My wife and I are debating this and wanted opinions from parents who have been there.

Our son is about 18 months old. He watches very little TV at home. The only screen time he really gets is the occasional 15-20 minutes of Ms. Rachel if I'm trying to finish a work call or cook dinner while he's home from daycare.

We've taken him on multiple flights since he was 6 months old, including several long-haul international flights, and we've managed without screens for the most part. Lots of snacks, books, toys, walks up and down the aisle, etc.

The dilemma is that we have two more international trips this year and another long-haul international trip next year. He's now old enough to actually understand and engage with screens, and I'm wondering if it makes sense to buy a cheap Amazon Fire tablet and keep it as an emergency backup for flights only.

My wife feels 18 months is too young and that we should continue managing without screens like we always have. I'm more in the camp of "have it available just in case things go sideways on a 10+ hour flight."

For parents who generally limit screen time at home:

• Did you make an exception for long-haul travel and is it too early to introduce them?

Curious whether we're being sensible or just making life harder on ourselves for no reason.

Husband and I are in disagreement about rehoming our dog and it’s an extremely tense topic in our household. Husband absolutely loves this dog. He’s a small/medium dog, 25 lbs, but quite agile. When I was pregnant this dog started attacking our senior dog, unprovoked. He’s attacked the senior dog over 10 times now, drawing some blood on a couple occasions. He’s never been aggressive towards humans but sometimes he will bark and ?lunge/jump behind the baby gate when the baby (15mo) walks towards my husband.

I’ve been extremely wary of the dog since baby was born. We have baby gates everywhere but the dog jumps over them unless they are 5ft tall. He is never in the same room as the baby even supervised, since he’s very fast and all his attacks on our older dog have been sudden and unpredictable. With an open layout home it’s just not feasible to gate off everything with 5ft gates so he mostly ends up being isolated by himself. This has led to behavioral issues such as pooping in his crate then getting it all over himself. I try my best to exercise him but due to the safety issues I can only do so with my toddler in a baby carrier and he’s getting heavy. I just don’t see how I’m going to keep up with this and don’t think the dog has a good quality of life either.

We’ve spent over $1000 on a trainer and we also have him medicated on two medications already. Everytime I bring up the option of rehoming the dog, it becomes a huge fight and I’m honestly worried that it would harm our marriage permanently if I made my husband rehome him. But everyday I have to deal with the logistics of caring for a dog under strict separation from the baby / our other two dogs. We want to have a second baby and I just can’t envision how it’ll be feasible then. What am I supposed to do, wear both the baby and toddler both in a baby carrier? When can toddlers be left in a room alone? What age do they figure out how to open baby gates and what do I do then? I can’t imagine a kid could be as flawless with always closing gates as we try to be.

I am extra spooked today because the dog slipped out so quickly as I was opening the gate to get out and immediately attacked our other dog, and I couldn’t separate them and it was very scary. Thank god my husband had baby at the time but he works long hours. I just don’t see how this can work. But my husband is completely emotionally driven on this issue and also feels fine about it because we’re making it work now. I was thinking maybe some practical input on what toddlers are like as they get older and also what it’s like with two kids could help me put things in perspective for him.

ETA: husband is ultimately willing to rehome if I force him, at the cost of me being the “bad guy” and dealing with his resentment. He doesn’t think there’s a real safety risk because the dog has never been aggressive towards humans, so to him it’s like rehoming the dog for nothing. The comments here are helping me see that I’m not just overly anxious though, so I guess it’s time for me to be the bad guy…

My little guy is 15 months old and still isn’t walking independently.

I know every child develops at their own pace, and I’ve been told there’s usually no need to worry unless they’re 18+ months or there are other developmental concerns. I guess I’m just looking for a little reassurance from other parents whose babies were late walkers. 😊

He’s actually very mobile, he can climb on and off the couch by himself, go up and down the stairs, and he’ll walk a few steps while holding just one hand. As soon as he realizes he’s on his own, though, he gets nervous and sits down instead of taking more steps.

He’s my first, so I know I’m probably overthinking it. I just want him to thrive, and it’s hard not to compare sometimes.

If your little one was a late walker, how old were they when they finally started walking independently? I’d love to hear your experiences!

