I’m sure you’ve been there. You’re busy making dinner, and you need two hands to take the heavy bottomed pot out of the oven. You had baby in a sling, but after tripping over the toddler and scalding yourself on the hot steam coming from the pot on the stove, you realise you just need to be able to cook your dinner, without a baby strapped to you, and a toddler underfoot. (You could of course put the toddler to work and back carry the baby, but that’s not the point right now!)

You just need to be able to put the baby down. But she’s way too squirmy to lay down safely on the kitchen counter. So what do you do? Well, we got a bouncy chair.

With Ameli, we had a slimline, narrow and simple bouncy chair. That was fine till she reached three months and would throw herself out of it, ending up face down with the bouncy chair strapped to her back. I wanted to avoid that this time, so went for a larger, sturdier option.

The Fisher-Price Soothe and Go Bouncy Seat is a lovely chair. It provides comfort, support and entertainment without being overwhelming or over stimulating.

It has useful features, like the fact that it ‘flattens’ (not entirely but to about a quarter of its size) at the push of a button. It has a battery operated music and vibrations box that requires no wires around the chair, and has the options of music, vibration and both.

Initially Aviya quite seemed to like the vibration, and while it was going, she would sleep really soundly. I’m not sure what’s changed, but now it wakes her up, so if she’s sleeping and I need her in a secure place – like if Ameli and I are going to be baking – then I pop her in the bouncy chair, put the music on and let her have a nap.

The music plays around 20 minutes of nursery rhymes before starting again, and as compared to many other examples of musical toys, I don’t find this offensive in any way. In fact, it blends into the background and sometimes I forget to switch it off and it just provides the background to our day anyway, with baby awake or asleep, and in it or not!

We have been shortlisted in the MADS awards as best pregnancy blog and best new baby blog. I would be so grateful if you would take 1 minute and vote or us to winin those categories.

The Soothe and Go Bouncy Seat doesn’t have a toy arch, but instead has a canopy which can be moved above the baby or behind the seat and out the way. This is really useful for outdoor use as you can position it so that baby is protected from the sun – really useful for the summer. And since the bouncy chair folds up and could go on the floor of the car behind the seat you could take it with you for a picnic or camping.

The canopy has two ‘hidden compartments’ wherein hide a fish and a bird which can hang from the canopy or hide within. Aviya is too small yet to show much interest in them, but Ameli loves rattling for her little sister, which is decidedly sweet.

All in all, it’s a lovely bouncy chair, which fulfils its purpose, isn’t over the top and doesn’t over stimulate. Its fabric design is peaceful and playful and while you shouldn’t leave your baby in it for long stretches of time, it’s definitely useful for those times when you need your hands free.

Competition

Fisher-Price have a Soothe and Go Bouncy Chair to offer one reader today. To enter the competition, leave a comment below telling me your favourite feature of this chair.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 28 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

Also, we have been shortlisted in the MADS awards as best pregnancy blog and best new baby blog. I would be so grateful if you would take 1 minute and vote or us to win in those categories.

Please read the competition rules.

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

It’s a great joy to myself and my husband that Ameli enjoys reading. She loves paging through books, and always asks us to ‘read the words to me Mama, read the words’.  I remember when she was a baby my lovely friend Kesia said that she never said no to her little boy when he wanted her to read to him. It didn’t matter what she was doing, she’d read, even if it was just for a minute. I can’t pretend to be that good, but I think it’s awesome, and I do wonder whether Ameli’s advanced language skills are down to having been read to and with from a very early age. 

Parragon have brought out a new interactive range of books for babies called Little Learners.  These have been designed with key learning concepts to ‘guide’ babies through development stages between birth and age 2.  While they were developed by educational experts, they were tested by mums and babies, which means they should really hit the spot.

Little Learners were created in seven fun formats including cloth, pull-out picture play, finger puppets and even a bath book gift set.

The books are bright and beautifully designed. We received the book  This Little Piggy, which has a finger puppet pig and a hole in the middle for the piglet to peep through and wiggle up and down as you read through the nursery rhyme. We also received a set of Stroller Books, but since we don’t use a pram we’ve attached them to the playgym. Aviya is too young still to play with them, but Ameli loves her little sisters books and will take them and ‘read’ them.

