Through Another's Eyes

We went on a day trip last week with the preschool group Squeaky's been part of over the last while.  Nowhere is more likely to appeal to me than a day at the seaside, particularly in Weston-super-Mare, as I grew up just down the road and spent far too much time there in my not-so-wild and mis-spent youth  And the thought of someone else coming up with an idea for how to fill an entire day of the seemingly endless school holidays is very attractive indeed.

So, onto the coach we climbed, and headed off for our adventures.  Riding the donkeys on the beach (it's the law!), a lovely lunch with my parents (who still live just up the road), a trip on the merry-go-round, and an afternoon in the splash park meant we had a wholesome and fun filled family day out in the sunshine.  It didn't cost us a great deal, just a couple of £s for the rides, and more importantly, it didn't take huge amounts of planning from me.

Our new friend Fred

In fact, Squeaky's very favourite part of the day was climbing onto, and jumping from a large rock in the playground of the splash park.  The local council spent thousands on converting some old wasteground into a fantastic park, and she's more interested in a rock.  Figures.

Rock, obvs

My favourite part, on the other hand, was chatting to some of the other parents on the coach, and hearing what they had to say about Squeaky.

I mean, I know that much like Mary Poppins, she's "Practically Perfect in Every Way", but when you hear from other parents that their children say to them that "Squeaky's a big girl, but she still talks to me, I like her", or that they report back every day on whether she was at the group that day, and are really sad on the days she's not there, it's quite a thing.  (And for full disclosure, as I was writing this longhand in my notebook at the local soft play, when a grandparent came up to me and complemented me on how nicely Squeaky was playing with her much younger granddaughter)

There are times when I worry about her, that she seems shy, or doesn't seem to know how to ask to join in a game with others, and finds herself left on the sidelines.  But really, it seems I have nothing to worry about.

Our day in the Somerset sunshine is linking up with Coombe Mill's Coutry Kids Linky.  

50 Shades of Grey?

There’s a certain irony that the summer’s big blockbuster book seems to share its name with the way most of this summer has turned out, isn't there? I’ve seen at least 50 shades of grey clouds of late. I know the sunshine has finally made a very welcome appearance, but until the last couple of days, I thought we'd skipped straight through to November.  I meant to post this last week while the weather was still all miserable, but I've been busy, so here you go now.

I saw something recently about 50 Shades of Grey, suggesting that because seemingly the entire female population of the country is engrossed in reading a rather mucky book and, well, getting a bit jiggy, there’s going to be a baby boom in about 8 months time. Hmmm. The entire female population except me, obviously. I honestly have no interest in reading about someone else’s made up sex life, I read the first couple of chapters as a free download, and I prefer my reading matter to be a bit better written. If you want to read it, that's your choice, but I've never been one for over-hyped bandwagons - I still haven't read Harry Potter for the exact same reason.

Anyways, I then spotted something else while I was randomly clicking around the outer regions of the internet, saying that a deficiency in vitamin D can affect men's sperm counts, and as we all know, vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin, made by our bodies on exposure to the sun, something there's been a lack of this summer thanks to the 50 shades of grey clouds. So, is there going to be a baby boom or not then? Maybe mother nature is just making sure that even if the women of the UK are getting a bit frisky, there’s no real risk of a population explosion because the blokes are all shooting blanks due to the weather!

Well, I can't do much about your fella's little fella, I'm afraid. Tell him to pop to the shops & buy some supplements if you're worried that all your jiggy might go to waste. But there's a more serious side to all this cloud. The months of April - October are the only time in the UK that our bodies have chance to make vitamin D, which we store up for the rest of the year. In adults, that's one thing, but in children, with their growing bodies, it can present a major health risk.

Leanne Olivier, nutritionist and spokesperson for growingupmilkinfo.com, comments: “Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin. The cloud cover on rainy days has an obvious effect on sunlight, making the sky dark and grey; however, what are less obvious are the knock-on effects of a miserable summer’s days on our toddlers’ health.

“It doesn’t just mean less time playing outdoors; this reduction in exposure to sunlight can be really significant - especially between the ages of one and three years, when toddlers experience a huge period of growth and development and need essential nutrients to support this.”

With the poor weather we’ve been experiencing, it’s more important than ever that toddlers get enough vitamin D from their daily diet.

