I've mentioned Ewan briefly before when talking about our bedtime routine, but I thought it was time to give him a post of his own.

We bought him before J was born after he was recommended to us by friends, and whilst he seemed expensive at the time (approx £30) he has been well worth every penny. We use him every night and he goes with us when we stay overnight elsewhere - I really do not know what I would do without him and highly recommend him to other parents.

Below I've compiled a list of reasons why I think Ewan really is every parent's 'dream' sheep. - Let me know your own thoughts in the comments below. (I have no affiliation to Ewan's manufacturer)

1. The most important reason? He helps your baby to sleep. He has 4 different audio settings; lullaby mode, womb sounds, waves & vacuum - the latter 3 are great for getting baby (and sometimes Mum) off to sleep.

2. He is so soft and cuddly - my little one is nearly one and he likes to hug Ewan - it's his little friend.

3. He comes with a velcro hook so you can either pop him in your little one's cot or hang it on the side.

4. He is small, fits in your changing bag - Hey I even put him in my hospital bag, he and J have never been separated.

5. Ewan automatically switches off after approx 20mins so you don't need to go and turn him off once your baby is asleep.

6. He glows red when turned on - helps you to see in the dark and also is a comfort to little one as a night light. (You can also turn this setting off if you want to.)

7. You can choose the audio setting that most suits your situation. I use the lullaby mode to put J down but if he's teething or when he was colicky the white noise modes were great for that.

8. He is a great comforter for your child. J has had Ewan since day one so he's a great comfort when he is not with me (particularly when I returned to work)

9. He is great as part of the bedtime routine - J knows when Ewan is on it's time to go to sleep (works for naps as well as at night, including after feeds)

10. He's not too loud and does have a volume control. J has several musical toys which always seem so loud (particularly if I catch them in the night accidentally) but Ewan is ok and if I go and tuck him in and accidentally turn Ewan on. It doesn't wake him. He's also easy to turn off by holding one of the legs.

11. - OK I know I said 10 reasons but I actually have one more. I find the batteries last a decent amount of time despite multiple uses of Ewan daily, plus they are triple A and easy to change none of those annoying D or C batteries some toys use (who keeps those around the house anyway)

Are you convinced yet? If so you can follow the link below to purchase on amazon.

When Baby J was approximately 7 months old, Cotswold Dad and I went with friends to Centreparcs in Longleat. As our first holiday away I thought I had packed everything but it turns out I had forgotten something - sun cream.

I was actually in the middle of a lake on a pedalo at the time, when I realised my mistake. Out of the shade of the trees and with a clear blue sky above us, the heat of the sun was hotter than I had anticipated and now J was exposed in only shorts, t-shirt, lifejacket and sun hat. For the hour or so we were on the lake I did my best to keep him shaded as much as I could and fortunately he did not burn, but it seems the repercussions were longer lasting.

A few weeks after we got back I noticed that the skin on one of J's legs was slightly dry, and for a few days I just kept an eye on it. Increasingly, the dry skin seemed to spread to both legs and covered his knees & thighs. His legs looked red and when you touched them they went white for a moment and back to red. He wasn't bothered in the slightest but I knew something wasn't right so I went to see one of our local health visitor.

I was assured it was just one of those things that some babies get, I was given some Hydromol cream and as far as I was concerned that was it. I started applying the cream, his skin improved and I thought the problem was solved. Within a few days I noticed the improvement was ceasing and he was still suffering from dry skin on his legs and a few weeks later it was on his arms too. But still he wasn't in pain and was spending a lot of time on the carpet so I assumed that this was the explanation.

When J went for his 9 month check up I saw the other health visitor - who has given me some excellent advice in the past. She noticed the dry skin and was concerned stating that if untreated this could lead to eczema in the future. It was suggested that we got an appointment with the GP.

When I returned home, I immediately went on the internet to see what I could do as we would probably have to wait at least a week or so for an appointment with the GP. I decided first to try some of the lotions we'd been given as gifts at the baby shower, christening etc. I tried the Johnsons baby lotion (pink bottle) and initially like the Hydromol this seemed to help for a few days but within 2 weeks wasn't doing anything at all.

