Poorly Baby

So for the first time last week I actually had a poorly little lady. I'm not sure if it was because of teething or something else, but our little lady had a slight temperature and some diahorrea. 

I have to believe that breastfeeding has made her so resilient but this really did knock her for six!  It's taken almost a week but she finally seems to be getting back to her usual self again. Though the one area there has been no improvement with is sleep. 

I am now desperate to move this little one into her own bedroom, as a full time working mummy. The lack of sleep is killing me! 

Breastfeeding

Eeeeek! So it's World Breastfeeding week and I feel the need to throw a huge thank you in the direction of a specific group of ladies. 

Breast Buddies Hull and East Riding - this ones for you! 

I'm sure you've read my backstory by now, but I can 100% guarantee that if it wasn't for these ladies, or my friend Jo, I'd have given up breastfeeding! As it stands I am 3 weeks away from Golden Boobies, which means I have Breastfed my daughter for almost 1 whole year! 

Breast Buddies is a local (to me) group of ladies who basically offer 24/7 peer support and advice as and when it's needed. You can almost always guarantee that someone will be up feeding if you're having a problem. 

It's a place to vent, it's a place to share special achievements and funny stories, but the biggest thing I have taken from this group is that it's basically a sisterhood! There is no judgement, no mummy bashing and if you choose to stop breastfeeding, people will be supportive and not angry that you're stopping. They will give you all the information from all sides so that you get to make an informed decision. 

I have found a true family here and I am so happy that I have! 

Teething

Wow, so teething and the 7th developmental leap have been kicking our butts! My LG has been keeping us awake a lot during the night. 

She doesn't like being placed in her travel cot asleep so she whines, then cries, then screams until someone (usually me, as I have the boobs) goes to her. 

It's taking its toll as I am a full time working mummy! 

Where is the best place to get amber teething bracelets from? 

We stand together....

What have I done?

 

As a new mum, I feel like I have to ask myself the question above. I have brought an innocent child into a world, in which evil runs free and hides in plain sight.

 

I sat and cried this morning; I read the news and felt myself break inside. Those poor children, the families in attendance have been victim to a cowardly attack by someone who has nothing but hate in his heart!

 

I sat and spoke with my partner this morning as we tried to digest the reports flooding in about the poor souls lost to a terror attack at Manchester Arena. My BF actually said, I am scared to take her anywhere or do anything with her. My response to his fears, was, “That is what these terrorists want”, and I truly believe that. They want fear, disorder and chaos… they thrive on it. Terror is how these extremist’s get a stronghold, they use it to their benefit. Retaliations against one side, then fuel the beliefs of the other, the way things are going right now it will never end! It is a vicious cycle. It’s just unfortunate that nowadays with technology, this enemy is finding it way too easy to hide in plain sight and use social media to its advantage.

 

How do you cope with the crippling fear that something will happen to your child?  I mean I am 100% worse than most as with part of my diagnosis of Anxiety is that I Catastrophise. I always think of the worst case scenario, which is why I avoid large crowds of people etc. But at the same time – I don’t want to pass these irrational (I know that they are irrational at least) fears onto my daughter. I want her to grow up confident and sure of herself, independent and also caring; but will this just lead to problems…? Here I go again with the worrying…

 

Due to last nights atrocity we likely have a whole generation of children that are going to be afraid of going to concerts. Just this morning I heard a radio presenter stating that his daughter asked him if anything would happen at the Olly Murs concert she was going to… it’s heart-breaking that this coward attacked in the first place, but that he actually targeted an event with a large audience of children… its despicable, and there is no rationalising that.

 

My theory is that if we allow ourselves to become shut ins and we allow the fear to stop us doing what we do, then the terrorists are winning. So all we can do is Keep Calm and Carry On. They want to cause divide in communities – so stand together. We need to at this point. It is also worth pointing out that Muslim’s are not responsible for this attack; the extremists are. It is highly likely that some of the emergency services and first responders/ doctors/nurses etc that helped the wounded last night were muslim… So targeting innocent people for their religion will not resolve anything, it will only divide us more.

