Baby's favourite toys

Here is a few of our Baby's favourite toys at the different stages:

"Hi Bertie"

From Newborn - and still to this day

• Bertie beetle - her wigglefriend that sat on her change table, she was fascinated by him (newborns like high contrast objects, they can see them better)
• Bunny, Puppy and Pooh - her comforters in her bed, they were always there at sleep time
• musical toy on her rocker - loved the tunes
• Ducky for bath time

Around 2 months I realised one day she was wanting more and more awake time during the day. I'd got the feeding, changing, bathing things down pat... now I had to learn to play :)

We started with 'nappy free time' on a little change mat in a sunny corner of the room. She loved it and it was great for getting her fully dry, hence keeping nappy rash down. One day she had a try of a play mat at a friend's house, one with a toy arch that she could lay under and bat the toys with her hands. It was a hit! We got one for home and it was a winner, she spent ages looking at and playing with the toys above her. Sometimes I'd put the change mat on the play mat and she had nappy free time (or nappy change) while playing.

"energiser bunny"

3-6 months

• Jolly Jumper! Baby loves to bounce! I know some Babies who don't but ours is a little energiser bunny so she loved it
• Tummy time on her play mat with a cushion, or even a rolled up towel under her chest to help her get her shoulders off the ground
• rattles and toys with little limbs that she could hold onto with her little hands and chew
• teethers
• A mobile above her bed was a great investment, it distracted her long enough from crying to help her fall asleep.

7-9 months - pretty much anything that isn't really a toy:

• shoes, especially the laces, she plays with them in her fingers, examines them, chews them (only under supervision of course)
• pegs - so much so that Daddy calls she Peggy Sue :)
• small plastic bottles with coloured paper inside
• paper - to rip (pieces removed when small enough to go in the mouth :)
• tupperware
• the dogs biscuits.... needless to say she doesn't get these, but it's fun to commando crawl over there at every possible opportunity... and the dogs' water, well it's like a puddle to splash in! LOL
• Tin biscuit tin - makes a great little drum!
• Chicken and birdies in the backyard that she could watch for ages

This week's favourite is an empty nappy box that she uses to stand up with and then pushes around the room and uses it like a walker!

There's a bear in my cupboard

Recently we made a Baby cupboard in the kitchen (and Narna has a Baby shelf at her place). It has tupperware, toys, pegs and other Ella things that she can discover in it and play with. Good fun.

Second favourite toys ever:

• Puppies - so funny and interesting.... they just need to be careful of those little grabby hands

Favourite toys ever:

• Us

Note: Babies have a short attention span, so anything they play with for 10-15 minutes is awesome. And it goes without say that Babies should be supervised at all times with all toys.

What's your Baby's favourite toy?

Learning the ropes - Baby reading

Nothing truly prepares You for taking home your first Baby. I'd read all the books, talked to heaps other parents, had endless conversations with Narna... but the reality was so.... well it was soooooo.....

I'm such a researcher and I had it all worked out. I thought that if I got all the theory lined up I could be the perfect Mum, my baby would never have to cry, she would be so happy and secure all the time and sleep so well...... and then came the Baby. He he he he, how wrong can a girl be.


Don't get me wrong, it's good to be prepared, to read great parenting resources and get some great ideas from other mums, dads and grandparents, but You and your Baby are unique.

So I tried to follow some of the ideas in the books, and got myself all confused. Why was she still crying? I'd done everything I was 'supposed to'. Thank goodness for Narna. She would say "What do YOU think You should for Baby?" and I would tell her what my instincts were telling me, but then I would say "but THEY say you should do such and such". I was second guessing myself trying to follow the 'rules' I'd read somewhere. I was tired, new to this parenting thing, wanting desperately to do the best for my Baby and so I wanted someone to tell me what to do. But what I really needed was to be reminded that I was the Expert of my own Baby, I was the one spending 24/7 with her and if after much consideration I thought I knew what I needed to do then I was probably right.... and if I wasn't 'right' then by try something I would learn more and more about how Baby responded to different things , what she needed and what worked for her.

