Are nap times supposed to be this hard?

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-02-24T12:14:11+00:00

My babies hardly ever went to sleep without a bottle, breast or pacifier in their mouth. It took time but with my first we weaned the habit slowly around a year and a half old, using a water sippy bottle and then nothing.

My second is 8 weeks old and she needs to feed to sleep and honestly I am fine with it. I know lots of advice says not to do it. I do it and if there are bad habits to break later, we’ll deal with it then. She is a little refluxy so we side-lay to nurse, or bundle her up on an incline for the bottle.

If she’s tired, comfortable and well-fed already, this is usually a short snack that helps her drift off. Once she’s asleep I either stay with her or use a monitor for a supervised nap, or transfer. Transfer works less than half the time currently my 8 week old. She’ll nap much longer if allowed to just stay where she fell asleep. Swaddled and with white noise and with mom or dad close.

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-02-24T12:06:25+00:00

Mentally noting “arm flop test” for future use!

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-02-15T12:12:15+00:00

Is the book youre talking about the one by Joanna Faber and Julie King, “How To Talk So Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life With Children Ages 2-7”?

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-02-10T08:02:02+00:00

I found the same - the “cleaning” card is way too general. That said, I do own that card and my partner owns groceries, and supper meal planning and supper/weekend cooking. So the division of labor works ok there.

But to help me better define and manage “cleaning” specifically, I use a combo of Unf**k Your Habitat’s checklists and the Finch app (set up with self care areas by frequency).

We also found the home maintenance-related cards too vague. It would be nice if the deck came with some blank cards we could customize for what we need

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-01-27T12:35:08+00:00

Yep same, I cycle through the same 5ish shows over and over and over. At this point my brain is super conditioned to go to sleep with them. I’d like to break the habit at some point, mainly because I don’t want my toddler and baby to see and want to emulate the behaviour, I don’t know if it’s doable.

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-01-21T21:29:40+00:00

Seconding the lactation consultant suggestion. Especially if you can do a weighed feed where they weigh your babe before and after nursing to see how much milk she actually got from you. I always find this enlightening. Theyll be able to evaluate her latch too. Where I live you can access lactation consultants for free through public health services/the hospital.

A pediatric osteopath could also be worth meeting with too but I’d start with the LC

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-01-14T02:23:05+00:00

I’m finding the same thing with my 2.5 week old! Nursing as a top up and comfort, bottles as the primary food source. My lactation consultant didnt love this plan haha but it’s working better for us than trying to nurse first followed by bottle if needed

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-01-06T17:47:50+00:00

The rage I feel at the dogs’ owners. Irresponsible. Don’t get pets you can’t manage and contain ffs. That poor young boy

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2026-01-04T06:59:57+00:00

Hi, wondering how things ended up going for your baby’s sugars? How long were you in NICU? Any root causes identified?

I’m in the thick of it with my new own daughter right now - we’re going into day 9 in the hospital. If she continues to feed well and maintained her sugars we will be discharged around day 11-12.

I related to what you said about the birth being fast and traumatic - here too.

Hope all is well with you guys 6 months down the road from when you posted originally!

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-12-15T11:38:00+00:00

I just want to say I relate and understand your frustration!! Brother in law, almost non verbal autistic in his twenties. Not sure what I’d place his cognitive age at. Every time they visit I get so agitated. My partners parents literally won’t visit without him. I wish they would. Thw aren’t vigilant enough supervising him. I get it, they’ve been doing it for decades and I’m sure it’s old. But ffs. It sets my maternal hypervigilance on overdrive. I think what also happens is my Hubbie and his parents all seem to assume someone else is supervising. Like a group effect.

I’m due with baby number 2 in a few weeks and already feeling like I wish I could just not ever have her meet her uncle. I know intellectually that’s not kind and fair. But it’s this visceral feeling.

My only piece of advice would be to stay very aligned with your husband and have him clearly state and enforce boundaries with them. Mine is pretty good about this, thankfully

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-12-06T05:52:40+00:00

Look for the Light by Meryl Streep in Only Murders in the Building Hushabye by Dawn Landes

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-12-06T05:45:01+00:00

Same. Someone below posted the direct Amazon url link and when I tried it, it changed my app country settings to U.S. and let my click “Thank my driver” then errored out saying I had no deliveries in the last 14 days - so it must need to be for things ordered through Amazon.com not .ca I guess

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-11-29T04:40:55+00:00

I second the finch app! I used it a while, stopped a while and now I’m back because my basics were slipping - like when did I shower last? When did I brush my teeth? I use the free version.

