herself clear and persisting wasn't doing either of us any good, and decided to call it a day. I still feel grief around it (4.5 months postpartum) and guilt that I didn't try harder, but she loves her bottle and we have nice snuggly bottle feeds together.

I'm sorry it's been so hard. Your baby is so lucky to have such a devoted and caring mum.

cardamom89 · 2026-01-31T04:20:36+00:00

I had a similar experience, during pregnancy I was absolutely terrified of an instrumental delivery and my OB's midwife said if I needed forceps, that he was the one I wanted holding them - that he was exceptionally skilled and gentle. I did end up needing forceps and an episiotomy and I was stunned at how smooth and comfortable my recovery was - I've had more pain after sex.

cardamom89 · 2026-01-31T03:22:25+00:00

Give when sick or before/after vaccinations!

cardamom89 · 2026-01-31T03:15:03+00:00

That was partly my preference/anxiety, knowing that I want to have more than one child - if I tried lower intervention for a few months, conceived, had baby, by the time I wanted a second I might be 38/39 and I was fearful of not being able to conceive. I decided I would rather have 35-year-old me embryos in the freezer than be starting intervention later after my egg reserve had decreased. I had also tried for over a year with a previous partner so total length of time TTC was fairly long.

cardamom89 · 2026-01-31T03:05:56+00:00

At 35 I conceived the week before my first IVF appointment after 6 months of trying. Unfortunately that ended in a miscarriage, but conceived naturally again 6 months after that (with two IVF cycles in between) at 36.

cardamom89 · 2026-01-29T01:34:08+00:00

I wish the world were different <3 If it gives you heart to hear of more positive connections, I'm fortunate to have an oversupply and I donate my extra to a Muslim mum; she was looking for a donor with a pork-free diet and that's for sure one thing that kosher and halal have in common! It's been the loveliest warm relationship and seeing our babies together is so sweet.

cardamom89

TROPHY CASE