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Original poster

Back when I had ds1, it was all BLW, Baby Signing and Treasure (wnaky) Baskets - what about now?

29 replies

TheKitchenWitch · 01/05/2015 10:48

Ds1 is 8, and when he was born back in 2007 I'd just discovered MN, where there was much talk of BLW, Treasure Baskets and Baby Signing (things I'd never heard of before). We had a fab time trying out all three!

Now, ds2 is 3 weeks old and I was just wondering: what are the new things that everyone's raving about? What have I missed? :)

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PourquoiTuGachesTaVie · 01/05/2015 10:50

Attachment parenting is "in" at the moment, my eldest is 4 so not sure how big that was when you had your first.

AbbeyRoadCrossing · 01/05/2015 10:51

Sounds similar to now, but no idea on the baskets! What are they?
Baby sensory? I guess massage was around with your last one? Signing is still popular.

AtomicDog · 01/05/2015 10:55

Think it's all UknoUrBubzHun and weaning(on rice) at 16 weeks now.
On MN at least.

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BigSmilesCheesyPie · 01/05/2015 11:00

DC1 is nearly 8, I remember the wnaky treasure baskets (DC4 is playing with one now, it is my huge box of paperwork that i am meant to be sorting out...).

So now we have:
Co sleeping cribs/cots of just co-sleeping (I picked up a co-sleeping crib as cheap as chips when I had DC2, I went and sold it and by the time I wanted one for DC4 they were more then twice the price!)
Slings and baby wearing
Pushchairs that look like the have come from space, all shiny and twirly
Bumbo seats are now bad (an unattended baby fell out of one so they are now classed as dangerous)
Antilop high chairs from ikea, because they are cheap and very good.

squizita · 01/05/2015 11:25

Sensory play
Sleepyhead which I love Co sleepers
Baby wearing (or carrying as I prefer to call it)

...never putting your baby down in a bouncy chair or letting them out of your sight even to pee is the new "extreme". To the extent people have shower slings and claim to make hot drinks with a sling (for obvious reasons that extra 5 min of closeness is actually proper dangerous).

MrsBojingles · 01/05/2015 12:16

I knew where I live was behind the times, it's all BLW, signing, and baby wearing here.

Original poster

TheKitchenWitch · 01/05/2015 12:32

I'm not in the UK, so when I did BLW it was absolutely revolutionary over here in Germany...actually, it still is, as it never really arrived here at all.

I've noticed that the price of slings/wraps seems to have gone up a ridiculous amount - I'm fairly sure I paid around 20euros for my MobyWrap, it's something like 80 now!! .
Shower slings though?? Think I'll give that a miss.... :o

Treasure Basket was an absolute godsend with ds1 - it occupied him brilliantly while I had a cup of coffee and flicked through a magazine (this is obviously back in the days before I was semi-permanently glued to laptop/kindle/phone etc). He is still very good at occupying himself with various tat/crap he finds, rather than absolutely needing toys as such, which I put down to treasure basket.

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AbbeyRoadCrossing · 01/05/2015 12:38

BLW is so popular where I am (south east) people think I'm a massive weirdo for not doing it. DS was premature and can't pick things up so not really an option for us.
And also by me the in thing seems to be the biggest pram you can find. Never mind if you can't get on a bus or in a corner shop with it!

lornathewizzard · 01/05/2015 12:47

Aye baby sensory seems quite popular. I'm actually looking into baby signing at the moment, probably behind the times!

CelibacyCakeAndFuckThePO · 01/05/2015 13:01

Tummy Time.

Cos parents nowadays aren't capable of lying their babies on their front without being told by a HV first, according to the HV at least.

NickyEds · 01/05/2015 13:10

Attachment parenting, Gentle parenting, co-sleeping, baby wearing. Basically anything that means you don't get even a seconds peace lest your baby be damaged

Sparklingbrook · 01/05/2015 13:35

In 1999 'baby wearing' was sensibly called 'using a sling'. it was a very hot summer and the mix of baby and sling made me sweat and was swiftly abandoned.

Co-sleeping was when you had tried to return PFB to the moses basket so many times you give up and bring him into bed. Then half sleep with one eye open til morning.

Never heard of a Treasure Basket. But it sounds crap. Is it just toys in a basket?

Also never did Tummy Time. Whatever the hell that is. If DS1 does terribly in his GCSEs this summer I will blame that.

BLW-name for bunging stuff on high chair tray and letting him get on with it.

dodi1978 · 01/05/2015 13:39

Having had my baby two years ago and a bit of distance to all of it, this thread has made me smile!

Yes, DS was left to sleep in moses basked while mum went to other room / made tea / showered...

Weaning was with a good mixture of finger foods and purees, with absolutely now ideological attachment to either method whatsover....

No strict routine was applied, but neither was DS totally the boss of me...

I think in the olden days you called this common-sense or, alternatively, make-it-up-as-you-go parenting!

DS lived to tell the tale!