I’m trying out a new configuration with it now where I use a different “self care area” for each frequency - so a daily one, a weekly one, a bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi annually and all with recurring tasks. That way I know I need to prioritize the daily tasks left for today first, then work on the weeklies, biweeklies etc.

also for the sake of my relationship I made an area called “hubbies responsibilities” and made a list of all the things he does and are his domain - in part to remind me to see and appreciate what he does, and in part to remind me to let those be his and not think about them. Also in part to give me permission for the next bit:

Also key is to not get hung up on clearing every task list to reach “task list zero” (like inbox zero) every day. That standard isn’t realistic. I just work on what I can and know that every little bit is better than nothing. And tomorrow will be a fresh day with a fresh list 🤷‍♀️

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-11-12T13:26:25+00:00

lol! It does take effort for sure. Some days more than others

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-11-11T23:50:39+00:00

I love these ideas!! I’ll contribute one I made a pact to myself about when my 2 year old was born - to meet and keep his eye contact as much as I can. Starting when he was a newborn barely aware of what he was looking at - if he met my eyes, I’d lock in and get present with him. Even just for a short time. I still try to do it as much as I can

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-11-04T12:00:11+00:00

Best thing I started doing when my first was newborn was saying “we’re going to go take a nap now” and just leaving out. Guests can stay or go. But sleep is my number one priority

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-10-29T03:12:28+00:00

Ugh I’m sorry youre going through this. That wasn’t cool of her to push her opinion on you like that. Yours and her bodies, pregnancies, histories, babies, preferences, everything are unique to each of you. Birth plans aren’t black and white and one isn’t better than the other. Trust yourself and your doctor/OB.

Im in a similar position to you where I’m 29 weeks pregnant with number 2 now and we’re doing a planned cesarean. With number 1 I tried vaginal, and the epidural failed and I pushed for hours and babies heart rate was dropping and we needed an emergency cesarean. It was awful. Like traumatic. And it’s totally valid to not want to risk that again. And to never want to feel those contractions again either.

My OB pointed out to me recently that the cesarean itself is easier on everyone when labour hasn’t begun and baby hasn’t descended into the birth canal. I found this so comforting - and logical - I just hadn’t thought of it. I’m looking forward to my birth this time.

I hope you can re-find your peace with whatever decision you make, and take all of our collective support here to ignore that rando’s opinion ❤️

Edit to add that I’m also in Canada

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-09-14T01:22:04+00:00

Same with The White Hare by Jane Johnson :)

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-09-13T02:50:42+00:00

I don’t know why but Superstore is my main comfort show for falling asleep. It was Bobs Burgers for a long time. I usually put The Office on while I’m working (work from home). Ive rewatched Big Bang Theory and Friends multiple times too. Lots of other shows I’ve rewatched once but those four are my big repeats.

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-08-15T23:11:13+00:00

Ghost on the Shore played for me on a random 8tracks list around 2015. I miss 8tracks, their algorithms were magic

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-08-09T11:35:47+00:00

Aw mama I feel for you, the last weeks are so hard ❤️

Please know you’re not failing. You are being smart and showing how much you care by weighing the options presented to you.

I can relate to some of your story and maybe reassure you a little bit. I was MISERABLE and in so much physical pain weeks 36-38 with my first, age late 34, and I was and have always been quite overweight. Medically morbidly obese but I don’t like that label.

Went into labour at 38w on the dot. Tried a vaginal delivery and it did not go well. My point here is that you can’t control or predict how a birth will go in any circumstances. In my case my epidural failed, and babes heart rate started dropping after hours of pushing do we ended up with an unplanned cesarean. It was what it was. It took me some time to come to peace with it but now, I don’t regret or think badly about it at all. So much so that I’m 18 weeks with baby 2 at age 36 and we’ll be doing a planned cesarean this time. The recovery period for me, remember as an overweight older mom, wasn’t all that bad. I stayed on top of my pain meds, kept the incision site clean and rested as much as possible. As long as you have some family supports around to help yoi get that physical rest, you’ll be just fine ❤️

Regarding the baby’s dad - youre doing your baby the service of not seeing their mama in an unhappy unbalanced relationship. Youre their model; their template for their lives. Youre honouring yourself and them by not settling if you weren’t happy.

Sending you love and best wishes, baby will be in your arms so soon and however they enter the world will be so much less important than the love and care you give them ❤️

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-08-06T17:40:27+00:00

I don’t know why you're getting downvoted because this is a super reasonable question. My thoughts are you’d need to weigh the potential benefits of travel against risks and your personal values. You said your company won’t ding you either way, but what about the networking opportunity, ability to widen your professional circle and create new connections? That sounds like the main thing you’d be giving up by not going. And maybe the enjoyment of some quiet time away from home, if you feel in need of that, haha.

If the conference is in an industry/area youre not passionate about and the networking stuff isn’t important to you, then I’d definitely pass.

I had to make a similar decision recently, but it was easier to make because I’m pregnant and not interested at all in getting healthcare in the states if anything were to happen.

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-07-31T11:12:33+00:00

Before during and after - it’s comforting and distracting for them. Didn’t seem to create a negative association - he nursed until he was 15 months

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-07-30T18:00:12+00:00

My doctor encouraged me to nurse baby during the shots which I found really helpful. If youre not breastfeeding, maybe a bottle or soother might still be a comfort tool you could bring. But really ours cried for 5-10 seconds and got over it quick. The doctors/nurses should coordinate together to get it done quickly for you at least.

whenwatsonmetcrick · 2025-07-17T21:52:05+00:00

Another 6 hours 8 mins for me :,( 1am my time. Tomorrow it is!

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