A Little Goodnight Book Review

A Little Goodnight Book is a very cute little gift book that comes in a beautiful presentation box complete with a soft taggy puppy.  A Little Goodnight Book is part of the Little Learners range from Parragon books which are designed for children from birth upwards.

Holly took instantly to the taggy puppy.  "Dog" is one of her favourite words (second only to "cat", I reckon).  A Little Goodnight Book is a small board book whose gentle rhyme serves as a bedtime lullaby.  When Mr. B or I read it, we can't help but read it in a slow and rhythmic manner. 

The story is designed to re-enforce the bedtime routine from the first signs of sleepiness, to the music of a lullaby, the twinkly stars and the bedtime cuddles.  The illustrations are bold and cute.  They are not textured pages but each page has a good range of colours and images of different textures.

It is a very short book (4 double pages) but I think that A Little Goodnight Book would make a beautiful gift for a new parent or for a small child as a birthday or Christmas present.

Little Tikes Role Play at ASDA

Little Tikes are well known for their simple, chunky outdoor toys for preschool children but who knew they also make a fab range of indoor toys for preschoolers too? ASDA have teamed up with Little Tikes to launch a new and exclusive range of kids toys for toddlers and preschoolers and they all look AMAZING.

Lara and Holly have been trying out this Little Tikes Doctors Set which is perfect for both of them right now as Holly is just discovering how to mimic others around her and Lara's imagination runs wild every day so role play toys suit them both.

The Little Tikes Doctors Set from ASDA has all the qualities that I expect from Little Tikes. The set features about 10 doctors tools inside a big plastic box which has a transparent window so you can see all the pieces inside. It is the most comprehensive doctors kit that I've ever set eyes on... with a toy scalpel, tweezers and calipers alongside the more traditional pieces. It is also the best quality that I've tried - Lara's received a similar set for her second birthday and many of the pieces broke within a couple of weeks. To me, the difference that Little Tikes toys show is in the build, I expect these to last considerably longer as they simply aren't constructed in the same way.

The Little Tikes range at ASDA features a number of other role play toys such as a cash register, laundry set and vacuum cleaner as well as DIY toys which are all characteristically bright and bold. There is also a massive range of more traditional baby toys such as a wooden shape sorter, baby walker, rattles, stackers and push alongs.

Holly has this fun monkey high chair toy also by Little Tikes at ASDA. He sticks to the tray of a high chair to provide entertainment during meal times... these days Holly gets all the entertainment she needs from the food on her plate but in the early days when we wanted her to sit with us even though she wasn't weaning, this toy would have been good fun. The monkey spins and rattles and has a small mirror on one of his feet. It isn't the kind of toy I would have expected from Little Tikes but, just like the doctors set, it has the same great qualities - well shaped, brightly coloured and very sturdily built.

These Little Tikes toys are available exclusively at ASDA.

Lansinoh mOmma Warm Plate Review

When Lansinoh found out that we were about to start weaning Holly, they sent us the mOmma Warm Plate to test out.

The mOmma Warm Plate can be bought with one each of the mOmma rocking forks and rocking spoons and the complete set looks quite unlike anything else we have ever tried before. The colours are bright orange and bright green and the plate and cutlery are really big, bold and chunky. Ideal for tiny hands to grab as your littlies are learning to feed themselves.

For us, the warm bowl is ideal. I can place Holly's mashed food into the bowl as I am serving up the rest of our dinner, top the bowl up with hot water and let her food gently warm as the rest of us get ready to eat. The mOmma warm bowl has a chamber underneath the bowl which can hold warm water which keeps the food gently warm while you eat.

The mOmma warm bowl can go in the dishwasher and also in the microwave (as long as you remember to unplug the cork so that steam etc. can escape from the chamber!). It has one small compartment which we are currently using for Holly's mashed food and a larger compartment which will be good for finger foods as she grows up.

I really like the mOmma plate for using at home but I think it is a bit bulky for me to consider taking it out and about with us (which is a shame because the warming concept would work really well for a travel bowl). I also found the cork incredibly difficult to undo for the first three or four weeks that we used it (after that it seemed to loosen a bit and was far easier).

