by iamcrabstix | Jul 10, 2023 | eet, general parenting, Reviews, rlt
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.
1. Catchy songs
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.
by iamcrabstix | Sep 4, 2022 | eet, Reviews
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!
by iamcrabstix | Nov 10, 2019 | eet
After 13.5 months, it looks as though our breastfeeding journey is over. As we had to take RLT to A&E on Tuesday night for tonsillitis, EET stayed with Grandma, which meant no night feeds for him and no time to express.
Offering none of my own milk is something I kept to after this evening of him staying at his Grandma’s house, as advice I received from Nicole from Baby2sleep in exchange for review, made me realise that breastfeeding was a sleep association for him.
So instead of offering my own milk, I have a bottle of cow’s milk available (he is over 12 months old) and offer him this for the first time he wakes during the night. Then after this, I offer him the bottle again (the sleep association may be for comfort, so the teet may be able to offer him this as he doesn’t have a dummy) but this time with water in it and continue this through the night.
We’ve made some positive changes with his naps, thanks to the build your own sleep plan, but almost four months down the line from making an active plan and following it, I was still being woken 4/5 times a night by him.
I’ve had to take the opportunity to break this association. He obviously isn’t happy about it, but I couldn’t function on this little sleep anymore. It’s affecting me in so many ways. As we have been out and about so much during the day recently, he’d dropped feeding anytime we were out of the house without any conscious effort from either of us, he’s just too nosy! So it has just been the evening and during night feeds to work on for the past month.
Rather than being sad that a big part of our journey is over, I’m looking forward to the rewards of a good nights sleep, for us both, at some point. It is making me sad that this drop has coincided with EET confidently walking, so baby days are officially gone and toddlerhood is here.
The first week was tough, I did occasionally give him milk, I must admit. But slowly and surely the persistence paid off and he began to understand that it was only the bottle that he would be offered. Slowly the sleep time crept up and within around 7/8 weeks he had slept the entire night through.
I’m trying to turn it into a positive in that I can’t wait to watch him grow and develop. When I look at him I could burst with pride at who he is and how happy he is. I played a big part in that and at a time when my anxiety has been through the roof, I look at him and I feel like I have done something right.
Disclaimer: Sleep Plan mentioned in this blog post was gifted for the purposes of honest review.
by iamcrabstix | Sep 25, 2019 | eet
My darling E – I can’t believe we are here already! You’re one! In 365 days you’ve collected almost as many nicknames as days you’ve been alive! There have been:
Arlo from Darlo (you weren’t supposed to be born there and I wanted to call you Arlo!)
Colin
Boss Baby
Squidgy Man
FOMO
Baby Fomo
Kevin De Bruyne
You’re definitely your own person and I love that about you. I just wish you’d sleep a little more! You’re so small for your age, you’re currently wearing age 6-9 months clothes and even then the trousers are far too long and far too wide around the waist. We’ve really had a lot of time together, you and I and I am so glad I took as long as I could off on maternity leave. Although, it is going to be so hard to leave you with Grandma and for you to start nursery, although I think you are so ready and you’ll absolutely love it!
You’re such a smiley little boy, who loves nothing more than being out of the house and being involved in whatever is going on. Your favourite things to do include Baby Yoga and Hartbeeps. When you were born, your brother had a little bit of difficultly adjusting to life as an older brother, but now you’re interacting with him, you get on like a house on fire. I love to watch you both together and you don’t let him boss you around, which is great and definitely what he needs.
You seem to have been teething since the day you were born and I think you have about 11 teeth now. You still won’t drink milk from a bottle, but I am trying so hard to stop your sleep association with breastfeeding and I am looking to switch you over to cows milk now that you are one. It will be a sad day for this journey to end, but we both need a better nights sleep and I will be going to work soon, so I simply cannot function on the little sleep you have been letting me have between feeding/comfort sessions for the past year.
You’ve been to Bluestone, Center Parcs and CBeebies Hotel and we are looking forward to meeting our friends next week for a trip to the lakes. Experiences with you are always a pleasure little man and I hope that the world never dulls your sparkle.
by iamcrabstix | Aug 23, 2019 | eet
I can’t believe you are already eleven months old, little man. Where has the time gone? It feels like you’ve always been here!
You are such a lovely, smiley happy little boy and your FOMO doesn’t seem to be disappearing anytime soon. You rarely cry, in fact, I think that the only time you do is when your brother takes a toy off you or we try to get you to sleep.
Sleep has been an ongoing battle with you since you were born. You don’t like to sleep much, you like to be ready for action. I do worry that you’re not getting enough quality sleep. The longest stretch of sleep you’ve ever had is five hours and that happened only once. Three seems to be optimum for you and nap times seem to be 40 minutes. Looking at anything online to do with sleep makes me worry as you don’t seem to be getting enough by any experts advice. Your awake times are so long in comparison too, you’re probably awake twice as long as you should be.
Moving forward, for both of our sakes, we’re going to have to change things as it can take between one and a half and two hours to get you to sleep in any kind of structured routine time. Hopefully, when I get the chance to look at building a sleep plan with Nicole who is a baby sleep consultant, we should both be more rested! You’ve been getting stronger on your feet for the last six weeks or so, in the past three weeks, your reluctance to go sleep has grown, so it must be related to you trying to master new skills!
