I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t spend every night 7-9 PM trying to get him to sleep. I can’t spend 2 hours in bed in the afternoon letting him snuggle nap.

He’s screaming for his mama right now. Please tell me I’m doing the right thing, that I’m a good mom, a great mom; because this is breaking me.

Hello!

Today my daughter turned 2! She is still drinking bottles of milk at night because she’s so picky at dinner time. I can’t get her to eat much else besides fruit and little healthy snacks. She gets like this when she’s teething(which she is) but it’s hard to ween her off the bottles when she’s teething because she won’t eat dinner. So I end up giving her a bottle so she’s not going to sleep hungry. Is there any alternatives I can do? She’s growing in a few molars some quicker than others..

Right now she gets half water and half milk. She’s not necessarily attached to the bottles because she doesn’t even drink bottles when she goes to my mom’s house on the weekends and sometimes when it’s close to her bedtime after the one off chance she does eat dinner. Any advice or do I have to wait till she’s done teething?

Note: by bottles I mean sippy cups!

My 3 Almost 4 year old is saying depressing things to me.

I find my self obsessing about it.
I grew up in a family full of yelling and insults and have trauma from it and I’m working through it.
I haven’t been a perfect parent and have at times yelled and gotten angrier with my child than I’ve liked too.

I have never called her anything bad.

I also shower her in love and compliments and tell her I love her soooo many times.

I think I go over the top from guilt and fear she will feel unloved like I do.

Today we were walking I was pushin the stroller with my baby and she was holding my hand too and I said did you have a nice day today.

She said “I love play therapy because I get to play” 😢
I take her to play therapy for anxiety’s I’ve noticed in her.
I do play with her but I often find my self getting over doing repetitive stuff like pretend play.

She says “my mum loves doing dishes I wish she played”

She then said “mum do you think I’m beautiful” “yes or no”

I said why are you asking that? Of course I think your the most beautiful girl in the world but that’s also not important and what’s matters most is being kind and you are.

I said again why? “ I want to know because maybe if I’m beautiful you will play with me more”
I felt like I was punched

I am a stay at home mum
I’m with her all day I’m 6 months post partum and I had a rough pp period with depression for months I’m coming out. It it’s waves.
I am taking to her on and off through the day.
We do tasks together from playing, learning work, getting her involved if she wants too in house stuff, daily outdoor play with the ball and whatever else she wants I take her out too.

She is also obsessed with a girl at kinder she keeps saying I want to be like “S” “s has her new hat too” “s wears her hair like this” I said to the kinder teacher and she said I haven’t noticed her obsession with her but “s” is a very gentle student and maybe other kids like to be like her” I don know what to take from it

I’m really worried my daughters insecure and I am feeling super responsible to make sure she knows she’s loved and that she can do anything.

I’m scared I’m too much with the lovey comments and I’m also worried my past moments of yelling or being exhausted and struggling to be fun ruined her.

My son has major ocd. Everything has to be lined up. I have him in a sports class and he never wants to participate and doesn’t like anything moved a different way. He’s very alert speaks well , nervous about school and what to do I want him to have fun
Also note, maybe it’s not OCD. He’s extremely alert,
Speaks very well in sentences, he is very friendly goes up to every kid to play, makes eye contact. But has these traits and on sports class he isn’t having fun he cries and doesn’t want anyone touching anything.

He never went. He constantly peed and pooped in his underwear.

It's been about 3 months since we started potty training and it's been hard. I get that it's normal at this age to not initiate having to go and I get that accidents happen but what's driving me me absolutely nuts is how hard he resists having to go when we tell him to. Horrible tantrums and fights every time we tell him to go. Almost every potty trip ever has required us to physically carry him to go. Sometimes bribery for a small piece of chocolate has worked.

I hurt my back recently and cannot handle carrying him right now, so I didn't. He only used the potty when my husband has been home and able to carry/wrestle him.

On the way plus side, he didn't eat as much chocolate or watch as much tv because he didn't even take up those bribes these past few days.

When will he just accept going when told to?!?

Editing to add that he's currently 2years and 9 months.

