Hi everyone! I’m a certified Health and PE teacher, and I create educational songs to help young children learn positive behaviors.

I recently made a song called “I Don’t Bite” to help reinforce the message that biting hurts and encourage children to use safer ways to express themselves.

I know biting can happen for many reasons, including frustration, communication difficulties, and sensory needs. A song isn’t a solution on its own, but it might be another helpful tool for parents working through this stage with their little ones.

I wanted to share it in case it helps another family!

https://youtu.be/qkMRcUzGW7c

Hi everyone, I’m posting because I honestly don’t know what else to do and I’m at my breaking point.
My daughter just turned 4, and her attachment to me has reached a level where I feel completely suffocated. She refuses to go with anyone else—not even her dad or grandparents who she sees all the time—and she absolute refuses to go to preschool. Constantly, day in and day out, she has to be right next to me, touching me, or talking to me. I don't even get a moment to use the bathroom or breathe in peace.
Because I never get a single second to myself, it has deeply affected my mental health. I am sliding into depression, feeling trapped in my own home, and resentful—which makes me feel like a terrible mom, adding even more guilt to the pile.
I love her more than anything, but I am running on empty. If anyone has been through this extreme stage of separation anxiety or clinginess, how did you survive it? How did you gently start setting boundaries or get them to transition to preschool/other caregivers without completely traumatizing them (or yourself)?

I am a FTM to a 1 year old baby girl. This is a genuine question. I am now a full time SAHM & experiencing severe burnout, and so is my partner. My MIL offers to help but only on her terms. Which means she will only watch our daughter at her place & we usually have to book weeks in advance so she’s hard to pin down.

She is wealthy, retired & prioritizing her travels & friends from my husband’s eyes. We moved across country with hopes to have some help here & there- nothing crazy. Maybe a few hours for 1-2x a week. She convinced us to move & that she’d be there to help with our daughter. Now we have a home we bought & are SOL without a village. We have tried to compromise but she’s very controlling.

We’ve been looking for a babysitter but they are so pricy here & we have 1 income down unexpectedly. I just came out of ppd & PPA a few months ago, but still experiencing extreme burnout. We explained that we are fine with having our daughter be watched at her place but need to have her watched here from time to time.

She’s not willing to budge. She’s very controlling. I explained that we are practicing attachment style parenting in a loving & honest, vulnerable way- twice. Both times I was met with no response. We welcome and appreciate our breaks away from our daughter when needed but the fact that she’s not open to watching her over here ever feels weird to me. We even offered to accommodate her here to make she feel at home. She only lives 10 mins away.

Are we being inflexible? Is this a mil control thing? Are you comfortable only dropping your babies off with in laws? Can this affect attachment? I’m still breastfeeding 3x a day btw. We need a break but don’t know if it’s worth the headache with her. She tried to take her to her house she was 6 weeks old & I had to put that boundary up. Smh

I’m really struggling right now with my 18mo old. She’s never been a good sleeper, even with cosleeping and she’s very clingy during the day (to the point my husband and I are both in constant pain from carrying her because while she wants to be carried, she wants you to actively move and she flails and does not support herself or let us hold her in a way that doesn’t strain us).

I feel like I’m just complaining but I have truly hit my breaking point. I don’t even want to be around my kid and I feel like a monster. I’m so lucky to have such a supportive husband that is a true partner and does his share plus much more but I know he’s also close to his breaking point.

We have friends that do cry it out and they put their kids to bed at 7 and don’t get them for 12 hours. They do date nights and have time together. We are typically fighting naps and bedtime for a minimum of 30 minutes, sometimes 2 hours or more before she falls asleep. We have tried shifting bedtime, following sleep cues, running off energy, anything we can.. I can go on and on about elderberry, strict routines, etc.

Last night she was just crying in her sleep (per usual) and my husband is a much lighter sleeper so he moved downstairs. Typically I can sleep through/ fall asleep quickly after minor whining but around midnight she was full out WAILING and thrashing me/ hitting me. I lost it and had to move her into her own room because I was irrationally angry. My husband heard my open the door / her screaming amplify so he ended up taking her. I moved to our extra bedroom as I was absolutely irrational and she kept him up until about 4am.

We don’t understand how she functions, she survives on maybe 6-7 hours of sleep at night and 15mins - a hour for naps.

