MotherMind - Mums and Mental Health

How does your infant or toddler let you know what they want before they can speak? Crying is one way but mismatch of needs can lead to frustration for parents and children. A popular way to help communicate is to use baby signing, not to be confused with sign language, because it is for anyone to learn and use. From 6 months, babies can babble. But they don’t learn to string more than a couple of words together until 2 years old. That is a long time to not be able to express what you want. Babies as young as 7 months can learn to express their needs using signs: all they need to do is start with pointing, also called gesturing. Once they can do this, you can use simplified signs combined with words to cue specific emotions, desires or objects. There have been many studies to see whether baby signing increases cognitive development and language skills but what they have shown is that it can lead to a more positive bond and interaction between parent and chil...

We all go through periods in our lives when we doubt ourselves or what we are doing, especially when presented with challenging circumstances like financial stress, relationship breakdowns or health issues. Rather than just going through the motions of day-to-day activities, it can be helpful to check in with yourself to see what you are feeling and trying to achieve. Just like an actor rehearsing for a character role, we need to know what motivates us.   This can be on a daily basis or on a life scale. In the book, The Happiness Trap, Russ Harris says: When we take action on the things that truly matter deep in our hearts, when we move in directions that we consider valuable and worthy, when we clarify what we stand for in life and act accordingly, then our lives become rich and full and meaningful, and we experience a powerful sense of vitality. getting motivated... So it makes sense to take the time to find what it is that motivates us and keeps us interes...