 

I just hope that our children and our children’s children find a way to make this world a better place, to work together to look after their neighbour and to try and come up with solutions to all of these problems.

Mum's at war...

So I saw a story in a national newspaper and it really hit me like a ton of bricks - a newspaper article about the rise of the "Slummy Mummy". The mum who posts about sticking fish fingers in the oven or having a glass of Gin to wind down after a particular rough day!!!

This really bothered me. Who has the right to judge someone on how they parent their child? If I choose to parent a certain way, or choose to do something differently to another family that doesn't make what I do wrong. It makes it different. If your child is healthy, happy, clean, fed, clothed and educational needs are being met; then who is to say you are not a good enough mum? Just because you don't have the time to prepare a home cooked meal, or you forget to sort an outfit for world book day! 

It really bugs me that people cast these unrealistic expectations on mothers and fathers these days. So I don't get dressed some days and hang around in lounge pants. I work full time, and then come home to look after my child. Jesus Christ I am lucky if I get a shower during the week! Never mind anything else.

The other day I had a panic about the safety of shopping trolleys designed to seat a baby with no brakes on it. So I made a post on a group I'm in and was literally torn to shreds. I was told I had no common sense, that I was endangering my child by leaving her in the car seat to get aforementioned trolley (which was in front of the car BTW it was less distance to reach the trolley than the back door). I couldn't believe it. Why hadn't I carried my child to the trolley, done my shopping and then unloaded it and then carried her back to the car.

Whoa whoa whoa! I was worried about the trolley rolling while I had my back turned (which it did as I took my daughter out of the car) I had to then chase it into oncoming traffic to stop it hitting another car. My worry was what if she'd have been in the trolley?

Regardless of what could or couldn't have happened, who gives these people to judge how I care for my child. She was never in danger, and although I struggle with everyday tasks due to constant pain, I'd have thrown myself into the path of an oncoming vehicle to avoid anything happening to her.

But I felt I had to justify myself to these people I don't know! I saw a chance to improve safety, and I was ridiculed, bullied and laughed at for not being able to juggle my daughter, shopping bags, a trolley and the straps on a car seat! Fuck you! Who sets these standards and says everyone has to be a perfect mum? I'm sure if the trolley had crashed into someone's car and scratched the paintwork it would have been a different story. 

Name me a mum who has time to groom themselves every morning? I mean my work trousers today are so creased. But trying to silently iron them this morning so as not to disturb the sleeping baby in the next room because she'd scream all morning for daddy. Who cares? because I don't? Not anymore? There is something hugely more important in my life. I rarely wear make up. My hair is always scraped back and I'm about 5 stone overweight! I'm a slummy mummy! But hell I get up every morning and go to work to provide for my daughter and the love of my life. 

No one is perfect, everyone has flaws and everyone is entitled to them. I will no longer look to others to see if I am doing things right. I will go with the flow and trust my instincts.

I wish women would just band together and lift each other up, rather than taking every opportunity to pull shreds of each other. The media does a good enough job of body shaming, mummy shaming, shaming people on their postcodes and so on.

Women need to stick together and be kinder to each other. I'm writing this in solidarity with "The Unmumsy Mum" an other real life mummy bloggers like myself.

We don't have access to house keepers! We don't have nannies! Personal Chefs etc. Personally I get woken around midnight to feed my baby, 4am is her new playtime - so I have to try and settle her too. 7am is when I leave the house to got to work. 5pm is usually when I get home, then I try to cook a meal for myself, feed my daughter her tea and then it's bedtime. Where over the course of that day do I get time to prepare lovingly home cooked meals, or hit the gym for an hour?

I get maybe 2 hours maximum to myself a day during the week. Some days I look at the laundry, the pots on the side. The recycling that needs putting in the bin and feel energetic enough to tackle it. Others I just grab a glass of wine or a gin and tonic and head for the sofa!

