Parenting Megathread - For Those Who Managed to Reproduce

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Not that you should TRY to get your kids sick, but they are going to be exposed to those things anyway when they go to school. It's better for them to get sick early and develop antibodies so they don't get hit all at once when they start school.
Daughter went back to school last week and I’m considering opening a betting pool with the other parents at work as to who gets sick first. It’s honestly stunning what a vector for infection school and daycare are.
One of my biggest fears is bringing some kind of bug home and my kid getting sick from it,
It’s a valid fear but trust me, your kids will get you sick way more than the reverse. And you just deal with it.
 
On the plus side, my baby is just chilling, being healthy as ever right now and doing completely fine. At the end of the day, that's the most important thing, but holy shit I cannot wait for this first trimester to be over.

Because of how much sicker I am this time around, I bet I'm having a girl (which would be wonderful, don't get me wrong). I've had so many moms that I know IRL tell me, "Oh, my pregnancies were a breeze until I became pregnant with a different gender." Even my own mother told me this. So ... We'll see.

I'm 2 for 2 in predicting my babies' genders! Just found out I'm having a girl, and she's looking really healthy. So excited. ❤️

Also, those "old wives tales" about gender prediction? Welp, as someone who has already had a boy and is now having a girl, I can say firsthand that not all of them are bullshit. A lot of them were very, very true for me!
 
I'm 2 for 2 in predicting my babies' genders! Just found out I'm having a girl, and she's looking really healthy. So excited. ❤️

Also, those "old wives tales" about gender prediction? Welp, as someone who has already had a boy and is now having a girl, I can say firsthand that not all of them are bullshit. A lot of them were very, very true for me!
Congratulations!
 
I'm 2 for 2 in predicting my babies' genders! Just found out I'm having a girl, and she's looking really healthy. So excited. ❤️

Also, those "old wives tales" about gender prediction? Welp, as someone who has already had a boy and is now having a girl, I can say firsthand that not all of them are bullshit. A lot of them were very, very true for me!
Congratulations, how exciting! How far along are you now?
 
My wife is a couple of weeks into her second trimester and I am grateful for this thread and all the positivity. I expect to be asking a lot of dumb questions over the next year or two.

I'll second the Facebook Marketplace thing...she got a book that had a big list of items you wouldn't have thought about needing, already made a registry, and is picking up things that are okay to buy used from it before sharing the registry with anyone.

No one tells you how fun it is to come up with really dumb names that sound close enough to being serious and get a response like, "Hmm...maybe that's more of a middle name."
 
I’m in a state of ever looming fear of my daughter needing glasses.
Blue light from electronics and non-incandescent lightbulbs, especially LEDs, buckbreaks the eyes hard, especially in the absence of the other wavelengths of the natural (sun's) spectrum. You need the entire frequency spectrum, from UV all the way to IR, and the timing also matters, because the sun's light changes throughout the day. Different wavelengths trigger different biochemical responses in the body when they hit the retina and penetrate the skin.

Since it's not realistic in the modern world for you or your child to be completely free of electronics, you need to do your best to mitigate the damage:
  • minimize the time spent watching screens (this one is obvious)
  • blue light blocking glasses
  • as much natural sunlight as possible through the day - watch the sun rise in the morning, watch it during the noon, watch it set in the evening
  • glass blocks the UV part of the spectrum - sunlight going through closed windows won't help
  • IR lamp in the computer room helps mitigate the damage
  • dehydration makes this worse (not an issue for children)
  • diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids (DHA specifically) helps - these are most abundant in cold water fish
If people were aware of even the fraction of damage artificial light (and other non-native frequencies of the EM spectrum) do to the biochemistry of not only our bodies but to all living things in general, Jewish blood would flow through the streets like a river.

It is recommended that the baby sleeps in the same room as at least one parent for the first 6 months of life to minimise the risk of SIDS.
If you want to minimize the risk of SIDS, do not vaccinate your child. If you absolutely have to vaccinate it for one reason or another, wait as long as you can. Wait until it's at least 6 months old, preferably even older.

