Product review - Eating equipment

As our son grows we find we must purchase new products to accompany his growing skills. As we have found it hard to choose the right ones we thought it would be fun to share our review of products we have tried and tested. This post looks at the products we have used concerning mealtimes - from bottle to bowl.

MAM teets

When our son was born we made the decision to breastfeed him. We had also discussed me going back to week one morning a week starting when he was around 10 weeks. This meant we had to decide on a feeding method for those hours I wouldn't be around to feed him. I had always liked Avent feeding systems so we went ahead and got a breast pump and bottles. Firstly, expressing the milk was quite uncomfortable as I had to lean forward and at an angle and after a while it got very tiring. secondly, our guy was having non of it when it came to taking milk from the Avent bottle. Avent have now made a new system which allows mum to sit back while she is expressing and bottles that help to blend breast and bottle feeding. However, I had my pump and was not about to go and buy another so I made do. For our baby boy we searched the shelves to find something that resembled his normal milk packaging and came across MAM. The teets are softer and shaped in a more maternal way. They were a huge hit and we had no further problems. 

When it came time to start solids I investigated spoons and bowls. All the spoons seemed so big for such a little mouth and it is very uncomfortable opening your mouth really wide for each bite. We decided to opt for a small coffee/tea spoon. It was metal and had a short handle - the perfect size for our sons little hands. He was able to grip it comfortably and we made sure we chose one that was well rounded so there was no chance of hurting his mouth when we fed him.

MAM bowl

The bowl was a little more tricky. To start with we just used a lid of his bottle which we could sterilise but as he got bigger we needed to get him an appropriate bowl. We tried some plastic dishes but they were so deep he had trouble getting near the food. In the end we chose a MAM bowl which had a sucker to keep it on the tray of the highchair or table. Although the sucker is quite rubbish and so far our boy has managed to unsuck it every meal, the bowl is shallow and has one edge slightly deeper which helps him to get food onto his spoon. 

Doidy Cup

To accompany the bowl and spoon we needed a cup. We had tried a small shot glass when he was small and he had been confident using it but the fear of him breaking the glass and cutting himself was too much so we decided to look for something else. A friend of mine actually provided us with our cup as a lovely gift for our boy and it is perfect. It is called a Doidy cup and has a slanted shape making it easy for the child to drink alone with fewer spills. It is a winner in our house.

Travel high chair

As for the highchair, we decided that mealtime is family time and we wanted our boy to join us for meals at the table. This led us to purchase a travel high chair which fits securely onto one of our dining room chairs allowing our son to sit at the table with us. It has been great and also perfect for visiting people or eating out. 

If you have any best products you'd like to share we are always on the lookout for recommendations and would love to hear from you. Just leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Bilingualism update

Our little man is one now and has begun to make sounds that sound like words. 

After the normal dada's and mama's we've had a series of English words such as more, door, and water. He also makes a couple of English animal sounds (horse, dog, sheep).

We spent a few weeks in England over Christmas and I noticed a new understanding of the English language from him. He began to understand a few simple commands or words in a sentence and often repeated a sound that resembled the word we were using. When we returned to Brazil I noticed he was understanding well in English but not in Portuguese. He seemed aware that there were two languages being used but he responded only to English. Now we have been back several weeks I see he is beginning to understand some Portuguese too. When we  are out people always talk to him and he seems to understand when they say bye.

As we only speak English with him at home we expected him to speak English first. So far he is meeting our expectations and his language development doesn't seem less than monolingual children of the same age.

We are prepared for his language development to be slower than his peers but maybe we will see it only in Portuguese. I'm also sure we will see a big difference when he begins nursery later this year where he will be surrounded by Portuguese and will learn quickly that he must use that language to be understood.

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Snow day (or rainy day) activities

England is deep in snow and we are here sweltering in hot sun and stormy skies. One thing in common - what to do with your little ones when they can't go outside anymore? 

Today it was first too hot and sunny to play out then came a very wet and windy storm so no outside time for us today. Instead we decided to gather all those plastic bottles we had lying around after Christmas and make some fun toys to keep us entertained. 

We made a great game of water filled bottle skittles simply adding a small amount of water to 6 similar sized plastic bottles then using our small plastic balls we had lots of fun rolling the balls and knocking down the skittles (just make sure the lids are on very tight). 

Our second game was shaky bottles. We filled the bottles with different household dry foods to make an array of interesting sounding shakers. Our favorites; black beans and rice. 

What's kept your little people busy on those long afternoons?

Tantrums

And the tantrums begin.....

Whoever said the terrible twos was off by a year - either side! 

We have already begun what is likely to be a two year stint of tantrums. We have a very headstrong young man on our hands and if its not quite how he sees it should be, we hear all about it.

So how do you handle this?