I learned to Read my Baby and Respond to her. Once I got the hang of it it was such a relief. There was no such thing as 'wrong' (within the boundaries of basic safety), there was just what worked for us and what didn't work for us.... and sometimes what worked one day, didn't work another. The joy and challenge of Baby reading:)

Here are some of the questions I had to discover answers for during the first few months:


Our Question. Why was she crying when I put her down? Is it because I am not routine enough? Is it because I pick her up again if she cries?


Our Answer. She had been such a good sleeper in the earlier days and then it changed. As it turned out she was crying when put down because she had colic. She had gas building up in her little body that made it quite painful for her to be horizontal at times. My instinct to pick her up rather than leave her to 'self settle' was right. I was not giving my Baby bad sleep habits by picking her up, I was responding to her needs.


What I worked out was to read her tired signs and put her down when she was tired. Her tired signs were rubbing her eyes, yawning and/or a slight darkness under her eyes.


During the worst of the colic we often had to hold her upright until after she feel asleep so she could get some rest. When she was having a good day we coud put her down sleepy but awake and she would go to sleep.


We didn't go with a structured routine, but we did have what I call Time Markers in the day.  Every day at around 4pm we would go for a walk. Bath  and PJs time was at 6pm and any time after that was quiet time. Night feeds were different to day feeds. The house was dark and we feed and went for a nappy change quietly. When she woke in the morning (anytime after 7am) we'd open the curtains so it was light in the house and had normal noise in the house during the day.


Other than that, I feed her when she was hungry and put her down when she was tired. Sometimes we needed to go out and I'd do my best to work that around her likely feed and sleep needs, but it wasn't always perfect so we just made do and made sure the next day was a quiet day at home.


Our Question. Was she getting enough food? She isn't always sucking for the 25 mins one side and 15 minutes the other side that the book talked about. Why was she spitting up sometimes? Did I have enough milk for growth spurts?


Our Answer. She was alert, active and happy when awake, pooing and weeing plenty each day and was slowly putting on weight. She was fine and getting plenty to eat. In actual fact I was giving her too much sometimes, that was why she was spitting up. I was one of those fortunate mums with an good milk supply and she was a good sucker, so 25 and 15 was actually more than she needed.


If there wasn't enough I would let her suck anyway to build up the milk supply and then there was enough. So for short periods during growth spurts the feeds were more frequent and that built up my supplies until she was getting enough at each feed to not need such frequent feeds.


At three months old I looked back at the early days and realised that it wasn't as hard anymore.  Reading Baby rather than working by a formula and schedule was tricky at first, but the pay off for us was awesome. 

The first little while is a steep learning curve. So go easy on Yourself.


A few helpful items we found for those early days:

• One of my favourite tools during the early day was my Bubbalog. A friend gave me one before Baby was born. It was great to be able to record sleeping, feeding, medication and nappy changes. It helped me to see what her patterns were, double check she was getting enough sleep and reassuring to count the nappy changes (as an indication of her getting enough milk). There is another great Review of the Bubbalog from another mum on our website.
• The Snooze Cloth is great for when Baby has a tendency to spit up on bed. I remember changing the whole bed in the middle of the night one night when Baby had spit up. I used to put a terry nappy under her head to sleep, but the Snooze Cloth is better because it tucks in at the edges of the cot and has a lovely soft cotton jersey knit cover rather than the rougher texture of a terry against Baby's face.
• The Baby Bjorn Synergy Carrier was my life saver while Baby had colic. The back support was great and the lighter breathable fabric meant that Baby and I didn't get as hot if we were in it for a while. Some babies are snuggly, but our Baby loves her own space and hated snuggly carriers... but she loved the Baby Bjorn.
• We found Baby's mobile helped to distract her for a little while and help her fall asleep.
• I found it hard to get out and about because I didn't feel comfortable feeding in public and Baby needing feeding all the time. A nursing cover made getting out and about easy for me.

Remember - You are the Expert on your Baby. You and your Baby are unique. Your story and what works for You and your Baby will be different to mine. Find Your feet and Read Your Baby.

