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Move over babies, this month we’re all about toddlers. We’re taking a look at whether you should let your toddler watch TV during mealtimes and we get up close and personal with the ins and outs of potty training. We’re also giving away some fabulously fun PJs so that your toddler stays cosy all winter. Remember, now that it’s cold, it’s more important than ever to give your busy babes a hot meal to keep them going. Check out the belly warming ideas from other mums. Stay toasty!
Best wishes,
Sally Preston
A busy mum making meals for other busy mums
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Our news: Baby Show – a success once again
Thanks to all of you who visited us at the Baby Show at Earl’s Court in October. We once again had a fabulous turn out with queues of mums and their hungry tots waiting to try out our Babylicious meals at our Baby Café. We had well over a thousand entries in our Baby Show competition… and the winner is … Queen Roddis who has won six months worth of free Babylicious and Kiddylicious meals. Congratulations and happy eating!
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Our news: Have you written to Tesco yet?
As we explained in our recent newsflash, Tesco UK has decided that it will no longer stock Babylicious and Kiddylicious meals, as it’s not convinced that enough mums want the products. If this has meant you can no longer get our products when you do your regular grocery shop, we’re truly sorry for the inconvenience. The only way we can hope to change Tesco’s mind, is through Mum Power. Write to Tesco Head Office, Delamare Rd, Cheshunt, Herts, EN8 9SL and let them know why you’d like to see our products put back in their freezers. You might not think your letter can make a difference, but using words from Tesco itself: Every little helps. So get writing!
And until then, use our store locator to find another stockist near you.
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Our news: Belly warming toddler meals
The cold November days make a hot meal even more important for your energetic toddler. If you don’t have time to prepare something, why not try these belly warming Kiddylicious meals:
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| Lancashire Hotpot | Cottage pie | Potato topped tuna and sweetcorn pie |
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Our friends: www.mybabyradio.com
Wouldn’t it be fab if you could listen to great music, hear the latest baby-related news, get advice from experts, join in debates and be inspired by other parents all in one place? Well now you can. In October, the UK’s first baby-focused radio station was born. The station has a regular line up of shows including ‘Ask the experts’ where parents can get advice on a range of subjects, ‘Elevenses’ which looks specifically at feeding issues (obviously something close to our heart), special shows for mums and dads, not to mention the parent show where you’re invited to get involved in daily debates.
The station also has a variety of celebrities on talking about their babies too. So, for a radio station that's completely focused on the subject of babies, why not listen online today. Just click TUNE IN at www.mybabyradio.com.
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Hot topic: TV dinners – do you switch off during meal times?
It’s approaching that time of day when eveyone’s tired and hungry. You need to prepare dinner but your children want your attention. Solution? Turn on the telly. But once the meal is ready, do you turn the TV off?
More and more children, including toddlers, are eating in front of the tv. But this growing trend has a number of negative side effects.
Research has shown that people who eat while watching TV tend to be unaware of how much they’re eating and end up overeating. Obesity levels and the number of hours spent in front of a TV go hand in hand.
But for young children and toddlers with small appetites, the reverse can be true. They become so engrossed in the programme that they forget to eat and don’t get the nutrition they need. Over time, watching TV while eating stops a child from truly enjoying their food and relishing its flavour, colour and texture because they just aren’t paying attention to it.
Studies also show that children tend to request foods that are frequently advertised on TV. Most of these products tend to be low in nutritional value – like fast foods and sugar coated breakfast cereals.
But the biggest problem with eating in front of the TV is that a child doesn’t get to talk and connect with their family. Family mealtime conversations can help build children’s self-esteem, teach them table manners and create positive relationships. Research also suggests that children who eat dinner with their parents tend to make better choices in what they eat, opting for healthier food and consuming less saturated fat and more important nutrients than unsupervised children.
Some parents leave the TV on as a form of distraction to reduce fighting at the table or to divert a fussy child’s attention from what they’re eating. But for many tired parents, trying to turn the TV off is a challenge that can quickly turn what is supposed to be a relaxed family meal into a battle zone.
