Money Saver Spain

Money Saver Spain is a new free-to-use site designed to save you money without any of the compromise. From finding the best deals on local services and products in your area to giving you advice on how to make the most of every day areas such as shopping, house and home, leisure time and more.

If you have a young family or are planning on having a baby in Spain, get your finances in check and keep them healthy by visiting Money Saver Spain today and see how much you can save!

I’ve recently been in contact with Heather Von St. James, a mum to Lily Rose and survivor of mesothelioma cancer or “asbestos cancer” and below I’ll be sharing her courageous story. Heather has found great comfort in being part of a support group throughout her treatment and path towards getting the better of the cancer and My Baby Spain are proud to help share her story with the hope that maybe it will be of comfort to others in a similar position and to highlight the importance of having sympathetic people around you when times get tough! You can read Heather’s full story here.

They say you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family. Well, that’s true. As I’ve stumbled through life, I’ve had probably what would amount to hundreds of friends – maybe only a few really close ones – but dozens of others who’ve come and gone through the years. Some of them, even though I don’t see them anymore, will be forever a part of my memory. Others…well, I can’t even remember their names.

But with family, you get one and – if you’re lucky – they’re with you until they (or you) die. Sure, families expand. Brothers and sisters marry and give you sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law. Kids and grandkids are born. But the core of your family remains the same.

I know some people who don’t get along with their parents or dislike their brothers or sisters. To me, that’s sad. I can tell you that if it wasn’t for the support and love of my family, I would have never made it through this battle with mesothelioma. Sometimes I wonder how people who don’t have a supportive family make their way through the tough times in life.

My parents arrived almost immediately upon learning of my cancer diagnosis. They brought with them not only their physical bodies, but also their spiritual support. I had been raised in a God-loving environment so it was natural that they would come to me and let me know that not only were they there to watch Lily, cook meals, mop floors, and do the laundry, but also to lift me up emotionally and spiritually when I was at my lowest of lows. What would I have done without them!

After my surgery, I endured a slow but steady recovery. You know, when you’re a grown-up, sometimes it’s hard to let others take care of you, especially your parents. You spend your whole adolescence trying to prove to them that you’re a strong, independent individual. And then something like this happens and, here you are, back at Mom and Dad’s house, letting them take care of you like they did for the first 18 years of your life.

At first, it just didn’t seem right. But, after some thought and some heart-to-heart conversations with my parents, I realized it was perfect. These were the two people that gave me life, nurtured me – even when I messed up. And, even as I approached 40 years old, these were the people that still wanted the best for me, whether it was a good job and a happy home or a life without cancer. Family rocks!

I hope that my story can be an inspiration to mesothelioma victims, survivors, and their families, who I’m hoping are just as wonderful as mine. Read my blog to learn more about my fight against asbestos cancer.

Analot.com is a simple and convenient way to rent toys, books, DVDs and computer games and should come as a much welcome relief to all parents who find their child is always interested in playing with new toys and reading new books all the time. The items on the website are divided up into categories so that you can find age-appropriate toys quickly or you could even search by type of toy or even by English or Spanish books available.

The subscription service on offer allows you to have a rolling supply of new items all year round and with a large selection of items to choose from, you can be sure that your child will always have something new to focus on! And if you ever decide you want to keep on to an item you are welcome to buy that item direct from Analot.

Rent Toys, Books, DVDs & Computer Games with Analot.com

Analot is definitely aimed at making children’s entertainment a great deal easier and with direct shipping at no extra cost, high quality items and no late returns penalties, it’s easy for grandparents in the UK to gift their grandchildren over in Spain and indeed, for anyone to gift any child!

What Do We Think?

I for one never know what to buy nieces and nephews and with 8 of them there’s inevitably going to always be something brought that they already have, are not “in” to or is not age-appropriate etc. etc. By gifting a subscription to rent items instead, you take away any worry that after Christmas you’ll need to return anything and suddenly, buying gifts is an altogether more pleasant and stress-free experience!

Check out the website today at www.analot.com or find Analot on Facebook and like the page to keep up to date with news.

