Parenting Hack #88

Parenting is hard. 

I'm not talking open a stuck jar hard, I'm talking brings you to the edge of a nervous breakdown hard.  (Skip to the very bottom if you have a twitter sized attention span and/or are currently juggling a fussy toddler, baby, dog, boss, and/or spouse)

Raising tiny humans, adorable is they might be, is the toughest challenge I've ever faced. Now, I've never climbed Everest or run a marathon and don't plan to either), so maybe I've set the bar low. On the other hand, I have spent 92 straight minutes (actually probably more) trying and failing to soothe a hurting baby, a baby who's escalating screams are biologically designed to irritate me.

Well guess what evolution, you won, I trusted my mommy instincts and drove that little demon straight to the pediatrician, no appointment, no ducks given.

Turns out his screaming wasn't my fault. It was an ear infection. No toy, snack, or lullaby would've fixed that screaming.

So, since Barney and Elmo and Daniel Tiger and of course my mom and dad taught me that sharing is caring, I'm going to share one of favorite (so far) parenting hacks. I hope y'all will share your favorites in the comments too.  😎

Here goes...

The backstory:
My nearly 9 month old baby boy recently got an ear infection, probably his 4th (yay me). He HATES his antibiotics, which have to be given twice a day, with a meal. Before I discovered this parenting hack, I got to clean up baby vomit. A LOT of baby vomit. It was all over the baby, the floor, and of course, my shirt. Hey, at least he missed my hair this time! 😀

Oops more backstory:
So the scientist in me analyzed the problem. This kid makes these adorable disgusted faces after the medicine, followed by not so adorable gagging and puking. Okay, it tastes bad. So now what? Well what tastes good? Formula! Nom noms.

So, this is what I've done the last 4 doses, and OMG no more puke, hooray!

The actual hack:
STEP 1: Prep the baby syringe and sit Mr. Trouble in his high chair.

STEP 2: Get him laughing aka open wide and sneak in a little squirt of medicine.

STEP 3: Chase with formula.

STEP 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the full dose has been swallowed.

STEP 5: Do a victory dance, you both earned it!

Until next time,
Peace, love, and permission to rest,
Mamagali xoxo