Where's Sophie 4? Find her & win!

Sophie's 4th week of hiding - can your little one spot her and be in with a chance of winning?

This week's Where's Sophie Competition has a fantastic Sophie Saver up for grabs.

Send in your answers to be in with a chance!

Thanks Going Loopy!

See main competition page and past week's competitions here.

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Breast feeding article

Whilst some of you may have read my previous piece here, my most recent at home article is out.

This covers the highs and lows of my own experience and may help those who are also going through a less than fairytale start to feeding their wee one! It can be read here.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Have a baby and a life!

Whilst I like the idea behind this website, I have not yet signed up and fully explored it, but I still felt it worthwhile mentioning.

It is a website where mums (dads, grandparents or other children's caregivers) can find other local mums, stay at home dads too, etc to meet up with.

I believe they recommend baby friendly companies and restaurant's which is great. Whilst in the UK recently - I went to two smart restaurants that initially felt very baby unfriendly (one did not have a high chair, change table and we were seated downstairs..) so I am all for locating places where babies and families are welcome and the ammenities are accessible!

So congratulations Wee Welcome - would love some feedback on this site.

Enjoy!

Ten easy baby food recipes

Feeding your precious bundle is always a concern, first during pregnancy you think what am I allowed to eat, is my growing baby getting all the nutrition he/she needs?

Believe me - even if you have 9 months of morning (noon & night) sickness as I did - your body will take from you what it needs to grow your baby. Therefore eat sensibly, hydrate well, no alcohol and all those things you already know.

As your pregnancy develops you will start thinking about breast milk or formula, then before you know if first foods loom onto the horizon!

I know that I read up as much as I could about making sure to go through all the stages to test for allergies - starting with rice cereal, then onto oatmeal, wheat based cereals and through the whole range. (I will admit that a lot of the 'older stage' baby cereals I only used for the three days - to test, as these were very high in sodium, sugar and other badness. I am not a wasteful person, but it's what I felt was right.)

Before you know it you are then looking to puree everything you see! I made all our little boys food and he was so used to homemade, that when we took a trip and had to take some jars of baby food for travelling (I chose organic ones with pure ingredients for e.g. carrots and water) he turned his nose up at them! I was astonished - maybe the heat treatment the products have to go through also affect the taste as well as the nutrient level? [In the future I will maybe have to make and can my own baby food for easy travelling!]

Whilst it was inconvenient that he did not like them, there was something comforting about him choosing his mummy's meals over these.

I highly recommend everyone to at least try to make some of their baby's meals, it really is simple, great to do and will save you a fortune. I am not someone who is confident in the kitchen - I can make a range of meals and I can make almost anything in the slow cooker, but it is my husband who does the cooking when we entertain (I may contribute a dish or two) when it comes to a roast Sunday dinner - he's right there and I am running for the hills!

It really is easy and quick and you can make a number of batches - I personally recommend making a couple of recipes at a time, then freezing your output, but keep a couple of days worth fresh in the fridge - ready to serve. My main pointers are: hygiene - clean and sanitise everything, all surfaces, any knives you will be using. Your little one is precious and has a developing digestive and immune system and bad germs and bugs multiply fast! I have a home made sanitiser in a squirty bottle and I make the baby meals once the kitchen is clean and I start by sanitising all work surfaces and utensils that I plan to use. The other key area is ingredients - you are saving so much money by making the food if it costs a little bit more to get the organic carrots, or the organic banana and you can afford it - then do. Always go for the best, the freshest ingredients that you can. If you have been down to the local farmers market and purchased from an organic grower that day - then fantastic.

Budget is always a factor in our household - for our baby raising years we have chosen to downgrade our careers and work shorter hours & from home, which means less money, but less stress and more precious moments with our son. These moments do include growing veggies in the garden. If you compare the cost of one bag of carrots to the price of a packet of carrot seeds, which you can sow in succession (a small quantity, then 2 weeks later a bit more and so on) therefore having a fresh supply emerging throughout the summer. Now this year I have my heart set on a root cellar, so that we can store and eat over winter fresh homegrown veggies, but more on this another time.

We are currently giving away 'ten easy baby food recipes' whilst there are so many more I'd like to share and you can create many more based on these, you can also take inspiration from jars of baby food and create concoctions such as roasted root veg etc.

