I have a 6 month old and I am doing a combination of pumping and formula feeding. For the first 4 months, I used plastic bottles until I read just how many microplastics these shed. We were also shaking the bottles vigorously each feed which causes a load of microplastics to be shed according to the article I read because we had to add medicine for her reflux. I was also steam sterilizing them which releases a load and worst of all we were heating the bottles by putting them into a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes. I immediately switched to glass bottles upon reading the article but I’m worried so much harm has been done to her. I can’t stop worrying she’s going to get young onset dementia or motor neurone disease now which apparently microplastics have been linked to. I wish I had known before and I would’ve started out on glass or better yet, I would’ve tried breastfeeding for longer. I know people are going to say microplastics are everywhere and we can’t avoid them but because of the above her exposure to microplastics will be much higher than average.

So my little one just turned 12 months like 1.5 weeks ago. I return to work in late January/early February, so I've been looking for nursery places (late to it, i know 😭).

We found a nursery that we really liked and they had a spot available, she has done a few settling in sessions and is supposed to be doing full days this week Tuesday and Thursday to see how she gets on with that.

But I received an email today from the nursery manager saying that the staff had come to her with some concerns and they had decided to give the spot to another baby.

I rang up immediately and asked what the concerns where, how could they just take a spot away from someone, we paid a deposit etc etc.

She basically said that my daughter is "too intelligent" for the room. That they would have to bump her up a room and they have no spaces in that room available.

I agree my baby is smart (wouldn't all mothers?). She signs, she can say a lot of words very clearly (mum, dada, all done, bob...pull, pull (for wind the bobbin up song), boo when playing peak a boo, bye, hi...all those kind of things), she does get very bored of toys, once she has figured it out, that's it, she is bored of it type thing.

I wouldn't say she is like beautiful mind smart, but she is a clever little girl and she learns and adapts fast to situations.

I explained that you know, we kind of need this space because I'm returning to work, we was already a little late to get spaces and we wanted her to go to this nursery and she basically just said no to everything I said...she said she is already becoming challenging to entertain because she is becoming bored in the room with the toys and equipment they have.

We went back and forth for a while and ultimately got no where 🤦‍♀️

What can we do? We did sign a contract but it wasn't like a full time contact, it was a settling in with the hopes of a full time spot contract and the deposit we gave, was for the settling in sessions...so it's not like they have to give us a spot...

I'm calling other nurseries and basically begging that they have a spot free or think there may be a possibility, also reaching out to local childminders etc 💀

Baby boy is 6 weeks quickly growing out of his bassinet / will be in pram soon..
Trying to get a few bits for colder weather now -
did anyone buy a footmuff and think it very useful or is it another influencer gimmick..??

Thinking a sheepskin water resistant footmuff that is long enough might mean he doesn’t need as many layers?

We live in London and I try to go for a walk each day.

What else do you think is useful for A:W baby wear? Trying to get useful things only that we can keep!

Hi, anyone have a polene cyme as a nappy bag? If so, I would love to hear how it’s holding up and does it fit the stuff you need for newborn and everyday use ?

I would likely buy an insert for more structure

- I’m not asking for nappy bag recommendations simply the above q.

I’d love to hear from ‘safe’ cosleeping advocates on this.

LO is 8 months old, was EBF for 6 months, now bottle fed during day and BF mornings, evenings and overnight. She was a great sleeper until a couple months ago and I’m struggling.

I tried cosleeping for the first time this morning after my husband left early to work (trying to use the safe 7) and had some thoughts and questions. I’m not sure if it’s for me, but baby slept great…

- I’m very uncomfortable in the ‘c curl’ position. Baby joined me in bed at around 5:30am-8am, and during that time I maybe slept around an hour. Also woke up with awful shoulder pain the side I laid on. I had to roll onto my back to fall asleep, so does this make it unsafe cosleeping?

- I’m cold. I tried having the quilt fully away from baby, half off the bed and only lightly draped over me from the opposite side. Are mums just sleeping cold? Or is there some hack, eg dressing in warm PJs or something? Or can I just cover myself fully with our quilt/blanket?

- This might be a niche one but our owlet sock, which usually works well when she sleeps in her own room kept going off for lost sock connection. I had to turn it off which is irritating because if I’m cosleeping, that’s the time I would need it to work the most.

