Vitamin D Day

What does Sunday 31st March mean to you?  It's Easter Sunday, yes.  It's the first day of British Summer Time.  You've lost an hour's sleep.  You've got to plan some horrible trick to play on your other half tomorrow morning.  But as well as all that, it's the first ever Vitamin D Day!

The Growing Up Milk-man!

Dr Chris Steele (him off This Morning!) has joined forces with Growingupmilkinfo.com to launch Vitamin D Day, aiming to address parents' misconceptions about Vitamin D, and raise awareness of the role diet can play in supplying this essential vitamin.  I was shocked to read that British toddlers are only getting 27% of their daily recommended Vitamin D intake, especially when it's one of the easiest vitamins to increase in a toddler's diet.

While Vitamin D is naturally produced in the body with exposure to sunlight, there is only so much sunlight in the UK, and if the sunshine isn't there, you can't get out in it, as well as the associated skin cancer risks.  Oily fish, eggs and breakfast cereals are other dietary sources of Vitamin D, which helps children absorb calcium and develop strong & healthy bones & teeth.  I've had a number of bone injuries myself, so I'm eager to make sure Squeaky's bones are as strong as can be so she avoids similar problems when she grows up.  2 beakers of Growing Up Milk provides 73% of the daily requirement, so it sounds simple to me.

Squeaky is still a fussy eater, even at the ripe old age of three, so I do look out for ways to make sure she gets the balanced nutrition she needs.  Growing Up Milk is something that's been part of our lives ever since I went back to work & finished breastfeeding, and I'm confident that it's helping to support her development.

One thing I really like about the growingupmilkinfo.com website is their toddler meal planner. I've found it quite hard to find out what portion sizes a child should be eating, and whether or not Squeaky is eating enough.  I've found this is really useful to put my mind at ease about how much a portion should be, and given me a few ideas for other things to try with Squeaky.  We're getting there, slowly.

Disclosure: Statistical information in this post has been provided by growingupmilkinfo.com. I have not received payment for this post, and have not been told what to write. I have chosen to share this information because I found it of interest & relevance to my own situation, and hoped it to be of use to others. The choice whether or not to breastfeed, and when to cease doing so, is a personal one, please read my other posts on the subject.

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk Fridge Friendly - Review

Now I know this is a subject that causes controversy, so let's make this clear from the start.  I am choosing to share this information because some people may find it useful. I am not making any suggestions about the rights or wrongs of any parent's choice.

My friends at Cow & Gate have recently launched a new fridge-friendly premixed version of their Growing-Up Milk.  As Squeaky is getting older, we're moving more to using cow's milk for her regular drinks, but I do like to have some Growing Up Milk on hand if she's not eating well, or in case we run out of the green stuff.  Powder is all well and good, but if you're not using it regularly, it's a lot of wastage.

Yes, I did tidy the fridge first!

The new fridge-friendly version is a 1 litre tetrapack carton, much like UHT milk or juice.  The carton fits comfortably in the door of the fridge, and is resealable.  Once opened the milk lasts for 3 days, plenty of time for your Little One-der to drink it, pour it on their cereals, etc.

There are both the 1-2 and 2-3 year old versions of the fridge-friendly pack, which doesn't need to be refrigerated until it's opened, meaning you can keep a carton in the cupboard for emergencies (or holidays, it's not just adults who want a drink when they get home!)

Squeaky was really taken with the Growing-Up Milk, she drank it straight down, and demanded a refill immediately - no danger of it taking 3 days to use up in our house!  I loved being able to reach for the carton straight from the fridge, but had to make sure I didn't put it in my coffee by mistake.  It wouldn't be fair, really.

Cow & Gate 1litre fridge packs are available now in Sainsbury's, Tesco, Boots & Morrisons for around £1.79.

Disclosure: I was provided with the 1 litre fridge pack shown above for the purposes of this review. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own. Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of an affiliate scheme & will not be rewarded for their use.  I was sponsored by Cow & Gate to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.

Is your child a star?

