Surly Dad Thread

[Da Fino 2797]

Velcro swaddles and magnet onesies are pretty great.

[High Plains Drifter 11055]

 

2nd on the velcro swaddles. And the underspending on clothes. If you timed it right, some friends of you or your wife will have a kid who is a year or so older and you can get their hand me downs.

The Baby Clothes Industrial Complex is real.

 

And if you are having another in the next 30 years, keep everything.

 

 

[52-80 19277]

yall use this Owlet smartsock shit?

[Celery Man 21026]

Fuck that thing. I think I used it one night and I’m not sure it stayed on. The app is garbage and it would beep incessantly when not attached to the baby, which was always. I’m sure there was some user error in there but you’ll be making user errors as well. I’m mad at that thing though and I think it’s stupid but maybe someone somewhere has a story about how it alerted them to their kid not breathing.

I still do not regret the snoo, it’s magic although I’ll start paying for that over the next month when we wean her off.

 Get a decent stroller. I do a mile stroll with the baby and the big dog most nights pushing the mesa cruz and I am glad it is smooth/easy to push and easy to lock.

 Second what everyone said about clothes. She was in pajamas 90% off the time as a newborn.

[Mole 4336]

My wife really wanted the sock, so we used it pretty religiously for the first year. It went off two times in the middle of the night, which two times led to a panicked race to wake up a confused and annoyed kid.

Once the fit was right, it didn’t really fall off that much and it seemed to work pretty easily. I didn’t find it all that annoying 

It’s pretty expensive, but I guess it might be worth it if it helps a parent turn off that lizard brain fear that something terrible will happen in the night. If it brings a little more sanity into the house, it’s good; stay away if it seems like a source for more madness. I could see it going either way.

[F250 28944]

8 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

What else have I forgotten?

Probably a lot. I am constantly having those "Oh yeah, I forgot about that" moments with my kids.

[Celery Man 21026]

9 hours ago, Mole said:

My wife really wanted the sock, so we used it pretty religiously for the first year. It went off two times in the middle of the night, which two times led to a panicked race to wake up a confused and annoyed kid.

Once the fit was right, it didn’t really fall off that much and it seemed to work pretty easily. I didn’t find it all that annoying 

It’s pretty expensive, but I guess it might be worth it if it helps a parent turn off that lizard brain fear that something terrible will happen in the night. If it brings a little more sanity into the house, it’s good; stay away if it seems like a source for more madness. I could see it going either way.

Now I’m more annoyed

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4980]

17 hours ago, Etexhorn13 said:

The way you have to dress the circumcision (assuming you get that done) made diaper changing a little difficult for the first week or so. All that petroleum jelly and having to point the pecker upwards made my son piss through the top of all his diapers and soak all the clothes/swaddles he slept in early on. to that point, go ahead and buy several squeeze tubes of petroleum jelly ahead of time if he’s getting circumcised. 
 

Get lots of zip up swaddles, especially for at night - way way easier to deal with. we have one in particular they allows him to have his arms raised up by the side of his head that is his favorite, he hates keeping arms down by his side. Also, we had several gowns and they made diaper changing super easy as you just have to pull them up and not worry about taking them all the way off. 
 

we did the uppababy Mesa car seat/base - you can put a base in each car and just click the car seat in and out. The car seat also clicks into our stroller which is pretty clutch. 

get a shitload of newborn/1 diapers, you’ll fly through them. 
 

hatch noisemaker is great, you can adjust sounds/sound level and light color/brightness from your phone.

 

We didn't get our kids circumcised mainly because we were just too exhausted when the doctor came around and asked about it for our first son. We were pretty ambivalent about it beforehand, but figured the kids would ask why they don't look like daddy or whatever, so we prepaid for it. But when the doctor came around we were both like just let us sleep.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4980]

Also, as far as spending on clothes goes, don't buy a lot of day clothes, especially nicer stuff. Buy lots of pajamas. You can never have enough of those. You will constantly feel like you are running out if you don't. Babies have this weird ability to somehow get poop everywhere except their diaper no matter how well you put it on.

