Natural Nursery Blog

This is a great customer review of Wonderoos:

I LOVE my wonderoos, they were the first cloth nappies I ever had and I’m so glad that I chose them because they are so simple and easy to use. I brought the 15 piece starter set and loved the reusable baby wipes that I got in the pack as I had never heard of them before but they work so well with washable nappies.

I recommend them to everyone I know and love to see the rainbow of colours on my washing line when they are drying.

If you would like some more information about the Wonderoos nappies go onto our website and have a look.

I am very excited to be featured as a Mumpreneur on the Family Friendly Working site.  It is such an honour to have been choosen, thank you Caroline and Antonia.

You can learn all about how we first set up and the inspiration behind our pro-breastfeeding stance here at The Natural Nursery.

And don’t forget, our special discount code for Breastfeeding Awareness Week – BAW2010 – which will give you 10% off all breastfeeding products such as breastpumps, sterilisers, pro-breastfeeding clothing, nursing pads and nursing bras.

As it is breastfeeding week this customer review for the Medela Swing Electric Pump is a perfect review for us to share with you:

We bought this pump in the first week of our baby’s life after he was diagnosed with severe jaundice. Because of his condition we had to top up after breastfeeding with formula- something we hadn’t  intended to do! Once our sons condition had improved we were able to top up with expressed breast milk using this pump and I am now back to 100% breastfeeding. It was a complete life saver!
I would recommend this pump to anyone, its natural sucking rhythm and adjustable strength of suck is really gentle, even for a first time mum like me! I didn’t find it painful to use.

It’s easy to get started and can be battery powered or powered on mains electric. Most importantly it gave us the opportunity to feed our son in the way we wanted to against the odds.

Remeber as it is breastfeeding awareness week, we are offering 10% discount on all our breastfeeding related products. So go into the website and have a look www.naturalnursery.co.uk

This is a great review of a Widgey Nursing Pillow:

Having breastfed my first son without a proper nursing pillow, I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about. But I knew that I needed a caesarean for my second son, and everyone I spoke to said that a nursing pillow was essential after a caesarean. Many other mums recommended the Widgey to me.
They were right. This is a wonderful product. It is lovely and firm and means that I don’t have to lean over to feed. It curves round my waist nicely without pressing down just the right amount of stuffing to make sure that it can curve round all different sizes of mums.

I’m pretty much recovered now, but I still use my Widgey because it makes feeding so much more comfortable and has stopped me getting backache this time around. and it has
I also use the pillow for propping up my son for sitting because he can’t quite sit up on his own yet. He loves this because he can see what we’re all doing and doesn’t get bored – especially useful when we’re all trying to get dressed in the morning.

We have the design with the cows and my youngest likes looking at the cows and smiling at them.
My toddler son also likes to use it to lounge on when sitting / lying on the floor.
All in all, a great buy and far more useful than I ever thought it would be when I first bought it. Great product.

Don’t forget our free postage offer on all standard UK orders, which ends on 20/06/10

This is a lovely customer review for the Motherease Rikki Wrap:

When I started using cloth with my eldest daughter I wanted a nappy wrap that would be reliable for both day and night. I also wanted one that would go over a variety of nappies. I tried the motherease Rikki Wrap and its the one brand we are still using 5 years later.

Whilst we have had other prettier wraps they have not matched up in term of fit and reliability. It’s my workhorse wrap, I know that it will not leak, will fit over different nappies and adapt as my child grows. The lower cut on the legs is great for night nappies that tend to be bigger and allows for extra padding. It comes small enough to go over terry squares on a newborn and large enough to take a super soaking toddler. If I was asked to recommend a wrap to someone who was new to cloth, this would be it.
If I could only have one kind of wrap, I would swap all the pretties in the world for this, why? Because it does its job so well.

We also do the Motherease Rikki Wrap Eco theme

This time we have a review for Green Baby and their organic fruit design vest :

We have this vest in both the blue and aqua. It is lovely and soft, keeps its shape and the bright colours never seem to fade in the wash. We usually pair it up with funky tights as an outfit on its own as it seems such a shame to hide under a babygrow. Will definitely be buying this in a few more sizes in the future!

Don’t forget you can find this product on sale on the website: www.naturalnursery.co.uk

This is another customer who has been kind enough to review a product for us, this time it was the Medela Supplemental Nursing System:

I bought an SNS when it was clear that I had nursing supply issues. I used it to give my son his supplement from 3 weeks, until we recently stopped supplementing at 8.5 months (we are still breastfeeding). I honestly don’t think I would still be breastfeeding if it wasn’t for the SNS. I found it easy to use and straight forward, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

In celebration of Breastfeeding Awareness Week next week, I thought I would share my nursing story.
 
