Natural Nursery Blog

slings

You have decided to use slings with your baby but you’re not sure where to start. You’ve come to the right place: our easy guide to slings will present the various types of slings so you can choose which one will suit you and your baby best.

• Ring Slings are the easiest slings to use for breastfeeding. They are made of a piece of fabric threaded through two rings, forming a loop. Worn over the shoulder, it forms a pocket where the baby can be carried sitting or lying down. Easy to take on and off, it is suitable for newborns and toddlers alike.

• Baby Wraps are extremely versatile slings. You tie the fabric around your body and slip the baby inside securely. Your baby can be carried on your front, back or hip. Baby wraps can either by stretchy wraps or woven wraps. Baby wraps are particularly recommended for young babies, babies with reflux and parents suffering from back problems. The weight is well distributed so it remains comfortable even with a heavy toddler. There is a learning curve to wraps.

• Soft baby carriers and baby backpacks are also extremely popular as they are convenient and easy to use. Tie-on baby carriers are inspired from Asian baby carriers, two straps tied at the waist and two straps are wrapped around the shoulders and back. The buckle baby backpacks like the Ergo baby carrier can be used from birth to toddler.

• Pouch Slings are easy to use. They are sewn into a tubular shape to hold the baby securely in place. The pouch is slipped over the wearer’s head and worn sash-style across the body. Pouches are easy to you but you need to choose your baby pouch size correctly as most aren’t adjustable.

We hope you found this quick guide useful, don’t hesitate to contact us to find out which slings will suit your needs most.

Breastfeeding advice

New mums hear it over and over: ‘Breast is best‘. Yet few of us are familiar with breastfeeding before our baby is born. We might not have had other nursing mothers around us to learn from.

Trust yourself. Remember that nature has planned for women to feed their babies. The culture of artificial infant feeding is making natural feeding more difficult.

Here are a few suggestions to prepare yourself to breastfeed.

Learn. The more information you will have, the easier it will be to take in all the breastfeeding advice – often conflicting – you are given when your baby is born and make your own decisions with the help of health professionals if need be.

Talk about breastfeeding with your antenatal midwife. Make sure that she is supportive of breastfeeding and is trained to give you support and breastfeeding advice.

A supportive partner is essential for successful breastfeeding. Explain to your partner how he can support you, prepare snacks and drinks, pass you the baby, be supportive when you are encountering difficulties…

While you’re pregnant, make a list of all the breastfeeding resources available in your area. Should things not go smoothly at some point, it will be a lot easier to have their contact details handy so you can find breastfeeding advice quickly.

We hope you have found this article interesting. For more breastfeeding information, visit BreastfeedingNaturally.co.uk.
<

A customer emailed us asking for ideas to give parents who just had twins. Shopping new baby gifts is always fun, shopping for twins is doubly fun! Here are some ideas of what I would get. What about you? If you had twins, what would you have loved to received (apart from the ability to clone yourself)

For bath time, baby towel ponchos would be good to keep one baby warm while mummy gets the second one out of the bath. We have a few more Green baby towel ponchos on sale for little girls.

Baby shoes are also lovely new baby gifts.

You might also want to give one present for both twins. Earth Friendly baby make a lovely gift pack of organic baby bath products. We also love the Natalia baby gift box.  It’s full of natural products for total bliss to enjoy the new babies and to bring the benefits of nurture, nourishing skin care, relaxation and positive touch into the family life.

Something for the new mum would be lovely too. After all, she needs love and attention to recover from the pregnancy, birth and life with two babies. Mummies deserve a special treat and this special skin balm from Natalia is just perfect.

Most of all, the new parents will need a baby sling. A baby sling will allow mum (or dad) to carry one child while tending to the other one, changing a nappy, feeding, comforting, playing…. You can’t go wrong with the Ergo baby sling. It’s dad-friendly, a great way for dads to help out.

You may also consider giving presents that will be used when the child is older. Newborns are often showered with gifts at birth so give something the twin babies may use more later on.  For that, I really like the TotSeat. You can imagine being in a restaurant and trying to keep two toddlers at the table, one is usually difficult enough!

What about you? If you had twins, what would you have loved to received (apart from the ability to clone yourself)

Home made hobby horse

It’s raining, kids are bored, they seem to be bored with the mountain of toys in their bedroom, what shall we do?

I regularly buy new small toys or plan activities in advance so I can turn a boring day into magical fun within minutes. Sometimes, you just have to improvise.

