Snoozeshade Plus – a must-have for all new mummy’s!!

One of the first products I bought as a new mummy was my Snoozeshade Plus. For those of you who haven’t heard of this before, the Snoozeshade is described as the “sleeping on-the-go solution that mums and babies have been waiting for”.  What does that mean? i hear you say?!  well, put simply, it’s a breathable black-out cover that can fit over your baby’s buggy or pram and by providing them with a dark environment, to encourage your little one to sleep better. What a great idea, but does it work??

Well, yes.  I purchased the Snoozeshade Plus which is a larger version of the original Snoozeshade design.  This fits well over the Bugaboo Chameleon pram that I am using and I can honestly say that this is a product that I use every day with my little one!

The Snoozeshade website claims that this product:

• helps maintain your child’s sleep schedule when you are away from home;
• encourages good sleep habits for even the most alert baby; and
• protects your baby’s delicate sun from the sun with UPF 50+

Snoozeshade Plus being demonstrated on a lovely sunny day!! (LO is asleep in there, promise!!)

Whilst in those early, foggy days of motherhood I didn’t really have a routine at all with LO, if we did venture out of the house in the car or with LO in the pram, then I would put the Snoozeshade Plus over LO when she was sleeping.  I noticed fairly early on that when she would stir from her sleep, she could sometimes re-settle herself back off for some more zzzzz’s. I think the Snoozeshade was particularly helpful when I was taking LO with me round shops with bright ceiling lights because from her angle, when she woke up, she was facing a lot of lights staring right back at her – not something I would particularly like to see, and certainly not something to lull me into a restful snooze-fest, but the Snoozeshade really worked in terms of sheltering her from those bright lights and allowing me to finish the supermarket shop without a screaming baby – what a result!

As we started to work out a little routine between us and I had an idea of when LO “should” be sleeping, I started to use the Snoozeshade as a cue for LO to go to sleep.  If we were out or due to be going out, and LO was due a nap, I would pop the Snoozeshade on her whilst she was awake.  Sometimes I left it completely dark and other times I would open up the front of the shade so that LO could see out a bit but still be in a darker environment.  But it works!!  This is something I still do with LO on a daily basis.

We recently had a weeks holiday (as much of a holiday as you can have with a 4 month old!) in Cyprus when it was very hot. And this is where the Snoozeshade really came into its’ own.  With UPF50+, I had comfort that when out walking with LO, she was able to sleep soundly without being blinded by the sun, and with the added protection against the sun’s harmful rays from the built-in UPF in the Snoozeshade’s fabric!

The Snoozeshade has been such a success for us, that I have become a bit of a Snoozeshade pimp to my friends!  As a result of seeing (or should I say hearing!) my LO snoring not-so-quietly under her Snoozeshade, a number of friends have purchased their own to use.  In fact, at a christening we went to last week, ALL of the baby buggies had Snoozeshades!!  Clearly my pimping is working!

So what is it that made me buy this product as opposed to other like-products which are available on the market?    Here are the things that I really like about the Snoozeshade Plus:

1. It’s got a sneak-a-peek zip at the top which means that you can discreetly see in to check on your baby without having to undo the whole thing and disturb their sleep. I use this when I’m out and about to check when LO has actually nodded off.
2. The front part of the Snoozeshade has a see-through panel for your LO to see out from if they are not sleeping but you want them shaded from light or they aren’t quite ready to nod off.  As the whole Snoozeshade is made from a double layer of fabric, you can just unzip the window on the front for this option to work.  Simple eh?
3. it is really easy to attach – even for a sleep deprived mummy!  there are plenty of velcro strips all around the Snoozeshade means that you can adapt the product to adapt where your LO is.  I have used our Snoozeshade on the car seat, in the Bugaboo, on a lightweight stroller whilst on hols,  on a bassinette on a plane and even when LO had to be in hospital in her cot bed!

So before I bring you on to the important topic of price, I should let you know that you can also get the Snoozeshade to specifically fit a car seat, a smaller pram/buggy (the original Snoozeshade) and even for double buggies!  and soon – for your travel cot – an absolute must-have if you are away from home and sharing a room with your LO and do not wish to have to stumble around in the dark when LO has gone to sleep!