Also, those "old wives tales" about gender prediction? Welp, as someone who has already had a boy and is now having a girl, I can say firsthand that not all of them are bullshit. A lot of them were very, very true for me!
It would be equal parts arrogant and ignorant to disregard the knowledge obtained from empirical observations made over centuries and millennia, just because there's no conventional explanation from contemporary science. There's at least a grain of truth in every piece of folk wisdom, no matter how absurd it may seen. Science is for fags, Jews, and redditors. A white man learns from Nature herself.
 
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My wife is a couple of weeks into her second trimester and I am grateful for this thread and all the positivity. I expect to be asking a lot of dumb questions over the next year or two.

I'll second the Facebook Marketplace thing...she got a book that had a big list of items you wouldn't have thought about needing, already made a registry, and is picking up things that are okay to buy used from it before sharing the registry with anyone.

No one tells you how fun it is to come up with really dumb names that sound close enough to being serious and get a response like, "Hmm...maybe that's more of a middle name."
Congratulations!

Sounds like your wife is starting her "nesting phase," which is seriously one of the most fun and exciting parts about pregnancy.
 
My wife is a couple of weeks into her second trimester and I am grateful for this thread and all the positivity. I expect to be asking a lot of dumb questions over the next year or two.

I'll second the Facebook Marketplace thing...she got a book that had a big list of items you wouldn't have thought about needing, already made a registry, and is picking up things that are okay to buy used from it before sharing the registry with anyone.
Places like Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, Once Upon a Child are also good if you're okay with used items. I got a rocking bassinet that both of my daughters slept in from birth to 6 months until they moved to a crib for maybe 20% of retail price. Once your baby starts growing out of the onesies, these places are great for clothes that the kid is just going to outgrow in a few months anyway. Plus you can bring it back to resell once they've outgrown it if they haven't destroyed it. Also good for clothes that your in-laws buy for the kiddo that are already too small.

Yard/Garage/Tag sales can be great too.
 
I've found that breastfeeding really sucks (still am doing it.) But the timetable they want you on for it is basically unmanageable. They said my baby should nurse for a half hour to an hour then I need to pump for a half hour while shes asleep, if she's asleep from it if not oh well deal with a wiggly baby who smells milk and doesn't understand why your not pumping directly into her mouth. Then do it again two hours later because she needs to eat every two hours. If I stuck to that schedule I would have gone absolutely insane. So I supplement with formula at night so the husband can feed her and mom can sleep. Because the lack of sleep dramatically affects milk supply.

My one close mom friend only breast feed and she basically lost her mind. By month 7 she was having full blown sobbing fits every day worrying about her milk supply. After seeing that I thought formula was made for a reason. By month 9 she started to supplement with formula and hasn't pumped in over a years time and just let's the kiddo eat from the breast when needed.

So many people tried to sell me on it as this magical bonding experience and that it would do wonders for my baby and I's relationship. I love her just as much when she's on my boob or when I'm bottle feeding her. If you feel you aren't bonding with your baby there may be an underlying issue that breastfeeding will not solve.
 
I've found that breastfeeding really sucks (still am doing it.) But the timetable they want you on for it is basically unmanageable. They said my baby should nurse for a half hour to an hour then I need to pump for a half hour while shes asleep, if she's asleep from it if not oh well deal with a wiggly baby who smells milk and doesn't understand why your not pumping directly into her mouth. Then do it again two hours later because she needs to eat every two hours. If I stuck to that schedule I would have gone absolutely insane. So I supplement with formula at night so the husband can feed her and mom can sleep. Because the lack of sleep dramatically affects milk supply.

My one close mom friend only breast feed and she basically lost her mind. By month 7 she was having full blown sobbing fits every day worrying about her milk supply. After seeing that I thought formula was made for a reason. By month 9 she started to supplement with formula and hasn't pumped in over a years time and just let's the kiddo eat from the breast when needed.

