recycledbaby.co.uk

OK so if you are going through the teething hell then this news is disastrous. There is no medical evidence that these infant powders help with teething, they are a hang over from another age when chemists ground up random stuff and folded it into papers to sell. They are however, for some reason, invaluable when faced with a teething child who is screaming and drooling and chewing on anything they can get their hands on.

It seems that for some time there has been a problem getting hold of Ashton and Parsons powders. Various reasons have been given. I’ve heard tell of a fire at the factory and “manufacturing difficulties”. I called the customer services department at Alliance Pharma who make it. They said they had been asked to stop making it because of problems with the Marketing Authorisation required for any product sold as medicinal in the UK. This is apparently to do with Alliance Pharma’s purchase of Ashton and Parsons Powders at the end of last year (2011). The nice lady on the phone said that they did not know when production would start again but as soon as it did they would be distributing to wholesalers and getting the product back onto the shelves.

Ashton and Parsons Infant Powders are made from tincture of matricaria, chamomile to you and me, so there are alternatives out there. Nelsons Teetha powders are a homeopathic remedy.  Weleda do Chamomilla granules and the chemists Boots do their own brand of teething powders made from chamomilla.

Remember the other helpful remedies too. Cold chew toys, frozen bananas,  amber necklaces and paediatric paracetamol!

Teething is a rotten time for mum and baby so hopefully this will help point you in the direction of help.

A while back I mentioned a  bundle on eBay I was bidding on. Well I won it and it’s brilliant. The jeans are really useful, three pairs which is great for those little accidents, and the handknitted cardi is lovely even if there aren’t any buttons on it. (Another excuse to visit John Lewis if I needed one!) The coat was in there and it also contained a sleeveless jumper which is brilliant because I find it really hard to judge temperature. I just know I have to keep his little body warm.

My mum is always going on about making sure I keep Ellis’s kidneys warm. Not sure why his kidneys in particular need warmth. I thought they had their own fat cocoon anyway? Biology suggests they do and therefore the addition of a number of layers of clothes is not going to make much difference. Every time she sees her grandson she spends half her time pulling his jumper/t-shirt/top down muttering about keeping his kidneys warm. If you know why people do this then please share because it is beyond me! He is always in a bodysuit anyway so it’s not like his back is on display to the elements, this is apparently not enough. Maybe it’s a grandma thing? The scary thing is she can’t tell me what will happen if his kidneys get cold….. the mind boggles.

Ellis wearing stuff from the bundle

Just been on Jim Davis’ show on BBC Radio Leicester talking about what to do during the holidays. The recipe for gingerbread was on there.

You can listen here.

The holidays are here and it’s difficult to know what to do with kids sometimes. Let me advocate making iced treats and gingerbread biscuits.

I know cooking with kids can be a nightmare, I know that some people are filled with horror at the thought of their little ones loose in the kitchen. I know ladies who twitch at the thought of a creative activity getting out of control but stay with me for a moment. These activities can be done with kids of all ages and importantly – boys and girls.

 If you have boys you can make gingerbread MEN as well as cars/fish/horses delete as applicable. You are limited only by your cutter collection or your ability to cut out shapes in cardboard – and this is only for the older kids. Most babies and toddlers won’t care what shape it is, all they want to do is to mush it around on the table and eat the raw dough, which, by the way, you can make in advance and get out like a Blue Peter presenter  “here’s one mummy made earlier”.

Iced treats are easy because if you have younger kids you either make fairy buns yourself or buy a packet of digestives. Whip up some icing and let them loose with the sprinkles.

If you have older kids then they can make the buns with your assistance. It’s really easy and not too messy.

 Here are the recipes.

 Gingerbread People 

8oz plain flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1-2 level teaspoons ground ginger

½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3oz room temperature butter

3oz soft brown sugar

3oz golden syrup.

Currants/glace cherries/chocolate drops/sprinkles/icing to decorate

Greaseproof paper for baking

Preheat the oven to 180C fan 200C Gas 6-7.

Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Seive the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

In a separate, bigger bowl, cream the butter, sugar and syrup well until soft and light. Work the dry ingredients into the butter and knead thoroughly. Roll out the dough and cut into shapes.

Put the shapes onto the baking sheet and put in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Check them after 6 minutes in case they are scorching.

Cool on trays and decorate as desired.

 Icing – mix enough icing sugar and water to give a flowing consistency and use a teaspoon to pour it onto the gingerbread people.