British children’s vitamin D-poor diets¹, combined with low uptake of supplementation, a lack of knowledge amongst parents about their specific nutritional needs, plus a typically British summer, mean toddlers could really be missing out. All toddlers are considered to be vulnerable to low vitamin D in the diet while those who rarely play outside, don’t eat oily fish, don’t take supplements, or who have darker skins² or cover up for cultural reasons are thought to be particularly at risk.

In the absence of summer sun, nutritionist Leanne recommends a simple combined approach parents can take to ensure toddlers are meeting their vitamin D needs:

· Take a daily children’s supplement of vitamins A, C and D

· Give two 150ml beakers of Growing Up Milk daily providing about 70 per cent of a toddler's daily recommended nutrient intake of vitamin D

· Include food sources of vitamin D in the diet: oily fish once a week and fortified margarines and breakfast cereals, egg and liver!

· Enjoying the summer (April-Oct) sun safely, while taking care not to burn, can provide the benefits of vitamin D

Statistical information in this post comes from the Toddler Census, a survey of  over 1000 mothers carried out in July 2011.  

References:

¹.  Bates B et al. National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2008/09-2009/10

² Advisory Committee on Nutrition. Update on Vitamin D. Position statement by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition. London. TSO, 2007

Sudocrem Sunscreen Mousse Review

There's mousse loose aboot this hoose! (sorry, I couldn't resist that one! Be glad it's not the title.)

Do you remember sunshine?  I've got a dim & distant memory of a week back in March where the weather was glorious, Squeaky's nursery put signs up asking us all to bring in sunhats & sunscreen because the weather was changing.  And then it changed.  To rain, hailstones, gale force winds, and general greyness.  Bah!  It got us to thinking though, and we are off on our jollies in a while, so we needed to stock up on sunscreen anyway.

Sudocrem, the people better known for their nappy cream and skincare creams, have expanded their skincare range to include kids sun protection with a factor 50 Sunscreen Mousse, and we were lucky enough to be sent a can to try.  Unfortunately, they didn't send us any sunshine to test it with!

The can is nice and light, a big consideration when packing your suitcase (you should have seen us last month trying to avoid excess baggage charges by repacking at the airport!), being a pressurised can, and 150ml, it would have to go in the case.  The nozzle was easily pressed holding the can in one hand, leaving the other hand free to restrain a wriggling toddler, or to spray the mousse in to.

The mousse is perfume-free, which leaves it smelling a little bit meh, to tell the truth.  It's not nasty, it just smells a bit like nappy cream.  The fact it is perfume free, however, means it's better for sensitive skin like Squeaky's.  It's also free of colours, parabens & preservatives, meaning it's as gentle as possible.

As Squeaky's skin is sensitive, and she's in the middle of an eczema flair-up at present, I tried the mousse on me, rather than her.  The mousse is thicker/richer/heavier (I'm really not sure what the right word is) than I expected, denser than hair mousse & squirty cream, but much lighter than a "traditional" sunscreen, and rubbed into my skin easily.  The water resistance means it does leave a little bit of a physical barrier on the skin, but not so much that you'd notice, and no tell-tale white residue.  I think I'll try it on SqueakyDaddy on holiday too, he's got quite a hairy chest, and rubbing sunscreen in can be a real pain.

I'm glad I didn't take this one into the nursery, I'm keeping it for us!

Sudocrem Sunscreen Mousse is available from Boots, online and instore, RRP £15.00, but right now there's 1/3 off selected suncare products, making it a bargain £10.00.  For more information about Sudocrem Sunscreen Mousse, and the rest of the Sudocrem range, visit http://www.sudocremmousse.co.uk/

I was sent a can of Sudocrem Sunscreen Mousse free of charge for the purpose of this review. I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own. I am not a member of any affiliate programmes, links are provided for your convenience and I will not receive reward for your using them.

How Clean Is Your... Beach?

No, I haven't caught a dose of the Kim & Aggies, don't panic. I'm still me.

With the financial climate not looking like it's going to get a great deal healthier at the moment, more & more people are likely to be staying within the UK for their holidays this year.  It's like the 1970's all over again.  We're actually really lucky in the UK, blessed with around 11,000 miles of coastline, according to Ordnance Survey (the map people).  OK, not all of that is accessible, and even that which is, it's not all the white sandy beaches of our dreams, but they're ours, and need our help.  I was lucky enough to grow up on the coast, and spent many happy hours on the beaches nearby, swimming, climbing, collecting shells, and generally being a kid.  I'd like Squeaky to have the same privilege.

