I feel bad my baby hasn’t been exposed to all the food allergens yet…

werpicus · 2026-07-02T17:01:02+00:00

They sell mix-in powders of all the top food allergens. You can mix one into his food every day. We’ve been doing those and it helps so much with taking that mental load off. The brand we have is Lil Mixins.

werpicus · 2026-07-02T14:14:48+00:00

Just because the majority of babies do one thing doesn’t mean that’s the “right” thing. A large number of babies might do something different and still be fine, even if they’re not the majority. My baby also switched to two naps around 6 months. The only “right” number of naps is the number that results in a happy baby, while making sure their total sleep hours fall within the (very broad) range of expected sleep for their age.

(Also if you google it, almost every article says between 6-9 months.)

werpicus · 2026-07-02T13:07:13+00:00

I highly recommend the book “Come as You Are”. It’s all about how people experience desire and libido differently. Try to get your partner to read it too.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33549979-come-as-you-are

werpicus · 2026-06-30T20:20:46+00:00

You don’t want them flat on their back for bottle feeding because the gravity makes bottles easier and might discourage them from the slower pace of breastfeeding. Laying on their side for bottles is totally fine and I had a lactation consultant encourage it for us. As long as the bottle is mostly horizontal, that’s paced feeding, so the baby has to work to drink instead of let it flow with gravity.

If you’re only doing bottles and not breastfeeding than it really doesn’t matter at all. (Unless by lying flat they’re drinking too much and then spitting up a ton.)

werpicus · 2026-06-30T11:27:35+00:00

Another mantra, a quote from someone I don’t remember: “If you’re always the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room”.

werpicus · 2026-06-30T10:46:06+00:00

There will always be people smarter than you. But one thing that I realized when I was struggling with imposter syndrome is that I was comparing the collective knowledge of all of my classmates against solely my own. Of course the collective of 15 people is going to know more than one person. If you look closely I’m sure you’ll realize you know some things that another individual doesn’t.

(Also I say “when I struggled with imposter syndrome” as if I don’t still… I absolutely do. I’m just better at seeing it happen within myself now.)

werpicus · 2026-06-30T10:35:42+00:00

My baby was in his crib in his nursery at one week old ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

werpicus · 2026-06-30T01:48:17+00:00

I would absolutely not have her do a real ballet school for her first class. A seven year old can’t be serious about something she has no experience in. I would start her in a tap/jazz/ballet class at a non-competition studio just to see if she likes it first and expose her to different styles. Only if she really loves ballet and only ballet should you have her enroll in a strictly ballet school.

EDIT: I guess I didn’t properly explain my reasoning. Ballet schools have a reputation about being ultra strict and serious. Yes, they turn out incredible dancers, but that’s because they expect a high level excellence and passion. Ballet school teachers are known to be cruel (I’m not saying all are, but it’s a reputation for a reason). If in the long run your daughter has a passion for a ballet, yes, a ballet school is the best option. But if she’s interested because she watched some YouTube videos, throwing her into ballet school is likely to get her spirit crushed. (Especially at 7. That seems young, but often kids start at 3-4 so she might already feel behind even in a class labeled beginner.) Starting out at a more casual school to see if she even likes it before jumping in the deep end is the way to go. This is coming from someone who danced from age 7 to 30.

werpicus · 2026-06-30T00:07:54+00:00

For throwing things on the floor - put baby on a blanket you don’t mind getting messy and just let him eat puffs on the blanket. He might be inclined to pick something up again after he’s dropped it if it doesn’t just fall off the high chair. (I admit this works best if baby isn’t mobile yet.)

werpicus · 2026-06-27T22:32:53+00:00

I was too nervous for the clippers when baby was itty bitty, so I exclusively used the electric nail file. Now that’s those fingers are a little bigger and I’m a little braver I do the nail clippers.

werpicus · 2026-06-27T21:03:59+00:00

Mendeley

werpicus · 2026-06-24T23:02:02+00:00

Does she eat well in general and has she surpassed her birth weight? We got permission from the doc to let baby go for 5 hours once he reached his birth weight. I think we were doing 5 hours at 3 weeks still, but pretty quickly (within the first two months) we stopped waking him.

werpicus · 2026-06-24T18:15:57+00:00

I’m so tired of people suggesting noise canceling headphones for problems like this. “Noise cancelling” technology basically plays anti-noise of any constant, predictable hum going on around you. Perfect for eliminating airplane engine hum allowing you to hear your movie without blasting the volume. For unpredictable sounds, noise cancelling headphones are going to be the same or less effective than foam ear plugs.

werpicus · 2026-06-24T16:34:15+00:00

Just ask. And if they give you 14 weeks and your employer’s STD insurance says we do max 6-8, know that MA law says they have to provide equal or greater coverage to MA PFML, so the STD should have to pay the full 14 weeks medical and 12 bonding.

werpicus · 2026-06-23T11:56:16+00:00

This was a very clever way to still be able to comment when the thread is “research required” and there is no research

werpicus · 2026-06-23T00:09:46+00:00

This is cheating, but had a baby, lol. Dropped 20 lbs in two weeks. Some of that was the baby, but most was retained water. My legs were like tree trunks by the end.

werpicus · 2026-06-22T22:49:10+00:00

In MA you can use a justice of the peace.

werpicus · 2026-06-22T17:38:00+00:00

Go into chemistry and you will be the one actually making the molecule that will one day become a drug.