I don't normally reproduce press releases word for word, but this closes today, and it's too good a chance to miss...  Sadly Squeaky's too old, but if your child isn't, and you're free this weekend, why not give it a go?  Good luck!

Cow & Gate, famous for their ‘laughing baby’ adverts, is searching for little ones to potentially be the faces, and personalities, of its brand new advertising campaign in 2012.

Little ones aged between 10 months and two years are invited to enter the Cow & Gate search and show off their personalities for the chance to be featured in the number one baby feeding brand’s television adverts.

All parents have to do is share a video of their little one that really shows off their little personality.  Simply send it tocowandgatecasting@cowandgate-baby.co.uk before Monday 27^th August and parents and children could be invited to meet the Cow & Gate production team. There’s not a lot of time so get those cameras at the ready and send us your videos!

Applicants for the Cow &; Gate search must be available between 27^th and 30^th August 2012 for a live casting.

Lifting the Lid on baby foods

Last Thursday, I was invited to That London to the launch of Fiona Wilcock's report into the nutritional content of Cow & Gate baby foods "Lifting The Lid".  Despite the best efforts of the Circle Line and an annoying man on the train from Cardiff, I made it to The Folly in time to meet Fiona, as well as Dr Pavel Hejzlar, one of Cow & Gate's quality experts, responsible for ensuring the quality standards of the apples that go into their jars, and one of the extended Cow & Gate family that Fiona spoke to in compiling her report.

Still a favourite!

There was plenty in the report that surprised me, for all sorts of reasons.  Apparently, more than two-thirds of mums (68%) feed their children manufactured baby foods, but less than one in ten (7%) feel confident that the food is good quality!  How strange! The smallest, most important little person in your life, you're feeding them something that you're not sure whether it's any good? Wow!  That honestly shocked me.  Squeaky's eaten a mixture of home made & manufactured baby foods from the time we first started weaning, at least in part because I'm not all that confident in my own cooking skills, but I chose products that I was confident I could trust, and that looked & sounded appealing to me as an adult.

And seemingly, we don't give ourselves enough credit.  Almost 4 in ten (39%) feel that we're being judged by other mums for not making their baby food from scratch, and 21% say it makes them feel like a bad mum.  Mums, please, you're brilliant, don't beat yourselves up!  I know where they're coming from, it's completely natural to compare yourself against others, and often against those who we aspire to be like, and we'll never come out favourably when we're looking at the people we want to be, it's a mountain to climb.


Some of the findings in the report were amazing.  Did you know that the quality controls for baby grade ingredients are actually more stringent than those for organic ingredients in the supermarket, for things such as nitrates & heavy metals.  You couldn't buy baby grade ingredients in the supermarket, they're the bananas that may be too bendy to meet EU regulations, or the apples that have skin marks where they've rested against the branches.  But they're grown far from main roads & heavy industry to keep them free from pollutants, in places where they grow best, to minimise the need for chemical treatments, and grown by farmers who have a long term relationship with Cow & Gate, ensuring Cow & Gate get the quality ingredients they need, and the farmers get a guaranteed sale for their crops as long as they maintain the standards asked of them.  Dr Pavel, and his counterparts, are there to support the farmers, to help make sure they meet these standards, and answer any problems they may have - any time!  I couldn't answer questions about apples at 6 in the morning, but I'm glad he can, because it means Squeaky can have apple puree in her porridge at 7!

Fiona also spoke to beef farmers, banana farmers, animal welfare experts and recipe developers in compiling her report, and here's a few of her other findings:

• You can't control what a free range chicken eats, so it's not necessarily the best for baby food. A welfare-assured, but controlled environment, means that the meat is going to be safe for baby's needs.
• The banana skins left over after bananas are peeled for Cow & Gate are taken back to the farms, where they are composted & used as fertiliser on the banana plantation. Recycling at its best.
• Even if you grew the veg yourself, at home, organically, you couldn't guarantee the same standards, as contaminants can stay in the soil for 20+years.
• No salt is added to any of Cow & Gate's baby foods, and the testers even find their own taste preferences change as a result of educating their palate to the additive free tastes of baby foods.

