Practical Advice On Parenting
National Childbirth Trust
The NCT is the U.K.s leading charity for parents. They help over a million mums and dads each year through pregnancy, birth and early days of parenthood. They offer antenatal and postnatal courses, local support and reliable information to help all parents. The NCT can help you through this transition, offering relevant information, reassurance and mutual support.
Relate For Parents
Relate for Parents & Families is a unique set of online articles, videos and podcasts and home to their innovative Family Mapping ‘game’. It caters for parents’ needs by providing advice, support, guidance and techniques to enable them to understand and improve their family relationships, manage conflict and make change happen.
Child Health
Rosy cheeked and full of life, a healthy child is a joyful sight. But being a child also means getting into all kinds of scrapes, and catching all manner of childhood ailments. This site has lots of advice and information about most of the common health problems your baby is likely to experience.
Made For Mums
Reviews of baby products, advice about fertility, conception, pregnancy and birth, every stage of your baby or toddler’s development, going back to work, chat forums and newsletters. This site is a mine of information for parents.
Baby Think
From pre-conception to parenthood, all the information you could want, plus competitions, forums and latest product news.
Fantastic Places To Go With Little Ones
Day Out With The Kids
Choose the area in the UK you want using the interactive map on the Home Page, select indoor or outdoor activities plus the age range of your children, and this site will come up with a fantastic range of suitable destinations, with links to those web sites, maps to help you get there and local weather forecast.
Supercamps
From age four to fourteen, this company run activity camps for children throughout the U.K. during school holidays. With over 40 sports and arts and crafts activities on offer, adventure camps and sports coaching, there’s something for everyone here.
Chiquito
Kids eat for free during the school holidays at this family friendly chain of Mexican restaurants. Use the restaurant locator to find your nearest Chiquito restaurant.
MSC Cruises
If you fancy a holiday with a difference, check out MSC Cruises web site. Under 18’s cruise free when sharing with two full fare paying adults. In 2010 MSC Cruises has 11 ships with over 2000 4 bed cabins.
Child Friendly.co.uk
Childfriendly is a community website that helps you share your travel and leisure experiences with like-minded parents. Discover the places where your family will be made to feel welcome – from days out, restaurants and pubs in the UK, to family holidays abroad.
Brilliant Innovative Products
Bical Socks
These funky rubber-soled socks are brilliant for children learning to crawl and walk. They give great grip and toe protection and are available in a great range of colours and designs for boys and girls. Machine washable, too!
Thrupennybits
Available in many designs, Thrupenny Bits is a stylish, highly portable breastfeeding cushion which gives you the freedom to breastfeed anywhere. With a strap that ties at the top, it can be carried over your shoulder like a bag, or hung over the handles of a pram. When you and your baby have decided to stop breastfeeding for good, you can simply take out the inner sack and voila - you have a lovely bag to carry all your baby paraphernalia around.
Cheeky Wipes
Cheeky baby wipes are at the forefront of a bottom cleaning revolution.
No more chucking endless baby wipes in the bin, no more worry about harsh chemicals on your baby’s skin. A hassle free washable baby wipe all in one kit that’ll do your bit for the environment and save you money.
Leapfrog Digital Baby Monitor
No more crackling and interference. With its nightlight, lullabies and room temperature sensor, this digital baby monitor won Mother & Baby’s Best Baby Monitor Award in 2009. It has numerous handy features and a range of up to 300m outdoors and 50m indoors.
The Pourty Potty
The Pourty Potty is ergonomically designed and makes potty training that little bit easier for the family. It has a unique patent pending pouring duct making it more hygienic and a lot easier to empty and wash out than a normal potty.
Sleepytot
From birth, the soft and cuddly Sleepytot Baby Comforter is perfect to cuddle between parent and baby when feeding, or to attach to your baby’s car seat or buggy strap when out and about.
From three months onwards, pop a baby dummy, teether or small blankie between Sleepytot's paws and your baby will love exploring the items on the baby comforter.
No more searching for the lost soother in the cot!
Useful Reflux & Dribble information
BabyREFLUX
The web site is a portal for UK parents to discover more about baby reflux/GORD and an online store providing specialist products for babies with reflux. It sells seats and supports, wedges, sleep positioners, cot blocks, bath supports and slings.