The books are a fantastic quality, of such a standard that they would make lovely gifts too. They are baby proof – meaning there’s no tearing of pages, and the paper isn’t paper, but lovely thick board.  While I’m sure they’d get ruined eventually if they were used as chew toys, they withstand a fair bit of drool and being thrown around.

We have been shortlisted in the MADS awards as best pregnancy blog and best new baby blog. I would be so grateful if you would take 1 minute and vote or us to winin those categories.

The only annoyance I have with them is more to do with my toddler – the buggy books have a loop threaded through them, and Ameli loves taking the loop out and separating them from the book. It’s only a problem in so far as if they go missing they won’t work so well as buggy books anymore.

The books are beautifully illustrated, and while wording is sparse, there’s plenty on each page to ‘discuss’ which is really nice as it means the story can go on for as long or short as your imagination goes.

There are more books in the range – Slide and See features bright animal artwork to help parents teach their children about sharing and feelings.  Touch and Feel Board Books include encouraging textures and gentle artwork, and Foam Books introduce first words in an easy to hold design.  The range is completed by a Bath Book with Rubber Duck Toy, Cloth Books, and Stroller Books, all designed to help children learn that books are toys in themselves and can go wherever they do.

Little Learners aims to make key learning concepts easy for parents as well, with icons on each book indicating its learning functions: interactive play, hand-eye coordination, language development, first words, knowledge of the world, listening skills and a sense of touch.

The full range is available at all major retailers including Tesco, WH Smith, Sainsbury’s, Amazon and Early Learning Centre with books ranging from £2.99 to £6.99. The range is also available internationally throughout Europe, the United States, Australia (as Little Me), & Latin America (in Spanish).

Competition

You know I wouldn’t leave you without a competition, so here it is. One reader can win the above set of books simply by heading to Parragon, browsing their Little Learners range, then coming back here and telling me which looks like it could be a favourite in your home.

For an additional entry, (which is not compulsory, and is not sponsored by Facebook and which has nothing to do with Facebook or its employees) you can like Parragon on Facebook.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 28 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

Please read the competition rules.

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

 

Have you ever gotten your baby or toddler nice and warmly dressed, just to get out to the car and find you have to either take off their warm layers so they’ll fit in the car seat, or readjust the car seat straps? Then, having adjusted the straps so that baby/toddler is safely strapped in, you want to head home again, but the sun has come out and it’s turned into a warm day and you have to adjust the strap again?  It’s one of my pet irritations. It really is. Which is why the Bug In A Rug blanket from Babyrug is sheer genius.

When we’re leaving home, I put Aviya in her rug, which is what I carry her out to the car in. She’s popped straight into the car seat and off we go. While we’re out and about I can either leaver her in the Bug because it’s thin enough that she can fit comfortably into the sling with it, and because it’s design allows her to be either ‘wrapped’ or have froggy legs in the sling. When I take her out, she’s still warm and cozy, or I can take her out of the blanket if it’s warm enough, and she can go into the car seat without it on, because it’s thin enough that no car seat adjustment is required. Like I said – genius.

While I have tried to do the same with normal baby sleeping bags, that’s not been as effective as I can’t strap the car seat securely without opening the zip – which defeats the aim. With the Bug in a Rug, baby’s feet go in two dedicated leg bits, so they can stay warm and safely strapped in – or in a sling, you can thread the sling between the legs without hassles.

The soft fleece is wrapped around baby in a swaddle hold, but it is loose enough that baby can move around in it too. My daughter doesn’t like being swaddled, so she can just be covered. As compared to a snow suit, for example, the baby rug is really compact and can easily go into your handbag or nappy bag.

It is machine washable, and is available in a variety of colours, which is fabulous if you’re not dominated by gender stereotypes.

The only down side of the Bug in a Rug is that it’s available in three sizes, so you’ll need new ones as your baby grows. Having said that, I have a large baby – she’s over 5kg at 8 weeks! And the small still has plenty room in it. She’ll be in it for some time yet.