For me, I was interested in the international aspect of the foods.  Cow & Gate are a world-wide brand, and it was reassuring to find I could get foods I (and Squeaky) recognised on holiday last year.  But I wondered if they really were the same.  We've all encountered the "it doesn't taste the same as at home" argument, and I know that different countries have different regulations for food, so I wondered whether that would affect what went into a Cow & Gate jar in different countries.  And the answer?  While some recipes may vary for local preferences, the standards do not.  There's still no salt, minimal sugar (they are working on reducing & removing sugar in the small number of desserts that contain it), and the same high quality ingredients.  After all, who could say that one group of children deserve better quality food than another?

That was a big relief.  I remember last summer having some concerns over Squeaky's diet, and the things she would & wouldn't eat on holiday, and talking to other mums in the hotel having similar concerns.  I pointed them in the direction of the local supermarket, where I'd found the Cow & Gate fruit pouches that Squeaky loves.  I knew that way she was getting something good, and it was good to be able to share that discovery with the other mums.  To know that I'd got that right, and that the pouches were just the same as the ones she enjoys at home was a weight off my mind, even now.

If you want to read more, the full report is available on Cow & Gate's website - www.cowandgate.co.uk/liftingthelid

And if you ever wondered how to spot the Mummy Blogger in a room full of journalists, PRs and food experts, the Mummy Blogger is the one taking notes in red wax crayon because she hasn't got a biro in her (massively oversized) bag.

This is not a sponsored post. I was invited to attend the press launch of the report, and have chosen to share information that I found interesting.  I was not obliged to write on the subject, nor told what to include.  

Cybher - 4 weeks to go

Scary, isn't it? 4 weeks time, it'll all be over, I'll be back home, and recovering from a weekend's jaunt to That London for, well, I don't know what really.  I'm feeling unreasonably nervous, considering it IS still 4 whole weeks away, though it's a pretty busy 4 weeks.  And I'm making a list of the things I need to/would like to get done in preparation.

• Get my laptop fixed.  I am definitely not a techie.  My lappie only has a little problem. That problem is Linux, and I don't know how to do anything with it.  As a result of running Linux & me not having a clue, it's running Firefox 2.something, and most webpages won't let me open them any more as it's prehistoric.  I'm sure it's only a 10 minute job for someone who understands these things, but that someone is not me.
• Get my hair cut.  Vanity, yes, but it's looking a mess and I really need time to get it dealt with.
• Choose clothes! Arghh!  This is probably the biggest issue. What to wear? Comfy & Casual, Charity Shop Chic, random mismatched & nearly clean, or quirky but liable to flash too much flesh? Decisions!
• Work out the logistics of delivering Squeaky to my mum's, attending a beach-clean-up on the Friday morning, and getting back here in time to get the train to London on Friday afternoon. At some point I should try & see Daddy too, I think!
• Work out how to find the hotel.  I get into Paddington at about 7.30pm, and then have to find my way across London.  Anyone who's met me will know my sense of direction is pretty much non-existent.  I have lost entire motorways before.  This could be a major challenge.  The hotel's directions look pretty easy, but I know me.  (In fact, I'm going to stick them on the bottom of the post for safe keeping)
• See if anything is happening on the Friday evening, or should I just hold my very own PG Party in my room? PG Tips, Pinot Grigio & Pringles, along with having a TV remote all to myself.  In fact, that idea sounds better by the minute!
• Grow a backbone.  I DO know people who are going.  I've met some of you before.  I've spoken to far more online.  Let's face it, a few years back, I went to Canada to spend a week with a bunch of Crazy Internet People I'd never met before, I'm sure I can manage a weekend in London!

Right. It looks quite manageable there, and the worries at least slightly irrational.  I'll get there.  I can always get a taxi if I'm completely lost. And I've got friends I can call.  Bring it on!  I'll see you there.

