Tuesdays is Hartbeeps Day for us in our week of baby groups in Darlington. Again, shying away from traditional playgroups because we have seen the rewards of going to taught sessions; Hartbeeps offers something for both children in our household. Either as individuals for the benefits of one-on-one time or as a pair, I never have to worry about anyone missing out, thanks to their understanding that people often have children close together in age.
The tunes in Hartbeeps are often based on ones you know, with a little Hartbeeps twist. So children benefit from the sense of familiarity as well as developing their listening skills.
2. Set routines that may help you at home
The sessions follow the same structure, which is fantastic as children learn through repetition. The activities are never the same, as the theme is changed weekly throughout the term, but the basic core structure remains, which allows the children to anticipate what is next. The wind-down session is great to incorporate into your own bedtime routine. I have two children who go to two different sessions but the fundamentals of the wind-down are the same, so it allows them both to be familiar with what is happening through the use of songs, a Hartbeeps star and turning the lights down. This has often saved me when doing bedtimes when I am solo parenting!
3. Some Cheeky Classics Which Will Make Parents Smile
If you were anything like me and enjoyed a nightclub or two back in the noughties, even the occasional jaunt to Ibiza, you’ll appreciate the little nods to a simpler time in your life with Hartbeeps versions of classics such as Nalin and Kane- Beachball in some of the sessions! If you were more of a fan of latin music, they’ve got something for you too as the Lambada was modernised for the farming community to become the Lamb Baa Baa.
4. Lovely Classes
All of the parents in our classes are absolutely lovely. I don’t have the easiest of toddlers and Ali, who owns the franchise has been absolutely amazing. If it wasn’t for her, I’m sure I wouldn’t leave the house with my toddler because his behaviour was feral. We started the Happy House class so that we had some one-to-one time, but it was rough. As he is not vying for my attention with his brother, he likes to use the opportunity to let me know that his emotions overwhelm him. A new baby, hearing and speech issues meant he was emotionally in turmoil a lot of the time. Ali has been so kind and patient with us both. She’s been incredibly understanding and encouraging in the sessions with him, taking it as a win if he joins in and tries again next time if he doesn’t. I’ve also never felt judged by anyone for his behaviour and always extremely welcome. She also takes the time to comment on any social media posts she sees of the boys. People really do buy into people and Hartbeeps really does feel like you belong to a village which supports each other. I can’t express enough for any parent a little bit scared of baby groups or has a feral toddler, that Hartbeeps really is fantastic.
5. Quality
The content of the classes is exceptionally high quality and so are all of the props! I’ve never seen such an exquisite parachute – but the parachute used in Baby Beeps and Baby Bells is something else! You never have to worry about cleanliness around little babies in this class, it is the cleanest and anything that comes into contact with the children is the highest quality I’ve ever seen in baby groups in Darlington.
6. Something For Everyone – baby groups in Darlington that you can stick with!
We’ve found something that the children can enjoy as individuals or if I need to, I can take them to class together. The classes are grouped by development stage rather than age but as a rough indication, Baby Bells class is for newborn to won’t sit still any longer, Baby Beeps is for little explorers and Happy House is for toddlers and suitable until they start reception. So your child can have that sense of familiarity from the start, which can only be a good thing. The baby groups are available in Darlington and Newton Aycliffe through the particular franchise owner we are familiar with. Other areas are available. Trials are encouraged as each person will put their own spin on delivery.
Disclaimer: All views my own and all classes paid for. I have not been asked to publish this post.
Disclaimer: The Baby 2 Sleep Build Your Own Sleep Plan mentioned in this blog post was gifted by Baby 2 Sleep for the purposes of honest review. There has been no editorial control over this post and all opinions remain my own.
This post has been such a long time in the making, but I am finally able to say that E is sleeping through the night. I feel that we nailed naps such a long time ago but I put myself under no pressure to change sleep associations to make that final transition to get him to sleep through the night. By that I mean in his own cot, putting him down awake and allowing him to settle himself to sleep.
As you can see from the picture above – I tried white noise but it didn’t work for us! (Yes he’s on his front, this is the only way he would ever settle and I was sat on the floor next to him).
I needed to understand the mechanics of sleep, what would work best for us and without a looming deadline and that is exactly what Nicole’s from Baby2sleep build your own sleep plans offer. The series of videos that provide different explanations and advice were great and not overwhelming.