Today, I remember that my little boy played with his friend’s hobby horse a whole afternoon last time we visited them. No hobby horse around here, no way I’m trekking to the shops on a rainy to get one. I’m also not keen on buying toys that will only be played with a handful of times. Even if traditional hobby horses look lovely with their soft fur and cute eyes, there won’t be space in their room to keep it.

Out comes the trusted cardboard!

Supplies:

• A small pole or stick
• Packing tape
• Some ribbons, paper strips, gift string
• Eyes were from the local supermarket or you can draw them with felt pens
• Scissors

Print out the hobby horse head.
Cut around it
Draw the shape of the head on the cardboard (twice)
Ask an adult to cut the cardboard head shapes
Stick them together with packing tape leave a small space on one corner for the pole
Slide the pole in and secure it with tape
Draw or glue the eyes
Ask an adult to cut a couple of small holes with a sharp knife or a knitting needle through the cardboard. Thread the ribbons and tie.

Et voila! Now you can make a second to whiz around and race with a friend!

It’s not the prettiest toy ever and not meant to last but making it taught the children to draw a shape, cut, stick, and will keep them entertained for the rest of the afternoon. When they’re done with, take it apart, reuse what can be reuse and recycle the rest.

Once the little blue line appears it seems that the whole world goes upside down.

As a new mum, you’re taken in in a whirlwind of events and emotions. Strangers and relatives alike give you advice on pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding (or not) and child-rearing. Their advice is often more driven by their own experiences than genuine interest in what YOU want. People feel the need to touch your bump. You are told to start shopping early, but not too early, there are hospital appointments to attend…

In the midst of all this, take the time to breathe. Pregnancy is a very special time in the life of a woman. Pregnancy is a sacred time.

Slow down. Take the time to think about yourself and your baby. Focus your attention on this new life growing inside you.

As new mothers, we are often encouraged to leave our health in the hands of health professionals but only YOU know THIS baby as intimately. By the time your baby is born, you have already spent nine months together, sleeping, eating, going to work, breathing together… Once you focus your attention on yourself, you can learn to listen and trust your instincts.

Listening and trusting your instincts can greatly help you during labour, birth and when your child is born.

Enjoy your pregnancy, it’s a very special time indeed.

A baby is born.

A mother is born.

organic baby shampoo

Children can get nervous about bath time at times. It doesn’t have to be that way, bath time shouldn’t be a chore for mum or a tense moment for baby. It can be a relaxing moment for everyone, full of giggle and laughter.

Here are our top 10 tips to make bath time fun for babies and toddlers.

1. Bath time is an ideal moment for fathers to bond with their children. Why not leave it up to daddy?
2. Warm up the bathroom. Especially in winter, make sure the room feels nice and cosy.
3. Check the water temperature and stir it to even out the temperature. Ensure that you have everything you need within reach so you never have to leave your child. Babies can drown in very little water.
4. Bath toys! Choose bath toys that can easily be cleaned and preferably from natural material. Bath toys don’t have to be purposely bought. An empty bottle of organic baby shampoo, a plastic hammer or bowl can be lots of fun. When the bath is over, put the toys away in a plastic bucket or net to keep the bathroom tidy and easily to clean.
5. Start teaching your children to undress themselves. Autonomy is learnt one step at a time. As a game, you can also name each item as you remove it. For toddler, you can play how quickly can you get undressed?
6. It’s never too early to teach children to pop dirty clothes in the laundry basket (keep those handy), the old basketball hoop trick works every time!
7. Bubbles! Lots of bubbles! Not the SLS nasty kind of bubbles. Paraben free bubbles. Soft organic baby bubble bath.
8. Make it a game to wet your child’s hair. A gentle organic baby shampoo won’t sting his eyes. You can use an empty organic baby shampoo bottle to rinse his hair.
9. Dry baby quickly so he doesn’t get cold. For babies, we love a hooded towel as you can wrap them up quickly. For toddlers, bath robes and ponchos are ideal.
10. If your baby enjoys it, a gentle baby massage with olive oil or organic baby care cream is a lovely way to end a relaxing routine.

Remember, babies don’t need to have a bath every day. Many health professionals advise 2 to 4 times a week being enough and avoids drying their delicate skin.

Cloth Nappies

People say that using cloth nappies is cumbersome and takes time. That might have been true for the generation of our grand parents but cloth nappies have come a long way since then. Over the last ten years, cloth nappies companies – most of them founded by mothers – have set out to design nappies that were washable AND easy to use.

Washing cloth nappies is easy and doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Follow our simple 5 steps to washing cloth nappies:

• Pop the poo in the toilet. You should do this anyway, even with disposable nappies. It avoids nasty smells in the bathroom and is more hygienic. Rinse the nappy briefly under water. Wring.

