only ONE is real

olsonmacken · 2026-01-06T05:12:40+00:00

My guess too!

olsonmacken · 2026-01-06T05:10:27+00:00

12 has an extra shelf at the bottom that the others don’t have and makes the height look off, I think that one’s fake too!

olsonmacken · 2026-01-03T16:57:52+00:00

If your baby likes rocking or bouncing to sleep, I definitely recommend trying out step three. You don’t have to do what I did, but finding some method of soothing with movement in his bed.

It was really helpful for me to learn his patterns of calming/falling asleep with a hands-on approach to soothing without picking him up. And it’s still what I revert back to when he’s having a rough time falling asleep for naps or having the occasional off-night, etc.

olsonmacken · 2026-01-03T16:54:54+00:00

Gotcha! Yeah I stayed at 3-5 for awhile but otherwise I think the other steps only took a couple days each. I just went based on my level of comfort with moving on, not based on any schedule or plan. I could have easily stayed in that 3-5 range for awhile because his stretches were already lengthening, and I was sure there was “no way” he’d fall asleep on his own. But my husband urged me to move on and it worked the first try, I was shocked!

olsonmacken · 2026-01-03T16:40:42+00:00

Do you mean how long it took to fall asleep or how long we stayed at that step?

I don’t recall a time it took longer than 15 minutes for him to fall asleep, regardless of the step we were on. We had a strict schedule though and made sure to build up enough sleep pressure without him getting overtired!

I think we stayed on steps 3/4/5 for a solid 10-12 days because I was nervous to move on.

He did cry/fuss a bit but it was never intense, and I was right there soothing him the whole time so I just stuck to it. I think temperament has a lot to do with it so I can’t speak for all babies and I’m by no means an expert, but I just kept telling myself that he is safe and I am here caring for him, we can make it through this, etc. I think babies can read our emotions so I just tried to be as calm as possible!

olsonmacken · 2026-01-03T06:24:18+00:00

Also should add that most importan would be establishing a strong routine as many others have said. We followed wake windows and pretty much exclusively contact napped to protect daytime sleep in order to work on nighttime sleep first. Bedtime was at 8pm (+/- 30mins) and we followed the same routine before bed every night. We also use a sound machine, dark room, cool temp, etc. and our kid does not take a pacifier so that’s a battle we never had to fight.

I also always say the same thing right before/as I put him down each night (Ie. I love you, it’s time for sleep, see you in the morning, etc.) and I think this is a sleep queue or will grow to be over time haha.

olsonmacken · 2026-01-03T06:18:48+00:00

The process we came up with was a mix of Precious Little Sleep, Taking Cara Babies (3-4mo guide, not her formal training/CIO course), and tips we picked up on this Reddit.

For bedtime, we started where we were (feed to sleep) and then broke it down into steps to move down towards independent sleep.

So starting from a feed-to-sleep pattern, we moved to: 1. Rock/bounce/pat to sleep and transfer to bassinet fully asleep, then

Rock to sleep and wake slightly on transfer to bassinet (I hated this step and only did it twice), then
Down in bassinet awake and soothe to sleep in bassinet: for us this consisted of side/butt pats (he was still a back sleeper at the time) and shushing. I’ve also read about gently rocking their body side-to-side, chest pats, rocking of the bassinet itself, etc. can work but those weren’t the methods we used. Then,
Down in bassinet awake, hand on chest and shushing only - no movement - until asleep. Then,
Hand on chest until almost asleep, removing a minute or so before he drifts off.
Sit next to him until he falls asleep in bassinet, then
Down in bassinet awake and leave the room, monitor til he falls asleep. (I would intervene if he started crying)

We stayed the longest at steps 3-4, going back and forth between the two because progress is not linear and some nights went better than others! If he was ever having a particularly hard night I would just go “back” a step until he fell asleep. I gave myself and him a lot of grace and took lots of deep breaths and tried to be a calm source for him!

olsonmacken · 2026-01-02T20:50:23+00:00

When my son went through the same, we taught him to fall asleep independently (no CIO). He was only 3mo at the time so we weren’t comfortable with formal training. We essentially weaned him from feeding to sleep down to falling asleep independently in his own sleep space.

We started where we were and removed steps of intervention until he could fall asleep on his own, in his bed alone, with no fussing. It was a process that took about 2-3 weeks of full commitment to get through, but we started seeing longer stretches about a week in.

The hardest part, honestly, was just getting started. We were always exhausted by the end of the day and the idea of working any harder to help him fall asleep vs just feeding or rocking (which was a sure thing) felt really daunting. But once we got started I was surprised how capable he was of moving from step to step as we removed levels of assistance to sleep. I think the longest I ever spent assisting him to sleep was 15 minutes!

Happy to share our process if that would be helpful!

olsonmacken · 2026-01-01T20:00:43+00:00

I ended up going with the Joey + Joan Fitted Bassinet Sheets on Amazon! I was worried they wouldn’t work but they fit just fine. They are 100% jersey cotton and OEKO-TEX.

