19 November , 201418 November , 2014 - Sarah 3 Comments

Saying goodbye to the bottle

At 16 months old Toby is now almost bottle-free. I know technically he didn’t really need a bottle after he turned one but we decided to take a relaxed approach and see how things went. At 12 months he was still having three bottles a day (plus more if he woke up in the night) and our little routine was going so well we didn’t really want to rock the boat too much! The other reason I was a bit wary of getting rid of the bottle too soon was that Toby wasn’t very keen on drinking much from a cup and I wanted to make sure he was still getting enough to drink one way or another.

The first bottle to go was the one he had before his afternoon nap. When he started nursery in August he was being fed so much during the day (3 meals and 2 snacks) that he didn’t really need an afternoon bottle, although he still had one at home at the weekends for quite a while.

The next bottle we cut out was the morning one. A month or so ago there were quite few days when Toby had woken up sometime between 4 and 5am and had a bottle so there didn’t seem much point giving him another when we got up at 6:30am. This also coincided with him becoming more comfortable with drinking out of his cup (after trying every sippy cup on the planet we had more success with straw cups as for ages Toby wouldn’t tip a cup to drink) and us switching completely from formula to cow’s milk. So now when I get Toby up in the morning (or he gets us up!) we just give him some milk in his cup and he has that while I’m getting him dressed and ready to go out. He doesn’t always drink very much of it during the week when we don’t have very long to get up and out to nursery but I know he has more milk on his cereal and drinks plenty of water during the day anyway.

I was quite concerned though about stopping the bedtime bottle. A bottle before bed was such an integral part of Toby’s bedtime routine that I just couldn’t imagine how we would get him to bed without it. Especially since after starting nursery he had gone back to having 9oz bottles at bedtime rather than his previous 5 or 6 ounces. But, as usually happens, these things tend to sort themselves out if you let them. A few weeks ago Toby started completely refusing his bedtime bottle. He would maybe have a few mouthfuls but then push it away and get himself worked up if we tried to get him to have any more. And so, we decided to give him milk in his cup, along with some snacks (even after eating three meals and two snacks at nursery he still comes home hungry!) as soon as he gets in from nursery so he has time to drink plenty in the hour or so before bedtime.

This seemed to sort of work for a few weeks – he would go to sleep OK without his bottle but then wake up a few hours later and drain a full bottle. I was willing to persevere though and was hoping that he would eventually make it through the night without needing a bottle. However, last week Toby hurt his foot and was also teething, and I think having another growth spurt. His sleep was awful, he was waking up two or three (or more!) times a night and would only go back to sleep after having loads of milk and in an effort to get him to sleep a bit better the bedtime bottle has made a return.

To be honest I’m still not too worried about this at the moment. If Toby still wants a bottle a bedtime (and during the night) then for now I’m happy for him to have one. I’m confident that at some point he will decide he doesn’t want it any more and hopefully he might even start sleeping through the night again eventually too!

If your little one had bottles at what age did they stop? Did you do anything the wean them off the bottle or just leave it up to them to decide? I’d love to hear how you managed the transition.

13 November , 20147 October , 2020 - Sarah 7 Comments

The Gift of Giving with Frugi

I love Frugi clothes. They are absolutely fantastic for Toby as they are ‘cut for cloth’ meaning there is plenty of room for his big fluffy bum without having to go up a size. Not only do Frugi clothes fit Toby brilliantly they are also made of lovely soft organic cotton. And on top of that it’s also great to buy clothes from a company that aims to be ethical in everything they do, each year donating 1% of their turnover to three great environmental charities as a member of the 1% For The Planet scheme, as well as supporting an orphanage in India.

This Christmas (all right, I know it’s still only November but Starbucks have got the red cups out so we can officially talk about Christmas!) Frugi decided they wanted to share their ethos of giving back and wanted to give the Gift of Giving. So they asked each of the bloggers in the Frugi Family to choose a blogging friend to send a Frugi gift to.

I was so touched when my lovely blogging buddy Donna over at What the Redhead Said chose us to receive her Frugi gift. And when I saw the top Donna had chosen for Toby I was delighted! I love this stripy reindeer long sleeve t-shirt – perfect for the festive season. The top is made of thick, soft organic cotton and it washes really well. And I think Toby looks super-cute wearing it too!

In these pictures Toby is also wearing his Frugi corduroy trousers that I bought in the January sales. They are 12-18 months (when in all his other clothes we’ve had to go up to 18-24 months) and there is still plenty of room in them. I love that they have an adjustable elastic waist so I can get a great fit on long, skinny Toby. They’re fully lined too so lovely and cosy and perfect for winter.

