A “Must Haves” blog for all parents from baby to now a 9 year old

Watching video by Zoe Sugg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnJjc0q9Chs who is due to have another baby, was sharing items that she is going to use for her next baby that she used with her first child.

Photo by Aditi Sharma on Pexels.com

As a new mum I had no idea of what was good to use and what wasn’t. We bought bottles and a pump that was a pain in the arse because when Henry, my son was born, found the teats of the bottles we bought, Tommy Tippee, too soft and so was recommended Avent Bottles, with a variable teat, and I bought a manual pump, but I could have chucked it out of the window, It was a Complete waste of money, so used an electric pump to express milk and never looked back, and there are portable ones and so is a must to have, along with a good steriliser. We had a microwave steriliser and an electrical travel steriliser. There are other ones that you might find better, but the Microwave one for us worked, along with the travel steriliser.

Henry never breast fed, because it seemed that he couldn’t latch on, and wished I had kept on trying but he still had my milk by expressing, and if I were to have another child would try breastfeeding for a lot longer to see, and all babies are different. I never took a bottle I was breastfed and then went straight onto using a cup, and with Henry he didn’t take to a cup at first either. I would recommend Hipp Formula milk.

For skincare I would recommend Boots Baby range. My son for a while suffered with eczema, and why we change his formula milk to Organic, which I recommend above, and used Boots Baby wash and cream and I still use it on him when he has a bath or shower, or even when he has a wash.

I still use Sterimar for his nose, that Zoe talked about in her video, and great for clearing children noses, along with Vicks, as when ever the weather changes he gets a cold and Oabis oil.

There are a few Apps for kids that I think are good and there is Youtube kids App which has good videos to watch tailored for young children and CBeebies App, and so if your child has tablet, those are the two I’d recommend. Henry does watch actual Youtube, but be careful with that, because there are fun videos for kids on there but some can still, if not careful encourage bad language, and what I have done is cleared them, and there is a parental lock you can use, and that blocks certain apps and videos on Youtube from your children watching them.

I would recommend in opening up a child’s bank account. Henry has a savings account for when he is older, 18 years and I add to this each month, and worth it, as you do have to think about your children’s future. I did a video talking about this along giving gifts for kids: https://youtu.be/i–zbKpxuos

Audio books. These were a good alternative to reading a book, when tired and sleep deprived, these made a difference and would recommend the Disney ones, and the songs too. Henry still likes a story before bed and loves the Tiger who came to tea, and Billy Goats Gruff. He can read books himself and we use Biff and Chip books. He has development delay, but they are becoming easier and on Youtube you can watch Blippi, which my son loves and went to see his show today, and was really good fun, and have also seen, the show The Tiger Who Came To Tea, The Gingerbread man and Zog. Check out the Polka Theatres, The Rose where we went to today, and saw Zog there too, and the Theatre in Woking.

We are going to see the Shrek Musical at the end of September at the Wimbledon Theatre, and very in expensive.

Sheet protectors for children’s beds, especially if you are toilet training and bed pads too for any accidents at night, along with a portable toilet seat. Henry didn’t take to the potty and went straight to using the big toilet. Every child is different and there are potties that play songs and says if they actually went.

A travel cot. We had one that was super convenient and you have to buy the mattress separately, which I had no idea until we went to buy one, but was a great investment and there are bedding too that you can buy to fit the mattress, and as long as it is in good decision can be passed on to someone else or for another baby.

When it comes to school uniform, you can get good sales on Polo shirts from stores like ASDA, Pepco Poundland, TU Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer, or you can buy second hand, check out my last blog: Going back to school, and bought Henry a string rucksack from Amazon, to store his PE Kit, and PE Shorts. His school rucksack he will be using daily, was Smiggle. Their prices can be quiet high, but was a good investment, because we were using it for his Swimming lessons on Saturday and dries really quickly and easy to carry.

I hope you like these recommendations and find them helpful, and if you’d like to read more of my blogs then you can, by following me and if you have any items you’d recommend of Must haves, then you can, by leaving a comment below.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

When Kids get tired but don’t want to go to bed

Oh yes it is a tricky business. Now this is not to gloat as why would I do that? Henry when he was a baby would sleep well and we never had that many issues, and would sleep through the night, but he began to wake up super early, and I hoped this would change, but no.

When he would get sick he would often just want to sleep, and so he is pretty good but would need more comforting as when he would nap in the afternoon would wake up super grumpy and so would read to him which he found soothing or a song he liked at the time, Only You by The Flying Picketts and he would then be okay.

He would get overtired and so would begin to start fussing and chucking things, and when he was a lot younger would around 6pm be unsettled and want to be held, and so we created a ritual, so dimmed the lights, put the heating on, bath him and play lullaby music and blow bubbles but made it nice and peaceful, making sure he was well fed and was recommended this book, talking to a mum on the bus and worked like a treat.

We didn’t put him too early or too late, and weaning helped also, because we were able to cut down on milk and was a relief not doing a late feed, because he would be wide a week, so was good to just let him sleep.

Now he is 9 he will stay up a bit later, he goes to bed between 8:30 to 9:30, and so often I have to scrape him off from the sofa as he likes cuddles with me before bedtime , and he will go to the toilet, brush his teeth and then I will read a book and goes out like a light.

When they have so much energy kids they, which I didn’t know can have a energy spurt before bedtime and when you think they are tired they jump up and want to play with their balloon, play tennis or cricket, and I am like “No not now” so what I do to prevent this is make sure he has uses up all his energy by being super active and productive during the day and it is simply having a kick about as this helps me too to stay active or rugby, go for walks in the morning, do a bit of learning and do some activities in the day, like painting, gardening with my mum, last weekend we took him to the Ninja Warrior Adventure park in Guildford as it was my nieces birthday and Sunday we went to a local festive called Pub in the Park and so good, and I have filmed it so a weekend in a life coming soon on my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@typicallondongal

We have cut down on Screen time as this can have an affect and today I listened to a good podcast, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVGlEU_ueAw she talks about cutting down on screen time and it has made a difference because he would rely on it and he can sleep for a good 6 to 9 hours all through the night now so yes worth trying.

Blackout curtains can help along with double glazing windows, and a bright light if they can’t sleep in darkness, a cuddly toy to give comfort and fresh bedding.

Then there is bed wetting. This has been a challenge and we have had some recent bedwetting issues, and as they grow it can continue to be a hurdle when it comes to bedtime. I do limit how much my son drinks in the evenings as he still has the odd accident, but is getting better.

I never knew that toilet training could take so long and he went on his first residential trip last month, but couldn’t stay over because of using toilet and because of him finding his way back to the pods they were staying in. He is soon to be going to his third school because his first one couldn’t meet with his learning difficulties and so was given a place at the school he is now, but they think that he needs to be in an even more of a specialised school and I am nervous about it. With toilet issue it is important that he has easy access to these facilities and can easily go without fuss. We do pack spare pants just in case but like I say things have begun to improve and he will not wait until the last minute which is what he was initially doing.

I do hope it doesn’t affect his development, and he does dream, and this has been a challenging in terms of bedtime as he will wake up startled some nights, and he talks in his sleep and make sure that he has enough air and is properly tucked in. I avoid snacks in the evening and make sure he has a good fulfilling dinner and he will have a bath or shower, with the occasional wash and this does help him settle and he will in part of the evening sit with us and have quiet time.

So I hope this helps you, thank you for liking my blogs on this site and for subscribing, it really means a lot and if you have topics regarding parenting that you’d like me to talk about then please leave a comment below.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X