Again, THIS IS WHO SHE IS. She has NEVER been a good sleeper or given us the ability to get enough sleep. I’ve boiled over so bad that I have not seen my kid today. My husband took her to daycare, picked her up and is doing all the things as I’ve hidden in another room because my nerves are shot and I’m literally sick.

What are our options? How are others getting through the insanity of not sleeping? We don’t want to do any cry it out, we want a healthy attachment with her but the situation is driving me to feel like a monster. I need more solutions.

I’ve been a full-time stay-at-home dad for the past year, looking after our son from 12 months to two years old. My wife stayed home for his first year.

Until recently, he wanted me for almost everything—picking him up, holding him, protecting him. Now he’s becoming very independent, but he’s also started wanting Mum to do most things - change diapers, etc.

At the same time, I’m noticing that I’m less willing to interact constantly. I love him, but after a year of full-time care, tantrums and very little space for myself, I’m feeling worn out. Being less wanted also hurts, even though I know he isn’t deliberately rejecting me.

I’m struggling to separate what’s his natural development from what’s my own exhaustion and am finding it hard to continue the level of support I gave him all last year in the same way and level… I’m not telling him I love him 100 times a day anymore 😝

Has anyone else experienced this combination? Did your enjoyment of parenting and your closeness return as your child got older?

I’d love to hear from parents who’ve come through this stage and found a new life balance - both for themselves, and with their child… Thanks!

I just dropped my 5 month old at daycare and it’s day 2, I came early to pick him up as I’m only doing half days for a adjustment period and his teacher is a 1:4 and two other babies were napping and teacher was feeding one baby and my baby was just crying on the playmat. I understand teacher has to feed babies but it doesn’t make me feel good. Who knows how long he was crying for? Anyone have good daycare advice for a new parent or just experiences on how to deal with the guilt

or is this a grandma problem? 😂

I’m a single mum to a nearly 3yo and work Tuesdays and Wednesdays. My daughter is with her nanna while I work, and I am gone for 6 hours at most each day, although she usually manages okay, she’s very attached to me as she doesn’t see her Dad and has struggled with daycare in the past.

After a week of holidays with me last week, she really struggled with me going back to work. today I’m just reconsidering everything and I’m at a loss.

On Tuesday she was upset when I left for work even though she’s usually fine because we have had 5 whole days together 24/7 to “fill her mummy connection cup” and she stayed at her own home with Grandma baby sitting. Today I left again but left her at Nan’s for a change of scenery as she loves it there, I only went to work for just 2.5 hours and apparently she was upset the entire time. When I got home, my mum looked absolutely miserable and told me how much my daughter missed me (thanks mum, as if I don’t need one more thing to feel bad abou). My daughter seemed tired but fine as she never naps with her nanna and is constantly go go go despite me asking her nanna to slow things down and have quiet time.

I’m wondering whether changing my workdays to Wednesday and Friday might help by giving her a day with me in between? it’ll be a mission to change my days, but if I know it may help I’m willing to do it.

I’m also conscious that my mum is negative and draining, so I can’t tell how much of this is my daughter genuinely struggling vs Nan’s own reaction making the whole situation feel worse. 🙃 she’s very much trying to guilt me and I’ve been told by my psychologist that she’s a narcissist. I’m not willing to feel guilty about having a few hours to myself to work to put a roof over our head and food on the table.

Trying a new daycare arrangement seems like the obvious option, before you tell me to put her in daycare, I’ve tried it at the start of the year. I’d be getting calls daily asking to come pick her up as she wouldn’t settle. I tried for months and ended up pulling her out. I don’t believe there’s any benefit in putting her through another transition to daycare when kinder transition start in 3 months. and I can’t wait until my daughter is in kinder and im shattered daycare didn’t work out!

I’m hoping things improve when she starts kinder in February, but until then I’m feeling pretty stuck! I can spend 5 days with her 24/7 but after a day at work it’s like our connectiok is undone and I’m just sitting here supportijg her screaming from me leaving her to go to work because I’m the only provider to put a roof over our heads.

Parents who’ve had clingy toddlers, did spacing out childcare/workdays help, or did consecutive days work better? And how do you tell the difference between your child genuinely not coping and your caregiver struggling to manage their emotions about it?