News — baby

(First published on The Contented Calf website on Tuesday 25th October 2011.)  One Thursday morning a couple of months ago, I suddenly realised it was approaching 11am and BF and I had not really done anything. I wasn’t really that bothered as it was half-term from her usual Thursday morning swimming lessons and so we didn’t have to rush anywhere. And to be honest, I was quite enjoying just pottering around. However, it did spark off me hearing this song on my internal jukebox. I’m not sure the words are entirely correct, but these are the ones that came to me,...

(First published on The Contented Calf website on Tuesday 6th May 2014.) As well as tasting great, Apricots are friends of breastfeeding mums. They are one of our top ten lactogenic foods and can aid with breast milk production, so let’s find out a bit more about them. Usually referring to the species Prunus armeniaca, an apricot is a small, golden orange fruit, with velvety skin and flesh, or the tree that bears the fruit. However, Prunus brigantina, Prunus mandshurica, Prunus mume, and Prunus sibirica are closely related and have similar fruit also called apricots[i] & [ii]. They are relatives of the...

(First published on The Contented Calf website on Sunday 24th July 2011.) So are you all dying to find out how our four days of Potty Training went (The best laid plans of mice and mummies)? What was our call yesterday as to whether we’d send BF to nursery in pants or nappies? Were we ‘totally potty’ to attempt Potty Training....?   Well, here’s my mummy report:   Day One, Thursday (aka D-Day!) To be honest, it was a bit of a mixed bag.  It started off well with BF being very enthusiastic about wearing her ‘big girl pants’. In the...

(First published on The Contented Calf website on 23rd January 2013.) Ever since I can remember, I’ve been aware of the environment, all things ‘Green’ and wanting to do my bit. One of my favourite childhood activities was taking the boxes of glass bottles to the bottle bank with my mum, throwing them in and hearing them smash – brilliant! When I was at school I was a fully fledged member of ‘Earth Action’. Our activity was painting cardboard boxes green and distributing them throughout the school to collect waste paper. And now I’m a mum, I’m also keen to...

(First published on The Contented Calf website on 25th March 2014.) Helping support breastfeeding For a breastfeeding mum, Almonds are one of our Top 10 Lactogenic Foods, helping to support breast milk supply as well as our general health.   So what is an Almond? Look up the definition of ‘almond’ and you will get something along the lines of the dictionary.com reference: A small widely cultivated rosaceous tree, Prunus amygdalus, that is native to West Asia and has pink flowers and a green fruit containing an edible nut-like seed. The oval-shaped nut-like edible seed of this plant, which has a yellowish-brown shell [ii].   And what makes Almonds lactogenic? The healthy fats, protein, calcium...