And then we were three

Welcome to You and Baby. John, Ella and I started You and Baby when Ella first arrived in our lives. We wanted to make it easy for new parents to find things that they needed to set up for their new Baby. There is so much stuff out there and half the time You don't know what to buy, what You'll need and what You'll actually use it for when Baby arrives. We bought some stuff that we didn't use, we bought some stuff that didn't work and we bought some stuff that we couldn't live without. The stuff on You and Baby is the stuff we loved and couldn't live without, and none of the stuff we didn't need.

Wow, my very first Blog. I haven't ever done one of these before! I thought the most helpful thing I could do, especially for new Baby parents, is Blog about our Baby journey, what we did that we found helpful and the stuff we tried that didn't work for us. Every Baby is different and there is so much advise and information out there, but the most helpful thing we have found is talking to other Baby parents and hearing what really worked for them with their Baby, and the reality of having a Baby rather than just theories in a book. I'm looking forward to reading Your comments about Your Baby journeys.

We might start with Ella's arrival. I promise, nothing gross or graphic :)

Beautiful newborn Ella Rose

Ella joined us in July 2010. She was 2 days late, but when she decided to arrive she entered the world pretty quickly, leaving Mummy a litttle worse for wear, needing a small surgery and some blood transfusions. But before anything happened I made sure that Ella got some Mummy time, skin on skin, and she used her instincts to find and self attach for her very first feed. She was so gorgeous that she was all I could think of, everything else didn't seem important once she was there... the doctors and nurses, the noise, the coming and going all was just happening, but I was just happy holding my beautiful girl.

Ella and John

John had had a couple of hours cuddling Ella. The hospital was so busy that night they left him sitting in the birth suite holding the Baby. My mum, Narna, arrived a couple of hours after the birth, she had had to travel to get to us. So she took charge, took some great pictures of Daddy and Ella.

I was pretty tired and worn out when I got back from surgery and couldn't wait to see and hold my gorgeous little girl.  John and Narna had stayed in the nursery with Ella until I arrived. We eventually sent John home for a well deserved sleep and Narna took over looking after Mummy and Baby.

The first night was a bit surreal. I was all shaky from the surgery and having trouble holding Ella. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to feed her I was so weak. Some of the midwifes suggested giving her formula, but Narna knew we were determined to breastfeed so she worked with me to turn down the formula. Eventually the shaking died down enough for me to hold her and feed her.

We were in a room with 3 other mummies and their babies. The head midwife came through at some point and tried to get Narna to leave, but we managed (after much discussion and a little bit of good old fashion determination) to get them to concede to Narna staying quietly with us. I was too shaky to hold the Baby when she needed it and a bit overwhelmed by my physical helplessness after the surgery to feel confident that I would be able to care for Ella. Narna had a gorgeous time of sitting, nursing Ella into the small hours of the night. At about 3am I felt recovered enough and Ella was settled enough so I encouraged Narna to head off for some well deserved sleep.

Ella with her tired but happy Mummy

What an amazing 24 hours! Ella and I stayed in hospital for 3 days total, because I had to have some blood transfusions. I was totally jealous of the other Baby mummies coz they got to take their babies home the day after they arrived. But we were happy. We had a healthy and very gorgeous little girl.

In the hospital there was always a midwife or two on duty available to respond to the buzzer if I needed something, or Ella needed something and I needed help to do it (eg pick her up). I saw a Physio one day, there were doctors who were mummy doctors and other doctors who were baby doctors. Ella had health checks, hearing checks and the midwifes gave John and I a demo of how to bath Ella and keep her cord clean.

Day one checkup

So that was our Baby arrival and hospital experience.

I had a couple of bags of stuff that I took to the hospital with me, but here's a list of stuff that I found most useful for our 3 days stay:

Mummy list

• PJs (a couple of pairs) and a dressing gown
• Underwear, including comfy Maternity bras
• Breastpads and Maternity pads
• My own pillow from home!
• a good basic Baby Care book to flick through as things arise
• Bubbalog
• Mobile phone for texting
• Camera
• some small snacks (I liked dried fruit, nuts and those yummy apricot balls)

Baby list

• Nappies and wipes. I took disposibles for the hospital stay.
• Singlets and onsies - a couple per day
• Coveralls - a couple per day
• Socks
• Wraps for swaddling
• A cute warm little outfit and beanie for taking Baby home in.

Well, there it is. My first ever Blog. I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to writing again soon.