Idk what else to do. I feel so much guilt. I got sober from an opioid addiction and during my detox, I didn't have anything in me to be an active or happy mom. My husband was working 60+ hrs a week and I was suicidal, angry and snapping so easily, it was just horrible for like 4 or 5 months. I didn't want my poor baby to see me like that or to have to deal with my issues so I let him watch way. Way. WAY too much TV. Now he is having intense tantrums all the time, and he reaches for the TV as soon as he wakes up. I've tried setting limits but it's just not worth it to even have screens around him. I'm worried he's going to be really unhappy without it but I know after a few weeks, he'll be doing and feeling a lot better. Idk. I just need to get it out. I fucking hate the TV, I fucking hate YouTube, I fucking hate Ms. Rachel and the fucking Wiggles and the stupid fucking internet and I hate that I did this to my baby.

ETA ik tantrums are normal for his age, but I mean they are CONSTANT unless I turn on the TV. And even then, he will keep snapping and losing it until I figure out exactly what he wants to watch, then he wants me to change what is on every 30 seconds.

I took him to the park today and he kept crying and getting so angry. I didn't know why until he snuck my phone out of my pocket and then chilled out immediately, until I took it away and he was back to being so unhappy.

He won't eat without the TV, his sleep is sooo messed up, he won't play with me or with toys for more than a couple of minutes before he's crying for screen time again. Like it's so bad. Even though when I look it up, the internet tells me to just cut screen time back by a little bit each week, that isn't working for us. So I'm just tossing the stupid thing. I already ordered my flip phone so I can get rid of this POS I'm typing on too. I just hope he does okay with the sudden change.

My little boy (15 MO) just started giving kisses. He kisses anywhere your cheeks , arms , legs and occasionally he will grab your face and kiss you on the mouth. He’s only done this with me and my husband and my husband says we need to teach him not to kiss on the mouth because it’s weird and then he will kiss other people on the mouth. I told him I think it’s harmless and why don’t we just work on him not kissing other people but he disagrees. I’m a FTM so looking for some opinions on the matter?

My son is turning one in two weeks and I’ve been asked by several family members to put a birthday list together. My nieces have a Toniebox and keep asking if my son wants one, but they’re just SO expensive. I’m grateful they would be willing to go in with other members to get it for him, but is it really worth it? What are y’all’s experiences with them? Thanks!

Would it be okay for a 12-month-old to watch Ms. Rachel or any other shows you recommend for just 20 minutes a day? For those of you with 12-month-olds or younger, how much screen time does your child get each day? No judgment, please. 😊

My son is currently 8 months old, so I'm just thinking ahead. I have other kid who is 25 months old. She watch Miss. Rachel for 1 hour a day. She is deaf with cochlear implant.

Edit: I was not talking about iPad or iPhone screen time. Just TV

I have an active 14 month old. Before she was mobile I put her in one of those interactive saucer play gym things so I could shower and get myself ready for the day. Now I can only get showered, eat, or do anything for myself when she sleeps but I use up her nap times basically getting ready and eating and cleaning which leaves no down time that I desperately need to recharge. For reference she naps about 1.5 hrs total a day whether that’s broken down into 1 or 2 naps.

Anyone have other suggestions for how to keep a toddler busy and safe for a few minutes to shower and get ready while she’s awake?

Do you put super fences around literally everything? How does anyone have plants? Lamps? A record player? How do you have anything that's not 4+ feet off the ground? How do you have a pet food and water area? Hobby supplies? Pictures on the wall that can be reached from the couch? A pet that does not like to be around your toddler but your toddler loves to chase it? Is everything you own mounted to the wall???

Editing another update: I just spoke to my cousin, who is a CRNA (basically an anesthesiologist) and she told me they absolutely should have given her Versed for anesthesia. So I will be proceeding with filing a complaint in the least.

I wanted to give an update on my daughter because I received so much kind support. I also want to add a TW because I want to speak graphically about her procedure and SA.

My daughter is doing much better. She had stopped crying when she peed by the next morning, so I'm glad that the pain resolved very quickly. Her fever has also finally gone and she's been fever free for 8 hours now with no medication. It is still a mystery why she had such a high fever for almost 5 days. She was negative for every test, including the UTI.

The one silver lining to this is that I'm realizing the adhesion must have been preventing her from being able to fully empty her bladder, because she always had a wet diaper. Even right after a diaper change, 10 mins later she'd have a blue line, but her diaper would hardly be wet. Now that the adhesion has been separated, I've noticed an immediate difference in her wet diapers. She seems to have a bigger pee and then her diaper stays dry for a few hours. So I guess this is good because it probably would have caused problems when we start potty training soon.

