u/marmaladeonsourdough

My baby is VERY active and not one to sit still like some of my friends babies...

It will be our first time travelling and i am terrified. I need tips on how to make it easier. Is there anything to prepare/buy that could help make my life easier during the flights? It will be a 2.5 hour return flight. Before that we will take the train which will be another 2 hours.

I know snacks are a big one. I will make sure to have lots of puffs, rice cakes etc on hand. I will take a book or two and some small toys. What else?

Please note we don't have much luggage space (only travelling with backpacks) so cannot take anything taking up too much space.

I got the exact same model as a replacement phone from the apple store brand new and nobody asked me what sim card I have so I assume it should be unlocked... it is an iphone 13 and the original phone that broke was gifted to me originally and I put my usual sim in no problem and used it for a few years. I have never had a contract though, I always had a separate sim in all my phones.

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I assume all of this points to an unlocked phone but is there any way to tell? I would like to sell it so need to know for that reason.

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I did look into the phone settings and it says that sim is locked and to contact provider for more information. But there is no sim in it currently and i heard the phone can get confused if there is no sim currently inside. I have no other sim to test whether it would work on another provider.

My in laws turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. Long story short, I never loved them but got on with them. When I got pregnant, they said they were excited but they never showed much interest or offered any support during my pregnancy, and neither when baby was born. When they visited, they didn't offer us any help and we served them coffee and cooked lunch for them.

Then when I voiced one simple boundary about me and the baby that I wanted to be respected, they got upset because they had other expectations. After this I felt pretty upset and didn't feel like wasting my precious family time at the weekend to see them, so decided to send them a message outlining exactly how I am feeling because I couldn't continue a relationship like this where I am not only not supported in any way, but also where my boundaries aren't being respected. They got upset at me opening myself up and they turned the whole thing right against me, positioning themselves as the victims and blaming me for being difficult.

This is taking a toll on my relationship with my husband, who understands me, but equally loves his parents and he would love us all to be one happy loving family. But I cannot continue a relationship with my in laws when they don't respect me and my daughter, and I don't want my daughter to be spending time with them either, at least not before she is old enough to be able to be able to express a wish to see them herself. How would you feel in such a situation? I feel very alone, my own family lives abroad and I have nobody else except for a few mum friends. I hope somebody in this community understands how I feel.

My in laws turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. Long story short, I never loved them but got on with them. When I got pregnant, they said they were excited but they never showed much interest or offered any support during my pregnancy, and neither when baby was born. When they visited, they didn't offer us any help and we served them coffee and cooked lunch for them.

Then when I voiced one simple boundary about me and the baby that I wanted to be respected, they got upset because they had other expectations. After this I felt pretty upset and didn't feel like wasting my precious family time at the weekend to see them, so decided to send them a message outlining exactly how I am feeling because I couldn't continue a relationship like this where I am not only not supported in any way, but also where my boundaries aren't being respected. They got upset at me opening myself up and they turned the whole thing right against me, positioning themselves as the victims and blaming me for being difficult.

This is taking a toll on my relationship with my husband, who understands me, but equally loves his parents and he would love us all to be one happy loving family. But I cannot continue a relationship with my in laws when they don't respect me and my daughter, and I don't want my daughter to be spending time with them either, at least not before she is old enough to be able to be able to express a wish to see them herself. How would you feel in such a situation? I feel very alone, my own family lives abroad and I have nobody else except for a few mum friends. I hope somebody in this community understands how I feel.

I have an 8 month old and really struggling. Our place is currently 29 degrees and it’s likely going to get worse since we haven’t even reached the worst temperature yet! My poor baby sweats all day, I feel so sorry for her…

If it was just me I would be sitting in front of the fan all day with a water spray bottle all day and not move much. Impossible with a super active baby.
I thought I knew all the tricks already (shutting blinds, keeping windows closed, ice in front of fan etc) but somehow all these things barely make a difference.

Hoping someone else may have have any genius ideas that help to get through this somewhat?! I will add we have NO garden, so can’t get a mini pool to splash in, although thought of just putting baby in the bath a few times a day…

This is regarding nighttime during sleep training.
If baby is crying hysterically, surely there must be a cut off point at some point? On the other hand, I worry this could reinforce the crying and undo the work.

It seems like with most success stories, babies seem to be crying 30 minutes max… my little one is quite determined though. I am determined to sleep train properly though however am genuinely very concerned that she might be crying for hours, especially if I also remove her dummy. I am just curious when you would stop the training that night and help them sleep in other ways. After an hour, two…?

A heatwave is coming up and I worry this isn’t the best time for sleep training. Knowing from past summers the room will be over 27 degrees so even with less clothes and fan, it is still uncomfortably hot and not an ideal temperature for sleeping. Though I guess in some hot countries it is like this all year round and people cope well.

