Search phrase report, Vol. 1

I've been keeping track of the phrases people search on that land them here on Ask Moxie. A few are pretty funny (like "Supernanny big boobs"), but most are people looking for info I actually have to offer.

I've been getting a surprising number of hits for "sew your own pouch" or "fleece pouch pattern" or "Hotsling pattern." I don't have one on this site, but I did find this super-easy pattern. If I end up sewing one (to match my ring sling sewn from this pattern) I'll let you know how it goes. You can also check out my post on my favorite slings (and the comments, of course) to see if there's anything else you're interested in.

I get a ton of hits on variations of "my 9 month old won't sleep" or "9 month old won't sleep in crib" or "9 month old wakes up all night" or "9 month old wakes up screaming" or "I hate my 9 month old" (just kidding about that last one). If you're at your wit's end because your 9 (or 8) month-old is having sleep problems, you're probably smack dab in the middle of the sleep regression before the next developmental spurt. Here's a basic rundown of what the sleep regressions are about. And the post "9-month-old's sleep has gone into the crapper" might be helpful, too. FWIW, the time I felt most morose and hopeless about parenting and my life was when my older son was 9 months, and I'm going through another wave of "is this all there is?" now that my younger one is 9 months. I think the sleep thing and the discouragement thing are intricately related.

For anyone looking for "sleep training" this post might help you. I'll tell you that I don't think letting your baby cry alone in a room trains them to do anything but shut down. You'll have better luck teaching your child to sleep if you respond to his or her needs at night, so they learn that the world can be trusted and there's nothing to be afraid of. If you have a kid that needs a little bit of fussing or crying for the final wind-down before sleep, you can test it by doing a very short controlled cry to see what happens. A kid who escalates will let you know right away that you shouldn't let them cry. A kid who needs to fuss down (sometimes or all the time) will do so in a few minutes.

For anyone looking for "having another baby" or "when to have another baby" or "how long should I wait before getting pregnant again" or "pregnant again but husband doesn't want it" (which made me sad), I'm sooo not the person to ask. My two boys (4 years and 9 months old, respectively) are kicking my ass. So I can't recommend having another baby. But then again they love each other with such intensity and have so much fun together already and make me laugh so much that I recommend it to everyone. Whichever way you go it's going to work out, while still making you a little nuts. I would suggest reading Siblings Without Rivalry to give yourself a good framework to help avoid the easy traps that end up setting up jealousy between siblings.

Another frequent string is "toddler won't drink milk" or "why won't my toddler drink milk??" or "teach toddler to drink from a sippy". I'd suggest trying another kind of milk or reading the suggestions in the comments to this post for other tips on helping kids drink from sippy or straw cups.

This afternoon we'll be back to Q&A.

Comments

[wix]

i love search reports. they're good for hours of giggles. i'm brewing another run-down of words that lure the unsuspecting to luckyhazel.