Brush-Baby – A Review

A few months ago I was asked if I’d like to review a chewable toothbrush and some baby / toddler toothpaste. Little Z is a very keen toothbrushing toddler. Every morning as soon as we’re up he’ll about “BASH!” (brush) and he then proceeds to do no brushing whatsoever but enjoys licking the toothpaste off his little blue brush. I thought this would be a fitting and easy review for the both of us. (It wasn’t as easy as I thought. I ended up chasing him around the room!)

So we were sent this…

A little pink brush which is very flexible and perfect for little baby / toddler hands. The “bristles” are different from traditional brushes and provide more a massaging feeling which is ideal for small gums.

I think it’s an excellent concept and I really liked how soft the structure is. It’s ideal for someone who wants to introduce it to their baby as a first toothbrush just to get them used to the whole new world of cleaning their teeth. I particularly liked the the layer brush bristles and the curved shape which makes it really easy to place into a baby’s mouth and get brushing over and done with in a shorter time than a traditional brush.

Little Z is now 22 months and has been using a small traditional brush for just under a year so he couldn’t associate the new “different looking thing” to being a new toothbrush but he did try it out and enjoyed the sensation for a while. So, for him, it was a partial success but I’d highly recommend it to mums trying out brushes on their babies for the first time.

The apple flavoured toothpaste is actually very nice (I wasn’t expecting it to be!). I remember my toddler tasting a traditional mint flavoured toothpaste for the first time and he found it very strong judging by the expression on his face so this is a nice way to introduce them to toothpastes in general.

The other thing that occurred to me is that it would make an excellent teething brush. The bristles and the shape of the brush is just perfect for a teething baby and toddler to chew on. It’s hard enough to be resistant to breaking yet not that hard that it would hurt them. Placing a bit of teething gel or teething powder on it and then letting a baby gnaw on it for a while would be quite soothing I think!

All in all, I’d recommend this to anyone wanting to try a brush on their baby for the first time.

If you’d like more information on Brush-Baby products visit http://www.BrushBaby.co.uk

We were sent the brush and toothpaste for review.

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Dummy Dares

After about week of Baby Z having fever, a throat infection and what looks like major teething, I think we *may* have finally turned a fever-less corner today. What normally resembles a small but fierce hurricane working its way through our front room looks more like a strong gust of wind at the moment, with a lot of little naps in between the havoc, but he looks like he is getting there, slowly but surely. My fringe, meanwhile has been graced by a few more white hairs of worry over the last few days. Its quite nicely helping me to look more and more like a cross between Pepe le Pews girlfriend and a younger (and of course, prettier) version of Cruella.

All this teething has done no favours to getting rid of Baby Z’s dummy though. He has been refusing all teething rings and, instead, has been clutching his precious dummy to chomp on furiously whenever the need takes him. I was all set to start getting rid of it. It would ONLY be nap times and ONLY when he was in floods of tears. It lasted about a day before fever took over I melted in instant defeat to give him a guaranteed soother. I know he’s feeling better today because he doesn’t look like he’s going to tear it to shreds with just his hardened gums. He is currently sat on the sofa playing the game of the week; holding the dummy strap in his hand and swinging it around rapidly, kind of like a baby version of David from David and Goliath. You can see the fear in his eyes as well as the dare he gives himself to have another go. Then you see a massive self-congratulatory smile emerge once he’s stopped and realised he hasn’t whacked himself in the face.

Trying to take it off him just proves futile as I’m met with a full on dramatic swoon and a “How very dare yoooooou!!” style tantrum. So I opted for the advice given by a few which is “once he hurts himself he won’t do it again”. So far, we’re on the 5th time he’s hurt himself…

We will start again tomorrow.

Tears, Tantrums and The Baby

The last couple of weeks have been slightly strange. Ok, not strange. More like, bloody exhausting. A fresh wave of sleepless nights is visiting our household which I think I owe to the lovely age of “teething” we now seem to have entered. Coupled with the transition of getting the baby to sleep in his cot rather than the (3rd borrowed) basket that he has now grown out of, it has been tiring to say the least. It felt like I had a new-born again and, unfortunately, unlike the first lot of sleepless nights which I got through probably just on sheer baby euphoria, on this second wave I felt like I was starting to lose my patience a bit and go bonkers. Slowly.

