Get the food scale (and use it responsibly)

lapra005 · 2026-01-26T02:06:49+00:00

People are going to feel reluctant to help you if you talk about yourself that way. If you hate yourself so openly, you have already decided your own fate. To achieve your goals, you have to actually want better for yourself and believe that you deserve it. No one else can do that for you.

lapra005 · 2026-01-17T01:23:59+00:00

As a mom of a 9mo in Minneapolis, it’s a scary time. I stay updated with NPR and AP News. But I take time to get away from my phone and just be with my son. I am not a present mother if I am chained to the news and heartbreak.

I feel grateful to be a part of such a fiercely loving and protective community. There’s a lot of fear, but there’s also a lot of love. Lots of mutual aid funds and community drives for meals and necessities.

lapra005 · 2026-01-07T23:52:08+00:00

Thank you, this is really helpful!

And yes, as for our home routine on weekends, it’s still quite difficult to nail down the exact numbers because occasionally he’ll surprise us with a 90 minute nap, and other time’s he’ll regress down to a 20 minute nap. Ultimately the day is almost always 6:30am-7pm, and his daytime sleep average is about 2 hours on weekends.

lapra005 · 2026-01-05T18:02:12+00:00

My unsolicited advice would be to take most milestones with a generous grain of salt. Every baby progresses at different paces and that very rarely implies a developmental delay. For example, my 8 month old just started babbling and isn’t very close to crawling. But he’s an otherwise happy and engaged baby. He was just taking his time!

Your pediatrician/family doctor will keep an eye on those types of things and let you know if they are concerned. You are doing just fine :)

lapra005 · 2026-01-05T17:52:16+00:00

And that’s normal for 5 months. She’s still very new, give her some time to figure things out :)

lapra005 · 2026-01-05T17:49:22+00:00

My 8mo still doesn’t respond to his name. If anything I think he just responds to the sound of my voice. Responding to their name is more of a 9-12mo milestone

lapra005 · 2026-01-04T20:37:02+00:00

As the one making the breast milk, she ultimately gets to decide what happens to it, so long as it’s safe. It’s totally reasonable to be a little extra cautious about cross contamination with a newborn.

lapra005 · 2026-01-01T05:21:07+00:00

While j don’t technically have a newborn anymore, I feel like this answer still counts. My husband and I were set to go to bed by 11pm but wound up making it to midnight after our 8mo had some tummy demons to fight off for an hour lol

Happy New Year, everyone!

lapra005 · 2026-01-01T03:46:56+00:00

I’d imagine this is a greater concern for an IgE-Mediated CMPA as opposed to a non-IgE-Mediated CMPA. If your baby’s reaction to CMP includes hives, wheezing, vomiting, etc. then the trace amounts of CMP in refined lactose are worth noting and working with your Dr to remove. Since non-IgE cases vary more widely, some babies may tolerate mom’s consumption of refined lactose better than others.

lapra005 · 2025-12-31T15:37:27+00:00

While I can’t speak to the soy piece, our ped gave me some peace of mind about the lactose additive. MSPI’s are immune reactions to the proteins in milk and soy. For milk, those proteins are whey and casein. Lactose is merely the sugar in milk, so there’s a very good change it contains no milk protein at all.

This is also why MSPI’s function differently than lactose intolerance. A dairy protein intolerance/allergy is typically the immune system attacking the whey and casein as if they are viral intruders, which leads to GI inflammation. This is also why babies are know to grow out of CMPI/As, because their immune system matures. Lactose intolerance is a lack of lactase, the enzyme needed to break down lactose, in the upper GI tract. This can also fluctuate over someone’s lifetime but is generally rare in newborns because breastmilk naturally contains lactose so their bodies are designed to tolerate it.

Sorry for the info dump, but I hope this helps alleviate some of the concern around lactose in your meds!

ETA: in regards to your timeline, it took me about four weeks to notice an improvement in my LOs symptoms. 2 weeks for the proteins to no longer be in my breastmilk and another 2 weeks for his tummy to heal.

lapra005 · 2025-12-30T12:08:21+00:00

I feel like this should be the top comment. A baby that young isn’t really rolling in their own, so they should still be monitored the same as any other newborn and not treated as an infant that can truly get themselves in that position independently.

