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Marks and Spencer Assorted Cotton Bibs
by Mrb84
We were given some M&S gift vouchers so we used them to buy some things for our baby. This pack of bibs is one of the things we bought.
=== The pack ===
In the pack we got 3 bibs and it cost us £4 which is a lot of money compared to other places where you can buy that many for a pound but these were really cute and ... are cotton so very good to have for babies. The design were for boys and were red and blue in colour with little trucks on, stripes and one with a big truck on. The Mrs thought they made a change from all the pink things in the house and it was nice to buy something aimed at a boy.
=== Using the bibs ===
These bibs fasten using a popper button on the side. I find this the best fastening to have for a bib. When we have used other bibs they have proven to not be a hit with our baby. The ones which fasten with Velcro he is able to pull off just by yanking on it really hard and the ones which just pull over the head he really hates as he's fussy even with just getting dressed, they sometimes feel quite tight going over his head too and get messy when you have to pull them back up over. The popper fastening is much better. They are sturdy so your baby can't yank them off and you can easily remove it when they have finished feeding. These bibs are just cotton they do not have a plastic back so they are best really for when your baby is very little, we found ones with plastic backs were better when we were weaning but for when our baby was just on bottles/breast these were perfect. They were easy to put on and they were not too big that they looked like they drowned him. They were really soft too so it never caused him any discomfort. If he brought back some milk or spat some out it was easy to catch it on the bib and they were very absorbent too which is what you want.
=== Practical things ===
The bibs washed fine, the Mrs was washing bibs every day at one point and these always washed nicer than others and I think it's because of the cotton, I think others were made from a variety of materials. These remained soft especially when dried on the tumble dryer and they didn't bobble up.
=== Conclusion ===
These bibs are not the cheapest that you will be able to find but for us they were really good to use because they were practical. They were easy to fasten on and easy to get off and when our baby began to want to explore a bit he could never manage to pull it off himself and would sometimes just lift the bib up so he could look down at the picture and study it which was very cute. They were soft and didn't have plastic backs so they didn't rustle so if he fell asleep and we had to remove the bib it didn't make a sound- a popper again is so much more quiet than Velcro! These washed really well and remained in good quality the whole time we used them so I am glad that we did spend a bit extra money on these bibs. Highly recommended.
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Tommee Tippee Weaning & Feeding Spoons
by Mrb84
I bought these weaning spoons for our baby when he began to wean. Although we were following Baby Lead weaning we still wanted to have spoons for him for when we use foods that can't really be eaten with the fingers and also to help him learn how to manage a spoon. They have proven to be very popular both with him and his sister who ... enjoys using them too.
What you get
In the pack there are 8 weaning spoons and in our set we have a variety of bright colours some are more geared towards boys, others for girls but they are fine! Our little girl likes to use the purple ones and refers to the green ones as the ones for boys but our little boy isn't bothered at all!
Practicalities
A weaning spoon has to be different from an ordinary tea spoon so as to help your little one to wean. These spoons are much thicker than a tea spoon and are made from a rubbery plastic. These details mean that they are easier for a baby to use. The thickness means that they can hold it themselves easier, a normal spoon would be too thin for little fingers to grasp without dropping. The softer material means that it's gentle on their skin and on their little mouths, it also means it's more comfortable to grip too. The actual shape of the mouth part of the spoon is not very deep, it's shallow so that a baby can manage to get the food off it quite easily. If it was too deep then they would struggle to get the food off and know what to do with it and you'd find yourself trying to scrape it off using their top gums. This shallow spoon is much easier to use but the back part of it (towards the handle) is raised enough so that the food doesn't just slip off.
Feeding with the spoon
My little boy loves these spoons. He has soon learnt how to hold them and navigate them towards his mouth successfully. He does sometimes miss and gets his cheek or his chin but he is learning all the time to get it in his mouth. He has got to the point now where he doesn't like it if I try to feed him, he wants to be independent and use his spoon by himself which is really cute. When he does eat from a tea spoon when we are in a shop or something then it's more difficult for him and he often drops it so it does show that with these spoons they are designed better as he won't often drop it when he is using these.
Conclusion
These are good little spoons. The only slight drawback is that some of the spoons have become slightly discoloured due to some of the orange and red foods he eats but that is the only drawback I can think of. We have had these about 9 months and they are still in good condition, he has teeth now and likes to gnaw on these but we don't even have any teeth mark on them so they must be made of good stuff. They are easy enough for him to hold, they are bright so look exciting for him and he likes to be independent and feed himself, he always looks really pleased with himself when feeding himself! Great spoons.
