Search Posts

"Do you have any recommendations for maternity jeans that are high-waisted and slim fit? Thank you " It can be such a challenge finding the right type of maternity jeans for you, and it will differ from mum to mum as we are all different shapes and jeans do fit everyone slightly different! However, our top brands for maternity jeans are: H&M do a great range of maternity jeans - lots of different cuts, denim colours and lengths too! There's also some popular brands of maternity jeans on amazon that you may like too - Pacbreeze Over-Bump Maternity Jeans ChicWhisper

"Do you have any suggestions for floor beds? I'm pregnant with my second but my 2 year old still needs cuddles to go to sleep so wanting to get him a floor bed to make it easier for all of us!" Floor beds are great as your little one gets older and are becoming increasingly more popular. They are especially great for still supporting your toddler to fall asleep and then slowly leaving the bed without them realising. There are a few things to note with floor beds - we want to make sure that the entire space is baby proofed including hiding plugs, the bed shouldn't be next to/cover a radiator, remove all choking or potentially dangerous toys from the room, making sure all windows in the room are secured shut and making sure no cupboards/drawers could fall and ideally a baby gate on the bedroom with the floor bed in and place the bed away from walls or furniture, ideally in the middle of the room, so your little one doesn't become trapped if they roll during their sleep - more information can be found on the Lullaby Trust website for safe sleep, we just wanted to highlight this! Floor beds mean that your little one can get out of bed and explore their surroundings freely. Floor beds give little ones confidence and sleep independence and come from the Montessori style of principles. In terms of suggestions for floor beds: Strictly Beds and Bunks - This floor bed is very god value for money. You can paint the bed yourself or leave it natural and it's very easy to assemble. The bed doesn't come with a mattress so that will need to be bought separately. VidaKL Solid Pine Wood Kids Bed - This bed is recommended for over 4 year olds, and is a great option for a floor bed. Easy to assemble, affordable and also looks cute! You can also find some great options at Bedoo for floor beds.

"We have been weaning our son and he has been showing signs of being interested in drinking from an open cup instead of his bottle, we have been letting him sip out of our cups with us holding it and he loves it - any tips on transitioning from a bottle to baby cup?" When transitioning from a bottle to a cup, things that have worked for us with our little ones has been making sure that the cup is small enough for baby to grab on to so it isn't too heavy when full. We would also recommend not filling their cup too full to start with and guide them as much as they need. Positive reinforcement really does go a long way too, so lots of smiles, claps and telling them how well they are doing. Babies also do a great job of watching you and copying, so making sure you are sitting with them and showing them how to hold the cup, how to drink from the cup, using both hands and gently putting the cup back down can help their modelling of behaviour for drinking from a sippy cup. Some of our top sippy-cup brands for babies are: Babycup Sippeco PandaEar Sippy Cups bamboo+bamboo sippy cup

"My daughter is almost 3 and is showing signs of wanting to use her potty, do you have any advice on potty training and what you would recommend that worked?" Potty training can be a tricky one and it's likely you've heard some horror stories from family or friends who have successfully potty trained! Here are some tips that helped us when our little ones were showing signs of being ready for potty training - remember every child is different and will be ready at different stages! We want to make potty training as fun and engaging as possible without making the process feel stressful. There are some Potty Training products which can help with this: My Carry Potty Potty Training Pants No More Nappies Book Pirate Pete's Potty We also want to make sure we aren't rushing our little ones - from our experiences, it's much quicker to potty train a child that shows signs than one that doesn't and it can actually be a much longer process if your little one isn't ready. Focus on day-time at first and then night time - consider removing the night time nappy after you both have the day-time figured out. We would recommend staying at home/staying very close by to home for 3-5 days for consistency, making sure they aren't wearing a nappy and have their potty training pants on - when your child has an accident, we want to stay calm and positive and make them feel that they are doing great - remember that this is a big change for them. We want to keep a close eye on them and when they show signs of needing the toilet, put them straight on the potty and be reassuring and comforting for them. This also links to noticing patterns in their toilet habits, after a few days you will notice a pattern which can help you to be more prepared with getting them to the potty in time. Support your child to notice any signs that they may need the toilet but try not over ask - this can actually have a counter productive effect. Every child really is different but taking time to really be present with your little one over a series of days and having consistency can help them to succeed with their potty training journey!

