u/GeorgePF

Hi all,

Heading to Banff in mid September with my wife and 8 month old, we're currently planning somethings to do and Lake Louise / Moraine lake is definitely on the list but fully aware parking is incredibly limited.

The Banff shuttle for Lake Louise has sold out and we don't want to risk trying to get tickets 48hrs in advance so the other option is the ROAM transit, the reservation times we want aren't ideal so our only option seems to be to just queue on the day and try and get some seats as they keep 40% available on a first come first serve basis.

Has anyone had any experience with this previously and are we expected to queue for a long time? We're planning Lake Louise on Thursday 24th September currently, so not sure how big the crowds are then.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

I'm so gutted to not be able to make Oktoberfest this year because of work, however I'm planning to go with some friends mid October - I know it wont be as busy or lively but what is Munich like when Oktoberfest isn't on?

Last year we visited Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner etc... in the centre and we loved the atmosphere, so I'm hoping it's still lively when we go!

Booked a package holiday with EasyJet but we had to change the flight to an earlier time - I did this via online chat with a rep and I paid for it using their portal, everything went through and I checked in the new flight however my transaction has been reversed, but everything is still active?

Not sure what to do here, have I just got lucky and been given a free flight change?😂

Hi all,

Long story short I lost my job just before I had my first baby, it was an ugly process and ultimately to avoid tribunal they gave me a payout including my maternity leave pay upfront. The amount covers bills until December(ish!).

Because I lost my job I don't qualify for the 30 hours free childcare but my partner works (self employed).

It's really tricky to find a job not knowing how long the process will take and then timing that with nursery.

Can I register to be self employed while I find a job so my partner can pay me the minimum amount needed to qualify? Technically I can actually help him and his business if I do register for self employment and the only obstacle would be to file a return with HMRC next April but my income from self employment wouldn't be over the tax free threshold anyways.

Is this possible? We are looking to put baby into nursery towards the end of the year / start of Jan.

Hi all,

Long story short I lost my job just before I had my first baby, it was an ugly process and ultimately to avoid tribunal they gave me a payout including my maternity leave pay upfront. The amount covers bills until December(ish!).

Because I lost my job I don't qualify for the 30 hours free childcare but my partner works (self employed).

It's really tricky to find a job not knowing how long the process will take and then timing that with nursery.

Can I register to be self employed while I find a job so my partner can pay me the minimum amount needed to qualify? Technically I can actually help him and his business if I do register for self employment and the only obstacle would be to file a return with HMRC next April but my income from self employment wouldn't be over the tax free threshold anyways.

Is this possible? We are looking to put baby into nursery towards the end of the year / start of Jan.

Hi all,

I posted in here a few days ago asking for advice on sleep training and getting my baby girl to nap a bit more independently as she’s always been quite a needy baby.

I’ve been trying to nap her more myself instead of mum so she gets used to myself and the bottle and not solely relying on mum and boob to settle her all the time.

Today I got her ready for her nap on me (usually feed her then bounce her while on the feeding pillow), I changed her, put her in her sleep sack while in her crib with some of her sensory lights and toys on. After a while I turned them off and just sat there with her for a while, she cried but nothing she wouldn’t do when I try to nap her anyways, and after 20 mins she fell asleep!! She actually fell asleep not being held, for 30 mins! I just shushed her, put my hand on her chest and kept her favourite song on (Blackbird by the Beatles). I didn’t pick her up, I just left her in the crib but stayed next to her.

I’m currently writing this post just after nap number 2 and she did the exact same thing and slept in her crib (another 30 mins!).

Obviously this was a bit unintentional and I had no idea she’d actually fall asleep, so my question now is - how do I slowly transition away from the hand on chest / soothing and what should mum do? She’s used to contact napping and doesn’t want to stop doing it because it’s great bonding, but we also don’t want to confuse the baby between napping on her own and then on mum with the boob etc…

Fully appreciate this is day 1 of her sleeping in her crib, this may take weeks but just seeking some guidance 🙂

Thanks all!

Hi all,

We’re travelling to Calgary in September to visit Banff and potentially Yoho / Glacier, but also to live in the Canadian Rockies for just under 2 weeks, we’re taking our baby and are so excited - it’s a dream trip for us.

We had originally booked an apartment in Canmore, the town looks amazing and the apartment has a pool complex / hot tub etc… although I’ll not sure how appealing the pool is for a 9mo baby.

We noticed Canmore is quite a but more expensive than other places like Golden, where we could actually extend our trip by 1-2 days, stay in a house instead of an apartment with a private hot tub for about C$400 less but obviously we’re over 1.5 hours from Banff instead of 20 minutes and a lot more remote so less accessible to any amenities etc…

(The house we found is just outside of Golden, near Blaeberry - very secluded and more with nature)

Trying to figure out what’s best, the house near Golden has a BBQ, pizza oven and huge kitchen / outdoor balcony area so we’re very happy with that, but on the other hand we would love to be closer to Canmore, it’s just so pricey 😩

Anyone had experience with either place and any advice / recommendations?

Hi all,

Apologies for the lengthy post, we're a bit stuck at the moment with a very needy baby...

We have a beautiful 4mo girl and every minute has been incredible, my wife and I are really enjoying our parenting journey even though some parts are tough.

Our baby is very much a contact napper, she always hated the swaddle, hated the bassinet, hated the Moses basket, hated the car seat, but loved the sling (and still does!) however she does sleep on her own at night in the next to me which is next to mums side of the bed.

