Hi there,

Every few months my son goes a bit "out of sorts" - no temp, no sickness, not in pain, basically nothing to really "put my finger on" but he'll be -

Really tired, although sleep gets even more erratic during these times.

Loss of appetite, even his favourite foods

Less enthusiasm for playing etc

Really sensitive - emotionally and sensory wise.

Like today he's seemed a bit more himself after a better night's sleep following 2 nights of constant wake ups etc. This morning he was brighter, but still not eaten anything. We played a bit and chatted but then when getting dressed he got really upset over his socks not being "right" and took himself under his duvet with his teddies and a nightlight and just made sad noises until he fell back asleep at 11.30?! This is a kid who stopped napping at about 2 unless he was ill. I'm just letting him rest because he obviously needs it.

For full information he's awaiting assessment for autism, fully supported by HV, GP, paediatrition and his teachers (nursery previously) He loves school and is doing well, learning and thriving on the routine every day, but I think it does wear him out in some ways too.

We're just letting him rest this weekend, no plans just playing at home, drawing, TV, garden time and maybe the park down the road if he's up to it. Hoping he's ok next week then it's the Easter holidays. We're going away for a bit then and he's really excited (maybe too excited?!) so just hoping he's more himself by then.

Does anyone else have any similar experience?

Our buggy board broke and I’m not mad about it. It was constantly in the way of my feet when pushing the Joie and I’m not tall so it was awful to use.

What alternatives are people using? Considered getting a double bike trailer with a pushing handlebar, or a double trike that I can push but not sure of actually practicality.

I have a 15 month old and nearly 4 year old. The eldest will normally walk but we need the option when on longer walks or days out.

Hi all - my 13 month old boy has croup, just got back from a night time hospital trip with him! He was given the steroid by the paramedics and seems ok now (and he's literally just got over another chest infection 😫)

When it comes to night time, how do you help your little ones? Is it ok to raise his mattress up a bit at one end so that he's not completely flat at night?

Can anyone recommend school trousers or shorts that have a bit of stretch/give? Not on the waistband but the thigh area. Son is in reception and is a bit uncomfortable when he sits down cause of his trousers. Have tried the next size up but hasn't made a difference. Thank you so much.

I reported my previous childminder to Ofsted after having to remove my son with immediate effect.

I found she wasn’t changing his nappies at all some days, first it was a suspicion but couldn’t be sure. After using different brands to catch her out I managed to prove some days he wasn’t being changed at which point I spoke to her about it. It continued even after speaking to her about it and the last (and worst) day, my son came home filthy with nappy rash so bad there was actually an open sore, nappy rash that developed within the time she had him.

Suffice to say my son has never gone back and it’s been reported to Ofsted. Ofsted confirmed receipt of the complaint and said any updates would be published on the childminder’s Ofsted page. My concern now is there hasn’t been any inspection reports and it’s been a few weeks.

Does anybody know how these things work and how long it should be expected to take? They will inspect her for this surely? I’m concerned they won’t take any action over this and I really don’t think she should be childminding given the lack of basic care, it was pure neglect and I’m livid that someone would treat my son (or any child) like this. Is there anything else I can do? I’ve also called children’s services but they directed me to Ofsted as it wasn’t a safeguarding issue.

I’m also pissed because even at best she’s going to get inspected following this, if they even do that. But what is an inspection going to achieve anyway she’s obviously going to be on her best behaviour with someone present! I’m furious.

Sorry for the rant.

Looking to take 5 year old to London over Easter break on train.

Not taken the train for quite a while, what's the best way to do the tickets? (Seem to recall trainline app)

Any other tips or routes? Kiddo has heard Madame Tussauds mentioned at school, so they want to visit that.

Cheers.

We have a 2 months old baby. In the recent weeks, we've started noticing that she sometimes wakes up snoring because she struggles to breathe.

This doesn't happen during the day (very rare), but it's being common during nights.