Our mOmma warm plate came with a rocking fork and spoon set. These are cutlery with big round heavy ends so that when you put them down they can rock and stand on their bases. This is a little piece of genius because it means I don't have to worry about putting a spoon down on the table while I am feeding Holly and it potentially getting dirty. I also worship these spoons because I can put them easily in my changing bag for taking out with me, safe in the knowledge that the integrated covers will protect them in my bag before us, and equally, they will protect my bag from ick after I have used them to feed Holly!

Holly is a touch young to be attempting to spoon feed herself but I will definitely let her have a try with the mOmma spoon soon as the big chunky handle may make things quite easy for her to grip.

All of the Lansinoh mOmma tableware is BPA free.

  

My Daughter The Byte Stream

The 15 minutes after Lara wakes up in the morning are the most entertaining of the day. This is the time of day when Lara cannot lie. Before she has properly woken up, the words that stream from Lara's mouth are the purest form of communication.

Words. Lots of them. With no conscious language discipline.

Lara will wander straight out of bed, along the corridor into our room and be half way through a sentence by the time she arrives at my side! Her dialogues can be very revealing and show just what is currently on her mind. Sometimes she will be talking in quite lucid detail about an event that happened many months ago. Other times she will be describing something she really fancies to eat.

As a software developer I like to think of Lara's early morning word soup as an output stream.

For the rest of the day my toddler speaks in simple console commands. One liners.




But, for those few minutes every morning, Lara is streaming words straight from her brain to her mouth with no validation, no logical processing and no network interference – if she were code, she'd be a byte stream. Raw bytes! There's some sort of buffering involved which means that the words come out as sentences and not as one continuous blueurgh.


public class LarasBrainDump {

    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {

        String source = MyBrain.getStuffImThinkingAbout();
        byte bufferedStuff[] = source.getBytes();
        OutputStream fos = new
          FileOutputStream("wordsthatcomeoutofmymouth.txt"); 

        for (int i=0; i < bufferedStuff.length; i ++) { 
            fos.write(bufferedStuff[i]); 
        } 
        fos.close(); 
    }
}




Somewhere about now she will breathe and then start all over again. I'm assuming this is the buffer flushing itself out.

Being Two

Dear Lara,

Being two does not give you the right to run up and down the central aisle at Sainsburys shouting “Peppaaaaaaaaaahhh Pig” repeatedly at full volume. It does not mean you can throw your toys over the stairgate at the top of the stairs and then cry. It does not mean you can post my coasters through the french window one at a time and then exclaim “oh”.

Turning two is not an obstacle. It's an opportunity. You don't need to stand in the corner and act embarrassed when you see someone you've not met before (or haven't seen for a while). You don't have to worry about no longer being the oldest person in your class at nursery – there are older children you can share with and learn from; pick their brains, you might learn some tricks!

Being two does not mean you need to shout and scream when you don't get your own way. It doesn't give you the right to fib and certainly doesn't permit you to force those tears you think are so effective.

Lara, being two means I can stop counting your age in months. It means I need to start shopping for clothes in the children's section, not the baby section. It means I have to pay slightly less to send you to nursery and it means you're no longer a baby – you're a young lady now. It's that simple.

Being two is great fun.

Shy

I've discovered a new side to Lara. A Lara I didn't know existed. Lara is shy. Lara is scared.

Other than a few short weeks when Lara was about 9 months old, I'd have never thought to use the word “shy” to describe my sociable, happy little girl. With children and adults alike, Lara was able to settle in quickly with a new group of people.

We've always maintained that Lara should be able to enjoy the same events we do which is why, the day before the royal wedding, we took Lara with us for our regular pub date with the guys from work. Lara seemed really excited about going for lunch with Daddy and Mummy's friends. The minute we walked into the pub she changed into a different human being.

Lara went totally silent and hid behind my legs. She wouldn't eat or drink (this happens so rarely with Lara that I worry when she doesn't eat). She wouldn't even show her face. She clung to me like a limpit and squawked whenever anyone tried to speak to her. I was expecting Lara to warm to the people around her. She didn't. This unusual behaviour lasted for a full hour.

