The two parenting tricks that I learned years too late.

Yes yes to the cardboard box thing! I remember with my first DC she climbed in a big box so I randomly chucked crayons and stickers in there. She was entertained for AGES and everyday for weeks she spent time on her box project

I give calpol to babies using a bottle teat - just squirt the calpol in it and let baby suck thinking it's milk. By the time they have realised its not they have already swallowed the dose better then adding it to the milk when they may not drink it all.

My eureka moment was the talc getting sand off. I loathe the stuff.

I find when dd had a bout of sickness but was too little to be sick in bowl or basket I'd cover in a towel and is she was sick in it I could just was the towel. Same for bedtime sickness when she got older.

Bulldog clip and muslin makes perfect bib. Bulldog clip also helpful with keeping blanket attached to buggy.

L is for left (you can only do it with thumb and index finger of left hand)
Easy way to teach left from right

Great thread! My DC1 is due in November...

What an amazing thread. Also sticker tip fan!

Mine is use old cardboard boxes as colouring games. DD (2) only allowed to use felt tips when colouring inside an old box

She loves jt and I don't need to worry about mess

May I just say I love you for posting this, just before I have triplets? I don't mind not having known the vest thing or the sticker thing for my singleton, so long as I don't get it wrong for all 4!

pintsizeprincess thank you! I couldn't work out how to get DD into a gro-bag without waking her up, will try this!

I did the muslin under the head of baby, the towel on the changing mat and the hot water bottle in bed before laying the baby down. All fab tips.
Never knew about the baby vest necks until DS was a toddler

While cleaning teeth we sing a song to the tune of row, row,row your boat.

Brush, brush brush your teeth
Brush the top and bottom
Brush them very carefully so they don't go rotten.
6 times is 2 minutes brushing, or there about.
Never gets old ......... so far.

I learnt the pull a babies vest with envelope neck down over shoulders trick on MN. It was crap because as soon as I did it to DD she kept bloody taking her vest off. She was only wee too (about 6-7 months)

I'm very excited about the sticker thing.
We do six layers of bedding: waterproof sheet, pad, fitted sheet, repeat.

I tell my son that I can see the germs running around and he has to catch them by brushing them away- no more arguments.

Ooh that sound nice

sprinkle talc on sandy feet-sand brushes straight off:)

dab of vaseline on bridge of baby's nose unblocks a stuffy nose, couldn't tell you how though...

StealthPolarBear

I make gourmet sandwiches to order

Omg re sticker sheets. Amazing

Tip my ex mil gave me. Warm the cot mattress with a hot water bottle remove just before laying baby in cot asleep then the cold doesn't shock them awake.

2. Peel the negative space off the sticker sheet and your small child can peel off the stickers independently. Without ripping them. Yes, even cheap stickers. WHY didn't anyone tell me this one??!

" HemlockStarglimmer

I introduced the sticker thing at work shortly after I started there. We get through two or three (or more) sheets a day and have to wrangle them one handed. Spending a couple of minutes lifting one corner of all of them saves a lot of muffled swearing too."

OOh are you a civil servant too? ;) they do like their stickers

an adult pillow case fits over a moses basket mattress, really cheap and easy to change

The sticker thing is genius.

Mine is - if you turn down the tops of baby socks a couple of times they stay on.

The sticker one is brilliant. Will use that one.

This one might be really obvious but I've only discovered it with dc2. If your baby wears a gro bag or similar over their sleep suit at night, if they normally fall asleep after their bed time feed, lay the gro bag down inside the cot so all you are doing is putting sleeping baby down once to help avoid awakening them. Mine wouldn't let me put it on before the feed, got too hot so I was laying them back on the changing mat to get them zipped in it then picking them up again to transfer to cot, . If I wasn't quick enough they sometimes woke up and I'd have to start the bedtime routine again. A little thing and so obvious yet you don't think of it!

I need to go out and buy a sticker book immediately!
My trick is to double-layer the cot sheets incase of an accident. So a normal cotton sheet with a waterproof terrycloth sheet on top. Just whip the top sheet off and return child to bed. Saves messing about fitting a new sheet in the middle of the night.

One for boys (I had a DD) when changing on mat, put a tissue over the willy to stop fresh air wee turning into fountains. Learnt this with my nephews!

I recently advised my friend to give her calpol-refusing, cold-ridden 18mo Calpol in her milk. It was like her road to Damascus moment

I learnt the carton-ear thing from MN just in time. Invaluable!

Love the sticker one - I will have that!

Sticker one will transform my life. Literally. Which I am aware is tragic on several levels.

Have only recently worked out how to get dressed into jeans after swimming in a wet changing room: dry one leg and foot, put sock on that foot then put on that jean leg and then put shoe on, all done whilst balancing on the other leg. Then repeat on the other side. No more soggy socks.