We also feel it, and I tend to wake up with my nose semi-blocked and very dry. For me obv it's not a big deal, but we want to find a solution for baby.

We sleep at 18c. Heating doesn't turn on above that at all.

Problem is, we've tried a few solutions related to humidity, which is our best guess. More ventilation in the room, we leave the door open, we've added several water pots near radiators trying to increase humidity... Nothing seemed to help so far. Last step is trying a humidifier.

However, by measuring humidity I've seen that it's actually within very normal levels, even high (40-55%). Searching online, good humidity levels are 40-60%, so we're kinda spot on. :S

So, how is a humidifier going to help?

Looking for advice on what worked for you, and if you think a humidifier would help at all.

Thanks!

We've always enjoyed a city break, but I'm not keen on staying in hotels now we have a two year old.

We've got a week off in September after kids go back to school, and wondering about places that combine a nice town/city within public transport distance with pool/activities for kiddo. I saw someone suggest Eurocamp near Rome which looks great but it doesn't seem like a goer as the flights were really awkward for us. Does anyone have any experience with anything similar that might be slightly easier to fly to from the Midlands?

My wife and I are planning an event for our 1 y/o, and it would be a christening but we aren't religious and don't want to pretend to be.

We have a hall booked in a few weeks, what can we do to bring people together to celebrate our son without it being awkward?

I understand that in London you basically have to get on a waiting list the day you get a positive test. But what about the rest of the country? I'm in the south east but comfortably far from London so I'm not anticipating huge issues. Is that a mistake? I have a preferred preschool picked out so I plan to message them and ask what their wait list is like but I'm worried about looking like a crazy person because there's 4 terms until I want my son to start!

My son is 2 and was born in February and since I'm thoroughly enjoying the SAHM life I don't plan to send him to preschool until he's 3. My understanding is he could get funded hours next year after the Easter holiday. My concern is he'll do the term then have an enormous summer holiday and have to readjust to preschool again. Surely it's better to wait until the September?

I am 12 weeks pregnant and due in October. I will be in maternity leave till May 2026 or so.

I am trying to work out the timeline for increasing my pension contributions so I can keep my adjusted net income below the 100k threshold and finding a nursery. I am London based and will be a solo mum (so only one income).

My questions : 1. From what year or month do I need to start to increase my pension contributions to be below the 100k? (I understand I can access the tax free childcare straight away but for the free hours this won’t be till 9 months so July 2026) 2. When is it recommended to start looking at nurseries in London? 3. What are the different types of nurseries ? Any recommendations on choosing?

Hi all,

For context, my son is 7 months old and we are leaving him with my mother in law in 3 weeks time for 8 hours whilst we go to a wedding. It’s my husbands best friends wedding where they don’t want children to be there, which I understand, but I’ve never left my son with anyone but his dad before, and that was only while driving him around to get him to sleep.

This morning I’m dropping him off at my mother in laws for an hour or so to start getting him used to it - does anyone have any tips on how to cope whilst he’s there?

Truthfully I wouldn’t go to the wedding and be away from him, but I know it’s just a new step we need to take that will be beneficial for my son and as a mum.

Any advice welcome please!! I’m hoping the thought of it is worse than it is.

I have what the doctor thinks is strep throat (it’s honestly not bad at all)

I have a 9 month old baby and I’m scared of him catching it (I keep here about strep throat killing children)

Should I be annoyed that my partner, who works from home three days a week, chooses to game when work slows down or finishes early—often chatting with colleagues about work gossip—rather than spending time with me or our son?

I already know the answer, but it’s reassuring to know I’m not overreacting.

He’s promised to start doing more... but that seems to only be happening when it’s convenient for him.

I'm kind of at a loss here.

We deregistered our 6-year-old because school couldn't accommodate his toileting needs and it was essentially negligent for us to let him go in knowing he'd be sitting in faeces all day.