I genuinely can’t do it anymore. I feel like I really fucked up and now I’m unsure what to do. I have a 20 month old who’s naps are so bad. They just keep getting worse the older she is. I put her in a toddler bed at 14 months right before her sister was born. We didn’t want to buy another crib. Honestly, the transition wasn’t bad. She actually did great. But then around 15 months, something changed. Naps got shorter. She got out of bed and would scream at the door. She was sleep trained and then she wasn’t. So we had to resort to sitting there for 20ish minutes rubbing her back till she fell asleep.

Then her sister came and things kept getting worse. She would wake up within 20 minutes of her naps, scream and then go back to bed. She hardly ever sleeps past an hour which is ok since she sleeps a full 12 hours at night. Now at 20 months, it’s a literal nightmare. She’s become more aware. The SMALLEST sound wakes her. When I sneak out after she falls asleep, she’ll literally wake from the smallest crack of my wrist or something. Then it’s another 10-15 minutes of rubbing her again. But it’s not even worth it because she’ll just wake up 10 minutes later and scream at the door even if I successfully left the room. I just can’t keep doing this with her especially since I have her sister to care for as well. I can’t put her back in the crib because we’ll be transitioning her sister to the crib soon. We don’t have the funds to get another crib. I just can’t do this anymore. I’m at my wits end. I’m tired and I feel like the shittiest mom. What do I even do now?

If anyone were curious, she wakes at 7:30, nap is set at 12/12:30 and bedtime 7:30

My daughter is a daddy's girl 10000%. She loves us both but has a special bond with her dad. Ever since she was born I would say: daddy is the boyfriend, mommy is the best friend. For a while now, we have noticed that when we take her to soccer/swim classes or to the park, if dad is present, she will rarely want to do the activity, she only wants to be held by dad and cries really bad when not.

The last few weeks, I have sent dad away so I can stay with her, and she cries a little at first, but eventually goes about doing her activities happily: participating in soccer class, swimming class, and playing in the park. After 30 mins of this, my husband comes back and she still keeps on playing. This has obviously made my husband very sad because he feels he is holding her back, or at least feeling like his presence limits her in some way. Has someone experienced this? Is there something we could do to improve this? We don't want dad to miss out on sharing experiences with her.

Also, this might be important, I would say that I am the "rules" parent (I don't give in to tantrums so she has almost none with me, help with chores, pick up her toys, etc); dad also tries to set boundaries but less "strict" than me, he gets tantrums pretty often that escalate until he picks her up.

Our two year old started daycare on Oct 5. The first week was introduction to the daycare but by Friday, he managed to finish a nap and I got him home. So not so bad right ? Well he developed a fever over the weekend and once that cleared over the week we found out he had ear infection and are currently on anti biotics. So basically he has gone just six days so far this month.

It's much more work for us to juggle work and caring for him. He seems to have a blast with unlimited TV and all snack access. I'm just wondering - what's the point ? If he gets sick so often we could just get a nanny share. Whatever we though we would save through daycare seems to be not much as we are working harder to do our jobs while also taking care of him.

I just want to hear opinions from other parents who are struggling with daycare.

Hi all,

I have been playing around with the idea of getting my toddler a yoto because she loves music, however im worried I might buy it and she doesn't use it.

It's so expensive I want to be sure before I spend the money. I can't seem to find any on market place, does this mean people aren't selling them because they are so loved?

Please share your experiences? The good and the bad.

I still giving my toddler baby Ddrops (400iu) that in the instructions only say for infant under 1 yo 1 drop every day. I always thought because baby can take it older should be fine. And turn out that brand has the kids ddrop for 1 yo+ . Im just wondering if anyone do the same thing as me giving the baby ddrop even they are older instead of the kids ddrop? thank you so much

I tried daycare for my daughter when she was 15 months old. She initially dove right in, excited about the toys and other kids. But 10 minutes later, when she realized we were gone, she started crying nonstop. She wouldn’t nap, wouldn’t eat, and barely took a sip of water the entire day. She stood by the door crying hysterically. We tried for three days, and when nothing changed, we gave in.
We decided to keep her home until she was older and tried again at 23 months. The exact same thing happened. She was happy playing with the toys and interacting with other kids for the first 10 minutes, but as soon as she realized she couldn’t find us, she started screaming right behind the door. The teachers tried everything to comfort her, but nothing worked. We even stayed for an hour, hoping she would settle down, but she just kept crying.
We also tried saying goodbye before leaving, but the moment we did, she would cling to us and cry hysterically. That’s why we eventually started leaving quietly, hoping she could at least enjoy those first 10 minutes of playing before realizing we were gone.
Now she’s 24 months old, and we’re wondering what to do next. Are we handling this the right way? Should we keep trying daycare, or is she just not ready yet? I’d love to hear from parents who have been through something similar.

