Category Archives: Baby and toddler products

Confessions of a baby spammer

10 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Family, Motherhood, Opinion

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Baby spam

Mixed in with the sleepless nights, bowling ball boobs and baby brain, there’s one more thing that I’d forgotten happens to you when you have a baby: you can’t stop taking photos.

There are the sleeping photos. (Baby sleeping. Baby sleeping in new position. Baby sleeping while being cuddled. Baby sleeping in new baby-grow. Baby sleeping on grandparents. Baby sleeping in moses basket.)

Then there are the awake photos. (Baby pulling funny face. Baby pulling another funny face. Baby wind face. Baby in cute outfit while looking thoroughly unimpressed.)

Then there are the “firsts photos”. (First bath. First outing outside of the house. First trip to the supermarket. First time in car seat. First trip to the park. First time in pram.)  Continue reading »

Baby buys: is a video monitor worth the cash?

03 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products

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Babymoov

When I was a new mum four years ago the first piece of kit I bought was a baby monitor. It looked like a walkie-talkie and crackled if you took it too far out of range. During the first few months though, there really was little point in me having a monitor. I was so anxious about leaving my baby in another room that I practically cellotaped the monitor to my face, before repeatedly checking on her at least every ten minutes.

Fast-forward four years and I’m a new mum again to another baby girl. At the moment during the day this baby tends to sleep on me in her sling, as we’re out and about for the school run and trips to the park with my eldest. She’s now eight weeks old and a couple of weeks ago we passed a pretty big baby milestone: putting baby girl down to bed in the evening.

Tired baby

Continue reading »

Win a bundle of toddler toys for Christmas!

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products

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Leapfrog toys

It’s all gone a bit baby-crazy around here recently, so in an attempt to rectify the situation I thought it’d be nice to offer something to the over ones…

Just in time for Christmas you can win a bundle of toddler toys courtesy of LeapFrog. Some of my four year old’s favourite toys are made by this brand – including her beloved tablet, the LeapPad Ultra. Continue reading »

10 Baby life hacks for new parents

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Family, Motherhood

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Baby hacks

Ah babies. The cute, innocent, loud little things. If only they came with an instruction manual eh? So they may not come with a “How To” guide, but there are a few very simple solutions to every day problems that you’re bound to face with your newborn. Here are ten baby hacks that have helped in our first few weeks of life with a second baby.

1. Keep a change box in the living room

A box full of nappies, baby wipes, a couple of clean vests and babygrows will come in handy downstairs. You’d be surprised how exhausting walking up and down the stairs a million times a day can be.

Change box

2. Bulk buy Infacol

If you have a baby who struggles to bring up their wind then Infacol is your friend. It’s magic medicine that you drop into their mouth before each feed and can help your baby do a big burp afterwards. We used it lots with our first and a little with our second. But there’s nothing more annoying than running out of Infacol at 3am, so when you buy it – buy twice.

Infacol baby Continue reading »

The big baby haul giveaway

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products

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Giveaways on this blog, are a very rare thing. But as it’s nearly Christmas, I thought I’d do a giveaway for all of the new parent readers out there. I’m giving away a haul of baby goodies worth over £150 – perfect for treating your latest addition this Christmas!

I’ve chosen some of my favourite baby brands to include in an exclusive giveaway (did I mention – I rarely do giveaways?). These are brands I’ve written or vlogged about in the past, all with beautiful products that will make your life as a new parent easier, prettier and – in the case of your baby – cosier this winter.

Babyhaul goodies
Babyhaul 2 Continue reading »

Swaddling for newbies

11 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products

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Swaddling

Back when I was a first time mum to a newborn four years ago, I was a total swaddling novice. This was before that famous royal photo of Kate and Wills cuddling their swaddled new baby Prince George. Swaddling was a thing, but not a thing I was familiar with. I imagined tightly bandaged babies strapped up to boards Tudor times style. It all sounded a bit… medieval.

Fast-forward four years and I’m a new mum again. The benefit of experience has been a huge bonus with this baby. I remember what used to settle my first daughter at this age and have a few tricks up my sleeve ready for when my newest daughter gets antsy (so far *touch wood* she’s proving to be more chilled out than her older sister). I know now that swaddling can be a great way to make a newborn feel secure, as it mimics the cosy position they were held in the womb. Continue reading »

Vlogging: Newborn essentials for a second time mum

31 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products

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Newborn essentials for a second time mum

It’s now been nearly four weeks of newborn mayhem in our house and we’re slowly starting to get to grips with life as a family of four. There are SO many baby-related things I want to blog about at the moment but time seems to escape me (babies = time hoovers). In the meantime, I thought I’d do a little vlog about some of the products that have made my life easier with a newborn.

The challenges second time around are definitely different, so these are essentials for second time mums (and dads) – but I’m sure I’d have found them pretty useful had I known about them four years ago too.

Anyway, I’m far too sleep deprived right now for fancy schmancy editing, so this is a raw one-take wonder of a video – complete with tiny baby. Hope you like it! Continue reading »

The A-Z of Post-Birth Recovery

24 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Breastfeeding, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Well being

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Post Birth Recovery

Just over two weeks ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She’s my second baby, so you’d think I’d be familiar with the tender post-birth recovery period by now, having gone through it all before. Well you’d be wrong.

What I remember from last time around appears to have been filtered through a rose-tinted memory box in my head. It’s all newborn cuddles, quiet naps, endless bouquets of flowers and snuggles on the sofa. The actual body bits – the rather gross bits – have all been blanked out.

So in the interests of keeping it real, I’m sharing my A-Z of post-birth recovery symptoms with you. Be warned, much of this is TMI, but if you think we all bounce of bed looking like super-model Gisele Bundchen after having a baby then you’re in for a shock.

A is for… After-birth pains

Newsflash: contractions don’t end the moment you’ve had your baby. Annoying but true, the uterus has to shrink back to its pre-baby size. This means after-birth pains which feel like a cross between a contraction and an intense period pain. They get worse the more babies you have, so this time around I was shocked by how uncomfortable they were compared to with my first baby.  Continue reading »

My baby sleeps in a box

16 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products

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There are some old school baby practises that I’m pretty relieved don’t still exist. Putting your baby in a pram and leaving it unattended outside the front door, for one. That’s an actual thing they used to do in my grandma’s day – if you don’t believe me just watch Call The Midwife.

I’ve also heard of some families making up a drawer for their baby to sleep in, rather than splashing out on a moses basket, crib or cot. And, occasionally, if drawers are scarce, the baby would just have been put to bed in a box lined with blankets. Cosy.

However, as much as the thought of leaving my baby in a pram on her own on the doorstep doesn’t appeal, the sleeping in a box thing doesn’t bother me so much. Why? Because my baby sleeps in a box. It’s an upmarket box, granted, but a box still the same. Interested? Let me introduce you to www.TheBabyBoxCo.com.
Continue reading »

A snoop around the baby’s nursery

22 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Home, Pregnancy, Style

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Baby's nursery mint and yellow

One of the most exciting things about preparing for this baby has, for me, been decorating the baby’s bedroom. When I was pregnant with Frog we lived in a rented cottage, so couldn’t splash paint on the walls or hang pictures. Although she had a lovely bedroom it wasn’t necessarily the bedroom she’d have had if we’d owned the house.

One of my freelance gigs is writing the interiors pages for a magazine. It means that I spend a lot of time oggling beautiful blogs, interiors magazines and nosing round various shops to look at the latest trends, be inspired by new colour pairings and generally make long lists of things I want to do in my own home (much to the dismay of my husband).

So you can understand why I was so excited about decorating the nursery. Continue reading »