(Directions for finding the hotel. From Paddington – On the underground, take the Bakerloo line southbound to Charing Cross. Exit the station onto the Strand. The Strand Palace Hotel is on the Easterly side of the Strand. Walk in the opposite direction to Trafalgar Square for about 500 metres. The hotel is on your left.)

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.

Toddlers have got a lot on their plates!

Well, actually, Squeaky hasn't today.  Our conversations today have gone like this:
What do you want for lunch, Squeaky?
Cake.
Not cake. Would you like some fishcake?
Cake.
Cake AFTER. Would you like to try some fishcake, please?
Chips and sauce!
And fishcake, please.
Cake!

(She did eventually eat some of her fishcake, and I ate all of mine.)

The Toddler Census found that 78% of parents think their toddlers nutritional needs will be met if they eat the same meals as the rest of the family.  But the reality is, our toddlers' nutritional needs are quite different to our own. Pound for pound, toddlers need nearly three times as much energy from food as adults, more than 4 times more iron & vitamin C, about 3 times as much calcium, zinc & vitamin A, more fat and less salt than in an adult's diet.  And when your toddler decides that all they want to eat today is cake, that's hard to achieve.

To put it another way, to keep up with the amount of growing, learning & developing our toddlers do between the ages of 12 months - 3 years, if they were adult sized, their daily diet would need to be about 7000 calories, rather than the 2000 of a "normal" adult diet.  Or...

Click to enlarge

4 bowls of cereal
4 bananas
3 apples
2 cheese sandwiches
8 cereal bars
4 slices of bread & butter
3 portions of fish
3 portions of rice
5 full fat yogurts
nearly 2 pints of Growing Up Milk
And a partridge in a pear tree!


(Only joking about that last one!).  I feel full just looking at that list.  Stick a pepperoni pizza, a bacon sarnie and a few dozen cups of coffee in there & I'd be done for the week!

The same research showed that more than 29% of toddlers have refused to eat healthy foods (and I didn't know Squeaky had taken the questionnaire!), and why more than 16% of parents find cooking different foods for their toddlers stressful & worrying.  I know there are days when it would be so much easier to just give in to Squeaky's demands for toast, cake, chips & sauce, but she doesn't understand what her body needs to keep her fuelled for throwing herself down slides, chasing boys and singing Row Row Row Your Boat.

That's where Growing Up Milk comes in.  Knowing that 2 beakers of Growing Up Milk a day will help to meet her needs, with added vitamins A, C & D, calcium, iron & omega 3 means I can rest a little easier.  It's not a substitute for a balanced diet, but it helps even things out.

There's loads more information at http://www.growingupmilkinfo.com/ on toddlers' nutritional needs, and hints & tips on dealing with fussy eaters.  Do go over and have a look around.

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.  The statistical data in this post came from The Toddler Census, a questionnaire answered by over 1000 parents in July 2011.

Help! I Am A Blogger!

I've been tagged by Joanne, over at The Blunt Truth in a meme, started over at Dragons and Fairy Dust all about, well, blogging. I have days where I think to myself "why am I doing this?" so the reflection is no bad thing.  Anyways, here goes...

What is your blog about?
The subtitle says "Growing up together in the South Wales Valleys", and that's still a fair description. It's a record of Squeaky's journey through childhood, my journey through parenthood, and a place where I can say things I don't always want to say on other parts of the internet, never mind the real world.  Oh, and reviews.  Sometimes it gets a bit review-heavy, then it'll settle down to all personal stuff for ages again.

When and how did you start blogging?
March 2010, when La Squeak was still a teeny tiny newborn, and I was dazed, confused, and pretty much stuck in the house with nothing better to do between feeds.  I'd had a personal journal on another platform for some time, but I wanted my journal of my life with Squeaky to be separate from that, and so this blog was born.  I never really started to write having a readership in mind, it was for me to start with, then I discovered, bit by bit, that other people wanted to read it too.

What was your first post?
Welcome Aboard the Squeakytrain way back over 2 years ago.  (I know, I missed my second blogaversary as well. My first completely passed me by as well. For some reason March tends to be a bit of a blur.