As soon as all of our work colleagues left the pub and returned to the office, Lara reverted to her normal smiley cheeky self and polished off her lunch. She wiggled and giggled and even struck up a conversation with the strangers on the table next to us. She wouldn't explain her behaviour to me – what had upset her so much. When I returned to the office, people who have seen Lara as her normal cheerful self commented on how out of sorts she had been.

On the May Bank holiday we took Lara to the May Fayre. She loved seeing all the people, the fair ground rides, the loud stalls and the performances on the stage. But, she did have two episodes which were so unlike her. First, she burst into tears when she saw someone dressed as Iggle Piggle I've always hated people dressed up as characters, but this had never seemed to bother Lara before. Then later, she refused point-blank to get into the children's train; through her tears she described it as 'the scary train'. This coming from the little girl who has been on all of the toddler's rides at Legoland and Peppa Pig World!

That Lara's behaviour has changed does not surprise me. All of her NCT friends are going through similar changes right now and I'm sure that as Lara grows through toddlerhood into childhood that there will be plenty more changes in her behaviour. What leaves me feeling uncomfortable is being unable to help her. I wasn't prepared for this new Lara's arrival and I'm not sure what comfort or support I can offer her.

First Sentences

Toddlerhood is such a fascinating stage in life. With every day that develops, Lara learns new things and develops more and more into a child as opposed to a baby. Her speech astounds me and constantly makes me smile. Over the past 4 weeks she has begun to build her first sentences. It is this learning and development that fascinates me – as I hear Lara's sounds turn into words, and her words build up into sentences, the science of life begins to make sense to me. I understand how I became who I am, and I can see and hear Lara growing into her own self.

About 4 weeks ago, Lara's words were simply barked nouns or instructions. “No”, “Cat”, “Milk” etc. At one point I did start counting the words (I had been trying out Wellstart software and it told me that my 21 month old child should have a vocabulary of 20-50 words) but I lost count. Occasionally we got two words such as “Please Mummy” or “Watch Peppa”.

One afternoon she came home from nursery and, instead of asking for “Milk”, instead asked somewhat hesitantly for “Glass of Milk”. We had turned a corner.

Over the past 4 weeks we've had more and more 3-word sentences coming out of Lara's mouth. “Don't want it”, “Where cat gone?”, “Daddy do it” and lots more. It has been great fun. I've really begun to feel that I can properly communicate with my daughter and can accurately interpret her meaning.

Last weekend, Lara started singing songs with really clearly recognisable words. “Wind the bobbin up” is now sung from start to finish (sometimes at 6 o'clock in the morning and sometimes the tune goes a bit haywire, but I shall forgive her that). This brings a smile to my face every time. When Lara sang me “hickory dickory dock” from her car seat in wobbly sort of words I actually laughed out loud and nearly drove the car into a ditch.

Two days ago, Lara's speech changed again. Between me dropping her off at nursery in the morning and picking her up again in the evening, those three-word sentences had become 5 or 6 word sentences. One the way home she told me "Flying saucer in sky Mummy". I managed to avoid that ditch again.

I can't believe how quickly these things change. It's the wonder of life happening right there before me. I love it.

The Sunday Review – Cotswold Outdoor Children's Products, LittleLife LadyBird Backpack

Now that spring has finally arrived, its time for us to get outdoors as a family and start making the most of our weekends with Lara. Lara has been reviewing the Little Life Ladybird backpack from Cotswold Outdoor.

Quite often Lara gets a bit grumpy when we suggest going out for a walk (this is probably because she knows it means that we're trying to wear her out for a nap!) but this toddler's backpack seems to have changed her mind – see that cheeky smile!



She doesn't like to put anything in it normally but it does have a 3 litre capacity which is plenty of space for a toddler to put their prized possessions such as a plastic comb, a half-eaten biscuit and a toy tractor.



The backpack has a clip at the front to strap the bag on so that it doesn't keep slipping down off their shoulders and the straps are adjustable. It has a zip compartment that contains a lightweight water proof hood (Lara looked very silly wearing it and much preferred to wear a hat). It also has an internal tag onto which you can write your child's name so you have no worries about letting them take it to nursery or pre-school.



