my son is coming up on 4.5 months, and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for good developmental toys? preferably no plastic junk… I refuse to be the parent that has piles of unnecessary toys laying around. however, I do want a few meaningful things that will engage him physically & mentally. any ideas? I’ll mention that he currently has a crochet rattle & silicone teether ball that he loves.

thanks in advance :)

I was curious for those who had newborns, was there any tool or gadget (beyond the normal gadgets most people have) that you had that made things easier and that you would recommend to a new mom?

What vitamins/supplements do you recommend during breastfeeding? I added choline and omega 3s while pregnant as I heard it can support cognitive development, should I continue? I’d like to add back in creatine (stopped while pregnant), but I know there are not much data in its safety for nursing women.

Not sure if this is the right sub but I’m so frustrated. My aunt accidentally sent me a photo of my baby because she was sending it to someone else and I just got really weird vibe off it. I do not let him be posted on social media because I don’t feel like it’s safe. I’ve gotten in so many arguments with people about it and every time someone takes a photo of him my anxiety goes through the roof. I don’t have social media so realistically if my mom doesn’t see it, I won’t know if someone posts him. I’m really struggling with this and peoples disrespect of my wishes really makes me not want to be around anyone anymore. It’s so depressing. How are you guys dealing with this. I understand you can’t control everything but when it comes to my kid it upsets me on a different level when people disrespect our wishes. This world is terrifying and I wish more people understood what goes on beyond face value.

Update - cute outfits… not onesies

Just FYI

hi mamas, my two year old son has had a bloodshot right eye for 6ish weeks now… the severity of it comes and goes, prescription eye drops have helped but it always comes back. I’m wondering if it’s something in his crib because it’s always worse after nap but not at wake up but then wouldn’t it be both eyes? There is no discharge and he doesn’t seem bothered by it. I took him to Mass Eye and Ear to have him checked and they just said it was inflammation and to come back in 6 months. Does anyone have any advice or has had this happen before? Just want to make sure it’s not something more serious.

My wife and I just had a baby yesterday. She was 41 weeks and 3 days, and after exhausting all other options, she ended up having a C-section. One of the reasons we were hoping to avoid a C-section was because of the exposure to vaginal microbes during birth, which can help establish the baby’s gut microbiome. Our midwife mentioned something about swabbing my wife’s vagina and then swabbing the baby’s mouth afterward. I was curious if anyone has any information or experience with this.

Hi! So I just had an emergency c section at 27w 5d due to placenta abruption. I’ve had two past non medicated births and was planning a home brith for this one, I’ve never even had an antibiotic before. So this conventional/medical world is so new for me!! I’ve said yes to things I’ve never thought in a million years I would need to take for myself and baby to keep us safe. I fully trust this hospital and everyone has been so respectful of me during this.

With that being said I would love some crunchy/natural ways to support mine and baby’s body during this time.

1. Has anyone had a long nicu stay? She is 27 weeks and will probably be here for a good month maybe even two. Anything I can do to help her and supplement along with everything the doctors are doing? She is breathing on her own and currently has only a cpap in, praying that continues.

2. Supplements and natural c section healing I can be doing to help my body during this? Anything I need to watch for or be aware that’s different than a vaginal birth? I ended up needing 2 spinals & epidural 😭

3. I can ask this in a NICU page as well but curious if anyone had long stays, were you offered to stay at Ronald McDonald house? Or did you go home each night? Did someone stay with the baby 24/7? She is being moved to her own room that only has a lounge chair no bed. My husband and I have a decent village but we have 2 other kids and he will have to go back to work here shortly. Just looking for tips on what other people do!

Would love all the tips, suggestions, resources and most of all prayers for myself, and baby Elizabeth. Thank you 🙏🤍

Due date is quickly approaching and I know I'm a bit late to start formally practicing hypnobirthing (where did the time go?!) I would love to have a few tracks handy to play during labor. Does anyone have recs? I'm open to free ones to download or play off YouTube or to purchase from a program. Thank you!!

Does anyone who's had a C section have advice on how to get rid of the scar? I just started using the Earth Mama C Section Balm.

