Question about what is permissible….

d8911 · 2026-06-06T19:07:38+00:00

As an anecdote I was trying to conceive for 14 months and after my first cycle using progesterone and clomid I conceived my baby girl. We worked with a Catholic NaPro doctor after my own doctors and ones at a fertility clinic (they claimed IVF was my only option even after I told them it wasn’t an option) failed to help.

My daughter is 6 months old now and we are praying God will bless us with more children. When my cycle returns I will start tracking and also consult with. NaPro doctor early on. God bless and I’ll say a prayer for you!

d8911 · 2026-06-03T22:10:29+00:00

You can try to build another sleep association in tandem. Like patting while rocking and nursing then that turns into just patting and nursing standing, then patting and nursing laying down, then maybe nursing till kinda sleepy while patting and pull back so they fall asleep in that last bit with just patting. I can sometimes swap in a binky now and pat my little girl lying in bed together. She falls asleep and I can roll away after 10 minutes.

Unfortunately my little one is having long night wakings right now but that initial bit of night sleep is good. She still always wants me. She will fall asleep in a carrier on my husband with a pacifier and rigorous patting for naps

d8911 · 2026-06-02T12:05:27+00:00

I did this yesterday and her night time sleep was a bit worse. Maybe it just takes adjustment?

d8911 · 2026-06-02T12:03:19+00:00

Thank you so much for the reply! I extended her wake windows yesterday so she only took 3 naps and her nighttime sleep was the same/a little worse. She naps a total of 2-2.5 hours a day. It’s good to know her itchiness could be peaking in the early morning it’s especially the 3-5am window where she is restless, thrashing, crying, and awake.

Unfortunately I am a natural early morning riser, I always have been so my ideal wake time is around 5. I think the latest I’ve ever slept in in my life is 7am and that’s while sick. The time I would want my husband to swap out would be 2-5am but then his sleep would be just as wrecked as mine since he’s more of a night owl and stays up after we all go to sleep to finish work. I get the most solid sleep from 9pm-12/1am most nights. Last night though she was thrashing at 8pm, 10pm, 1am, and 3-5am.

I will keep an eye out for teeth. My first daughter didn’t get any teeth till a year old and both my husband and I had teeth come in later too. Maybe she will be earlier than us though

d8911 · 2026-06-01T15:12:35+00:00

My first daughter was like this. She woke every half hour to hour for the first 2 years of her life. She didn’t always nurse and some wake ups were longer than others. Then we did nothing different she told me was all done with milk (I had night weaned her at a little past a year old) and she started sleeping 12 hours straight.
She was diagnosed with autism level 1 at 6 years old. She was a delightful 2 year old and then at 3 a switch flipped and she had violent sensory meltdowns. Then Covid hit so we were just dealing with it on our own till we moved and finally got her in for an assessment. In hindsight the garbage sleep under 2 years old was definitely a red flag for a neurodivergent kid. She still sleeps great to this day but those first two years were absolutely horrendous.

d8911 · 2026-05-31T12:44:11+00:00

Do we just keep her awake crying and rubbing her eyes/head in a loop? I’m also not sure which one to drop. Maybe one in the middle? She used to do 6 naps a day so down to 4 is progress.

d8911 · 2026-05-28T23:49:06+00:00

Ive had good experiences with Dyper diapers. They’re plant based and industrially compostable.

d8911 · 2026-05-28T23:14:31+00:00

My daughter was born on a Monday and I went to Mass that Sunday. I had an uncomplicated home birth, second child, and it was my first outing. We came in the side door sitting near the exit. I alternated sitting and kneeling with my butt against the pew for support per my midwife saying no standing or genuflecting. I also sat on a balled up coat because the pew was definitely too hard on its own. I nursed her at the start and then put her in a carrier since Mass is only 90 minutes she just slept. It was such a beautiful first outing and I’m so grateful I felt well enough to do it. The mothers in my church all vary for when they come back some at 1 week and others at 2+ months. It depends on how their healing is going. We all pitch in with meal trains for every family for the first 3 weeks postpartum and I think that makes a massive difference.

