Archive for the ‘Baby’ Category

We’d picked up various samples of baby purees at events like the Baby Show and Cybermummy.  They were sitting in our cupboard; after all, heading down the baby led weaning route we’d be unlikely to use them.  My intention was to use them in cooking for Little Mister.  They might be puree but surely something could be crafted from them.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been a pumping mama for six weeks now and I won’t lie: it’s not easy.  I’d been using a great pump but it just wasn’t cutting it: battling with the effects of tiredness, caffeine and lack of time things just weren’t working out.

Don’t get me wrong, the Avent Single Electronic Breast Pump is great.  But it is only a single and regardless of how efficient a pump is, your milk will only come out so fast.  I needed to turbo charge.

Avent sent me their Isis iQ Duo Twin Electronic Breast Pump to review; I think I’m in love.

This baby comes with a lot of accessories and I must admit I was overwhelmed when I saw the size of the box; how on earth was I going to get it all to work each day?  Once I’d gotten everything unpacked from the box and into its black microfiber travel bag I felt a bit like Mary Poppins; all these bits and such a small bag in comparison.  To be really specific, the box contained the electronic pump body, electric lead and tubing, four bottles (two 4 oz, two 9 oz), two pump attachments, two opaque bags (big enough to fit two bottles into), two Thinsulate bags (again, big enough to fit two bottles into), four ice packs and a handy two pack of Avent disposable breast pads.  Try saying all that in one breath.

The pump attachments are the same as those for the Single Electronic Breast Pump, the only difference being a slight change in the silicone diaphragm to allow for the creation of a vacuum rather than a more manual operation.   Even so, the attachments come with spare diaphragm and manual handle just in case you want to switch to a manual pump.  The tubing plugs into the electronic pump body through a lead that resembles your telephone cable and also via another plug.  The second can be quite stiff to insert but once it’s plugged in there’s no budging.  One half of the tubing connects to a handle for control by the electronic memory, the other a more basic attachment which fits onto the diaphragm.  Just like the Single Electronic Breast Pump you start pumping manually as the electronic memory learns your pumping rhythm but the one handle controls the two pump attachments.

The only difference I’ve noticed between the ISIS iQ Duo Twin is that the pumping suction seems to be a little stronger but in no way uncomfortable.  I’d imagine this is due to the stronger motor but in this situation strength doesn’t seem to be a bad thing.  I don’t have time to mess around and the ISIS iQ Duo Twin gets straight down to business.  My record is 10 oz in just under 20 minutes and I’m sure I can beat that if only I could get some sleep.

The black microfiber travel bag is a bit like a laptop bag in that everything has its place.  It’s more than big enough to fit all of the parts of the pump inside and I pushed it so far as to include my laptop, power cable, lunch and cardi.  It doesn’t just work for the pump either; did you see that black bag I was toting around at Cybermummy?  Thank you Avent for making sure I was stylishly accessorised.  However, as every commuter knows, the bag you cart around on public transport can make a lot of difference to your journey, especially when it’s contents aren’t particularly light.  By the time I’d added in those extras my shoulder was rather weighed down.  Once pulled around in the crush of the tube I found it wasn’t the most practical of options.  Perhaps in the future Avent may consider making a rucksack an option.

Not only does the ISIS iQ Duo Twin come with all these accessories, it’s also accompanied by a handy Guide to Breastfeeding DVD.  While seasoned breastfeeding mothers will probably have little use for its contents it’s definitely contains useful information for first timers.

At £249.99 the ISIS iQ Duo Twin may seem expensive but when you consider all the extra accessories you would otherwise be buying the additional cost more than pays for itself.  I’m sure all pumping mamas would agree that they’d rather be breastfeeding their child than pumping, but if you ask me, the ISIS iQ Duo Twin is the next best thing.

We’re lucky in that Little Mister sleeps quite well.  He naps regularly (even if sometimes those naps are catnaps), he tends to go down easily at night.  He sleeps through.  Pretty much.  Our issue is with the 05:00-06:00 hour.  That hour’s far from perfect.

