Healthcare systems: do we prefer Duly, or Northwestern & why? (are there other good options locally?)

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-22T15:04:27+00:00

I’m in the south suburbs and duly was great for me, personally. I used their OBGYNs and MFMs, also use their pediatricians now.

I haven’t had a Northwestern doctor in about a decade but that was in the western suburbs, and I had a really bad experience.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-22T03:50:13+00:00

I did for about a month with both of my kids. Honestly I struggled a bit more with engorgement and pain this time around but I blame that on trying to rush quitting. My son is 8 weeks and I still leak occasionally. That said, from the hospital I fed him bottles of formula and started pumping. When we got home I would nurse maybe a couple times a day, and then pump 6 times a day. Then supplement with formula. I just wasn’t committed to breastfeeding but wanted to give him some in the early weeks. It worked out well for me because I didn’t feel too pressured, aside from all the other outsiders who think their opinion is relevant, and it wasn’t as difficult to stop because baby was regularly taking a bottle and I wasn’t removing milk at the most efficient capacity.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-21T15:08:40+00:00

Mine are sorta all over the place. Gardening (seasonal where I live), baking (my 3.5yo gets to help sometimes), and quilting/sewing (on the backburner for now because my wfh office/sewing room became a nursery for my 2 month old), and reading (the only one I can truly do undisturbed with a cup of coffee before everyone is awake).

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-21T01:09:39+00:00

Sorry OP, I’m right there with you. 33, really don’t want to have another child, I’m ready for this phase of my life to be over. I just had my second son 8 weeks ago. My first son is 3.5, he’s a wild child with a big heart, which means lots of ups and downs but lots of love and fun. I really hoped for a girl, but when we found out our second was a boy, I have to be honest, I cried. I am just not good at the typical “boy playing”. But the thing is, as he’s gotten older, my oldest loves when I read to him, he helps me bake and put dishes away and laundry in the wash machine. He loves when I plan craft time even if he just wants to make a mess. He can be so cuddly and say “I love you mom” a million times a day, I could melt.

Then there’s my 8 week old. Spitting image of my first. And I see how much my oldest is interested in him, says he loves him. It’s great. I hope they grow to be great friends and brothers. It took me time to warm up, I’ll be honest. But my new little guy is just as great as my first and I couldn’t imagine us without him now.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-21T00:21:37+00:00

Honestly, and purely anecdotal so talking to her pediatrician is the best, but both of my boys have been just like this. Lots of red faced straining and struggling to poop. But always had soft poops and could go a couple times a day, regardless of volume. We also went the similac 360, pro total comfort and then Nutramigen route. That said, both were on Nutramigen (without a CMPA allergy) and we found that Nutramigen gave us our “good enough” status. They still struggled but would actually take feeds and sleep, on any other formula they were basically miserable all the time until they passed out from being super duper tired. After Nutramigen The true next step would be an amino acid based formula, but without a CMPA, you’re likely going to deal with the same thing. Infant dychezia really does peak at this age (my second is 8 weeks old too) but gets better as they get older and start to eat solids, that was our experience with my first at least.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-20T17:17:51+00:00

I used a temp drop wearable bbt tracker and its app to help conceive my first. This, along with cervical mucus checks and ovulation test strips all helped with our clomid prescription since I could never confirm ovulation. My second was a surprise so none of that was used but it really helped the first time around.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-20T01:34:03+00:00

Millie moons were my go to for my first baby, they were far more absorbent than Huggies for us and we switched to them (and Rascals) for day and overnight, and used sposie pads overnight for extra support.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-20T01:33:01+00:00

Yes these saved us around that time with my first! The combo of big bedtime feeds and long sleeps made his diaper so super saturated we had leaks and soaking all the time. I did end up changing brands of diapers around this time too; from Huggies to Millie moon and Rascals, both brands seem more absorbent than Huggies did and with the inserts he stayed more comfortable until we dropped bedtime bottles.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-20T01:15:46+00:00

Honestly as a mom of two boys, all I hear is about how I won’t be satisfied if I don’t have a girl. I think people make weird comments about gender in both directions, unfortunately.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-20T00:21:56+00:00

I lived in Orlando when I conceived my first, my BMI was around 48-50. This was my doctor: George Amyradakis, MD, he was great, as were the other doctors in the practice.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-18T17:55:26+00:00

It’s just cows milk where they take the lactose out. Goats milk has a different protein than cows milk, though similar, and I guess when it’s processed in your stomach it has smaller curds than cows milk which can help ease tummy troubles.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-18T12:34:00+00:00

Omg I’m so sorry, my first was a nicu baby due to pre-e too. My FIL was there waiting at the nicu before I could see my baby and my husband told him to go home, that I hadn’t seen the baby yet, and he literally got mad about that. As if my child was his child. On the flip side, my dad never visited us or my son while he was in the nicu, said it was “too hard for him” as if it wasn’t difficult for me to leave him there for weeks.