Living with Reflux
The web site is a portal for UK parents to discover more about baby reflux/GORD and an online store providing specialist products for babies with reflux. It sells seats and supports, wedges, sleep positioners, cot blocks, bath supports and slings.
Top 10 Tips for Dribbly Babies
Your darling new baby has taught you a lot in a short time: you now dive manfully into a poo-filled nappy situation; baby wee is a doddle; baby spit up is pretty disgusting, it’s true, but at least it’s confined to mealtimes.
And then along comes baby dribble. As if you didn’t have enough bodily fluids leaking from your baby to deal with! It’s over everything, and it’s constant.
Here at Skibz, we’ve seen plenty of dribbly babies. My own children dribbled so much it actually prompted me to design Skibz and start the company! They say necessity is the mother of invention and so it has proved for our dribble bibs.
Dribbling can start at just a few months old and normally tails off by the age of three, but if you have a dribbly baby, here’s Skibz’ Top 10 Tips to help you cope:
- The most common cause of dribbling in babies is teething. Relieve the symptoms by giving your child something cold to chew on (a frozen banana is a popular choice), yoghurt or a teething toy. Your pharmacist can recommend a teething gel or remedy that can relieve the pain in your little one’s gums.
- Give your baby plenty of water or diluted juice to replenish fluids lost by excessive dribbling.
- Protect your child’s clothing from dribble by dressing them in an all-day, bandana-style bib. Skibz come in a range of funky designs to complement any outfit.
- Over time, digestive enzymes in saliva can irritate your baby’s delicate skin. Choose a bib that wicks moisture away and keeps baby’s skin dry. Skibz are backed with two layers of super-absorbent fabric that keeps your baby comfortable.
- Petroleum jelly can also help to relieve sore, chafed skin caused by dribbling. Keep a supply in baby’s changing bag – it’s handy outdoors too, when cold weather will chap that little wet chin even more.
- Teething isn’t the only reason babies dribble. Experts believe dribbling can be part of a baby’s development as they prepare for digesting solid food, so take heart – your baby is learning to chew and swallow and you can look forward to less dribble as your baby is weaned.
- Does your child have a cold? If the poor little mite can’t breathe properly, they are probably dribbling more as they try to breathe through their mouths. Ask your pharmacist to recommend something to help your little one breathe easier.
- Dribbling is almost certainly nothing to worry about in most cases and will trail off over time. Try telling a mother not to worry though! If a quick chat with your doctor or Health Visitor will put your mind at rest, you’ll be reassured that there are no underlying problems causing your baby to dribble.
- Your dribble bibs are in constant use, so make sure they’re up to the job. Skibz can be washed at 60°C to remove tough stains and they’re rigorously tested to ensure they don’t shrink or fade.
- Throw away boring bibs with plastic backing – a dribbly baby is the perfect excuse to snap on a Skibz, and funk up your baby’s outfit. You’ll be the envy of all your friends!
Useful Resources
Cleft Lip and Palate Association
One in every 600-700 children in the UK is born with a cleft lip and/or palate yet most people have little knowledge of the condition. This site answers some of the most commonly asked questions about cleft lip and palate and provides information on the services and advice offered by CLAPA.
Tinytums
This resourceful web site has been put together by Heinz and Farleys. Packed with information from conception to birth and beyond, Tinytums aims to help with practical advice and up to date information at every stage of your life-changing journey.
Resolutions
Unsure how to tell your children about your separation or divorce? Worried about how your decisions today will affect their future? Want to know more about how to help your children?
Resolution's web pages for parents provides key information to help you make a positive difference for your children, as well as details of Resolution's new parent workshops which aim to help parents manage the impact of their divorce or separation for their children.
ICAN
ICAN is a charity that works to support the development of speech, language and communication skills in all children with a special focus on those who find this hard. If your child is experiencing speech and communication difficulties, you’ll find this site useful.
Bliss
Bliss, the special care baby charity, provides vital support and care to premature and sick babies across the UK. Their web site is a useful resource for parents of premature babies seeking information about their situation and support.
NHS Direct
This web site is full of everyday health advice, health tools and videos. A useful resource to dip into.