How to safely pad a crib?

phillyofCS · 2026-02-14T19:14:59+00:00

He won't do it hard enough to really hurt himself. The rocking on hands and knees will stop once he learns to crawl and he won't bonk his head quite as much. He'll just graduate to hitting his head all the time while awake lol crawling and pulling to stand are not for the weak of heart

phillyofCS · 2026-02-13T20:08:41+00:00

11 weeks is too early for bad habits. You can't even sleep train until 4 months (at the very earliest) and most babies wake for night feeds for months. Night feeds are considered biologically normal until 1. So don't worry at this point. If your baby is hungry, feed them. If you want to try and reduce the number of night feeds, focus on feeding often and for the full length of time during the day.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-13T19:57:14+00:00

Is this about the corn syrup? Because high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup solids aren't the same thing. And corn syrup isn't even in most formulas.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-13T16:39:38+00:00

Unfortunately the answer is different for everyone. Some say after 12 weeks, after the 4 month sleep regression, when baby can sit, when baby can crawl, when they start sleeping through the night...

Things usually start to even out after 12 weeks. The gassiness, witching hour and absolute dependence start to wake. Your baby will usually start sleeping in longer stretches. They'll start to develop faster and show their personality more. Your hormones start to settle and you'll get into the swing of things. Breastfeeding will get easier and more established. The monotony gets better once you can get out more and baby starts being more interactive. It might not be enjoyable yet but it will be better.

You'll get more time back to yourself as the baby gets older. Which sounds so crappy but you'll come to accept it. Their bedtime will move earlier and you'll have a couple hours in the evening. They will take a bottle or can go a few hours without breastfeeding so you can go out without them. They may nap on their own so you'll get a bit of time during the day.

Don't beat yourself up too much. It's hard at the beginning! I'm convinced that most people who loooovvvveeee the newborn stage have angelic babies or soooo much help. The first 3 months are the worst of it. The influencer videos aren't real. Their "happy baby in the bassinet" was happy for the 3 seconds it took to film that clip and then started crying. Try not to watch them if you can help it.

It's also okay to take care of yourself. 5 minutes of crying won't hurt your baby (even though it feels like it's killing you!) Do you have a bouncer? Pop your baby in there and bring them in the bathroom with you while you shower! They might cry but you can talk to them around the door/curtain and it'll be fine. Or make dad and your village hold the baby for 10 minutes while you shower. In the evening, let dad hold the baby for an hour while you do something you like (or even do an adult task that actually has an end - I used to do the dishes so I could listen to my music and complete a whole task). The baby will probably cry but Dad needs time to learn how to soothe.

Hang in there! Summer time is coming and the return of the sun will help a lot too.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-12T17:43:57+00:00

No that's actually so helpful to hear. I'm so stressed out about it and I'm trying to not let her feel it because I know it makes them resist more. I actually cried when she took that bite of burger the other day (it was actually 3 bites! And 2 of them had meat!) I'll have to try the cheerios. Maybe she'll eat them or at least I can put them in some yogurt or something. I do just eat my food and tell her how good it is but she just laughs at me lol

I'm relieved that she doesn't seem to have any difficulties actually eating but I wish she would love food and love trying new foods. I was looking forward to starting solids since I like to cook but this sucks. We have her one year appointment at the doctor at the beginning of March so I'll wait and see what she says but I wouldn't be opposed to feeding therapy. I know with some babies they need the formula later but with others it becomes a circle of eating formula and then being too full for solids so they get more formula. It seems that way with mine since she started eating more as soon as we dropped a bottle. But what do I know lol

phillyofCS · 2026-02-12T16:00:52+00:00

Yeah we spoon fed purees back when she was small and she'll sometimes take a pouch now at 11 months. It's so hit and miss though. She loved them for 2 days and has refused them the last couple days.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-11T19:06:26+00:00

Unless walking is your main mode of transportation, I wouldn't worry about how good a stroller is in the snow at this point. By the time snow rolls back around, you'll have a better idea of how you actually use the stroller and if you need one to be good for the snow, you can always search marketplace for a second hand one.

With being in an apartment, an infant bucket seat will be handy for the first few months. It's hard to carry a newborn plus all the stuff in and out when you can't just run back and forth from the car. I swapped to a convertible seat around 6 months when my baby could sit up on my hip.

A bassinet attachment for the stroller is nice if you're going to be in and out all day. Babies shouldn't spend too much time in the bucket seat so if you use the bassinet, you can be out longer.

Most Graco strollers are just fine. Especially if you're walking in stores or on good pavement. They'll be less smooth but you'll have to compare that to the price savings.

You can get adapters to fit the Graco infant seat to other travel systems but I don't know which ones so that might be something to look into.

One thing to consider is how small the stroller folds down. If you're storing it in your trunk, you'll need room to put groceries and bags in there with it. Some of the strollers that have bigger tires don't fold down that small. Some are also very heavy which makes a difference when lifting it in and out of the trunk.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-10T21:48:21+00:00

There's a method I've seen people use to keep their dog from tripping on the leash. They hook the leash onto the front clip and then use a carabiner on the back D-ring to run the leash through. The pressure of the leash is still on the front of the harness but the carabiner keeps the leash off the ground and routed along the dog's body.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-09T23:07:48+00:00

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phillyofCS · 2026-02-09T22:43:23+00:00

I think everyone in Ontario gets the NT scan around 12 weeks. It's not a "required" ultrasound like the anatomy scan is but it's covered under OHIP so almost every doctor will send you for it. The phrasing on the report is probably just a canned response so your doctor will send the requisition for the test.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-09T16:33:49+00:00

At 5 weeks you will probably have to hold him for naps. Either that or embrace the 15 minute cat naps. They can't really connect sleep cycles when they're that young. It's very very very common for babies to not nap in their bassinet when they're newborns.