Thanks so much to Frugi and to Donna for choosing us to receive this gift!

**Disclosure: We were sent this Frugi top as part of the Gift of Giving project. All opinions are my own.

15 September , 201427 March , 2015 - Sarah 1 Comment

Living Arrows 37/52

It’s week 37 of the I Heart Snapping Living Arrows project which must mean another week has gone by. I was still off work for most of the week but my police check came through on Thursday so I was back in school on Friday (although happily we only have a half day on a Friday!).

Toby has still been going to nursery although a couple of days I kept him at home until after his morning nap to make sure he got some sleep and to try and help him get over his cold. Naps are a bit hit and miss at nursery – at home he still has two long naps (up to three hours sometimes!) but at nursery we’re lucky if he gets two 45 minute naps. I’m glad he is at least getting some daytime sleep but it really isn’t as much as he needs.

Anyway, his cold does seem to be improving which is a relief – he seems to have had it forever! We’ve had more developments this week too. Toby now waves and says ‘hiya’ when he sees us (which is adorable!) and today he managed to get himself stood up without holding on to anything (which I missed because I was out at rehearsals). Still no walking though, but he will now sometimes walk if we hold his hands which he’s never done before.

And so, to this week’s photos… I’m going to share a little series of pictures this week – when it comes to weaning we’ve done a mixture of baby led and traditional weaning (you can read about it here if you’re interested) but I will admit that for my own sanity we have tended to spoon feed Toby anything he can’t pick up without making tons of mess. At 14 months though I think it’s probably time he starts learning how to use a spoon himself so seeing as he was getting a bath straight after tea tonight I let him have a go with his yoghurt (admittedly I only gave him the pot and spoon once it was nearly empty!). As you can see he didn’t quite get it right straight away but he figured it out pretty quickly. Honestly, I am amazed every day at the moment at how clever Toby is and just how quickly he picks things up. I just can’t wait to see what he gets up to this week…

13 August , 201430 July , 2017 - Sarah 2 Comments

Review: Konfidence sun protection suit

It seems I might be a bit late with this review, seeing as the lovely sunny weather seems to have deserted us in favour of a hurricane at the moment but you never know, we might get some more sun before the summer’s out, or maybe you’re lucky enough to still have a summer holiday abroad to look forward to! As part of our role as Konfidence Swimologists we were asked if Toby would like to try some of the Konfidence range of sun protection clothing and even though we had already been on our summer holiday I knew it would come in useful for those sunny days in the garden and we recently put it to the test when Toby had his first ever experience of a paddling pool!

The Details

We were sent the Konfidence sun protection suit and hat to try out. The suits are available in sizes to fit from 6 months to 7 years – we chose the 1-2 years size for Toby. The hat has sizes from 0 to 6 years. I chose 0-1 year, as although Toby is very tall he has a tiny head! The suit is £17.50 and the hat £8 but currently you can buy both together for £22.95. The sun protection clothing (separate shorts and vest are also available) comes in Blue Palm or Pink Hibiscus.

The Pros

UV protection clothing is such a good idea – I remember wearing a normal t-shirt in the pool on holiday when I was a kid and it just got heavy and in the way. There are no such problems with this suit, and as a parent I am happy knowing Toby is protected from the sun, and I only have to get sun cream on the exposed bits rather than all over a wriggly baby. The sun protection suit has full length sleeves and 3/4 length legs so there isn’t too much skin left exposed.
The material of the suit and hat is soft and stretchy, meaning Toby looked very comfortable.
The 6-12 month and 1-2 years sizes have poppers along the legs making for easy nappy changes (along with the zip on the back the poppers also make it much easier to get the suit on and off).
The suit and hat both have clever UV colour-changing technology – the logo on the front and stars on the sleeve (and on the back of the hat) change colour to blue or pink when the suit is protecting your little one from UV rays.
The hat has a large peak and flap to keep the neck covered. The stretchy lycra means the hat is less likely to fall off and it must have been comfortable because Toby actually left it on, whereas he normally whips hats off within seconds!
The 1-2 years size fit Toby well with some room left for him to grow, and the stretchy fabric means it should last a while longer yet.

The Cons

None! I actually can’t think of any negatives to this sun protection clothing.

The Verdict

We loved the Konfidence sun protection clothing. Toby was very comfortable wearing it and as a parent I was happy knowing he was protected from those harmful UV rays. Everyone knows how painful (and potentially dangerous) sun burn can be and I will do everything I can to make sure Toby doesn’t have to suffer it. And with Konfidence my job just got a lot easier!

**Disclaimer: I was sent a Konfidence Sun Protection Suit and Hat as a part of our role as Konfidence Swimologists. All opinions are my own.