My parents still live by the seaside (I moved, boooooo), but in a fortnight's time, Squeaky & I will be off to one of my childhood haunts, Sand Bay, near Weston-super-Mare, to join in with the Marine Conservation Society and their Big Beach Clean Up event, sponsored by Marks & Spencer.  There are Beach Clean Ups going on across the UK over the weekend of 11-13 May 2012, so there's bound to be one near you.  We were already planning to visit my parents, so we're going to their local event, rather than one closer to home (in case you were worried that my carbon footprint would be bigger than the impact of my beach cleaning).

It's been a good while since I've been to Sand Bay, I'm interested to see how time has treated the area, as well as seeing what interesting items we might find on the beach.  Apparently, during a similar clean up event, Marine Conservation Society volunteers found all sorts of things, including a plastic skeleton & a portable toilet!  Not to mention the cans, bottles, and plastic bags you'd expect.

The Marine Conservation Society are making quite a day of it, with children's activities and a barbecue for volunteers at our location, but each location varies.  Take a look at the map and see if there's a beach clean up going on near you (nowhere in the UK is more than 70 miles from the coast, so you stand a chance), and join Squeaky & I in cleaning up our beaches.  If the weather's nice, we'll get an added dose of vitamin D, if not, I'll just introduce her to the delights of a British seaside holiday!

Oh, and I've had confirmation that equipment will be provided on the day, just bring suitably outdoor clothing - wellies/boots, coats & clothes you don't mind getting a bit mucky!

If you can't make it, or you can, but your children can't, why not visit School Of Fish, the children's website for the event? There's games, downloads, "codcasts" (I love that!), and all sorts of info so you and your family can get involved even if you can't make it to the beach.  See you there!

Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin

Vitamin D is really, honestly, quite easy to come by.  It's free, and made naturally in our bodies as a result of exposure to sunlight.  Trouble is, there's not a lot of that around at the moment (you might have noticed!), and shockingly, 9 out of 10 toddlers aren't getting enough Vitamin D to meet their nutritional needs, either naturally or through supplements.

Vitamin D helps with bone growth, and can prevent rickets in children, and osteoporosis in adults, as it helps regulate the calcium levels in the body.  That's something I know about, thanks to a couple of broken ankles, and surgeons giving me dire threats about bone density scans & the like.

Our lifestyles have changed so much over the last 30 years or so, modern toddlers don't get the same levels of Vitamin D that their parents and grandparents did.  Reliance on cars for even short journeys, greatly increased use of sunscreen, more time spent in front of the tv & computer rather than "playing out", all reduce the amount of exposure to sunlight and therefore the amount of Vitamin D floating around in children's bodies.

Image Credit

So, what can we do?  Get out in the sunshine!  Ten minutes a day through the summer months (April - October), without sunscreen, can give a child enough exposure to the sun's rays to produce enough Vitamin D to store in their bodies for the winter.  But really, do we risk our toddlers' skin with exposure to the sun without sunscreen?  And even if we did, that's not going to be enough for some people.  Those living in the north (sorry Northerners!), and those with Black or Asian skin won't get enough sunlight this way, so something else is needed.

The Department of Health recommends all toddlers receive a daily supplement of Vitamins A, C & D.  Those who receive milk tokens (or Healthy Start tokens to give them their proper name) are also entitled to free supplements, and in certain areas of the UK, you may be able to get free supplements from your health visitor even if you're not on benefits(though you might well have to ask).

In addition to a supplement, you can try to include Vitamin D rich foods in your toddler's diet. A lot of breakfast cereals & margarines are fortified with vitamins, another good reason not to skip breakfast!  Oily fish, egg yolks and liver are also good sources of Vitamin D (and yeah, good luck with those).

You can also include a specially formulated Growing-Up milk into your toddler's day.  Squeaky is a DEMON for being a fussy eater at the moment, but two beakers of Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk gives her more than half her daily Vitamin D requirements, so I know she's off to a good start each day, even if she spends the rest of the day refusing to consider anything other than toast.

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.