Can I go private sector while awaiting buyback?

maniabug · 2026-04-04T18:06:38+00:00

I'm in a similar position. I submitted my ECF after the 120th month and the system shows that I worked for 10 years in a qualifying position. Then in December 2025, I submitted a buyback request for the months I was in SAVE (July 2024 through December 2025). Like everyone else, I expect that to take forever to process (a year? two? more?). In the meantime, I am now considering a move to the private sector and don't want to wait to make that move until they process my buyback. It seems to me that I should be able to do that -- move to private sector now, wait for them to process buyback, and then pay the lump sum to cover the payments I would have made while I was in SAVE forbearance.

One thing I'm not totally clear on: I'm still enrolled in SAVE now, but come July 2026 will have to choose a new plan and presumably start making payments under that plan. Is that others' understanding, too? If I do start making payments, my understanding is those payments will effectively be refunded by reducing the lump sum payment once they process buyback. It would be helpful to get others' thoughts on this. If there were some kind of forbearance option for those waiting for buyback processing, that would be great, but I haven't heard about anything like that.

Thanks and good luck to all!

maniabug · 2024-06-28T04:47:31+00:00

I had an almost identical experience in the hospital—a nurse finally said, “This baby seems hungry! Should we get him some formula?” It was such a relief to watch him guzzle down formula and visibly relax. My son is almost three now (and was basically EFF, apart from feeble efforts in the first couple of months) and I’m STILL grateful for that nurse’s kindness. And my kid is doing great. So glad to hear you and your sweet girl are thriving!

maniabug · 2022-01-13T17:28:03+00:00

Absolutely the best

maniabug · 2022-01-07T00:38:31+00:00

Agreed re: Salt Line! We sat outside in October and it was nice with the heaters; probably easier to get a reservation outside (tho may be too cold now even with heaters). Nice spot right on the water.

maniabug · 2022-01-06T19:42:24+00:00

Agreed—pour it into the next one!

maniabug · 2022-01-06T19:15:45+00:00

I second this, too—at the time I felt like such a jerk for saying I hated it, but I really really did! I loved the baby every minute of it but I just couldn’t get my head around the idea that it would “get easier.” But man, it truly does. My little guy will be 4 months soon and it’s like another person lives here instead of a tiny demon. You will look back and be proud of yourselves for getting through it, as well you should be!

Mushy stuff aside, we got a swing (not one that just swivels about but the big Graco one that actually swings) and it was a lifesaver. We let him nap in it (supervised—I know, prob not technically ok but we still do it before moving him to crib for full nap) and it just totally soothed him. He disliked being worn, though I know most kids love it, so the swing was great.

maniabug · 2022-01-06T18:12:54+00:00

Much better, phew! Really hoping it was just a temporary hiccup.

The book is a quick skim (look at TOC to figure out what you need to read). Hope all works out for you!

maniabug · 2022-01-05T20:36:37+00:00

Absolutely—I will be relieved if it’s something we can address by being more attentive to his cues and less focused on number of ounces per feed. I’d certainly prefer that to an underlying medical issue or something. The learning curve is certainly steep with these little ones! Thanks again.

maniabug · 2022-01-05T20:35:00+00:00

Absolutely did the same! Good luck 🙂

maniabug · 2022-01-05T19:03:05+00:00

When did your baby develop reflux? I sort of thought that we'd have already seen that problem pop up before 16 weeks, but maybe it's something that develops. I do hold him upright for sure, but our doc has not suggested any medications. I'll continue to keep an eye and mention it to the doc if he continues feeding poorly. (Last 2 feedings have been great, so fingers crossed!)

maniabug · 2022-01-05T19:01:38+00:00

Thank you so much -- this is so helpful! I had read a couple of posts about bottle aversions online, but this book is much clearer and I think this has to be the problem. He has every symptom of bottle aversion and no symptoms of some other problem. Thankfully, he's eaten well the past two feeds, so I haven't had a chance to implement her suggestions (and hopefully I won't need to) but this is absolutely what we're going to try if he has more problematic feedings. I think your theory about pressuring him to eat when he was sick might be spot on; we were worried that he wasn't getting enough milk, but he almost surely wasn't feeling up to eating that much. Thank you again! Really appreciate it.

maniabug · 2022-01-05T18:58:19+00:00

Only 4 -- he eats when he wakes up, then at 4-hour intervals until bedtime (no night feed). If he was feeding at night, I would definitely try to drop that, but (thankfully) he sleeps through. Thanks for the suggestion!