"I'm due with my first in 8 weeks and wondered if you could help with which manual breast pump I should get?" Absolutely! We have all returned to work after having our little ones and all used different manual breast pumps to keep our supply up. Manual breast pumps are great as not only are they more affordable than electric pumps, but they enable you to determine how you want to pump with much more control. The manual breast pumps recommended by the Carol App Team are: Tommee Tippee Manual Breast Pump - this pump is comfortable, simple to use, lightweight and easy to carry out and about. The milk gets collected straight into a Tommee Tippee bottle which is very handy and it's very easy to clean too! The Elvie Curve - a little more expensive, but the Elvie Curve can be worn discreetly, can be used whilst breastfeeding on your other breast, is comfortable and easy to carry out and about with you! Haaka Manual Breast Pump - The Haaka is very affordable, fuss free, very popular, easy to clean and easy to take with you on the go. The Haaka isn't as discreet as the Elvie if this is something that's important to you, but it's brilliant and simple to use! MAM Manual Breast Pump - We are big fans of MAM here at Carol, we find their products long lasting, good quality and good value for money and their manual breast pump is no exception. The MAM breast pump enables you to pump directly into a MAM bottle.

"Hi, please could you share what weaning products you got for your babies when you started them on solids? I'm not sure what I need to get. (I'm on a budget too)" There are definitely some products that we would suggest getting for when you start weaning your little one, but we would say that they are more for when your little one is a bit older and can hold and use cutlery themselves - although each to their own and if you'd rather get weaning products earlier then go for it! The weaning products that we got for our little ones at the Carol office were baby/toddler cutlery and plates - we found that they kept our little ones entertained during mealtimes with the colours and as they were baby/ toddler safe, we felt comfortable with our children exploring with them! There are so many different types of cutlery and plates for little ones, you can get suction plates to keep them in place which is very handy, you can get plates with dividers for separating different foods and there's many different colours to choose from too! There's many different cutlery options on the market too - silicone, BPA free plastic, different handle and grip styles - but here are our favourite brands for baby cutlery and plates to help keep the weaning journey fun and engaging! bamboo bamboo suction bowl & spoon set - We loved this non-toxic weaning set from bamboo bamboo - we found it lasted a long time, was very easy to clean with the removable silicone, had a good suction onto our highchair meaning our little ones couldn't grab the whole bowl and launch food around the kitchen. The spoon has a soft silicone end and is very easy to use for spoon feeding and for little ones to grab and practice feeding themselves with too. This is our top weaning set! Kiddaroo Weaning Set - This is another great weaning set - it comes with 6 products; (1) Suction Plate, (2) Suction Bowl, (3) Adjustable Weaning Bib, (4) Sippy Cup with Straw Lid, (5) Spoon and (6) Fork, and is great value for money. Not only this, but the silicone is BPA free, the plate and bowl have suction bottoms meaning they stay still during feeding time, and they are all very easy to clean! The spoon and fork are also great at getting your little one used to practicing holding them and using them to feed themselves. The divider plate is also great for separating different foods. bebefant weaning set - This set also contains 6 products - 1) Three compartment baby plate with suction base, 2) Weaning bowl with suction base, 3) Cup with easy-grip handles, 4) Spoon with premium bamboo handle, 5) Fork with premium bamboo handle, 6) Adjustable bib with pockets. The divider baby plate is great for separating foods out, the silicone is BPA-free, the set is very easy to wash and it's also great value for money too! In terms of just a baby weaning plate, the Linda's Essentials baby suction plate is good - very good value for money, very easy to clean, perfect for baby-led weaning and also has suction so stays still whilst your little one is exploring!

"Can any of you mums please share any activities to entertain my 2 year old as well as encourage their development? We try to avoid too much screen time and looking for sensory type activities to keep him busy!" We're right there with you, most of the Carol App Team also have toddlers too! We've compiled a list of our favourite activities to keep our toddlers entertained, so hopefully this helps! Toddlers love sensory activities! There are a number of sensory activity packs on amazon that we have found brilliant for making activities from - some of our favourites are: Wooden Montessori Box PreSchool Play Book FunzBo Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts activity box is great as you can get some plain white paper, get some of the items out, pens and glitter and let your little one explore with the colours, textures and sit with them whilst they explore! Another activity we do to keep our toddlers entertained is we have also set up a little paint area at home with a cloth covering the floor - some A3 paper and some paint and let our little ones explore the paint colours and create some art work! This has kept the little ones entertained for a long period of time - it's also a great activity to get one of your friends and their little ones over for them to do together - make sure you dress them in clothes you don't mind getting paint on! Building blocks also go down really well and can keep the little ones entertained for longer period of time too and is much less messy! These blocks from amazon are a big hit with our toddlers and they use them every day! Another brilliant activity is the magnetic tiles - we recently discovered them after playing with them at a friends house and our son is hooked! Also much less messy than paints/ felt tips!