Read the rest of this entry »

Little Mister has a bald patch.  Luckily I don’t think it’s a case of the hereditary premature baldness that hits my family but his wriggling.  You see when he’s tired he rubs his head and face.  It aggravates his eczema when he rubs with his hands but he also rubs the back of his head on the surface he’s lying on, thus the bald patch.

I was hoping that he’d stop doing it as he got older and that as his hair grew the bald patch would disappear but neither seemed to be happening.  When Theraline offered to send me their new Baby Pillow I thought it would be worth a try. 

The Theraline Baby Pillow is a comfortable and safe way to protect your baby’s head and preserve its natural shape.  Babies’ heads are prone to developing deformities in the first few months of life as the bones of the skull are so soft and the long periods spent lying down often flatten the skull.  You might find that as a baby, your parents placed you to sleep on your front often, and in terms of babies’ skulls this might be a more preferable sleeping position.  However it’s widely recommended that babies sleep on their backs to avoid the risks of cot death. 

The Theraline Baby Pillow’s anatomically shaped and perforated high-tech fabric supports your baby’s head evenly and effectively.  The pillow is made of a special arrangement of three different types of breathable fabric and maintains an even temperature around your baby’s head. The high-tech fabric used is so open that, even when your baby begins to turn and the head comes to rest in the pillow‘s hollow, he or she can still breathe easily through.  I was dubious at first, especially given how heavy Little Mister’s head seems to be, but the fabric does actually hold up to weight resting upon it and is breathable even when weighed upon. 

I gave the pillow six weeks and started to notice a visible reduction in Mr A’s bald patch.  The hair started to feel softer and it was definitely growing back.  I wanted to give the pillow a few more weeks to really see its effect but things didn’t go entirely according to plan.  Little Mister started moving a lot at night and would frequently end up with his head away from the pillow.  We’re still using it but the Baby Pillow often ends up across the cot.  If only we’d started using it earlier!

When used from birth the Theraline Baby Pillow could prevent any head deformities from occurring; when used when deformities have already occurred the Baby Pillow helps to accelerate their correction .  The Baby Pillow is washable at 60° and suitable from birth to 12 months.  You can purchase the Theraline Baby Pillow from the Theraline shop priced £19.90.

I wanted a nice wooden high chair, the sort without a tray that would sit right up at the dining table.  I pictured the four of us sitting together eating dinner without the monstrosity of plastic trays or splayed out high chair legs.  What I didn’t consider was our lack of a table.  Sure, we have one.  It’s surface is folded down and it acts more as a sideboard and dumping ground.  Our chairs aren’t matching wooden ones but folding plastic from Ikea.

Sian fixed us up with a Prince Lionheart bébéPOD plus and although I’m sure she never intended it to be used instead of a high chair, it’s become our solution.

The bébéPOD is a soft and squidgy first seat which has been ergonomically design to help your baby learn to sit.  Like other first seats your baby’s bodyweight helps position them and fix them into the chair.  The bébéPOD comes with a pommel, an adjustable tray, two reusable placemats and a toy which fits into the tray or can be used alone or you can buy the bébéPOD on its own and add the accessories later.

I loved just about everything about the bébéPOD.  It comes in bright colours which I consider essential.  My baby’s a boy, not a gooey little infant to be cooed over; we do bright and bold.  You can adjust the tray so it’s closer or further from your baby depending on size and preference and its surface is smooth so no worries about food or other baby nasties getting stuck on.  It also comes with removable straps in case you want a little extra security.  We’ve removed ours for the moment but as Little Mister gets bigger they’ll go back on, just in case he manages to throw himself over.

But best of all is the toy.  Within hours it had become Mr A’s firm favourite whether on the tray or off.  In fact I’d go as far as to say I would’ve bought the bébéPOD just for the toy.

At £44.95 the bébéPOD plus is a little more expensive than similar products on the market but you get so much more for your money.  I’m going to tell all my baby-parent friends to ditch those other brands and go buy one!

