5 Gifts to Give to New Parents

Let's face it, receiving gifts is one of the biggest pleasures for new parents. Ah, oh, erm, I mean other than the bundle of joy you've just popped unto the world. [*looks around*, did I get away with it? Phew]. 

But sometimes those well-intentioned and generous gifts can be a little…well, vanilla. A bit meh. I was given countless cutesy bunnies and dozens of babygros that would have been rendered useless by all the family hand-me-downs I also received. So the gifts were put to good use by being exchanged for credit to buy stuff I actually needed or wanted. Ungrateful, maybe. Practical, yes. But I figured it would have been more ungrateful to use said onesie once and then relegate it to storage forevermore. 

So hopefully this list will give you a little head-start on what a mama actually needs, and will win you brownie points for ingenuity. If you get an actual brownie do pass it on. Sharing is caring after all. 

1 - Complete Works of **** - I'm loving the Winnie The Pooh complete works I was given and read a passage to Bean each night. He's much too young to understand but will still get so many benefits from our little bedtime tradition. Pick your favourite author from your childhood - Dahl, Hargreaves, Tolstoy - and get a really pukka set or beautifully printed edition. Cue years and years of happiness and fond memories.

2 - Door Letters / Name Plaque - Bean was given a really beautiful set of letters which adorn his door. I feel for the person who bought them as he has the Longest Name Ever, but I absolutely love them and they are perfick for setting the scene to his cosy nursery.

3 - Ewan the Dream Sheep - seriously cult product. You will get major kudos for this. Not only are you giving an awesome sound machine but you are also promising the gift of sleep. Just. Epic.

4 - Keepsake Box - Most retailers do some sort of keepsake box and, really, most will fit the bill and please Ma. You could even craft it up and give it a bit more bling or personality if that's your thing. For everyone else (myself included) something personalised like this box from Not on the High Street is really striking and would mean a lot to any new mama.

5 - A really good quality blanket or muslin - and I mean really good quality. Something super soft and H-U-G-E in both cases. Even handmade if you can do that shizz. I have a Jojo's blanket that gets serious mileage and I adore the super sized muslins from Aden and Anais. Pricey but worth it.

And to get a Brucie Bonus take round a ready meal when you visit. Seriously. No new parent has time to cook - someone I know lived exclusively off biscuits for the first 10 days as they couldn't bring themselves to visit the shops. WTF?

What do you think of the above - any classics in there that you would be lost without? Anything I've missed? Make sure you let me know!

Anon

xxx Mama Mumbles xxx

Routines, I've had a few...

I wanted to write a post about the horny issue of routines, but I might have to leave that until I have a few more minutes to spare (also known as when the Bean is asleep and I can actually dedicate my attention to one thing in earnest).

So in the meantime, here's the current timeline we are following. I aim for this each day, but as we go to classes at varying times each day, I can't be too rigid about it. If I get it 80% on target then I can be guaranteed a happy, cheeky bubba.

Bean is currently 20 weeks (just over 4.5 months) and we've been following this for ooh maybe 4-5 weeks now… perhaps a little more!


7:30am - Feed, usually a breastfeed.
9am - 9:30am - Nap, back in cot
10:15am - if we're going to a class, we'll leave around now, otherwise nap until:
11am - Feed (classes permitting), usually 9oz from the bottle
1pm - Nap, ideally back in cot
3pm - Feed, usually 9oz from the bottle
5pm - a little catnap of no longer than 45 mins
6pm - General distractions to get through the tortuous hour before bedtime routine.

[Any tips on what to do for that last witching hour??! Usually we go for a wander round the garden, watch a bit of telly (argh!) or do some bouncing in his doorway bouncer. Anything to fend off the CrankyPants.]

Then the bedtime routine is pretty fixed:

7pm - Feed, usually 5oz
7:20pm - into bath. Let him have a massive kick around and wear himself out
7:30pm - massage with the lights down low and singing the same 'lullabies'*
7:45pm - into PJs and sleeping back. Dummy in and story (we're favouring the Mr Men series at the moment).
7:50pm - final 'lullaby', cuddle and lights out.

We put him to sleep with a white noise machine on (he currently favours 'Calm Waves'… !) and a star projection. I'll write more about our night-time arsenal a bit later because we do have a few tricks, but these are the most important.

We'll then wake him for a feed about 10pm which at the moment is 9oz, but I think I may start cutting back on this as he's taking less and less in the morning now.

I am blessed with a boy who sleeps through, and has done since about 8 weeks. We had to do some dummy-training around 12 weeks as he was waking up pretty frequently looking for a dummy but other than that he's been a delight.

I'm a big BIG fan of the 10pm, I'm certain that this is one of the reasons he goes so long. For us it's less about a dreamfeed and more about a feed. If he stays asleep, great, but 90% of the time he's properly awake. I know a few of my friends haven't got on with it so well but I'd really recommend trying it out and giving it time to stick. There's lots of different versions of this feed, in terms of how you handle it (fully awake or treat it like a night feed etc etc) so just experiment with what works for you.

Right anon, dear hearts, the grocery shop calls.

xxx Mama Mumbles xxx

* I don't actually know any lullabies, so we do Jazz classics instead, usually starting with a bit of Fleetwood Mac and finishing with Mama Cass. Whevs.