Navigating illness in a blended family

Hi step mums. Hope you’re all doing well.

Just looking for advice on how you navigate your step children being ill when they come to visit. I have a baby and my SD is 6 so is alllllwaaays getting sick at school. My husbands line is ‘I have to look after her reguardless’ but I wonder if there could be a bit more flexibility when SD has a highly contagious illnesses. I seem to get every cold she has and it takes me out for weeks. The baby also gets ill as does my mum (who is almost 80 so is very vulnerable). Is it unreasonable to sometimes ask that SD comes and stays a day or so later so we don’t all get sick? It has happened this week. I am going back to work next week (after mat leave) so very anxious not to get sick. The doctor was called this time and he advised that SD stay home and not be around the baby. Which my husband now agrees with but when I suggested it before the dr was called he got angry at me and isn’t talking to me as a result. Please help! How do other family’s get through this?

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He still has a responsibility to look after his other daughter, and the time he has with her is precious, but also your brain is programmed to protect your baby so it’s really hard.
I’ve had my older step daughters when they’re ill and felt the same. we just do a bit of social distancing and I clean everything, but they’re older. It really worries me but I’m lucky and don’t really catch it.
If your SD was yours, she’d still be in your home so you kind of have to view it like that a little bit and come to a mutual agreement that works although I completely understand it’s hard!

We have an agreement that if SS is sick he stays at the house he was ill at so if it’s mums he stays there and if it is ours he stays with us. If he’s sick at mums we just make the time back and take him longer next time. We also agree that if our kids are sick as won’t come over so it doesn’t spread. When I was pregnant the first time ss gave me Covid twice, one time I was really ill and was off work for a month, once my son was born I really put my foot down! I get dad has an obligation but also why spread it about if it’s preventable, if they are too ill to go to nursery or school they are too ill to come to us

BM has purposely stopped telling us when SD is poorly before pick up since our baby was born. I imagine for this exact reason 🙄 luckily my partner is very supportive and we tried to keep SD away from baby as much as possible when she was poorly. When she was really poorly he took her for a sleep over at grandparents house. We both agree it's completely unfair for a newborn to be exposed to colds/flus if we can avoid it.
Now our baby is nearly 2 and at nursery so one of them permanently has a cold 🫠

With us it depends on the illness a cold, cough etc everyone still mixes but for things like d&v, chicken pox, high temperatures we stay separate to stop the spread to other children.
It’s hard because if she lived with you then she would be there regardless of illness x

in our community

Is it bad of me to think this or no?

My husband has been abroad for work (1 day and exploring for 1 day) for 2 and a half days which means I’ve had both kids (1 year and 4 year old) for 2 and a half days plus cooking, cleaning, taking them to clubs, bedtimes!
He came home late afternoon and said I’m so tired, I just need to chill. I said can you wash up whilst I sort kids dinner out, he said he’ll do it later which means he won’t do it and I’ll end up doing it so I said no do it now please otherwise I’ll end up doing it and he said well you have been home and I’ve been away so you’ve just been relaxing.
Don’t know what planet he is on but having the kids alone for 2.5 days is not relaxing. I was stressed!

When he was away, I did miss him and wanted him to come back but now he’s back, I want him to go away again😂
Is that bad?

Post partum dad

I have a 2 month old. A few weeks ago my husband crashed out because he didn't feel like he was getting to bond with her. I started exclusively breastfeeding around that time and honestly didnt see the big deal. Baby and I left for a few days and when we got back home, everything was fine. He was extremely hands-on. He helped with my meals, her bedtime, bath, stories.....for a few weeks it was great. Then he randomly sounds depressed af. He says our lo is better off without him, he wants to sleep all day , he asks me not to watch tv then tried playing a video game. He refused to reply to me when i asked any follow-up questions. Then he woke up our baby trying to race me to the bathroom first thing in the morning . He's doing a weird mix of crying, trying, and giving up. Im starting to feel like I cant handle him not being able to handle life with baby and just want to be alone. Are there resources for men?

Feeding

My son is coming up to five months and I just started giving him oatmeal and rice cereal. When can you start trying veggies or fruits? I only give him the oatmeal or rice cereal once a day right now which is what the paediatrician had said to do. I’m just curious to when anybody tried anything else with their kids cause my son eats a lot of formula and he’s VERY curious when I eat.

Really bothered by this

A friend posted this and it really bothers me because that is exactly how she parents her kid, and it's rather unfortunate because when our kids hang out together, her kid has a meltdown at least 5x within an hour. We have know them for years and it's only gotten worse. My kids will concede to hers, because they don't want to see their friend crying, but it sucks because they give up so much of their toys and enjoyment to keep the peace. We aren't hanging out as much anymore but it's rather sad to think she doesn't intervene more in her child tantrums and just let's it slide

My 2 year old won’t eat nothing but snacks

Is this normal ? He won’t even try anything I eat .. he really only like pizza fries and spaghetti… nuggets and snacks bananas some other fruit but like anything else he won’t eat if try but I don’t want to force him I’m just I feel like bad I mean he isn’t losing weight I breastfeed mostly still

Is this normal

Let’s say you’re at a softplay with your 2 year old, and some friends & their toddlers.
You buy your 2 year old a kids meal - chicken nuggets, beans, and chips. They’re very happy with it and have almost eaten it all.
They’re sat at the table, fork in hand, consistently eating, and have one chicken nugget left.
Your adult friend comes over from behind you, picks up the last chicken nugget, and eats it.
There was no indication that your child wasn’t going to eat it, and they didn’t ask. They just took it with no warning and ate it right in front of you and your toddler.
How you reacting?