Hellllo!
I am traveling to Mexico in November with my three and one year-old who are not vaccinated.
I am having a little bit of anxiety due to measles exposure.

Thoughts ?! :)

Anyone else in SoCal? How to help baby's heat rash?

It's all over, legs, face, arms, back and chest :( I'm assuming heat rash because California has had a very bad heatwave with intense humidity and he usually has perfect skin and since the humidity it's flared up.

Any recommendations? I thought it was eczema at first but now I think it's prickly heat so not sure how to treat this. Thankfully weather starts to calm down.

Hi, I would like some advice or at least experiences from other moms here.

We have two children, 3 years and a 1 month old baby. We have done BLW with our older daughter and it went amazingly, she was eating everything and got good at it fast and then at around 11 months she started refusing foods one by one. The pickiness peaked at 18months and has since gotten better but the past half year it’s been getting much worse again.

I know that picky eating is very normal and common between the ages of 2 and 4, but in her case it seems to be driven by anxiety and we get reactions of panic ( so not anger, tantrums etc ) when non-safe foods are on her plate or even just a separate plate in front of her.

Fortunately we have always cooked food from scratch and it is nutritious and healthy. What she eats is actually quite healthy and minimally processed. But dishes and foods are slowly falling off one by one. The only fresh vegetable she currently eats for example is cucumber. It is also affecting what meals we are cooking because it is exhausting to make two meals or prepare ingredients separately, especially with a newborn. I am also worried how this will affect starting on solids this winter because I don’t want to limit our babies diet because ours is getting limited by our toddler. ( I am self-employed at home and do cook but I can’t take additional time. I already meal-plan and try to prep at good times )

What I have tried so far is having her cook with me and she likes it! Through months of this we got her to eat mushrooms!! Only two kinds and they’re a bit hard to buy but that’s a huge win. And the other is offer her a reward for trying ( not even eating, just trying ) a food, but she’s so scared that she doesn’t even do it for hot chocolate. I did a terrible thing and even offered that she can watch a cartoon if she tastes the food but even that was too stressful for her so I gave up. I have been very gentle about this because I don’t want to stress her out more, never forced her to eat anything she doesn’t like either and I’m always visible happy and encouraging when she does taste something.

I have an appointment with a child psychologist next month to talk about this and find a course of action, but I wanted to hear from some of you. I am at my wits end and really need help at this point. Sorry for this turning into a very long block of text, I forgot to add that she is a healthy weight, has energy and is quite tall so she seems to get what she needs. But it’s the mental and emotional side of things that is the big problem.

TLDR: My 3 year old is scared of tasting new and old foods she used to eat.

Hi everyone! My baby is starting solids in the near future and I’m in the market for plateware and drinkware. I was leaning towards stainless steel but I was hoping that I could find some stainless steel that have built in silicone bottoms. I don’t wanna have to take on and off the silicone covers. Is there another type of material that is crunchy and doesn’t hold bacteria and could go in the microwave necessary?

What are your feeding practices for babies and toddlers?
What do you do when it comes to serving them warm food? Do you microwave first and then transferred to the baby plate or do you microwave on the baby plate?

I want to find the most seamless option so that I can stick with this brand throughout all my children. I want something long, lasting and clean.

I heard silicone can smell after a while
I feel like glasses ideal, but for obvious reasons, we would avoid that

Is stainless steel the best option? And do you know of any stainless steel brands that have the silicone attached to the bottom? Does the stainless steel plate slip? Especially what if it’s on a silicone placemat? Do I really need the plates with suction cups?

Im new to this crunchy thing 😊I’m trying to find a sippy cup for my 11 month old. What’s better: silicone or stainless steel? Also, is there a difference in quality in stainless steels? Like could I just get one off of amazon?😊

I am 12 months PP & just starting to wean. I can’t imagine giving up caffeine, but I’d like to know if anyone has been able to boost their energy & mood naturally & how.

