My New Favourite Hobby!

Elyse has been in a wayyyyy better routine lately which has consequently left me with a lot more time in the evening to do things other than cleaning, tidying and cooking! I am a bit of an online shopping addict which led to me discovering Etsy which is a pretty amazing website where people basically sell things they've made or customised. I've always been a bit arty farty at heart and after seeing the plethora of gorgeous, knitted baby stuff on Etsy I thought I'd have a bash at crocheting some headbands for baby girl.

I think I've crocheted about 5 headbands up to now but these were the first two I finished for her and I must say, even though they're not perfect I was quite impressed with myself! It's safe to say I've become a bit obsessed with crocheting and I actually find it a lot easier than knitting which I tried and kinda failed at when I was pregnant.

I think knitting's considered to be slightly more "cool" these days and not so much associated with grannies so I'd love to try and knit a snood for myself but not sure I'd be up to the challenge just yet! I personally love handmade, baby clothes and accessories but what do you think of handmade creations?

Contented Little Baby Routines

During the first few weeks of Elyse's life, I pretty much took a baby led approach to looking after her i.e. fed her when she wanted to be fed and let her sleep when she wanted to sleep. Needless to say, this led to me feeling worn out to the extreme and having had no time to get anything done, my house was looking in pretty bad shape. I think babba basically got her daytime and nighttime mixed up, so whilst she slept like angel during the day, it was near impossible to get her to sleep at night and this is when I started seeking desperate measures! I was determined not to put her on formula so began googling away for solutions to improve sleeping patterns and that's when I came across a few people recommending Gina Ford's Contented Little Baby Book. 

In a nutshell this book advises putting baby into a strict routine and whilst I definitely believe it's vital that children have a set bedtime routine, I think this book takes it to the extreme and beyond! Don't get me wrong, there are handy little tips here and there but I don't think it's necessary to follow the routine to a tee. For instance, I think the timings Gina suggests for awake and nap time are handy to ensure you don't let baby sleep too much which usually means less sleep for you at night but on the other hand it also feels like she dictates when baby should be changed...now I'm not being funny, but surely you should change babba's nappy when it's needed otherwise I'm pretty sure you'd be working through hundreds of nappies per week! And she also firmly believes in ensuring baby is swaddled at every nap time up to a certain age, unfortunately for me swaddling is something Elyse clearly didn't appreciate aside from the first few days after she was born when she was still adjusting to the big wide world.

Overall, as much as I've just slated the whole strict routine bulls*&^ I do think this book kind of helped me ease my lovely, nocturnal baby into a normal sleep and wake pattern although she didn't enjoy going to bed before 2am at one point, whilst she was on the routine! On the other hand, I think I'm just a bit lucky that Elyse has slept through from around 2 months old and lets mummy & daddy have lots of lie-ins! In a nutshell, take the routines with a pinch of salt...the suggested window of time in which your allowed to go out is friggin ridiculous, what a life your going to live if you only leave your house between 2-4pm! If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, read the book lol. I can't remember how much I paid for the book but I bought it off eBay and it was really cheap like £3 or something so if you do want to see how the routines work for you, I'd try eBay.

What do you think of the Contented Little Baby Routines? Have they helped you and your baby? Did you follow them to a tee?!

Much love,

Nappy Creams Tried & Tested

When it comes to nappy rash, my little one has been fairly lucky so far with only one moderately bad bout of it so I've mostly used nappy creams as more of a preventative measure before bedtime and every other nappy change. When she did have it however, I was obviously keen to get rid of it asap. I've pretty much used up most of the samples I got in my bounty packs so I thought it may be helpful to review the brands I've tried for those of you that have a poor little one suffering!

Johnson's Baby Nappy Cream

I'm a big fan of the whole Johnson's baby skincare range but this for me was a bit of a disappointment in comparison to the other nappy creams I've tried. The texture is quite thin and runny so it doesn't really adhere to the skin which is important when you have an active baby.

£2.00 Available from Asda

Sudocrem Baby Skin Care Cream

Sudocrem is a hugely popular nappy rash cream and I cannot fault it really. A little definitely goes a long way with this so it lasts forever!I've got a full size tub of this also but I still have loads left in my little sample tubs. I slather this on Elyse at night and it looks as if I've just applied it when I change her in the morning. Nice, thick consistency and it helps to heal really quick. Sudocrem is also multi-purpose as it can be used for dry skin and spots which makes it a bit of cupboard staple product for me!

£2.00 Available from Asda

 

Burt's Bees Nappy Ointment 

I cannot stress how much I love this hence why I thought I'd save the best till last! As you can hopefully see from my swatches above, this spreads on really thickly and it adheres to the skin brilliantly. It has a strange scent to it, can't quite decide whether I like it or not but who cares when it's only going on to what will probably soon to be a smelly bottom! I also love the fact that this contains lots of natural ingredients, I don't think Elyse is particularly sensitive to anything but I'd rather not slather her in products with ingredients that I can't even pronounce! I know this is the most expensive of the three but I would still recommend this time and time again because of how effective it is at clearing nappy rash and how well it adheres to the skin.

 £4.99 Available from CheapSmells.com

I really hope this post was helpful, have you found any nappy creams to work better than others? Please feel free to comment if you have any other recommendations or if there's anything else you'd like to add!

Much love,