Alana x

Homeopathy and your Baby

A couple of days ago my little man Arturo turned 5 months old. It’s been amazing to watch him grow and develop in such a short space of time. From the curled up swaddled piece of perfection to the drooling, smelly winded action man that he is today. As a Homeopath I’ve gone from self-prescribing remedies for my post partum recovery to prescribing for Arturo’s increasingly active daily life. This week he’s had remedies for banging his head (rolled off the sofa), burning his hand (trying to grab food from my plate) and teething.

While I’m learning lessons such as- don’t leave the baby unattended on the sofa while you step away for a spilt second to get him a toy! I’m also walking around with an envelope of First Aid and teething remedies! So I’ve designed a small kit with 7 invaluable homeopathic remedies for mums like me! It fits neatly into your bag with a mini guide for what remedy to use when.  It includes remedies to help with teething, fevers, colic, skin eruptions, irritability, clinginess, shock, accidents, post-vaccine recovery remedies and more. I’ve also thrown in remedies for insect bites and over-exposure to sun!

I’ve been using homeopathy since I was 16 years old – so longer than I haven’t! Natural health is my passion and I’m a trained Homeopath and Naturopath. I’ve treated babies in the past but giving your own baby a remedy and watching it work is so beautiful. Babies are so easy to treat, they have no baggage or overloaded toxic systems making the right remedies work quickly restoring their vital force.

Email info@mybabyspain.com now to order your kit

Buy a Mini Homeopathic Remedy Kit for Your Baby

Remedy Kit costs €14
Contains: Arnica, Aconite, Apis, Belladonna, Chamomilla, Pulsatilla, Sulphur

To order or for more info email: info@mybabyspain.com

Homeopathy is a safe, gentle and effective form of natural and holistic medicine. It is non-toxic and doesn’t produce harmful side effects. Based on the idea of like treats like it can provide a stimulus for the body’s own natural healing response to any physical symptoms as well as balancing emotions. These kits are designed to be used for treating acute illnesses and accidents. For chronic problems you should always seek advice from your Health Care Provider.

I think my Spanish is of a generally good level and since Uni I’ve spent a year working in the head office of a Spanish property developer reporting directly to the company CEO and had to prepare for weekly meetings in Spanish along with other department Directors and so I can certainly introduce a good deal of Spanish to James. With the tools now available to help aid language learning and second language acquisition I’m glad that James will have an easier path to bilingualism, especially now we’ve also discovered bilingual stories from Jajaja Books!

Bilingual Reading with Jajaja Books

I can’t believe how much easier James will learn Spanish than I did. He’ll be learning the correct way and from a much younger age than I ever did and will probably be correcting me in no time! The new bilingual books out by Jajaja books I’ve just finished reading with James will be just one such tool used to enjoy learning Spanish at the same time as developing communication skills as we read together. We’ve just been reading “Philip & Felipe” and “Lucy & Lucia” by Genevieve Yusuf and think they are a fab way to introduce Spanish words to a child of any age in a clear and natural way.

Philip & Felipe tells the tale of a young English boy who goes to Spain on holiday and ends up befriending a young Spanish boy at the supermarket. The story carefully selects a few Spanish words to introduce to the story having already mentioned the English word which fit in perfectly with how Philip gets to know Felipe as he helps him find his Mum after getting lost in the supermarket. Lucy & Lucia also tells the tale of an English child on holiday in Spain and how Lucy is introduced to a few Spanish words by her new friend Lucia as they play hide and seek.

Bilingual Books by Jajaja Books

Learn Spanish With Ease!

The books are a great way to stimulate curiosity and interest in Spanish without confusing your child in any way. They are written in English but include Spanish words at various stages of the book in a clear and simple way. The stories make learning Spanish fun and effortless and as vocab is the most important part of any language to pick up you should soon find that your little one has built up quite a bank of Spanish words without either of you even realising it!

Bilingual books are a fantastic way to bridge the gap between speaking English at home and the Spanish your child will be exposed to at school and out and about and Philip & Felipe and Lucy & Lucia.

Buy Jajaja Books

Philip & Felipe and Lucy & Lucia are available to buy direct from Jajaja Books on their website: www.jajaja-books.com. You can also join Jajaja Books on Facebook where you can pick up discount codes to use on purchases of the books!