[McFly 606]

21 hours ago, 52-80 said:

yall use this Owlet smartsock shit?

Never took ours out of the box.  Think my wife sold it eventually bc it was too late to return.  She had to have it of course.

Have your wife check FB for a buy nothing group.  Mine got bags and bags of clothes for free.

[hookemATL 11976]

Buy nothing ftw. Works to get rid of shit when you are ready to purge as well. 

[Celery Man 21026]

Another thing that was just expensive enough to be super annoying but we use it constantly is the dock a tot. Basically a little dog bed for baby with bolstered sides - I think some people use them to even allow the baby to sleep in bed with them (not sure on the advisability of that) but we keep it downstairs (big space containing living room, kitchen, dinner table, her play area) and it moves around to wherever I might need to set her down for a second. If she's feeling charitable she'll chill out on it and watch me do chores. Honestly don't know what I'd do without that.

Among the weird things my wife sent me out to go get was this bottle of upholstery cleaner 

It took me a minute to find it at Home Depot - it was in a little stand next to the big stack of rugs. Because it is... carpet spot remover. But she must have found a recommendation for this as a clothes stain remover in some mom group and it fucking works. Sometimes I have to let it soak for a minute or run it a few times but it works.

[hookemATL 11976]

32 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Another thing that was just expensive enough to be super annoying but we use it constantly is the dock a tot. Basically a little dog bed for baby with bolstered sides - I think some people use them to even allow the baby to sleep in bed with them (not sure on the advisability of that) but we keep it downstairs (big space containing living room, kitchen, dinner table, her play area) and it moves around to wherever I might need to set her down for a second. If she's feeling charitable she'll chill out on it and watch me do chores. Honestly don't know what I'd do without that.

Among the weird things my wife sent me out to go get was this bottle of upholstery cleaner 

It took me a minute to find it at Home Depot - it was in a little stand next to the big stack of rugs. Because it is... carpet spot remover. But she must have found a recommendation for this as a clothes stain remover in some mom group and it fucking works. Sometimes I have to let it soak for a minute or run it a few times but it works.

This is a staple of my childhood. Does pretty good for carpet/upholstery but it’s a great spot stain remover for clothes. Even the tough blood stains from that drifter that you accidentally killed with your car.   You got rid of the body. And the evidence. But he’s still there. He’s. Still. There. 

[hookemATL 11976]

My daughter drew this for my wife. That’s me over there on the side. Her description was:  “mommy and I are having a nice meal and you are our butler. You see you have a hat on daddy?”

[next2naus 439]

On 9/20/2021 at 7:53 PM, Celery Man said:

the mom from coco melon could get it

skidda-marink a dinka doo

[next2naus 439]

On 10/7/2021 at 5:38 PM, 52-80 said:

yall use this Owlet smartsock shit?

100% unnecessary. As are the sleeping pads that do all those measurements as well. Another poster hit the nail with the Lizard Brain comment.

PJs: your kid will live in them and spend half their day in them up through almost age 5. If you wife washes laundry as much as mine, they will shrink, but extra. 

Little boys live in Athletic shorts, sweats, joggers. I cannot ge tmine to wear jeans anymore. Shirts with buttons? nope. 

[Etexhorn13 3054]

3 hours ago, Celery Man said:

Another thing that was just expensive enough to be super annoying but we use it constantly is the dock a tot. Basically a little dog bed for baby with bolstered sides - I think some people use them to even allow the baby to sleep in bed with them (not sure on the advisability of that) but we keep it downstairs (big space containing living room, kitchen, dinner table, her play area) and it moves around to wherever I might need to set her down for a second. If she's feeling charitable she'll chill out on it and watch me do chores. Honestly don't know what I'd do without that.

Among the weird things my wife sent me out to go get was this bottle of upholstery cleaner 

It took me a minute to find it at Home Depot - it was in a little stand next to the big stack of rugs. Because it is... carpet spot remover. But she must have found a recommendation for this as a clothes stain remover in some mom group and it fucking works. Sometimes I have to let it soak for a minute or run it a few times but it works.