Fairy Cakes

Fairy cakes

 2 eggs

4oz or 120g flour

4oz or 120g butter

4oz or 120g sugar

Vanilla extract/lemon zest to flavour

Preheat the oven to 180C fan 200C Gas 6-7

Line a 12 hole bun tin with fairy cake cases.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy.

Mix in the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour.

Sieve the rest of the flour into the mixture. Mix it all up quickly and gently.

Add flavourings if using.

(Alternatively put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until combined.)

Put a dessert spoon of mixture into each cake case.

Put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Cool and decorate with butter icing/water icing and springles or chocolate buttons when completely cold.

Buttercream

6oz icing sugar

3oz butter

Food colouring

Mix together until light, fluffy and spreadable.

Baby wipes are a bizarre thing. A package of wet cloths that help us wipe our babies bottoms, hands, faces, whatever else happens to need cleaning, which are then thrown away. When I was a kid I remember flannels and hankies wetted with grandma’s spit but no wipes. How did my mother cope? I have been guilty of using lots of wipes since Ellis arrived so I thought I’d have a look into making my own. Clearly I have too much time on my hands. My friend Jane has tiny muslin squares she’s been using at home which seems very sensible, but can you make a homemade wipe?

The answer, it appears, is yes. Although some of the people who do this are a bit odd. I found one website with some great recipes and then a link to an Elimination Control website – yes you too can spend hours watching your little one’s face waiting for them to start to pull a poo face so you can race upstairs, try desperately to rip their trousers down and dangle them above a toilet (it’s what the Chinese do out in the paddy fields apparently).

A bit of Googling has brought up a stack of websites and lots of recipes so I’m going to have a go. Many of the places I looked were American sites. Sometimes I think Americans are bonkers, other times I think they are just so far ahead of us in terms of reuse and recycle. It doesn’t seem to be about the environment for them, there are some wholly organic folk weave permaculture toilet types but most just seem to be trying to save money. There is a certain Blue Peter quality to a lot of the sites. You need a plastic box, a jug, a pair of scissors and some double-sided sticky tape for speed. I’ll let you know how I get on.

http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/homemade-baby-wipes-recipes.html

 http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/diapering/ht/wipes.htm

 http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=273159

Ellis is growing like a weed and we are already in 6-9 month clothes. I’m learning fast that you never buy the size he’s in, always buy the size above and if it’s in the sale all the better. The trouble is, that doesn’t really fit with our new ethos. So I have today bid on, and won a job lot of clothes for size 9-12. There are three pairs of jeans, a couple of pairs of trousers, tops, jumpers, a handknitted cardi and so on. I’ll let you know what kind of quality I get.

Doesn’t he look divine? Thank you Boden. In the nick of time as you can see from the weather in the picture.

Boden shall provide... new snowsuit, and snow!

A report in the US has come up with tips to combat the childhood obesity epidemic.
Here they are:

The report’s key recommendations for children from birth to age 5:

•Promote breastfeeding
•Monitor growth
•Increase physical activity
•Provide healthy foods in age-appropriate portions
•Ensure access to affordable healthy foods; educate caregivers and parents
•Limit screen time (all media) to less than 2 hours a day

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/blogs/healthy-food/iom-obesity-report#ixzz1QTFNc8Fm

The Brown Bear Suit

I need a new baby snowsuit. We’ve been making do with a 3-6 month old suit that is soo cute. It’s made of brown fur and has bear ears and he looks adorable in it but he’s busting out of the seams. Unfortunately the weather is still cold and miserable and he’s growing fast so we are going to need something for him to wear for the next few months. The trouble is, because it’s coming to the end of winter there aren’t any snowsuits in the shops. They’ve been replaced by swimwear and it’s only January.  I’ve been online and most of the sales are coming to an end so there aren’t many out there. I’ve been round the shops and there are a few but they are in every size but the right one and even on the online auction sites there are precious few of these things around. I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and buy a brand new snowsuit for him. It’s so hard to find the time to spend hours online finding and buying from auction sites and when i have looked there have been very few suits for him that are affordable and suitable. Ellis doesn’t like sitting in his pram for a long time so we can’t really go shopping and the weather has been so rubbish I don’t want to spend time walking around the shops with him. My husband isn’t in a position to spend ages buying stuff online at work so I think, on this, I admit defeat. #snowsuitfail

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

We even bought a few toys off the auction sites so he could have a recycled Christmas.