Baby boy is now 6 months old and doesn’t sleep through yet. I know this is normal for a lot of babies so I’m not really worried and have become used to 1- 2 wake ups a night. This particular wave of sleepless nights though seemed to come from the depths of sleepless nights hell and meant I was regularly waking up about 4 times a night to provide feeds, cuddles, transfers back to cot, waiting at base of cot, waiting outside baby’s bedroom door, more feeds, cuddles, and so forth.

After about day 3 of sleepless hell, the lack of sleep was causing me to become a grumpy, stomping stroppy 5 year old type mooching about the house, trying hard to hold onto lunch dates / inkling of a social life / seeing other adults before 6pm (when the OH gets home from work). In turn, my moods were swinging from utterly weepy to utterly uber shouty bitch. Of course all of which was being directed to the Dear Husband. (“What do you mean you’re going to football / Do you never think maybe *I* might want to have a social life too??”). The OHs reaction to all of this is usually stunned silence or “don’t cry, calm down”. I’m not sure anyones told him that the only response to that is “What?! Am I not calm!??.  I am calm! Dont tell me to calm down..!!” etc.  On one particularly bad day, post bad night, I was meant to drive to a friend’s house about 15 minutes away and all I could think about was how tired I was.  So after some huffing and puffing I eventually wailed that I was “sooo tired!”

OH: “Why don’t you have a nap then?”

Me: “Because I want to go oooout!”

OH: “Oh, I thought you were tired?”

Me: “I want to do boooooth!”

OH “Shall I drive you?”

Me: “Nooo, its meant to be a girlie day”….[Insert more weepy whining here]

(Yes, there is something about lack of sleep that brings out the whining a bit extremely).

After about Day 8 of sleepless nights hell, the “teething” pain seemed to subside without any kind of visible result. Although i’ve realised that most unknown pains or cause for crankiness are now always classed as “must be teething”. This week Baby Boy is also taking to the cot which is a massive relief.  Not sure where we would have found yet another basket for him to sleep in that was actually big enough and wide enough for his little river-dance-in-his-sleep legs.  We back to the “normal” amount of wake ups a night. This week we (umm.. *I*) have had no tantrums. So far. But its Thursday already. That’s definitely good!

Long live 1 – 2 wake ups a night (for now. Sleeping through is very good too. Just for info).

Blimmin ‘Eck – 6 months!!

So yesterday I came home with you in my arms, a teeny tiny bundle all lost in the baby grow that was too big for you, and big wide eyes silently soaking up the brand new world. And in what feels like a few weeks, you’re a 6 month old!! A cheeky little 6 month old at that!!

This month….

1. You now know your name. You whip your head around, all ears, as soon as someone calls you. And we call you a lot! Just to watch you all alert. I know it’s a bit mean. Hehe, sorry!

2. You have learned to jump like a little jack in the box in the jumperoo. But you will occasionally stand so poised you remind me of a little ballet dancer. Other times you look like you’re doing a little jig.

3. You can now scream from about 7am till 8pm in the evening. Blimey, it isn’t half deafening. You don’t seem to tire of it at all! Whilst it’s cute (well, ok not so much anymore), I won’t miss this phase when it’s over!

4. You can give hugs!! (hurrah hurrah!!). It’s not really a full blown proper hug. More, you grab my face and either burrow your own into it, or you try to bite my cheek, complete with a generous layer of drool. I class it as a hug. Muslins are good!

5. You’ve started enjoying fruit, phew. I did worry a bit at first and had visions of you living off veg (mainly the smelly stuff!) and porridge but I think we’re both getting there! Let’s try a bit of baby led weaning next month.

6. You love the theme tune of This Morning. It has a similar effect as saying your name. You whip your head around and will stare happily at the TV and then go about your way when it’s finished. I haven’t noticed you do it to anything else yet but I’m sure it’ll happen.

7. You love being picked up. By anyone! A smile flashed in your direction and you’re anyones.

8. Having said that though you constantly turn around to check your Daddy or I are in the same room. Else a little nervous laughter comes out. Shortly followed by “get me out of here” whinging.

9. My manager came to visit you this month and you spent the whole time pulling his hair, smacking his face and tugging at his shirt. Thank god he has 3 boys of his own. He loved playing with you. I think!

10. You can now put your dummy in your mouth perfectly. The HV said once you could do that you’d be ready for BLW. Hmmm, so next month is going to be interesting!