Monthly Archives: February 2015

Sharing the feeding – Haberman Suckle Feeder *Review

Posted in Feeding by

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When baby boy was a newborn he suffered terribly with colic and wind. Breastfeeding hadn’t worked out for us and bottle feeding wasn’t going much better. Baby boy would cough, splutter and dribble so much milk that we would often have to change his clothes after a feed. Within half an hour he would be in visible pain. We later found out that he was suffering from silent reflux alongside the colic!

It was at the Baby and Toddler Show at Event City in Manchester that we found a solution to our feeding problem. I was walking past the Haberman stand and caught the end of a demonstration. The demonstrator was showing a young woman a bottle. It didn’t look like any other bottle I had seen before. It was a Haberman Suckle Feeder and with its curvy lines and bright green detailing it looked slightly space age. I was intrigued and wondered what was so amazing about this bottle. The answer was impressive and so I bought 6 of them.

The Haberman Suckle Feeder has an innovative design that uses a closed teat. This means that once milk enters the teat it does not flow back into the bottle unless it is released back in by you and so the teat stays full at any angle. This meant that baby boy could be fed in a more upright position which helped him to feed more comfortably. The closed teat system is also good for reducing wind and colic by ensuring that air bubbles are filtered back into the bottle. The really good thing about the Haberman Suckle Feeder though is the way in which is encourages a baby to feed.

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Baby boy had to use his jaw, tongue and mouth to actually suckle the teat to get the milk. This meant that he could stop and rest when he wanted without his mouth still being flooded with milk. Unless he was suckling no milk came out. I could hold the bottle upside down and not a drip would escape! It is this technology that makes it perfect for parents who want to combine breast and bottle feeding (be that expressed milk or formula). Babies do not have to learn a new way of feeding. They use the same suckle action as they do on the breast. The bottle also allows for the flow of milk to be varied just by turning the bottle. No need for different sized teats! If you want Dad to share the feeding without confusing baby then this could be the bottle for you.

From the first use of this bottle we noticed a huge improvement in baby boys feeding. He no longer coughed and spluttered because he was in control of his feeding. It was a lifesaver.

Baby boy is now no longer using bottles but I would have no hesitation buying these again in the future if I needed to.

All thoughts and opinions in this post are my own.


Image credit – http://www.habermanbaby.com

1 year old!

Posted in Parenting by

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A few weeks ago baby boy turned one! We celebrated with a trip to the aquarium and a small gathering of friends and family. Baby boy was amazed at the shimmery fish in the bright tanks. At one point it took all my strength to stop him from launching himself headfirst into the water with them. The Sharks were not as appealing to him as they were to Mr K and I but he found the piranhas hilarious. He had a lovely day. It was nice to spend some quality family time together.

I’m still finding it hard to believe that he is one though. He is growing up so quickly. It’s as if overnight my baby disappeared and in his place is a little boy.

He seems so much more independent already and is learning new skills everyday. This morning I found him trying to put a sock on his foot! His version was more like tapping his foot with the sock but the intention was there. He is interested in everything around him and even mundane objects excite him. His face lit up at the sight of a street sign whilst on a walk recently and a trip to ikea earlier in the week was just full of pointing and gazes of awe!

I love these new developments but at the same time I miss those baby days. I believe that as parents we should be able to decide whether or not our children turn one. Personally I would keep baby boy my little baby forever. I mean just think, once they’ve had that first birthday it’s a slippery slope to turning two!

Do you think children grow up too quickly?

Image credit – http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2013/03/15/dcmetrotheaterarts-is-one-year-old-today/

Cloth nappies are gross! Aren’t they?

Posted in Reusable Nappies by

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A common word used by many a parent (and non parent) when they hear that a baby is wearing a cloth nappy – euwww! Is it often followed by a question or remark about poo. Some common ones include ‘you put poo in your washing machine? Gross’ and ‘yuck, I would hate to deal with the poo’. I am therefore making it my mission this week to dispel the ‘cloth nappy means more poo dealings’ myth.

Myth No. 2 – cloth nappies are gross

Have you ever had to deal with a ‘poonami’? You know, the one when no amount of baby wipes in the world would clean up the mess and you find yourself running with baby at arms length to rinse them under the shower! We have had a few of them. In fact the first time it happened Mr K ended up cutting baby boy’s vest off rather than deal with pulling it off him. I have to admit that I found it hilarious. The truth however is that baby boy was wearing a disposable nappy every time there was a ‘poonami’ incident. I can honestly say that I have never had to deal with one when he has been wearing a cloth nappy. The containment in my opinion is far superior and so straight away I would say that for this reason alone you are dealing with less and not more poo with cloth nappies.