• Place the wet nappy in a bucket. Every now and then, add a few drops of natural disinfectant like tea tree oil and a couple of tablespoons of baking soda in the bucket. You can choose to wet or dry pail (have water in the bucket or not)

• Pop the wet nappy in the washing machine. Cloth nappies can be washed along with the rest of your laundry. Once your baby is over 3 months and apart from special circumstances, a 40 degrees wash is sufficient.

• Dry as you dry the rest of your laundry. Some nappies are quick drying, others take a little bit longer. If you choose to tumble dry, you might reduce the lifespan of your nappies, especially the wraps.

• Fold. Nappies are simple, that’s easily and quickly done.

Done! Some clean cloth nappies, ready for the next time.

baby carriers

If you’re planning to travel with your baby or toddler, get into ‘babywearing’ without loosing a moment. Baby carriers make travelling so much easier.

Your baby will be able to nap whenever he needs and wherever you are. He will be able to snuggle his face in your chest or on your neck, forget the rest of the world and doze off. You will also be able to breastfeed whenever you wish, even where there is no convenient place to sit down.

If you are travelling by plane, focus on baby carriers without metal components. In some cases, you will be allowed to go through security without removing your baby. Based on our experience, it doesn’t work every time but it’s worth a try! Using baby carriers means you will have an easy way to get to the luggage belt when the buggies aren’t brought up to the aircraft door as I’ve seen happen regularly.

The baby carriers will also provide your baby with some comfort and security. When everything around your baby changes, new environment, new bed, new people, new toys, baby can become unsettled and weary. Giving him the familiarity of his favourite sling and the comfort of your closeness will allow him to adjust more easily.

This isn’t just for his benefits, but also for yourself. Having a contented baby while you’re travelling is essential to making the holidays an enjoyable time for you everyone.

Using nipple shields can help breastfeeding

When my son was born, I was so happy and really looked forward to being a new mum. In hospital, breastfeeding went well. The nurses would help me latch my son on to me correctly.

When we arrived home, it became much harder as William couldn’t latch on correctly. I became very emotional and felt like a failure because I could not get him positioned.

My sister came over to help and brought some nipple shields. I found these a life saver and with these I could get my son to latch on and take my milk. Gradually I managed to wean my son off from the nipple shields. The nipple shields made breastfeeding in public difficult so I was glad to stop using them and start going out more often.

My son wouldn’t settle when he was lying down so I took him to see a cranial osteopath. She noticed that as he had a trapped shoulder from being delivered by ventouse. This might very well have been the underlying cause for the breastfeeding problems. After a few sessions she relieved his trapped nerve and he became a completely different baby.

William was now contented and would settle much more easily. I wish that I had taken him to Cranium Osteopath when he was only days old. It would have saved William and I a lot of stress and upset from the latching on issues.

William is now 11 months old, and I still breast feed him. I am so glad that I never gave up on trying to breast feed and feel this has helped the two of us share a close bond.

Please note: whilst nipple shields are an excellent way to protect sore and cracked nipples, if the symptoms persist we recommend that you consult your midwife or breastfeeding counsellor as incorrect positioning and/or latch are often the cause of soreness. Using nipple shields for prolonged periods of time can interfere with your milk supply and cause nipple confusion.

organic baby clothing

I had heard about the Frugi (then cut4cloth) organic baby clothing range when my baby was little. It wasn’t until I visited the Natural Nursery shop that was then in Bristol that I had a chance to actually see and touch the clothes.

The organic baby clothing was amazing: extremely soft to the touch, it also looked sturdy. The trousers were all lined also with soft organic cotton. I haven’t seen any baby clothes as soft as the Frugi organic baby clothing.

I bought a pair of trousers and some pyjamas for my little one. When they became too small, they were passed to a cousin then to his little brother. Now they’re packed up and ready to be sent to another little cousin about to be born. They’ve been worn, washed, dried, tumbled dried, have gone down slides, shuffled around the floor when the babies learnt to crawl and are still in very good condition.

It shows that buying good quality organic baby clothing is also very good value. Would some cheap pair of trousers last through 4 children? I don’t think so.

What also decided me to buy Frugi is that they are fair trade clothes. It means I’m doing my part to ensure the workers in another country have the opportunity to prosper just as I do. Instead of buying clothing that is cheap to manufacture and purchase, I prefer high quality organic baby clothing as well as fair trade standards.

Have you bought organic baby clothing for your little ones? What did you think? We’d love to hear from you.