Essentially Weaning...

Weaning can seem like a scary old milestone in the distance when your baby starts to head in that direction. The thought of pureeing food and clearing up copious amounts of suspicious looking blobs all over the place is perhaps less than appealing. Weaning should be quite fun however, a time when you get to watch your baby experience a whole host of new things- the faces he pulls will certainly give you some laughs along the way.

Here are a few must have products in our eyes to make weaning as fun as it should be...


1. First up is the Beaba BPA Free BabyCook Food Processor. With its four functions- steaming, blending, defrosting and heating this nifty little gadget is a brilliant time saver. It is easy to clean and it is quite compact so it can be stored away and got out easily. At £89 it is not cheap but it does do a grand job. The only downside possibly is that if you are doing a large freezing session it is quite small so will need to be a bit of a batch process....


2. For those freezing frenzies a great way to store the food in portions is by using BPA free flexible ice cube trays- once frozen you can turn the strips or cubes out into sandwich bags and put them back in the freezer. It is a great way to know how much your baby is eating and reduce waste as you can always take out an extra cube if you think baby is still hungry!

3. tommee tippee 's heat sensitive baby spoons. The end changes colour to alert you that the food is too hot for baby's consumption- meaning you don't have to stick your lips into every mouthful of puree before you offer it to baby! They have soft ends for delicate gums and also come in pretty colours! (I have found that the soft ends are equally good as a safety measure when baby wants to hold and more than likely throw a spoon during mealtimes).


4. Vital Baby Unbelievabowl. A bowl that has a nifty little suction pad underneath it to hold it in place and prevent baby from wearing it (and therefore lunch) as a hat. It also means baby can't simply throw it on the floor when he doesn't want to eat any more. Equally great for putting finger foods into!

5. A long sleeved bib for young babies (we love Silly Billyz). Followed by a sleeveless one with a catching tray for older babies. ZPM's being our particular favourite for its ingenious design!


6. Of course one would also be lost in weaning without an Annabel Karmel bible at ones side. Annabel Karmel's Baby Puree Recipes is a great place to start!

BecoThings Step It Up.

The lovely environmentally friendly people at BecoThings (inventors of the BecoPotty) have stepped it up and now offer to the eco aware and practical parent alike the sturdy and functional BecoStep.

Made from plant fibres (as all their products are) these fantastic little bathroom, kitchen and where ever you want to use them aids are ALSO sustainable to produce and will biodegrade when you are finished with them!


In addition to being eco friendly BecoThings consider your child's safety their number one priority and the step therefore has a non slip rubber bottom- is relatively heavy (compared to some others on the market) to ensure stability and has a grippy top surface so your little one can't slip off. On our test run we found it far more stable than most other competitors and the grip both on the top and bottom made our petit tester feel safe.


The other great thing about the BecoStep is that it's life needn't end with your little one's growth. Once you no longer need it as a step you can put it in the garden as a planter and watch it grow into its second life- a really great way to teach your children the importance of not buying another product that gets sent to the landfill!

Downside: the plant fibre is not shatterproof by its nature so if your child tries really hard (hurls it at a wall for example) he might be able to crack it. The flip side to this being that you would get your becoplanter more quickly!

No Mountain too Rough

This morning was a happy morning in my household. My new Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle was standing waiting for a test drive. A self confessed pramaholic I have tried and tested the lot. I have very specific likes and dislikes based on design as well as functionality and let me inform you that the Urban Jungle does not disappoint any of my crazy criteria.

It looks great- really simple but also slick and very functional. It corners fantastically and the suspension is brilliant for jogging over all kinds of terrain. I really put the buggy to the test- and even over the roughest terrain I could find 3yo stayed asleep with only slight evidence of the head wobble. I ran (OK OK I  jogged) and I actually found it easier than jogging without a buggy at all. I then ventured into town to pick up a well earned cappuccino and the ride was just as pleasing on the pavement-weaving in and out with the swivel wheel was good fun and effortless. We fit into the coffee shop easily and thanks to the swivel wheel had no trouble leaving it either- crucially the buggy is also light enough to push with one hand!

The adjustable handle height is a great add-on as well as the large shopping basket underneath which had plenty of room for excess clothing and shopping.... essentials only obviously?

Downside:
The ONLY downside that I could find was that with the swivel wheel setting if I lifted up over the curb and placed the weight of the buggy on the wheel then it lost balance and I had to be careful not to tip- yet if I bumped up onto the curb or slightly changed tactic this would not be a problem.

Great buggy with excellent functionality and very pleasing on the eye- winner.

Sterling Days Out This Holiday

The lovely people at Silvercross have come up with a fantastic new website- silvercrossdaysout. You plug in your post-code and the distance you are willing to travel for your day of child friendly fun and the site comes up with a list of options for you. I had a go and while I knew some of the "days out" on the list I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were loads of great options that I had no idea about!


Made by parents, for parents the website is not sponsored by any of the "days out" and they therefore all come genuinely recommended. It is easy to use and nicely laid out as well as inviting reviews which will gradually provide a clearer parent picture of each "day out".

To celebrate the launch, Silvercross are giving visitors to the site a chance to win a day out of their choice for their entire family- enter by leaving a review-good or bad- on the preferred venue's page!

A sterling silvercross treat for us this Easter holiday- enjoy it with your little ones I know we will.

Please do comment below on what you think of the site!?