Because of the weather, we've really tried to avoid using the sling, I always become a sweaty mess when I tried taking her for a nap and that inevitably woke the baby and made her hot and clammy, and mums back is in bits using the sling constantly.

The last few weeks, my wife has tried leaning into more contact naps, where she feeds her to sleep on her lap using the feeding pillow for the baby to lie on, it's working ok so far but throw in the 4 month regression, most of her naps are now 30/45 mins, with the odd one being 1.5-2 hours, however mum is stuck with the baby on her for these naps and the hope of transferring her are very slim at the moment because she seems to wake easily.

Recently my wife has taken a beating mentally, the constant short contact naps and current night wakings (usually 2-3x per night for 10-15 mins) are all becoming a bit too much and although we're not meant to compare - her entire antenatal group all have babies the same age (give or take a few weeks) that have always napped in pretty much anything and are slowly getting their freedom back because they don't have a baby stuck to them.

I'm self employed and this time of year is my busiest time, I'm a photographer / videographer so my biggest earnings are now, so admittedly I've not been taking the baby for as many naps as I used too. The last few days I've tried taking her for the first nap of the day which has been contact naps, settling her using a bottle and bouncing her until she falls asleep, both times she's been pretty hysterical and very angry it's not mum doing the nap, but our goal is to teach her that it's not always going to be mum and that she needs to get used to dad stepping in. She's eventually fallen asleep both times and did a 40 min nap both times, so a win for us!

We will eventually apply this same routine for bed as well, so at 7pm I can hopefully settle her using a bottle and eventually transfer her so mum can finally go out for a glass of wine - we tried this once a few weeks ago and it did not go very well at all because she's always been used to the boob to fall asleep on.

Our main goal at the moment is to start getting her used to napping a bit more independently and slowly start the transition to her own room at 6 months - although she sleeps in her own space albeit next to mum at night, transferring her is often like treading on eggshells and she can wake up very easily which resets the whole settling process by putting her back on the boob to fall asleep, again, something we want to lean away from.

My question to parents who hopefully have been through a similar situation is what methods work well for teaching / transitioning into more independent naps? Currently we are not CIO parents, it's hard enough having her cry on me or mum so that's out the window for now. Obviously we are letting her fuss for 5/10 mins at a time to slowly teach her, but we can't leave the room and just let her cry.

Our current nap schedule is a bit sporadic because of the regression, but the last few days have been the following while also implementing a contact nap with dad and a practice independent nap.

Wake: 6:02am

1st nap: 7:44-8:19am (contact nap with dad)

2nd nap: 9:40-11:12am (contact nap with mum)

3rd nap: 1:19-2:03pm (practice sleeping in her cot nap and allowing 10/15 mins of fussing before rescuing the nap).

4th nap: 3:28-5:13pm

Bedtime: 7:00pm (although she woke after 30 mins and didn't go back to sleep until 8pm)

She did an 8 hour stint last night, waking at 4am for a 20 min feed on the boob, before going back to sleep until 6am.

Currently we aren't too fussed about her night time schedule as we think she is sleeping quite well at night considering it's meant be a regression period.

Other things to note: She slept through the night without any wakings for a good month around the 8 week mark. Her weight is fantastic, barely lost any birth weight and is a chunky 14.3lbs now (she was 6.7lbs at birth). Mum breastfeeds 90% of the time, but also pumps so we can give her a bottle as well if needed.

Huckleberry weekly summary attached for context on naps etc...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, we are also fully aware she is only 4 months old - we aren't expecting a solution overnight, but more to get a head start on some solutions and slowly incorporate them into her routine.

Thanks for your help in advance.

https://preview.redd.it/nv5uyyyr595h1.jpg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0b5b679be72530ffaa57dbe665635004126c0cc

Hi all,

We've booked one of our dream trips to Canada, and now that we have a 4 month old baby, it's made us even more excited, but also very nervous.

She'll be 9 months when we go and we're flying with BA so we have the bulkhead seats / bassinet available - our issue is she currently hates sleeping independently during the day, she has to contact nap or be in the sling. At night, she's great and often sleeps independently from 7pm through to 5am.

What was long haul travel like for people who have done it, and is there any advice you have for plane journeys in general?

We want to try and get a quick trip booked in before we go just to see what she's like on a plane but we're only 4 months away from our trip to Canada.

Hi all,

We have always wanted to come to Banff, and we've finally booked the trip, except now we'll be taking our daughter with us which has made us even more excited!

We're coming from the UK, so we're very nervous about the journey there and was wondering if anyone else has travelled far to go to Banff with a baby.

We're staying on Vancouver Island for a few days first as we got the flights for free through Avios, then we're flying over to Calgary. Both AirBnB's we have booked come with a travel cot which is a plus!

Currently she's 4 months old and sleeps independently at night, but her naps during the day are very sporadic and she only likes sleeping on us in a sling or on mums lap, so the plane journey is our biggest concern as it's a 10+ hour flight and we only had the choice of 1 flight time for the outbound and return journey (11:40am outbound which is a great time!) but the return journey from Calgary to London is at 8:30pm and her bedtime is usually 7pm UK time!

This is all new for us and we've tried really hard to stick to her routine, currently she wakes up at 6am and is in bed by 7/7:30pm.

Also, any recommendations would be much appreciated, we're in Vancouver Island for 4 nights and Banff for 5 nights!

Thanks all.