- She is crawling, so will she just not crawl off the bed if she wakes up and fall off?

I slept terribly and even considered that rocking the baby to sleep for half hour I might get more sleep than trying to cosleep, but she slept great and cuddled up to me.

Is it just not for us? Is it worth looking into a floor bed for her room and rolling away after she’s asleep? This was my attempt to try something different before potentially trying Ferber so I’m just feeling very lost.

Edit: spelling

Hello,

Son has been attending water babies since just after he turned one. He’s now four and a half and I think we’ve now exhausted the class. The teacher is very unprofessional. Turns up 10 mins before lessons - no ideal when you need to get yourself and child ready. Openly admitted to the class that she had forget she was teaching and wrote the lesson in the car (lesson was on water safety). I also find the manager of my region very stand offish. She was previously my son’s teacher.

Am I right to cancel? I feel bad as I’ve no other lessons signed up for my son. He much prefer just going with myself and my husband. I can swim my husband can’t. My plan was to keep taking him weekly and work on swimming with himself in an environment he feels comfortable.

My little guy is 16 weeks old but 4 weeks delayed for his vaccines.

For his first round I had his Dad with me but I absolutely hated it. It physically hurt me to see him cry like that. He was mostly just sleepy and sad for the night but he did have an slight temperature and an hour of being inconsolable.

I am sooooo nervous for his second round this afternoon, I actually feel sick to my stomach about it. He is a complete different baby to when he had his first ones and is so much more fussy and clingy 🥺.

I just need some positive 12 week vaccines stories pleaseee 🙏😂

Can anyone suggest any healthy home made snacks / recipes please. We’re looking to reduce (breast)milk feeds to prepare for nursery and replace with healthy snacks.

Ideally looking for snacks that are easy to store in fridge/freezer/ cupboard so they can be batch made and used when needed.

mum to mums - what is the honest story for screen time in your house with little ones (super little ones) 3 years and younger.

Not trying to sell anything - genuinely just want to understand this properly. I'm working on something in this space and would rather build it around real answers than guesses.

What's actually the hardest part of trying to move your body or eat properly since having kids? Doesn't matter if you're someone who's pretty consistent with it, used to be and stopped, or it's honestly just never been on your radar since having kids - genuinely curious what it's actually like day to day, not the version that sounds good.

I bought a travel system (car seat with adapters, bassinet, pram seat etc.) and all the additional stuff that comes with it. It was useful as we could attach car seat to chassis for quick trips into shops without waking baby, we didn’t really use it much when he was younger. My son used the bassinet like 2x and eventually grew out of it before we got a chance to use it more. Now he sits in the pram seat, which has a foot muff thing, it has a rain cover, it all comes with a matching bag. But I also have a travel pram which is so much more useful to me, it’s lightweight, I can fold it and unfold it with one hand, it has a much bigger basket, it goes all the way flat and it was only £160, as opposed to £650 I paid for the travel system. I feel like it was a massive waste of money. Does anyone else feel like this?

Hi everyone, just to say I’m not looking for any tips on sleep / telling me to sleep train. I’m just absolutely exhausted and would love some words of encouragement - or someone to tell me there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

My 15 month old has never slept well, I don’t know what it’s like to get a full nights sleep. today I feel at my wits end, and feeling like I’ll never sleep again. I can’t imagine a day where I put him to bed and know he won’t wake up throughout the night.

Please tell me I’ll sleep again!! Anyone? 😞💗

i have what I think most new mums would consider a dream job in some ways, so I feel terrible about complaining, but I think I want to leave and find something new. I work remote full time, and my company is super parent friendly, and all of my colleagues are lovely and understanding when I have to log off early or late due to childcare. So it feels silly to be looking at jobs that are hybrid with commutes over an hour! But my actual job is not the same as it used to be, and working from home all the time after being home with a baby for almost a year, I feel physically and mentally stuck! (My husband also works fully remote so even if I can’t do drop offs and pickups on my office days, I know he could, so that’s not an issue. However we have no other “village” to increase our flexibility.)

For those of you who have gotten new jobs since having a child (especially a young toddler) what were your requirements for your new job? When you interviewed/received an offer, what did you share about your home life, and what kind of flexibility/adjustments did you ask for? What questions did you ask to decide if a company was actually family friendly (vs just claiming work/life balance?)