Does blogging affect your life and if so how?
I'm determined that blogging will only affect my, and Squeaky's life for the better.  That's the reason my posting can be a bit erratic, as I have to grab my moments when I can, mostly either late at night, or very early in the morning, so I guess it affects my sleep a bit!  Blogging has given us some great opportunities to try out products and experiences we wouldn't otherwise have had.  I'm not a full-on review blogger, I don't have the time or the energy for that, and I live too far from London to go to PR events, but our little corner of the internet has given us buggies, toys, food, books, clothes, music, dvds, amongst other things. It's given me the chance to learn loads, and to share some of that information with others.  It's taught me a lot about how companies and PR agents work, and through writing, and the events I have managed to attend, allowed me to gain some wonderful new friends.

My next big opportunity, and a good example of the above, is being sponsored by Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk to attend Cybher.  My role with Growing Up Milk as a mumtor has given me access to the results of various surveys and studies carried out by Cow & Gate, which I've been able to share with both my online & "real-world" friends, and it's been a source of information that's been very useful to me when I've had concerns about Squeaky.  I'm a visible and real face for a brand that I genuinely use, and I'm honoured that they've agreed to sponsor me for an experience I wouldn't otherwise have the chance to attend.

What do you love most about blogging?
Well, the opportunities, as I mentioned above.  The friendships I've made.  The support and community of bloggers, via blogs, twitter and facebook.  I even love the semi-regular dramas (mostly the great blogger/blagger debate), though I prefer to sit on the sidelines with popcorn & watch.  I love the complements I get, vain as I am, when someone says they like my writing, my photos, my adorable munchkin it gives me the warm fuzzies inside.  And creating a memory for Squeaky as she gets older.  One of my friends said I should get the blog printed for her for when she grows up.  I'm still not sure about that, there's quite a bit about poo and my boobs back in the early days, but the idea is there.

I'm not going to tag anyone, I need a shower, and Daddy will be home from work soon. But if you want to take part, consider yourself tagged.

The Potty List!

2. Baked a cake

We've all heard of the "Bucket List", ambitions to do before we die. Mostly, if you're on twitter, linked to the name of a seriously ill child who didn't actually want to trend on twitter anyway.  But there's something better than that.  I'm talking about the "Potty List".  This made the papers a couple of weeks back, but we were at the in-laws and I didn't get to read the whole thing til now.

4. Sung loudly in public

The Potty List is a list of 36 "Things to do before you're 3", one for each month of a toddler's life (though they're not necessarily going to do them at that rate).  It's all about the milestones of growing up, and the fun to be had along the way.  How many has your child done? And how many have you done yourself?  We've tried to work out how many we've achieved, and how many we've taken photos of.  (Don't panic, there's no picture of number 24!)

8. Made sandcastles on the beach

The 36 must-do activities that make up ‘The Potty List’ are:

1. Made a mud pie

2. Baked a cake

3. Finger painted

4. Sung loudly in public

5. Climbed a big hill 

6. Picked fruit

7. Danced with no inhibitions 

8. Made sandcastles on the beach

9. Been chased by a monster

15. Chosen a favourite book

10. Jumped in a puddle so hard the water went in mummy’s shoe too

11. Belly-flopped

12. Fed the ducks

13. Blown bubbles
14. Had a teddy bear’s picnic
15. Chosen a favourite book
16. Ridden on the top of double-decker bus
17. Visited a museum
18. Been on a train ride
19. Fed an animal
20. Grown cress in the shape of your name

21. Worn pants on your head

22. Ridden the tea-cups at the fair
23. Flown a paper aeroplane

24. Poo’ed in the bath

25. Stayed the night away from home
26. Ridden on daddy’s shoulders
27. Scribbled somewhere you shouldn’t
28. Cleaned your own teeth
29. Answered the phone
30. Mastered a party piece
31. Had a ‘first love’
32. Bought something in a shop
33. Set your sights on a future career (pirate, fairy or builder, perhaps?)