We got some boppy lounger that apparently has a recall for safety reasons so my wife just bought one of these dock a tots… more expensive than other bed lounger type things but it’s already gotten a lot of use. Plus, you know, it hasn’t been recalled for infants dying in it. 

[hookemATL 11976]

Make sure to Get them baby/kid versions of the cool band shirts that you like. It’s important to impress other babies with their unique and wideranging musical interests. 

[Da Fino 2797]

6 minutes ago, Etexhorn13 said:

We got some boppy lounger that apparently has a recall for safety reasons so my wife just bought one of these dock a tots… more expensive than other bed lounger type things but it’s already gotten a lot of use. Plus, you know, it hasn’t been recalled for infants dying in it. 

I think dock a tot did too at some point. I didn't really care. They get cozy as hell in those things. 

[Celery Man 21026]

1 hour ago, hookemATL said:

Make sure to Get them baby/kid versions of the cool band shirts that you like. It’s important to impress other babies with their unique and wideranging musical interests. 

Rory responded to music with a solid bet especially super early. She’s wayy the fuck into The Clash and as you might imagine, that makes her very cool. Also big into Manu Chao. She’s started to respond to vocal harmony stuff though so I need to refresh the list.

 If any one has a good magic trick to keep her from rubbing her hair out in the ground/bed/dock a tot, etc I’m all ears. She’s got some hair man, but it’s all short in the back from getting rubbed off. We even have a silk cover for the dock a tot, which is bullshit (and I suspect her hair problem will get solved when she gets more mobile)

 

 

also I fucking love the vegimals

[hookemATL 11976]

Totally normal to have that bit have less hair, esp at that age. And you’re right, my almost 8 month old has been getting more and more mobile and I can tell her little patch is starting to fill in. 

[Brisketexan 105572]

3 hours ago, hookemATL said:

Make sure to Get them baby/kid versions of the cool band shirts that you like. It’s important to impress other babies with their unique and wideranging musical interests. 

Say what you will.....at 4 years old, my son looked like a fucking badass in his multiple Johnny Cash t-shirts.  Even taught him to do this:

[F250 28944]

For the baby bald spot.

 

 

 

 

or just wait until they can sit up and it will grow back.

[hookem2010 2645]

I'm scheduled to join the club for the first time on 6/11/22. We are just now 8 weeks, but initial US showed a strong heartbeat, so from what I can tell, miscarriage risk is now relatively low. We were not really trying, but it's amazing how quickly you get excited for something you didn't imagine happening anytime soon. I'll be 34 and she will be 31 when the baby is due, so now is as good a time as any.

[Modessit 5625]

I'm scheduled to join the club for the first time on 6/11/22. We are just now 8 weeks, but initial US showed a strong heartbeat, so from what I can tell, miscarriage risk is now relatively low. We were not really trying, but it's amazing how quickly you get excited for something you didn't imagine happening anytime soon. I'll be 34 and she will be 31 when the baby is due, so now is as good a time as any.

Good luck, but you wait until 12 weeks to tell people just to be safe.

And congrats!

[hookem2010 2645]

I know, haven't told friends or family yet. But just had to get it out somewhere.

[Modessit 5625]

I know, haven't told friends or family yet. But just had to get it out somewhere.

Understood. Just have her keep sugars and caffeine in check until her blood glucose test. Don't want gestational diabetes. Can end up with some big babies. We had that with our first and she was on a strict diet for the rest of the pregnancy. No problem on the 2nd.

Oh, and see if you can get her to bite on this:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10706945/#:~:text=The%20present%20study%20shows%20that,in%20the%20occurrence%20of%20preeclampsia.

[atomheartbevo 90053]

On 10/13/2021 at 2:30 PM, hookemATL said:

Make sure to Get them baby/kid versions of the cool band shirts that you like. It’s important to impress other babies with their unique and wideranging musical interests. 