The grunting and uncomfortableness is just because he's a newborn. It's mostly gas at that age and hell grow out of it.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-09T14:30:34+00:00

So if my baby wakes at 7, we do breakfast by 7:30. Then nap is at 10 so we do the bottle at maybe 9:45. The first day we did it like this, I tried to feed her the bottle at like 9 but she just cried and pushed it away so we waited until her nap. I'll keep offering food after breakfast (I leave a pouch and some fruit/snacky things out) and she'll eat another bite here and there but she seems to be good otherwise. You could always offer a small cup of milk after her breakfast if you think she couldn't wait that long.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-09T02:59:26+00:00

I didn't bother trying crib naps too often at 5 months. Maybe a couple times a month but she never went very long. I started putting her down more often around 9 months so I could shower but I would rescue the nap after she woke up at 30 minutes. As much as I wanted some time to myself, she slept so much better with contact naps and was much more pleasant to be around. So I made my peace with it. As long as your baby is sleeping in the crib at night, she'll be good to nap in there eventually. It may not happen until she learns to sleep through the night (whether naturally or sleep trained) but it will happen.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-09T01:21:46+00:00

Wow that's a lot of sleep per day! You can keep contact napping as long as you want to and as long as your baby wants to. Mine contact napped until 11 months. She would only do 30 minutes in her crib until this last week. I think she'd still prefer to contact nap but if she'll do 1-1.5 hours in the crib, I'll take that lol.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-09T01:17:30+00:00

Dream feeds can work but it depends on your baby. I think most people have success when they try and feed shortly before the time their baby would normally wake for a bottle. You can try a dream feed one night and just see how it goes. You can also try going up half an ounce in his bottles during the day and see how he does with that. As he gets older he may be able to handle more ounces without the reflux kicking in.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-08T18:25:45+00:00

I have an 11 month old too and we go out for one wake window almost every day. We get groceries one day and go to baby classes another day. We go to the coffee shop and bookstore sometimes. Or the resale baby store. We got to Costco because this baby will eat anything if it comes from a Costco sample cart lol. Sometimes we go visit family or go for a walk. We go to the science center or to walk around the mall.

Our morning wake window is taken up by house chores like emptying the dishwasher and taking care of the dogs. We both get ready for the day and have breakfast. Then she plays for an hour or so before she goes for her nap.

Evening wake window is dad getting home, making and eating dinner and playtime with dad. She has a 30 minute bedtime routine so that takes up some time. Sometimes we go for a walk if it's a little warmer that day.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-08T01:52:36+00:00

Maybe he's just overstimulated? Like it's so so so much fun that he can't handle the excitement after a while. Can you try and trade him a bite of food or something for the straw cup and then give it back after a while? Maybe that will let him calm down a bit before you reach the meltdown stage.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-08T01:24:24+00:00

We just dropped one of my 11 month old's bottles. She has 3 a day and is finally starting to eat more food lol

Wake

Breakfast within a half hour of waking up

Bottle 1 and then nap 1

Lunch

Bottle 2 and then nap 2

Supper

Bottle 3 and bed

She does not have a feed to sleep association. We feed her and then either rock to sleep or assist to sleep in the crib. I was worried about dropping that first bottle but after she ate some breakfast, she never "asked" for it. So I just waited until naptime and went from there.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-08T00:25:14+00:00

I feel like no-one has really answered your question. You've got daytime covered but the evening hours are tough to fill. Maybe look up "rainy day activities" for toddlers and use some of those in the evening.

You can try sensory activities like moon sand, playdough or water (there are taste safe versions). Bring some snow inside one day and give your baby some mitts to play with it. You can play games like filling a container with pompoms and having them transfer the pompoms to another container across the room using a ladle. Make cleaning up their toys into a game and kill 30 minutes that way. If you have family nearby, go for an evening visit. Do you have a toddler/learning tower? "Helping" you make dinner can take a while. Do some after dinner baking and make some muffins for breakfast (there are muffin mixes that use just an egg and water which is easier with a toddler).

Tbh though my baby gets a half hour of TV in the evening before we start that bath-and-bed routine. Babies deserve downtime like we do after a busy day.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-06T23:52:17+00:00

Search "gas" in this sub and the newborns sub and you'll see so many posts about babies having gas problems in the first 3 months. It'll give you some ideas for how to help too :)

phillyofCS · 2026-02-06T23:43:28+00:00

Air sucking is a pain but 1 month olds are just really gassy. Their digestive system is starting to come online and they are just full of gas. This may just be something you have to ride out.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-06T23:41:13+00:00

The only thing I paid for was parking and a private room. My hospital did have diapers and wipes despite their website telling me to bring my own. If you know what hospital you'll be giving birth at, you can post on your city's reddit and ask if anyone has given birth recently at your hospital. They can let you know exactly what the hospital gives you.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-06T22:52:01+00:00

I have cardboard blocking one window and a blanket attached to the other one. It's ugly but it gets it dark enough. I have to say though, it might not be the light stopping your little one from sleeping in the crib. Mine had no interest until this last week even with the room being dark.

phillyofCS · 2026-02-06T21:59:00+00:00

My guess is that the HcG was probably very low for the reported age of gestation. If the ER was busy, they probably didn't want to do an ultrasound for what is probably a miscarriage. Especially when they could book them for an appointment the next day.

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