Admittedly, by the time we found it and arrived, we didn’t have too long there but from what we saw we will definitely be going back there to spend more time meeting lots of new small friends.

Run by Rachel, Bouncers has been going for years and since opening up again after the summer break, is on Wednesday mornings 11am – 1pm and is almost a large open-plan apartment with soft flooring and sofas and has lots of mats, toys, gyms and walkers for babies and toddlers. James is almost 4.5 months and is at the age when he is taking more and more notice of what’s going on around him and seeing so many new people and so many new toys definitely kept him entertained for the time we were there. Today there were about 15 children there an just as many mums. It’s a comfy an relaxed setting with ample opportunity to meet new mums, feed and change your little one and also quieter areas to breastfeed.

Next week I shall try and take some photos, not only for directions but also because I haven’t seen any photos myself up an it would be good to give everyone a good idea of what there is for the little ones down there.

Feel free to drop in to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mybabyspain and let us know if you can come join us there next week! Also, if you know of any other Costa del Sol play groups or Marbella mums groups then let me know at: alana@mybabyspain.com

Time: Wednesdays 11am – 1pm

Cost: 5 euros or 15 euros for 4 visits (juices, teas and biccies available)

Place: Aloha Gardens, Avda del Prado s/n – Above the El Jardin bar

(From the N340: Come off at Nueva Analucia, go past the bull ring and Centro Plaza on your right. At the roundabout take the road off to the right, go past Mercadona and at the next roundabout take the right again, follow the road round and you will soon see a string of shops on the right past some tennis courts on the left. Park anywhere there, the entrance to Bouncers is pretty hidden and you won’t see any signs etc. Go into the El Jardin bar and there are some stairs around the back of the bar next to the toilets. Go up those and Bouncers is on the first floor – directly above the bar. NOTE: Given that I got slightly lost getting there the first time, do not hold me exactly to those directions. I am 95% sure anyone would find it using these directions but allow for slight “first-time-lostness”!! Any issues, drop a comment here or on to the MBS Facebook page)

Now you can with Spain Baby Gear Hire. The simple solution to taking it all with you when you come on holiday to Spain that allows you to hire any items you need on arrival!

Baby Gear Hire Spain is a family-run company based in Marbella that specialises in just this, the short term rental of baby equipment such as buggies, walkers, baby baths, activity mats and more.

Designed to make your life easier and travelling with your baby a whole great deal more enjoyable, Spain Baby Gear Hire was founded by parents who understand that going away on holiday with babies and youn children is not always the simplest thing in the world but with a little preparation and forward planning, by making use of popular top brands and well known names of baby equipment for hire at your destination, there’s no reason why your holiday shouldn’t be every bit as relaxing and fun as you want it.

At the moment Spain Baby Gear Hire baby equipment rental is only available on the Costa del Sol. Get in touch with Paco at Spain Baby Gear Hire today to find out about the various items available for hire and to arrange your next rental. Call on +34 670 803 380 or email on spainbabygearhire@gmail.com or visit the website www.spainbabygearhire.es and say My Baby Spain sent you!

Read more about Baby Hire Spain here.

There’s something about the 3 month stage that marks it out as an unofficial turning point when your precious newborn starts coming in to his own and is no longer such a helpless newborn. He has started to show an increase in concentration levels as he spends longer hitting things in his activity gym, takes more of an avid interest in your facial expressions as you bounce around in front of him and wants to be upright as much as he can to take in everything around him. And then there’s the sleeping…

Sleeping & Feeding

How is he sleeping? This seems to be a popular question to ask of a mother of a 13 week old and it’s only really now, at almost the 3 month stage that I feel we are settling in to a more stable pattern. Feeding and sleeping and sleeping and feeding is something that pretty much takes over the first 3 months as you get used to how much your baby needs and when he/she needs it so the question of how he is sleeping is almost always something discussed alongside feeding patterns.