The best thing for me, as a mum, about the Little Life ladybird backpack is the attachable toddler strap. I've resisted toddler reins for Lara for as long as possible because until now, she has been incredibly well behaved when walking with me, but the other day Lara and I attempted to cross Waterloo Bridge by foot together in the freezing cold and she insisted on running off away from me, into the crowds and towards the traffic. I decided I had to do something, and the Little Life backpack is the perfect solution. The safety strap is pretty sturdy and is easy for me to hold in my hand or around my wrist. I clip it on to a tiny little hook just behind the bag and then let Lara do her worst. It does sometimes feel a bit like I'm waking a dog but in terms of letting Lara feel like she has her freedom, it has done wonders for our weekend walks.



I've heard people complain about the strap of Little life animal bags pulling the bag down and it not being a strong connection to the bag but I had no problems with the bag at all. Perhaps they've improved the design a little?

Cotswold Outdoor have lots of appealing products, clothing and shoes designed for little adventurers.

A (Wet) Lesson Learned

I came home from work and bundled Lara in through the front door. She took off her jacket and passed it to me. I took off mine and retrieved my wallet from the coat pocket.

Lara is at an age now where she understands every word I say and can be extremely obedient, if she chooses. I asked her to put my wallet on the table. She politely took it and tottered off towards the table, I turned and hung up our coats.

Half an our later we decided to go out for dinner so I went to fetch my wallet. It wasn't there. It wasn't on the sofa. It wasn't on the kitchen work surface. Or the dining table. It wasn't in the toy box. Myself and Mr. B. searched high and low for 10 minutes.

I asked Lara, "Darling, where did you put mummy's wallet?" and she ignored me, choosing instead to wind, annoyingly through my legs as I started to panic about where the wallet could be.

Finally, I gave up and decided to have another look for the wallet when we came home. Before I left, I fetched a glass of water from the kitchen. Half-looking, I filled the glass from the tap and there, in the washing-up bowl, deep within the murky water of a soaking saucepan, was my wallet.

Good one Lara.



I dried the wallet on the radiator but I don't think the leather will ever be quite the same. My prized photos seem to have just about made it through and even the lone fiver it contained seems to be intact. The only lasting damage was to my Cafe Nero loyalty card - the water washed the ink away from all my loyalty stamps. Goddammit. A lesson learned.

Goodbye Cot, Hello Bed

We have reached another momentous parenting milestone. Lara has quit the cot! I know, it seems really early. Lara is just 16 months but it had to be done.



Ever since the devilish incident last month Lara has been a total monster in her cot. She hasn't learned to climb out of it but, when she wakes (or when you put her to sleep in it and she doesn't want to go) she screams, rattles the bars REALLY violently and sometimes even bangs her head repeatedly against the bars.

In the mornings it was worse. If we didn't get up to tend to her immediately after waking, she would get REALLY angry. We decided that the best way to go was to give LAra her independence. Last weekend we expended a little effort making sure that her room was safe for her to run riot in. We invested in a radiator cover, a new door handle that actually works, and some socket covers. We moved all of her board books into her room and several of her toys and teddies so that she would have something to entertain her when she woke.

On Sunday we turned the cotbed from cot to bed and placed a folded up duvet on the floor next to the bed. Bedtime on night 1 was extremely stressful. Lara would normally settle herself to sleep in the cot eventually but in the bed there were just too many exciting things to distract her. She screamed and screamed each time we tried to lie her down and every time we thought we'd cracked it, we'd tiptoe to the door but the second it shut, she'd rush out of bed and open the door. Eventually she worked herself up into a frenzy so great that the effort obviously wore her out. Eventually, at about 10.40, after over 2 hours of trying, she fell asleep.

On Night 2 we deliberately kept Lara up late to make sure she was totally exhausted when it came to bedtime and she settled almost instantly. Nights 3 and 4 required maybe 15 minutes of settling but were generally a success. Since then it has been a mixed bag. I think the thing she really struggles with is the distraction, knowing that she can just get up and play with stuff she can't resist when really she is tired and in need of rest.

We have no bed guard on the cotbed. Each night she has fallen out of bed on about 2 or 3 occasions. It hasn't been the fall that has woken her, but the fact that she eventually gets cold. On almost all occasions, when one of us has woken to her screams or whimpers, we've found her pretty much asleep on the folded up duvet. I think I will try and buy a bedguard if she doesn't quickly stop rolling out of bed. I have also taken this opportunity to fit a B-Sensible cot sheet - it is supposed to help regulate temperature, to protect against bed wetting, protect against mites and bacteria and to be more suitable for Lara's sensitive skin than other mattress protectors. I'll be reviewing it shortly.

