Welcome to Mum Talks & Toys 🧾

A space for women looking for practical and relatable advice around marriage, children and a happy family life.🏡

  • Preparing for Labour: My Honest Experience and What I Wish I Knew

    Mariana

    I’ll be honest with you — my birth experience was not the one I imagined. It was tough. I was diagnosed with Covid-19 the day before my induction, and because of that, I had to go through labour completely alone. No husband. No familiar faces. Just me, isolated in a room, where sometimes the nurses barely Read more

  • Our Children Know When We’re Not Okay, And That’s Okay… 😇

    Mariana

    One of the most humbling lessons I’ve learned as a mum is this: our children feel us. Even before they can understand our language, even before they’re born — they just know. I remember during my pregnancy, I could sense my baby’s reactions whenever I felt scared or stressed. One of the most vivid memories I have Read more

  • Should you Talk with your Friends and Family about your Marriage?

    Mariana

    This is one of those tricky, delicate topics we don’t always speak about openly—but most of us have been there. You’ve had a fight with your partner, your emotions are raw, and the first thing you want to do is call your best friend and say, “You won’t believe what he just did.” Sound familiar? Here’s Read more

  • Your Best Friend During Pregnancy & Baby’s First Year: The Philips Pregnancy+ & Baby+ App

    Mariana

    Let me start by saying — this is not a paid ad. I’m not being sponsored or endorsed to say any of this. I’m just a mum, like many of you, who was navigating the beautiful, overwhelming, exciting, and at times really confusing experience of pregnancy and early motherhood. And in that whirlwind, the Philips Pregnancy+ and Baby+ app became an Read more

  • Speak greatness into your child: The Power of a parent’s words

    Mariana

    This topic is incredibly close to my heart—because I really believe that as mums, our words are probably the most important in our child’s mind. What we say to our children shapes the way they see themselves and the world. We are their first mirror. If we reflect back strength, kindness, capability, and love—they’ll grow up Read more

  • New city, new chapter: A mum’s guide to moving with kids

    Mariana

    A mum’s guide to helping your child thrive through big changes Let’s be real — moving is tough.And moving with kids? That’s a whole other level of emotional gymnastics. Imagine this: You’ve worked in the same company for 10 years. You know your team, your role, your office coffee machine. Suddenly, you have to start all Read more

  • Four languages, one home: the beautiful chaos of raising multilingual children

    Mariana

    Let me be honest with you, mum… trying to raise a child with four languages in one home sometimes feels like we’re running a mini United Nations summit every day before breakfast. It’s wild, it’s messy, and yes — it can be very confusing. There are days when even I get mixed up mid-sentence. But deep down, I do Read more

  • How much attention is too much? A mum’s honest take!

    Mariana

    Let’s talk about something that crosses most of our minds as mums—how much attention is too much? If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably wondered if you’re being too soft
 or maybe too strict. Especially if you were raised in a culture that preached the dangers of “spoiling” a child by giving them too much Read more

  • Multicultural Households: Our Experience

    Mariana

    In today’s world, more and more families are being formed across different cultures — and I think it’s truly one of the most beautiful things to witness.To step into someone else’s world, to share a life shaped by different traditions, foods, celebrations, and ways of thinking — it’s an experience that not only deepens your Read more

  • The “Cry It Out” method – and why it’s mean!

    Mariana

    After our son was born, sleep became one of our biggest challenges.We didn’t get him to sleep through the night until he was almost a year old — and even then, he would still wake up.Desperate for rest, we tried everything: videos, nurse and doctor advice, gentle rocking, every “reasonable” method we could find. The Cry Read more