The 5 parenting moments that never make it onto social media.

Celebrating the milestones of our children is a rite of passage for parents. We get collectively excited about the most talked about firsts – the first smiles, first coos, first solids.

We note the date of first teeth, first steps, and of course, the first day of school. Then there’s those personal, often bittersweet, milestones. They’re different for all of us, and can be heartbreaking. Or heart-warming.

The first time your baby girl doesn’t call for you through the night; when your toddler no longer needs the potty; the first night your little boy chooses not to sleep with his favourite teddy.

These are another group of milestones. The ones we choose not to post on Faceook. We may not enjoy these particular moments, but we note them none-the-less.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Combantrin^®, But all opinions expressed by the author are 100 per cent authentic and written in their own words.

Here are the top five, shall we say, confronting milestones, you just can’t help but notice.

1.The first time your baby vomits something other than milk

There’s something about vomit, actual vomit that makes me want to be sick too. More than anything else. More than dirty nappies, more than snotty noses. Milk vomit is different, it’s almost kind of adorable.

When a newborn baby vomits milk onto your favourite jeans, you role your eyes, grab a cloth and lovingly mop yourself and your baby up.

Then they start eating solids, it becomes a little thicker, but it’s still ok.

But soon, they’re toddlers, they get gastro and bam, actual vomit.

The smell.

It’s a day to remember, that’s for sure.

2. The first time you have to force feed your toddler pain relief

To this day, my five year old hates having Panadol when he’s sick or has a temperature.

These days he has to do what he’s told. But as a toddler he was strong willed and he flat out refused medication.

So when he inevitably fell sick and had a fever, there was no choice. One parent held him down, the other administered the dose.

Not fun, not fun at all.

3. The first time you have to insert a suppository

Even less fun is inserting a suppository to an unwilling child.

I’ve endured this unfortunate milestone for both my boys and let me tell you, if you haven’t experienced it, it is far from pleasant.

Words do little to describe just how so.

 4. The first time you retrieve snot out of your child’s nose with your fingers

To be honest I wouldn’t have even noticed this milestone had it not been for my husband’s utter horror as he watched me use my own fingers to pull snot out of my son’s nose for the first time.

In fact, I think I was smiling at the time, rather proud that I’d been able to free his little nose up enough to breath in some extra air.

After the first time though, this activity becomes a bit of a personal challenge, an obsession even, if you encounter a particularly stubborn piece that you simply MUST remove.

 5. The first time you need to pull out the Combantrin

Offering the little chocolate squares of Combantrin is the easy part of this particular memorable moment. It’s the lead up that you don’t soon forget.

First there’s the itchy bottom.

Then there’s the horrific realisation that the best way to check for worms is to look into your child’s bottom, in the night, as they sleep, to see if any worms are visible.

I recoiled as I reluctantly performed this task, for all of about 30 seconds. I couldn’t see anything, but due to the speed in which I performed the task and the accompanying symptoms, I decided to use the Combantrin the Pharmacist had suggested.

At least they got a small piece of chocolate.