The Snoozeshade Plus has a RRP of £29.99 although if you spend a few minutes on the net you might find some retailers offering discounts.  For more information on any of the Snoozeshade products, take a peak at the website here.   And then get buying – you won’t regret it!

Love Rookie Mummy xx

An Apology

Sorry to anyone that might be reading this, for my last post which in retrospect, was a bit of a rant!  That said, i stand by everything that I said.

I really think having LO on a routine came into its’ own following our recent (and first) trip abroad to Cyrpus.  We went for a week and returned late on Saturday night and I know I am biased because LO is my LO but she really coped well!

I heard quite a few horror stories before we left, particularly about the flight but LO was so well behaved on the way out.  The week before we left, I nudged her routine forward 15 minutes every couple of days so that when we left Heathrow, we were effectively already on Cyprus time and didn’t have to make any other changes to her routine.

We were lucky enough to be staying in a very nice villa, owned by friends, with a private pool and lots of space.  LO had her own room and we blacked out the windows so when she went for naps, she wasn’t disturbed by the bright sun.  I would go so far as to say that she slept better there than she did at home!

She had her first dip in a pool. Mixed reaction to that – mind you, it was only 24 degrees but after the initial shock she seemed to quite enjoy it.  I think her favourite activity was chilling out on her own sun lounger in the shade.  She seems quite happy don’t you think??

I tried to follow Jo Tantum’s advice and take a few key things to enable the routine for LO to continue, regardless as to where we were so we packed her Jungle Gym (very good idea, she loves that thing!) her Rodney cuddly toy (no, I have no idea how it got that name) and some rattles for her to try and eat.  I dread to think what the customs officials might have thought if they decided to take a peak inside.

Controversial Stuff (in the world of mummy and baby) – Part I

Since my LO was about 4 weeks old, I decided (together with my husband) that we would try and implement a routine rather than the demand-led feeding that we had been following up until then.

For those of you who know me, will know that I like to research everything!  The whole shopping experience of buying for a new baby was a whole new world of researching for me but that is a story for another day. The point is, I decided, after much reading, surfing the net and talking to others, that putting LO on a routine was the best thing for us a family.

One of my best mates gave me a book by Jo Tantum called Baby Secrets and told me that she had followed the principles in the book with her own two children. This made my eyes light up for a couple of reasons – one, I trust my best mate implicitly and so if she likes this approach, the chances are that I’m going to like it too.  Secondly, a memory immediately came to mind of being at said best mate’s house and listening on the monitor to her little girl who had been put to bed some time earlier, singing away to herself quite happily.  When I questioned best mate (who I will now refer to as “BM” in my true lawyer styley) about this she told me that her LO would always go to bed happily and amuse herself until she fell asleep.  Hmmm, I thought.  This sounds amazing!  So when she handed me the Baby Secrets book, I scurried away and started reading through like a possessed woman.

I realised fairly early on in my pregnancy that following a routine with a  baby -v- demand feeding is pretty controversial. It’s up there with breastfeeding -v- formula feeding and the big social new-mummy-no-no of using wipes on your newborn as opposed to trying to scrape off meconium with cotton wool. Anyway, I digress.  The point is, I knew that I was on tricky ground and would have to tread lightly in terms of who I told about our decision.  The NCT teacher had already made it perfectly clear to us that baby knows best and we should always follow their lead. She mentioned Gina Ford and then pulled a face as though she was going to projective vomit (she didn’t, I think it was just for dramatic effect).  My good friend and neighbour told me that her midwife had referred to Gina Ford as a witch!

Well, just as well I wasn’t following Gina Ford then hey!  But in true me style, I did read the Gina Ford book about having a contented baby.  I realised that whilst I understood and agreed with some of her principles and the reasoning behind them, I felt the routine to follow was too prescriptive for me.  And so, back I went to Jo’s book and I have been using this ever since.

LO is now 14 weeks old (where on earth does the time go!) and under the guidance of Jo and her book, I think that LO and I are doing ok together.