Then freeze your results into ice cube trays/ other containers, once frozen then tip into labelled freezer bags and then each night take out and thaw in the fridge your selection for the next day.

The amount of water/ formula or breast milk that you add to the recipe will change, as your baby grows you will want to introduce more texture. I find that by making it with just a little water, then once the ice cube has thawed you can then add to it as much as you need and you won't in later stages be throwing away food that is too soft and lacking in texture. I also in the early days would add some baby cereal to each recipe and over time I reduced the amount that I added. However here is a useful tip - if you accidentally over dilute when making up the meal ready to feed, rather than feeding your baby what now looks like soup, or throwing away good food, tip some of the excess liquid away and then blend in some baby cereal (plain like oatmeal/ rice) to add texture, hey presto - rescued the situation!

I do intend to do follow on pieces to this - menus for as your child grows, more recipes etc, so do watch out for those. Good luck with these recipes and feel free to provide your feedback and your own recipes if you like and do remember a baby's taste buds can and do change, take for example when my son was 8 months old I introduced chicken - I could have done so sooner, his first three bites he loved it and then turned his head away (my son does not refuse food - so this was odd, but definitely showed he had an opinion.) A couple of weeks later and mixed with a bit of baby cereal he ate is all happily clapping whilst doing so! I have read from more than one source that it can take 10 or even 18 times to introduce a food before your baby takes to it.

One note - don't ever make food a fighting point, never force feed a baby, don't make it a power struggle. We have been lucky enough that a few times (apart from the chicken) that when our wee one pulled a really bad face when eating we would pretend not to see it and add lots of yum yums and good boy and lo and behold he would start loving it.... All babies are different and whilst I do think attitude of the parents is important it is down to your little one too!

Good luck, enjoy and we look forward to hearing from you!

Where's Sophie 3?

Week 3 and this is week one of our Where's Sophie Competition with a fantastic Sophie Saver up for grabs.

Send in your answers to be in with a chance!

Thanks Going Loopy!

Name*
Email*
Where's Sophie? - Answer:*
Verification No.:*

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Shake, rattle & roll

I often get asked what are the best toys for under 1's.

Well firstly that depends on your own definition of best - for me they need to be versatile, good for learning skills, fun & not gimmicky (also 2nd hand and where possible environmentally responsible.) I want to hold off getting caught in the trap of must have the next item in a series of toys etc (for as long as is possible!)

By versatile toys I mean like the simple and useful stackable rings:

These are great for 6 months up. As development progresses it can move from being something bright to hold and chew on, to learning to re-stack them, then learning to name the colours, count the rings and I'm sure even 4-6 year olds on a rainy day when there is nothing else to do would enjoy making their own version of lucky horseshoe throw with the ring stacker at a reasonable close range!

Coloured blocks that connect together, all help develop fine motor skills, cognition, colour recognition, counting and are fun to play with.

We are tight on space so we have a toy box and I regularly rotate toys and each time I bring out an old favourite the delight on my son's face shows. I do find if I leave too many toys out for him at one time no one toy holds his interest for long, but 3 or 4 toys - a soft blanket with different colour ribbons on, a small stuffed teddy and two developmental toys are my usual playtime recipe. Hopefully as he grows he will continue the only a few toys out at anytime tradition!

For eco friendly toys under $15 read this article.

Some of the most giggles in our house have been playing peekaboo with a blanket, me sweeping his playmat with a dustpan and brush! Nursery rhymes and one on one silly interaction with our little angel who like a sponge soaks up all life's rich experiences! Precious times!

Baby's linguistic inbuilt genius

I saw this link on twitter yesterday and firstly was blown away by what a fantastic and engaging speaker Patricia is - whilst she clearly has a passion for her specialist field, I am sure she could be very popular on speaker circuits.

However the topic was very dear to me. My linguistic skills are poor, as a child and as an adult I have tried to learn other languages - for my backpacking trip round Italy - I spoke enough to get by, but sadly it just doesn't stick, perhaps I am more of an immersion person...