Discount Code for Babies R Us - until 14/5/17

Just spotted this,

£10 of £50 spend or £20 off £100 Spend until Sunday 14th May!!!

Visit the website HERE

Pampers Club

So, I have had a little problem with Pampers Club and the other Proctor and Gamble Coupon sites, as they have some sort of protection enabled so that people can't take advantage and download vouchers over and over again.

www.pampers.co.uk/pampers-club/rewards

The app is available on iOS and on Android and allows you to photograph your receipts to get points back on purchases of nappies etc.

The website allows you to print money off coupons to use on various pampers branded nappies (active fit, premium protection, baby dry etc).

So in my excitement I tried to print the coupons and realised I had selected the wrong printer, and when I tried to change it, it showed them as already printed and wouldn't allow me to re print them. The thing with this site is you must have everything set up correctly in order to print them - before you try to, once you try to print them it is too late if it has a printing error.

So I contacted Pampers using the contact us option and explained my problem and how cheesed off I was at being unable to have the vouchers, and as a good will gesture I received this in the mail yesterday.

 

This is one very happy mummy right now as that's almost enough to buy me another giga pack in the Baby Event at Asda.

Summer Infant Wideview Baby Monitor

I have decided (after realising that this is something I rely heavily on) to review my Summer Wide View Baby Monitor (Currently £99.99)

I love it. True Love, Actual Love!

You plug the camera in upstairs and direct it towards the babies sleeping area. It has a built in thermometer that gives the room temperature, but I have to admit it usually displays warm in comparison to the Gro Egg - but that will likely be because the camera is plugged in generating heat. The camera has full colour capability and also shows picture in night vision. The camera has a little green light to indicate that it is on, and this doesn't disturb sleep (at the moment).

On the monitor itself it has good sound quality, the ability to speak to baby via the monitor and also the ability to zoom in/out and change the contrast of the picture (I have found this handy when baby is still to monitor breathing). It is also a big enough screen that I don't really have to worry about watching my daughter as I see her move easily enough on it.

It is also possible to buy extra camera's (though I have yet to find one) to wire up different rooms or vantage points. I would be very eager to do this.

Good Points:

• Big screen for easy viewing
• Sound bar flashes when noise is heard
• Wireless and wired function
• Ability to zoom in and out/change contrast
• Two way communication.
• USB Charging cable for ease of use.

Bad Points:

• Sometimes wireless products (phones/iPads etc) can interfere with the signal of the camera to the monitor, causing the sound to cut in and out/ picture to freeze momentarily (it has in rare cases lost signal all together for a few minutes, but switching on and off resolves this).
• Battery Life - when viewing the image on screen even in night mode, the battery drains very fast so it needs to be plugged in most of the time.
• Difficult to locate cost friendly additional camera's.

A poorly baby girl

 

This last week we have had a very poorly little lady. It is the first time in 8 and a half months that I have been truly worried and taken her to the Dr's.

Last Sunday/Monday she started with a cold, she was a bit snotty and sneezy which isn't such a huge concern, but on the Monday when I got home from work, she just wanted to sleep! I tried to  feed her and she would latch but couldn't breathe and feed so kept coughing and was just generally off colour.

By the following morning she had latched a few times during the night with the same result, she wasn't feeding, I think she managed a maximum of about 15 minutes all night (we bedshare at the moment when she wakes during the night). She was so unsettled, we had been using the Snuffle babe Saline Spray to try and clear her airways and also baby olbas oil on a muslin next to her cot, but she just kept on choking every time she latched - so we took her to see our GP.

My concern was that I know in infants not feeding (when milk is the main source of hydration) can have a dramatic affect really quickly, she was pale, grouchy, but very sleepy which is why the alarm bells rang for me.

Luckily the Dr said that as she had no temperature, and she seemed happy enough in herself he was happy for us to continue doing what we were doing. He would only prescribe Saline Nasal Drop's and as we were already using them then we were doing the best and to persevere. So we did.