18. Been on a train ride

34. Told a fib

35. Made up an inappropriate nickname for someone
36. Broken something valuable

We've actually managed many more than the ones pictured, I can't find the teacups, I think that's probably just on video (I was on them too, so couldn't take photos), and you just don't think to take pictures of everything - buses, puddles and poo in particular!  It's inspired me though to take more photos of those everyday occurrences that will make up our memories, the little firsts.

The Potty List was inspired by suggestions from parents nationwide and endorsed by experts, including nutritionist Amanda Ursell, psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson and trends forecaster Sean Pillot de Chenecey.

It forms part of the Little One-ders’ Toddler Census, commissioned by Growingupmilkinfo.com, and has been designed to celebrate the extraordinary growth and development Little One-ders go through from one to three years.

19. Fed an animal

By no means exhaustive, it does however pinpoint some wonderful experiences for toddlers, from the fun to the fundamental.

Child psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson says: “As your toddler turns one and becomes a Little One-der their extraordinary growth over the next couple of years will amaze you. Toddlerhood is about learning, about development and about progress – it's also about pushing the boundaries a little.

27. Scribbled somewhere you shouldn't

“A growing child needs to be loved and to be happy, but fun activities play an essential part during the toddler years too, as now is the time they will master many of the skills that will set them up for life. Making a mud pie or jumping in a puddle has never been so important!"

Achieving all these ambitions, alongside all the growing and learning that takes place in the first three years of life takes an awful lot of energy.  Growingupmilkinfo.com nutritionist, Leanne Olivier, adds: “During this phase of amazing growth and development, relative to their size, toddlers’ energy needs are nearly three times greater than an adult’s. They require more than four times the amount of iron and vitamin C, plus about three times the calcium, zinc and vitamin A.

“Their stomachs are a lot smaller than ours, so they need to eat small amounts of foods often to give them energy and nutrients throughout the day, so they can make mud pies and climb hills.

“This means that they need three small meals with regular snacks in between to meet their very specific energy needs and each meal and snack needs to be balanced and nutrient-packed.” 

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.  The statistical data in this post came from The Toddler Census, a questionnaire answered by over 1000 parents in July 2011.

Becoming a Mumtor

First things first... what's a Mumtor? I can see you looking a bit confused at the screen.  Well, Mumtors are Cow & Gate's Growing Up Milk Mummy Mentors.  As that's a bit of a mouthful, they took the "Mummy" and the "Mentor", mixed them up, and came up with "Mumtor".  And that's me (and a whole host of other people).

I really thought long & hard about teaming up with Cow & Gate when they asked mums to apply to be Mumtors.  I breastfed Squeaky until she was about 17 months old.  When she reached her first birthday, I started to include some formula feeds, because I knew I'd be going back to work at some point, and it meant I could wean her off me at my own pace, rather than needing to do it quickly.  And as she's a finicky creature with her food, I wanted to give her something more than cow's milk to replace the nutrients she'd been getting from me.

I'm a breastfeeding peer supporter with my local Health Board, so it might seem a bit of cross-purposes to be a Mumtor as well. But really, it's all about supporting mums through some difficult decisions, giving them the information to make their own choices in the best interests of their child.  Heck, if anything, the fact I've both breast and formula fed Squeaky means I'm not going to judge anyone, or tell them they've got to do any one thing.

Breastfeeding is bloody hard work, there's no other way to put it.  The decision to move on to toddle milk is a hard one.  Choosing the right one for you & your child is a case of trial and error.  Cow & Gate is the one that works for our family, and the one Squeaky enjoys.  So after a lot of thought, I applied to Cow & Gate to become a Mumtor, and was delighted when they chose me.  I've got a whole host of information they've sent me, results from The Toddler Census which was carried out last year, so watch out for more informative posts.

Don't worry, I'm not going to become one giant advert, I'm still me.  And I'm not going to force Growing Up Milk down your throats, either literally or figuratively.  But if you see me about in the Real Live World, have a word, I may well have a sample for you!

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.