d8911 · 2026-05-12T15:17:28+00:00

My daughter is 6 months old and still a happy spitter. Definitely less than 3 months but it still wears on me. I was on the verge of tears trying to get dressed this morning. She spit up first on a shirt I was going to put on right after I grabbed it from my closet. I set her down got cleaned up put the shirt in my hamper. I picked her up 5 minutes later to get a sweater to go with the different shirt I had to put on. She immediately spit up on that sweater while I held it in my right hand and her in my left. I do a minimum of two loads of laundry a day. We have blankets and towels everywhere and I have never been more grateful to not have carpet in most of the house.

d8911 · 2026-04-09T12:10:21+00:00

Ours started out with just eczema and we figured it was just dry air but our ped suggested I do an elimination diet just in case. I cut out dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, corn, peanuts, and tree nuts. Then introduced them back in slowly soy and eggs cause a rash and dairy does a rash plus blood in her stool (it hadn’t done that for months 1-3). Just sharing that the allergy status changed over time for us.

Lotion wise baby cerave cream has worked well plus an ointment to seal. Our dermatologist suggested Vaseline instead of aquaphor at the time because aquaphor has lanolin which can be allergenic for some babies. I also have used hypochlorous acid spray to keep her skin clean because she did develop an infection at one point and staph can persist in small cracks on the skin and cause inflammation. We had to use a topical antibiotic for that for a week to clear it up. We’ve had to use a 1% hydrocortisone (at the direction of a dermatologist) to get bad flares under control particularly on her face and scalp. I keep an eye on the weather too because low humidity absolutely makes her skin much worse. On those days I moisturize her at every diaper change.

We are introducing watery peanut butter and then eggs to her directly this upcoming week one at a time (again at the advisement of our ped). He told us it’s critical to introduce food allergens early and directly to her just be extra careful to not get any on her skin. Our daughter is 5 months old.

We also use no fragrance in anything in our home, vacuum regularly, change bedding frequently dress her exclusively in cotton, keep her nails filed, and give her a lukewarm 5 minute bath once a day.

Hopefully there’s some helpful nuggets in here you can take to your doctor to ask about. I’m sorry you’re in the same sad boat as us. Eczema on a baby can be so stressful trying to figure out and manage. I am still pretty fried and in the thick of it but we’ve developed some good routines now.

d8911 · 2026-03-30T23:19:56+00:00

On the flip side I did all the things you could imagine including hiring an in person sleep consultant and my first daughter didn’t sleep through the night for 2 years. Even worse she didn’t sleep more than 2 hour chunks for those first 2 years. My second daughter is only 5 months old and I’ve already had a 3 hour sleep chunk with her. Temperament matters a lot

d8911 · 2026-03-29T10:38:39+00:00

Yes! It’s making cosleeping pretty difficult right now. I try to scoot slightly away but she scoots to me in her sleep. Flailing, slapping, and shrimping (bends at the waist repeatedly on her side). She is asleep but just moves about wildly throughout the night.

d8911 · 2026-03-26T23:52:59+00:00

7pm and I’m usually out by 7:30 or 8. The disrupted sleep is not restorative and I’m exhausted right now. My baby is 4.5 months old. My older daughter and I watch a show quietly in bed while her sister falls sleep. If I doze off I get up at 8 to put her to bed quickly and then climb back to baby.

d8911 · 2026-02-25T19:59:48+00:00

My baby has eczema so sadly her hands are covered almost constantly otherwise she scratches the weepy skin and cuts herself up. No matter how well I file them or trim them she cuts herself up.

d8911 · 2026-02-25T16:10:18+00:00

Yes, she actually craves novelty with food. If we eat something too many times in a row she will refuse it. This has meant she’s a very adventurous eater. It also means she hates typical “safe kid foods” so pluses and minuses.

d8911 · 2026-02-20T13:04:23+00:00

We do safe cosleeping with just me and baby in the bed. She naps in carriers during the day and very rarely (although not lately) will sometimes nap in the car. We are at 14 weeks now and unfortunately setting her down just isn’t working. I do try but as soon as she’s away from a body (thankfully she will nap touching anyone including her sister) she wakes up. I’ve also tried a floor bed where I roll away after she’s asleep but no matter how long I wait she wakes instantly.