I managed to get her to latch that evening after work and got into a routine of using a nasal aspirator, then spraying her nostrils and then feeding to give her the best chance of taking some food in, we invested in some refills for our Calpol Plug In (which has been a godsend)! And finally after a week she is showing signs of improvement. She is feeding much better and we haven't had to use the nasal spray now for a few days.  

I have found a voucher for money off a calpol plug-in here Sign up to the caring everyday website and basically choose which vouchers you'd like to use. The only problem is, make sure your printer is set up and ready to go, as if it fails you will lose the vouchers as they only print once. At the moment the Plug In Unit and refill pads are £6 from Asda and you get a 75p off voucher. Though I am sure I paid less than £5 for mine from Home Bargains if you have one nearby.

Reduce Your Weekly Shopping Bill

So this blog isn’t exactly about my baby, clothes or reviews… Well maybe reviews, I will be bringing you my best tips for cutting the cost of your weekly shop. How many of you go to the supermarket with a list of what you need and then end up horrified at the total on the tills?

This happened to me almost every week, I am still learning, but I want to show you what I am learning; because it has blown my mind and really opened my eyes. You can pretty much get money back for EVERYTHING you buy. Insurance, Electricals, Pet Food, Food Shopping.

There are websites and apps you can use to build this money up, you can then either save it for a rainy day, or collect it monthly to boost income. You just have to be careful that you don’t buy something just because it is on the app or because you get cashback for it. You’re only going to see a benefit if you’d have bought that item anyway.

Quidco - Sign up here and get £1.25

I will start with Quidco, this website is a cashback site. Do you order takeaways using just eat? You can get cashback on that! Buying a new appliance, you can get cashback on that too. You basically sign up and then say for example you wanted to buy a new television or fridge-freezer… You search for the retailer (currys or the like) and then Quidco will bring their page up and direct you to the website. Once you complete payment then the money will track into your account, it can be anywhere up to 10% (so for a £299 TV you’d get £29 cashback). Some companies offer as little as 1%, but regardless, its better in your pocket than theirs… I have a colleague who lets hers build up over the year and then she withdraws it just before Christmas to buy presents with.

Some companies offer a Cash incentive, ironically my car insurance is due for renewal. My best offer through compare the market was for Hastings Direct, and if I sign up to Hastings Direct Insurance through Quidco they offer £55 cashback….
 

Mysupermarket - Link

I suggest using Mysupermarket to check your shopping bills. The budget supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl are fab for certain things, but there are also some things that we just don’t substitute in our house (chocolate, condiments and alcohol mainly). So it pays for us to buy things like Pasta, Veg, beans and fruit etc from Aldi or Lidl, but we also go to the big supermarkets to get other bits. I use mysupermarket and fill my basket with what I would like and it then shows where sells the items cheapest. So for example Heinz Tomato Sauce may be £3 in Asda, but in Morrisons it is on offer for £2… I literally make a huge list, then separate it out as to where has it cheapest and plan my shop around these places. I use this alongside the cashback apps to make the most out of things (for example Birds Eye Chicken Chargrills/breasts are £1 in Asda, you can get 40p cash back for them and claim up to 6 times, so instead of 12 bits of chicken costing £6 they come in at £3.40 for 12 bits, and they’re frozen.. doesn’t matter when you get around to using them).

ClickSnap –  ClickSnap Web Link

This is an app that you can download on Android and Apple devices, I don’t think it is available for Windows phones unfortunately. It is also a part of Quidco, so the money tracks and gets paid through there. This app gives you offers for money off certain products at certain supermarkets. You can filter to view a specific supermarket but this app (as well as CheckoutSmart which I will come to later) can bag you freebies. It is mainly offers of 50p of a purchase or 75p etc, but sometimes they give you money £2 for buying a certain item (for example Richmond Sausages 16 pack was £4 in Asda, and they offered £2 off, but in Morrisons they were on offer for £2) You just have to be mindful of which supermarkets the offers are available in. You basically buy the items, go into ClickSnap and mark where you shopped and where, then select which offers you have used and upload your receipt. It then tracks within a few days and is available for withdrawal usually the same week (though it takes 3-5 days to transfer out).