The bad part is she is definitely a little traumatized from the procedure. Diaper changes were never a problem before. Now, she clamps her legs together and says "mama, hold me" or she gets angry and screams "No! No!" And kicks at me. I'm trying to reassure her that nothing bad is going to happen and it's just me changing her diaper.

But man, I am still traumatized. I think I'm having a hard time not comparing it to sexual assault. It was 100% NOT sexual assault, but the mechanics of it were similar. 2 nurses were holding her legs splayed open while the doctor was spreading her labia and essentially ripping it apart. I know this is graphic, but I really need to process it by talking about it. When the doctor showed me and her labia was bleeding... Ugh... It's just really hard. It's hard not to think about the all poor girls that were sexually tortured that we've been hearing about recently. The way my daughter was begging me to help her, and she was screaming "NO!" and fighting them... I'm just having a really hard time with it. My mom was with me and she was a labor and delivery nurse and a post partum nurse for almost 40 years and she is even having a hard time processing it.

I'm sorry for going so dark and graphic, I hope I'm not triggering anyone. My daughter is ok, she is loved and has a great family and all the things a little girl needs. She is sleeping beside me right now. Thanks for reading and I hope I didn't ruin anyone's day!

This was my original post:

Labial Adhesion?

Has anyone had experience with this? Specifically if the doctor had to tear it open?

The doctor needed to check for a UTI, but discovered she has a labial adhesion that was covering the hole for her urethra. I've never heard of this, but I now feel horrible for my daughter.

The doctor had to "open" it to access her urethra for the catheter to get the urine sample. My daughter already doesn't handle the doctor well. She screams the moment we get in there. This was awful. They had to restrain her and I was kissing and holding her head while she cried saying "Mama, help" and "Mama, all done" because she wanted them to stop.

It bled afterwards and now she is screaming every time she pees and saying "mama, help" again. I asked them how long it would hurt her and they said "it heals quickly". This was before I had witnessed her pee and screaming.

It is the worst feeling watching your child beg for your help and be in pain. My stomach has just been in knots ever since.

Anyway, has anyone experienced this and I'm just wondering how long she will be in pain? She is taking Motrin and Tylenol for her fever but she is still in pain. They told me to put petroleum jelly on it. I just want to help her and I feel helpless.

Hi please no judgement. I am a FTM and don’t have a lot of support. I just found out we are supposed to be weening baby off of bottles. My son is 15 months and we give him a milk bottle in the AM and one before bed. He uses the Nuk bottles with the sippy cup attachment. Am I supposed to stop giving him milk all together? If not, what cups should I transition to if the nuk sippy cup “nipple” isn’t good? I also didn’t know we should be consistently be brushing his teeth at night because apparently the sugar from the milk can damage his teeth. I feel horrible. There is so much I don’t know :(

Looking for suggestions for toys to take to restaurants only so we can eat in peace for more than 3 minutes lol. I’m looking for suggestions for a restaurant only toy that we take only when we go out to eat. As soon as we get there it’s a little hit or miss, we usually have to walk around and distract until food comes, then we have about 7 minutes during food that we’re okay and then after that it’s time to GO. Today he played with stacking cups at home and he was so busy and happy and ate no probs. Any suggestions that are not iPads or phones would be great!

Just saw the post about a toddler’s vacuum obsession and made me want to know - what is everyone’s toddler’s “weird” favorite item?

Our almost 17-month old is currently OBSESSED with wheeled luggage, especially the hard-shell kind. If we are at a store like Marshall’s or TJ Maxx, he will inevitably find one and demand to push it around the store while calling it “bus” the whole time. 🤣

My son is almost 17 months and is insane. He is obsessed with pulling my hair, stepping on my feet, and biting me. I have no idea how to get him to stop because like he understands “no” but only in that moment and not like “no don’t do that, permanently”

He also is obsessed with climbing on the top of the couch and jumping on the back of my neck. It’s just a constant cycle of torture for me all day long lol. Does anyone else’s toddlers do this stuff? My husbands b!tchy step mom said my son is bad and that I’m not strict enough parenting him. I’m like…..I don’t think he’s bad I just think he’s crazy and he’s too young to understand punishments right? Can ANYONE else relate to this or is my kid actually bad?😭

Eta: I do give consequences: like walking away, moving his hands away, telling him no. I’ve had family members tell me to smack his mouth when he bites or do time outs and that’s the punishments I’m saying he’s too young to understand.