I'd heard about Aveeno Lotion through some of the online forums I silently frequent and one day, whilst shopping in Tesco's on my lunch hour, I noticed they had it on special offer for approx £3 so I bought some. Since trying this and applying it twice a day there was definitely a major improvement but for me the real breakthrough came after reading an article in the Daily Mirror.

My Mum was aware of our struggles with the dry skin and one day there was an article in the Daily Mail about skin issues (primarily Eczema) in children. As well as recommending the Aveeno Lotion it suggested a possible cause that I had never considered, J's bedtime routine. In a previous post, I have detailed our successful bath bottle bed routine which we do nightly, but the article suggested the daily bath was the reason for the dry skin.

We've been using the Johnson's top to toe bath more or less since day one so I do not feel that this is responsible (but saying that as soon as we run out of our current bottle we will switch to the Aveeno bath oil), however I thought I would change the routine so that J has baths every other day instead and since we started this a few weeks ago, I have already seen a significant improvement in his skin.

This is an ongoing fight and whilst we are in control we have not yet won. We will be shortly changing his bath lotion and I am hoping this will help further alleviate the issue. Fortunately, J isn't bothered by the dry skin, but he isn't keen on having the cold lotion on his legs first thing in the morning or after a nice warm bath and who can blame him.

I'll keep you up to date as to how we get on, but in the meantime if anyone has any suggestions from their own experiences, please comment below.

(I have no affiliation with any of the companies named here)

My attempts at baby proofing my house seems to have failed.

J crawls wherever he wants and no baby gate, closed door or baby proofing fixture will stop him.

His favourite thing at the moment is tipping the dog's water bowl upside down sending water all over our conservatory floor and then splashing in the spilt water.

He's also learnt to open cupboard doors.

I also realised the other day that our radiator was not as secure on the wall as I thought it was when J pulled it off leaving it suspended by only the pipes.

I don't remember anyone warning me about any of this before I got pregnant.

Perhaps they should have handed out a flyer like the one I've made below when I attended the antenatal classes.

What's the worst your little ones have managed to do?

On Sunday we went to lunch with Cotswold Dad's family. They had a guest, a friend of Cotswold Dad's grandmother whom I have met only once before last year when I was pregnant with J.

Baby J started getting upset before lunch and I mentioned to Cotswold Dad that he was probably hungry as he was due a bottle. The family friend upon hearing this, asked a loaded question in a slightly patronising tone, variations of which I have been asked by many people.

'Are you feeding him yourself?'

Ok, I think to myself, I have several ways of responding to this:

A) No, at 11 weeks old we feel he is old enough to feed himself  (although he can't hold his own head up), we just leave a bottle somewhere he can reach it so he can help himself when he is hungry (We have also modified a rabbit feeder to attach to his cot at night for similar purposes.)

B.) No, when he's hungry we put him in the front garden with a bottle and sign saying 'feed me' in hope that someone passing by might take pity on him.

C.) We're supposed to feed him? Who knew!

D.) I bottle feed him due to various problems encountered when breastfeeding (see previous posts Part1 & Part2)

A deep breath later, I went for option D and launched into my full story - J's feeding issues, weight loss, hospital stay - the works. I was justifying my choices to someone I barely know, and its not a one off. I have been asked this question by family, friends, family friends and even total strangers working on checkouts or who stop me in the supermarket.

Firstly, why did I feel the need to justify my choices to people? My biggest enemy is that one phrase 'Breast is best'. It's been stuck in my head certainly from early pregnancy if not earlier. It is an expectation that all mothers will feed their own baby and this message is everywhere when you are pregnant. It comes from the midwives, doctors, and the media, and is reinforced by tv shows, your peers - the message is everywhere. 

