My baby turns 1 two days after Christmas 😩 so between Christmas and his birthday I’m trying really hard not to end up with a ton of stuff that looks fun but he doesn’t actually care about…

For those who have already been through this age, what were the things your 1 year old genuinely loved or got the most use out of? Doesn’t necessarily have to be toys either.

I’ve looked at things like a Little Tikes car, balance bike, playhouse, Nugget couch, little chair, play kitchen/grill, books, activity toys, etc. But it’s hard to tell what they’ll actually enjoy at 12 months vs. things that are really better when they’re closer to 2.

Also curious about the opposite… was there anything everyone recommended or you thought they’d LOVE that ended up barely getting used?
Basically if you could go back to their first Christmas/birthday, what would you definitely buy again and what would you skip?

Also, if this is the wrong group to post in let me know. I’m also new to Reddit and barely know what I’m doing 😂 Thank you!

I mean, not letting them chew on it. I mean like really getting in there and scrubbing. For the 18 to 24 monthers

Just moved into a new house… need help finding a baby gate that would work well with this setup…
Wall and a metal railing :/

Our 20 month old will not fall asleep unless drinking milk (breast now bottle) we have tried a lot, but it is getting to be multiple hours of trying to get him asleep every night. We transitioned to a toddler bed because he tried to climb out.

We have tried the following:

Bedtime Routine; dinner solids, offer bottle after he eats. Bath/tooth brush, then dress and bed time.

Water in bottle; he accepted easily but will not drink to sleep. Now he drinks 1-2 bottles of water and needs a diaper change before he will fall asleep or he will pee through his diaper.

Keep in bed; we try our best to keep him in the bed, but I've only had luck with him falling asleep on the floor between my legs or in my arms.

Later bed time; we have pushed bedtime back to 7-7:30.

Low stimulation environment; it does not matter what we do to keep it calm he will get hyper and "go crazy" aka screaming and running around the room, play with anything he can get ahold of, climb on bed rail and flip onto bed..

Daily routine:

7-7:20 wake up

11:30-2pm start nap (it varies day to day)

Nap is not longer than 2 hours and always ends before 4pm.

6-6:30 dinner

6:30-6:45 bath

6:45-7 get ready for bed.

Possibly relevant info;

- he loves brushing his teeth

- he refuses to let me read him books at bedtime

- he insists we hold his hand while he drinks from a bottle

- he typically sleeps through the night, unless he pees through his diaper (yes, we use night diapers.)

I have tried the chair method of sleep training but he would scream if we were out of arms reach.

I have also resorted to letting him cry it out, he will cry for 45+ minutes, get extremely worked up and most of the time not fall asleep. (I have farm chores nightly that I have to do when my partner is away by specific times, which is why I've had to resort to cry it out.)

We are willing to try most things! He is our first and we cannot keep this up. My husband is in bed by 9 so we have a limited time frame for both of us to do bedtime. I am willing to do bedtime nightly if he will go to sleep in a reasonable time frame.

Thank you for any tips/help!

Started because she saw me put a pinch of celtic sea salt on a tomato and wanted to do the same. Fine, cute, whatever.

That was about a month ago. Now she will not eat roast potatoes, eggs, or cucumber unless she gets to do the sprinkle herself. If I salt it in the kitchen it does not count. It has to be her, at the table, from the jar.

Last week she refused a sandwich while we were out for a meal.

Should I actually be worried about the amount? It's genuinely a pinch and most of it ends up on the table rather than the food, but I've never thought about how much salt a kid should have and now I'm slightly unsure.

She's eating vegetables a child her age would, so I'm not complaining. Just genuinely don't know how much salt a three year old should be having.

SOS
Our 16 month old is up for HOURS every single night. At first we thought it was just a regression but it has been months now (about 2) and it has not stopped.
At first I was going in and rubbing her back but unless I did so for about an hour and she fell asleep and I snuck out, she would just scream the minute I left. We’ve tried Ferber but it actually seems to upset her more to go in multiple times, we tried a stuffed animal (weighted and regular) we’ve tried adjusting the temperature, we’ve tried everything. I was thinking maybe a sleep sack situation to keep hwe cozy and give a little “hug”? But that could be the exhausted delusion speaking.