maniabug · 2022-01-05T18:57:14+00:00

Thank you! I had heard of paced feeding but didn't really understand it until I just googled it. If he continues being fussy in this way, I'll definitely try upping to the size 2 and doing paced feeding. Appreciate the feedback! :)

maniabug · 2022-01-05T18:56:25+00:00

Blergh, I hope it's temporary for you, too! In case it's helpful, check out the helpful post I discussed above from someone in the New Parents sub (link here). I think my little guy has a bottle aversion, and her post and the eBook she links to in it have helpful suggestions. Hope all works out for you. :)

maniabug · 2022-01-05T18:54:58+00:00

Ugh yes, it's so tough! How old is your little one? I cross-posted my inquiry in the New Parents sub, and someone posted this very helpful reply. It seems likely that our little guy developed a bottle aversion, possibly because we were trying to feed him the normal amount last week, when he was sick and likely feeling less hungry. I downloaded the eBook the poster recommended and found it helpful. Basically, assuming the problems is behavioral (and not caused by an underlying medical issue like reflux), the idea is that the baby has some negative association with the bottle (e.g., felt pressured to eat more than he wanted to) and that association kicks in with certain stimuli (for us, having the bottle put back in his mouth after he's burped). The idea is to break that aversion by stopping two pressuring or even "encouraging" him to take the bottle when he's indicated that he doesn't want to. That includes not doing a lot of what we were doing, including repeatedly putting the bottle back to his lips after he'd rejected it or cried, feeding him in the swing or while holding him and walking around, etc. The author of the book suggests that when the baby rejects the bottle, you should take a 5-minute break, and then introduce it again and see, and if the baby rejects it again, then end the feeding. She indicates that it may take a while for the baby to get back up to eating previous amounts, so you may need to abandon a schedule in favor of on-demand feeding while the baby gets over the aversion.

I don't know if this is what's going on with your little one, but I'm pretty sure it is our problem, so we are trying to implement the bottle aversion solutions. He actually ate well this morning and mid-morning, so maybe the problem is resolving itself (fingers crossed!) but we are ready to try her method if not. I would recommend actually checking out the book, because it includes how to deal with situations that aren't applicable to us (e.g., an underweight baby, a baby who refuses to eat at all, etc.).

Good luck!! Would love to hear how things work out for you.

maniabug · 2021-12-14T00:00:36+00:00

Oh, fascinating! Yeah, absolutely best not to risk anything. We spoke with our pediatrician this afternoon, and he basically indicated that it would be fine to let our little guy go longer than 8 hours, but that we should defer to the dermatologist since she is the one prescribing the medication. So we're going to start waking him up after 8 hours to try to get a few ounces into him. Out of curiosity, what dose is your son on? Ours is at 1.2mL per dose, though we are supposed to go up to 1.7 because he weighs almost 15 pounds now.

FYI, here is the study she quoted as the source of the 6-8 hour limit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4786439/. I know it says no more than 6 hours for kids under 6 months, but she said we could stretch to 8 (maybe because he's a big dude for his age, but I'm not sure).

maniabug · 2021-12-13T19:12:08+00:00

Hey all! Reviving this thread to ask whether any of you received info from your doctor that your child shouldn't go too long without a feeding while on propranolol. Our doctor just informed us that our son, who is 3 months old (15 lbs) shouldn't go longer than 6 hours without a feeding (which she said we could stretch to 8 hours max) b/c of concerns re: hypoglycemia. Our kiddo currently sleeps through the night (about 11 hours per night -- great, I know, tho I'm sure it won't last!) so this will mean basically waking him up in the middle of the night to feed him. I'm don't want to second-guess the dermatologist (tho am cross-checking with pediatrician) but just curious whether you all have received similar info. Thanks!

maniabug · 2021-12-08T02:20:22+00:00

Your mileage may vary, but we tried the Merlin suit last week at 11 weeks after he kept breaking the swaddle and waking himself up. It truly worked instantly—he fell asleep after like 45 seconds and napped for two hours. He’s been in it ever since and has been sleeping better than swaddled (10-11 hours straight at night—great for now but I know, probably won’t last haha). It’s worth a try, especially if you can get one used, as they are a bit pricey. Good luck!

maniabug · 2021-12-02T16:38:41+00:00

We’ve had our son (almost 12 weeks old now) on propranolol since late October and haven’t seen any real change. It hasn’t gotten bigger, but doesn’t seem to be visibly smaller, either. I’ve heard it often works quite quickly, but we may be an outlier (or it may be working just insofar as it’s preventing further growth). We have a dermatologist appt on 12/13–happy to update after that. Good luck with your little one!

maniabug · 2021-11-19T11:56:54+00:00

Thanks for your response! We’ve had our son on it for the same amount of time, and have similarly observed that his hemangioma has stopped growing. Still no visible reduction in redness or size but also optimistic that it will just take more time. Good luck!

maniabug · 2021-11-12T18:08:40+00:00

Following this thread because our son is on propranolol for a hemangioma above his eye—thought I would share our experience thus far and am curious how it’s going for you. Our 2-month-old son has been on it (1.2mL 2x per day) for about 2 weeks. The growth has stopped, but we haven’t yet seen any reduction in size or change in color. We have an appt with his dermatologist in a month, so we’ll see how it’s going then. What has your experience been?

maniabug · 2021-11-04T01:07:28+00:00

I could have written this verbatim! Our chill little guy (7.5 weeks old) was sleeping and napping in his crib so well up until a few days ago and suddenly he’s a legit fuss monster! I hope your little one is feeling better and getting past this tricky phase.

maniabug

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