Sparklingbrook · 01/05/2015 13:41

I think it's on trend now to take your baby to the toilet with you. I never did that and don't know what the name for it is.

slightlyinsane · 02/05/2015 10:53

Oh my poor kids what am I doing to them. I Don't baby wear, I go to the loo on my own, I don't co sleep and if we've made it to the end of the day I take that as a win. I make them wear disposable nappies for convenience. I put them in their highchairs with a snack so that I can have a coffee while its hot. I even say no to them. I wonder if they'll forgive me when they're older

MiaowTheCat · 02/05/2015 10:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squizita · 02/05/2015 11:09

Nicky I've had Dr Sears aficionados query his own website. FWIW I am a bit of a hippy mum and pfb to boot, so am cautious myself but...! He says it's important for mum to have a night off so work on finding a really good babysitter. That "balance" (ie mums sanity) and parent only time is good. Some extreme bastions of MN say no, even if mum is tearfully on the edge of hell, it's not ok to have time out ... baby will be damaged.

Actually - and again I say this as someone who is a velcro mummy, Breastfeeder, could not personally do controlled crying - I get furious when mn advocates never leaving a crying child no matter how exhausted or upset you are.
There is a reason why they show the shaken baby video at nhs ante natal classes. If the mum is on the edge, better to place the baby safely and have a 5 min cry in the loo (then seek help obvs) than risk snapping and doing something awful because you could take no more. Pressure to never leave baby + baby blues (which skew thinking anyway) = dangerous.
I'm lucky - I have a husband who works 9-5, a baby who didn't have colic, breastfed with no more problems than a chapped nipple and comedy let down etc so for me the hippy life is do - able. But for someone already at the end of their tether ... Some of the hard liners need some compassion.

Sorry bit of a rant.

agapimou · 02/05/2015 12:16

Elimination communication. Baby lets you know when he wants to pee or poop by giving you a sign and you then hold him over a potty/tupperware container. This can be done from birth and eliminates the need for nappies. I'm considering trying it but dd's explosive poops usually don't come with much forewarning.

NickyEds · 02/05/2015 12:47

You see, squizita I don't think a mum need be even remotely close to the edge for a shower and a cup of tea once in a while to be a good thing! I suppose on mn that would make me a dettachment parent!!

Elimination Communication??? Oh dear lord- is that real???

soverylucky · 02/05/2015 12:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JasperDamerel · 02/05/2015 13:00

DC1 is nearly 9, and I did pretty much of that stuff then. Maybe I did Avent-Garde Parenting :-)

I think it depends on the parent and child. I always took mine to the loo with me but they were in a sling lots anyway so that was easier, plus they were pretty insistent on having me around and I find holding a calm baby far, far less stressful than being away from a crying baby. Different combinations of parent and baby will have different ways of doing things best.

Original poster

TheKitchenWitch · 02/05/2015 13:04

Lol at taking baby to the loo with me - I think I'll that one a miss :)

Treasure Baskets are most definitely not putting toys in a basket - in fact, it's putting everything other than toys in! I think the new term "sensory play" probably comes closest to it. Ds1 (as I suspect most babies) was more interested in random crapola rather than actual toys, so the TB was a collection of random house and kitchen stuff which he could explore safely (so no sharp bits or things that come off). There was a well-known MNer (FrannieandZooey I think her name was?) who I think ran classes and you could get a list from her of things to put in your basket. It was really fab, ds would sort through his for up to an hour while I had a much -needed break.

Elimination communication - I'd heard of that back then, but don't think I had the guts to try it....and I still don't. Pampers all the way with me.

BLW I think was truly quite revolutionary though - nobody I knew did anything other than purees or jars, so me handing over a piece of toast for breakfast to ds was quite astonishing. It also meant we had mealtimes as a family from very early on, and eating out was great as we could always order ds something and just let him get on with it (I used to carry a small IKEA tray around with me for him to eat off of).

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ijustwanttobeme · 02/05/2015 13:05

DD and DS are 20 and 16 respectively.

When DD was born it was lay baby on front, with feet touching foot of cot. Bumper was ok and as she was suffering from eczema was told to stop breastfeeding and go straight to formula. Co sleeping was frowned upon, although we did it just so we got sleep even if for a couple of hours.

Six weeks old and all babies were on baby rice etc.

When DS arrived it was lay on back, in middle of cot with no bumper. Controlled crying was the 'new' thing and baby rice was now introduced at a later stage.

Have no idea what's in the the 'baby rule book' now, but doesn't all parenting simply boil down to common sense?

I mean, wtf is elimination communication? To me that's baby cries, so check if hungry, nope? Check nappy, nope? Check too hot, too cold etc etc.

My mum (early 80s), once said that in her time as a midwife back in early 60s that mothers were encouraged to add sugar, honey and sometimes even alcohol to baby's bottle if they kept crying. I wonder if that advice will ever come back in vogue!?

Sparklingbrook · 02/05/2015 13:10

Oh I get it now. Letting Ds play with the plastic spatula/colander/dustpan and brush and the car keys was Treasure Basket Parenting. YY I did that!

Original poster

TheKitchenWitch · 02/05/2015 13:20

Yup, that's it Sparkling.
We had lots of friends and neighbours contributing to our treasure basket (after I'd explained what it was) and ended up with a fabulous collection of different items in all sorts of materials. Ds would pounce on anything new in there!

Suspect that giving babies alcohol will not come back into fashion though. :o

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