Nappy changes are also easy, since there are no buttons, poppers or zips – it’s just in and out, which is very convenient.

The Bug in a Rug is not a baby essential. Your baby will make it through life without it, but it sure as heck makes my life easier, by relieving me of that odd annoyed irritation constantly adjusting the car seat straps give me. It’s also a lot easier than trying to get tiny baby fingers through arm holes on jackets or getting them stuck in the weaving on jerseys and jumpers.

This little bit of baby kit is so useful and practical, every time we’ve been out of the house with it, I’ve been asked where we got it from!

Competition

Babyrug have offered one reader of Diary of a First Child has a chance to win a Bug in a Rug.  To stand a chance to win, head over to BabyRug, have a browse around, then come back here and tell me which colour and size you would prefer.

For an additional entry, (which is not compulsory, and is not sponsored by Facebook and which has nothing to do with Facebook or its employees) you can like BabyRug on Facebook, and leave a message on their wall saying I’ve sent you.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 21 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

Please read the competition rules.

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

I’m not a shoe person. Honestly, I’d be barefoot all the time if I could. As it turns out, I’d lose my toes to frost bite if I did that and so shoes are a must. Even then, I only wear boots for as long as there is threat of snow or ice, before breaking out my flip-flops or other open toed shoes.

With the amount of rain we’ve been having, however, I’ve been a bit put off by the squelchy mud between my toes every time we go to the park… so the time has come after 8 years of living in this ever-wet country (don’t mention the drought to me, please! I used to live in a desert!!) to take the plunge and own Wellies. Which I did. But I also got a pair of open toed sandal wedges while I was at it.

Zalando is an online shoe shop with over 1000 brands and over 80000 products. They offer free shipping and free returns and even have a free helpline if you need to chat to them.

Despite being a shoe shop, they also sell clothing, bags and accessories.

I spent absolutely ages browsing the shoes at Zalando, because I had pretty much worn through my shoes last summer, and was in need of a new pair of open toes. I wanted something that was both comfortable, and would last but also wanted something that I could wear with a dress, jeans or in tracksuit pants – and I found exactly what I was looking for in a pair of Sketchers Shape-Ups, which I’ve worn every day since receiving them.

We have been shortlisted in the MADS awards as best pregnancy blog and best new baby blog. I would be so grateful if you would take 1 minute and vote or us to win in those categories.

They are great quality and I love them. I’ve been wearing them for weeks on end and they are really comfortable, even with the added weight of babywearing. Their padded soles make for super comfy walking. We were stuck in a massive mud bath last week, and while they were caked brown by the time we got home, they cleaned off easily enough and were ready to be worn again soon.

Of course, if I’d known we’d be plowing through mud baths, I’d have worn my new Wellies, which I got in blue, just to break the trend of black shoes in my cupboard. Yeah, I’m not very adventurous with shoes! I go for ‘most likely to match everything’ rather than ‘will suit that outfit’. The Wellies are brilliant too – they’re very hard and will take a while to break in, but they do the job well. They have wide calves so I can actually get them over my calves – often a problem with knee-high boots – and they have a ‘lace-up detail’, which doesn’t actually lace up, but looks nice.  Considering the  places I end up with my girls, these should really now live in the car during all this rain!

Zalando fulfilled my order quickly and the two boxes of shoes arrived in a larger box, all together. There wasn’t masses of excess packaging, and there’s absolutely nothing I can complain about or list as a negative.

Competition

So, it’s your turn to try out Zalando. One reader of Diary of a First Child has a chance to win a £100 voucher from Zalando.  To stand a chance to win, head over to Zalando, have a browse around, then come back here and tell me at least one thing that you would spend your winnings on.

For an additional entry, (which is not compulsory, and is not sponsored by Facebook and which has nothing to do with Facebook or its employees) you can like Zalando on Facebook, and leave a message on their wall saying I’ve sent you.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 21 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

Please read the competition rules.

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

 

Without sponsors, I couldn’t justify the time I spend on these pages.  While it’s a hobby, it’s also how I pay for the things I do with my children – a blessing of modern life, right?  I’d like to tell you a little more about the companies that sponsor us!

