Essential kit: adjustable baby sun hat

On July 19, 2018 By jocairdwp1 Comment

**WIN one of these lovely sun hats by signing up to the Baby Adventuring mailing list and sharing this post by midnight on 26 July 2018**

The baby girl in her ‘grow-with-me’ sun hat from Twinklebelle and UV rash guard swim vest and shorts from Jan & Jul, the company’s other brand

When the baby girl was smaller I could put any hat on her and there it would stay. Alas, those days are gone – she was fine with warm hats throughout the winter but when it came to sun hats the girl wasn’t having any of it.

I tried a lot of different styles, tried letting her choose a hat for herself, tried wearing a hat myself in the hope that she would want to mimic me. Nothing worked. The baby girl either took them off immediately or complained so much about the way they fit that I took pity on her and took them off her head myself.

No such difficulties with the excellent ‘Grow-With-Me’ Sun Hat from Twinklebelle. Unlike all the other hats we tried, this one stays on. The girl could get it off if she really wanted to – it has a chin strap with a break-away clip – but she doesn’t even try, presumably because it’s light enough and comfortable enough not to bother her.

It’s got a wide enough brim that I don’t need to worry about sun on the baby girl’s extremely pale face and neck (I still apply sunscreen, but it’s good to know the hat has her covered just in case), and the front of the brim is strengthened so it doesn’t flop down and obstruct her vision. There’s a drawstring to adjust the size too, so it should last her a good few summers.

The icing on the cake is that Twinklebelle is a small, family-run business that is committed to providing fair and sustainable income and flexible working to the women (most of whom are mothers) who make their products in the founder’s hometown in China. I didn’t know that when I bought the baby girl’s hat but was delighted to find out about the company after the fact. Hats off to them for creating lovely and useful things and being good people to boot.

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14 handy tips for taking your baby or toddler to the beach

On February 15, 2018 By jocairdwp

It won’t surprise you to learn that beaches are a hit with babies and toddlers. From smashing sand castles (building them is beyond the baby girl so far) to splashing in rock pools, and from putting pebbles in shoes to picking up random bits and bobs and exclaiming excitedly about them, the fun is pretty much endless.

A woman and a baby play on a black sand beach — Playing on the black sand beach in La Restinga, on El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands

The entertainment taken care of, all that’s left to think about are a few practical concerns. Here are my tips:

1. Stay in the shade in the middle of the day, ideally between 10am and 4pm.

2. If your baby is under six months old, keep her out of direct sunlight entirely. Put her in lightweight clothing so she’s as covered up as possible, and use baby-safe sunscreen (the higher SPF the better, but at least 15+) on any exposed areas.

3. Apply sunscreen when changing your baby or toddler’s nappy at home before leaving for the beach. It’s much easier to get consistent coverage for that first application when she’s naked and not already covered in sand. Apply it all over just in case – you never know when a toddler might decide to strip off, and you want there to be sunscreen on when she does.

4. The easiest way to apply sunscreen to a baby or toddler is with a roll on. You can make your own from an empty roll-on deodorant – just pop the ball out with a spoon, wash and refill.

5. Reapply every two hours, or more frequently if your baby has been in water.

A woman in a sun hat carries a baby in a sling on a beach, its head covered by a cloth — The baby girl naps in the sling under a damp cloth on the beach in Goa

6. Minimise the faff of reapplying sunscreen all the time with a UV-protection suit.

7. Pack a spare hat for your baby in your beach bag (one with a peak and long flap at the back is best).

8. When changing your baby’s nappy at or after a visit to the beach, don’t bother trying to remove sand with wipes. Rinse it off or if that’s not an option let it dry then dust it off.

9. Normally I’d recommend using a reusable neoprene swim nappy and cotton inner rather than disposable swim nappies, but rinsing out multiple poo-filled nappy liners on the beach and then taking them home with you isn’t exactly a relaxing way to spend your holiday. So go for disposable swim nappies (remembering that they offer no absorbency so need to be changed out of for the journey home) or, if your little one will just be playing on the beach and not swimming with you, you can just stick with normal nappies.

10. Empty yoghurt pots make excellent sandcastle-building tools if a bucket and spade aren’t readily available.

11. Pack a mini inflatable paddling pool so your child can have a dip even if the sea is too rough or chilly for her to go in.