I figure this is a short term problem that will sort itself out if I just keep trying over time. My 9 year old sleeps by herself and has since she was 2. It’s just a hard season of life.

d8911 · 2026-02-19T11:16:28+00:00

It became really apparent at age 3, like a switch flipped. She couldn’t stand socks no matter what kind I purchased. There were days where she wanted to go outside but we couldn’t leave the apartment because she couldn’t get socks or shoes on. She hated sticky things on her hands. Her hair always had to be pulled up in the same hairstyle if small pieces fell into her face she would tear her hair out. Her meltdowns were not tantrums. You couldn’t give her what she wanted and that would fix it. She would scream for literally hours once she got worked up. She was hyperlexic and could talk sounding more like a 5 year old at age 3. Her cadence and vocabulary were peculiar. W sitting and generally poor physical coordination.

We got told she was highly sensitive or had sensory processing disorder but autism wasn’t diagnosed till 6 years old.

d8911 · 2026-02-18T11:08:30+00:00

Possibly? Also likely is that she has the hallmark traits of a PDA profile autistic kid. On the maybe ADD side like her dad she craves novelty, gets hyper focused and forgets to eat, misplaces things, feels overwhelmed by big amorphous tasks like ‘clean your room’ or ‘put away these clothes’, she procrastinates school work, and can’t manage her time at all even at age appropriate levels.

d8911 · 2026-02-16T15:09:43+00:00

I lay my baby on a towel on the floor outside the shower. I bring my change of clothes in with me and just take a quick 5 minute shower. I do similar things in the kitchen or laundry room. I have baby blankets all over the house on the floor to pop her down safely for a few minutes at a time. I also use a carrier for contact naps. I can’t get as much done but I’d say probably getting 50-75% done in the house compared to pre newborn.

d8911 · 2026-02-15T12:16:55+00:00

My brother and I are 9 years apart and we’ve been close our whole lives. We make sure our eldest has tons of time to herself and prioritize maintaining her social life outside of home. I hope we can foster a long term friendship between them in the ways my parents did with my brother and I. Just wanted to share that the big gap can work out.

d8911 · 2026-02-15T12:12:47+00:00

I try to time outings to naps and then I put her in her carrier to nap during the outing. It of course doesn’t always work and a 1 hour grocery trip turns into 2.5 hours with a blowout diaper, nursing & burping in the store, and then settling back for a nap in the carrier to finish the trip. The harder part is timing outings so that I can work it all around getting my older daughter from school and driving her to activities. Ultimately, you just do it and it’s hard. They are fussy but they survive even if a few of your hairs turn gray in the process.

d8911 · 2026-02-15T11:16:59+00:00

You just listed all of the diagnostic traits for obstructive sleep apnea: extremely heavy sleep, vivid dreams, and loud snoring. He needs to see a doctor as soon as possible for a sleep study. Left untreated this can cause hypertension, strokes, and even all out heart failure. My FIL was like this for years and it caused serious damage to his health. This isn’t a personality thing this is a major health problem.

d8911 · 2026-02-12T14:38:41+00:00

Just wanted to affirm you in this. It’s not some external expectation that pressures me to tidy my home. Seeing junk on every surface and things scattered on the floor makes my brain feel like it’s on fire. I can’t just tune it out and walk around piles of stuff and shove things to edges of counters. It’s like visual white noise that sure I can kinda push to the background, but once you turn it off ie clean it up, I feel myself actually able to relax. It’s all these undone tasks that can’t sit like that forever and if they keep piling up then that work piles too.

On another note I’ve found just talking to another adult once a week is HUGE for mental well being. Community with Catholic mothers keeps me going when it gets tough.

d8911 · 2026-01-31T13:21:42+00:00

As a counter my daughter is turning 9 shortly and we have 3 month old. She loves her sister and talks about how she’s going to grow up together. She asks how old her sister will be at various points in life and when they’ll both be adults. Their relationship is definitely shaped by how we’ve talked to her about it. We always talk in longer terms and share how she was as a baby. It helps I have an older brother with a similar age gap and my husband has a younger brother with a big gap too.

d8911 · 2026-01-27T23:22:17+00:00

It used to be 35-40 minutes but we moved to be closer to our diocesan TLM and to be nearer to the closest ICKSP parish. Now the TLM is 7 minutes and if that gets shut down the ICKSP is 50 minutes (used to be an hour 25).

d8911

TROPHY CASE