If you find yourself in this situation, here are some tips to get rid of the telly:
- Firstly, if your child is still a baby, lay the groundwork now. Don’t have the TV on (even for your programmes) while they are eating. Use feeding time to connect with your child
- If your toddler has become used to having the TV on during mealtimes, try to break the habit before it becomes too entrenched.
- Make the alternative just as attractive. Instead of just turning off the TV and trying to force them to sit at the table, make the meal fun. Set up a picnic blanket and have a family picnic on the floor. Get your child to help you prepare the meal. By getting involved, they’ll forget that the TV isn’t on and will be more excited to eat what they’ve helped prepare.
- Take it slowly. If the TV is on for every meal, choose a meal where they are less tired and irritable to turn it off. Have the meal prepared in advance so they’re not bored and wanting the TV on while you prepare it. Gradually start to get rid of the TV for all meals. If necessary, pretend the TV is ‘broken’ for a few days to break the habit.
- Try making a game of it. If your children watch morning TV before having breakfast, make it a special treat for them to get to ‘push the button’ to turn the TV off before they sit down to breakfast.
- Watch your own habits. Do you eat all your meals in front of the TV? Children will copy what they see you doing so change your habits too.
- If you are unable to eat with your children (maybe you eat later when your partner gets back from work) still treat their mealtime as a proper family meal. Sit with them and chat. Possibly have a small snack yourself to join in. And try to eat together as a family at least once a week.
For more information on eating as a family, check out www.backtothetable.co.uk – a campaign encouraging UK families to eat together.
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Something to smile about: Potty training – what goes in, has to come out
There are many things about motherhood that aren’t especially glamorous. But potty training must surely top the list. Crawling on hands and knees, clutching a piece of kitchen towel, scooping up little droppings of poo as you hurtle after a screaming toddler determined not to sit on a potty, probably won’t find you looking at your elegant best. But rest assured, there are many other mums out there doing the exact same thing, wondering if they’ll ever feel remotely normal, much less glamorous again.
So if you’re about to embark down the fragrant path of potty training, here are some answers to commonly asked questions that might help you survive the experience with your carpets in tact:
When do you start potty training?
There are three phases to potty training:
- Pre-potty training
- The real thing
- Regression training
Pre-potty training can start anytime from around 9 months. Simply put your child on a potty or potty seat to get them used to the sensation. Don’t worry if they never do anything on it – it’s just practice. In fact children under the age of 18 months can’t control the muscles needed to hold in pee. This training is just to mentally prepare them. Change nappies frequently so they get used to the feeling of being dry and introduce potty training books so they’re comfortable with the concepts of poo and pee.
The real thing starts from around 18 months (for girls, later for boys) but usually anytime from their second birthday. Look for signs of readiness – do they stay dry for more than two hours or after naps? Are they interested in wearing grown up pants? Can they follow simple instructions? Are they uncomfortable in wet or soiled nappies? If so, they’re probably ready to try. Once you decide to start for real, try to stick with it otherwise it sends conflicting messages.
Regression training is once you’ve done it, and they seem to suddenly forget how and you have to go through it again. Frustrating, but it’s a phase and it will pass.
How do you actually do it?
Scotch guard your carpets and cancel all social obligations. Only partly kidding. You will need a minimum of three days but more like a week to ten days where you don’t go anywhere and that you can dedicate to the potty. Before you begin, let your child go with you to buy some big boy/girl underpants and get them really excited about wearing them.
Then get started. On day one, when they wake up, simply take their nappy off, put them on the potty, ask them if they want to pee or poo and wait. If something happens, cheer as though you’ve just won the lottery. If they don’t, put their underpants on and try again every 20 minutes or so and particularly after food or drink. Use a kitchen timer if you have to.
Try to use the same words for pee or poo consistently so that they don’t get confused. If they have an accident, don’t reprimand or shout. Simply clear up and say: next time, let’s go on the potty.
Remember, you cannot praise enough if they get it right. So bring out the pom poms.