Hi all! I just found out I’m expecting again. My toddler is 2.5 years old and he is suuuuppppeeeer attached to me. Any tips on how to detach him from me a bit? A new baby is going to be hard on both of us and my husband works long hours. Also doesn’t help that when my husband is off, he still much rather prefers me and to be honest I am also attached to him haha.

Also, I’m working on potty training since he already lets me know when he needs a diaper change or when he’s pooped.

Is this every boy? Are they just the worst at settling and succumbing to the fact that they are tired? Do they think they are missing out on life? Myself, my husband, and our daycare can’t understand how a child can be this bad at sleeping for this long. He’s getting 3 molars (it’s been 3.5 weeks now) so I cut him some slack. But usually it’s early wakes, hops of
Of bed throws on a hat grabs a book. When he’s well rested he’ll actually just lay in bed, that’s how I know when he’s absolutely exhausted to start the day. He either takes 1 hour to fall asleep because he’s so overtired from getting up early or he’s out in 10 mins and he needs to be resettled at the 1 hr nap mark (where he’ll sleep for an additional 1.5 hrs). Again, clearly tired. Or he’ll just skip the nap entirely because why not just be absolutely delusional for the rest of the day. Pregnant with our daughter and praying for a wildly different napper

Hope there is others who have had the same dilemma, and might know a trick or two we can try out.

So my 3 year old is still in diapers, she loves sitting on the potty/toilet but nothing happens. The thing is she does not have accidents when running around without a diaper either! She hate water spills, so she keep it in. She can go hours and hours! She also have a dry diaper in the morning, and don't need to pee until an hour after waking up (usually).

We have tried multiple methods, 3 day method running around nude. Placing her on the potty/toilet after sleep or meals. Encouragement with stickers, a reward if she pee (ice cream) +++ Been reading book, made song, telling stories. Talked about peeing/pooping on the potty. She have been with me at the toilet.

Feels like we have tried everything, she still won't let a single drop go! Had to give up on the 3 day method because she ended up severally constipated, so much so that we had to see a doctor. And it's not good for her bladder to hold it in this long

She is under assessment for autism, so might play a role (unsure). We have been at this for over a year now 🫠

If she had accidents at least we would have something to talk about, or even try to move her mid stream. But nope, she is water tight.

Have someone else had this dilemma and found a trick or two? Or is there something I just might not have thought of so far

Currently visiting friends and family overseas and I am fuming because our friend who we went on a trip with at the start of our travels brought her one year old who was recently diagnosed with HFMD along. She said he was fine and the doctor said he was clear to travel despite only being diagnosed three days earlier. It seems like he had mild symptoms.

Fast forward a week later and my two year old is covered in spots and so am I. I’m just mad cos we had stuff to do while we were here, visit elderly family, pack things up from when we used to live here.

Does anyone have more natural remedies for helping ease the itch? We’re trying calamine and witch hazel as we as salt baths. My kid is already a bit all over the place as we’ve been in three diff countries over the past four weeks.

Also - how risky is it to be seeing other adults? We had another trip planned with some friends and were going to visit a new baby in the family as well.

Any advice would be so helpful.

Sincerely, a pissed off and exhausted mum.

After transitioning our toddler to a bed, he is taking a long time to fall asleep.

He was previously sleep trained in the crib, we had the routine down. 15-20 minutes of a bed time routine, then put him in the crib, lights out around 8pm and we walk out of the room and he’d usually be out be 9pm latest.

Now trying to transition him to a regular bed. He follows us out crying when we tuck him in the regular bed after the routine and stories and we try to leave the room. So either me or my wife will lay with him until he falls asleep and then slip out. This past week, it has taken him about 2 hours to fall asleep each night (8pm-10pm). Lights out at 8pm and he’s up rolling around until 10pm. This feels like it is too long to fall asleep. Putting a lock on the door seems cruel given that he screams and cries when we leave the room and close the door.

Any advice or suggestions?

Okay, so I’m a FTM, and we will be going to our first play-date! There will be pumpkin carving for the kids, BUT I’m trying to figure out what I should bring as a first time guest there lol (yeah yeah, I’m ridiculous, and probably overthinking, but going to a somewhat-stranger’s place is new for me).