WaterWipes

WaterWipes courtesy of DermaH2O  are a fab natural alternative to the more obviously advertised baby wipes. They are made with 99.9% water and 0.1% fruit extract and they are therefore preservative free, unlike most other brands who's ingredient list extends longer than your arm with various scents and chemicals. WaterWipes are wonderfully innocent little creatures that can help to prevent nappy rash by reducing the unnecessary chemicals that come into contact with baby's delicate skin. Suitable for newborns (no faffing around with cotton wool and top and tail bowls needed) as well as children they seem to be super moist. Having bought a large pack I assumed the moisture would drain relatively quickly and at least the last few would be redundant but actually I was surprised to find that every wipe was as moist as the one before.

There is not a really a downside then, although they are slightly pricier than some brands- this is counteracted by the fact that the plentiful moisture means that they last longer than most and you need to use less, equally if baby doesn't get nappy rash then you wont be buying creams!

Advertised as the world's purest baby wipe- I believe they really are and can't think why anyone would want to use anything else once they try these!

If you aren't convinced check out their website and order yourself a sample pack- WARNING you'll get hooked.

Cake Face

Today was the day that my week of baking has been leading up to. I held my cake sale this morning and raised a healthy £300 for Starlight the foundation that grants wishes for terminally ill children. I am so stuffed with cake and have been for a week now that one wouldn't think I would ever want to see another cake as long as I live- but one would be incredibly wrong. There is nothing not to like about cake. Between the cup cakes and coffee cakes and sticky lemon drizzle cakes (to mention but a few) I just would not get bored with cake.

Holding the cake sale then, is perhaps more self motivated than it first appears. I make the cakes, I slave over a hot stove and order my "staff" around like the witch that I so don't want to be and at the end of it all I get to eat cake- so much cake- and all in the name of charity. I sold them- sure I made £300 but I also put on at least 300lbs in cake weight. A cake sale- a biannual event for me- leaves me with baby weight to shift- the kind that drops off laboriously slowly with the maximum amount of guilt about overeating and not exercising. But this is all outweighed- perhaps even the money raised- by the tiny little smiling faces that peer over my cake stand with grins that extend beyond their ears and into their hair, the little fingers that grab and the mouths that squeal. The pleasure that I receive from cake then, is not the only pleasure that the event dishes out- I do it for the children. Not just the sick ones (although my thoughts are significantly with them) but for all the other little tummies that I please along the way.

Thermo Fun

In my childhood there was one test to see if I had a raised temperature- Mothers lips to the forehead. We had a little strip that changed colour too but my mother obviously trusted that she would know if it was ever dangerously high- YET here I am investing in all kinds of gadgetry in order to measure baby's temperature to the nearest point of a degree.

It came to my attention in the midst of a baby ear infection that most modern day thermometers require an invasive ear probe (albeit only very briefly) for their reading. When baby's ears are sore not to mention rather messy this is not exactly ideal.

I have found the Vicks forehead thermometer (suitable for all ages). It is brilliant. You hold it on baby's forehead for three seconds (although it is actually less) and the temperature flashes up on the large screen with the additional comfort of a colour- green for OK, amber for a little bit high and RED for you should be worried. The green light is like a beacon of comfort in the middle of the night- or day for that matter.

Downsides:
Baby might be rather interested in this contraption that you are placing on his head and may try to remove it before you have taken the reading.
Apparently a forehead reading can be less accurate than others due to sweat, however, the difference between red and green is not going to change as a result of this.

At £35 it is reasonable and as it covers the whole family is a great investment. It also has a memory function so that you can record your baby's temperature changes presumably... although from experience it is unlikely you will need this as anything over 100 tends to stick in your own memory pretty well!

BLOOMing lovely baby

Bloom Baby create some pretty special baby pieces. Run by four, clearly very passionate and style aware dads, it is a brand that wants to make a difference to baby homes- adding functional but beautiful products. Their products are pieces of art- but ones that every parent has a need for. The perfect combination of luxury and necessity their products are undeniably delicious looking.

My nano (ultra thin and light highchair) has just arrived in the post. I am now going to run you through the unpacking, the putting together and the end result to see whether the delicious design is also as functional as I so hope it is (and all before the blue lights on the baby monitor start moving up and down again).

It has taken about six minutes. Start to finish. I followed the instructions- mainly- and the big pictures and few words make it very clear what to do. Make sure you take note of the A and B sides as I ignored this and got the tray table bar stuck in the wrong sides. Despite this minor hiccup (on my part) it still only took me six minutes to click everything into place (NO tools needed).

Downsides: If you are silly like me and get the bar in wrong way round your fingers may be sore once you get it out. The seat cover looks a little baggy and creased but I am sure some use will sort this out. It is also a little heavier than I had hoped (but with this comes its sturdiness despite its slightness so it is not all bad!)

Upsides: It is as stylish as promised. It is ultra slimline and looks great. I am slightly regretting choosing white but then it just looks so stylish. The straps are sumptuously padded and the mechanism for collapsing it works effortlessly. With one tug on the tray table and one squeeze at the back it neatly folds into its slimline curve. The seat cover will be very easy to clean with minimal creases and the tray table is large and sturdy. For £100 it offers affordable style with the added benefit of being great for travel or storing out of the way.


I am a big fan. Blooming lovely baby products. More to be tested soon!

Now to open twin two's before the monitor shows signs of the disco.