Pink Floyd and David Bowie give them a lot of music credits.

[Celery Man 21026]

It’s not poser bullshit because she actually likes the Clash

Anyone have recommendations (or avoids) on stair gates?

[next2naus 439]

5 hours ago, Celery Man said:

It’s not poser bullshit because she actually likes the Clash

Anyone have recommendations (or avoids) on stair gates?

a ranch style house?

[Murfdogg21 4482]

12 hours ago, Celery Man said:

It’s not poser bullshit because she actually likes the Clash

Anyone have recommendations (or avoids) on stair gates?

Buy the dog version because the baby version of any product (like wedding things) adds a multiplier to the cost. 

[ocugolf 1215]

Tomorrow marks three years since we lost our daughter at 8 months due to an umbilical cord issue. It’s weird that we are beginning our first time with the fertility doctor on the date of our daughters passing. A lot of mixed emotions. Still so much baggage and trauma but yet so hopeful for the future. 

[hookemATL 11976]

Peace, love, and good luck to you and your wife. I wouldn’t wish something like that on my worst enemy. 

[hookemATL 11976]

On 10/31/2021 at 10:32 AM, Celery Man said:

It’s not poser bullshit because she actually likes the Clash

Anyone have recommendations (or avoids) on stair gates?

No recs but that’s a seriously adorable baby girl. Good job!

[Doc Reeves 6434]

On 10/31/2021 at 10:32 AM, Celery Man said:

It’s not poser bullshit because she actually likes the Clash

Anyone have recommendations (or avoids) on stair gates?

 

 

She’s gonna date a drummer. Good luck.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8916]

Tomorrow marks three years since we lost our daughter at 8 months due to an umbilical cord issue. It’s weird that we are beginning our first time with the fertility doctor on the date of our daughters passing. A lot of mixed emotions. Still so much baggage and trauma but yet so hopeful for the future. 

I remember this story, heartbreaking.

I hope you and your better half find great fortune. I know 2 couples that had troubles even after doing the fertility stuff. Then they suddenly each got pregnant about the same time and now each have 2 kids under 3 or 4YO. Second kid came with much less work/stress

[InkaUtexas 26352]

On 10/31/2021 at 10:32 AM, Celery Man said:

It’s not poser bullshit because she actually likes the Clash

Anyone have recommendations (or avoids) on stair gates?

Just got my kid (19) the Sandinista T Shirt she can rock in DC. 

[Bevo Num1 1060]

On 10/7/2021 at 7:58 PM, Celery Man said:

Fuck that thing. I think I used it one night and I’m not sure it stayed on. The app is garbage and it would beep incessantly when not attached to the baby, which was always. I’m sure there was some user error in there but you’ll be making user errors as well. I’m mad at that thing though and I think it’s stupid but maybe someone somewhere has a story about how it alerted them to their kid not breathing.

I still do not regret the snoo, it’s magic although I’ll start paying for that over the next month when we wean her off.

 Get a decent stroller. I do a mile stroll with the baby and the big dog most nights pushing the mesa cruz and I am glad it is smooth/easy to push and easy to lock.

 Second what everyone said about clothes. She was in pajamas 90% off the time as a newborn.

We bought an Owlet and had the same problem initially. The first week back home in my state of delirium, I put the damn thing on wrong several times. Had the damn Rockabye baby song going off in the middle of the night a few times and twice had low oxygen alerts which scared the absolute shit out of me and my wife. I eventually learned to put it on correctly and we use it every single night without issues. 

On 10/13/2021 at 1:42 PM, next2naus said:

100% unnecessary. As are the sleeping pads that do all those measurements as well. Another poster hit the nail with the Lizard Brain comment.

PJs: your kid will live in them and spend half their day in them up through almost age 5. If you wife washes laundry as much as mine, they will shrink, but extra. 

Little boys live in Athletic shorts, sweats, joggers. I cannot ge tmine to wear jeans anymore. Shirts with buttons? nope. 

