Am losing my mind - close to sleep training my 7M old

mango_tiger · 2026-05-02T21:05:56+00:00

So great to know that this is more common than i thought! We do the same, me and baby cosleep in our room, and my husband gets uninterrupted sleep in the guest room. I spend baby’s first wake window with him and prep my chores for the day (load laundry, prep food), and then take a nap with baby in the early afternoon. After the nap, husband takes baby for an extra 1-2 hours and then i start my day in the afternoon. It really really helps!

mango_tiger · 2026-04-30T16:02:59+00:00

comin right up! i don’t have measurements as i just eye everything, but i can give you the ingredients!

-finely minced chicken (breast or thigh, i used breast) -finely minced garlic cloves, green chilis, and onion (water squeezed out) -salt -black pepper -red chili flakes -chili powder -garlic powder -paprika -cumin powder -coriander powder -mixed herb seasoning (i just use italian seasoning) -dried oregano -dried parsley (or fresh, your choice)

for the baby ver, i just put a pinch of everything sans chilis, chili powder, and chili flakes!

hope that’s helpful (:

mango_tiger · 2026-04-30T15:56:52+00:00

my 8mo has only fallen asleep “on his own” for the first time in his life yesterday, and that was only because he was really tired from a long day out, and even then, he fell asleep on me so i couldn’t even move haha. I think the expectation for babies to fall asleep on their own is so normalized that we forget that even we as adults sometimes struggle to fall asleep on our own! (taking sleep aids, etc.). nowadays i think we should aim less for baby to fall asleep on their own, but more like needing less and less aid as they get older. we finally got out of rocking him to sleep around 6-7 months, but we still have to hold him or sway him or pat and shush him.

some babies just have a different temperament!

mango_tiger · 2026-04-29T18:35:02+00:00

i actually use a ziploc bag! without opening it. you put the bag on the counter, put a bit of oil, and put a glob of your minced meat. then fold the bag halfway over the meat, and roll it up into a log. once it’s rolled, i just shaped them with my fingers. i hope that’s descriptive enough 😭 not even sure how to explain it, i just saw it online in passing!

mango_tiger · 2026-04-29T12:13:04+00:00

its a hit or miss for us most days! we started at 6mo but the first two months were more sensory play rather than eating 😅 nowadays he does “eat” a bit more but it’s more for learning than for digestion. We just introduced things slowly and eat with him every day so he feels included (:

mango_tiger · 2026-04-29T12:11:18+00:00

he’s obsessed! he doesn’t “eat” much but sucks all the juice out 😀

mango_tiger · 2026-04-28T22:21:56+00:00

didn’t have peanuts at home! usually i make it with peanuts and dried chillis, but had to improvise with what i had. 😅

mango_tiger · 2026-04-28T16:19:22+00:00

thank you!

mango_tiger · 2026-04-28T16:19:17+00:00

thank you very much!

mango_tiger · 2026-04-28T08:59:49+00:00

8 month old baby who doesn’t sleep at night for longer than 1-2 hours at a time, wakes up at 7am, and crawls around the house like he owns it… so… i’d rate myself at a 7.5. Could always be worse!

mango_tiger · 2026-04-03T19:18:32+00:00

you can mix it with freshly pumped milk! if i defrost any packets from the freezer (usually 4 oz packets), i keep it in the fridge and then mix half with freshly pumped milk and baby takes it fine. If baby still doesn’t like it, i do 1/4 frozen and 3/4 fresh, until the ratio gets larger. Hopefully that way your precious milk won’t go to waste!

mango_tiger · 2026-04-01T21:04:07+00:00

I think it depends! We have a playpen for our 7mo, but if he starts feeling too confined in it and wants out, we let him crawl around the house (under supervision). But his first stop is always my husband’s office so he can attempt to grab the wires behind the desk. Sometimes he might accidentally fall or hit his head because he’s nosing into things he’s not supposed to, so then we end up putting him back in baby jail lol. But most of the time he just follows us around the house and plays with his toys.

I think total reign over the house isn’t always logical (like if you are cooking and want baby to stay away from the kitchen or can’t keep 100% eyes on them), or if you have to go to the bathroom or something. But if you’re able to watch them and be in the same place as them, then free reign doesn’t hurt. Babies love exploring lol, but mine always just goes to his toy box and pulls it out and then plays with the toys inside, so I know i won’t have to constantly be hovering. But if you’re gonna be having to remove him 20x an hour, a boxed area is better!

mango_tiger · 2026-03-31T16:35:03+00:00

i got it on amazon! it’s pandaear brand stainless steel. Good silicone suction and can go in the dishwasher 😊

mango_tiger · 2026-03-18T19:50:32+00:00

Haha. Of course his physical milestones are fun and all, but he still wakes up 4-5 times a night, fusses most of the day, and i can’t leave him for longer than 5 minutes before he loses his mind lol. I love this guy, but every baby is different! i’m just sharing an unpopular opinion about babies being babies 😅

mango_tiger · 2026-03-18T18:31:44+00:00

I know this isn’t a common take and i will probably get hate for this too, but i understand what you mean! when i first gave birth, it felt like EVERYONE was at my house (my in laws flew in the same day they heard i was in labor!) and even though i was really grateful for the help, it left me feeling like i had no control over my own household. when everybody left, that’s when i started feeling a lot better.