In terms of solving the problems... well, I think she is still learning. She certainly seems a lot more relaxed when she wakes but after a little bit of chattering to her bears, her first action of the day is to open the door and come through to our room. Doh. I think this might have quite a lot to do with the blackout curtains in her room which are great for ensuring a sound sleep and a late wake-up time but mean that the room is too dark for her to play or read. She does have some nightlights but she's not really old enough to know how (and more importantly, when) to work them.

It has also meant that I have given up all attempts to get Lara to have an afternoon sleep when we are at home - there is NO chance she would settle.

I'll keep you updated on our progress. I'm reliably told it will take 2-3 weeks for her to get used to the Big Girl's Bed.

Think Pink! The Fun of Decorating a Little Girl's Bedroom.

As you may know, the Mellow family moved to a brand new house at the start of the month, leading to a much more mellow state of mind for all of us. Since then I have been working hard to unpack all of Lara's toys and clothes and find homes for them in the new house. I have had great fun starting to plan Lara's bedroom - who knew that decorating a little girl's room could be so much fun?

In the old house, Lara slept in the 'nursery'. We decorated it in neutral shades because we didn't know whether our child would turn out to be a girl or a boy. It was lovely, but wasn't Lara's - it was designed with an unidentified baby in mind. Now is our opportunity to make a room that is her's and all her's. Luckily, we just happened to have a bedroom in the new house which was decorated in purple - Lara's favourite colour!

Our decorating journey started a couple of weeks ago with the 'hellish' trip to Ikea. We bought Lara some funky birch coloured storage units to stash away her huge piles of clothes.



I never thought of myself as the kind of Mum who would buy her daughter cutsie pink stuff but somehow it just seems right. Lara likes pink! She suits pink! She suits lots of other colours too but a bright or shiny pink or purple currently seems to sum Lara up, just perfectly.

We've bought Lara one or two new pieces of bedding (we can't afford to replace the whole set just yet). We bought this bright pink cot bundle (bumper, sheet, fleece blanket and quilt) with fun teddies on from Wilkinson Plus who have some great nursery gift sets at the cheapest price I have found for the same products that are sold elsewhere.



In the background you can see her height chart - something I have been wanting to buy her for a long time! This one is from Think Pink in their Toadstool Fairy range. Think Pink (Blue too) do great gifts and home decorations for little girls (and boys)... they specialise in all things pink and girly! We've wanted a height chart for Lara, mainly so that we can measure when she will be tall enough to go on the rides at Legoland!!!! This one is great because we can add in photos of Lara when she gets to each height milestone. Currently Lara is loving measuring all of her bears (and there are some big ones) against the chart each evening. hehe.

To make Lara's room that little bit more grown up, we have put in some ornaments. Lara ABSOLUTELY loves her Toadstool Fairy Snow Globe from Think Pink. It is a little heavy for her, but the glittery snow mesmerises her and it is the first thing she rushes to when she enters the room.



We have also added a Photo Frame to match. We haven't yet chosen a picture for it yet. We're thinking maybe one of the cat? or is it a bit too cheeky to add a photo of myself and Mr. B. and then point the photo frame towards her bed so that we can watch over her each night?

In the background you can see the amazing OXO Candela Tooli Nightlights. They make the room a little bit less cutsey and are perfect for me to use when reading Lara her bedtime story. Lara likes to repeatedly switch them off and on using the tiny button on the base of each night light. The nightlights are expensive but they are the perfect addition to the room and I can see them lasting her (or indeed us, after Lara has lost interest) for many years to come.

So, how do you like the new bedroom? Do you think it is suitably pink and fun for a toddler?

Toadstool Fairy Height chart £5.99
Toadstool Fairy Snow Globe £11.99
Toadstool Fairy Photo Frame £7.99
OXO Tooli Nightlights £50
RedKite Cosi Cot 4 Piece Pink Bear Bedding Set £35

When Is The Right Time To Give Your Child A Pillow?