Yesterday I was driving through the village and I saw a mum walking home from creche with her tiny son. He must have been around a year old as he was waddling around in the fashion of one who has just begun to find his feet. The mum took his hand when she saw my car coming and I slowed up. The boy immediately tried to snatch his hand away and screamed at the top of his lungs. Can you believe the mum let go of his hand and he walked right in front of my car! Luckily I had slowed right down and as I was watching the situation unfold I stopped the car so he was unhurt.

This situation should never be allowed to happen but it occurs so fast and the scream does it. We let them do it their way. However, you can't allow your child to be in danger. 

We have discussed this phase quite a bit to find a way to deal with it within our family. Basically there are things our little guy cannot do. That's it. No negotiation and no giving into tantrums. These things include anything that can endanger him or behaviour that hurts somebody. Also things like brushing his teeth and getting dressed are not optional, they are part of life and like it or not we must get on and do them. For everything else we have begun to give him choices. So, for example, getting dressed. He has the choice of the blue shorts or the red shorts, the white t-shirt or the yellow t-shirt. We only give two choices so he is able to make a decision and it is a choice controlled by us. He is not allowed to choose shorts when it's -10 outside so we offer him the choice of two pairs of trousers.

We try to be fair with his time. If we are going to do something with him we make sure there is plenty of time for him to complete the task. This is only reasonable. Imagine starting something and not being able to finish it ever. This will teach you to never begin anything. One example is that he has started to enjoy washing up with us. So, when there is plenty of time we allow him to have a bowl of water and three spoons or pots for him to wash up. We leave him to wash up for as long as he needs or until he is throwing water around (unacceptable behaviour) then the activity finishes. We control how many items he will wash and how much water he will have (only what each of us can control). 

This doesn't stop tantrums as they are an important milestone in development. It is how your child learns limits and how to behave in society. This method does help to reduce the number of tantrums and also you can feel confident that you are giving fair expectations and raising an independent person who will be able to make reasonable decisions in life.

What do you think and how have you dealt (or plan to deal) with tantrums?

Holiday sleep – before, during and after the trip

As many of us have travelled over the holidays I felt it may be of interest to write about sleep while travelling. 

Most of us find it strange to sleep in a new place but what must it be like for your baby who has barely left their own home and is suddenly in a house full of strangers having to sleep in a bed that isn’t their own?

This is how our little guy coped and helped us guide him through the toughest sleep moments so we could all enjoy our holiday abroad.

As you’ve heard me say many times before, preparation is key. When purchasing our flights we had in mind that our boy would be having his night sleep on the plane and would need as little time travelling as possible. We managed to get a flight that left before bed time and I planned to put him to bed on the first flight and gracefully carry him onto the second flight where I imagined him sleeping until the breakfast came round in the morning. Well, almost. The only problem was that I didn’t think through security and second check in etc. Poor little man had quite a shock when he woke up away from the comfortable mummy to be hanging mid air facing strangers as we went through the security checks. After a few tears he settled down but decided airports are far too exciting a place to be able to go off to sleep. By the time we boarded the second (and longest) flight he was exhausted and wanting more milk (not part of his routine). Luckily I had planned for such an event and as he wasn’t to be provided with food on the flight I had packed extra milk and any snacks I thought he could eat on a plane. He slept well on the long haul flight and we arrived not too groggy the next day. 

The first night at Grandma and Grandad’s was, as expected, a little rocky. A couple of hours before bed we went up to his room with his home bedtime toy and cover and played there for 10 minutes getting used to it. I showed him where mummy and daddy would be sleeping and although he’s too young to understand this, it’s still important to explain things to him. That night he took a little longer to go to sleep than he would have at home and woke a couple of times during the night. Here we remained consistent with our home routine of lying him back down being sure to reassure him as he was in new surroundings. After that each night got better.

Then we went to visit his aunt and uncle. Another new house and another new bed. We brought his travel tent with us so he would have a familiar place to sleep but even with this it can be tricky for him to rest easy in a new house with new sounds. We stuck to our routine as before and had two ok nights with him.

We returned to his grandparents when he caught a cold and this disrupted sleep again. We were conscious that his mouth was dry in the night and that he needed water a couple of times. We maintained a relaxed but firm approach throughout the few nights he was unwell and took turns to get up with him so we could also enjoy our holidays. One great thing when you travel as a family or to family is that there are always plenty of people to keep an eye on the kids while you have 40 min kip on the sofa! Our boy became quite clingy while he was under the weather but we tried not to pander to him and kept him as closely to his routine as possible.

After we returned he caught a bad flu and spent a few days being up at night and generally quite poorly but we again maintained our routine and gave him more comfort and time to re-adapt to life at home.

With careful planning and consistency we managed to have a relaxing fun holiday with calm flights and a smooth transition back to home-life.

We hope you all had wonderful holidays and wish you all a very Happy New Year – 2013