One of the most frequent questions that I get asked about LO is whether or not she is sleeping through the night or still waking me up frequently. I can now honestly say that she is mainly sleeping through the night!  The reason for moving to a routine was not so that I could answer this question so smugly (although I have to ‘fess it does give me a certain satisfaction!) but because (a) I’m sure both LO and I are benefitting from a longer period of uninterrupted sleep and (b) having a routine means that I am more confident in knowing why LO is crying when she does as I know when she is due a feed, when she is going to start getting tired, when she is likely to wake up etc.

And yet, despite LO getting great sleep at night, regular naps during the day, putting on weight as she is supposed to and being alert etc etc, to some observers,  you would think that I was regularly hanging LO out of the window Michael Jackson styley!  The Health Visitor who came round to see me whilst LO was having a nap was horrified that when LO woke up early, I didn’t immediately go in and when I did, I didn’t pick her up and bring her out of her cot, but left her in there and soothed her until she went back to sleep.

She suggested to me that I might want to try more “baby-led” care after I came back into the lounge after spending about 6 minutes soothing LO. Why?  I asked her.  Well, clearly that question was a difficult one as she wasn’t able to answer me other than to suggest she might be hungry.  Then followed a large cough and splutter as I confidently replied that I knew she wasn’t hungry as she wasn’t due a feed for another hour and a half.  Ooooh you sinful naughty mother!!!  I then found myself in a rather frosty exchange with said health visitor who only shut up about the apparent malnourished state of my starving baby when I explained that I knew LO wasn’t hungry as I had put my [clean and scrubbed with disinfectant] little finger in her mouth and she hadn’t tried to suck on it.    On mentioning this, I could see HV’s shoulders visibly relax and she shut her book and then got up to leave.  How ridiculous is that!  That HV had NEVER met my baby before and had been with me for about half an hour before making the very bold assertion that basically following a routine with my baby was wrong.  And that, quite frankly, really winds me up.

Unfortunately the HV isn’t the only one who feels compelled to make clear to me their own feelings about our choice of how to bring up our LO.  It has been suggested to me that by not picking my baby up when she cries, I’m not showing her enough love.  And also that I might want to try and have a  more “normal” life and stop working to a routine.  I have bit my tongue on many occasions as these kind of comments and others like them but now I’m starting to fight back.  And, as you can tell from this ranty style of posting, i’m getting a bit fed up with having to justify our choices to others.

So for the record, here is my own personal view on demand feeding -v- routine:

DO WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU AND YOUR BABY

Phew, glad I got that out of my system.  I realise and completely understand that routines for babies are not for everyone.  And do you know what? I’m ok with that.  I can talk about what I consider the potential benefits of a routine are, I can explain that I do pick my baby up when she is upset and crying but I don’t always do it immediately and I can justify why I put my baby to sleep in the dark as this actually helps re-create the environment where she grew for 9 months(!) but I’m tired of feeling like I have to.

So from now on, I’m not going to try and justify myself. I’m going to show people the video here of my happy little baby and ask them to enjoy watching her laugh as much as I do and leave it at that.

Tick Tock

I can’t believe how quickly time is passing me by and Amelie-Rose is literally growing before my very eyes.  I guess it is difficult to a certain extent for me to appreciate just how much she is growing as I am with her all the time, but I can tell by the fact that she continues to outgrow her clothes that I must be doing something right on the feeding front!

I don’t know how much she weighs at the moment as I’m a bit too much of a coward to go down to the health visitors clinic to get her weighed at the moment.  I always feel like I’m being judged there and find the questioning quite intrusive.  I am sure that isn’t the objective of the HVs (if it is, I would be intrigued to see their personal development plans to see just how exactly this is described Objective 1:  I will seek to develop my detective skills, focusing on how to make new mummys feel as insecure and as useless as possible.  Measure:  how many new mummys can I make cry this financial year – sorry I digress) but it certainly has that effect on me!  So for now,  I am content to know that Chunk (as I like to affectionately call her) is certainly living up to her name and is continuing to thrive.

We have had a number of small milestones recently. After spending the first couple of months of her life swaddled and cosy, we have now moved her into her very own Gro-bag.  When I first heard of these, I thought they were for hanging baskets.  Well, despite temptation to the contrary on occasions, I have no intention of hanging Amelie out in a basket with some pansies, and so for now, she is content to be chilling out in her new sleeping bag.