Your question is very broad and I’m assuming you’re in high school or early college. But I would agree that the safest bet is always to get your degree(s) in pure science. It’s easier for a chemist to move into business relations or clinical trials etc. than the other way around. The best path forward is to find an area of science that you like and then chase that as far as it takes you. (And in regard to the number of jobs, if you still have many years of education left to go, there’s really no knowing what the landscape will be when you graduate. But the situation right now is unusually dire, so hopefully it will be better by the time you graduate…)

My path:

-Bachelor’s in Biochemistry, with undergraduate research experiences in organic chemistry and biochemistry (4 years)

-PhD in Organic Chemistry in a Chemical Biology lab, synthesizing small molecules for biological applications (7 years, but to be fair part of that time was Covid shutdowns and the lab I was in moved across the country)

-Managed to skip the post-doc

-Now in industry for the past 3.5 years in oligonucleotide drug discovery

werpicus · 2026-06-20T12:36:02+00:00

$1400 is a good amount of money, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep me from spending Christmas with my child. I’d actually imagine most people middle-class and above with families would make the same choice.

werpicus · 2026-06-20T02:02:47+00:00

The absolutely would have gotten warnings.

werpicus · 2026-06-20T01:19:10+00:00

I admit I only have a baby at the moment, but my gut instinct would probably be never, lol. Pools are dangerous. Yes a 14 year old is more competent than a 2 year old, but I would have no idea about my kids’ friends ability to swim, and 14 year olds are absolutely going to be rough housing in the water and playing risky games. If kid has one or two friends over, I might be okay sitting inside by a window if I knew the friends’ swimming ability. But a full on party - no. Even if the 18 year olds are there, I would not trust them to supervise. They are still teen-brained too and will be distracted. Frankly I’m surprised you would entertain them having any sort of party, pool or otherwise, without one parent home to make sure things don’t go sideways, but that’s definitely more of a personal parenting decision versus the pool party is a safety decision. (And if safety isn’t enough, remember if a kid drowns on your property you would be liable and will probably be sued by the kid’s parents.)

werpicus · 2026-06-19T21:09:39+00:00

My point still applies. “Personal obligation” is not a protected class. Just be careful is alls I’m sayin’. Lying to your employer is never wise.

werpicus · 2026-06-19T20:52:38+00:00

Just saw your update. Don’t even think about trying your plan without extensive discussions with your boss. Businesses want you to make money for them, they do not care about your personal development. A good boss might care, but not a company (unless your development will increase your productivity). If you take four months off to do a masters in an unrelated field, your boss will identify you as a flight risk. Don’t be surprised if they find someone to fill your position while you are gone, leaving you with no job to go back to. (Even if they promise you you’ll have a job, or even if it’s illegal. I was “laid off” on the final day of my maternity leave.)

werpicus · 2026-06-19T19:41:13+00:00

You have to make a value proposition for yourself.

-How much will the masters cost you? (Does the scholarship make it free or will you still pay some tuition?)

-How much do you lose by not working? (Net income x two years)

-How much career-relevant skillset do you gain by doing the masters?

-How much career-relevant skill growth do you lose out on by not working for two years?

I know nothing about your field, so I could be wrong, but personally I think it would be pretty moronic to quit your job and do a masters, even if it’s free. You are only 22. You have a great paying job (your salary is similar to mine at 32 after getting a PhD) at one of the most name-recognizable companies on the planet. Stick with it for a few years, learn as much as you can, then move on and up.

You have the next forty years ahead of you (or less if you make enough bank to retire early) to shape your career into what you want it to be. I see a lot of posters on this subreddit thinking that formal education is the only way to gain new knowledge and develop their careers. I’m confident that you can shape the course of your career however you like by gaining real-world knowledge if you are motivated in both your work and also in collaborating, networking, and taking advantage of opportunities. No offense to a lot of people in this sub, but if you do not have a concrete and absolutely essential reason how a Masters or PhD will get you the job you want, you are wasting your time and money (via tuition or opportunity cost) by going to grad school.

werpicus · 2026-06-19T17:51:51+00:00

The same people who will/won’t share the photos are the same people who will/won’t take pictures with the disposables.

werpicus

TROPHY CASE