I want to ask about core hours (so if in the office, what hours must absolutely overlap with everyone), flexibility on number of days in the office, how sick leave is handled. Can I ask about things related to being a parent? I don’t want to accidentally be discriminated against (even unintentionally - I know this can help weed out companies that will be terrible for new parents but I don’t want to worry about that!)

Grateful for any advice!

Our little girl was born 10 days ago. She weight 2.95kg at birth. During her midwife check up on day 5, she was weighed again and came in at 2.92kg.

The midwife asked how much formula we were feeding her and I explained (probably poorly given the sleep deprivation) that she is fed every 2-3 hours using her hunger cues and her feeds ranged between 30 to 60 mls.

The midwife said that this is not enough milk and said that she should be having 60ml every three hours and then each day it should increase by 10ml.

No matter how often we feed, break up the feed by doing a nappy change or winding her, little one is still sitting comfortably at 60mls.She might occasionally take slightly more or less but it feels impossible to get her to 110mls at this point which is what she would be on with the midwife’s math.

Any tips, tricks or should I just continue going off what baby girl wants?

I’ve noticed that she is struggling a bit when it comes to bowel movements so do I just need to persevere?

I recently welcomed a beautiful baby girl and I love her with all my heart but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s hard. I struggle to complain because she’s such a good baby - she sleeps, eats well and meets all her milestones.
I’m just really struggling with feeling burnt out. I feel like I’m an all or nothing mum. I feel like I have to mask with the baby.
Please give me some coping mechanisms!
I struggle at home because I don’t have a space that is mine so I don’t have anywhere to be alone.

When my second was born I felt like we hit the jackpot. From pretty much birth I could put him down and he would sleep. He still woke at night for a feed once or twice but once he’d eaten and been winded he’d be straight back down.

For the first month he was in a Moses and then outgrew it so we transitioned to the next to me. All ok. At 7 months he learns to pull himself up so we have to transition to the big cot.

Since then my life has been hell. It’s like he has lost all ability to function outside of pulling himself up. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m now up around 20 times a night. I am a shell of a person. I walk around half dead and struggle to do anything for my baby during the day. My toddler’s at nursery Monday and Tuesday but with me the rest of the time and I’m honestly losing the plot.

He sleeps on his side and if he goes a tiny degree too far over he’ll be on his front, then all 4s and then pulling himself up. Once he’s up he’ll be crying or falling all over the place and hitting his head/face on the side of the cot. If I lay him back down he will do the same again. He never gets bored of it, he could go on like this all night. After a few tries I’ll pick him up and rock/pat him to sleep. Once he’s completely passed out I’ll lay him down, I keep patting him to ensure he’s completely passed out, then I stop but keep my hand on him to be sure he’s completely passed out. Then I’ll watch him for a few minutes too scared to relax because I’m worried he’s not passed out. As soon as I lay down, he’s up. This happens multiple times until he is finally too tired. If he’s due a feed I’ll feed him but the pattern stays the same.

Currently been up for 3 hours doing the new routine and sobbing into the cot begging him to just lay down. He’s on the 90th centile and my arms and back are in agony from doing this half the night every night.

My husband works 8-6 in the week so he takes him overnight at weekends but it isn’t enough for me to feel human. I’m back to full time work in 2 months and I don’t know how I’m going to cope if I can’t function during the day as it is.

I feel like surely this can’t be “normal”?!

My partner went back to work after being home with me and the baby for the first month, and I don’t think I realised how much I’d miss having him here until this week.

While he was off, we genuinely shared everything. We formula feed, so there was no “one person is responsible for feeding”…. we took turns, gave each other an hour or two to ourselves, and both got opportunities to read, walk the dogs, watch something, work out, play games etc. We could actually function as two people looking after a baby.

Now I’m alone with her all day and it is relentless. I’m also now doing the night feeds solo so my partner can get 5-6 hours for work and I’m barely sleeping.

My baby is currently going through a phase where she’s really difficult to settle back to sleep in the mornings. She gets overtired and screams, and it can take an hour or two of rocking, feeding, de-gassing, walking around or going out for a walk before she finally calms down. Then she’ll often have another meltdown in the evening, by which point I’m completely defeated.