I wonder if any of you have done this?
I also wonder if baby cries a lot and might need some water to rehydrate, if that would be ok and not confusing.

Nobody ever taught me how to clean anything, I just made up my own ways that seemed hygienic to me.
I decided it’s about time I learned some basics and this community seems like the right place, hopefully!

Are there perhaps any videos you could recommend to me where someone explains how to even go about this?

For the kitchen and bathroom for example, I just use kitchen/bathroom cleaners, spray it on the surfaces, leave it for a few minutes, then use a sponge to wipe around and wash it off. When it comes to the toilet, apart from bleach inside the bowl, on the other parts I just use a spray and wipe it down with toilet paper because I cannot imagine using anything that has more than one use (such as a sponge) for hygienic reasons! But I doubt this is the best way to do it. I honestly have no idea what I am doing but I feel embarrassed for being so clueless.

Curious if anyone else experienced this? My baby is nearly 8 months now and ever since she was about 5 months or so she started latching and unlatching a million times during a feed. It drives me insane and lately it’s only been worse!
She hasn’t got any teeth yet but I am terrified of what she is going to do once she does.

After lots of reflection I feel like this must be partly impatience about waiting for letdown to happen and partly just her unable to relax and lean into nursing. I asked a lactation consultant at a breastfeeding group and they just said it’s normal but it frustrates me that I cannot do much about this.

Essentially I am wondering whether it is possible to sleep train while keeping night feeds. It seems like every sleep consultant and everyone I speaks to advises to wean night feeds so the baby isn’t confused what to expect during night wakings, which I fully understand however I refuse to believe that it isn’t possible to keep feeding at night while getting decent sleep. I don’t believe that everyone who sleep trains weaned off all feeds… can you please share your experiences?

I want to sleep train my 8 month old but definitely keep 1-2 feeds but everyone makes me believe that this isn’t possible.

I am a parent myself and after attending lots of playgroups and classes the idea came to me that I could create my own playgroup. I hold qualifications in both Montessori and children’s sleep and I wondered if there is a way to share this with other parents in a meaningful but casual way in a playgroup.

I would hire a room somewhere and set the room Montessori style with appropriate materials/toys for babies to engage with and keep it open for self directed play rather than a structured session. As a parent myself I don’t think that hearing someone give a speech is what we need in that moment! However I think it would be lovely to share how to incorporate Montessori’s philosophy into everyday life - some easy, practical ideas you can try today. In what way do you think you would enjoy learning more about this?
Would it help if I simply make myself available to talk and answer your questions? Or maybe I could leave some cards around the play area with prompts/ideas to inspire you? Or would you enjoy an open conversation and sharing of ideas between me and all of the parents together, even if just for 10-15 minutes, before moving onto open play? Or if none of those sound appealing and you would just prefer simple open play with Montessori materials, let me know as well.

I don’t know what would most resonate with parents so would hugely appreciate your thoughts and what is something that you would personally enjoy most! I want to provide value and inspiration but equally not force information on anyone.

I am 8 months postpartum with my first child and all of my mum friends with children of similar ages are now going back to work one after another. Also we don’t have any family nearby so I am starting to feel a little isolated! For us, me staying at home with my daughter is a decision we made that works best for us.
I would love to meet some other stay at home mums to organise playdates etc and even just for our own sanity and being able to talk to an adult during the day!
Let me know if that’s you or if you know someone :)

I am currently reading „Montessori from the Start” because I wanted to learn more about how to apply the philosophy specifically to the younger age group (my training focused mainly on 3-6 years), yet I am a bit disappointed with the lack of suggestions specifically for the age between 6-15 months.

I am currently on the chapter of „practical life” and it jumps straight to 15 month olds and over. I assume the focus on this is because before that age, babies focus a lot on movement and mastering crawling and walking specifically, however that’s not the only area they develop.

I struggle coming up with my own ideas for my 7 month old. I do often offer her safe objects from around the house to explore which is recommended in the book. Otherwise, there was only one activity with a ball and cube mentioned for ages 6-8 months but I am curious about any others. Are there going to be any more mentioned later in the book? Apart from this book, do you have any specific ideas on how to prepare the environment for this younger stage?

I thought that my 7 month old loves books… until I realised it’s mostly lift the flap books (or sliding elements, basically anything that moves in the book). When we read books without those, she loses attention much quicker.

I studied Montessori but it was mostly about 3-6 years so finding myself a bit lost sometimes with this younger age. I am torn between wondering whether those „interactive” books are still beneficial for babies or if I am building a bad habit for her. I worry that the more interactive the book, the more it turns into plain entertainment and more passive play. On the other hand, I guess even the most interactive book wouldn’t be as passive as the tv for example. What are your thoughts? I doubt that books like this existed in Montessori’s time so not sure if she was able to comment on this in any of her books.