16 July , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah 2 Comments

Toby is one year old!

One year old!! The first update I wrote on this blog was when Toby was four months old and now he’s one. I know everyone says it but I really can’t believe how quickly the time has gone.

There have been a few developments this month; Toby seems to be getting bigger every day (and everyone comments on how massive he is!) but I still haven’t had him weighed since he was 10 months old. He’s still very long and skinny though, not your typical chubby baby in the slightest. He’s so strong though – he doesn’t stay still unless he’s sleeping and if we try and sit with him he wriggles away and crawls all over us. Nappy changes are often something of a challenge!

Toby now has eight teeth and had his first visit to the dentist today, although he refused to let the dentist actually look at his teeth! I thought we might get a bit of a break from teething for a while but his sleep has been all over the place for the last week and after a feel around his mouth today I think one of his first molars might be on its way. Did I mention that I hate teething?

Toby still loves to stand up but won’t do it unless he’s pulled himself up. He did actually let go and stand unsupported the other day but only for a few seconds and he hasn’t tried it since. He’s cruising a little bit but still mostly prefers to sit down, crawl to where he wants to go then stand up again. He got a push along trolley/walker thing for his birthday though so maybe that will encourage him to start walking rather than crawling. His favourite toy is still his stacking cups. He doesn’t try and stack them but he’s got very good at separating them then putting them back inside one another again. He’s started giving some of his soft toys cuddles recently too which is so cute! And he’s still giving us lots of cuddles too (and less biting which is good).

We still don’t have any real words – Toby does now say mama and mum as well as dada, and we sometimes get yeah and hiya, but I still don’t think he really knows what he’s saying. He’s very cute babbling away to us though.

Toby’s still eating pretty much anything we put in front of him, although he does have days when he seems to have less of an appetite than others. Breadsticks are a firm favourite (in fact, so much that I do worry slightly about how many he eats!) and cherry tomatoes are high on the list too. We have started to make the switch to cow’s milk but after lots of night waking we’re going to stick with formula at bedtime for now in case hunger is part of the problem. He’s accepted cow’s milk without any trouble though, although it is still warm and in a bottle so I wouldn’t imagine there’s much difference. He’s also doing better with drinking water – we couldn’t get him to use a sippy cup at all really, despite trying all sorts of different ones so he now uses a bottle with a silicone straw and is really good at drinking from it. We’re trying to make an effort to offer him a drink more often too, to make sure he is getting enough fluids throughout the day.

And I think that’s about it for this month. Toby’s such a little character these days and I can’t wait to see what developments will come next!

9 July , 201429 March , 2021 - Sarah 10 Comments

Weaning // Finding our own way

Toby is now almost one and it’s been just over six months since we first introduced him to solid food. Before we started weaning I’d read a couple of books ‘Weaning Made Easy‘ and ‘Baby-Led Weaning‘. Baby-led weaning made total sense to me – by bypassing purées and giving Toby the same things we ate, and letting him feed himself, he would be in control of what he ate and hopefully would develop a healthy appetite and relationship with food.

The reality, however, turned out a little differently…

In the very beginning Toby simply wasn’t interested in putting anything in his mouth. I know I could have left him to figure it out on his own but if I held something to his mouth then he would happily eat it so it seemed like it was more the putting it in his mouth himself than actually eating that was a problem. I wrote about this at the time in a guest post over on Redhead Babyled which you can read here.

Examining a rice cake at six months old

We carried on putting finger foods (veg sticks, toast, breadsticks etc) on Toby’s highchair tray as well as feeding him other bits and pieces off our plates and eventually he did figure out how to pick things up and eat them himself. We also carried on feeding him as well – either with a spoon or just by popping something in his mouth or holding it for him to take a bite.

I really wanted to embrace baby-led weaning and let Toby feed himself but there was one major stumbling block…

I just couldn’t handle the mess! I don’t know if this makes me a terrible person for letting my own feelings get in the way of something which perhaps would have been better for Toby but every meal was getting me so worked up that I couldn’t carry on. I tried loaded spoons a couple of times but so little food got into Toby’s mouth (and so much food got everywhere else) that I went back to feeding him things like porridge and yogurt myself.