12. Another good way of keeping your baby cool is by covering her with a damp cloth (though admittedly less successful after she’s started crawling).

13. If your toddler isn’t enthusiastic about drinking water, keep her hydrated in hot weather by offering snacks like cucumber and watermelon.

14. Leave the pushchair at home, unless it’s an all-terrain model, and take your baby to the beach in a sling instead. Dragging a standard buggy through sand or over pebbles is no fun. If you need a place to put your little one down to nap, consider packing the pop-up tent travel cot I wrote about here. It doesn’t offer full UV protection, so you can’t safely leave her in it in full sunshine, but if you’re in the shade, it’s ideal for a snooze.

Baby on holiday in a pop-up tent travel cot on a beach in Goa, with the sun setting over the sea. A mini fan is keeping the baby cool. There are sun loungers on the beach. — The baby girl in her pop-up tent travel cot on the beach in Goa, her miniature fan keeping her cool

How to leave the house with a newborn

On January 8, 2018 By jocairdwp

A smiling woman with a baby in a sling holds an ice cream cone. — Jubilant on an early solo outing with the baby girl.

Your newborn baby is probably not leaving you much free time to get things done, but it pays to get organised in advance, if you can. Being prepared ahead of time, rather than rushing to sort everything out just as you’re walking out the door, is key to reducing the stress of those first outings. (This advice holds good for older babies and toddlers too: having the baby girl’s bag and pushchair packed and ready to go makes getting out and about much easier; alas, I’m rarely as organised as I’d like to be. This is very much a case of do as I say, not as I do.)

If you’re taking your baby out in her pushchair, you’ll want a bag that will hang off the handles. Specialised changing bags are useful but by no means essential for this purpose – a lot of ordinary shoulder bags or shoppers will work just fine with a pair of pushchair clips (we use these ones from My Buggy Buddy). For journeys with a sling (often easier than a pushchair, and more comforting for very little babies – more about why slings are excellent in my ‘essential kit’ post on the subject), a backpack is almost certainly your most comfortable option.

Either way (and it’s not a bad idea to prepare two bags so you’re ready to go with both sling and pushchair), here’s what you need:

nappy changing mat and wallet with a few nappies and wipes (plus nappy rash cream and nappy sacks if you use them)
a muslin square or two, depending on how pukey your baby is
spare outfit – vest, sleepsuit, jumper
hat
blanket
spare T-shirt/jumper for yourself in case the baby vomits on you in an impressive way

If you’re breastfeeding you’ll also need:

spare nursing pads
bottle of water and some snacks for yourself

If bottle-feeding:

sterilised bottle and teat
bottle of ready-made formula OR powder formula in small sterilised containers, plus a vacuum flask of just boiled water
bib

Optional extras:

if you’re recovering from an episiotomy, an inflatable ring cushion to sit on
if you’ve got long hair, a couple of hair ties
if your baby suffers from wind, Infacol
dummies

A father with a baby in sling holds a pushchair — At the bus stop before our first bus journey with the baby girl.

For trips with the pushchair make sure you’ve got the sling with you just in case your baby has a meltdown and you end up needing to carry her in your arms. It should fit in the basket under the pushchair with no difficulties, leaving plenty of space for a rain cover and a sleep shade (another piece of essential kit). Have your baby’s bag packed and hanging off the pushchair ready to go, along with a buggy organiser to hold essentials such as a phone, wallet, sunglasses, etc.

Have your baby’s warm outer layer, your own coat, and a pair of comfortable, slip-on shoes (I wore the same pair of ankle boots every time I left the house for the first three months of the baby girl’s life) ready by the door, and don’t worry at all about what else you’re wearing or if you’ve showered that day. You will almost certainly have puke on you, but that’s fine: no one will care – they will be too busy being impressed that you have made it out the door with such a tiny human in tow.

The best moment to attempt an outing is immediately after a feed, so you’ve got maximum time before you need to find somewhere to sit and get your boobs/a bottle out again. Check that everything is ready to go (including making up a bottle of formula if you know you’ll be feeding your baby very soon – otherwise, it’s safer to stick with making up a new bottle when you need it), change your baby’s nappy, cross your fingers that she doesn’t poo again as you’re walking out the door and leave the house as fast as you can. Good luck.