Baby Natural

Baby Natural is your go to place for organic and natural baby products. They are also the UK’s sole distributor of gNappies. In fact many of the items you’ve seen reviewed here, you’ll also find at Baby Natural.

Little Bliss

Oh, this is nepotism at its best – I’m advertising me! Little Bliss is my business. Baby Massage and Rhythm Kids. I love watching the bond between parents and babies grow as they become more confident with their kiddies. It’s wonderful.

Urbanvox

Yuri has been a wonderful photographer for us and did these pregnancy and newborn shots for us. He works wherever the work is (within limits!) so check out his site.

Placenta Encapsulation

I have a few posts coming up on placentas and their function and benefits. I was really lucky to have Krishna from the Independent Placenta Encapsulation Network turn Aviya’s placenta into capsules for us. If you’re in the Guildford area, she’s your woman!

Please visit and support our sponsors! We wouldn’t recommend them if we didn’t think they were great!

(If you’d like to sponsor us, get in touch or purchase your button ad directly!)

**US READERS: This is a UK only competition, but you can join Zulily in the US and receive all the same benefits. If you don’t already use Zulily, read on to find out more! (I also think this is a great way to buy gifts for friends abroad without having to pay international postage!)**

If you’re on my Facebook or Twitter pages, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of a recently launched website in the UK – Zulily. What is Zulily? Well, it’s the Groupon of parenting, basically.

Every day they have three or four brands that have a selection of items on offer, discounted at up to 70%.  Better than Groupon, and aimed at busy parents who aren’t necessarily online every day, the offers stay ‘live’ for 3 days, meaning on any given day you have at least 9 different brands to choose from. And each brand has a bunch of items on offer.

The awesomeness of it is that in the week and a half I’ve been signed up to Zulily, some of my personal favourite brands have already shown up, like Galt (we bought a 4-in-1 puzzle for Ameli and another for a friend’s birthday and a new hippo chair for her craft table), P’kolini, Wallies (we bought a tree-picture growth chart, which I’ve been looking wanting for ages! And a chalk board reusable sticker for drawing on the playroom’s glass wall.)

In the week coming they have two more brands I’ll be keeping my eyes open for, and at the moment (maybe it’s the novelty!) but when I wake in the morning, one of the first things I do is check my phone to see the see what the days’ offers are! (They send one email a day, at 06:00.)

Now, we all know a deal is only a deal if you were going to buy it anyway, and I don’t want anyone  bankrupting themselves for stuff they didn’t need in the first place, but I think it’s just great that there is this service available, and that you can grab a bargain when you see it, if it’s something you can use. For example, I have two birthday parties for toddlers from my natural parenting group coming up in the next few weeks: thank you for the special offer on Galt toys.  A little bit of foresight and self-control and it’s a winner!

I was having a chat about Zulily with a Twitter friend who said what turned her off about it was the £6.95 postage. I agree – that would put me off too. I’m not sure why, but if you ‘check out with Paypal’ that’s your postage fee. If you check out normally, however, and then pay by card or Paypal, it’s only £3.95 – comparative to most supermarkets.

So, you may have noticed by now, but you can’t actually see what Zulily have on offer unless you sign up – it’s an email a day, and if you don’t like it you can always unsubscribe.

You get £10 for every friend you refer who actually buys something – I received my first referral credit on Friday, after a friend bought the same growth chart as I did!

While products are great, I do hope Zulily will branch out to experience days and even better, family friendly hotels! (It’s my biggest gripe with Groupon: their hotel and breakaway offers are only ever for two people!) But I’ll be hanging around in the meantime anyway!

After placing an order, I had immediate confirmation, and after a friend purchased something, I received my referral credit straight away. I’ll have to come back and let you know how long the order took, but so far, I’m totally in love with Zulily!

Competition

Zulily have offered a Diary of a First Child reader the opportunity to win £25 credit to spend in store. Your £3.95 postage fee will come off that, so you’re still walking away with £21, which if done wisely can buy you plenty good stuff – I paid £44 for my whole basket of five items last week!

To stand a chance to win, visit Zulily, see the current list of brands, then come back here and let me know what your favourite brand on Zulily UK is? (Hint: Click on See What You May Find in the bottom right corner).