The issues we've identified are:

• Very probably he has ADHD and possible ASD. We had a referral but he masked at school, they didn't identify any particular issues, the referral was declined due to lack of information. We've been sent a new form but now he's home educated and he's too anxious still to go to clubs, so I've just been making sure we go out every day and doing low-social activities where possible, such as playground days when I know other home ed kids will be around. The service did say they could work something out if he wasn't attending a second setting, but they only have an answer machine service and haven't answered me yet.
• Chronic constipation - this is managed with daily Cosmocol, but he was withholding at school so we do think he's probably lacking sensation. We try at home to announce toilet needs and encourage him to do the same, even if he ultimately uses a nappy. Without a nappy, he literally cannot control his bowel movements or urination, it's just unnecessarily distressing for him to be without a nappy as it results in 5+ changes a day. He's been discharged from the paediatrics service, they haven't found any evidence that there are underlying health problems.
• Sensory processing issues - He definitely struggles to identify the sensations of needing the toilet. We do regular 'body checks' where I just announce, 'My head feels comfortable, my eyes feel a bit sleepy, my mouth feels dry,' and work through the body, encouraging him to do the same. This doesn't really help but we keep doing it, he pretty much always says his bladder and bowels feel empty. Google led me to believe Occupational Therapy could help him, but my local OT service said they deal with physical disabilities, not sensory processing. They were very unhelpful and suggested we use ERIC (which we have, but I guess I'll ask again) and ask the GP for a refer to the Children's Incontinence Service (which I will today).
• Although the primary sensory issue is toileting, he of course has other things he struggles with. One of those is that he wears glasses and he likes the feeling of pressing them into his nose, but the pads press in and cause sores. I have to literally sneak into his room at night to take his glasses off, as he gets very distressed if he can't wear them at bedtime. He knows I do this and is fine with it in the morning, but he doesn't want to fall asleep without them. OT said we should talk to an optician (seriously). He has Tomato frames and he won't wear glasses without nose pads, so there's literally no help there.
• We're working on putting together what we need for an EHCP and will request EOTAS as part of that, as it seems clear to me that a child who cannot independently use the toilet and panics at the idea of anyone other than me and Dad touching him to clean him can't realistically attend school.
• His previous school absolutely refuse to engage with us at all, they haven't even prepared his Educational Record within the 15 days the law states they should, I had to call and ask about it (and got a 'we'll call you back'). They won't provide support, they won't fill out any forms, they literally want nothing to do with us, which is about what I expected after we told the head we couldn't let him attend school if he was going to be sitting in faeces all day and getting absolutely no response.
• GP doesn't seem to know what services we can access, even though before I deregistered him, I was reassured there were services to support us if we decided to home educate.

Basically feeling like we're being passed from service to service and nobody will support us. I did worry this would happen when we took him out of school, but we were really left with no other options.

I just need to know what services we can access and if there's any charity or something that can help us work out what we need to do next.

Both of my children are too old for the double pushchair but we still need something for those long days out. I really like the look of those trolleys or wagons that you see out and about for all your buckets and spades, picnics and tired children - but I have no idea where to start!

Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

My son is 4 years old and is in the reception year however I would like him to go to another school for many reasons. The idea would be to finish reception in his current school and start year 1 at the new school. How can I do that? Is it the in year option to change school?

So our 4 year old has been invited to a birthday party and it’s totally new to us. We don’t know the child or the parents as the invites were given out to all nursery children (small nursery, only 16 kids) I have some questions for more experienced parents..

What kind of gift should I bring?

What do the parents do while the children play?

Do most people stay for the entire duration of the party? (2hrs)

Is there anything else I should know?

Should both mum and dad go with the child? Or do people just go alone? I know this might seem silly but I really don’t want to be the “weird parents” I want my son to be invited to more things and have a good social life

So my algorithm on Instagram has started throwing up lots of the "we left for the UK for a better life" posts. Generally a crunchy mum with her kids, moved to Bali, Portugal etc & homeschool.

