When your children start getting their milk teeth it is a good idea to get them into a regime of caring for them. 

·         Brushing their teeth can be a fun exercise that they enjoy and make part of their daily routine. Buy some tooth paste especially formulated for children which come in all sorts of yummy flavours. Let them see you brushing your teeth and make it fun rather than a chore. 

Avoid sugar! Sometimes this is easier to start from an early age but even then sugar is hidden in lots of foods that perhaps you may not realise. 

·         Risks, baby drinks and even some tinned baby food can contain too much sugar. ·         Avoid giving your child juice or sugary drinks in a bottle. The teeth end up being bathed in sugar for a long time and can rot your child’s teeth.

·         Don’t give sweets as a treat or as a reward, it gives sweets a high importance. Why not give other things like stickers, bubbles or agree to go on family bike ride!

·         Avoid having lolly pops, fizzy drinks and squash as part of their normal diet and just give them occasionally, maybe at children’s parties. You may even find that they’re not really that bothered by them.

·         Get them to help you make smoothies with lots of different fruits; they will enjoy making them and tasting them. 

Children who eat sweets every day have almost double the decay than those children who eat sweets occasionally.

The age that babies get their milk teeth varies. Some babies are born with a few a teeth while others don’t get a single

tooth until after their first birthday!  Most babies will generally get their first tooth around six months old. They normally appear at the bottom in the front first and you may find that their first tooth may appear without you even realising. Although for others not so fortunate, you may be aware of it coming for a long time before it actually makes an appearance. 

What are the signs of teething? 

·         Dribbling, you may find you will need to pop on a bib to avoid their clothes getting wet!

·         Gnawing on anything and everything they can get near their mouths

·         You may find they are fretful and hard to settle. How to ease their discomfort?  ·         Try giving your baby something to chew on such as a cold teething ring, a bread stick or peeled carrot (stay with them though to avoid choking!)

·         Sugar free teething gel may help if you rub it on their gums.

·         Sugar free paracetamol can also offer relief for them. Avoid giving them anything sugary to gnaw on as this can cause tooth decay even with only one or two teeth. Many parents put all sorts of upsets down to teething such as diahorrea, nappy rash, crying more than usual, coughs and colds. Be careful not to put all the blame onto teething as it could be something else!

It has been reported in the press that modern parents are spoiling their children. Grand-parents have been quoted as saying they are deeply concerned over how their grand-children are being brought up.

Many Grand-parents claim that when they became parents they were just left to their own  devices in bringing up their children and they feel that the parents of today are suffering from too much social pressure.

 Do we spoil our children and try too hard?Maybe we do, years ago as I was growing up, I remember enjoying baking with my grand-mother and even had fun helping my Grand-father in his vegetable allotment. Getting muddy and playing with worms and making mud pies are some of my fond childhood memories.

Do we now skip all the easy and simple pleasures of life and treat our children to an endless stream of activities that puts added stress upon us and our children. Managing to get to every activity on time with the correct clothing is not only a feat in itself but also expensive.

 Ballet, Karate, Swimming lessons, Spanish, Drama, Music and many others that cost us time and energy. Would we be better off financially and mentally if we picked our children up from school and took them home to enjoy an hour of gardening, baking, teaching them to knit or would we just be turning them into social outcasts?Is it time to get off the constant treadmill of their social activities and go back to the good old days?

Recording your baby’s first smile, laugh, wave and teeth is something that I think many of us forget to do.  

We think we will remember, how could we ever forget……but 5 years later if someone asked me how old my daughter was when she said her first word I doubt if I could answer accurately. Some moments are etched forever in my memory, like her first steps and her first smile and I know roughly when she finally used the potty and no longer needed nappies, the rest is a memory but one I probably couldn’t answer to a specific time or date. 

So if someone buys you one of those lovely books to write down all your baby’s precious moments, take time to fill in the blanks. 

A few years later you will be thankful you did. It will be a great book for your child to keep and read about themselves. Pop in plenty of photos along will all the time and dates so that when your little one has grown up you can look back and remember with clarity and not the foggy haze that those of us have, who never took the time to fill in the blanks!

There have been lots of stories about how pregnant women should not dye their hair as it can be harmful to their unborn child. Is it fact or fiction?

Well there hasn’t been any links found between dyeing your hair and causing any harm to your baby. The chemicals found in modern hair dye are not thought to be highly toxic, either to the mother or the baby.

However if you are still worried and want to avoid any chemicals there are some other methods to consider!

• Ask your hairdresser to give you some highlights or lowlights using foil or easy meche, this way the chemicals used to dye your hair will not actually have contact with your scalp.
• If you really want a full head colour then ask your hairdresser about any herbal or vegetable dyes they have, if they don’t have them they could always order some in for you.

Remember though that due to all the hormones you will be producing due to being pregnant and the fact the thickness of your hair will also be affected it can alter the final result. A colour that you may have used for years could turn out looking a little different!

Keep up the hair and beauty treatments as your body is doing a very special job and you deserve to feel good about yourself!

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Going away for a holiday in the sun can be fun for everyone, especially the children. They can really enjoy the outdoors and make the most of the beach or pool.  

We’ve all seen plenty of advice about sun safety and we should all be aware of using plenty of high factor sun creams and staying out of the mid-day sun.  

What other things can we do to enable them to make the most of their holiday without spoiling it or constantly nagging them to come back to have their sun cream reapplied. 

• Get your child a ‘legionnaire’s hat or big floppy hat that covers their neck. The neck is one of the worst places for sunburn and can cause sunstroke. You can even get legionnaire’s hats that are made of swimsuit material so they are protected in and out of the water.
• We all know children should wear a high factor cream but it can be a pain getting them to keep still whilst applying it. Why not get a coloured sun cream? Maybe get a green one and play the monster game where they have to cover themselves in monster camouflage. You will be able to see any areas missed and they will enjoy putting it on. You can get some really funky coloured sun blocks for their nose and cheeks.
• Cover them up in long sleeve t-shirts over their swimsuits. If you are out and about away from the beach or pool, you will find that a thin long sleeve cotton top is just as cool as a t-shirt and will protect their arms.

Have fun, take some after sun just in case and pop it in the fridge. Enjoy your holiday but just remember how powerful the sun can be, you don’t want to put your children at risk of skin cancer later in their life!

Most pets can be very tolerant of children and will adapt to a new baby easily but some pets may not be as enthusiastic about the new arrival as you may have hoped. 

Your dog or cat may be used to getting lots of attention from yourselves and when they find themselves being pushed off the top perch by a baby it can leave them feeling threatened.  

• Before you give birth try to get your dog or cat into the sort of routine you can continue when the baby arrives.
• If you will only manage one walk a day with your dog when the baby comes then get them used to it before you give birth.
• Get them used to an area in your house where they can go to feel safe and escape when they need to.
• Try to give them some attention after the baby has gone to bed so they don’t feel ‘pushed out’.
• Get them used to sleeping well away from the babies bedroom and don’t let them claim ownership to any of the babies things such as toys, beds or chairs. Use a cat net on their pram or cot.
• Cats may change in their temperament when the baby arrives as they tend to be very sensitive to their surroundings, they may even start to spray to mark their territory.
• Make sure your pets are up to date with their worming treatment.
• When your children start to crawl keep the garden free of pet faeces.

Growing up with a pet can be great, studies have proven that children introduced to animals can build up immunity towards some allergies.