Good read. I really liked the line about soliciting advice from second time parents.
Also: “We all came out like this. This is how it has always happened. Insane.“
… I was a C-section :P
Also: “We all came out like this. This is how it has always happened. Insane.“
… I was a C-section :P
Letting a baby fuss in their crib for 5-10 minutes won’t kill them if you need to take a shit.
Start feeding them more than just milk/formula at 6-8 months.
They’re going to fall and hurt themselves a lot, kids bounce.
Kids feel your energy and reflect it like a mirror, and they hear fucking EVERYTHING you say when when you don’t see them.
Saying “no” is a good thing, kids actually crave structure, and rules create structure. And tantrums, see first point.
Always, always, always follow through. If you say “throw that again and I’m taking it” and you don’t take it, you’re setting yourself up for more testing of boundaries. Also, don’t make a threat you don’t mean.
I could probably write a book, if this was helpful I can keep going.
This feels out of place. What did you do the first time?
Apparently if you start early and have him try a lot of different stuff (especially potentially allergenic things like nuts), it causes less allergy problems later on.
It's worked very well for us, the kid loves it and feeding him is quite fun (although certainly messy!)
It's interesting to see how different it is depending on the country though!
Imagine there is a big meltdown because the child wants a snack. The parents are exhausted and you just need it to stop. You will have a strong interest in finding a quick short-term solution (ie. give the kid a snack) because it will produce immediate benefit (end the meltdown). But in the long term that may have side effects (e.g. the kid will expect snack at any time they want).
The long-term goal (eating schedule) has a high short term cost (meltdown will go longer and be harder) but often ends up paying off in a big way over time.
I wish I had paid more attention to that, but I don't want to be too hard on my old exhausted self :)
Nobody said it was going to be easy. They’re just venting after all. I just smile and nod.