I will agree with this statement. My daughter will be 4 months old next week and has been in pajamas about 95% of her life so far. I will also say fuck buttons and snaps. Two way zippers are the best thing, especially for those late night/early morning diaper changes. 

On 10/13/2021 at 4:38 PM, Celery Man said:

Rory responded to music with a solid bet especially super early. She’s wayy the fuck into The Clash and as you might imagine, that makes her very cool. Also big into Manu Chao. She’s started to respond to vocal harmony stuff though so I need to refresh the list.

 If any one has a good magic trick to keep her from rubbing her hair out in the ground/bed/dock a tot, etc I’m all ears. She’s got some hair man, but it’s all short in the back from getting rubbed off. We even have a silk cover for the dock a tot, which is bullshit (and I suspect her hair problem will get solved when she gets more mobile)

 

 

also I fucking love the vegimals

Giant bottle of ibuprofen ftw. I can relate. 

On 10/13/2021 at 5:45 PM, hookemATL said:

Totally normal to have that bit have less hair, esp at that age. And you’re right, my almost 8 month old has been getting more and more mobile and I can tell her little patch is starting to fill in. 

My daughter has a giant bald spot on the back of her head, too. Drives my wife nuts. I told her not to worry about it as it will fill in as she gets older and is able to sit up on her own more often. 

On 10/31/2021 at 10:32 AM, Celery Man said:

It’s not poser bullshit because she actually likes the Clash

Anyone have recommendations (or avoids) on stair gates?

I second the band shirts. I am looking forward to my daughter being a little older to fit into the RHCP onesie. 

 

[ocugolf 1215]

14 hours ago, hookemATL said:

Peace, love, and good luck to you and your wife. I wouldn’t wish something like that on my worst enemy. 

Thanks. When it happened, I don’t know why my initial reaction was to come vent here, where I know absolutely nobody. The care and support from total strangers makes this place special. 

[hookemATL 11976]

2 minutes ago, ocugolf said:

Thanks. When it happened, I don’t know why my initial reaction was to come vent here, where I know absolutely nobody. The care and support from total strangers makes this place special. 

We all need support as parents, and often times it helps to get it from folks we aren’t directly connected with. I don’t know you or your family, but my heart twinged with pain when I read your post and my eyes clouded up a bit. The fertility process is brutal even when it’s going well, so don’t hesitate to come here and let fly. We are here for you. 

[lazytexasfan 47]

dang, just found this thread. had a rough start to joining the club, but hopefully the worst is behind us.

kid was due first week of September. we hadn't even had a baby shower or registry or any of that shit together when wife's water broke in June at 29 weeks

in the hospital for 4 days at which point they diagnose wife with pre-eclampsia and noticed irregularities in baby's heartbeat each time wife had a contraction. end up doing an emergency c section when the baby was at 30 weeks because they didn't think he would make it otherwise

he spent 9 weeks in the nicu and has been home for 2 months now. honestly has been a pretty harrowing 4 months, but hoping for "normal" now

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4980]

Dang. I can't even imagine. Glad things are going better now.

[Etexhorn13 3054]

For @NoName and any of the other soon to be dads, I would recommend starting a playlist if you’re favorite “Rockabye Baby!” songs on Spotify, because you will inevitably need it for the car rides to get them to sleep… a man can only take so much white noise and shusher noise. Everything from the Beatles to Wu tang has lullaby covers by them. 
 

another thing… https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Shusher-Babies-Miracle-Soother/dp/B00D2JN87I/ref=asc_df_B00D2JN87I/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198101723026&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9259912645791127596&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027666&hvtargid=pla-358298711698&psc=1

get one for the diaper bag, one for the car, and one for the house… or just get one and keep it on your person at all times. You will become immune to the white noise eventually but this thing really works. 

[hookemATL 11976]

Rockabye Baby version of GNRs Sweet Child of Mine fucking slapsssssss. 

