Christmas gifts

What Christmas gifts are you getting your babies? My son will be 1 by the time Christmas comes and I want to get him some good developmental toys that he can use as he gets older

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.

Add a comment

We got several things, but one of my favourites is a busy board. It is like a little binder with zippers, clips, buckles etc.

For his first Christmas I got him a couple of hard books and some colourful toys

At 1 our son really wasn’t grasping the concept of gifts yet so we didn’t go crazy but they love having something to push around once they’re walking (doll stroller, lawnmower toy, grocery cart) and he was obsessed with the play kitchen we got him (secondhand because there were lots in perfect condition with lots of extra accessories) and other than that clothes. I highly recommend erring more on the side of practical things they need as they grow, especially while they don’t know the difference. I also recommend making up a baby wishlist of gift ideas at a variety of different price points to share with any family who may be trying to figure out what to get your little one. We find people always ask and I don’t always have ideas off the top of my head so this year I made an Amazon wish list of ideas for him for us to pick from and to share with family and I just said hey here’s some ideas of things for him if anyone wants but of course anything else or nothing is fine too

My son loves basketball so we go him a little hoop from dollarama. My mum is getting him a basketball/soccer toy from vtech. Megablocks, some pull-back cars, and a floor puzzle. We got a lot at Good Will or Value Village too

Balance bike, wooden puzzles, shape sorters, if not walking yet a walking toy. My 16m old absolutely loves puzzles right now and has been obsessed with shapes for a couple of months. Around 15m they start to get into pretend play too, so fake food and kitchen sets are common. We got a cheap food set from toys r us in September that he recently started insisting we pretend to eat the food. I'd get him a basketball hoop or goal ball set if I didn't already buy multiple things.

in our community

Should I wake baby up to feed?

First time mum here, my baby is 2 months old today. Should I be waking her for night feeds? During the day she feeds every 2–3 hours, but at night she usually sleeps from around 11pm to about 3am, and I’ve been waking her then. Is that okay, or should I let her sleep?

Night time help!

Hi! My baby boy is nearly 6 months old and every night he wakes up anytime from 2am onwards and will be awake for well over two hours.
I’ve tried changing his naps during the day, changing his bedtimes and yet nothing seems to help!
Any tips that might help this exhausted mummy?
I don’t mind the wake ups if he would settle straight away but he views it as a whole wake window.

Newborn sleep for 9 hours

Hello mamas, my newborn is 6 weeks old. Last night she slept for 9 hours without waking up for a feed. The previous night she slept for 8 hours as well. During the day she had quite a lot awake periods and she was eating well. She also gained 1kg for a month which the midwife said it's very good. Is she okay like that and should I wake her up to feed her during the night?

Crazy MIL??

I’ve always found my mother in law tricky - she has a hideous nervous energy about her and finds everything absolutely hilarious which sets me right on edge. We’ve just had a baby and she came down to meet her. It was very soon after baby was born so we were pretty knackered and I’d suffered bad hypertension in hospital and had had to stay in for a week. She had wanted to come and see me there but I managed to get my husband to say no- she would have not made my blood pressure any better!
So she came to see the baby a couple of weeks after with her partner- who btw had a chest and they didn’t tell us.
My MIL was at her most hyper and difficult. She stayed hours and hours and held the baby all the way though- fed her her bottle (just took it off my husband) without asking and took photos and posted them without asking.
Then I was changing the babies nappy. Baby had terrible nappy rash at the time and was screaming with pain - making me want to cry. My MIL just sat there watching - hooting with laughter. 🫠
But the worst thing is she made these WEIRD comments - there was a photo of baby just wearing a vest and she said she “looked a hussy.” Then later when we were describing about the baby having phototherapy- which was horribly traumatic- my husband said how he tucked her into his denim jacket to keep warm - his mothers response was “ah so she likes a bit of rough???”
I think in her mind she was being really funny but I was appalled by her comments. In the end I made and excuse, went upstairs to have a shower and then sat there until they left. I used to feel fed up and weary at the thought of her but now I feel pure anger. It’s tricky as obviously she’s my husbands mum. She also gave us the deposit for our house and is generally generous in that way. She and my husband have a really odd relationship in my opinion- I’m super close to my fam and they all live nearby so we see them a lot
His mum lives in Devon and we’re in Kent which is something to be thankful for.
After they finally went she messaged my husband and asked to come and stay for a week. Thankfully he has the sense to say no. But Christ what is wrong with the women? Those comments have made me feel so hostile towards her. Should I just get over it??

Baby won’t sleep

Somebody please help me.
She’s crying, I’m crying. Idk what to do. Husband isn’t here rn and my mom’s asleep.
She’s not hungry, diapers freshly changed, she doesn’t seem uncomfortable in any way. She just seems tired but can’t fall asleep. She’s been doing this for a few days now, just fighting sleep. I refuse to let her cry it out and I’m doing everything I know and can do at this time. She’ll take the boob but keep stretching away every few seconds. She keeps chewing on her hand like she’s hungry but won’t eat cause she already did 30 minutes ago. I’m just at a loss and starting to get stressed. Nothing is helping.

Nursery settling in sessions

My little one has just had his second settle session this morning, where I left him for an hour.
He cried for the whole hour I was away and when I collected him he was hysterical an beside himself.
Any tips on how to deal with this as a mum? It upset me so much that I started crying there.

I know it’s normal but it’s so horrible seeing him so upset.
He has another 2 hour session on Thursday x