CheckoutSmart – Web Link

The same as above, it is available on Android and Apple devices but not windows as far as I am aware. This does the same as the above, but you sometimes get offers like “Win a £100 shop” you just upload your receipts as you do with ClickSnap, this one will only pay out if you have a minimum of £5 saved up, and you pay 5% fee on withdrawals under £19.99 – I prefer to use ClickSnap but sometimes check this app too as they may have a different offer. If you are wondering whether you can submit the same receipt on both apps – you can’t; I did try because I am a cheeky bugger, but it seems that once the receipt goes through it deactivates it so it can’t be submitted twice to different apps…

Shopitize – no link, only available on your App Store.

I loved this App, but dispise it at the same time. There used to be tons of offers on here, but this app liked you to scan the barcode on your item, then upload your receipt too. It offered 40p of a supermarket own brand lettuce for example that cost 49p. But it would never read the barcode so I couldn’t scan it in. I ended up having to submit a support request regularly. But I persevered and generally got the money back. I have noticed recently though that they only have one or two offers on at a time, and they are not usually as good as they used to be… but every penny counts doesn’t it.

RecieptHog – Link

Another app that I think is available on both Apple Store and Android. With this, you photograph literally every receipt you get, fuel/dog food/clothing, and the little piggy eats them and turns them into coins, you get extra coins for doing certain activities and then when you’ve collected enough coins it gets transferred into either Paypal or you can get amazon vouchers. I am new to this one but will let you know how I get on with it.

Pampers Club – Link

One just for the mummies or daddies out there, you can sign up for free samples of new and improved nappies – If you’re buying the nappies in a shop you may as well upload the receipt, as you get so many points per pound spent, and they all add up, you can use the points for money of vouchers against large boxes of nappies, or you can use it on toys, magazine subscriptions (or now that we no longer have sky, Baby Tv Subscriptions)!! One word of advice though - they only let you print your coupons once, I have just tried to print out 6 coupons for £1 off nappies and my printer wasn't connected, its failed. But the website thinks they have printed... so now I have no coupons and no way of getting any more :( - I have contacted customer support regarding this.

It can be a bit of hardwork to figure it all out, put your lists together and then actually go do the shopping, but if you have a list of what you need and stick to it you can reduce the cost of the weekly shop.

Baby Wipes - Tried and Tested

Like Nappies - I guess every mum or dad will have their favourites in Baby Wipes too. We get loads of free samples etc, but it isn't until you actually have to wipe a sticky poo covered bum and back that your wipe preference comes into play.

For me from baby wipes you need these things...

• They need to be sensitive, there is no point wiping a bum with a floral fragranced perfume covered baby wipe, unless you want to see an angry red rash or irritation.
• They need to be useable, with one hand, i.e you don't want to pull for one wipe and extract a mile long strip of every wipe ever created and then have to try and separate them while holding a wriggling foot, while trying to save the bedding and clothes!
• They need to be moist, not wet! If they are too wet the offending poop just drops off the wipe onto said clothing, bedding or child....
• You don't want to push your finger through as your wiping your childs bum, or have the wipe tear into a million pieces as you try and pull one out of the tangle inside the packet (Huggies Wipes literally disintegrated on me).

More importantly though they need to be affordable! £10 for 10 packs of wipes is a lot of money... especially when you go through 2 boxes a month.

For me the winner is and always has been (since birth)

Johnson and Johnson Extra Sensitive Baby Wipes. They come in a box of 12 for £10 usually, but you can normally find them cheaper during baby events (This box of 12 is currently £6.50 in Asda's baby event.

