85 Week Old Baby: Your Baby's Development and Your Recovery This Week

Your toddler wants to do everything you do, teeth, hair, clothes, even nose-blowing.

• Once your toddler has teeth, brushing twice a day is the habit to build. Use a rice-grain-sized smear of fluoride toothpaste on a small soft brush, morning and night. At this age you'll need to brush for them after they've had a go, toddlers miss most of the plaque for a few years yet. Fluoride is safe in these tiny amounts and protects against decay.

First dental visit: by 12 months, or within 6 months of the first tooth appearing. If you haven't taken your toddler yet, book it now. A quick, friendly first visit makes future ones easier.

Furniture is a playground. Your toddler can climb onto a low chair, a bed, even a bookshelf. What to do:

• Anchor heavy furniture to the wall, especially anything tall
• Window restrictors on all upper-floor windows, a toddler can push through an unscreened window in seconds
• Nothing under a window they could use to climb (no beds, chairs, storage boxes against the wall)
• Keep the bathtub dry and empty when not in use

• A stool at the basin so they can reach to "brush their own teeth", a step stool in the kitchen for watching you cook from safely. Let them feel big in small safe ways.

• A fever that stays above 38.5°C for more than 48 hours, refusing all fluids, unusual drowsiness, or trouble breathing, call your pediatrician right away.

Wanting to brush their own teeth, insisting on the stool, copying your every move: independence is arriving in miniature. This determined copying is baby development at its most endearing, and you are the manual being studied. Let them feel big in small ways; you are raising a capable little person.

Around 20 months. A family schedule helps everyone, toddler, mum, partner, helpers.

A loose toddler-mum-family rhythm

Kids and adults both function better with predictable structure. A simple visible schedule:

• Morning routine (wake, milk, breakfast)
• Mid-morning play / activity
• Lunch + nap
• Afternoon activity
• Evening play + bath
• Dinner + bedtime routine

This isn't rigid, just a visible scaffold for the day.

Sharing the schedule with caregivers

• Whoever else is in your toddler's day, partner, parents, helper, daycare, benefits from knowing the rhythm. A laminated A4 sheet on the fridge or a shared phone calendar works.

For mum's own schedule

Build in:

• Your meal times (don't snack on toddler leftovers)
• A daily 30-minute window of you-time
• A weekly social or solo "you" hour
• Sleep that's protected (no scrolling till midnight)

Eating well

• Three meals + two snacks. The Indian thali rotation.

Indian-tradition note

• Indian households often have unwritten rhythms, chai at certain times, lunch by 1, dinner by 8. These are genuine anchors. Working with the family rhythm, not against it, makes life smoother.

Worth flagging

• If you find your day feels chaotic and uncontrolled most of the time, even with effort, that may be ADHD-postpartum manifestation, sleep deprivation, or untreated anxiety. Worth a doctor's visit. The fix is often surprisingly simple once identified.

Indian-context household tip

• In Indian homes with helpers (full-time or part-time), creating a clear written schedule prevents conflict and improves everyone's day. The maid has clear hours and tasks; the cook knows the meal plan; you and family have predictable rhythm. A simple A4 sheet on the kitchen wall does it.

A rhythm that includes your meals, your sleep, and your own quiet hour is not selfish planning; it is mother self care written into the timetable. A household runs on its mother's energy, so schedule hers too. The whole family is better for a rested you.