For an additional entry SIGN UP to receive the daily Zulily email and have access to the special offers.  Leave a second comment here to say you have! (I will check to confirm that the winner has signed up if it’s one of those comments that win!)

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 14 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

AND THE WINNER IS: 

Please read the competition rules.

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

When Ameli was eight months old we spent a few weeks travelling around Europe, camping. It was incredible and we had a really awesome time, and I can’t wait to get Aviya out in a tent (if this insipid rain would end!) The one problem we faced on that trip was campsite showers.

Balancing yourself, your dry clothes, your towel, your toiletries, your eight month old and all her clothes, towel and so on, on a wet floor with a single – often broken – towel hook is a pain in the proverbial, quite frankly. And then when you’re in the shower and she takes off under the cubicle door in a unisex bathroom? Yeah – that’s really fun.

On our return to England I started looking for a solution to this problem for future trips, and since then have wanted to buy a Flexibath. I was offered one for review a few weeks ago and practically jumped up and down in my haste to say yes.

The Flexibath is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a bath shaped bit of flexible plastic that folds down for easy storage and manoeuvrability. It would have been perfect on our last trip and will be on the next one.

The Flexibath is 66.5cm in length and 38.9 in width. It weighs a little over a kilogram and is suitable, they say, for babies up to 4 years of age – although I remember my granny making us bath in a bucket on the lawn at around 8 years old because we were covered in red mulberry juice and I assure you the Flexibath is bigger than that bucket was!

Just a pity it’s plastic, right? Well, actually, for a plastic tub, it’s about as eco-friendly as you’re going to get. It’s made from Polypropylene (PP) and Thermoplastic Elastometric (TPE), both of which are free from PVC, phthalates, heavy metals or other hazardous materials.

The base is non-slip so you could use it in the bath, which is, I suppose, what it’s meant for, and there’s a plug in the bottom so that you can empty it out without having to lift and tip a heavy tub full of water.

Of course, once you’re finished you can fold it up and pop it behind the door or next to the bath – it doesn’t take up the valuable space a traditional bath tub does. And when it’s not in use as a bath tub (we don’t use it for a baby bath at home) it makes a fine ice bucket in summer, I’m told, and for the rest of the time, it’s a pretty perfect laundry basket!

The Flexibath does tend to pick up a few knocks and scratches on the way, especially when your two year old decides it’s a car that’s great fun to ‘ride around’ the living room and topple out of, but nothing that affects it working as a bath.

Oh, and if you’re travelling to relatives who only have showers and no baths, like my in-laws, the Flexibath is a useful make-shift bath, but you don’t have to pack the car around an inflexible traditional baby bath.  I certainly think it’s a great idea, and it earns its stripes around here!

Competition

So, we have a Flexibath to offer one reader today. All you have to do is enter by checking out Whitestep’s website and looking at all the colours of Flexibaths they have available. Come back here and leave a comment letting me know which colour you’d prefer if you won.  For an additional entry, you can also sign up to the Whitestep newsletter, where you’ll receive details of the fabulous products they add to their store.  You’ll receive an email a month and you’re free to unsubscribe at any time. If you’ve signed up, leave a SECOND comment below to tell me you have!

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 14 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

And the winner is…

Please read the competition rules.

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

You’ll know from my previous posts about BecoThings that I absolutely love their products. Their BecoPotty is our potty of choice, and I love that we can use it as a plant pot when both our girls are toilet ready. I love the BecoStep too. It’s sturdy, strong and Ameli drags it from her easel to the sink to the change table to see what’s going on a few centimetres above her head.

Now BecoThings have brought out something new: A BecoFeeding Set. This is made from the same eco-friendly material – plant fibres from bamboo and rice husks – and are sustainably made. They are also BPA and Phthalates free – which when dealing with my little girl’s food, is a winner to me.

Available in the standard pink and blue, and also a lovely green, the set consists of a bowl, plate and cup, all with really unique shapes.

The ‘Slim Design’ cup is an oval shape, with raised sides to avoid spilling – if you can convince your minor to drink from the correct side! What is a bonus though is that the ‘slim’ design makes it a lot easier for little hands to hold on to than the standard round cup, which has on more than one occasion escaped from Ameli’s hands.