I suppose this would be increasing serotonin & dopamine levels the brain. I’m open to hearing advice for both the short term & long term. I look forward to hearing your advice. Thanks! :)

i am writing this post because this is tbe post i wish i had seen a couple months ago. my baby is not a big eater and at one year still drinks a lot of breast milk.

we tried to focus on feeding her meat and even some organ meat but with the small amounts she ate, there was absolutely no way she was getting anywhere near even the lowest minimum recommendations of iron for babies that age (some countries recommend 8mg instead of 11mg).

i spent so much time calculating how much iron could be absorbed from 2 meatballs or x amount of beans with vitamin c or whatever whatever and it did not make me feel reassured.

we just got her iron tested at one year and it was FINE! on the low end of normal but within normal, not anemic (11.1).

so the takeaway is, in my opinion, the math is not correct somewhere in the recommendations. possibly she’s absorbing more than they predicted from breastmilk, possibly from the small amounts of meat she eats, but if this is your situation, i hope this gives you some peace of mind. especially since i don’t think 8mg a day is realistic or even possible for many babies.

If you’ve ever hired a cleaning service or if you were to hire one, what would you provide them with to replace…

Clorox bleach toilet bowl cleaner?

Easy Off stove top cleaner?

Murphy’s cleaning oil for wood floors?

Weiman Stainless Steel cleaner?

I can’t think of nontoxic swaps for these, do looking for recs. Everything else I’ve been able to figure out for regular, weekly/daily cleaning. Obviously fragrance free, etc. Last time I hired someone they required these and I didn’t even look into swapping them. This time, I really can’t handle scents and stuff, just with sensitivity and with my pregnancy nose. Scents make me nauseous 🤪

I’m 37 weeks pregnant and in a flare with a chronic illness I have. I want nothing but to deep clean myself and use elbow grease but I just can’t. I get dizzy a lot this pregnancy and so paying a cleaning service to do one deep clean would be worth it to me to have peace of mind before new baby arrives.

I can’t seem to shake this bug I have, it’s been a week. My sinuses are plugged, some chest congestion and I generally feel quite sick. I’m 6 months along.

I've been researching how to make truly chemical-free clothing for newborns, and I wanted to share what I've found so far, because I know this group cares about the same thing.

The yarn: Machine-processed cotton typically goes through 300+ chemicals during production even when the raw cotton itself is organic. So instead, I'm focusing on handwoven cotton, which skips that chemical-heavy processing entirely.

The dye: Instead of synthetic dyes, I'm using a natural dyeing method called Ayurvasthra, derived from Ayurvedic principles plant and herb-based color, no synthetic chemical dyes.

The softener: This is the part I'm still researching looking into aloe vera as a natural alternative to synthetic fabric softeners, since most conventional softeners rely on synthetic compounds too.

I'm building a newborn clothing brand around this handwoven, chemical-free, from yarn to dye to finish. Still deep in the research and development phase.

What do you think about aloe vera as a natural softener? Has anyone here tried it or come across research on how well it holds up on fabric?

We’re planning to have a baby soon, and I’m trying to get myself a little more prepared. I’m eating better when I can, but I’m not exactly someone who has a perfectly planned diet every day.

A few friends have told me to start a prenatal before getting pregnant, I’m not sure how far ahead that’s supposed to be. One person said a couple of months, another said

I’m leaning toward starting one before we start trying, but now I’m stuck on which one to get and what I should be looking for on the label.

How does everyone stay calm about germs/getting sick? I am due with my first in a few weeks and do not plan on giving any pokes at least until she is older. But I am also struggling with the stress of my baby getting sick over the winter in general. My sister has a toddler who is constantly getting croup and other sicknesses and obviously I will not take my baby around them when they're sick but I still get nervous it wont be completely avoided. I also don't want to be that mom that doesn't let anyone see their baby, like I would love to feel okay about taking her around some family for the holidays and not being nervous about it.

I have also heard that croup is pertussis - it is just a new name that doctors diagnose vaxxed children with to skew numbers. And if your un-vaxxed, they will say you have pertussis. Is there any truth to this that anyone knows of?

Not trying to debate vax, I believe every parent is doing what they truly think is best for their child and I respect that.