The other move is from the moses basket to her cot.  So far, touch wood, things have gone relatively smoothly, and as I type, said daughter is currently asleep in said cot, in said sleeping bag.  Result!

I would feel like an utter fake if I signed off this post without touching on the last few days, because if I was to read this post, I would probably assume that Amelie sleeps well, and mummy and daughter live a happy and calm life without any woes.  The reality is actually that both mummy and daughter have shed considerable tears between them over the last couple of days.

For Amelie, this was due to (not necessarily in this order): over-tiredness, wind, being hungry and being frustrated with mummy.  For mummy (that’s me), this was due to (and in this order) being frustrated with mummy for not being able to help Amelie or know exactly what to do, over-tiredness, being hungry (just started weight watchers, more about that another time) and wind – haha not the last one but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander…

I mention this because I have found the last couple of days particularly hard. I’ve not had time to do all the other things I’ve wanted to do, or tried to plan to do and that for me is incredibly frustrating.  I’m having to come to terms with the fact that for now, I am just debsthemummy and not debstheperson and certainly not debsthelawyer.

I wonder if in years to come Amelie will appreciate this transition that her mummy is going through?  I doubt it, not at least until she decides to have children of her own.  I hope that I am around then to help her and support her and just tell her that she is doing ok.

So for now, whilst I’m in this melancholy mood and thinking about how quickly the last 11 weeks have gone, just humour me and allow me to feel kinda sad but also incredibly proud that we have both survived this long )

I’ve got issues

Ever since I crashed my car into the height restriction barrier at the local rubbish dump and took out the barrier and the brand-new bike racks on our car, I’ve been having car-height issues.  I’ve noticed recently as I’ve been driving around car parks (as you do), that any car park with a low roof causes me to drive really slowly and kind of duck as I’m driving.

This is not good.

I went to Horsham last week to meet up with a lovely fellow mummy tweeter and my car-park-height issues nearly went into overdrive as I read the sign on entry into the car park telling me that after level 3, the height restrictions were further restricted and no 4 x 4′s should continue after that point.  So there I was in my 4 x 4, complete with slightly bent but repaired bike rack, cautiously getting nearer and nearer to level 3, and as I got nearer, the slower I drove and the more sick I felt.

I opened the sun roof so that I could then see up to see when I was going to collide with the impending lower roof.  It never happened of course but I have realised that this is now a big problem for me!

The local car park that I use for when I’m going into town as a height restriction of 1.83m and my car and bike rack fits under it.  So why do I still duck when going up the little ramps to the next level?

The worst car park for bringing out my issues is the John Lewis car park in Kingston.  My issues are not helped by my husband braking suddenly and smacking his hand against the steering wheel as we go to leave that car park just to make me think we are going to slice off the top of the car.  Every time he gets me.

I don’t really know why I am sharing this with you. I think it’s a form of therapy.  I’ve outed one of my many issues. It’s quite cathartic actually.  I might have a sneaky glass of wine to celebrate.

Spoilt Rotten

It was my birthday on Saturday and I was spoilt rotten.  First of all my husband did  both the night feeds for me so that all i had to do was wake up, express and sleep again.  A lovely present, despite the fact that the insomnia that I have seemed to have developed played havoc with this but the thought was there!

And then I got my first ever birthday card and present from my daughter – made me quite emotional!

 

What a lucky mummy I am!  And then, I got my present from James which was also very unexpected – I’m going to New York!  Not till March next year but I cannot wait and am very excited!  I’ve been to NY 3 times now and my partner in crime is one of my best mates and she is coming with me!  She has been in cahoots with my hubby to arrange the trip so it is all planned and I’m very happy.

My next thought was – but what about the little one?  I’m still feeding her at the moment and don’t suspect I will be by March next year, but I then did some quick mental arithmetic (which believe me, isn’t that quick anymore) to work out that she will be 9 months before I desert her for a long weekend in the city that never sleeps.  Does it make me a bad mummy for being excited about my trip already?