The bowl also has curves, which looks nice. It is quite shallow, but ideal for pasta and cereal, and the plate is a lovely flowery shape, with raised sides to prevent food from being shifted right off the plate in an attempt to get it onto cutlery.

The BecoThings BecoFeeding set is top drawer dishwasher safe, and food safe, but not microwave safe.

Available for £11.99, the BecoThings BecoFeeding set can be found online at BecoThings or in a variety of shops.

Competition

The BecoThings BecoFeeding set can be yours if you’re the luck winner of the set. To stand a chance of winning,  leave a comment below to let us know which colour you’d prefer.

For an additional entry, (which is not compulsory, and is not sponsored by Facebook and which has nothing to do with Facebook or its employees) you can like BecoThings, and leave a message on their wall saying I’ve sent you.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 7 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

AND THE WINNER IS:

Please read the competition rules.

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

Honour Your Flow is the work at home business for mum Vicky Sherrard, who became interested in reusable menstrual products when she was living in a yurt community ten years ago. She is now a mother to two and makes reusable pads and nursing pads and even organic cloth tampons from home.

My foray into parenthood has opened my eyes to a side of life I never knew anything about and had never even really thought about, despite owning and using a recycle bin: our impact on the environment. With the change to cloth nappies, I’ve realised that cloth pads are in my future, for sure.

Apparently, the average woman will use around 17,000 – 18,000 pads or tampons in her lifetime. Each of these, much like disposable nappies, remains in landfill until long after the woman that used it is gone.

The National Women’s Health Network, estimate that in the United States alone, over 12 billion pads and 7 billion tampons are used once and disposed of every year.

It seems only reasonable then to make that change now, with this baby’s birth, and use post partum or heavy flow menstrual pads and reusable breastfeeding pads too.

Honour Your Flow do a range of pads for women of every size and shape – the pads and the women!  They have pads for light, medium and heavy, and extremely heavy flow, and offer extras, such as make-up remover pads, wash bags and “moon purses” – for keeping your pads in.

So what’s it like using the Slim Mega Pad as a post partum pad?

Well, it’s been so long since I had a ‘real’ period that I don’t really remember how many pads I used to go through in a month, but I do remember the paper/plastic pads from my last childbirth. I hated them, because they were so big and bulky and felt like I had a toilet roll stuffed in my trousers. Sorry for the TMI.

My first thought on the Slim Mega Pad was that it is huge. I was a bit concerned about how it was going to feel wearing it as it really is very big… as it needs to be, post partum. It turns out, however, that wearing it was oddly comforting. I had a much heavier bleed after this birth than the first one, and found the absorbency and protection to be perfect, especially over night.

I only had one of this specific brand, so I wore it at night for the first few nights, and washed it during the day. I’d dry it in the tumble drier to make sure that it was dry for night time use again, and never had any issues with leaks, which I was surprised and pleased with.

If you’re thinking it’s gross, to have reusable pads, I challenge you to try them. The difference between them and disposable pads is phenomenal. They have no scent, which even the disposable scent-free pads do, they don’t rustle and they don’t bunch up.

The only improvement they could do with is additional fastenings towards the end, somehow to keep them in place as they do sometimes slip a little.

Overall, I love these, and when I need to, I’ll definitely be transitioning to just reusable menstrual pads.

We also tried a set of their brand new white bamboo fleece breast pads, which are larger in size than other brands we’ve tried. I liked that as it provides greater absorbency and coverage, which especially in the first six weeks while milk fills the breasts like a reservoir, is really good – it’s just not nice to have wet marks on your clothes! The larger size also means you have less chance of being able to see the outline of the pad against your clothes.

Absorbency wise, I can’t complain at all. I normally have to change pads at least once a day, but have gotten away with wearing these all day when I’ve had to.  They wash really well, don’t lose any shape, and don’t take ages to dry.

I’m so happy to have found cloth replacements, I’m thrilled that I’ll no longer be adding to the landfill and I think Vicky is on to a winner with Honour Your Flow.