What if they fight against it?
If you have a normal toddler, they will fight against it. Initially sitting on the potty might seem like fun. But they soon realise, hang on, mum’s trying to get me to do something that she wants. Well I’ll just test that and pee on her new carpet instead.
Don’t get frustrated (easier said than done). Try to put yourself in their shoes. You’re asking them to unlearn a habit and learn a new habit at the same time. Not easy. It may seem like they’re trying to annoy you on purpose, but often they’re really not.
If they are fighting it, bring out new ammunition. Rewards. Stickers or stars if they sit on the potty and chocolate buttons if they actually do anything. Bribery might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but in this instance, it works. Whatever happens, never force them to sit on the potty.
What if they regress?
Hang in there. It’s a phase. They all regress. Just when you think they’ve got it, they suddenly forget how or become so engrossed in play that they have an accident. Go back to the beginning. Praise, don’t shout. Keep perservering.
A final word
Well actually it’s five words: Vanish Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner. Good luck!
For more information on potty training:
www.mumsnet.com/bigissues/potty.html
www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/your_kids/toddlers_toilettraining.shtml
www.practicalparent.org.uk/POTTY%20TRAINING.htm
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Competition: Win gorgeous nightwear for your toddler from Pixiedixie
Pixiedixie has launched a new range of upmarket children’s nightwear that mums and kids will love equally. The nightwear has been designed in the UK to the highest specification and is manufactured in Europe using top quality, 100% woven cotton, interlock and woven jersey cotton. Designs include Grenadier Guards and a mini version of dad’s traditional checked PJs for boys, while girls will love red and rose heart prints or lilac butterflies, available in nightdresses or PJs. One of the most popular designs is the ‘Paint your Own PJs’, which includes a set of plain white PJs with four different colour fabric paints, so kids can design their own jammies. What an incentive to get them into bed!! See the full range (suitable from 18 months) at www.pixiedixie.co.uk
Click here for the competition entry form
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Tips & Tricks: Tastylicious & Taste Buddies
Tastylicious™ - Recipes by mums for other mums
This recipe is a real winter warmer that the whole family can enjoy, but imaginative toddlers will love:
Cowboy Supper
Finely chop a small onion and soften it in some butter. Add a pack of good quality chippolata sausages (or make your own!) and brown on all sides. Sprinkle a tablespoon of flour over the sausages and onion so that its all coated in flour, then pour over beef stock so that the sausages are covered. Add a tin of beans – cannellini, black eyed beans or kidney beans – stir it all together (we sometimes add a splash of worcester sauce or chutney for added flavour). Then cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until the sausages are cooked through and the beans softened. Serve with rice and broccoli trees. We like to pretend we’re cowboys eating out on the range when we have this. Cowboy hats are optional.
Tastebuddies – Great accompaniments to Kiddylicious (given it’s a toddler theme this time…)
Try adding a new flavour to Potato topped Tuna and Sweetcorn Pie. Add a slice of tomato and a sprinking of cheese to the potato topping on a cooked pie, and crisp under the grill until golden and bubbling. Yummy enough for a Mummy lunch too!
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Feedback
Mum power really does work. ASDA Milton Keynes recently refitted their store and, due to human error (these things happen) forgot to leave room for the freezer with Babylicious in the baby aisle. We’ve heard back from ASDA that they have never had so many phone calls from customers asking for a product to be put back on their shelves. Thanks to all the Mums who rang the ASDA head office, the Babylicious freezer was back in the store within two weeks.
On a separate note, Simon Manby from Dun Laoghaire has written to say
Our son (9 months) likes most of your flavours - in particular the salmon / cod / chicken. Unfortunately likes the cheesy pasta but not the sweet and sour vegetables in the same double pack (too spicey, maybe?). Why not pack these flavours separately?
Simon will be pleased to know that we are looking at ‘swapping’ Sweet and Sour Vegtables with another vegetarian recipe. More news on this soon!
Please let us know if you have any other comments on our recipes – we love to hear your ideas and suggestions.
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