So many people tried to sell me on it as this magical bonding experience and that it would do wonders for my baby and I's relationship. I love her just as much when she's on my boob or when I'm bottle feeding her. If you feel you aren't bonding with your baby there may be an underlying issue that breastfeeding will not solve.
This is something we've been discussing at home for our soon to be born baby. The only real advantage we could come up with is breastmilk is free, which with the cost of raising a child these days is a pretty big advantage.
 
This is something we've been discussing at home for our soon to be born baby. The only real advantage we could come up with is breastmilk is free, which with the cost of raising a child these days is a pretty big advantage.
That's also a big reason we chose to. Then she was a premie and needed the extra goodness from the colostrum to put on weight. But be prepared for the unexpected. At 9 weeks I needed to have an unexpected surgery and couldn't breastfeed for 24 hours until everything was out of my system.

The powdered stuff lasts for a long time and we were grateful we had it especially for that day because it's hard to get a back up supply of milk because the babies stomach grows so quickly those first few weeks. At least it was for me I'm sure some women over produce, just like some women underproduce.
 
Every parent fears that their kid will become the same fuck up as them. Don't let it a hyper fixation of the relationship. They don't need to grow to be afraid only of what they could be.
I needed to hear this. Thank you, fren.

I’m past it now, but it really felt like my 3/4 year old was actually deliberately being mean to me, and it really sucked to feel that the only path forward was to kiss the ass of someone who was mistreating me. I knew that this was an absolutely insane thing to think, and I was able to let it go in the moment. There’s nothing about my childhood that would lead to this kind of thought pattern - my parents are emotionally healthy, sensible people. To anyone who’s going through a tough phase - you have to just eat it sometimes. It’ll pass.
 
I needed to hear this. Thank you, fren.

I’m past it now, but it really felt like my 3/4 year old was actually deliberately being mean to me, and it really sucked to feel that the only path forward was to kiss the ass of someone who was mistreating me. I knew that this was an absolutely insane thing to think, and I was able to let it go in the moment. There’s nothing about my childhood that would lead to this kind of thought pattern - my parents are emotionally healthy, sensible people. To anyone who’s going through a tough phase - you have to just eat it sometimes. It’ll pass.
Honestly talking to my parents and hearing about their frustrations with raising me and my siblings as a kid, and how they felt and dealt with it helped a bit. I always saw my parents as having it together as a kid, but now that I’m in their place, it’s kind of comforting having a glass of wine with my mother and hearing her talk about how hard it was on her. When growing up I had no idea, hearing it from someone who managed to end up with functional, well adjusted kids is good.
 
Is it really that bad? With private school so expense it would seem, perhaps overly optimistic, to me that there would be good public schools depending on the county/state/country you're in.
It's heavily dependent on area, I noticed our school in my area is still very conservative, they're not LGBTP crap and they are all older teachers, but the bigger town over in another area is complete opposite.
 
Just heads up to you new parents, sleep regression is very real, and it's extremely stressful, but it will get better. Also there no guide on how to raise a kid, alot of it guessing and experiencing, and first few months are toughest, you'll be experience alot and it's okay to leave the room and calm down, a baby crying for few minutes longer is better then abusing it out frustration.
 
Somehow, our baby is crazy agreeable and totally sleeps through the night - from 1.5 months old till now, at 1 year old. Been waiting for the hammer to drop and for the sleepless nights to come, but amazingly, it's been evaded entirely so far. It felt so "too good to be true" that I was starting to think "Maybe this indicates a problem??". But nope, he's normal or ahead on every development milestone, just naps less often during the day and gets it all in at night. We've only been woken up by this baby 5 or 6 times total, and each time seems to have been a bad dream/night terror, which was pretty easily resolved. Now we're debating if we want to chance a second, but then again, there's no way in hell we'll get so lucky a second time...
 
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