Best parenting tip you ever got?

[giantwaterbottle]

Obviously I'm not being unreasonable to ask 🤷‍♀️

Mine was from some friends who had older kids.
Always double the sheets/plastic sheet in baby/toddler bed.

It's saved us in the middle of the night on countless occasions.

My favourite is: say yes as often as you can, but when you say no - mean it.

I have so many happy memories from times they’ve said, “can we…?” and we’ve just rolled with it.

Never wake a sleeping baby.

Mines more of a practical piece of advice. Washing up liquid is the best thing to get poo stains out the seams of a vest!

One that grounds me whenever my baby is on the later side of average for 'development milestones' is that noone ever asks when you started to roll/crawl/walk/talk etc in a job interview. Your baby will do things at their own pace.

Don't creep around them when they're sleeping. Make normal household noise so they sleep through loud noises when they're older.

Don't make life any harder for yourself than it already is.

Loads of muslins, and when weaning use huge muslins on the high chair and floor - stops so much wiping up as you can shake crumbs outside and then whack them in the wash!

Also, first year is just about surviving.

Pick your battles, you'll look back on these times and wonder why you panicked over an extra teaspoon of food!

Listen to your instincts.

You can't lose your temper when you're singing. So one frazzled sleep deprived mummy managed to love and sooth a reflux baby mostly by singing shift lullaby's through it. Externally I probably looked like a devoted calm mum, internally I was keeping murderous thoughts at bay. We both got through it with a great bond.

I didn't realise you can't edit posts.
What I meant by the bedsheets is that if they are sick/wet the bed in the middle of the night you just whip the top sheet and plastic sheet/mattress protector off and you've got a fresh set underneath. No rummaging about trying to put new sheets on in the night

Buy two identical Christmas stockings for each child so you can fill it in advance and just swap when they are asleep.

say yes as often as you can, but when you say no - mean it.

This for me too.

Listen to everyone's advice, use what's useful, ignore the rest.

Fed is best.
This one is important, my DS was an extremely picky eater, later turned into ARFID, and an autism/sensory processing diagnosis. I beat myself up over his food/nutrition, until my lovely GP pulled me to one side and said 'if all he will eat is biscuits, let him eat biscuits' and pointed out that as long as he was eating SOMETHING it was better than eating nothing.. and we had his whole life to work on the 'what' in his diet. he's 15 and still eats the same tiny list of foods.

It’s all a phase - good or bad. A wise friend told me this and it’s so true. Mind you, some phases have been very loooooong!

@Timefortheparty genius!!!!

Put them in water or take them outside.
Both calm them down (or at least the screaming isn’t so loud outside! 😁).

@PieceOfString

You can't lose your temper when you're singing. So one frazzled sleep deprived mummy managed to love and sooth a reflux baby mostly by singing shift lullaby's through it. Externally I probably looked like a devoted calm mum, internally I was keeping murderous thoughts at bay. We both got through it with a great bond.

I sing at them all the time. 😂 Poor things.

No twins. No opinions.

Even my own standards and opinions from when I had a singleton first time round had to shift. A lot. I spent a long time feeling guilty over doing things differently with my twins and feeling judged until I really drilled this into my head!

Enjoy every age as it happens and don’t keep longing for the next one.

I completely agree!
We spend so much time waiting for when they start walking, talking, or when they’re going to sleep through the night, then thinking about starting school etc it just goes so fast.
I wish I could do it over again and appreciate each moment more.

Don't be prejudiced against dummies and reins.
I swore I would never use a dummy, but DD was chronically grizzly and miserable, then a friend gave her a dummy - the dummy worked wonders.
Reins are an absolute must for toddlers - get them out of the pushchair, keep them safe while walking on pavements, no need to lean over sideways to hold a small hand, they prefer to have two hands free, and reins that fully cover the chest can be used to pull them up if they stumble before they hit the ground. I really don't understand the modern fashion for claiming toddler reins are like walking a dog - what rubbish.

If in doubt, lie down.

Pick your battles

Get them used to sleeping through noise

When I was struggling to get my child to sleep my friend (a mum of 4) said that the trick was to maximise sleep and minimise suffering for everyone. At that point I'd dabbled in various types of sleep training and was tearing my hair out because nothing worked. In the end I just let my baby/toddler/child do whatever they wanted to, so bedtimes were flexible, there was a lot of rocking and feeding to sleep, and later on the baby/toddler/child sleeping in our bed. He still sleeps in our bedroom at 4yo but everyone's happy because everyone has been well rested for the past 3+ years, so I'm not complaining.

Do what works till it’s doesn’t, then do something else. I.E don’t worry about “making a rod for your own back”/ doing it the right way

Choose one or two people who’s advice you trust, and ignore everyone else.

Ah I love that @PieceOfString! I will try this!

Mine is: when you're really angry and want to shout and name call, say it all silently in your head. You get it out of your system but don't hurt your child/ feel guilty afterwards