Competition

To enter the competition to win a set of breast pads and a menstrual pad, head over to Honour Your Flow and have a browse around their website. Come back here and let me know which breast pads you like and which slim mega pad you like (in the same comment) and if your name is drawn, you’ll receive them for your prize!

For an additional entry, (which is not compulsory, and is not sponsored by Facebook and which has nothing to do with Facebook or its employees) you can like Honour Your Flow on Facebook and leave a message on their wall saying I sent you.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 30 April and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won. 

AND THE WINNER IS…

Please read the competition rules.

By the way, I’d be thrilled if you’d nominate Diary of a First Child for Best Pregnancy Blog, Best Baby Blog, Best Family Travel Blog or if you have a favourite post I’ve written, you can nominate it for Best Blog Post of the Year.  The top four blogs in each category will be shortlisted and if I make any of those categories, I’ll ask you to vote for me again later in the year!

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

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We’ve been going through a really hard few months since my husband lost his job last year. Our Christmas was paid for on loyalty card points from local supermarkets. Ameli received review items as Christmas presents from her mama and daddy. Hubby and I bought each other a £10 gift each, both of them practical. January wasn’t much better as the financial realities of two part time employed people came crashing down on  us.  That, with a baby due in February, was a particularly stressful time for us, and I’m not very good at sharing my needs, or showing my weakness. When I reached my breaking point, however, and spilled my fears and stresses to a few people in my support network, the love and generosity that poured out from them was amazing.

I feel a little like an Oscar winner when I say this, and with the friends that I have in my life, I’m better off than an Oscar winner, but here are a few thank you’s from Martin and I to some amazing people.

From the NPN Network, a very big thank you goes to:

• Moorea, Jennifer S, Kelly, Lani, Shannon R, Melissa, Charise, Dionna and Isil for their financial contributions to our Mamablessing.Their gifts kept us in fresh organic veggies for two months, bought a liner for the birthpool, and a new hose and sieve for the birthpool, evening primrose oil capsules, vitamin C for the incessant cold, and 10 gNappies gPants from eBay and all the contents for Ameli’s birth Activity Pack.
• Lauren and Shannon H posted us a whole pack of newborn Prefolds, Nipple Cream and Breastfeeding Tea from Earth Mama Angel Baby (all the way from the US!)
• Amy sent us her gorgeous dark blue home made Moby wrap because I really wanted to be able to keep the baby close to me, but knew I couldn’t afford a new wrap.
• Adrienne sent us 3 gNappies gPants and a whole bag of disposable gInserts
• Lani arranged a review for me to write for her blog for a lovely nursing top.

I had a babyshower, organised by our friend Gloria, and we specifically told people that we didn’t want gifts because we had a cupboard full of babygrows and baby stuff and didn’t want anyone spending money on things we didn’t need or have space for!

Ever generous and awesome, not only did Gloria organise everything for the babyshower, but her and hubby Chris also gave me a £30 Starbucks gift card. Man. Do they know the way to my heart! Do you know how many Hazelnut Latte’s I can get for that? As Chris said when I expressed my gratitude: “Mama needs her treats too!”

Ellie gave us two gorgeous hand made hats which have kept Squidgy’s head warm and regularly attract comment from admirers and Chris, Gloria, Sinead, Jules, Sara, Rich, Nadja and Emma contributed £85 towards a new camera I hope to buy when I have enough saved up to do so.

Local friends Nadja and Mish both spoiled us immensely with frozen meals so that we didn’t have to do any cooking at all for the first week and a bit after Avi’s birth, which was wonderful for all of us.

Naomi gave us a set of size one bamboo nappies, which have been so lovely to use.

My gran sent Ameli a ‘big sister’ card and a beautiful congratulations card for us.

Bloggy readers and friends were great too. Many companies offered us items we needed or wanted or didn’t even dare hope for for review, and you’ve seen them over the last couple of months. But in addition to that, Andrea from Baby Naturals sent us two Tiny gPants for newborns, and 0ne of my lovely readers, Tina, gave us a MamaJewels Breastfeeding necklace.

Romy from GreenPeople sent us a newborn gift set with beautiful organic products which we are loving using on both girls.