My close second that I really really liked but I can't find anymore, where the Asda Extra Protection Baby Wipes. I loved these - they did two versions Extra Protection (with added barrier protection) and extra sensitive. The wipes were thick and durable and a lot better than the original little angels.

Avoid (unless they improve the quality)

• Pampers - pulls out every wipe in the packet when you try to dispense 1).
• Huggies - literally rip and fall apart in your hands).
• Waterwipes - I know this is a premium brand and you pay a lot more for them, but they literally drip with water ( I accidentally left one on the bed and it soaked through the duvet).

Nappies - Tried and Tested

So the ultimate mum problem. Nappies.

Which ones leak, which ones have caused nappy rash, which ones are more comfortable or easy to put on... here are my thoughts.

Working in Healthcare I was given absolutely loads of nappies for when my Daughter was born. We must have had around 50 of the Pampers Premium Protection Size 1 Nappies - easily. They were fab. No one told me that the little yellow stripe turned blue when baby had done a wee! So I had no idea what it meant, or how the midwife instinctively knew my baby needed changing, I literally looked at her as though she were the devil.

Pampers Premium Protection.

I really like these nappies - they are soft and easy to put on (if baby doesn't wiggle too much). They have a yellow stripe through the nappy which changes blue when baby needs changing. I would say in the early days we did have a few leaks in these, but this was more than likely down to being first time parents and not putting them on properly.

Pampers Baby Dry

These are also a favourite of mine, they don't have the wetness indicator like the Premium Protection do, but they do hold a lot more wetness. I had a few freebies from Pampers and fell in love with them based on that. I tend to buy Giga Packs (Asda are selling 112 nappies for £10 at the moment) so fabulous value and they will last the month I hope :) We have had a few nappies that have broken, the tabs have pulled off or the Velcro hasn't been sticky. But all in all these are my main go to nappy.

Pampers Baby Dry - Active Fit Nappy Pants

I bought these as my daughter is pretty close to crawling, the first day she wore one, she did a huge poo, it went all up her back and once id torn the nappy to take it off it gave little protection so she ended up having to have a change of clothes and her blanket needed changing too. They seem to be okay, but are a little awkward to get on, and they seem very tight fitting. My daughter developed nappy rash for the first time in 8 months, it could have been this or the Asda Nappies that did it, though she is also teething at the moment. We haven't used any more of these and the rash hasn't returned.

Asda Little Angels

I bought some of these nappies on sale as Asda was changing the packaging, we have used less than 20 nappies and I am throwing them away as I believe that it is these nappies that caused her nappy rash. She hadn't had nappy rash since being born and the day after we started using these nappies it came up, we persisted thinking it was teething and it got worse, to the point we had to start using medicated cream and as soon as we changed back to pampers it went away. They also don't seem to hold as much, they are rather tough to touch in comparison. Ironically my best friend swears by them and uses them with no issues for her daughter. I wouldn't use Little Angels again though.

Aldi Mamia

These were our go to nappies to begin with, like the premium protection pampers they have a wetness indicator line on them, they always seemed to fit well and we didn't have any faulty nappies. We did seem to have more explosions/leaks with these, but it could have been coincidence. I would 100% use these again.

Bednest Side Sleeper Cot

When I brought my daughter home from hospital there was literally not one place other than me she would fall asleep. The first few nights we tried everything to get her into her Moses Basket or the Travel Cot we had bought, but nothing worked. I almost caved in and bought a Chicco Next to Me Crib, but as my bed is really high and we have a 30cm deep mattress it was a no go. It just wouldn’t fit. So back to the drawing board.

 

 

I spoke to a friend who had used a Bednest Side Sleeper with her daughter and said it was the only side sleeper she had found that was high enough to fit her bed, so we borrowed it.

