Parenting Hacks for the First Two Years of Your Child’s Life

Aymes Sarah
7 min readMar 2, 2020

Save your time, your money, and your sanity!

My baby Willow, photo courtesy of Vagabond Art

I’m a mother and a self-proclaimed “shortcut taker”. I always look for ways to make things go smoother, quicker, and easier.

As parents, we have many balls in the air, some are heavier than others, so why make life difficult for ourselves?

I have some tips to share that I’ve picked up in the first couple of years of my daughter’s life that keeps our household running smoothly.

Laundry day

This is something I learned in the second year of my daughter’s life. I was so bummed when I learned this one because it could’ve have saved me days of folding laundry.

You do not need to fold your baby or toddler's clothes!

Baby and toddler clothes do not wrinkle. Pants, shirts, and sleepers can be laid flat in their drawers.

They will stay wrinkle-free and it’s easier to find what you need to pair an outfit since it’s all laid out in front of you.

Dresses and rompers can be laid flat, but I hang those up because some materials do have a tendency to wrinkle.

I wish I had known this when I had a newborn and was using cloth diapers! It is a big time saver.

The cheapest teething tricks

My friend Rachel taught me this tip. We were at her house for a barbecue and willow was teething. She was only a few months old (her teeth came in very early), and I didn’t bring any of her teething rings with me.

Rachel is a mother of two and knows her stuff!

She took a few pieces of ice, put it in a baby facecloth and secured it tightly with an elastic. Willow loved it!

Now that Willow is a toddler, I freeze a bag of baby carrots and give those to her to relieve teething pain. This trick will work for a teething puppy as well!

It’s important to always supervise your child when they are chewing on a teething aid.

A frugal alternative to a baby bathtub

When we had Willow, I wasn’t working and we had to cut corners. We avoided…

Aymes Sarah

Wife, mother, and researcher of a myriad of subjects. I love to write about anything and everything! Writer for The Startup, Better Marketing, & The Ascent👊