When is the right time to give your toddler a pillow? This is a question I have been pondering for some time. From birth we are advised to lie our babies flat on their backs for maximum safety but at what point do they suddenly become old enough to sleep with a pillow? No-one tells you these things!

I remember when Lara was just a few weeks old (in the days when the idea of Mellow Mummy was just forming in my head) chatting with my NCT ladies about baby pillows. As a mellow parent, I wasn't too worried about the shape of Lara's head as she lay flat on her mattress each night but I know that lots of mums do worry, especially if their baby sleeps at an angle and has a particularly pronounced shape as a result. Babies heads are squishy and they are easily shaped by the positions they sleep in. At this point in their lives, a baby-pillow seemed like a good idea.

We didn't use a baby pillow because I didn't feel Lara had a problem with a mishapen head. But, on my quest for a suitable first pillow for Lara we have recently tried out the Theraline Baby Pillow which is designed for exactly the problem that lots of mummies worry about. For babies from birth to one year old, it is a tiny cushion that fits under their head with a soft dimple to lay their delicate skull in to.

Image courtesy of PJP PR

One of my mummy testers has been using the Theraline pillow. Diane, mum to a 2 year old and a 3 month old says,

“The theraline support pillow is definitely something we will be using with our second child. The pillow is nice and small - when you first introduce a pillow it can seem REALLY high because you're used to seeing your child lying flat on their cot.”

The pillow is made from a supportive mesh of breathable fabric to keep the child's head cool. It has an extremely shallow dimple so it doesn't prevent them from moving their head around as they sleep, it just provides enough support to the head to take the pressure off the skull.

Lara was a very peaceful baby and barely moved. She has a patch of hair on the back of her head that is a different texture and a different length to the rest of her hair due to the balding effect of having slept on the same spot for so long. For Lara the pillow would have been perfect as a small baby but over the past two months she has become a lot more active and our attempts to place her on the Theraline were unsuccessful - within a few minutes she wiggled off the pillow.

It is in part this increase in Lara's movement that has made me think that it may perhaps be time to introduce Lara to a 'real' pillow. I have read a number of baby websites which suggest that you shouldn't introduce a traditional pillow or duvet until 12 months old and many discussion forums which suggest leaving it a lot closes to 2 years.

The thing which finally made up my mind was when Lara last had a cold (she was about 13 months old at the time). I helped to ease her congestion at night by slightly raising her head at night by placing a folded blanket under her head. After she got better, I tried to move the blanket away but she seemed really restless at night without it and would wake frequently, and often in really crazy positions in the cot. I put the blanket back and she settled better again so it stayed there for several weeks.

A couple of weeks ago I invested in a real pillow! I bought a “My First Cot Pillow” from Kiddicare and a pair of pillow cases. The pillow by Baby Weavers is smaller than an adults pillow (60cm x 39cm). It is has a micro-fibre cover and a polyester pillow and is recommended from 18 months upwards. It is a lot fatter than I had expected a first pillow and I currently feel that Lara is too raised up when she sleeps on it – I'm hoping the pillow will slump a little with further use.

Lara enjoying a peaceful afternoon nap

There is no doubt though that the pillow helps. Sometimes she does still wriggle and squirm (and ends up with her head squished up against the cot bars where her feet should be)! But on most nights she now sleeps peacefully and with less movement and disturbance than before - I attribute that to the pillow.

The decision is a very personal one and will depend on your child, but I think a good guide for when to give a child a pillow is between 13 and 18 months old.

Taking 'Stock' of Your Child's Salt Intake

Most people know that as an adult, our recommended salt intake is no more than 6g per day. Most people also know that a baby on their first solid food should only eat food with no added salt. However, I have found that there is little guidance available for those stages in between. I have a healthy happy toddler who, other than her lunchbox meals at the childminder, eats the same meals as me. When I cook, I am always conscious of ensuring that our family meals have a low salt content but it is hard to know where the limits are. How much salt should my toddler eat?

The Food Standards Agency state that under 12 months, babies should have less than 1g of salt per day which they will get from their breast or formula milk. From 1-3 years old, this increases just a little.

