Chloe
Babythings4u.co.uk, helping inform you to make the right decisions

1. The right Start….

Breast Feeding is the best start for your baby, but there maybe other reasons why you have decided to bottle feed. Bottle feeding can also be a bonding experience, and your baby will get all the nutrients they need to grow healthily.

2. Bottles….

There are a wide variety of bottles and teats available, in all different shapes and sizes…its important to find the one that suits your baby. You will need some essential items for your baby, including: Steriliser, bottles, teats, bottle brushes and teat brushes. It is sooo important to sterilise and clean feeding equipment thoroughly, and specially designed brushes will make this easier.

3. The Right Formula….

Infant fromula milk is the only alternative to breast milk. It comes in the form of a powder, but it isn’t sterile, so itshouldnt be prepared in advance due to the risk of infection.

4. Dont go near….

Ordinary cow’s milk, goats milk, condensed milk, dried milk and evaporated milk should never be given to a baby under 12 months. If you are unsure which type of formula to give your baby, check with your midwife or health visitor.

Summer is here, so now is the perfect time to introduce your baby to the fun of swimming. Here are 5 top reasons why you should get swimming!

1. Swimming is a great way to exercise for you and your baby. Water is supportive, so your baby can do lots more things in the water than on land.

2. Regular swimming from a young age means your child is more likely to be a strong, and confident swimmer later on…which can be a life-saving skill.

3. Even very young babies can start swimming and be introduced to water. Special swimming nappies are available now in extra small, for babies under 6 months (Huggies).

4. By swimming you could support a good cause. Tommy’s the baby charity’s Splashathon, for under 5’s runs during the summer. All your tot has to do is splash a width/length of your local pool. Money raised funds research into the causes of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth. Visit Tommy’s.org for more details.

5. Swiming is a great social activity, you and your tot could meet lots of new friends! Why not contact your local pool to see if they offer a mother and baby swimming class.

Get Swimming!

Brother Max was started in 2005, and has already made a big impact on parents, who have discovered their wonderful products, which include: Bath toys, a Thermometer, Food Portioners, a handy bath sponge and combi bibs. They have won many award for their innovative products, and were most recently featured in ‘Mother and Baby Magazine’, in their Top 20 Feeding products: Brother Max combi bibs…’a soft bib with pop-on crumb catcher-cum-mess-free carry case…’ and Brother Max food portioners…’from freezer to microwave to table to dishwasher with ease.’

Brother Max is made up of a committed team of parents, with over 30 years experience at designing innovative products. As parents themselves they all understand how challenging it can be, and how precious time is. Their thinking has resulted in a small range of products, carefully designed to help get things done more quickly, so that parents and babies have more time to spend doing fun things!

Brother Max believes that what makes their company and products different from the rest are the following points:Three little words - simple clever ideas.

simple - because their products are ergonomically designed to make them easy to use.

clever - because they base their designs on parental insights; their products are “designed by parents for parents”.

ideas - because they are innovation-driven; always on the look-out for parenting challenges which require unique, high quality, reliable solutions.

Brother Max is definately a company to watch out for in the future, their products are amazingly useful for parents, and fun for kids (especially the ‘5 bath toys’), and their products are beautifully presented in simple modern packaging. Once you try them, you really will wonder how you lived without them!

Choosing a name for a baby has to be one of the most difficult choices to make.  There are are so many names in books and on websites to choose from, there are all sorts of weird and wonderful ones,  where do you start?

1.  My advice would be to first of all think about the style of name you prefer.  Think to youself ‘Do i like traditional names?, or do i want something modern?’.  Let this be your starting point from which to move foward. Remember that if you want to go for a name that is more unconventional, you can always give your child a more traditional middle name incase they want to change it when they are older.

2.  Make some time to spend with your partner to discuss some names.  Start by making a shortlist of your top ten names, maybe you and your partner could make your own seperate lists to start with, to see if you come up with anything different names that you both like.

3.  Once you have your top ten list, try saying the possible names outloud to your partner (and them saying it to you), and saying the fullname, including your surname.  You might find that by saying the full name, that this might confirm names that you do and don’t like, allowing you to cross some off you list.