For my son I would like to have him grow up speaking more than one language, or at least with a grasp of a second language. I have been 'doing' French with him daily ABC's, 123, Animals... however my mastery is poor. I'd had some ideas about a half day a week of day care in a French speaking environment and also once a week in a Mandarin. We live in Canada, so French is a given, Mandarin will be a prominent language by the time he is a school leaver...

Do watch this ten minute enthralling clip and then come back.

http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html

Patricia Kuhl - Great speaker, great subject!

As the site says 'Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another -- by listening to the humans around them and "taking statistics" on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.'

The prospects as Patricia put it of increasing our own ability as adults to learn, based on this research is wonderful and exciting.

Whilst I am saddened that my French efforts which are computer based with me singing and talking along are probably having zero impact at least on his ability to learn it as a language - that is because I have no accent, so no statistics for him to lay the blue print of learning the language. Hmmmm have to re-think my strategy as we are coming up to 9months, it's perfect timing to review it all, maybe those daycare options, or find a foreign speaking friend might be an option. I will let you know how we progress.

Seeds of thought

What a wonderful time of the year! Now, I know Christmas has been and gone and January/ February is full of winter blues, but I do love this time of the year when I sit down with my seed catalogues and consider what to grow for the year ahead...

This year, more than any other, means so much to me. Whilst I love pulling up a carrot, rubbing the dirt off it and taking a sweet bite in the early morning (I find this the best time to harvest, as if you harvest later in the day, the sun warms the carrots, making them more aromatic and therefore attracting more carrot fly), this year I can be sure my son will be eating locally grown, organic and sustainable produce and that has been harvested at its peak!

Nothing beats potatoes from ‘fork to fork’ in under 20 minutes. I say fork, but I usually grow mine in old compost bags and then tip the bag out when it’s time to ‘harvest’. It saves space, time and you can move the bags when and where you choose to take advantage of hot or even cooler spots depending on the weather!

Read more...

These are my re-useable potato grow bags (I even use compost bags too) if the day gets too hot - I can move them etc and it makes harvesting them so easy - just tip the bag up somewhere convenient and rub through with your hand and collect handfuls of yummy, nutritious potatoes - served fresh and not put into storage with chemicals applied repeatedly, but that's another story....)

Where's Sophie 2?

Can your little one see Sophie?

Feel free to send in your pictures. We are looking to offer competition prizes in the future and will enter all entrants into the first draw. Watch this space!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray for the hipseat!

I've had this 'seat' a number of months and it's worked well at Christmas open house parties etc where I wanted to be sociable and mingle, but I needed the support whilst holding my not so wee one!

This wonderful gadget/ garment proved itself very worthwhile whilst on our recent trip, visiting friends and family.

The wonderful design fits snuggly above your hip, around your waist - with a very strong velcro fastening and also a clasp clip, for a secure hold. There is a padded foam 'shelf' for your baby's derrière, the design greatly reduces back strain and it is suitable for children aged 6 months - 3 years.

No need to explain - you need to hold onto your little one when using these!

Whilst I love my baby carriers and did use them on the trip - on the plane, travelling around London etc, your lower and in my case upper back really notice the strain. Whereas with this - I could wear it all day, that is if my guy sat still that long!

Where's Sophie?

After our wonderful trip where we went around visiting family, friends, London sights and eating out in restaurants etc I was pleased to return safely home with Sophie. For anyone who doesn't know who she is this is her. I had seen this squeaky giraffe around and wanted to ask people what and why, but never got the chance. Then my wonderful sister in law mentioned she had bought my boy one for xmas, but as he was suffering with his teeth at the time - she offered that he could have her earlier.

We accepted! Once here he seemed to like the look of her, but still it took about a week for her to magic her way into his mouth - I know odd for a baby! Anyway once there she has never gone far.

Not having had a favourite toy up until now (I had feared the idea of being somewhere and my little angel screaming for a forgotten toy) I was concerned about taking her with us, as her price tag is quite high - approx $25. Then I discovered the Sophie Saver - a local lady supplies these and they are the kind of genius that you wish you'd thought of. (Or in my case as with so many ideas thought of and then taken action over the idea... anyway!)

Now before going away and again lots whilst away I'd been thinking of creating a 'Where's Sophie' competition. In one of two forms 1) Each week 21st Century Mum publishes a photo and you have to find Sophie in the picture to win. 2) Each week you enter a picture of Sophie at some unusual location - top of a mountain, animal safari etc.