My friend informed me of a change to the manufacturers guidance, in which the cot was never to be used with the side half down. It either had to be all the way up or all the way down, and when I researched why, it was because of an accidental death of a tiny little baby girl. It is such a sad story, but I guess it wasn’t anticipated that it could happen until it did, so the manufacturer changed their guidance. I would like to point out at this point, I do not agree with the way the manufacturer dealt with this horrific accident, but they have changed their literature and now issue kits to make it impossible for the side to be left halfway folded.

This being said, it was easy to assemble, the base pulls up and locks in place in one movement, then you strap it to the bed, ours was wrapped around the locks that hold the divan base together, and then the cot was placed on top of the base, done! It took less than 5 minutes to assemble.

The beauty was that my precious little lady was at the exact same height as me, no messing around to get out of bed to put her down to sleep, I could just lift her, which limited the amount she woke. During the night I could just reach over and touch her, see her breathing etc. It was perfect. It just devastated me that she had to come out of it because she is just too big now.

The website offers these cots to rent or buy, I would 100% use it again and would pay to rent or buy if I couldn’t use my friends again. It was perfect!

Also on the website there’s a lot of bits and pieces you can buy for it, sheets, replacement sides, replacement matresses. I bought a kit which came with fresh sides and a fresh mattress and two sheets for around £60. It was well worth the money and I have no regrets in using it.

Bednest to buy £299

Bednest to rent (as long as you need it) £89      
Check it out here...      

Graco Contour Electra Travel Cot - Posie

Graco Contour Electra Travel Cot – Posie      £79.99 (£99.99 full price)

 

I bought this travel cot from Toys r Us about a month before my daughter came along. I liked how girly it was and how small it folded, yet it seemed quite big and sturdy, so she would have plenty of room to grow.

I put it together myself at 35 weeks pregnant with SPD… so that tells you how easy it was. Though I found the instructions very poor I have to admit. Most of it was google and guess work. For the Travel Cot itself, the sides wouldn’t lock into place until the bottom of the cot was flat and in place, it took me about 30 mins to figure this out and I got increasingly frustrated, eventually watching a you tube video to help.

Then to set up the changing table; You basically just get pictures of what it “should” look like and you follow the pictures through, but the pictures are awful and it was difficult for me to follow. The changing table I originally put together upside down, so I was putting my daughter on the bottom of it. I eventually realised and went to correct my mistake and I couldn’t get the bars out which resulted in me ripping the fabric. Once it was on the correct way, I could no longer use the changing table as the rip caused my daughter to roll, the tension wasn’t there to hold her in the correct position.

We didn’t use the travel cot to begin with as my daughter wouldn’t settle in it so she slept in a side cot. I ended up going to Smyths and buying a proper Graco Travel Cot Mattress (£16.99) as I figured that after sleeping on a proper mattress in the side sleeper, she wouldn’t settle in the Travel Cot because the mattress supplied was very thin and plasticy. We now use it permanently as she sleeps well at the moment. I can’t find the bar for the activity bar. God knows what I have done with it, but it’s gone! We are currently still using the bassinet part which hold the baby half way up the cot rather than her being in the bottom, however we are literally weeks away from crawling so I am going to have to take the bassinet out sooner rather than later, this will cause problems with laying baby down to sleep as she will be much lower, and I will have to bend much further, so I have to admit I am not looking forward to it.

Overall this is a good Travel Cot. It has enough room for her to move around, but is secure. It has a console which plays music/vibrates and has a nightlight which we love, and it folds down easily for storage or travel. The only downsides are that the supplied mattress wasn’t very comfortable, so we ended up having to buy a more permanent solution. Also the instructions were terrible, which resulted in me breaking part of the cot.

The only reason I didn’t return it to get a replacement Changing Table was that they had stopped supplying this particular colour and wouldn’t give me a replacement part for it. So the changing part was never used.

I would definitely buy it again. I love it, its very pretty, however I would know this time around more about fixing it together.

 

Joie i-Anchor Advance with Isofix Base

Can I just say how much I absolutely adore this car seat.

I originally wanted to buy the Joie Stages or the Graco Milestone, but unfortunately the seatbelts in my car were not long enough to wrap around the seat and plug in, so I had to buy a seat with an isofix base to fit to the anchor points in my car.