Porridge face (before we gave up loaded spoons!) at seven months

If Toby is having something he can pick up himself without making too much mess (things like breadsticks, sandwiches, fruit and veg, dry cereal, chicken) then I put it on his tray and he feeds himself. He did go through a bit of a phase of just squashing anything we gave him but he seems to be getting over that now. Up until recently if I gave Toby more than one thing, or a big piece of something, he would just try and shove the lot in his mouth in one go – which led to our only proper, out of the highchair, choking incident when he shoved a massive broccoli floret in his mouth in one go (he was fine though!). However, in the last week or so I have been trying to get Toby used to choosing what he wants to eat so I put a few different things on his tray so he can choose what he wants and then I just keep adding more. He usually eats everything eventually but at least he is gaining some control over what he eats when. He’s got much better a picking something up, taking a bite out of it, eating that bite and then having some more. I am also trying to introduce taking things off a plate or out of a bowl, which is going OK as long as I keep a hold of the plate or bowl too!

Getting his own Shreddies out of the bowl at twelve months

I do still spoon feed Toby the messy things like yogurt or spaghetti bolognese and for the moment he seems quite happy to eat these things from a spoon. I am definitely not force feeding him – which is the criticism sometimes levelled at this method of feeding. If Toby doesn’t want something then he will let you know, and there’s no chance of getting him to open his mouth to eat it! We don’t do aeroplanes or play games. Mostly Toby will have his mouth wide open for the next spoonful before I’ve got back to the bowl and when he’s done that’s that.

I’ve read quite a lot of blog posts and articles about weaning and there seems to be a misconception from some proponents of baby-led weaning that if you aren’t following baby-led weaning methods to the letter then you must be spoon feeding your baby purées or mashed food and you are somehow doing something detrimental to your baby’s health and well-being. But that simply isn’t the case. We have found our own way with weaning. Toby eats almost exactly what we eat. He has his meals with us and we all have the same things on our plates. The only purées he has ever had are fruit purée in his porridge or Weetabix, or as a snack when we’re out somewhere. Feeding Toby the way we do means we have happily been able to take him to restaurants and cafés knowing he can share our meals and do so without me having a meltdown about the mess.

I’m sure in the next few months Toby will get even better at feeding himself. We’ll start using plates and cutlery more and I’m sure he’ll get the hang of those too. Weaning seems to be such an emotive subject at the moment but to be honest I don’t think it really matters how you choose to feed your child – as long as you are feeding them and they’re happy (and you’re happy) then I’m sure they’ll be just fine. By they time they’re five no-one is going to care whether they were spoon fed or put every morsel they ever ate in their mouth on their own. As with so many things in the last year, we found a way that works for us and I’m happy with that.

I’d love to hear about your weaning experiences, especially if you did a bit of a combination like us – I’m sure we’re not the only ones who have made it up as we went along!

3 July , 20143 July , 2014 - Sarah 4 Comments

Baby swimming with Konfidence and Turtle Tots

I have been taking Toby to Turtle Tots swimming classes since he was about four months old. We’ve had our ups and downs with it but overall it’s been a great experience. We’ve just finished our Level 3 block of classes (well, there is one more class to go when we go back after the summer holidays) and we’ve signed up for Level 4 which is the last level of baby swimming before moving on to the toddler class. We’ve also been using Toby’s swimming kit from Konfidence for the last couple of months which I reviewed here.

So, after eight months of swimming what has Toby learnt so far? The Turtle Tots classes have been great and our instructor Amanda is fantastic. Each class involves lots of songs and games to keep the babies engaged and interested and each class builds on the previous ones. Since his first lesson when Toby started by getting used to having water splashed on his face he now goes underwater several times a lesson (and swims back up to the surface on his own), he can hold on to the side of the pool on his own (and climb out with a tiny bit of help), he can splash into (and under the water) on his own from the side and we’re working on him being able to turn himself round underwater and get back to the side. He can float on his back with just a little support of his head from me, he can kick his legs as I swim him along, and he’s just starting to get the hang of moving himself along with a short woggle under each arm and no help from me! All pretty impressive for a baby who doesn’t turn one until next week I reckon! We even got chance to have an underwater photo shoot to capture Toby’s baby swimming experience (although somehow the photos came out looking nothing like him!).

The main aim of Turtle Tots baby swimming programme is to teach babies water confidence and essential life-saving skills. Toby is by no means drown-proof but I’m fairly sure if he fell in water he’d manage to get himself back up to the surface at least. For me though, taking Toby to classes with Turtle Tots from such a young age has given me confidence to take him in the water that I perhaps wouldn’t have had on my own. I certainly don’t think I’d be doing submersions with him on my own if I didn’t know what I was doing! Now I would happily take Toby swimming on my own and practice all the things we’ve been doing in class. It was quite funny when we took him in the pool on holiday – there were quite a lot of amazed stares from other people in the pool as I put my eleven month old baby under the water and let go!!