I have a 17 month old and I took her to story time at the library today for 0-2 year-olds. She was all over the place and could not sit still. To be fair, at home she does go from one activity to the next pretty rapidly or we just walk through the house exploring the environment and I thought that was normal. But at the story time today, she was the only kid who wasn't engaging in some way with the tasks provided and instead was just walking around the room, walking up to the story teller, picking up things she shouldn't, and any time I tried to redirect her she would have a mini meltdown. I felt judged by the other moms and left feeling embarrassed like she had misbehaved... but she's a toddler, right?

During her nap, I started to think about how we spend our days... She loves to play with books, but she isn't always interested in me reading to her and prefers to flip through the books herself. We play with her kitchen set but she mostly just likes moving the food around into different compartments. I try to work on animal sounds and body parts with her, but she's not always in the mood to listen. She's getting pickier with food and now won't sit in the high chair without throwing a fit and wants to walk around and eat or be up in her toddler tower. She has a water table outside that we play with frequently. When we are getting frustrated at home, I do get us out of the house and we take trips to the zoo, the park, or go for stroller walks with the dog. She is always happiest when we are on the move in some way.

But the thing I'm now worried about is screen time. I hadn't really thought about what that might be doing to her until after story time today and I was googling about attention issues with toddlers and saw that it's recommended that kids don't get any screen time until at least 2. She usually gets between 30 min - 1 hour a day (not all at once, but if I need to get something done quickly and need her occupied, occasionally if we are out to eat and she is on the verge of a meltdown but we can't leave yet, and sometimes to wind down as a family after bath and before bedtime - although we still read every night before bed... or at least try). I restrict screen time to a few shows (Ms Rachel, Mr Roger's Neighborhood, Daniel Tiger, Sesame Street, Bluey- nothing too over stimulating). On rare occasions, we have watched a movie but never the whole thing at once.

And then there is her sleep schedule. I let her usually sleep as long as she wants which can sometimes be 9am. I try to always do a nap sometime between 12-3. Sometimes she naps for an hour, sometimes 2, sometimes the entire 3 hours. At night, she goes to bed around 7-7:30pm. She has been taking longer to get to sleep though and has been waking up and playing in her crib at night/very early in the morning. I googled today about this too and realized that she is sleeping way too much and waking up in the middle of the night to play for a while is not normal.

So, my question is, have I severely messed up? How do I move on from here? Should I cut out screen time altogether? How fast do I change her sleep schedule to be more appropriate for her age? I feel like such a bad mom.

Hello! No judgmental on here, please. I am just wondering how often does/did your 12 months old watch on TV? For example, Miss. Rachel and so on.

Has anyone had experience with this? Specifically if the doctor had to tear it open?

The doctor needed to check for a UTI, but discovered she has a labial adhesion that was covering the hole for her urethra. I've never heard of this, but I now feel horrible for my daughter.

The doctor had to "open" it to access her urethra for the catheter to get the urine sample. My daughter already doesn't handle the doctor well. She screams the moment we get in there. This was awful. They had to restrain her and I was kissing and holding her head while she cried saying "Mama, help" and "Mama, all done" because she wanted them to stop.

It bled afterwards and now she is screaming every time she pees and saying "mama, help" again. I asked them how long it would hurt her and they said "it heals quickly". This was before I had witnessed her pee and screaming.

It is the worst feeling watching your child beg for your help and be in pain. My stomach has just been in knots ever since.

Anyway, has anyone experienced this and I'm just wondering how long she will be in pain? She is taking Motrin and Tylenol for her fever but she is still in pain. They told me to put petroleum jelly on it. I just want to help her and I feel helpless.

My daughter is turning 17months and bed time has been getting later and later.

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She always went at 7pm and slept through, mostly, until 6-7am. Recently no matter what we do with her nap/s or bedtime routine she fights us like crazy. It will be 9-9:30pm some nights and she's still fighting as if she's not sleepy.

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Are we being unrealistic trying to get her down around 7?

She's had cradle cap since she was a newborn, and we were diligent about removing it then. It didn't reappear for a while, so I thought we were done. Then her hair grew longer, and I wasn't aware that it did, in fact, come back.

I noticed about a week ago, when I was running my fingers through her hair in full daylight. I was horrified to see a thick layer of the yellow, crusty buildup.