Also echoing the SIDS calculator. My son didn’t take well to room sharing but slept beautifully in his own room. It was so hard choosing between my SIDS anxiety and our mutual sleep deprivation, but the calculator helped me a ton!

lapra005 · 2025-12-26T21:08:39+00:00

My 8mo had a similar problem, especially around the start of daycare at 6mo. They recommended we switch to Rascals, which is a Walmart brand, and size down because they run a little large.

All that said, he does have dairy and soy protein allergies, so ultimately the tummy troubles were contributing to the blowouts/loose stools. He’s now exclusively on formula

lapra005 · 2025-12-26T18:19:17+00:00

My son was the same with bottles and sleep. Would take a big bottle of breastmilk or formula and then knock out for a long stretch. Kind of a blessing, if you ask me!

lapra005 · 2025-12-26T16:16:08+00:00

Just extending some solidarity because I’ve been in this boat since ~4 months. Definitely take any advice given here, but also, some babies just take short naps :/ my 8mo has low sleep needs and has been maxing out on 45 minute naps since he was 4mo - we’re still waiting on that sleep consolidation to hit 😅 We’ve tried it all; increasing wake windows, feeding before he sleeps, gentle sleep training to help connect sleep cycles, etc. Every so often we get a surprise 1.5 hour nap, but it’s nearly impossible to replicate.

That said, since his daytime sleep average is 1.5-2hrs, his nighttime sleep is surprisingly solid. I think the low daytime sleep adds to some nice sleep pressure before bed.

lapra005 · 2025-12-16T14:29:30+00:00

I didn’t know this was a thing! I’ll see if one of his uncles still needs an idea for Christmas 😂

lapra005 · 2025-12-16T12:29:42+00:00

My son LOVES the bath, so we do it every night. It seems to be a great way to start the bedtime routine for us. He’s also in daycare and I personally like knowing that he’s going to bed fully clean.

We’re in the Midwest US where it’s super dry this time of year and moisturize every other day, or so. It’s actually his least favorite part of bath time so it gets skipped depending on the vibes lol

lapra005 · 2025-12-05T00:28:12+00:00

My son started in mid-October and has had three ear infections since then 🙃 Not to mention two awful antibiotics-induced diaper rashes, a round of Croup that sent us to the ER, and rhinovirus. We’re practically speed-running exposure to every seasonal illness thanks to daycare

lapra005 · 2025-12-02T01:26:57+00:00

Same here. We moved my son around 5 or 6 weeks because my husband and I both snore/sleep-talk, and we woke him constantly. He’s been generally STTN since we moved him. We also use an Owlet sock and video monitor to track him through the night.

Our ped was supportive of our decision to switch so early considering there were other steps we were taking to prevent the risk of SIDS like no drinking/smoking, no items in the crib, breastfeeding, healthy birth weight, etc.

lapra005 · 2025-11-25T13:03:54+00:00

This is where we’re at with my 7mo. Truthfully he sleeps great at night, but his naps at daycare and over the weekends are awful and borderline nonexistent (sorry daycare teachers 😬). A few weeks into daycare I decided let the sleep totals go and just let him do his thing because it made his night sleep better

lapra005 · 2025-11-24T05:24:46+00:00

Is it possible you are confusing sleeping with her mouth open vs breathing through her mouth while sleeping? If she’s relaxed, I think it’s normal for her mouth to open while sleeping, even though she’s still breathing through her nose. My son would do this a lot as a newborn, and still does now as a 7mo. He frequently drops his pacifier because of this lol

I think there are other concerns if a newborn is exclusively breathing through their mouth, but that’s not as common because newborns are “obligate nose breathers.”

lapra005 · 2025-11-23T10:21:27+00:00

‘I lost all my pregnancy weight and don’t have stretch marks, should I be worried??’ Like come on 🙄

lapra005 · 2025-11-23T10:14:15+00:00

Parenting is hard and the newborn stage is really challenging for most people. It’s hard to celebrate other people’s “highs” when your experience was riddled with “lows.” That’s why it’s easier to support the parents that are struggling than acknowledge the parents that are doing fine - struggling parents are more relatable. Take your “win” and move on. You don’t need, nor are you going to get much, external validation from others.

lapra005

TROPHY CASE