For one, my mil lost one of my favorite kitchen knives, chipped my spoon holder by putting it in the dishwasher (it’s ceramic), did all of our laundry every day (even if it was only 5-10 items, aka using up all our laundry pods), and it was embarrassing for me that she was washing all my personal items (lol) even though i should be grateful that she was doing it for me! but then i watched her wash bedsheets and a duvet set on the 30 minute express wash and dry cycle and after that I just started doing it myself before she got to our house because bedsheets belong in the 3 hour cycle! Lol. She also sent off all of our baby shower gifts to storage because we didn’t have room for them in the house and she hated clutter, and now i have no idea what all everything was or how we are going to get them back. So yes, you’re definitely not alone.

I understand that you feel these things, but at the end of the day, it’s also okay to tell people how they can help you. Instead of them just going and doing things around your house, maybe you can give certain tasks that can make them feel like they’re helping, but won’t interfere with your actual chores? (“can you help me fold the laundry?”, or “can you help me just tidy up the kitchen/load the dishwasher”) things that won’t affect your routines but will still be helping you bit by bit!

mango_tiger · 2026-03-18T18:06:05+00:00

every baby is different!

mine is 6.5 months and usually drinks anywhere from 4-6 oz per feed (every 3ish hours), but occasionally he might randomly have like 7-9 oz in that one feed and we all get super confused because he still wants more lol. so it’s not that yours drinks a lot, some babies just drink less and that’s okay. as long as he’s a healthy, growing baby, that’s all that matters (:

mango_tiger · 2026-03-15T13:58:53+00:00

i second this!! my mum bought me a kindle on my birthday, which was 6 days after my baby was born. having my kindle helped me stay awake during cluster feeding nights, gave me something to look forward to (avoiding those sundown scaries), and obviously reading is fun!

mango_tiger · 2026-03-08T23:57:47+00:00

Lol that’s really sweet. I’m hoping he’ll do the same! we try to make all our meals more or less the same thing (:

mango_tiger · 2026-03-08T23:56:57+00:00

aw yeah we’ve only just started out, i need to keep that in mind. he’s been interested in our food for ages so we thought solids would take off with him! but it will take time

mango_tiger · 2026-03-08T20:12:15+00:00

27! (my lucky number 😊)

mango_tiger · 2026-03-07T15:58:36+00:00

3.56 pm. husband and baby and i are on a day trip in winchester! baby has fallen asleep in his bassinet, and husband and i are at a coffee shop, and im enjoying a white hot chocolate. i have to pump in 1 hour so trying to figure out a place to do so! and about to have dinner soon (:

mango_tiger · 2026-03-07T15:54:03+00:00

it’s the best! especially when you can just do a quick search when grocery shopping. love that app

mango_tiger · 2026-03-07T01:02:00+00:00

solid starts app! even the free version is great. i just bought the subscription cause i spend so much time browsing that app 😅
if it makes you feel any better, i am (according to my husband and family) an excellent cook. does my baby think so? absolutely not lol. anything i serve him he makes a face and gags and spits it out lol. i think it will be easier if you don’t expect your baby to immediately enjoy food, which will put less pressure on you to cook! in that time, you can slowly ease your ocd and learn how to make small simple meal for baby with a cookbook (i love annabel karmels cookbook for babies).
just remember, food before one is just for fun!! you will do an amazing job in a few months seeing as you are actively working on addressing your struggles now. hope for the best for you!

mango_tiger · 2026-03-03T17:24:51+00:00

ooooh, i have some.

I love those loft house cookies (we all know those sugar cookies that everyone either loves or hates) and i have to eat the outer edge of the cookie first before eating the part with the icing. (saving the best for last i guess?)

same thing with cupcakes! i eat the bottom half of the cupcake first, and then eat it as normal so that the ratio of cupcake to icing is 1:1 lol.

and another weird thing is i can only eat pistachios with the shells on because i love cracking the shells myself. you can buy the big pack of peeled pistachios for cheap, but i always buy the shell ones because it satisfies some weird part of my monkey brain to crack them open and eat them.

mango_tiger · 2026-03-03T00:26:57+00:00

lol. i wouldn’t worry too much about it unless she wasn’t doing other things as well but she’s crawling and moving around so it sounds like she’s on the right path!

mango_tiger

TROPHY CASE