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Dr Brown's Teats
by hlb2009
When Hope was born four years ago she had really awful colic. I had no idea what it was and it made the first few months of her life really stressful. A friend recommended that we try Dr Brown's bottles and I am so glad we did as they really helped to relieve her symptoms. I didn't realise that you could buy different teats though and ... kept her on stage one the entire time! Now our second baby is here I am more experienced and have bought these medium flow teats which he gets on with much better and are proving to be a big success.
Colic
Colic is a build up of wind which occurs throughout the day and then comes to a head early evening. This happens because babies have undeveloped digestive systems that struggle to process properly and results in what is known as colic. The symptoms of colic can be really distressing for people especially those like me who had never even heard of it before. All Hope would do come about 6pm was scream as though in awful pain and scrunch up her little legs. This would happen every night for about 3 hours, once it went on for 7 hours and it was just unbearable. There is not much that you can do for it but just sit it out and know that eventually they will get over it. We did try to help relieve it by giving her a bath, using over the counter medicines and trying baby massage and then a friend recommended Dr Brown bottles. Hope was mainly breastfed but would have one bottle a day so we thought using a bottle which is designed to help reduce colic symptoms has got to be better than nothing.
Dr Brown
Dr Brown bottles have a unique patented part in them which help to channel out any extra air that a baby may take in whilst feeding. It is this air that helps colic to build up so this special little filter that the bottles have is really important. It doesn't make the bottle more complicated to use, it just has two extra parts to it than a normal bottle and it is slightly more difficult to clean as the tube inside is very narrow but the bottle does come with a tiny brush to help with this. We definitely noticed a marked improvement when Hope had these bottles.
The medium flow teat
With these bottles you can replace any parts of them should you need to- y ou do not need to buy a whole new bottle so if you lose any part or you require more of something you can buy them individually. Whenever I saw packs of teats in the shops I thought they were for people who needed to replace them. I had no idea that they were actually different from the ones we had. Hope ended up staying on the first stage teat forever and i thought it was nice that she took her time when feeding, that she would finish her milk in 15 minutes compared to my friend's babies that would down it in about a quarter of that time! It was only when we had our second baby that i realised the teats must be different. When Our baby was about 7 months old I noticed he got quite frustrated with the bottle, I assumed it was because he was breastfed and preferred the breast but then I wondered if it was to do with the teat as he seemed impatient as though the milk wasn't coming out fast enough. It was then that I decided to look to see if you can buy other teats.
I found a pack of 2 medium flow teats in Boots and suddenly felt guilty that I'd never known of these before! These are designed to be used only with Dr Brown bottles and for the pack of two they cost about £2.50 which seems quite expensive for such small items but they are cheap compared to buying a whole new bottle.
The teats worked brilliantly right away, my baby seemed so happy to be getting his milk faster. The milk does not pour out but it is a much faster flow. The first stage was more of a drip and he had to really work it to get it out but this comes out as a trickle and he seems so much more happy when feeding with this as he doesn't have to try as hard and now he is older it is fine for him to have it come out at this speed. I think if he was younger he would struggle to manage the speed of it.
Cleaning the teat is fine, I always wash it with warm soapy water and makes sure the very end part of the teat gets cleaned and then I put it in the steriliser and this cleans it fine. It has remained in really good condition, I have seen some people who's teats have changed colour slightly over a few months but these still look as good as new.
Conclusion
I feel guilty for never having come across these teats before. Previously it would take my baby about 20 minutes to drink 7 ounces of milk and he began to get frustrated but now it takes about 5 minutes and although I am not for rushing him with his feeding he seems so much happier with these as the milk comes out faster for him. He seems so happy with these that I don't feel the need to look at the next stage teat I think this one is just fine for him.
They are a good quality teat and fit perfectly with the Dr Brown bottles. I don't think they would work with any others.I am really pleased that we have these now for him, they were well worth the few pounds I paid for them. They have lasted about 5 months so far and despite being chewed on and used every day they remain in really good condition and like I said with no discolouration or anything.
If you use Dr Brown bottles and your baby is not a newborn then it may be worth looking into these medium flow teats. I think at first they would be far too fast for a little baby but once the get a few months old moving onto these teats is definitely helpful and more satisfying for the baby.
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