Later today will post the pick for this week's 'where's Sophie' - let your little ones have fun with this and see if they can see her. Then once I locate some prizes that I can give away, we will maybe go for the latter option of you dear readers supplying the best locations with Sophie photographed in!

The Jury is out, the teeth are in and it's a thumbs up on amber to the rescue!

Well December 15th was a great day in this household, we survived teeth 1 & 2 coming and only a few days apart, but about a week later major teething issues started again!

We'd had 3 sleepless nights in a row and then the 4th night the necklace had arrived, we did the usual bath and bed routine and put the necklace on. I can honestly say DH was sceptical, whilst I was hopeful!

The next morning after a wonderful night's sleep I felt like cart-wheeling around the neighbourhood to celebrate, but was still met with scepticism and now family expressing concern over safety. (If you are worried about safety of your baby wearing a necklace - you can consider the bracelets/ anklets, however I know that my baby is safe in his even and most importantly at night!)

The reason I say it is most important at night is the body’s natural levels of cortisol drop at night and this further increases the pain levels felt. Cortisol is a chemical hormone produced by your body to manage stress, be it physical, mental or emotional.

Fast forward to now - teeth 3 & 4 are in. There have been some red cheek days, but nothing like teeth 1 & 2 coming in. So I am sure beyond all doubt that this wonderful necklace made a huge difference to my little guy and reduced the suffering he had to go through.

In preparing to write this I went back over the details as to how these amazing necklaces work and well I've been telling to incorrectly. But I am sure you will forgive me - when I first got this I was sleep deprived, but just knew somehow it would work for my little one. I'd said it was drawing the acid out of the body and creating healing that way (which I think is relevant to the Hazelwood necklaces.) Oh well, here is really how it works!:

Baltic Amber is a resin and as it warms when in contact with the skin it releases healing oils containing succinic acid in, which is then absorbed through the skin and carried around the wearer's bloodstream. It has been used for hundreds of years as a natural pain relief.

The beads are non toxic and the string that holds them is knotted at each bead, so you need not worry about them scattering if it breaks, which it should do if necessary. This is another reason to not worry excessively about safety. The wonderful screw clasp closer is great and makes sense to me immensely.

12" necklaces are recommended for 0-3 years. The best way to measure your baby's neck is to use a soft string of wool, drape it around, mark it, then when removed - measure the length. It should not be long enough to be able to get into baby's mouth.

You are advised to remove for bathing - we don't always but then we only use organic baby cleaning products in the bath anyway.

So impressed am I about how well this has worked for my boy - I am ordering some as gifts and also one for myself to help with the joint pain I have suffered with all my living memory.

Hazelwood products also help with teething, eczema, acid reflux, digestive issues, joint pain and challenges due to excess acid in the body. As my son only has experienced teething issues so far we have just stuck with the Baltic Amber range.

Words do really fail to capture how pleased I am with this product and that I would not hesitate to recommend it very highly. I am not a gimmicky person and I never imagined I would put jewellery on my son, but I am very happy that I did!

Have baby - will travel!

We are back from our 12 day trip (2 lost to the actual travelling) we have had a wonderful time and our son was just an excellent traveller.

Whilst it was not easy, he certainly made it breezy! Coming back we had way more things than we set off with - as family and friends generously gave him presents. Our boy has a very good nature, but I don't think we can give all the credit to that....

The journey was well planned out, I tried to keep meal times on schedule and with the outbound flight, being a night flight, we brought bedtime stories etc. The return leg was a daytime flight and the baby carrier came in very handy for this and I did not feel guilty walking the aisles to help him sleep.

For his ears - we just gave him some baby tylenol 20 mins before take off and landing and gave him his soother and well he seemed to fair better than we did!

So rested and relaxed was he, that as we waited for those without children to disembark first, he smiled, giggled and generally cheered up all the passengers as they left the plane.

I am sure that the journey would have been a lot tougher without bringing all basic provisions and also with a less mellow fellow. All in all though we are all delighted to be back home, he is especially pleased to see all his toys that he has been parted from for nearly two weeks - I couldn't pack everything!

Will now get back on schedule with articles!