If I’m honest, it’s still a bit hit and miss as to whether Toby actually likes being in the pool or not. I usually count it as a good lesson if we get through it without any crying! I don’t think it’s being in the water that he doesn’t like as such but there are so many things that can affect how he gets on from week to week – if he’s a bit tired or hungry that doesn’t help, if he’s teething then he tends to be a bit unhappy too (especially on his back), or the big one for Toby seems to be if he gets cold. We swim in a warm water pool which is supposed to be heated to 32° but sometimes it’s a bit less than that. Wearing his Konfidence Babywarma makes a big difference too but sometimes my skinny wee boy just gets a bit cold (and actually shivers) and he just doesn’t like it that much! I’m hoping that as he gets bigger he might be able to tolerate the colder water a bit better.

I would totally recommend baby swimming lessons if you have the opportunity to do them – I will say that they are fairly expensive when compared to just taking your baby to the pool on your own but worth every penny for the tuition and support that you get. We’ve been very lucky in that Toby’s grandparents paid for the first two blocks of lessons and then we were able to do the third block as part of our role as Konfidence Swimologists.

I’ll be keeping you updated on Toby’s progress in the pool. I really want to keep him going to swimming lessons until he is able to swim on his own. And with my massively long skinny baby, who knows? Maybe we’ve got the next Michael Phelps on our hands!

17 June , 20142 July , 2016 - Sarah 2 Comments

Toby is eleven months old

We’re a little bit late this month – Toby actually turned eleven months old when we were in France last week. I can’t believe in less than a month I’ll have a one year old baby!

I haven’t weighed or measured Toby this month but he is definitely still growing. I’ve just had to put him into bigger sleepsuits as his toes were getting squashed in the bottom of his old ones. All his clothes now are 12-18 months but I’m starting to find that a lot of things are too big round the waist and the sleeves too long but the smaller sizes aren’t long enough. The perils of having a tall baby I suppose!

This month’s major development has to be standing up! Toby can now pull himself to standing easily using his cot or the play pen (or anything he can get his hands on really) and once he’s stood up he’s fairly stable and can just hold on with one hand. He’s started cruising along the edge of his play pen too. Weirdly though he doesn’t want to stand up at all when we’re holding him, only when he’s pulled himself up on his own! There were a few tumbles and bumped heads when Toby first started pulling himself up but he seems to have worked out how to sit back down without too much of a bang now. He can also get himself from crawling to sitting now so he’s can really move wherever he wants to. This means he’s much happier to play on his own for a while as he doesn’t get stuck in one position and need help to move. I love seeing him getting more independent although it is sometimes a pain when he wants to explore and gets into everything he shouldn’t!

We’ve had a little bit of a break from teething this month – Toby now has four teeth on top and three on bottom. We did think the other bottom one was coming at the same time as its partner but it hasn’t made an appearance yet. With teeth though has come a new problem – Toby has taken to biting us! I don’t think he is doing it with any intention of hurting us but it really does when he gives you a good nip, and I’ve got the bruises to prove it! I can usually tell when a bite might be coming though and make sure I stop Toby and and we’re trying to teach him ‘no’, although with limited success so far!

Of course this month also saw Toby’s first foreign holiday and he was great the whole time. He coped especially well with the three day drive to get there and the two day drive to get home. We had a few crying episodes when he had just woken up and he had to wait for us to get to the next services but for the most part he did really well. Sleep was a bit hit and miss, he woke up at least once most nights but he settled back to sleep OK most of the time. Since we came home though sleep hasn’t been so good – the last couple of nights Toby has woken up crying and taken ages to settle again. He seems to be OK when I pick him up and give him a cuddle but as soon as I put him back in the cot he just starts screaming, and I mean really screaming. I have a feeling he might have a bit of an ear infection so if tonight is no better I’m going to take him to the doctor’s to get checked out. Fingers crossed he gets over what ever it is soon though.

Other than that my little monkey is still showing his personality every day. After mastering saying ‘Dada’ (and not saying much else for a few weeks) he is now babbling even more and making a few more sounds. No Mama yet though… He was copying Barry and my dad shaking their heads on holiday too which he thought was very funny. And I think lastly, my favourite development this month is that Toby has developed his cuddling technique! For a while now he has kind of snuggled into my neck when I pick him up but now he has started putting his arms round my neck too. It’s so cute!

So that’s my little boy; eleven months old and less than a month to go until his very first birthday.

30 May , 20142 August , 2017 - Sarah 8 Comments

Review: Konfidence baby swimming kit

You may have read my post a few weeks ago about how we have been chosen to be Konfidence Swimologists. As part of our role as ambassadors Toby was sent some Konfidence baby swimming kit to try out and now we’ve been using it for a few weeks I thought it was time I shared my thoughts with you.