4.  Try to reduce your top ten list to five names (it should be getting easier at this stage).  If you keep saying the names to you partner and vice versa, everntually i think you will both find the one that is right.  Make sure when you are saying the names to each other, that they are easy to pronounce, remember, a middle name can give your child’s whole name a completely different rhythm.

5.  Take alook on the internet for baby name websites, and there are lots of books in the shops you can flick through too.  Gather together a variety of books, and start reading through them.  Get a highlighter pen to mark ones that stand out to you as you read.

6.  Don’t let other peoples likes or dislikes on names sway your opinion, it doesn’t matter if your Aunty doesnt like a certain name….it is up to you.

7.  You can always get inspiration for modern or unusual names from the latest fashion and celebrity magazines!

Hello Reader(s),

Have you ever seen a picture like the following on the internet and wonders how you get them / make them ?

                lllllll_______
             _,_  llllllllllll
___         /     llllllllllll
          | @ @ |  llllllllllll
    -----oOO---Ooo-------------/
     lllllllllllllllllllllllll/
      lllllllllllllllllllllll/
       lllllllllllllllllllll/
            //            \
           ||             ||
           OO             OO

Well today a friend pointed me to: http://chris.com/ascii/.
This is an excellent ASCII art website, and here you can also find the Baby ASCII Art.
Although its not the most pretty or usable art. Quite cool to see the high quality pieces that can be made.

I have found this pushchair to be fantastic.

It is reasonably priced, and very practical.

It folds down with just one hand (which is so important for mums)!

The system comes with a carseat, which is suitable for 0 to 13kg in weight.

The pushchair is suitable for a child up to 3 years old, so it means you will get alot of use out of it. It is lightweight (so no struggling to lift it into the car), the seat has a washable cover and so is easy to keep clean. It has a basket which is a good size for putting shopping in, or extra bits and pieces for your child. As for maneuverability, it has front swivel autolock wheels, and is very easy for whizzing around town, it fits through most doorways with ease.
Overall it is great value for money, for a good quality and practical pushchair. The Butterscotch colour is particularly stylish. I would give this pushchair 8/10.

Dimensions are as follows:Open – (L)100 x (W)53 x (H)103 cm

Folded – (L)45 x (W)40 x (H)99 cm

Wheels – 19 cm

Seat width – 30 cm

Seat height – 40 cm

Handle height – 103 cm

Weight 8.9kg

Hello, long time no blog.. I recently got an email about toys in preschool:

“

How important are pre-school toys to your business? Do you find that parents are now looking for toys that have an educational aspect? Have you noticed any specific trends in this area?
Thank you for your help on this and I look forward to hearing back from you.
All the best, Penny (Franks)
Editor – Nursery Today

“

Having worked in a preschool for a number of years and running and afterschool club, i have spoken to many parents, and have noticed that more and more are taking an interest in educational toys. I have had many parents approach me as to which toys and activites would help their childs development further. I think parents awareness of educational toys and activites has increased. Here i have wrote up some information about toys from my experience as a nursery practitioner.

How important are preschool toys?

Preschool is usually for children between the ages of 3-4years. During this time in a childs life it is very important that they are mentally and physically stimulated by their surroundings and toys that they encounter. All the toys and activites provided in preschools are created to help the children move forward in their learning. By playing with toys and doing activites they wouldn’t normally get todo at home this stimulates and develops new areas of the brain.

Cognitive

Toys aid cognitive development like maths by using different size and shape containers in water play. Here children are able to begin to understand the concept of volume.

Social and Emotional

Toys also aid social and emotional development. Sharing toys and takig turns are important social skills that children are learning while they play.

Knowledge and Understanding

Knowledge and understanding of the world is gained by children playing wf ith a wide variety of toys from different countries, this helps them to gain respect for different cultures and ways of life. For example, children playing with African drums with a talk about Africa.

Motor Skills

By playing with toys children learn fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Toys that promote the development of fine motor skills are… Threading beads, colouring, cutting out shapes..etc. Toys that promote gross motor skills are throwing and catching balls, football, riding a bike, climbing blocks, balancing..etc (Big physical activites).

Creative Development

Toys and Activites that promote creative development are; Painting, Music, Role play..etc.

Stage 3

As solid food becomes a large part of your baby’s diet, it’s important to offer a range of different foods. This is to provide your baby with all the vitamins and minerals he or she needs. Your baby should still be having a minimum of 500-600ml of breast or formula milk a day.