I spent a lot of time looking at reviews but the only seat that I liked the look of was the Joie I-Anchor advance. I paid £175 for it and it came with the base free (that was around £150 on its own). So it is definitely worth shopping around for the best deals. Don't forget Toys 'R Us do a price match too, it just needs to be in stock on the website you're quoting from.

To install the base, I just had to pull the supporting leg down, then push the two buttons on the side to release the anchor points, then once I had pushed the anchor points in and it was fastened in place all of the indicators turned green, to show it is secured correctly.

The seat reclines, but I intend to use it rear facing for as long as possible - (this seat does rear facing for up to 4 years) so in the rear facing position it doesn't recline, you use it on the furthest reclined setting anyway. On fitting it for the first time, I found it almost impossible to get my 4 month old seated, she literally didn't fit into the seat between the padding. However we removed some of the newborn inserts and extra padding and she sits comfortably now.

The straps are adjustable with just one hand, and it seems very comfortable for baby as she regularly falls sound asleep in it.

The Drawbacks:

•  It doesn't recline further in rear facing mode, sometimes babies head can lean forward which used to scare me a lot more than it does now. I find that making sure she isn't sat to high up when putting her in the seat works to address this, and making sure that the straps are the right height. 
• No handle - It is impossible to carry this car seat around with baby asleep in it. Our old Group 0 seat - whenever she fell asleep we could bring her into the house asleep and settle her. With this one, when she is asleep, we have to remove the baby and carry her in.

I find these two issues a small price to pay for piece of mind. I tend to stop and check my daughter if she slumps forward to much and re position her, but I am safe in the knowledge that she is secured in place with a 5 point harness and should we have an accident it has side impact protection and she is facing rearwards.

Graco Modes Pram in Extreme Black.

I decided on the pram I wanted prior to finding out whether I would be having a girl or a boy. I wanted something dark, but I really fell in love with the print on this, it just gave it an edge over the plain black coloured prams.

We bought the Graco Modes Pram with the travel system and pram adapter to fit the car seat onto the pram base too for ease of use. The total cost of this was £279.99, with an extra £29.99 for the car seat base, that allowed you to just click and connect the car seat into place.

We brought my daughter home in the Graco Modes Car Seat, and she was very comfortable in it. The newborn insert gave her enough support so that she wasn't flopping around. It literally clicks into the car seat base, though you could use it with a seatbelt wrapped around it also. We got an adapter that clicked onto the frame of the pram and allowed you to just click the car seat onto it, in the first few months this was all we used. I very rarely used the actual pram part to begin with.

I found both the pram and the car seat a bit difficult to adjust to begin with as they didn't have very clear instructions or tutorials for how to change the straps. But once I had figured it out its been fine.

It is very easy to use as the pram just clicks onto the frame of the pram and by pulling the lever at the back of the hood upwards, you can recline the pram.

Overall it is a very good pram, easy to push, easy to assemble and comfortable for baby as it lays flat or sits upright. There is also a large basket at the bottom for shopping and plenty of leg room for baby. The frame is also freestanding so when not in use it can be stood upright to save space.

The drawbacks, I have a large hatchback car, and I can fit this in the boot, but only this pram; nothing else. It takes up a huge amount of room.

The first 9 months

My little lady is going to be 9 months old soon, she will officially been outside for longer than she was inside!! This is a scary thought.

The first 9 months have been hard. There have been times when I have wanted to punch my other half in the face! There have been times I have wanted to lock myself away from the world. But we are still moving forward and our beautiful little girl is not so little anymore. She is weaning, has two teeth, she's had her first cold and I have now returned to work full time...

We have a whole bundle of items to review that we have adored. So I am just going to start working through them one by one and adding my reviews.

Is there anything you would like me to review? Is there anything you'd like me to discuss, how have I done certain things or managed to overcome obstacles.....