[Etexhorn13 3054]

1 minute ago, hookemATL said:

Rockabye Baby version of GNRs Sweet Child of Mine fucking slapsssssss. 

Lol, the best part is they kinda all do. Elton John’s covers are some bangers too. 

[atomheartbevo 90053]

51 minutes ago, Etexhorn13 said:

Lol, the best part is they kinda all do. Elton John’s covers are some bangers too. 

Lullaby versions of Pink Floyd are pretty solid.  Well, some of them get a little weird if you have the lyrics going in your head.

[Celery Man 21026]

Making a spotify playlist was one of the first things i did that made me really feel like a dad. That's probably weird but it was definitely true. I don't know if it's being a dad changing my feels or making a playlist sending me down a trail but I've also listened to a FUCK ton more... Petty, Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, I dunno that whole era of dad rock. Sky Blue Sky has crept in as a more frequent Wilco album. Baby seemed to really like songs with a strong beat early on - she still does, but she did too. I can get her down for a quick nap right now by sticking her in the bouncer and singing along to Bongo Bong - Me Gustas Tu.

I feel like I should update on the Snoo since I was dreading weaning the baby off of it. She was doing awesome for a long time - solid naps, she's been sleeping 10-11 hours straight at night for a long time, and then it really started falling off. Is she teething, is this a sleep regression, she's sick and snotty, etc etc - one thing about baby life I've learned is that you just can't fucking triangulate the cause of anything that is happening in your life anymore. I'm not a science guy but I'm science adjacent (tech, industrial analytics) and my natural approach is to isolate variables and test. Systematically going through what combination of gripe water, zarbees, gas medicine, and/or tylenol for babies that I put into her bottle, which song it was I sang, what specific timing occurred to figure out what it was that made her sleep perfectly that one night but she's a new baby every day. Similarly when we're gearing up to make a big change I'm always trying to find the right clean moment to start. But, she's always congested or teething or leaping or regressing or whatever - there's no clean starting point.

At any rate, she was doing great for a long time and shit started falling apart early mid October for both naps and night sleep, we kept trying different shit, and we were also in the middle of slowly weaning her from the snoo bit by bit (arms out swaddling, low intensity settings, etc). I became convinced last week that she's just over the snoo and suggested that we rip the band aid since we're not getting any sleep anyways and need to get her out of there. We had to wait a couple more sleepless nights for some magic sleep sack to arrive but we did it. Night 1 she cried for a few minutes, flipped onto her belly, and boom, out. Wife was losing it (I was pretty close as well) at this point so we were going to do cry it out/extinction sleep training. My notes for each night are like "Down: 9:05 Out: 9:07 Notes: She looked at me and screamed once, then rolled over and was asleep by the time i got downstairs". The sleep difficulty coincided with some sickness, some supposed leaps, the 6 month mark (SLEEP REGRESSION!) we keep thinking that she's teething, but really I think the thing was that she's started getting a lot more mobile. In particular, she's gotten good at sitting and is trying to crawl - I think she just kept waking up velcro'd down and was pissed off about it.

Other development is solid foods. We're apparently doing baby led weaning, which I guess means putting a tarp down and food in front of the baby and letting her go sick. It's entertaining.

Do you guys have any recommendations on stuff for this age range (6-9 months) for the plane? Wife has me looking at headphones, I guess probably make sure we have those little cereal puff things, any tips? Apologies in advance if any of you are flying RDU-ABIA or reverse around thanksgiving

[Etexhorn13 3054]

14 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Making a spotify playlist was one of the first things i did that made me really feel like a dad. That's probably weird but it was definitely true. I don't know if it's being a dad changing my feels or making a playlist sending me down a trail but I've also listened to a FUCK ton more... Petty, Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, I dunno that whole era of dad rock. Sky Blue Sky has crept in as a more frequent Wilco album. Baby seemed to really like songs with a strong beat early on - she still does, but she did too. I can get her down for a quick nap right now by sticking her in the bouncer and singing along to Bongo Bong - Me Gustas Tu.