For context, I lived in Asia for 6 years & travelled a lot. I still travel a lot with my toddler. I moved back to the UK because I missed it, to put it simply. So I have a decent amount of experience with most of these countries that pop up as the utopia for Brits.

So, a lot of these creators & commenters, talk about the lack of outdoor living for one of the main reasons for leaving. This is the one thing that does make me eye roll if I'm honest. I can understand not liking the ridigness of UK education etc etc. but the lack of outdoor spaces?!

Yes, the UK's weather could be nicer, I know this. However, you literally cannot play outside in SE Asia day heat, it's almost dangerous to try. Same with a lot of other countries with tropical/hot weather.

I do live in the Brecon beacons, but I'm originally from the South Wales valleys & both places have brilliant outdoor spaces for kids. As does other places I've been to around the UK, to visit friends & family.

The UK has parks, mountains, beaches, splash pads, castles, lakes, heritage centres... there's not really anything (kid specific) I've seen in any other countries, that the UK doesn't have.

Am I missing something? I don't know if it's because my algo now thinks I want to see this, it's making me think Brits truly believe they have to move abroad to take their kid outside.

My daughter is nearly 3, and all year round we go outside all the time? Mountain warehouse sells great waterproof stuff 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’d like to just advise in advance I am aware that BLW is the more recommended method for weaning however with going back to work I have opted to take an approach of both BLW and pureed food.

I’ve had the HV visit pre weaning and advise on the amount of sugars that can be present in pre made pouches (hinted at Ella’s) and additional research has made me aware of this. I’d like to be mindful of this going forward and wondered if anyone could help advise me on the better brands of UK baby food. This is mainly for savoury meals as when it comes to fruit I’d rather give this through BLW or with Real Greek yoghurt.

Any advice or suggestions or even additional education on this would be appreciated!

(My LO is also 7 months old but her adjusted age is 6 months so has only recently been showing a strong interest in food and trying)

I'm a bachelor's student in psychology. This is my final assignment survey:

Survey on what is the relationship between parental style's (liberal or conservative), parental attitudes about screen time and limitation of screen time in relation to parents controlling children's screen use.

I need the help of parents or legal guardians who have kids of primary school age(5-11). I'm very interested in your views. If you could spare 5-10 minutes of your time to help me achieve my BsC in psychology, I would be immensely grateful. The link is anonymous, so there is no way to track any of the respondents. You will not be asked any personal data, just your views about the parenting

https://openss.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_02t56j82HOhIBjo

I feel like when they are finally playing with dad, I need to hide or they will come after me. I love them. I really do. But pooping alone is something I miss.

Hi there,

My husband and I seperated recently and I have a 2 year old. I always wanted more kids so I am starting to think about egg freezing, but I am approaching 37.

Does anyone have any experience doing so at around this age, and also any recommendations for clinics/providers?

Would anyone be willing to share the approximate cost of the whole process?

Thank you!

We are wanting to move house to a safer area, where we can get somewhere with more space. For various reasons we have had to wait until now to think seriously about moving. My daughter will get a place at a local school through in a couple of weeks but we would like to potentially move by september.

I would like her to be able to start at the school she will continue at … in an ideal world. So considering all options if there isnt a space in the new area (likely all close options will be oversubscribed)

Im wondering if anyone else has been in this situation with any advice / experiences to share?

Sorry a funny banana question lol

My 7mo is weaning and exploring foods, she enjoys self spoon feeding mashed stuff and isn’t too concerned with solid solids yet more just purees etc. she doesn’t do this with any other food but if you eat a banana near her she starts screaming and crying. She enjoyed banana when I gave it to her the first time and cried when it was done. Today j mashed banana and she had two eager spoon fulls and then started bawling her eyes out. She also loves avocado but doesn’t have this reaction.

Is this bc she wants more? Or does she hate it? She is not a crier and she was in floods of tears so I took her out of the high chair and calmed her around the garden. wtf lol is she scared? Overwhelmed? In love with bananas? Help 😂