Hellobee Boards

You've got a lot going on! I will say I wore baby #3 A LOT more than I ever did with the first two. I bought an Ergo and I was able to put it on and take it off by myself pretty easily. My middle son was only 15 months old when LO3 was born so I really needed my hands free. I did not wear from the house to car, I just carried the carrier, but I used it a lot in stores, playgrounds, etc. This was all pre-covid. If you don't want to invest in a new carrier I have seen a lot for sale at consignment stores or on FB marketplace.

How old is your LO who still uses a pacifier? My youngest just weaned a couple of months ago (he was around 19-20 months) and he was only using it to sleep. It was so easy, I just took it away and he was honestly fine. We've used it once or twice since then, once when he fell and hurt his lip and was pretty inconsolable, but at this point I think it's gone for good.

No advice re: the willow, I just used my trusty, dusty medela.

You've got this! I had three under 5 and it was intense for awhile but now that my youngest is almost two it is so much (crazy/loud) fun.

Fwiw, we kept the binkie, only in the crib, until 3.5. our pediatric dentist said that if kids have a strong need to suck and you take the pacifier away they usually switch to sucking thumbs which is worse, so okay for limited use until the child is old enough to quit a little more willingly. My kids are a little less than 2 years apart and I just wanted the first baby to keep sleeping well so no shame there. He's seven now with perfect teeth and no pacifier.

I only have two now (am pregnant and also nervous about handling 3), but have found the lillebaby a complete necessity for both, and the second more than the first. One of our best baby investments.

I unfortunately don't have much insight on the pump (love my spectra) or pacifiers. With #2 I found the end of pregnancy more difficult than the newborn days (ugh, so miserable), so I say do whatever makes life the easiest now and don't sweat too much that some stuff will get put off.

For us, I feel like it’s never the things I worry about that end up being the struggles. It’s always whatever I didn’t imagine. 3 can be tough but you’ve got this!

1) I didn’t end up baby wearing my 3rd as much as my first 2. No real reason I can think of, though. I did love my moby wrap for the 1st 2.

2) I did a PISA for all 3 because I didn’t feel like learning something new. I thought about trying the spectra because I’d heard such good things about it. I don’t think I’ve heard much about the willow but the ads look super cool.

3) as the mom of an older thumb-sucker, if holding off on paci-weaning can help to keep your kid from thumb sucking like @MrsSRS said, I would for sure hold off. Getting my 4yo to stop sucking his thumb is a big challenge and his teeth are awful. He never sucked his thumb until I left on a long trip at 15 months which was the end of our breastfeeding journey so I feel like it was definitely a replacement of a previous soothing behavior. Would definitely go back in time and undo that choice.