With having another child, the end of maternity leave looming and needing to work to a timeline that wasn’t going to put any additional pressure on me ( I was really struggling with postnatal thyroid issues coupled alongside sleep deprivation) I couldn’t deal with having a deadline put on me – slow and steady wins the race!
This plan was great because I was able to work towards smaller goals. It allows for a holistic understanding of sleep and to make small changes that can aid sleep.
This helped with our naps massively in a very short amount of time. Awake times, sleep associations, what happens when a child is overtired and why is all explained in such an easy to understand way, it was incredibly easy to follow my baby’s cues.
I found this way of helping E worked much better for my learning style too because if someone was simply giving me a list of instructions to follow, I’d want to know why – so Nicole’s style of explanation rather than rules really worked for me. You could really tell that she is a mother who has gone through this too, so is talking from experience and not just a textbook, although I know she is qualified alongside her having lived through sleep issues with her eldest daughter.
So why has this post taken me so long to write? I got the sleep plan around seven months ago to review and I wrote about how we had made progress immediately with naps but I took the easy option for a while of allowing sleep associations to continue and allowing feeding to sleep. I started to work on this a few months ago when I decided to stop breastfeeding but I simply replaced this feeding with another association – the comfort of cosleeping when he woke, which meant the process took longer. Slowly but surely he stopped waking and we got there! So I have taken much longer, but I think that is the absolute bonus of this sleep plan – no deadlines, no pressure on parents from anyone other than themselves. I had the tools to do it in my own time, which is the most important thing. It empowered me to make the changes in ways that suited me.
I can’t tell you how much better I feel for him sleeping through. I had constant brain fog, which I now know was ‘cortisol brain’ and cortisol had been an ongoing pest in our house. But I had never even heard about it before working with Nicole.
If you’re in the same situation as me: you couldn’t deal with pressure of progress checks, you need to understand the reasons why you need to do things, you need the tools to allow you to do this in your own rhythm because you have other children, maybe you’re going back to work or don’t have any support systems – I can’t recommend this sleep plan enough. The fundamentals are ones in which will still with me for life.
Originally published in 2020 and republished in 2023.
Throwing back to some Christmas content in 2019 with Lapland Letters.
Disclaimer: Lapland Letter mentioned in this blog post was gifted for the purposes of honest review in 2019. There has been no editorial control over this post and all opinions remain my own.
With having a three-month-old baby and a toddler adjusting to the new addition, we didn’t really get in the festive spirit last year. We were basically just trying to get through the tantrums! So this year we are very eager to have the best Christmas we possibly can as a family!
We have been slowly trying to introduce the notion of Santa and Christmas to R with a view to it being the norm when Christmas time is here. So we jumped at the chance to receive a lovely ease into the festive season from Lapland Letters. They’re obviously still only small at ages 3 and 1, but we thought it would be the perfect way to introduce the magic to R… and we obviously couldn’t leave the little one out – especially as he has FOMO (fear of missing out!).
Here are the boys opening their letters:
R straight away recognised Santa and was really excited. He couldn’t contain himself to sit and listen to the entire letter straight away as the appeal of colouring in the sign to put on the door hanger was too much. He asked his dad read it to read him his letter before bedtime rather than the usual story. He was absolutely amazed that it mentioned his little friend from nursery.
When my mum popped round the next day, I got the package out to reinforce the magic, as I knew she’d help get into the spirit and I was amazed at him getting the reindeer food out and explaining to her what it was and what you did with the ‘Santa Stop Here’ sign. I was so impressed he’d taken it all in as I wasn’t sure how much he would understand, but he’s definitely impressed and he’s been talking about Santa more and got very excited to see him at the DIY shop!
There were other additions such as a Santa map to show his journey to the house, which I will show him on the lead up to Christmas and some wishing stars to add to the Christmas tree when we put it up in a few weeks. It’s all professionally printed, just as you would expect from Santa and the envelope was handwritten by an elf.
It was a massive hit, so I was really happy it had the desired effect. I personally couldn’t believe that either of them was on a good list! But apparently they were and they both have Good Child Certificates to prove it!
Disclaimer: Sleep Plan mentioned in this blog post was gifted by Baby 2 Sleep for the purposes of honest review. There has been no editorial control over this post and all opinions remain my own.
Anyone who knows us will know that I am constantly asking anyone and everyone for advice on getting my eleven month old baby to sleep more and better; why won’t my baby nap? why is he still waking four or five times a night? how can I cure baby FOMO?