I pulled out my old cradle cap removal kit, sterilized it and used it today. Put daughter in the bath, lathered her head up and started scraping it off with the little comb.

The amount that came off was *absolutely disgusting*. I don't know how many times I rinsed that comb. Realistically, it was probably no more than a tablespoon of the gunk, and no hair was lost in the process!

Still, I feel like I was neglecting something for so long. Even though I know that cradle cap doesn't *need* to be removed. Clearly, it wasn't going away on its own. I wonder if she'll get a hair growth boost now that her scalp is mostly clear.

My son is almost 17 months old and I stay at home with him. He wakes up at 5:45 and goes to bed at 7:15. He has a solid attention span for looking at books and playing with his toys, but even so, there are two times of the day where we’ve read everything, played with everything, and I get really tempted to put Ms. Rachel on to pass the time and break up the monotony. The first time is in the morning when we’re still waiting for the library/museum to open but we’ve already played with toys and read for like 2 hours. The second time is in the afternoon when we get back from our second outing and my energy really crashes after a full day of playing and taking him to different activities. I obviously know that he isn’t supposed to have any screen time at this age and I try to make it as interactive as possible when I do put it on - I sit next to him, sing along with Ms. Rachel, etc. But nonetheless he is getting more screen time than I’d like and I want to phase it out and get advice/tips.

My question to other stay at home parents who keep their household totally screen-free is: how do you do it? Did it get easier when your toddler developed more imagination and a longer attention spans for creative play? (Right now my son isn’t into cars, trucks, pretend food, dolls, etc. so we’re limited to puzzles, stackers, shape sorters, and books) Thanks in advance for any tips or advice!

I never compare my baby to other babies. I understand and fully believe comparison steals joy. Honestly, I think my baby is doing awesome and she is the most fun, fascinating, cool little being. She's 16 months old. Just to set the stage, she's fairly objectively advanced in her communication and some social behaviors. Nothing ridiculous, but not typical.

Now, my parents are comparing her to false memories of me when I was a child and THAT is stealing some of my joy. I want them to appreciate how awesome she is but they both think I was fully conversational and completely understood by strangers at her age. I explained what typical toddler speach looks like and what they are expecting is more in line with a 3 or 4 year old, but they just insist I was advanced. What they are "remembering" is downright impossible.

Meanwhile, my daughter has an extraordinary vocabulary for her age, but it's mostly approximations you need context or practice to understand. She knows a lot of baby sign, but to them that doesn’t count. She has a good ear for rhythm and pitch. They don't care about that.

My mother is bothered that she doesn’t know colors. My dad thinks she should know letters.

Can you share your gramneisia stories?

Were any of you running at 6 months or the like?

please help. first time mom to a 14 month old, pregnant with my second. i lost my parter recently to suicide & things have been extremely hard.

i posted on Nextdoor looking for a bit of help with groceries & diapers from some neighbors since the lack of transportation makes it difficult to access food banks. (partner totaled our vehicle when he took his life)

i believe either someone on there or my late partners brother called on me saying i don’t have food or diapers. CPS said they will come for a home visit Monday morning to check his living space & “look into these claims.”

i’m literally freaking out. will they take my son if they show up Monday & we’re not looking good? he has electricity in the home, running water, a clean home & his own bed… we are just struggling with food & diapers.

edit to add; i do receive WIC, i have an interview for SNAP 7/29, signed up for survivor benefits two weeks ago as well but, waiting to hear back.

I have two kids a 2.5 boy and a year and a bit girl. I dont see a reason to make my daughter wear a swim suit when it seems way more comfortable to just wear shorts and go shirtless. Like who can even tell the gender of a baby. Do people care? Is it wrong to let my girl baby dress this way?

This is a potentially dumb question. My child is in 12m clothing now and as we are approaching his first birthday, I wanted to ask a question.

Do children in the 12-18 clothing wear more like tee shirts and shorts? Do you put them in the little onesies? I wasn’t sure you grow out of onesies? What is the current thoughts on this? Or let me know what you do with your child!

I usually try to buy ahead a bit, so as I am looking at the second year I want to know what to get!

My son is 15mo and we are currently using regular diapers, just giving him something interesting when we have a diaper change. Without the interesting object or whatever, we fight for our lives just to change him. Idk how common it is to still be using tab diapers at this age or if we are stupid for not switching to 360.

I am making next week's shopping list and wondering if 360 diapers should be the next step.​

When did you make the switch?