While we were in the hospital still James didn’t seem to be fussed at all about wanting to feed immediately. Perhaps being born weighing 4.02kg (8lb 13oz) he felt he had enough to keep him going for a while, I don’t know, but the midwives were urging me to try feeding him as much as possible to establish the latching on and to get him feeding as soon as possible. If not, they had told me that there was a risk of his blood sugar levels dropping to the point he would need to go on a drip to push them back up as they had told me that they were already slightly low. A baby’s blood sugar levels would usually be regulated through feeding so I kept trying and even though I don’t think he was getting much initially he didn’t need to go on to a drip. In the end I think it took about 5 days for milk to really come through and another week or so for it to be comfortably flowing through so if you do want to try breastfeeding then give it a few days!

Medically speaking…

Medically speaking, if your baby is having 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night then he is “sleeping through the night”. Babies should apparently weigh at least 5kg / 11lb before they are able to go for 5 hours sleep and not eat so if your little on is “sleeping through the night” at 3 weeks old, unless he was an 11lb-er rather than give yourself a pat on the back, you may want to be waking him up for feeding as there is potential for blood sugar levels to drop.

Medically speaking, James has been sleeping through the night from 7 weeks old but “parentally” speaking, I view sleeping through the night as including a few more than 5 hours! We’re yet to achieve the magical 8 hours but we can reach 7 though so not long to go…hopefully!

70% of 3 month old babies should sleep at least 5 hours per night and if your baby is a healthy weight then you are that little bit nearer to enjoying a decent night’s sleep again! Once a baby hits around 7.3kg they are physically able to go for 8 hours sleep apparently. All of this is some of that infamous “read-it-somewhere” information and everyone has a different opinion and view and will undoubtedly have a baby that is the exception to the rule so all of this is purely a guideline of info!

Alana x

You wish you had a SnoozeShade!

The SnoozeShade in action

The SnoozeShade in action in Fuengirola

The SnoozeShade has been designed by a mum who was looking for a practical and simple way to allow her daughter to have a decent and restful nap whilst out and about. The SnoozeShade is basically a dark mesh material that has velcro ties to attach around parts of pretty much any buggy or pram and also has a zipped area at the front to allow you take a peek every now and then at your child to check they’re still comfortably enjoying their nap.

Sold as a “Sombra y Siesta” in Spain, the SnoozeShade is a fantastic idea and bit of kit to keep in the changing bag for your baby when out and about. I came across it not long ago and in perfect time for when I started to take my 10 week old son out in the stroller. I’m glad I didn’t have to bear those situations in which one parent is walking strategically in front of the buggy shielding their baby from the sun because the parasol only covers a small section of the buggy or when you find yourselves needing to cross the road to find a tiny bit of shade or only walking in one direction so that the sun stays behind you etc. etc. You only have to be out in the sun for such a short time in Spain before you start to get some colour and trying to keep young babies out of direct sunlight can be pretty difficult when out and about so the SnoozeShade goes a long way to helping you out as it also has a UPF50+ rating.

Washable, portable and a great price at 29,90€ (saving you extra money on over-priced sun creams in Spain!!) and a much needed product for all mums in Spain!

I’ve found the “Sombra y Siesta” to also be great around the house. If I’m doing housework and am moving about the house I put the little one in the stroller to wheel around with me and if he then falls asleep in it, rather than move him to his basket I just pull the SnoozeShade down and let him take his nap where he is.

Contact me to order our SnoozeShade asap: info@mybabyspain.com or find it in Mothercare in Spain, Babylove in Gibraltar and a few other stockists – get in touch to find your nearest stockist or post a note on the My Baby Spain Facebook wall & we’ll let you know asap.

Starting this week, Sophie Hoffman of Pilates Para Ti! has let us know that there is a new Pilates class being held each Saturday in Torreguadiaro at the Chambao Beach Bar from 11.30am. Right on the beach, under their umbrellas and just 5€ per class.

In addition to the beach classes, Sophie continues to run the Mum & Baby classes at the San Roque International School on Tuesdays from 11am and for the hot summer months the classes have moved into a large fully equipped air-conditioned classroom. You can also always arrange private classes for individual and group sessions, by arrangement.

If you want to know more, give Sophie a call on (+34) 600 214 977 or on pilatesparati@gmail.com or visit the Pilates Para Ti! Facebook page.

Pilates on the beach, Torreguadiaro, Costa del Sol