You now have eight teeth, with at least another two imminent as you are really struggling and have your hands constantly in your mouth. You refuse to use any kind of official teething toy, but will quite happily put anything else in your mouth to try and ease your pain. You are comfortably in aged 6-9 months clothes now and the last time you were weighed about 4 weeks ago you were 18lbs 2oz. So you’re still teeny tiny for your age. I’m not sure why as you seem really long to me, but you must have petit features. You still feel really squidgy. You have the softest, most beautiful skin and still have little rolls, which are just the cutest. The ones on your wrists seem to be disappearing and where they were on your wrists is lilly white compared to the rest of your arm!
We still haven’t found much that you will not eat. However, you do seem to be showing a great enjoyment of eating everyone else’s food, even if you have the exact same thing on your plate. You dart over to anyone who you can see eating and point at their food, letting them know that you want some. Or in my case, just take it off me. You like to be treated exactly the same as your cousins and brother, despite them being a lot older than you. So you protest if they get ice cream and you don’t, to the point that you will just take theirs.
You recently tried shoes on for the first time and hated them. You would not stand up, you were sat glued to the floor trying to work out how to get them off of your feet for the entire time. It is the most I have known you sit still since you could crawl and you have refused any attempt of trying to put them on your feet since. I tried them on as you are on your tiptoes, I was told shoes would help and since you seem to be so desperate to walk, I thought this may help.
Your relationship with your brother just gets stronger and stronger, although you’ve already learned how to annoy each other, pretty well. You have started to show that you’re not an easy target and will simply accept him taking toys from you anymore. There have at times been instances where I have seen you try to bite his hands when he has been trying to prize something away from you, I’ll be honest, I’m quite impressed! I don’t want you to be pushed around because you’re little and I don’t think you’re going to allow that to happen!
You share a love for music with your brother and you both love bashing the pots and pans. We usually only have to say or show you something once and you’ll repeat it, which blows our minds. You say HIYA to everyone you meet and wave goodbye too. You know Dada, Mama, Cat and you can call for the cat and you still call your brother HUH, but we always know what that sound means. You’re very good at pointing to what you want, letting people know when you want to be picked up and when you are hungry. You’re so very different to your brother and I love that as every experience with you is like having a baby for the first time again.
We recently went away for the night to CBeebies Land Hotel and to the rides at Alton Towers, you made this experience so much better than I could have ever expected. You and your brother were absolutely in your elements. We thought you’d just sit in your pushchair and enjoy looking at everything, but you absolutely embraced everything. You were at the front of the performances with the older kids, enjoying the rides, watching the entertainment in the hotel and getting your picture taken with your favourite characters. You absolutely loved the In the Night Garden ride and your little face when you saw the characters was brilliant. I underestimated how much this experience would be for you as you’ve only watched TV fleetingly and your brother pretty much dictates that you must like Bing because it is always on!
You recently had your first sleepover at Grandma’s House and you had her up as much as you have me up during the night! So we are going to do that a little more often than once every 11 months as I think our feeding journey may be coming to an end soon due to us both needing a little more sleep and me returning to work in a few months time. I can’t believe we made it this far, although I do wish sometimes that you would take a dummy instead of trying to use me as one!
Excited to see what you will get up to ahead of our next update!
by iamcrabstix | Jul 12, 2019 | eet
I just don’t know where the time is going. We seemed to have a winter that never ended and all of a sudden you’ve gone from a baby that has just started sitting up to a baby that can climb up the stairs on his own!
Between six and nine months you have learned so much. Your fear of missing out is still evident, but you no longer have to rely on us to get you to the action as you just get there yourself.
You definitely let us know what you like and what you don’t like, but with that you’re quite good at going with the flow as long as you are included.
You are a very sociable little boy. You love to smile at all of the staff when we take your brother to nursery. You’re in your element if I have to put you down whilst I put his shoes on and love exploring the nursery. Hopefully when you go there for the day, from January, it will be a smooth transition because you’ve been going in and out since you were a week old.
You have so many teeth and so much hair! You got four of your top teeth through at the same time, which must have been really painful for you. You handled it like an absolute pro!
You went on your first family holiday to Center Parcs, which you thoroughly enjoyed. Daddy went a little too fast on the bike, so you clung onto your brother for the entire journey. He made sure you were safe and it’s lovely to think that you feel safe with him.
Your relationship with your brother continues to change. He can make you laugh like no one else can. You love it when he gives you attention. You have bitten him on the knee a few times, which he likes to remind us all of and he’s still working on being ok with sharing his toys. But generally, you make our hearts burst when you are together.
You’re both obsessed with the remote controls, which continues to drive me mad so I have to constantly hide them! You are also obsessed with your brother’s guitar and inflatable microphone for some reason. I think you two may form a band!
You’re still a dinky little thing. You comfortably fit in 3-6 months clothes and are only just starting to wear your 6-9 at nine months.
You love being involved in whatever your brother is doing, which is lovely. But he does like to tell you that you’re too small.
You’re a big fan of the backpack rather than the pushchair, you’re only just big enough, so we can use it more now.
Our food bill is about 30% more expensive every week now that you’re eating solids. You still hate for us to feed you with a spoon and love to smack it just before it goes into your mouth so the food goes everywhere! You’re a definite fan of beef, sausages (any variety), hash browns, potato wedges, any coconut milk-based curry, rice and orzo pasta. You definitely prefer savory to sweet and you’ve just realised that if you steal your brother’s bottle that you can have juice when your cup has water in. I’ve no idea how you worked out how to use a straw, but the first time you tried, you nailed it.
Now you’re at the stage of eating the pebbles in the garden, eating the coal from the fire, taking yourself up the stairs, going to say HIYA to the cat, clicking your tongue to get the cat’s attention when you don’t have it and waving and clapping at anyone and anything. You’re an absolute livewire, little man and it’s tiring but brilliant.