1 to 3 years – 2g salt a day (0.8g sodium)
4 to 6 years – 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
7 to 10 years – 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
11 and over – 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)
Source: Food Standards Agency Eat Well Website

I am naturally someone who reads the labels of food. Partly because the ingredients on many of the foods I buy fascinates me. Generally I won't avoid a food for me and Mr. B. if it contains scary ingredients but I do like to know and understand what I'm eating. For Lara, things are a little different, I like to buy her food made from natural ingredients and with a low salt and sugar content (i.e. no added salt or sugar).

Over the past 12 months I have learned some interesting things by reading the labels on baby foods and adult foods more closely than I did before. For instance, we are often told to buy breakfast cereals made exclusively for babies to ensure that they contain low levels of salt. In Lara's early days of weaning we tried some great cereals from Plum Baby and Organix but soon I discovered that the breakfast cereals that Mr. B. and I normally eat don't contain any added salt or sugar either. I KNOW all too well that this is not the case for many of the “children's” breakfast cereals on offer but it did teach me that I don't need to pay extra for 'baby' food just because it has the word 'baby' on the packet when there is a perfectly reasonable non-baby equivalent which is just as suitable for her to eat.

Not every food product that we used to buy in the Mellow household is now suitable for us to share with Lara. One of the most significant changes that I have made to the way I cook is the brand of stock cube that I use. I know that the best way for me to control the amount of salt in the stock I use is to make it myself from scratch! I do make my own, very occasionally, after a good roast dinner. More regularly I use a stock cube. I had heard that there was such a thing as a 'baby stock cube' and I assumed that it was another one of these things that you pay more for just because it has the word 'baby' on the packet. That was, until I actually compared the salt content of my normal stock cube (I was using Oxo) with the salt content on the Boots Baby Stock Cubes and the Heinz Baby Stock Cubes. The difference was phenomenal.

Boots Parenting Club Nutritionist, Vicky Pennington comments,

"If a baby has too much salt in their diet, it could strain their kidneys as they are not developed to handle large amounts of salt. The Boots Baby Stock Cubes contain less salt than regular stock cubes to help control salt levels. When babies are weaning, we don't advise parents add salt or sugar to their food."

The Boots Baby Stock Cubes are available in Chicken, Beef and Vegetable flavour. They are quite soft in texture and subtle in taste. I find them a little more difficult to break down so I have to mix them carefully in hot water rather than just bunging one in to a dish. Both myself and Mr. B. thought that we would be lacking that little something in our meals with a 'baby' stock cube but we actually quite like the flavour. Boots Baby Stock Cubes are organically certified and free from artificial colours, flavours, preservatives, egg, gluten, milk and soya so are suitable from the very early stages of weaning.

Image courtesy of Boots

There is little to choose between the different brands of baby stock cubes. Despite assurances from Boots to the contrary, I have my suspicions based on ingredients, nutritional content, packaging style and country of origin that they originate in the same place... they certainly look and taste similar! The Boots Baby Stock Cubes are the most easy for me to regularly lay my hands on. I have found that Kallo stock cubes (without the word 'baby' on the packet) are also quite a lot lower in salt than some of the better-known brands. Kallo also do a 'very low salt' version which has the same salt levels (and ingredients, packaging and country of origin) as the baby stock cubes but they are very hard for me to find in the supermarkets.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to feed your toddler a healthy happy diet, you may like to visit 10 Steps To a Healthy Toddler at Little People's Plates. You'll find some great guidance.

Lara's First Shoes - Another Mummy Milestone

Lara wears... a t-shirt dress by Green Baby

Another milestone in Lara's life. Her first real pair of shoes! Lara has been wearing slip-on shoes for some time now but I decided that now that she has been walking for a few weeks that it was time to get her measured professionally! We chose a quiet weekday afternoon and went to Clarks in Bracknell. The staff were lovely, polite and efficient. The shoes we chose weren't as expensive as I had expected but I won't be buying loads of pairs given that they advise you to come back in 6-8 weeks!

Lara loves shoes. They are one of her most favourite things! She could spend hours playing with shoes. A whole shop full of shoes was like heaven on earth for her! she kept pointing and saying "shoes" and then turning and pointing in a totally different direction and saying "shoes".

Within minutes of wearing her new shoes Lara's walking improved. These new, heavy shoes help her balance and give her confidence.

Lara is a big girl now!