Ready, Steady, Wean!

Yes, it is that time already.

Baby is bored with just drinking milk, so the time has some to start weaning.

This is both an exciting time whilst being at the same time scary…

Will he like it?

Will he eat it?

What to try first?

100s of questions and a bag of mixed answers… should we just play “eeny, meeny, miny, moe…” to pick the correct one?

It was time to look for some help.

Cow & Gate offers an online Five Step Weaning Plan with lots of useful information and tons of great tips. The program (as per its name) is split into five steps:

• First spoonfuls
• Introducing breakfast
• Introducing Variety
• Meat, Fish & alternatives
• Establishing 3 meals a day

Each step has a clear description and a lot of tips to make this step of the journey as easy and as pleasant as possible for both the baby and the parent. My favourite part of the website is the recipe collections perfect for each step. As we are on step one, we have 10 quick and easy purees to pick from.

We’ve made some Carrot Puree using the quick and easy instructions on the Cow & Gate website:

Ingredients:

1 medium carrot

Your baby’s usual milk or cooled, boiled water

Method:

Peel carrot, and cut into slices ½ cm thick.

Steam them for 8−10 min until soft.

Cool slightly, then add 2 tbsp of the water or milk.

Blend with a food processor or hand blender until runny and smooth. Add more liquid if you need.

It is important to experiment in the beginning. Let your baby pick the flavours he or she likes; let them discover at their own pace what real food tastes like.

For us it wasn’t very hard. Leo was eager to try something new. He opens his mouth and waits for more yummy “mash” to arrive. I think he is enjoying this time, despite making really funny unhappy faces at times.

Do you have any weaning tips for us?

Something you do or did in the past which made the whole process easier?

* We received a small goodie bag from Cow & Gate containing feeding spoons, sipping cup and a food selection to help us start the weaning process.

How to create a safe sleeping environment for your baby

The average new-born baby sleeps for 16-20 hours a day, however as those already with children know, it is usually staggered, and isn’t always at night either! With your baby sleeping so much, there are some things that you need to be aware of to make sure your baby is as safe as possible in order to ensure that everyone will get a peaceful night’s sleep.

Here are five of the most common questions asked by new parents, and what actions should be taken:

How can I make my baby’s room safe?

As a rule, there should be no smoking in the same room as your baby. Other things to look out for include:

– making sure the changing mat is secure if kept in the same room
– making sure all bookshelves and wardrobes are secure so they cannot be pulled down on top of them
– making sure other items are out of reach e.g. baby wipes and baby powder.

We can’t watch our babies every single minute of the day, so a baby monitor can provide additional reassurance when you’re not in the same room as your child. The D-Link EyeOn Baby Camera turns your smartphone or tablet into a monitor, giving you HD clarity and audio for 24/7 monitoring of your baby. The camera also sends instant push notifications to your phone so you know when your baby is stirring or making a noise too.

Where should my baby sleep?

When putting your baby down to sleep, it is important that the environment is right to give your baby the best sleep possible. Depending on the time of day, babies can sleep in cots, moses baskets, prams or in their parents beds providing they have not been smoking, drinking or taking drugs.

A moses basket is suitable for new-borns as the basket is small so will not be overwhelming, providing a cosy sleeping environment. However, it doesn’t take long for your new-born to outgrow a moses basket and need a cot.

Cots are the most common sleep solution and babies can stay in these for years, depending on the size. The mattress should be firm and there should be no more than two fingers width between the cot and mattress. The width between the cot bars should be between 45mm – 65mm wide.

An additional feature of the D-Link EyeOn is that it allows you to communicate with your little one from your smart phone. Either use the two-way audio exchange or play one of the classic lullabies when your baby is restless, no matter where they’re sleeping.

Which position is safest for my baby?

When putting your baby to sleep, it’s important to place them on their back. Statistics have shown that this reduces the chances of SIDS. Although statistics show that over the years the risk of this has been dropping, it is still seen as a risk and should therefore be avoided.

When laying your baby down to sleep, you should put your baby in a feet-to-foot position – ensuring your babies’ feet touch the end of the cot. This prevents them from wriggling down the mattress and underneath bedding.

To reduce the risk of suffocation, all additional bedding items should be removed when your baby is sleeping, including blankets, bumpers, pillows and toys. The only thing that should be in with your baby is the mattress and a fitted sheet, which should come up to their shoulders.

What temperature should my baby’s room be?

When removing additional blankets you may be concerned whether your baby is too hot or cold. The temperature of the baby’s room should be kept in between 16-20’C, and the cot itself should be kept out of draughts from open windows and away from radiators and direct sunlight. Babies should be warm but not hot to the touch or sweating.

Another feature of the EyeOn baby monitor is the temperature gauge, which can be customised and set so when the temperature becomes too high or too low in your baby’s room you can receive push notifications on your mobile or tablet.

You can check to see if your baby is the right temperature by feeling their stomach. If they are too warm you should remove some layers and too cold you can add another vest, footed sleepsuits or a baby sleeping bag.

How often should I check on my baby?

The intervals in which you check your baby is completely down to personal preference. Some parents feel they need to check regularly, whereas others are happy with checking only a few times.