Try to give two to three servings a day of starchy foods such as potatoes, yams, rice or bread. Fruit and vegetables make good finger foods and should be included at two or more meals each day. Your baby should have one serving of soft cooked meat, fish, egg, tofu or pulses such as beans or lentils (dahl) a day. Red meat such as beef, lamb and pork is an excellent source of iron. Eggs (well cooked) are a quick, nutritious and cheap source of protein.

As babies continue to develop, foods with a thicker consistency and a lumpier texture can be introduced to encourage them to learn to chew and manage small pieces of food, even if they don’t have teeth yet. Give finger foods such as toast, bread, breadsticks, pitta bread or chapatti, peeled apple, banana, carrot sticks, or cubes of cheese. Avoid sweet biscuits and rusks, so that your baby doesn’t get into the habit of expecting sweet snacks.

Always stay near your baby during feeding to give encouragement and to make sure he or she doesn’t choke.

Stage 4

As your baby becomes increasingly used to eating solid foods, he or she should be learning to fit in with the family by eating three minced or chopped meals a day, plus breast or formula milk as the main drink (around 500 - 600ml a day). Give your baby fruit or other healthy snacks between meals.

If your baby is on the move, (he or she may have started crawling), you may need to increase the amount of food you give. Babies have small stomachs and they need energy to grow, so make sure you give them full-fat dairy products. Cutting back on fat is sensible for adults, but not for babies or young children.

Give three to four servings a day of starchy foods and of fruit and vegetables. Don’t encourage a sweet tooth by giving biscuits and cakes to your baby, because these foods will fill your baby up without providing the right nutrients.

If you have decided not to give your baby meat or fish
Make sure you give two servings a day of pulses (such as red lentils, beans or chickpeas), or tofu to make sure they get all the energy and nutrients they need. The vitamin C in fruit and vegetables helps our bodies absorb iron, so remember to give your baby fruit and vegetables at mealtimes.

Stage 2

Feeds will still be mainly breast or formula milk (around 500-600ml a day). But when you’re both ready, you can start very gradually increasing the amount of solid food you give, either before, during, or after the milk feed. Try to react to your baby’s appetite, so if he or she is still hungry, you can give a little more.

At the same time, you can move gradually from solid food at one feed in the day to solid food at two, and then three feeds.

You can give your baby full-fat cows’ milk products, such as yoghurt or cheese sauce as a solid food.

Try to give cereals to your baby just once a day. Begin to add different foods and different tastes. You’ll be able to use lots of the foods you already cook for yourself. Just mash, sieve, or purée a small amount, but remember, don’t add salt, honey or sugar.

Using your own food is cheaper than buying baby foods, you’ll know what the ingredients are, and your baby will get used to eating like the rest of the family. Preparing larger quantities than you need and freezing small portions for later, for example in an ice cube tray, can save you time and effort.

More first foods to try
Add to the vegetable, fruit and cereal purées other foods such as:

• Purées of meat and poultry
• Purées of pulses such as lentils (dahl), hummus
• Full-fat milk products such as yoghurt or fromage frais - unless you’ve been advised otherwise by your health visitor or GP
• Full-fat milk can also be used for cooking, for example in cheese sauce, but avoid giving it to your baby as a drink until after he or she is a year old

Stage 1

When you start giving your baby solid foods, mix a teaspoon of one of the following with your baby’s usual milk (breast or formula):

• smooth vegetable purée such as carrot, parsnip, potato or yam, or
• fruit purée such as banana, cooked apple, pear or mango, or
• cereal (not wheat-based) such as baby rice, sago, maize, cornmeal or millet.

Offer this to your baby before or after one of your usual milk feeds, or in the middle of a feed, if that works better. If the food is hot, make sure you stir and cool it and test it before giving it to your baby.

Most babies take time to learn how to take food from a spoon. So be patient and be prepared for some mess. Your baby may cry at first between mouthfuls - until now, food has come in one continuous stream, but now there are frustrating pauses.

Don’t press the food on your baby. If the food really doesn’t seem to be wanted, stop and wait until next time. The main aim at this stage is to get your baby used to the idea of taking food from a spoon. He or she will still be getting most of their nourishment from breast or formula milk (around 500-600ml a day).