At our second ante-natal (parentcraft) class, I had a whole session on breastfeeding. I was given leaflets, was lectured by the midwife that it was the best thing, we watched a dvd on breastfeeding, they even brought in 2 mums with baby's who were 4-5 months old who were breastfed to explain their experiences - the issues they had and their tips on holds etc. We were then sent away with lanolin samples (have to say that stuff is fantastic though) and a further NHS dvd on breastfeeding. I felt both institutional and peer pressure to breastfeed and did not explore any other options. After all breast feeding is 'natural' and 'Breast is best.'

Of course things didn't go to plan as you will have seen in my previous post.

Then I had to consider formula feeding J and at first I felt like I was failing him, after all 'breast is best' and it is supposed to be better for him due to antibodies in the milk etc. I felt that if I gave him formula I would not be giving him the best chance and that I'd be letting him down and I was reluctant and initially refused point blank. 

When people ask about feeding, this all comes back to me. I worry that they will think badly of me - that I'm too lazy etc. for breast feeding or that they will look down on me. After all with the older generations - they managed so why can't I? Usually when I explain to people why I formula feed J, they understand completely and are sympathetic - I think this I why I end up justifying myself to people every time I'm asked.

Secondly, why do people ask me this question in the first place? What business is it of their's how I feed my baby? Why do they think it is acceptable to ask this?

I think this is a highly personal and private decision for myself and my partner to make. If I wanted advice from others I would ask for it and whilst I am happy to confide in close family and close friends I find it slightly intrusive when anyone else asks but at the same time I don't want to be offensive or rude to people who genuinely (most of the time) mean no harm. So I grit my teeth, put on my shiniest smile and go into extensive detail into my life decisions.

People are judgemental what ever you say or do, you have to make the decision that is right for you and as long as your happy with that, what other people say, think and do should not matter. The problem is we're human, so it does...

We've now had 3 nights of uninterrupted sleep! Yay!

The only downside? I'm now paranoid as to whether J's ok or not! I'm still in the habit of waking up at the times he previously fed overnight and as he's so quiet (his monitor only picks up noises if he is snuffly or wriggling) I always end up checking on him to find that he is 'sleeping like a baby' and I feel slightly foolish (not to mention cold!) for having got up and checked on him.

Is it just me or is this common?

On the upside, during the day J is much more alert, more laid back and generally much happier, spending more time gurgling away or playing with his toys on his playmat or bouncer. That also means more smiles and there is nothing I love more than to see his smiley face. Its the best sight in the world to me.

Any parent looks forward to the first time their child will smile and we were no different. Initially we had the windy 'smiles' where it was very much a case of is it or isn't it a proper smile? - J was holding out on us, and then over christmas when he was about 6 weeks, we had the first proper smiles - the best present of all -but they were fleeting and hard to catch.

Now of course he's smiling much more and we can actually get it on camera, its also great fun pulling faces at him trying to get him to smile. Talking to him and repeating back his noises is another way we do this and I also blow raspberries which he absolutely loves.

Now we're waiting for the next development milestone - his first laugh. Again we've had moments where noises he's made could be a laugh - but then its also possible that they weren't. Hopefully it won't be long.

Here's one of J's smiles to brighten up your day :-)

Today was the final session of Badger Babies, a 4 week postnatal course for parents of young babies we attend which is run at the local children's centre by our 2 fantastic health visitors. Our session today was a talk about common minor illnesses and when you should take your child to the doctors or hospital.

One of the illnesses we talked about was Meningitis, and the symptoms of this - such as the rash, floppiness, fever and light intolerance.

It actually reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine last week whose baby was born 4 weeks before J. Her baby was grisly, slightly unwell and generally off his food, but when she later changed his nappy she found a rash.

For any parent, finding a rash is very worrying but to put your mind at ease there is a simple glass test that can be performed. You press a clear glass against the rash and if it turns white then this is not the meningitis rash however if it does not turn white then this could be a sign of meningitis.

My friend did the glass test and it was positive - it did not fade to white when pressed. She rang her local GP surgery and they advised her to go into hospital. There her son was monitored overnight but fortunately it turned out to be just a virus and he was released the following day.