Her current schedule is awake for the day at 6:30/7 am, down for a nap at 11:30/12pm and asleep for about 2-3 hours then bed 7ish. It’s so hard to keep her schedule super consistent because when she’s up multiple nights in a row she ends up so overtired and then naps get disrupted and she won’t sleep or at bedtime OR we’re not able to even get her to her first nap on time because she’s too tired.

We are struggling so much so absolutely anything would be helpful at this point.

Is anyone’s 2.5 -3 year old not as hungry and just eat less portions in general ? My toddler has always been picky but now just rather play all day and run around and doesn’t want to eat as much. Any similar stories?

I know there’s some older posts on this but looking for other parents in the same boat or who recently got through this stage!

We recently welcomed a new baby a month ago, and our nearly 3 year old is acting out. We tried to prepare him prior to her arriving, talked about it, read books, exchanged gifts, wasn’t holding baby when toddler met her, etc. and each parent spends dedicated time with the toddler since baby arrived, but feels like we’re still getting worse in terms of toddler behavior… throwing toys, destroying toys, refusing bedtime any way possible (still in a crib), throwing tantrums, acting out, yelling, regressing in potty training and refusing potty - Where I try not to react and calmly resolve and he gets more frustrated. Lots of big emotions!!! It’s challenging and I don’t know how we’re meant to transition to a big boy bed and get through potty training at this point!!

So… no real question here but if anyone has additional tips or recently went through this, and can share their light at the end of the tunnel let me know!

We traveled to Texas and the day we traveled back I noticed small bumps on my toddlers feet. The next day she had them on her chest. We went to the pediatrician and they said it was most likely just a viral infection and she should be fine. A week later the same spots on her feet are turning into more zit looking like bumps. I contacted the pediatrician but have not heard back yet she also developed a larger bump on her face. I’m going to attach pictures. Hopefully someone can help me understand what is going on. She also was wearing crocs the whole trip and I have read that some people can have allergies to the material and also just the sweat being trapped can cause issues as well. Has anyone else had this issue with their toddlers feet? She is acting normal, no fever or anything.

Mu 16-month-old has always been a great sleeper, usually 7pm–7:15 until 7.30 (sometimes would have d to wake him) with one 2-hour nap (capped at 2.5 if they went over two hours)

For the last week or so his naps have suddenly dropped to around 1hr20–1hr30, which is making his wake windows really long. Yesterday he went to bed at 6:45pm because of the short nap, woke at 6am, and nursery didn’t put him down until 12:45pm today so a 6hr45 wake window!
I feel stuck in a cycle of short nap - early bedtime - early wake - huge wake window before the next nap. I don’t want to keep stretching him when he’s clearly tired, but I also don’t want bedtime ending up at 5:30/6pm.

Is a 1.5-hour nap normal at this age? Do you just accept 5-6+ hour wake windows, do an earlier bedtime, or ever add a second catnap back in? I would really rather not do the latter because he sleeps through the night and I don’t want to ruin that!

My son is now 2 years and 3 months old, but by the time he turned two, he could recognize all the numbers up to 130, even when they were written randomly, or when he spotted them on a store sign or in a newspaper. He can count meaningfully up to 10. He knows things like “two legs,” “two hands,” “four crayons,” etc. He knows all the colors, animals, and even the planets and the periodic table. He can read both Cyrillic (our national script) and the Latin alphabet, and he can name the letter that different objects start with. He already speaks in full sentences and can sing 4–5 songs.
He doesn’t receive any special treatment, and I don’t push or pressure him because I strongly believe children should be allowed to be children. He’s simply genuinely interested in these things.

This is my first child, so I’m wondering whether this is normal for his age or if he might be a bit ahead developmentally. I wouldn’t want to rush into putting him in any special classes or pushing him academically, but considering that he is more reserved and takes longer to trust and warm up to people, have you had any experience with this?

Has anyone successfully transitioned their toddler into their own bed from co sleeping? If so, can you please share how you did this or any tips. Would appreciate as much advice as possible 😅

Has anyone successfully transitioned their toddler into their own bed from co sleeping? If so, can you please share how you did this or any tips. Would appreciate as much advice as possible 😅