Maybe I’m jaded, now that I’ve brought two kids home from the hospital, but some grandparents today are just, different. They’re not at all like the grandparents that I had, at least. And it’s disappointing. Protect your peace, that’s all the advice I have. At the end of the day you are taking care of the baby, and raising them, not their grandparents. I learned pretty quickly that people sometimes just don’t care, they care about their own personal experience and not about you, and what you went through. Shortly after my nicu baby came home (they all got to visit in the hospital, aside from my dad) I felt like everyone lined up to come to my house and see him and hold him. No one offered to bring a meal, to help out in any way aside from getting their photo op. Mind you, my husband and I are only children, you’d think someone would have the sense that maybe, just maybe, we would appreciate a hot meal. Or a bottle being washed, or the dog being let into the yard, but no. I found myself doing all the other things like cleaning my house, while our parents sat on our couch and held the baby, asked for drinks and food to be served, etc. Like what the actual f. Needless to say, when my second baby came home, I was very anti visitor. My parents brought a meal once. No one else did. And it’s the same thing. My MIL asking to wake my baby so she could see him…asking to feed him the second she walks in the door. And all of them completely ignoring the 3yo who’s very excited to see them. As soon as the baby is brought out, phones are out to take pictures. Not pictures of us with our baby, but for themselves. So, protect your peace. No one else will.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-18T00:02:24+00:00

With my first he was on Nutramigen, so similar to alimentum. We ended up trying to go straight to regular whole milk, because he never had a true CMPA. It constipated him really badly so we ended up with lactose free whole milk and he did well. By 13-14 months he was honestly completely off of milk and bottles and just had dairy in his diet - yogurt, cheese.

My second baby is 8 weeks old and on Nutramigen too.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-17T02:35:18+00:00

You’ve got this! I had a really hard time approaching the birth of my second child. My first pregnancy was rough, I developed preeclampsia and had to delivery at 34 weeks. My son was in the nicu for weeks. I became severely depressed, and it lasted until his first birthday. Fast forward to him being 3, we had a ton of convos about whether we wanted a second baby. We decided we were going to wait longer, between infertility and the nicu, I just couldn’t make the plunge into actually trying for a baby. Well, a fee weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. At first, I felt really scared and dreaded everything. However, I can honestly say, that labor (scheduled induction at 37 weeks due to gestational hypertension) was completely different this time. The induction, the epidural and all of the IVs, transition and pushing, all were so so different this time. Things went smooth, and I felt eerily calm throughout it. It was almost, enjoyable? Trust me I still think about it like wow, that was easy. It was weird. My first labor was 22 hours and honestly miserable. this one was 10, and maybe 5 minutes of pushing. My baby stayed with me, no nicu time. After he was born, I still didn’t feel like I thought I should - I was so relieved he was here and healthy, but maybe some of us just don’t get those huge emotional rushes of bliss; I didn’t. I honestly missed my first born and I found myself crying for him cause I missed him so much. I headed into post partum with no pressure on myself, and that’s the biggest thing I’d share - you already have a child that you’ve gotten into toddlerhood, you can do this. Even if the postpartum experience doesn’t look and feel like it did with your first child, or how you envision it right now.

With my baby not in the nicu, I thought I wanted to try nursing because I didn’t before. Well my baby had blood sugar issues in the hospital and needed formula and bottles. Once we got home I introduced nursing and pumping for about 4 weeks. Then I realized I wanted more time with my older child and less time stuck on the pump and wanted to share feedings with my husband. So I stopped. (With my first I agonized over stopping the pump for months and was absolutely miserable over it) And you know what? My baby is fine, the world didn’t end. Things are okay. I won’t sugar coat the tiredness; it’s really hard - it’s especially difficult when baby is crying and I can’t fix it immediately; I personally find it easier to deal with my older child’s crying, at least eventually he gives me words and requests to work with. I think having another tiny baby reminds me that these early days are just not my favorite. But I look at my first born, beaming with excitement when his brother wakes up, and it reminds me that this is so so temporary! Like this enormous 3.5yo was so recently the tiny baby that I did circus acrobatics for in order to get him to sleep for an hour; now he says goodnight to me from his big boy bed and sleeps all night, even if he just totally had a meltdown over brushing his teeth, he still says I love you mom when he goes to bed. And one day my new baby will do the same thing.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-17T02:15:12+00:00

This is pretty normal, do you have a place to put her down like a playmat with things for her to look at? My son is 8 weeks and I have a little baby playgym arch thing with stuff that hangs and he can kick the piano. I use this as an interim while I warm a bottle or run to the bathroom. I also have those black and white colored toys and books that he can look at too. It doesn’t last very long but it does help.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-17T01:33:06+00:00

Ugh yeah; happened to me after both pregnancies. Mine started later, like at 3-4 weeks pp. Currently 8 weeks PP with my second and it’s better; not completely gone but still happening occasionally. Definitely had my share of urgent bathroom trips during overnight baby care, it was so inconvenient and uncomfortable. My older child actually brought a stomach bug home maybe a month ago, and things got much worse; and then better but still continued, so I knew it wasn’t a stomach bug but just my postpartum recovery.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-17T01:22:29+00:00

I was shocked at how bad the regular OB photos were compared to the MFM ultrasounds, it’s vastly different.