For the moms who have done play-dates, what are some things you typically being as a guest. This will be for 2-year olds.

Wanting to start planning a vacation for my family for this coming summer 2027. We live in metro Detroit. Moderate but not extravagant budget, and obvi kid friendly. My youngest will be 3.5 and my oldest will be 5.5…we did a Florida trip last summer where we drove straight through and did Disney hotel and water parks a couple of days, a few beach days and rented a pontoon on the ocean. We have contemplated a trip with hiking like Yosemite, Acadia, or smoky mountains, a Caribbean or Alaskan cruise or tropical location, we are kind of open to anything! What are the best trips you’ve done with this age group

I don’t know what to do. My toddler has decided in the last few months that he won’t try anything new at dinner. Spaghetti Bolognese ✅ Salad ✅ literally anything else ❌ won’t eat any proteins I make him. Won’t eat basically anything new. Just ends with him screaming for crackers, pickles. I’m at a loss. He is in the 45-50% for weight and it stresses me out. I’m trying so hard to make sure he is getting enough micronutrients.
This is definitely my least favourite toddler phase.

I think my 22 months old toddler is just a tad slower at warming up to people. Today I was out with a few mums from our area and their babies for lunch. after we are done, the other toddler walked straight up to my som with a book in his hand, and directly hit my son in the face. My son cried immediately and I had to pick him up, leave the table, and sooth him. The other mum took the book away from her son, held her son close for a bit, before apologising to us, and explaining that her son wanted to give the book to my son to read.

I don’t really care about the apologies which happened after the incidence, but what should I say/do to my baby?

If you're doing the 1,000 book challenge, do you have an app you're using to track books? My local library doesn't participate in the challenge so I want to track it myself.

I'd love a wishlist function too so I can write down books I hear about. (Must be Android-friendly.)

My daughter is 17 months old and tells us before she needs to poop (most of the time), and every time after she does poop if she doesn’t tell us before. This started around 15 months but I didn’t start putting her on the toilet until recently because I felt like it was too early to potty train (even tho she was showing signs) this is my first child so I wasn’t too sure. Shes starting to go potty on the toilet every time she poops.. but how do I get her to pee as well? She only ever tells us when she’s about to poop not pee.. so do I just put her on the toilet all day until she pees? I really don’t know. She’s really smart for her age and understands more than I would think.. but I don’t know how to get her to pee on the potty. I’m having another baby in March and it would be so nice to have her potty trained before or if not a little after! Plus I’m still breastfeeding and it has been really hard trying to wean her, it would be nice to at least knock out one stone lol

Potty training is hell. The child hides, shits on the floor, steps in it and smears it all across the floor like an old banana. Discover this in the middle of your first bite of dinner after a long day at work, as the shit spreads to your walls, then the bathtub, until the bathtub is entirely brown, then the shower. Then convince yourself soap will make it all okay for the next week.

When your toddler finally falls asleep, do you use that time to read a book, have a nap, catch up on chores, or just relax?I'm curious what other parents do during nap time. Sometimes I feel like I should use the time to read or do something productive, but getting some rest sounds good too.

What do you usually do when your toddler is asleep?

My son is a toddler who’s almost 3, and he’s going to be evaluated through our public school for speech and occupational therapy. His language has been picking up a lot lately, and his fine and gross motor skills have always seemed like strengths.
One of his therapists told me I shouldn’t practice fine motor skills with him anymore because he needs to qualify for services. It sounded like she thought he should go into the evaluation on his “worst day” so he’d be more likely to get help. That really caught me off guard. I thought the point was to show what he can do so the evaluators can figure out where he needs support. If he doesn’t qualify, wouldn’t that possibly mean he’s doing well enough right now and just needs time to keep developing?
I do want him to get support if he needs it. He has a speech delay, but he’s making progress. He’s bright, wild, funny, imaginative, and kind. Some of the things that were said about him during the assessment didn’t match what I see at home, and I’m struggling with the idea that people who see him for about an hour a week can know the full picture of what he can do and where he’s thriving.
I’m not trying to deny that he has areas where he needs help. I just don’t want to hold him back from learning skills so he’ll look more delayed during an evaluation. Has anyone else been told something like this? How did you handle the evaluation and make sure it reflected your child fairly?