The EyeOn baby monitor has audio functionality and a constant Wi-Fi connection, so can be kept on at all times when you are in other rooms. The camera also has a night-mode setting, meaning you don’t have to go in and potentially disturb your little darling. Instead you can get a peaceful night’s sleep, safe in the knowledge that your baby is sleeping safe and sound.

For more information on the EyeOn baby monitor please visit D-Link website.

*Post in collaboration with D-Link EyeOn Baby Monitor

Thank You Teacher

Not long now and the kids will break for summer holidays, which means it is time to thank the teachers.

There are a 100 different ideas and crafts project around in order to show appreciation to our teachers – I particularly like this Pinterest board – Teacher Gift Ideas. We can chose from handmade cards, lovely notes printed and stuck into small gifts, flower pots, pencil pots etc etc but what about the kids who aren’t into crafts so much?

We are all different and some kids simply do not enjoy crafts – they hate drawing, they aren’t good with colouring and don’t even get me started on any work involving scissors.

So what is the perfect gift idea for those children? The ones who can’t just work their magic and create something nice? What should they give to the teacher as a thank you for looking after them all year long?

When I was a child we always gave flowers… at the time I didn’t question it, I was given flowers by my parents and I gave them to my teachers, it was something that everyone around me did, so it was ok. But as I got older I started to question this weird, to my eyes anyways, tradition. Flowers are beautiful I agree but if you get 50 or so bunches of them in one day you simply can’t appreciate them all. I remember in my secondary school we used to help some teachers to carry all their flowers home, as there was so many of them that they couldn’t do it by themselves. By the end of secondary school I didn’t want to give flowers any longer, I thought that this is simply a waste of money. I remember asking my parents to get me a small box of chocolates and a rose for each teacher. Yes, I stuck out a bit from the crowd but I am sure most of teachers had more pleasure from a lovely piece of chocolate that yet another bunch of flowers.

Sorry I got a bit carried away there with a trip down memory lane, so back to the topic at hand… teacher thank you gifts for none crafting kids…

Flowers might be a nice idea, especially if you can take a nice walk the day before and pick them up yourself… a small bunch of wild flowers from the fields… oh this would be a lovely gift.

Cards – they are always good in the UK it seems. If you can’t make one just buy one.

Or my favourite choice – chocolate.

There are a lot of chocolates on the market. You can pick a straight forward bar of chocolate or try to surprise your teacher with something more sophisticated. Lately we were sent a box of Guylian Sea Shells Selection. They look amazing and taste delicious (creamy, light Belgian chocolate) and you can get a small box for just a £1. Wouldn’t they make a perfect thank you gift? And there is a plus; at such a low price kids can use their pocket money to get them for their favourite teacher.

What is your idea of a perfect Thank You gift for the teacher?

Do you thank your teachers? Or do you think they are doing the job they are paid to do?

Can video games replace the real playground?

The answer is:

Yes, they certainly could

But

No, we should not allow this to happen!

Video games are fun but they cannot become a substitute for a real playground with kids in real fresh air. It is so sad that so many parents are losing sight that kids have to be kids… they need to go out and explore, discover new things and have their own adventures… this is an important part of growing up…

As most of you know our roof didn’t survive the pouring rain and we were flooded. The roof is sorted but bedroom still needs a crucial make-over. In light of this we decided to sale our mid sleeper kid bed and replace it with a new one. A few days ago the new owners of the bed arrived to collect it and with them a charming 8 year old boy. We agreed that we would pull it apart all together so it would be easier to see how to make back in to a bed later on. Lots of screws to undo… As the bed has lots of storage underneath I started to talk with the little boy about his plans and where his things will go… and basically all he was interested in was to find the perfect spot for his Xbox and games. Ok, I thought to myself, kids play video games, this is nothing new. So to keep the conversation going I asked what his favourite game is at this moment. And the answer was: GTAV. I think at this point Mum noticed my rather shocked face so she started to explain… Oh, but he has 2 older brothers, so you know…I cannot help, all he wants to do is to play a video games…

OMG so what!

Boy is 8 years old, GTA is rated 18!

I could totally understand a teenager close to the age limit playing the game, but this boy is 8!

Also at 8 aren’t kids suppose to do what they are told? What does it mean “…all he wants to do is play video games…” he is a kid, you are his Mum… sort it out!

I just couldn’t follow up on this conversation, so pretending to be busy I start taking some vital bed part downstairs, I just backed off… I couldn’t risk opening my mouth in front of the kids, as knowing me I would have problems with stopping the lecturing “Mum”.

I am not saying that video games are bad, of course they are not. They are fun; they can teach you a lot and for all means play if you want but all things in moderation. There is so many cool kids games the 8 years old would enjoy, why let him play the game which promotes fast dangerous driving, shooting people, stealing and let’s not forget to visit the whore house… he is 8 years old!

We play a lot, we are gamers. We own most of the consoles out there but we never forget that games have age ratings. There are 100s if not 1000s titles on the market and everyone starting out with very young kids can easily pick something they like and something that is age appropriate. Video games can be fun but so can a walk in the park or just hanging with your friends talking chit chat…

Life gets faster as technology progresses, we have much less time to ourselves, for our kids, but we must not lose sight of the important things. Putting kids in front of the TV and turning a gaming console on must seem like the perfect solution!

I don’t think it is!

This is my small private appeal to all the parents out there – please do not let video games replace the real playground, or at least not every day!