EC. I read about "elimination communication" on a recommendation from a friend thinking it was a little loony, but the ideas made sense and I tried it and it worked great. Continued to work great with my other kids.

Other than that, I can't think of anything that I'm glad I researched. And I might need to read some early years behavior books now, but I haven't done it in part because I'm so burned out on reading books that purport to share the one, true way to parent that's totally new and unique and you'll just wreck your kid if you don't follow it. None of the sleep or feeding research I did (a lot) was, in retrospect, worthwhile.

Of course, I largely researched things that were challenging in the moment so the things that worked best are, by definition, the things I never researched.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vaccines--we delay and skipped a few.

So then you followed the research that goes completely against the scientific consensus. Nice.

+1

And now your kids could potentially kill another child who is unable to get vaccines because of a medical condition.

And college kids are experiencing outbreaks of the mumps.

But NOOOO, PP did her RESEARCH!!!

Reading random internet websites and the shoddy work of Dr. Sears (and a few other antivaxx loons) is not research. Leave that to the scientists, please.

And the OVERWHELMING scientific consensus is, vaccines are safe.

Yup, and PP is probably vaccinated herself.

Anonymous wrote:Discovering that processed rice powder is not the best food to start baby on - we learned that starting with oily protein is best and went with that. Had a happy, healthy baby with no sleep, digestion or development issues. Kept up with the whole foods/oily protein diet and DS has grown into a happy healthy confident well adjusted teen with great skin and good BMI with no diet, personality or social issues. I see so many of his friends who can hardly make it through the day and I see their diets and there is little wonder what's going on there... people feed their kids processed foods for breakfast and then give them prescription drugs to medicate them.

Best book by far: Anything by Dr Sears and "Wise traditions" journal

I'm not a Dr Sears fan, but what kind of oily proteins are you talking about? Sardines, salmon, nuts... anything else?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vaccines--we delay and skipped a few.

So then you followed the research that goes completely against the scientific consensus. Nice.

+1

And now your kids could potentially kill another child who is unable to get vaccines because of a medical condition.

And college kids are experiencing outbreaks of the mumps.

But NOOOO, PP did her RESEARCH!!!

Reading random internet websites and the shoddy work of Dr. Sears (and a few other antivaxx loons) is not research. Leave that to the scientists, please.

And the OVERWHELMING scientific consensus is, vaccines are safe.

CPR and first aid - I did a baby first aid course while I was pregnant.

Babyled weaning - I had not heard of this until my baby was a few months old, I read the book and researched further and I'm glad I did as it was a great way forward for our family and I used it with all my kids

Sleep and breastfeeding - I did some research but had a trusted person who taught me these things. Literally taught me how to breastfeed - how to check the latch, everything - and was a sleep consultant so taught me a lot about sleep habits, sleep cycles, etc which all meant that I was able to get my babies into good habits early on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vaccines--we delay and skipped a few.

So then you followed the research that goes completely against the scientific consensus. Nice.

+1

And now your kids could potentially kill another child who is unable to get vaccines because of a medical condition.

And college kids are experiencing outbreaks of the mumps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vaccines--we delay and skipped a few.

So then you followed the research that goes completely against the scientific consensus. Nice.

+1

And now your kids could potentially kill another child who is unable to get vaccines because of a medical condition.

I guess they just interpreted the evidence incorrectly?

learning how to properly install carseats and how to properly restrain a child in them

basic first aid and cpr, basic info about common infant and childhood illnesses

child developmental stages

So much of what is out there is hokum and just makes parents more stressed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good sleep habits. We followed “eat, active, sleep” as soon as we got home from the hospital, and researched how much sleep babies should be getting at each age. Of course, you have to be somewhat flexible with a baby. But we avoided a ton of bad habits and our DS has always been a good napper as a result. Night sleep was more challenging - he’s kind of an “average” night sleeper. But I shudder to think how much worse it would have been if we got in bad habits with bringing him into our bed, nursing/feeding bottle to sleep, lasting day/night confision, etc.

Other than that I didn’t “research” much and just went with the flow. A lot of internet information isn’t even reliable anyway.

Not trying to start a fight, but you you have no need to shudder to think about anything. You did what you did and it worked for you. Totally anecdotal. I did many things that you probably would have termed "bad habits" with both my children as infants and they were both great sleepers and nappers. Still are. So much is just about the individual child.

+1 My better than average night sleeper was nursed to sleep for 13 months. Not all kids are the same and your way is best for you, not everyone else. NO need to "shudder," just do you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vaccines--we delay and skipped a few.

So then you followed the research that goes completely against the scientific consensus. Nice.

+1

And now your kids could potentially kill another child who is unable to get vaccines because of a medical condition.

I learned about DMER- Disphoric Milk Ejection Reflex. I struggled with breastfeeding in general due to hypoplasia breaststroke (insufficient milk glands). However, every time I my milk release, I feel a sense of deep depression that lasted a few minutes. In fact, it became an indication for me of when my milk would leak. I didn't understand it and never read about this in any BF books or classes. Knowing that helped me understand that it's a condition I have.

Anonymous wrote:Good sleep habits. We followed “eat, active, sleep” as soon as we got home from the hospital, and researched how much sleep babies should be getting at each age. Of course, you have to be somewhat flexible with a baby. But we avoided a ton of bad habits and our DS has always been a good napper as a result. Night sleep was more challenging - he’s kind of an “average” night sleeper. But I shudder to think how much worse it would have been if we got in bad habits with bringing him into our bed, nursing/feeding bottle to sleep, lasting day/night confision, etc.

Other than that I didn’t “research” much and just went with the flow. A lot of internet information isn’t even reliable anyway.

Not trying to start a fight, but you you have no need to shudder to think about anything. You did what you did and it worked for you. Totally anecdotal. I did many things that you probably would have termed "bad habits" with both my children as infants and they were both great sleepers and nappers. Still are. So much is just about the individual child.

Anonymous wrote:Vaccines--we delay and skipped a few.

So then you followed the research that goes completely against the scientific consensus. Nice.

Raising a Spirited Child helped me appreciate that my first born was not the outlier he appeared. I only wish i read it sooner and put him in a more suitable preschool with other sensory seeking types so he would have been sanctioned less. Looking back, his montessori preschool set him back developmentally and confidence-wise.

Discipline. I had authoritarian parents. Horrible role models. So glad to learn more gentle and warm methods of teaching my and guiding.

Later, ADHD. Again, so much easier to parent with knowledge and resources.