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I knew that I wanted to breastfeed – I had done lots of research and I knew that it was the best start for my baby and would provide additional health benefits for me too.
 
I had read that it was the most natural thing in the world and seen many friends and family nursing their babies and it seemed a wonderful experience for both mother and baby.
 
What I hadn’t expected was how difficult it would be to start.
 
My daughter simply didn’t want to nurse, she just wanted to sleep.  For 4 days solid.  No matter what the midwives did or said, she simply would not latch on.
 
I spent many miserable hours sitting in an over-heated hospital ward frantically pumping away and waking the poor protesting baby to try nursing her again or force spoonfuls of my laboriously produced colostrum into her fast shut mouth, all to no avail.
 
We must have been poked and pulled by a dozen different midwives, all very well meaning, but all telling me something different.  In the end we were both so upset, tired and emotional that we just sat in our cubical and cried for 3 hours.
 
After 3 days, I discharged both of us, against doctors’ orders as she had lost some weight and wasn’t yet feeding, but I was getting increasing pressure to give a bottle and I knew that once we started down that route, it would be even harder to establish breastfeeding.
 
Almost as soon as we got home, my baby woke up and was hungry and I was able to latch her on.  It wasn’t very easy and it was very painful but we were nursing!
 
It took several weeks and lots of support before we were both truly comfortable, (plus several packs of nipple shields and tubes of nipple cream) but we got through it and nursed until she self-weaned at 14 months.
 
My advice if you are facing similar issues:
 
Keep going, it WILL get easier but

GET HELP and I mean help from a lactation consultant not a midwife or health visitor.  No disrespect to midwives and health visitors but I found the support and information from my lactation consultant to be invaluable.

Useful links to get help:
http://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/supporterline.html
http://www.nct.org.uk/info-centre/getting-help/helplines
http://www.laleche.org.uk/pages/about/helpline.htm
http://www.abm.me.uk/

We have had another lovely product review this time for Taggies Naturals the orgainc and silk baby comforters. This is what the customer said:

My son has had a taggie from birth and has become increasingly attached to it. He loves to fiddle with the ribbons as he falls asleep and often carries it around with him for that extra bit of security. I am reassured that it is made from organic cotton and is gentle on his skin and it is well made. Ours has been through the wash many times now and has come out as good as new – testament to the quality of the product. I would recommend these to anyone, in fact I’d say buy two – one for your baby, one in the wash!

Becoming parents has certainly slowed down our travelling. It is not just that travelling is a bit of a mission with children. Staying home with the children is never boring. From the children’s point of view, a trip to the local farm is an adventure in itself.

With many of our relatives living far away, hardly two months go by without us jetting off somewhere for the weekend.

Here are a few things we have learned over the last two years of travelling with a baby:

• Breastfeed as long as you can: Food for the little one is always ready even when the plane is delayed by a few hours. Breastfeeding babies during take-off and landing also stop their little ears hurting. Don’t worry too much about flying with small children, the white noise of the plan engine often puts them to sleep offering you a peaceful journey.
• Use a baby sling. A baby sling is one of the essential items for smooth travelling and once you have arrived to your destination. You don’t have to worry about the buggy not being delivered to the aircraft door when you land. If you are connecting planes, the buggy is often transferred straight to your second flight, living you to carry your child through the long corridors. Buggies are often damaged during transport too while you can keep your baby sling with you. I have found myself a few times walking up and down the aisle with a fractious baby in the baby wrap to put her to sleep. The baby wrap provided her with a familiar feeling which gave her the reassurance she needed to doze off. A Godsend!
• Bribes, bribes, bribes: bring plenty of biscuits. Oat biscuits are a good choice as they keep them full for longer and avoids the sugar rush which can make them over-excited. For the same reason, bring some water (within the limits allowed) and avoid sugary drinks. Fruit make easy snacks as well.
• Let them run around whenever you can. The children have to sit still for a long time while they are in the plane. While you’re waiting, give them a chance to stretch their legs. Most airports have a play area with crayons or toys.
• Keep the bare minimum hand luggage. It is easier to take care of the children if your hands aren’t full with luggage.
• Tag your tots. There is no worse feeling than turning around for a split second and not being able to spot your child. It happens so quickly. Plan ahead and get a wristband where you can write your mobile number.
• Choosing a seat by the window goes a long way to keep the toddlers entertained: seeing the plane take off and land, seeing how the plane slows down after landing, spot the colours or talk about the clouds…

We hope that you find these few tips on travelling with the children helpful. We would love to hear from you, what are you super-tips for smooth travelling?

Photo credits: Calin Bleu