Before I first started breastfeeding I was under the illusion that nursing was the free option.  How wrong could I be?  There’s nursing bras and breast pads to consider and if you require accessories such as nipple shields, breast shells and devices to help correct inverted nipples then the costs really start to add up.  At a rate of only two breast pads a day disposables could cost you in the region of £25 in the first six months of breastfeeding.

Phillips Avent has an excellent range of breastfeeding accessories which they sent me to review.

Even now Mr A’s five months old I still wear breast pads.  Whether I need them or not is probably under debate but I feel it’s better to indulge my paranoia than to end up with wet patches on my top.  Avent Ultra Comfort Disposable Breast Pads are firmer than many other brands meaning they don’t screw up in your bra. They’re super absorbent so you don’t have to worry about leaks either.  Unlike other brands I didn’t find that the filling separated and pulled apart inside the pad.  They also have some fab reusable breast pads.  I was a bit wary of them at first as when I had TB I tried a number of reusable breast pads which stuck and clung on to my boobs when they got wet (you don’t expect to get sore nipples from having to pull your breast pads off) and tended to leak.  The Avent Washable Breast Pads were a breath of fresh air.  I’ve been using them over and over and they’ve never once leaked thanks to the leak-proof liner; they’re no thicker than your average disposable either.  The surface in contact with your skin is soft brushed cotton so there’s no worry about rubbing and the lace outer prevents slipping.  The pack of six pads comes with a handy mesh bag so you don’t lose them in the washing machine.

Breast shields scare me.  I tried some when I breastfed TB and they were horrible; they were rigid and unforgiving and I felt like they were a torture instrument designed to slowly cut my nipples off.  The Avent Comfort Breast Shells are firm on the outside and contain a removable, soft silicone petal massager which sits on the inside cushioning your breast.  They were a real delight to wear.  The set comes with two hard outside shells, one vented to help protect and heal sore and cracked nipples, the other fully enclosed for collecting leaking milk, an essential when you’re pumping at work.  Gentle pressure from the helps to relieve engorgement in those difficult first weeks.

I’ve been lucky this time around that I haven’t had any real problems with breastfeeding and in Mr A’s first week I was lucky enough to put a halt to cracked nipples before they really became a problem.  The Avent nipple protectors would have been perfect to avoid a week of wincing every time Mr A suckled.  The ultra-fine, soft, odourless, taste-free silicone protectors are shaped to allow skin contact with baby whilst feeding and let your baby still feel and smell your skin.  Because they’re so thin the nipple protectors provide no barrier to your baby’s suckling and are transition free as your baby returns to the breast once your nipples have healed.

The Avent Breastfeeding range is available online and in many high street shops including your local supermarkets.

In the first weeks of breastfeeding you hear a lot about nipple confusion.  Everywhere seems to advise avoiding bottle feeding and dummies before breastfeeding is established.  What no-one mentions, months down the line when you’re about to become a pumping mama, is the fear that your older baby, when bottle feeding 50% of the time, will realise that breastfeeding isn’t the laziest option and decide that it’s no fun anymore. 

Hello Baby Direct stocks a wide range of quality fun and practical baby and nursery products.  Knowing that I was returning to work and Mr A was going to be both breast and bottle feeding they sent me some bibi Mama/Papa baby bottles (£10.99 for the two pack of 250ml bottles) to review. 

Of course here’s the catch: I don’t actually bottle feed Mr A myself.  So I left instructions for the husband to use the bottles and let me know how him and Mr A got on.  He liked the design of the first bottle because it says ‘Papa is the best’ and hasn’t commented on the second.  I like the second better because it says ‘I love Mama’.  I know, we’re simple people to please.  The husband didn’t like the bottle itself though.  He complained that the milk was too slow to come out and Mr A kept playing with the bottle, messing around and complaining because it was hard work and he wasn’t getting fed quick enough.  Now I actually liked this point.  I’ve taken to hiding upstairs to feed Mr A because he gets distracted easily.  Even so, he still pokes and prods me, stops feeding to search for every noise and decides he’d rather play with his hands or my hair for a moment.  The husband gives Mr A his bottles downstairs amongst various distractions so I can see where his problems stemmed from.  The slow flow teat makes me happy because unlike many other slow-flow teats, the bibi one is actually slow, meaning Mr A has to work at a level closer to that of breastfeeding to get his milk.  At least with the bibi teats I don’t have to worry so much about him getting too lazy to breastfeed.

