The Sunday Review – B-Sensible Bed Sheet / Mattress Cover

The B-Sensible sheet is a fitted sheet and mattress protector. When Lara moved into her little bed, we started using the B-Sensible sheet for babies - they make them for cots, cotbeds and moses baskets too. The sheet is a waterproof, breathable 'second-skin'



Although we are still several months away from active potty training, you will know, if you've read my blog posts about reusable nappies, that we have had one or two issues with wetness recently. Using the B-Sensible sheet has given me a sense of security, knowing that the bliming expensive mattress on Lara's bed is protected from accidents (which, I am guessing, will only get worse for the time being). As a water-resistant sheet, I was incredibly surprised at how light weight the sheet was – I was expecting something thick and plasticy but it is exactly the opposite. The website describes it as 'soft as silk and cool as linen' and I wouldn't argue with either of those descriptions – it is silky in texture!

Although we haven't had to actively test the water-resistance of the sheet, we have had a multi-vomit situation, with which, the B.Sensible sheet coped extremely well. All I needed to do was wash the sheet, no sponging of the mattress was needed. Phew. The sheets are machine washable and, should you wish, tumble-drier safe and they claim to be more absorbent than pure cotton sheets, yet quicker-drying.

The B-Sensible sheet is made from Tencel which is a natural fibre from eucalyptus trees – they combine it with a stretchable membrane to make a hypo-allergenic sheet which acts as a barrier between your baby's skin and moisture, bacteria and dust which is why it is so suitable for sensitive, young skin. I am hoping that it will help to reduce Lara's eczema (which is suffering a bit since I accidentally washed EVERYTHING in bio washing powder).



The B-Sensible sheets also claim to help regulate body temperature while you sleep. B.Sensible sheets also come in children's and adults size sheets and pillowcases and so, I am seriously considering buying one for our own bed as I suffer frequently from rhinitis which it claims to aid, and Mr. B. often overheats in bed.

B-Sensible claim to have a 'completely eco-friendly' manufacturing process (99.5% of the solvents used are recovered and re-used). How this is so, I really don't know, but I suppose it offers some comfort to me.

I'm really pleased with Lara's B-Sensible sheet. It'll save me time and money in the coming months as Lara goes through potty training (I should be able to turn that sheet around through the wash in just one day without needing to buy an official 'toilet training' sheet), and I hope it will help s during he hot summer months too.

Travel with a Toddler - Lindam Portable Bed Rail

Lara has been sleeping in her cot bed, without the cot rails for a couple of months now with much success. Until recently, I had protected her from falling out (which she did rarely after the first week) by piling up pillows and a folded-up duvet next to her bed. While it served the purpose, it looked awful and the bedding took up most of the floor space in Lara's room so it seemed fitting when we were offered the chance to review the Lindam Portable Bedrail from Jojo Maman Bebe .

I had been worrying about how to handle visits to parents and stays in hotels over the Christmas holidays now that Lara can no longer fit into a travel cot. Jojo Maman Bebe sell a couple of bed rails but we chose the Lindam Portable one because we knew we would be travelling a lot over the Christmas period so a portable bedrail sounded like it would solve a lot of our predicaments; I was hoping it would aid Lara's transition from cot to bed.



I found the Lindam Safe & Secure Soft Folding Bed Rail hard to assemble and gave up – Mr. B. had to step in. It's not that the instructions were difficult, more that I didn't possess the strength the push in the small metal buttons that connect the pieces together. This also meant that the rail was difficult to adjust to Lara's cot bed (it can fit mattresses from 76-100cm wide and 141-210cm in length). Once again Mr. B. stepped in.

The Lindam Bed Rail is made from a flexible, soft mesh fabric across the bulk of the rail and is surrounded with a blue, solid fabric. It certainly stops Lara from falling out because occasionally, if she stirs during the night, we find her pressed up against the fabric in random positions where you know she would have ended up on the floor otherwise. My worry is that Lara sees it in the same way as she did the rails on her cot – as something that restricts her freedom. One of the reasons why I moved Lara into a bed was because I felt she wanted to take responsibility for her own movements in her nursery. When we first moved her out of the cot, she would wake in the night and lie in the darkness (either screeching, or else chatting to herself). With the cot rail, Lara's initial reaction upon waking is to get OUT. In this respect, the bedrail has failed.

I also found the Lindam bed rail to be... well, anything other than portable! When presented with the choice of folding up the Lindam bed rail and attempting to press thos pesky metal buttons again so that it would fit into the car boot, OR to fold up the sheet of the Dream Tubes (also sold by Jojo Maman Bebe), I just couldn't face carrying around the bulky metal frame of the bed rail – the decision was easy!

One of the things I like about the Lindam Portable Bed Rail is that during the day, I can fold it right down and it rests close to the edge of Lara's bed. Once I think Lara is ready to sleep, I unfold it and click it into place (I'm normally wrong, and she's not ready). I was worried that it was going to require me to use both hands at a time to unlock and unfold the rail each time I needed to lift Lara out of bed, but thankfully, you can un-clip one side at a time but the clunk of the clip is loud so I have to make sure I put it into place before Lara falls asleep, so as not to wake her.

At £26, I think the Lindam Portable Bedrail from Jojo Maman Bebe is still good value, even though it hasn't been an enormous success for us – I'm still glad I tried it, and I may find that it becomes more useful as Lara gets older. Over the next few weeks I am thinking of removing the bed rail and seeing how Lara goes without any protection on the side of the bed... eeek.

Image courtesy of Jojo Maman Bebe

The First Day At Nursery

Lara starts nursery today. It's not a big thing really, but I feel like I've been conditioned into believing it is. In reality, today is no different to any working day last year. I will drop Lara off at about 8.30 and pick her up just before 6. This year I will be working for 4.5 days a week rather than just 4, that's the only difference (oh, hang on, there's the £400 a month difference in cost too!)

We had to leave our lovely childminders in Bracknell because, since moving house, the commute back to Bracknell twice a day for the childminder wasn't a good use of time or petrol. I struggled to find a new childminder in Wokingham so we've opted for a nursery.



I've thought long and hard about our decision and on the whole, I'm happy that nursery is the right decision for Lara now. I'm still convinced that a childminder (or two) was the right decision this time last year and I'm glad that over the past 12 months Lara has had a family environment where she has done real, every-day activities such as going to the shops, waiting for an MOT and doing the daily school run. I like that sense of normality. I'm also glad that Lara has got to play with children of lots of different ages as I think it has pushed her to develop quickly. I do however worry that to this day, Lara has always been the centre of attention wherever we go – she's at that age where she is the entertainer and left in a room full of older children (or adults) she will quite happily soak up all of the attention. Now is a good time to teach Lara that she can't always be doted on. I think it will do her good to be in a more formal environment, surrounded by children her own age. But, I do worry that she will no longer be encouraged to develop and do grown-up things.

Choosing a nursery is very much like choosing a house – you just KNOW when it's the right one. Unfortunately, the one we fell in love with costs the earth (hence the new year's resolution to stop spending any other money). Oh well.

Lara's settling in sessions at the nursery were a mixed bag. There were tears at the start of every session but once she realised that there was lots to do, she had a ball. She has already built up an attachment to her keyworker and I think she's going to love the constant stream of activities and hopefully she'll come home happy each evening, and after some chillout time and supper with her parents, she'll ready for a good night's sleep.

Lara's first day at nursery won't be an emotional rollercoaster for me. I'm used to the feeling of leaving her each morning, and... if there are tears, I know they won't last for long.