I feel like I should update on the Snoo since I was dreading weaning the baby off of it. She was doing awesome for a long time - solid naps, she's been sleeping 10-11 hours straight at night for a long time, and then it really started falling off. Is she teething, is this a sleep regression, she's sick and snotty, etc etc - one thing about baby life I've learned is that you just can't fucking triangulate the cause of anything that is happening in your life anymore. I'm not a science guy but I'm science adjacent (tech, industrial analytics) and my natural approach is to isolate variables and test. Systematically going through what combination of gripe water, zarbees, gas medicine, and/or tylenol for babies that I put into her bottle, which song it was I sang, what specific timing occurred to figure out what it was that made her sleep perfectly that one night but she's a new baby every day. Similarly when we're gearing up to make a big change I'm always trying to find the right clean moment to start. But, she's always congested or teething or leaping or regressing or whatever - there's no clean starting point.

At any rate, she was doing great for a long time and shit started falling apart early mid October for both naps and night sleep, we kept trying different shit, and we were also in the middle of slowly weaning her from the snoo bit by bit (arms out swaddling, low intensity settings, etc). I became convinced last week that she's just over the snoo and suggested that we rip the band aid since we're not getting any sleep anyways and need to get her out of there. We had to wait a couple more sleepless nights for some magic sleep sack to arrive but we did it. Night 1 she cried for a few minutes, flipped onto her belly, and boom, out. Wife was losing it (I was pretty close as well) at this point so we were going to do cry it out/extinction sleep training. My notes for each night are like "Down: 9:05 Out: 9:07 Notes: She looked at me and screamed once, then rolled over and was asleep by the time i got downstairs". The sleep difficulty coincided with some sickness, some supposed leaps, the 6 month mark (SLEEP REGRESSION!) we keep thinking that she's teething, but really I think the thing was that she's started getting a lot more mobile. In particular, she's gotten good at sitting and is trying to crawl - I think she just kept waking up velcro'd down and was pissed off about it.

Other development is solid foods. We're apparently doing baby led weaning, which I guess means putting a tarp down and food in front of the baby and letting her go sick. It's entertaining.

Do you guys have any recommendations on stuff for this age range (6-9 months) for the plane? Wife has me looking at headphones, I guess probably make sure we have those little cereal puff things, any tips? Apologies in advance if any of you are flying RDU-ABIA or reverse around thanksgiving

Even with just a six week old, a lot of fucking truth in there. Especially about them being a new baby every day. We aren’t doing the snoo, and while I’m sure it would’ve been great to get some easier sleep for us early on, I’m glad we won’t have to do any weaning off it later. One thing I’d recommend for anyone is to buy the Taking Cara Babies class… she’s some sleep consultant but she has an online course that walks through getting them to sleep, strategies for fussy babies, and plans for how to extend their sleeping window week by week. We’re at 5.5 weeks and we’ve hit 5-6 hours of sleep a couple of times which is pretty awesome and basically what her schedule tries to get (1 hour of continuous sleep per week after 4 weeks). Your wives will probably get more out of it than y’all but mine has rewatched some of the videos and picked up new tips that have seemed to help. We watched it before having the baby and there’s a little more relevant context after you’ve got a little experience. 
 

also, Cara could get it. Crazy eyes and all. 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Etexhorn13

[hookemATL 11976]

Anything she can nosh on during take off / landing helps with the inner ear pressure. I did it with my 4 yo on her first plane ride but obv that’s not a baby. Those little teething crisps might work. 
 

the sleep regression sucks but it’s just part of the process. The tough decision is when to take them out of the sleep sack/swaddle/etc. Our 8 mo is right at this point so we’ve had some disrupted nights past few weeks. 
 

What I struggle with is the congestion/cold season stuff. Wife knows that she is the main nose frida/snot sucker as I can’t stand to make her cry like that. It’s necessary when she gets really stuffed up but fuck it sucks. 

[hookemATL 11976]

She tolerated this for about 5 minutes and then told us to cut the shit. Worth it for the pic!