He was lucky, my best friend did have viral meningitis when she was a baby and was quite ill with it so it just goes to show you can never be too careful!

First Impressions

The Graco Snugsafe Carseat was one of the first high value items that we bought for Cotswold Kid and one of the most important as he was collected from the hospital in it. We chose the Graco Snugsafe as it complemented the Graco Evo XT Pushchair which we fell in love with after seeing it in action in Mothercare. I was given a demonstration of the pushchair with the car seat and loved the simple ‘click in’ mechanisms to mount the car seat into the pushchair and felt certain that this was the right travel system for us – I just had to get my partner (who was not with me) and my mum (who was buying the pushchair ) to agree!

Early Online Reviews

Having seen the travel system in Mothercare, I went home and scoured the internet for reviews. I was instantly disappointed, there were very few reviews available as it was relatively new at the time and those I could find were negative. We went ahead with the pushchair purchase but delayed on buying the car seat, I was hoping more reviews would pop up and I was right but more and more negative reviews appeared which cast some doubt in my mind.

Issues raised in the Early Reviews

I visited our local Mothercare store again to look at the specific issues addressed in the negative reviews:

1. Angle of the car seat in the car meaning baby has little neck support due to upright position.

2. Tightness of straps – particularly across the legs - some reviews said straps were too tight others that it was too loose.

I saw for myself that the straps could be re-positioned in the car seat at different levels based on babies size – also further research online showed that the angle of the car seat was only an issue when used with the isofix base but this wouldn’t affect us as we would not be purchasing the base intending to use the seatbelt instead. In the end we went ahead with the purchase.

REVIEW

(Disclaimer - please note this is an independent review - I have no affiliations with Graco or its subsidiaries.)

We’ve been using the car seat for approximately 10 weeks now, CK weighs 13lbs 8oz and still fits in the car seat with no problems – he also regularly falls asleep in it. Threading the shoulder straps though the unit is a bit fiddly but not impossible and you get better with practice. To make life easier, the first thing I did when I purchased the car seat was to fully extend all straps. The straps are easily tightened once baby is strapped in by pulling the cord hanging between his legs until he is appropriately secured.

One issue I did have was the position of the buckle for the 5 point harness – further research revealed additional instructions could be obtained from Graco to move this to a different position and after emailing Graco requesting this I received them within the hour (very impressive customer service). The buckle does not extend but can be moved to a slot further forward but you have to remove it from the car seat completely and re-thread in the other slot. Once done, there is a lot more space for baby to sit and no risk of the strap cutting into his legs.

Picture shows 2 positions of crotch buckle - my finger is default position at the rear. Buckle has be positioned in front slot for usage.

Please click the following link for instructions on adjusting this: Adjusting Graco snugsafe crotch buckle

We were satisfied with the newborn insert and the support it provided but only used this for a month due to CK's size and length. Otherwise the deep wings on the sides provide sufficient support for CK when I’m driving and I have had no issues with strapping him in the car (even 4 weeks after a c-section when I started driving).

Conclusion

To conclude – We have both been very happy with the car seat and are glad we purchased this. The car seat looks very comfortable and CK still has more growing space in the car seat (however he is a very long baby (like his parents!) so I’m not sure how much longer he will be able to continue using the car seat safely). The car seat is also smaller than the others that my friends have which also means it is lighter to carry and manoeuvre in and out of the car. The straps are very secure and CK’s head is adequately supported when he is in transit. I really do not feel the online reviews do the car seat any justice and the comments I have read are from parents who perhaps were not fully aware of how to adjust the car seat harness or who spoke to untrained staff in the stores where the seat was purchased. The only negatives are that relocating the straps can be fiddly, the instructions for this are not clear and in the case of the harness buckle are altogether missing,  once these issues have been resolved I feel this is an excellent car seat.

 Baby J at 10 weeks old in his car seat (on our sofa)

Cotswold Mum's rating (out of 5) 4/5

Read enough and want to purchase? Check out the link below.