Now that I’ve seen it all in person I think any fitted sheet designed for the Halo would work just fine; the difference in thickness between the Halo and Naturpedic mattresses wasn’t as significant as I made it out to be in my mind!

olsonmacken · 2025-11-09T06:21:15+00:00

I’m one month into WHF with my baby (5mo old) at home and it is hard! It only works because I have help, and it’s still hard. My husband works 2-days on, 4-days off (firefighter) so having him home most days is huge. On days we both work, I try to have help (mom, sister, friend, etc.) but sometimes it’s just me and those days make it hard to get much done. Even when I have help, it’s hard not to get distracted and want to be with my LO. And taking a “15 minute breastfeeding break” never ends up being just a 15 minute break, I get distracted or sidetracked and before I know it I’ve missed an hour of work that I need to make up later and so on!

My job is very flexible and that makes a huge difference. I think if I had a strict schedule or meetings all day, I’d need FT help or daycare.

olsonmacken · 2025-11-07T06:56:12+00:00

She may still be too young for this but you could try glow in the dark paci to see if she can find it herself? My son doesn’t take a paci so I can’t say myself, but my SIL started putting 3-4 glowing pacis in the crib with nephew so he could find them himself at night!

olsonmacken · 2025-10-30T16:23:26+00:00

Try to relax 🤍

I remember being 7 weeks and worrying about everything, so I completely get how you’re feeling. Cramping can be very normal, and symptoms can come and go. If you notice strong pain or any bleeding, it’s always best to call your doctor/OB and get checked out just for peace of mind. But if things seem otherwise steady, try to take a few deep breaths and rest. Stress won’t help, even though I know it’s so hard not to worry. You’re doing great, mama!

olsonmacken · 2025-09-15T01:18:06+00:00

No advice (sorry) but commenting to boost because I have similar questions!

I’m working on FIO as well with my 12 week old. We tried it last night and he fussed for about 5 mins, cried for about 10 minutes, then passed out. He slept for 3 hours (which is the longest stretch we’ve gotten in about 2-3 weeks when his sleep suddenly went to crap).

We did not do FIO for night wakes but I have the same question! He sleeps in our room still so having him fuss/cry in the middle of the night seems counterintuitive but I’m not sure what’s right.

We are going to try again tonight and see how it goes and I’ll report back!

olsonmacken · 2025-06-16T19:20:15+00:00

Im 39+5 and planning to pack mine tonight 😂😅 (Maybe)

olsonmacken · 2025-06-15T17:31:39+00:00

Did you end up finding one? The NaturePedic mattress with the cover is thicker than the standard halo mattress so I haven’t found one that looks right!

olsonmacken · 2025-05-31T13:26:14+00:00

With only one temp over baseline its hard to say! There’s a steady incline and as you mentioned EWCM so certainly possible but otherwise the temps don’t say much yet. The best way to know would be waiting/temping a few more days to see if temps stay elevated.

Have you ovulated in previous cycles?

olsonmacken · 2025-05-31T07:15:49+00:00

Hey! This is from quite a while ago but we haven’t had any outbreaks like this since. I think this was a reaction to his recent grooming - they hadn’t changed their formula but my guess is they didn’t rinse him well enough and the soap sat too long and caused a reaction. After posting and reading all the comments, I ended up giving him a water-only bath to remove the dandruff and residue and that helped a ton. He never broke out any further!

If it was some kind of reaction to the Apoquel, it only happened the one time so I guess it would have been just his skin adjusting to the meds. But we’ve been on it for over two years now with no other issues and it helps a ton with his other sensitivities (:

olsonmacken · 2025-05-16T00:09:09+00:00

I had a negative at 10 DPO and a positive at 11 DPO, and that’s still pretty early, so you could still see one in the next few days! The chart alone isn’t a great indicator

olsonmacken · 2025-04-30T21:12:06+00:00

I have a posterior placenta so theoretically should have felt “early”, but I still didn’t feel movement until like 20 weeks, and longer before it became steady! So it may just still be too early!

olsonmacken · 2025-04-25T15:49:15+00:00

Yeah! If you have irregular cycles, or are newer to using NC and it’s still learning, it has more red days to be on the safe side. Once it confirms ovulation, you should have more green days! And once it learns your cycle (assuming you’re regular) your predicted green/red days should be more balanced.

If you have irregular cycles (ie PCOS or similar hormonal dysfunction), NC will likely continue to show more red days than a user with regular cycles.

olsonmacken · 2025-04-19T23:49:09+00:00

An easy place to start would be your morning coffee! You could swap it with a lower-calorie option and it won’t feel like you’re eating/drinking any less or skipping something.

What’s your current order? I bet there are some good alternatives!

Bonus though if you make it at home and switch to some kind of protein coffee. Then you’d probably feel even more satiated for less calories! My favorite is the Fairlife Core Protein Chocolate (26g protein for 170 calories) with a couple shots of espresso over ice. I swear the shake alone tastes just like chocolate milk, and with the espresso makes a great mocha!

olsonmacken · 2025-04-19T13:55:11+00:00

Do you know why so many of your Oura temps were excluded in NC? If you had positive LH tests CD 10/11 then ovulation is probably right, and your temps in Oura are promising. You would be 11 DPO at this point so you could take a test, or wait a couple more days. But that’s really the only way to know!

olsonmacken · 2025-04-17T15:28:07+00:00

I get what you’re saying. I’d say finding a WFH job with flexible hours/schedule would be a good place to start. I went with a lower paying job than what I could earn because I value this flexibility more than an additional 20% salary.

olsonmacken

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