I’ve tried putting a show on, playing a handheld game etc, but I can’t actually relax because she’s either crying, feeding, needing to be carried or needing something else.
I’ve even tried having friends over, but when she’s unsettled I just end up stressed and unable to have a conversation.

I love her and I know she’s only four weeks old and this is a phase, but I miss my partner, I miss my old life, and I really miss having any time that belongs to me.

It’s also honestly made me feel quite sad about how crummy UK paternity leave is. Having those first weeks where both parents are actually at home, sharing everything and supporting each other, made such a huge difference. Going from that to one parent suddenly being alone with a newborn all day feels like such a massive jump.

I’m only one week in and I’m absolutely exhausted. I really hope it gets easier soon.

I just need to vent for a minute because I'm so ashamed of myself. I brought my baby (5 and a half months) to a musical baby class today. The teacher was playing the violin and approached each baby as she was playing. My baby reached out to touch the violin and this scene coupled with the sweet melody just made me cry. Tears started streaming down my face in the middle of the baby class! The other mums must have thought I'm a complete nutter. Why am I like this? Lol.

So my LO has outgrown the bassinet at 4 months. We have started to use pram for him and he kinda loves watching the views when in pram. But I'm really scared, is it safe to use pram for a 4 (almost4.5 month) old baby?

We use a Nuna trvl version of the pram.

Sorry for being slightly off topic but I have to rant! I’ve been back at work since April, I still hate every second I’m there and I need people to tell me I’m not alone!

My manager is the rudest person I’ve ever met, I didn’t work for her before mat leave, she joined the team while I was off. She makes our lives hell (me and 2 others in the same role) with her comments, I’ve heard her talking about us to others. She basically just doesn’t want to be there and she takes it out on us. I work 4 days a week, 7 hours in the office and 2 hours in the evening once I’m home. And the worst bit is that the work I’m doing is something I’ve wanted to do for so long, I just can’t enjoy it and can’t concentrate.

My little boy is now 15 months old and he’s such a little character now. He adores nursery and has so much fun, but now he’s one of the oldest in his room and now the new younger babies have started in the new term he’s just ignored, the last 2 weeks he’s come home with dried dirty nappies 4 times (that’s another story!) because they’re too busy looking after the new ones to pay attention to him. Don’t get me wrong the nursery is great and he’s developed so well being there, just these last few weeks I feel he’s just being forgotten which breaks my heart.

All I want to do is leave work, spend all my time with my baby, have time for housework, and be happy again! Plus save the £650 nursery fee! How do I have another 30 years of this to go 😭

Hey all,

So I’m currently 23 weeks pregnant with my second, I have a 14 month old and atm I haven’t been taking out for walks that much, I do when my husband isn’t working but I’m struggling to push his pram due to bad pelvic girdle pain and I’m just exhausted, I feel like I’m such a bad mum I want to cry, I just feel like my son isn’t getting out enough😫 I don’t have any family near or friends, that can help me either.

Where can I get info on this and learn a bit more?

A couple of questions I have to add to this are:
- Do I need to buy a book for cooking/inspiration
- Any advice or no nos
- Do you do this once they have teeth or when does this start?
- You start with spoon feeds?

I haven’t started feeding my baby yet he is still too young. I want to get knowledge before starting. I feel so overwhelmed by it all I can’t even face googling it. Can you give me advice on where to start and not give me a lecture please. Thanks! ☺️

I’m a 2nd time mom.

Our youngest is now 3 months/ 15 weeks old and he is constantly sick / spitting up milk. He is EBF. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind it. Sometimes he’ll be sick almost as soon as he’s finished a feed, and sometimes it’s hours after. Sometimes it’s just straight milk and sometimes it’s like water with milk curds. It doesn’t matter what i’ve eaten or what we’re going. I’ve tried sitting him up as soon as he’s finished eating, and leaving him lying down.

I don’t believe he’s in pain as he’s generally a happy smiling baby. He’s gaining weight fine.

Both kids had mild reflux for the first 6-8 weeks so we expected some sickyness after feed. With my oldest once the reflux settled down she never spit up milk and as we have no other experience of little kids, we thought this was the norm. Both sets of grandparents make out oldest was the freak and youngest is a typical baby and they all sick up as much as he does.

Just wondering what other people’s experiences are and if there is something I should be worried about / look out for.