Leaving The House

Hello everyone!!
Is anyone else still having trouble working up the courage to leave the house with your little one?
Anytime I need to leave I end up in a panic. I just took my baby on a walk for the first time this week and she loves it so I feel even more guilty.
Does it get easier?

Pic of my baby holding my baby for attention lol

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it gets easier! my baby’s only 2 months but it took a few weeks to find my routine and figure out what exactly was triggering my anxiety. i kept worrying about all the the what if’s so i over packed his diaper bag just to feel a little better. the more you do it the more you see how everything can be safe for you and baby and you won’t panic AS MUCH. i’m not saying it went away completely for me but definitely has gotten easier!

So my baby has been out of the house since one week old. I will say, I had a lot of anxiety when we first started going out. And I probably had enough stuff with me to survive the apocalypse with her. However, it definitely has gotten way easier now. And she, for the most part, can go pretty much anywhere. We even took her to our county fair a month ago and she was fine until the last hour we were there and it was an all day trip. Best advice for you is pack whatever you think you may need because knowing I had everything under the sun for her was soothing for me and now I know what I actually do need and use for her.

It definitely gets easier. I had my first baby during covid lockdowns. So I wasn't allowed to leave the house for so long then when I was allowed, I couldn't, I was so nervous, I had no idea how to prepare, what I'd need, what if I didn't have something. I'd plan around feeds as I was bf and nervous to feed in public as I'd gone 6 months never needing to eft.
This time around I try to get out as much as possible, it's completely different than the first time, but I still try to maximise time I have by planning around feeds to an extent,
But my best tip is to have a backpack that just has everything in, mine has 2 sets clothes, nappies, wipes, cream, dummy and mini steriliser, a ready made formula with sterile teat (i breastfeed but just in case) changing mat... the usual, but I don't take ANYTHING out of that bag, meaning it's ready whenever I leave, I replace stuff I've used when I get back rather than before going out again :)

It for sure gets easier! We unfortunately had so many doctors appts the first few weeks of his life that we got used to leaving with him pretty quickly. And when things go wrong, you learn how to prevent it the next time! The more you work a muscle, the stronger it gets, same with being social with baby!

I only feel safe leaving the house with baby with my husband! Baby is almost 3 months old and i still feel the need to ask him to drive us places or come on walks with us. I guess it's good for the baby too to have his dada there with me, but honestly i feel much more at peace with him there. Driving stresses the hell outta me, so im grateful he has time to take us places and we're not all couped up inside.

in our community

Is this clever or cruel?

My husband and i were talking and with social media and the internet in general being a terrifying dumpster fire, we are trying to figure out the best way to keep our son safe while still teaching him how to safely be online and moderation.

We landed on the idea of giving him the 90's kid treatment. A computer in the living room for us to keep an eye on what hes doing online, and once we feel hes mature enough to hang with friends without adult supervision he gets a flip phone. When we feel he is responsible enough and he earns and saves up the money for the physical phone, case, and screen cover, then we will be happy to take him to get a smart phone.

I thought this was air tight, but now my brother says its cruel to give a kid a flip phone, and besides he can just use his friends phones at school.

My husband and i remember a time before the internet, and we remember having complete access to something no one understood yet. We saw unspeakable things and are always battling with the urge to put the phone and social media down. I dont want that for my son, especially with his brain so vulnerable still.

If your partners parent passes away

And you and that parent didn't get along are you still go to the funeral?

Not my situation!

Partner no longer wants baby #2

Before our son was born we originally both wanted minimum 2 kids but we were hoping for 3-4. My partner found the birth traumatic to watch and also struggled a lot with the newborn/baby stage. He no longer wants to have any more children and it’s completely breaking my heart. I need another baby. We’ve spoken about it a lot and the options. He said he wasn’t COMPLETELY closed off to it so I asked him to try and work through his feelings and reconsider his decision. He eventually said he definitely doesn’t want another. I know that I will always want one and my feelings will never change. Do we have to break up or does anyone know anything else I can do to help change his mind? Has anyone else’s partner said this and then changed their mind? I don’t want to break up because I adore him and our life together and I’d hate to split up our family for “selfish” reasons and make my son miss out on having both of us together but I just don’t know what to do

Nursery funding

My child turned 9 months last week. I applied for government funded hours nearly 2 months ago and so well within the required timeframe for the April term, however upon receiving my first invoice without the funding applied and having questioned this, I have now been informed that the stretched funding doesn’t start until 4th May.

Has anyone else been told it won’t start until May?

The government site states it should start from April 1st, and so I intentionally set my nursery start and return to work as the start of April for that reason, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to afford the nursery on my sole income without the funding

Jealous of my husband

I’m so jealous of him and it’s making me resentful. We have a ten week old and I’m jealous that he is at work all day. I’m jealous he can leave for lunch and actually eat an uninterrupted lunch. Take a phone call uninterrupted. Chat with a friend he runs in to uninterrupted. Even go to the bathroom when he wants uninterrupted. He comes home from work when he wants. He’s not on a set schedule. Some days are late some are early. It depends on when he’s done. I’m jealous he can come home at 10pm and shower, eat and go right to bed uninterrupted because I already have the baby asleep. He doesn’t have to worry about anything house wise or baby wise because I’ve done it all. Meanwhile I’m covered in puke and crap and smell like rotten milk. When he is home he is VERY active and helpful. So it’s not that. I’m just jealous his world hasn’t changed and mine has I guess. This isn’t something he’s doing wrong so I’m not sure how to get past this. I wish I could keep him home all day because that’s how helpful he is, but I understand he obv needs to work.

Calpol

My mum has just given my 4 year old calpol because he asked for it. He isn’t poorly (although was last week, been fine this week) he just likes the taste of it. My mum didn’t check, didn’t ask, just gave it to him and when I’ve questioned her she said “he asked for it”. Then quizzed 4 year old who said he asked for it because it tastes nice.

How would you react?