It doesn’t take very long for a baby or toddler to collect lots of toys. All the family and friends will want to give toys and games at Christmas and birthdays and may bring back extra gifts from holidays. Your tidy home will come to look like a bazaar at times.

And on top of all this, it is well known that children are not keen on tidying up after themselves – they enjoy taking all the toys out, but seem to lose interest when it comes to putting them all back.

One way around this is to buy a toy box that is attractive and so encourages your child to keep their toys in it. There is a huge range of toy boxes, from ones with attractive pictures on the side, to boxes in the shape of doll’s houses, treasure chests or fire engines. It is much easier to persuade a child to tidy up when you can make a game out of putting treasure in the chest, or putting all the toys in the fire engine, ready for the fire-fighters to use.

It is nice-looking for your home as well, rather than having a functional looking cupboard, to have a fun looking toy box.

Advice

Taking your new baby out to a family event, like a party or a wedding, can seem like preparing for an expedition to the North Pole. Instead of getting only yourself ready and remembering things like the car keys and front door keys, you have to think about nappies, cleansers, cream and spare clothes, as well as extras like toys. Then there is the baby seat, pushchair or buggy, and all this has to be fitted in the car and transported to your family ‘do’.

Although at first it seems like a bit of a nightmare and you can’t imagine how you will ever get the hang of it, it really does quite soon become second nature. It helps in the early days to write a list of all the things you will need to plan for – think through the day and what you will be doing, how many feeds you may need to give, how many nappy changes, how much time your baby will need to sleep. Check with the party organisers where you can go to be quiet and private.

A good investment is a changing bag, which is designed to take all the bits and pieces you will need for your baby; it is especially good if it has a wipe proof compartment for soiled nappies and includes a changing mat, so that you can be self-sufficient wherever you are.

Advice

Why do babies cry? Of course, you really do know the answer: that this is their way of communicating, but it can sometimes seem as though nothing you can do is any help. This can be especially true when a baby is crying because they are tired.

One tip is to put your baby in the pushchair or if you have it, pram and take them for a long walk. Walking is good exercise for you and it can help to lift your mood when you are feeling down, which can often happen with a crying baby.

Just as the motion of a car or train can send any of us to sleep, so a baby has the same experience with being pushed in their pram or pushchair. If you can keep a nice gentle motion going, you don’t need to rush. You will gradually calm your baby and allow them to relax enough to go to sleep. You will benefit from being out and about and from the exercise and you will feel better for doing something, rather than being stuck in the home with a crying baby.

Even if it doesn’t work and your baby continues to cry, somehow it is less trying when you are out in the fresh air and not cooped up in a room together.

Advice

This isn’t just for the mums and dads, it’s for everyone. How many times have you seen a struggling mum carrying buggy and baby up or down the stairs at a tube station? It’s even worse when she has a toddler in tow too.

Everyone can help by offering to take the bottom of the buggy or pushchair to share the weight. Don’t just rush in and grab the buggy, baby or toddler, or you will cause justified anxiety to the mother, but do ask if she would like some help.

Advice for mums is, do accept kind offers of help, people generally do like to lend a hand and will not mind a bit of effort if it assists you.

Before you get to this stage, if you know when you are buying your buggy that you will be using the tube often, then you can make sure that you buy one that will be easy to carry up and down stairs with the baby and that will be trouble free in getting on and off trains.

Using reins for your toddler will make it easier to manage them and the buggy and make sure that they can’t run off or get lost – very good for your peace of mind.

Advice

Do you have a routine? For most of us, this is something that gets imposed upon us as a result of going to work and having to be there at a certain time, so everything else gets arranged around this.

Once you are home on maternity leave all this suddenly disappears and you have all the days free to do with what you wish. Before the baby is born this is great as it means you can do exactly what every mum to be should do at this stage of pregnancy, which is to relax, look after yourself and make sure you have everything you need before baby arrives like pushchairs and car seats.

When the baby is born, you have to have a routine again, but this time you will have to be the person to work it out. Of course, some of it will be dictated by the baby’s needs for sleep, feeds, changing and entertaining, but you will be the person in control of the overall day.

If it feels daunting, remember that there is no right or wrong – how you organise your day is up to you. You can choose whatever time of day feels right to you for going out, shopping, housework and visiting friends and relatives. As long as you have a routine that means your baby is being looked after and you are feeling happy that everything is getting done, then you have a successful routine.

Advice, Pushchairs