Any parent who’s considered bottle feeding their child will most likely have heard about the dangers of Bisphenol-A.  BPA is a chemical component found in polycarbonate which can be discharged from the material when heated or damaged.  When BPA enters the body it causes an oestrogen-like effect on the hormonal balance of babies and can cause issues such as sterility in boys, premature adolesence in girls, weight problems, hyperactivity, diabetes, leukemia and prostate cancer, none of which you want your child to suffer from. 

Bibi’s baby bottles are made from either glass or polyamide (PA).  PA is unbreakable, boilproof and considered totally harmless for health.  It’s also durable, dishwasher-proof and lightweight.  If you ask me that’s everything you want in a baby bottle. 

It’s not just bibi baby bottles that are available on Hello Baby, but their extensive range of feeding and bathtime accessories.  You can find Hello Baby on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace and you can purchase direct from their website.  I recommend you take a look; they’re one of those fab sites that you shouldn’t be without.

The thought of sterilising my breast pump at work was problematic. We’ve got a microwave steriliser but it’s bulky; I could take it to the office and just leave it in my locker but that wouldn’t leave me any space for the six pairs of shoes I keep there. Then there’s the issue of whether it’ll actually fit in the microwave; the steriliser won’t fit in ours at home. My only solution was the little sterilising box that came with my first breast pump. It’s compact and fits in our tiny microwave. Of course if I took that to work then we wouldn’t have anything to sterilise bottles with at home and I wasn’t about to buy a second (fairly naff) pump just to get the box that came with it.

Luckily Lindam have thought of this issue and make microwave steriliser bags. Ideal for travelling, each bag fits two bottles and accessories and can be reused up to 20 times. Fill with 70ml of water, pack the bag, seal and microwave for three minutes in a 500-1000w microwave. Hey presto, bottles sterilised.

Lindam sent me some microwave steriliser bags to review. My biggest concern was whether the bag would be large enough to contain my breast pump parts, some of which aren’t exactly the shape of standard bottles. I also wondered how easy it would be to drain off the water after after use, whether the bag would actually stay shut and how to record how often each bag had been used.

The bag fitted all the parts from an Avent single pump however I could only get the larger part of a Tommee Tippee manual pump in the bag and would have had to use two bags to fit the remainder of the attachments inside. I easily fitted two standard neck bottles into the bag but was unable to sterilise a mOmma bottle as the weighted bottom would not allow the bottle to sit in the direction indicated. The bag is only big enough to fit one wide neck bottle in.

The bag was initially quite tough to open and I was rather worried I’d break it in the process. Once I did open the bag though it was clear that it would take a fair bashing before it would rip or split. The zipper is really secure and I wouldn’t worry about it opening on its own. The bag has a small hole at one end (on the seam so it doesn’t actually provide an entrance in to the bag) to allow it to be hung for drying and another the other end for an exhaust and to allow you to drain off the water. There’s also a handy counter you can mark off so you know how many times each bag has been used. I attacked a bag with a sharpie and it seemed to suffer no adverse effects. The bag also has full instructions on the back so you don’t have to worry about others not knowing how to use it when you’re not around. Useful for when you send the baby off to the grandparents.

As long as you don’t have a large number of items to sterilise at once the bags are great. They’re particularly useful in that they don’t take as long to use as many microwave sterilisers or even electric sterilisers. As they’re so light and compact they’re great for travelling and are perfect for pumping mamas to sterilise breast pump parts while out of the house. I’ll definitely be buying more bags once this pack has run out.

Lindam microwave steriliser bags are available in packs of three with an RRP of £5.49.