Now, when changing a disposable nappy the nappy is just rolled up, put in a bag and thrown away. A cloth nappy is obviously different in the fact that it needs to be washed. This is where I say (very loudly) that I do not just put the dirty nappy straight into my washing machine! I use liners in the nappies. When I change a nappy, the dirty liner is flushed down the toilet and the nappy is put in the bucket ready to be washed. See, no poo in the washing machine! Of course some gets in but it is a washing machine – it is designed to clean. I refer back to the ‘poonami’ incidents here. If your child’s clothes get a leak on them do you just throw them away or wash them? Most of us wash them of course which is exactly the same as washing the dirty nappies.

There is no touching the nappies once they have gone into the bucket either. The bucket is lined with a mesh bag (no more wet pailing nowadays) and so when you are ready to put a nappy wash on you just take the bag out of the bucket and pop in straight into the machine. Simple!

Cloth nappies are gross? Quite simply no! I could preach about disposable nappies sitting in a bin for 2 weeks but as many of you already know we do still use the odd disposable when the need arises and so that would be hypocritical. I do feel though that once you have seen cloth in action you could never think that cloth nappies are gross. A little bit of education goes a long way and if people knew how easy cloth nappies are maybe more people would give them a go.

Have you noticed a difference between the reliability of cloth over disposable nappies?

Image credit – http://community.babycenter.com/post/a49325923/how_do_you_respond_to_the_thats_disgusting_comments

Valentines Day – it’s growing on me!

Posted in Lifestyle by

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I have never really been a fan of Valentine’s Day. It always seemed to be rather unnecessary and overly commercial! I mean, why do you need just one day to show someone that you love them? Shouldn’t you do that every day?

Since I met Mr K though my thoughts on Valentine’s Day have thawed over the years. Don’t worry, I’m not about to get mushy and say that it is because I met the love of my life etc (I did but that’s not the point). My thoughts have thawed because even though you should let your other half know that you love them every day it doesn’t mean that you do. Let’s face it, life just gets in the way. That doesn’t mean that I don’t know that Mr K loves me or that I go around totally ignoring him for 364 days of the year. It just means that for one day a year it is actually quite nice to make a real effort to show someone just how much they mean to you. A nice card and a box of chocolates go a long way.

So today in my newly thawed out loved upness I presented Mr K with a thoughtful card and a gift pack of specialist beer (I know the way to his heart).

I myself received nothing!

Do you agree with Valentine’s Day?

Image credit – http://itthing.com/10-interesting-and-weird-facts-about-valentines-day

Reusable nappies – some myths dispelled

Posted in Reusable Nappies by

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I have just put a load of nappies in the washing machine and I was reminded of a comment that someone said to me when I first started using cloth nappies on baby boy. “I haven’t got time to use reusable nappies” she said, rolling her eyes, “far too much washing involved”. At the time I nodded and said something along the lines of I hoped that I would be able to keep on top of it all. 9 months down the line we are still using them and I have realised that the ‘no time to use them’ comment was just plain wrong. I have decided therefore to try to dispel some of the myths surrounding reusable nappies. Over the course of the next few weeks I will try to give my opinion on why some of the wide held opinions on reusable nappies are outdated.

Myth No. 1 – reusable nappies are time consuming

Once you have a baby a vast majority of your time is taken up with changing either wet or poopy nappies. It is a fact! Babies can produce an unbelievable amount of poop. It doesn’t matter if they have already filled 3 nappies that day, they can still produce more. Therefore whether you are using disposable or reusable nappies you are still spending a significant amount of time changing nappies. In my opinion modern cloth nappies are just as quick to put on as a disposable nappy. Or in the case of baby boy, both types take just as long to put on once the wriggling, flipping over, crawling away, being brought back resulting in a tantrum is all over! His night nappies may take a tiny bit longer to put on but not a significant amount longer I have to say.

I know that some people worry about the time it takes to wash and dry reusable nappies. Well I don’t stand at the sink hand washing them let me tell you and the days of boil washing are over. I use an amazing contraption called a washing machine! In all seriousness though the nappies just go into the washing machine with a cold rinse at the beginning, a wash and then an extra rinse at the end. I usually put them in over night so I can just put them on the line or the clothes maid (depending on the season and the weather) in the morning. I usually wash a load every other night, sometimes every 3 nights depending on how many nappies have been used. It really doesn’t take up much time at all. I promise!

I do worry that people think that using cloth nappies will take too much time. It would be a real shame for people not to try them just for this reason. Modern cloth nappies are simple and with the excellent washing machines we have today they really are no extra work than a disposable.

Do you use cloth nappies? Do you find them time consuming?

Image credit – http://www.pinterest.com