We spent my birthday afternoon over at Smiths Lawn, Windsor watching polo.  To be fair, LO slept through most of it and during her sleep, I watched the chukkhas and observed that to be truly accepted at these events, I need to invest in a pair of white jeans and a Guards Polo club sweater.  The thought of me in any jeans that aren’t maternity wear ones fills me with dread and on the basis I don’t think they do white maternity jeans (it would be a brave mummy-to-be that dons those in the later weeks) I think for now, I will have to accept that I’m a bit of a misfit at the polo.

Sunday we had a picnic at Wisley Gardens with some friends and family and I realised just how much our lives had changed!  No quaffing of large glasses of wine or long boozy lunches, but instead a more sedate offering of quorn scotch roll impersonations and some pitta with humous.  I did go all out and have a de-caff skinny latte though.

Despite the lack of raucous behaviour I did have a fabulous birthday weekend and was indeed, spoilt rotten.

 

The 8 week milestone

It’s been a while since I posted, sorry about that.  I have thought about doing a post quite a lot (honest) but usually the thought comes to me around 4.30am in the morning when I am supposed to be sleeping having fed Amelie, before the next feed is due at 7am.  This time of night is what I now fondly refer to as “bloody annoying” because after feeding Amelie, I seem to really struggle to get back to sleep and so instead spend my time either reading, reading tweets, staring at the inside of my eye mask etc – i think you get the idea.   So, yes, I’m sorry for being a bit lax. The thought has been there but I have just lacked the time and energy.

So, what has been happening?  well Amelie-Rose is 8 weeks old today.  To celebrate this milestone, Amelie was booked in for her first set of immunisations.  First she had her 8 week check with the GP and then the jabs were booked for after that.  Hubby took the morning off work to come with me for moral support (had been hearing lots of horror stories about the jabs) and off we toddled to the surgery.

Imagine then my frustration to be told by the nurse that she was very sorry but they had forgotten to order the drugs in so couldn’t give the jabs. So we had the check up with the GP, James went off to work and I took Amelie to the clinic to be weighed.    This afternoon I then took her to another surgery for the jabs.  It was actually quite heartbreaking to watch my beautiful daughter go purple holding her breath before letting out the most impressive screams whilst I simultaneously held her leg down for the nurse and tried to persuade Amelie to feed from me as that would help her forget someone stabbing at her thigh.

She’s been rather unsettled since, no sleep certainly and we have just put her down for the night and I’m keeping all fingers and toes crossed that she settles and gets some well-needed sleep.  Watch this space.

So what has been going on since I last posted?  Well, Amelie has started to smile! Very cute slightly goofy smiles, a bit like she has a lopsided face, but to me as her loyal mother, a very beautiful smile.  As demonstrated by the attached pic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another major development in Amelie’s life is her ability to do the most explosive and runny poos.  These have got particularly spectacular since we have been giving her chammomila granules in cooled boiled water.  Just today, she managed to do a couple of poos in quick succession, resulting in her leaking from her nappy and soaking through her clothes and the baby bouncer she was sitting in at the time.

As I cleaned up the mess (which by this stage was over her legs and feet where she then put her legs in the removed dirty nappy and also somehow on her face and neck (no idea how that happened)) it occurred to me that I have never talked so much about poo as I have since having a baby.  It is now a common theme of conversation with my husband:  ”has she had a poo?”  ”what colour is it?” “was it a bad one?” etc etc.

Then this in turn led me to think about how much my life has changed in such a relatively short space of time.  I wasn’t always this confused about what day it is or this forgetful or zombie-fied. I used to, believe it or not, have a proper job where I had to have a shower, get dressed and out the house before midday AND I never talked about poo.  Seems like a world away now.

I have blogged before.  Twice actually. Once about my work as a lawyer (not very exciting) and once when I worked as a volunteer wrangler on a ranch in Arizona before starting my current job. It was my main way of keeping everyone back home up to date on what was happening for me and that time in my life is one that I will always look back on with really great memories.  But boy was it different to life today! Anyway, incase you fancy a look at what I did inbetween lawyering and before mummyhood, here is a link to the old blog….. http://debscityslicker.blogspot.com/

Right, well, I’m going to sign off now as I’m going to grab something to eat and try and get some sleep before I’m due to feed the little one again.  I promise to be back in touch soon.