I thought that because I was still breastfeeding, at eleven months, that this was why he was still not sleeping through the night. But as he is eating [alot of] solids through the day it didn’t make sense as to why he wouldn’t nap. Yes, our house isn’t always quiet because of his three-year-old brother, but even when RLT is at nursery, little one only goes down for such a short time. Why won’t my baby nap?
This lack of quality sleep, I was sure, must be affecting him cognitively. Although he doesn’t show any signs of ever being overtired as he smiles from the moment he wakes to when you try to get him to sleep (then all hell breaks loose). The lack of time for myself, for my other son and to basically do anything without a very inquisitive baby with me, was beginning to take its toll, so when I saw the opportunity to review a build your own sleep plan from Baby 2 Sleep, I contacted her asking for help in answering why won’t my baby nap? Why does he hate sleep?
Nicole, who owns Baby 2 Sleep is a sleep consultant who is one of the very few I’ve found that has actual qualifications. There are lots of accounts on Instagram from people who are not qualified and encourage you to let your baby cry to sleep, which is a terrifying concept to me. So I was grateful to find Nicole who practises gentle and reassuring sleep methods.
Nicole provided me with the tools in the form of videos which cover different topics related to sleep, which informs your knowledge of sleep (I clearly had none), which in turn helps you to help your baby. Because I’ve been single-handedly potty training a three-year-old at the same time as trying to watch these videos, I’ve had to dip in and out as it’s like trying to watch something in the middle of a rave when my kids are together!
I haven’t managed to watch all of the videos yet, but the ones I have I can honestly say have completely opened my eyes. I have made some small changes at naptimes, which have already started having a massive impact. Nicole explains sleep so magnificently, how bodies fight sleep, what we need to promote good sleep and advice for how to gently prepare our babies for sleep. The videos I have access to are for babies aged between 9-12 months so are spot-on for the needs of E. From only watching six videos so far, which are around five minutes in length, I already recognise that E was struggling with being over sensitised, over-tired and not being able to stitch his sleep cycles together without feeding and I never realised that before. I thought that he associated breastfeeding with sleep, but I never understood how much this was impacting on him moving through sleep cycles on his own.
We’ve made some minor adjustments in his nap routine, simple things that I had never thought of such as if he wakes earlier for the day, his nap needs to be earlier, the next nap needs to be a certain time after waking and longer than the one before. It sounds ridiculous even typing that because it seems so obvious but advice on how to support him to go to sleep without feeding from me and him drifting off to sleep on his own has seen overwhelming changes. Where a few days ago, I would have to feed him to sleep on the bed, he’s now having his naptimes in his cot. This is massive for us as I now have that naptime for one-to-one time with his brother, so it’s making a world of difference to our entire family.
I’m excited to update soon as I should finally get to watch all of the videos during naptimes today and I will update in a week or so, when I have been able to write up an entire plan which also looks at bedtime. As I’ve been solo parenting and on late train station runs, bedtime is still a little up in the air – but I have definitely identified the issues in that, thanks to Nicole’s videos, so I look forward to being able to implement some changes to help! Then I will just have the issue of the three-year-old who also doesn’t seem able to stitch his sleep cycles together and likes to bed hop during the night!
When your baby has a bunged up nose or is wheezy, it may be challenging to know whether to treat your child at home or if you need to take your child to the doctors or hospital. Tees Valley CCG, working with County Durham CCG (my local CCG hence my interest in amplifying their message!), has produced several Little Orange Book resources, designed to help the parents of babies and small children displaying cold symptoms and breathing problems. These are issues causing great concern to parents right now with Strep A causing serious issues, bronchiolitis and RSV cases being on the increase.
During the pandemic, children have mixed less, and some under-twos haven’t yet developed the usual immunity to everyday illnesses. The NHS expects more babies and toddlers to get common viruses like Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) during the winter months.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common virus most children catch before they turn two. Whilst most cases are mild and can be treated at home, RSV can be more serious in tiny babies, premature babies, and those born with a heart condition or respiratory illness.
Is your child displaying any of these symptoms? Or others that may concern you?
Cold symptoms and a rattly chest/ dry cough
Rattles and wheezes that make it harder to feed
A high temperature
Pauses in breathing
A change in colour
Try consulting the materials linked below to ensure your child receives the proper medical attention:
You can also watch a short video (below) to find out more about the symptoms of RSV and what help you can access if you are concerned.
The entire Little Orange Book, which covers a wide range of ailments in children from common minor illnesses like teething, constipation and colds, through to more severe conditions, can be downloaded here.