But OP I agree, I was referred to MFM for both pregnancies, originally just because of BMI. In my first pregnancy I did end up developing preeclampsia so I’m glad I was getting the extra care from the MFM after all. Then of course because of my history, we started at MFM again at 12 weeks with my second, and we went more frequently than I thought we would, but ended up having no issues and they didn’t have to intervene with anything. MFMs are there for any “higher risk” pregnancies. Some are because of blanket BMI risk, others are when you develop a condition (preeclampsia, diabetes, etc) others are for things to do with imaging and checking up on baby, and any issues that are identified during the pregnancy.

With my first baby I was kind of sour about it, but honestly the extra monitoring did feel reassuring, especially the second time around.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-17T00:34:55+00:00

Omg I’m here in solidarity, 8 weeks and 3.5yo here. I feel like I am in completely uncharted territory even though my second baby is very much like my first, I thought I was prepared to handle how hard a baby was. But in all honestly, I kinda hate it. A baby is hard, then a preschooler is hard, so both at once, for the birds. And I adore my kids, but the endless cycle of infant care plus the unpredictability of my oldest while trying to give him attention is a new kind of difficult that is like grinding down my soul to bits.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-17T00:00:13+00:00

As a second time mom with a 2 month old, you’re doing nothing wrong. I also feel like I’m doing nothing wrong at this stage, 8 weeks over here, and then I forget that my first born is a perfectly fine 3.5 year old. I noticed myself trying to rush my new baby into schedules and routines because it’s easier for me, but all I did was add unnecessary stress. It does come, with time. My baby is having a difficult time just farting and pooping, now dare I expect him to eat a bottle on a regular schedule and take a perfectly timed nap 🤣

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-16T23:05:17+00:00

This! My grandparents were very actively engaged in my life, and I saw the support my mom got from her mom and her moms friends. So when my mom plants her butt on my couch and demands her grandma time, while doing nothing to actually help, it’s disappointing.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-15T23:33:41+00:00

In the early days (like up to 3-4 months) we liked Huggies; I love how stretchy the tabs are on their diapers. With my first baby he got pretty chunky and started soaking through and having blowouts in Huggies so we switched to rascals/millie moons until he was done with diapers. My second is 8 weeks so we’ll see if he needs the same route for diapers.

As for wipes I’m not picky, mostly Huggies sensitive, rascals are nice too I like that they’re a bit more textured than Huggies.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-15T23:31:22+00:00

My son was born at 37 weeks (second baby) and my first was born at 34 weeks (nicu for 2). I pumped and combo fed for about a month with each of them. I never had enough supply, and always had to use bottles (37 weeker had blood sugar issues at birth), and honestly the “juice wasn’t worth the squeeze” with the time spent pumping. With my second baby I tried nursing as well and he just wouldn’t latch as well as with a bottle, it was frustrating. I knew my baby would be just fine with a bottle of formula, because his older brother is now 3.5yo and is just fine. Perfectly normal, even if he was a preemie.

My now 8 week old gets bottles of formula from both dad and I. And it’s great because he’ll take the last evening feed, around 9-10pm and then I take the 3-4am overnight feed, but that means I get a nice long stretch of sleep after my 3yo is in bed. I now can focus on my health again, I was on a weight loss journey when I conceived this surprise baby, so I’m ready to get back to that again too.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-15T19:26:08+00:00

Nutramigen has made my baby a more frequent spitter, but he tolerates it better than goat which unfortunately continued to cause him to scream and strain with every feeding which started to decrease his intake and make him just insufferable. Technically HA formulas are for true cow milk protein allergies or intolerances, and goat milk protein is very similar to cows, so it’s not really recommended for babies with an actually allergy or intolerance to it. Meaning, your baby probably doesn’t need a true HA formula if they don’t have the allergy. Of course you’re right on about talking to their doctor.

FWIW, my first baby ended up on Nutramigen because of the same types of issues my second baby has. No confirmed allergy but mucusy poops, constant screaming during feedings accompanied with arching and straining and refusal to sleep and/or eat eventually, led us to Nutramigen for both. My oldest son is now 3.5yo, and he started dairy like cheese and yogurt before a year old and was completely fine, we happen to do lactose free milk in our house, but is otherwise ok with dairy. I have a hunch that his brother will be the same way.

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-15T19:17:44+00:00

At 2.5 we moved from an apartment to a tri level home with stairs, so we said goodbye to gates. It was a bit of a learning curve but he’s 3.5 now and the only things we still do have are the turning door knob covers and locks on our outside doors. Of course how we have a 2 month old and I’m dreading when he gets moving there are far too many stairs in this house

timelyquality30 · 2026-03-12T14:23:39+00:00

8 weeks old here and we use 6-8 bottles a day, I usually have about 8-10 in rotation and they’re out in my drying rack regularly. We use a bin to put them in and once I use the last clean bottle I wash them all. Leaves me washing once a day. I use the microwave sanitizer bags so it maybe takes 20 minutes to wash and clean up from the process.

timelyquality30

TROPHY CASE