Posts Tagged "nappies"

Mummy in Training

Posted by cafebebemama on Apr 6, 2011 in Blogger Love, Gallery, Motherhood | 11 comments

Yesterday, Little Miss was playing so nicely in the lounge after a rather horrid morning at play group. She has such an imagination and readily has conversations with her toys. I think this is a good thing! She does tend to get a bit shouty with them, from time to time which makes me wonder how shouty I really am but that’s another matter entirely. Lately Little Miss has been particularly keen to play with her baby dolls. She carries them around by the neck (as you do), feeds them (soup for some reason although Little Miss never eats it herself) and puts them to bed in nests on the floor. It’s rather precious.

The other day Little Miss came to me with her old nappy changing case. It was the one we left down in the lounge for daytime nappy changes. She had a list of items that she needed: nappy, cream and wipes. I dug out an old, size 1 nappy, a pack of wipes and a changing mat but told her there would be no cream. I’m not daft after all. She happily packed the items in her changing bag and off she went to change baby’s nappy. What a funny thing to watch! A 2 1/2 year old, putting baby gently down, folding baby in half to wipe baby’s bottom and then staring at the nappy wondering how to put it on. I showed her how then which seemed to satisfy her. She’s a Mummy in Training already!

After yesterday morning’s rubbish series of events I was feeling a little bit down in the dumps. After drowning my sorrows in a glass of Coke and clicking around the internet while Little Miss was napping, I heard a gentle knock at the door. I opened the door to a glorious bouquet of flowers from Interflora courtesy of A Modern Mother, Susanna. My friend Susanna had nominated me to receive a Mother’s Day bouquet from Interflora and on Tuesday (a bit late but I’ll never complain about receiving flowers) I got that rather gorgeous Mother’s Day bouquet. Now I just have to find a vase! Little Miss was most eager to help me with it…it’s nearly as big as she is!

Thank you very much to Susanna and Interflora for making my Tuesday considerably brighter and spreading the motherly love! Wander over to Tara Cain’s Gallery to see more beautiful images of motherly love!

1 Pack, 1 Vaccine

Posted by cafebebemama on Nov 10, 2009 in Blogger Love, Motherhood | 7 comments

BBC’s Children in Need is just around the corner, as is Christmas.  It’s these times of year that we all start to realise how fortunate we are to have the things we have and are able to do the things we do.  I participated in the launch of the Pampers-UNICEF 1 Pack=1Vaccine at the beginning of October.  It’s now the middle of November and I want to remind you of the cause and encourage you to continue giving throughout the months of November and December to help Pampers & UNICEF achieve their goal of 100 million vaccines to help stamp out newborn and maternal tetanus.

If you need a reminder, Pampers has agreed to donate 1 vaccine for every pack of Pampers nappies and/or Pampers wipes with the special 1 pack = 1 vaccine logo on them.  One of the High Street stores supporting this effort is Boots.  Here is more about Boots’ effort:

Help Save a Life with Boots and UNICEF

From now until 15th December 2009 Boots is offering its customers the opportunity to help protect vulnerable mothers and babies in the developing world from tetanus through UNICEF’s free vaccination programme.

For every pack of Pampers and Fairy Non-Bio sold in store or online at www.boots.com, Pampers will donate one tetanus vaccine to UNICEF’s campaign to help achieve the charity’s goal of eradicating newborn and maternal tetanus by 2012.[i]

Furthermore, Boots will also donate one extra vaccine for every purchase of its limited edition baby bib – only £2.

Tetanus is still a major global public health problem in developing countries. An estimated 500,000 cases occur every year, killing approximately 200,000 young babies and 30,000 mothers.[ii]

So far, the UK campaign has delivered 40 million vaccines to at-risk mothers and babies in the developing world with Boots donating over one million vaccinations to UNICEF last year alone, a figure it hopes to exceed in 2009.

The offer includes all Pampers nappies and Fairy Non-Bio products. For every pack of Pampers wipes sold (priced from £1.39), a donation towards a vaccination will also be made.

This offer is part of Boots’ commitment to support UNICEF whilst also providing its customers with excellent value quality products.

A newborn receiving their first tetanus vaccination

Thank You Boots!  So, for anyone who has environmental issues with disposable nappies, Boots is here for you.  Fairy Non-Bio purchases, Pampers Wipes and the limited edition bib all count in the push for those 100 million vaccines.  You know you’ll be going to Boots anyway…they have an outstanding Children’s Christmas Toy Department as well…so get thee to a Boots and do your part to erradicate newborn and maternal tetanus.  Thank you for your support and happy shopping!

Pampers Gift of Life

Posted by cafebebemama on Oct 1, 2009 in Blogger Love, Pregnancy & Baby | 8 comments

Imagine this:  You’re heavily pregnant with your fifth child and are living in Africa.  You’re not living in a flat or a lovely house with running water.  You’re living in a hut with a dirt floor, difficult living conditions and less than hygienic medical clinics which are hours away over challenging terrain.  You go into labour.  There’s no one to help you so you go it alone, give birth, cut the umbilical cord with as clean a knife as you can find.  One of the rituals of your tribe is to rub the soil, which happen to be full of germs, dung and ashes, into the umbilical cord of your newborn child.  Unbeknownst to you, your precious newborn baby is immediately infected with tetanus, a deadly disease caused by bacteria that lives on dead and decaying matter in soil, animal dung and faeces, usually begin with the contamination of an open wound.

When the bacteria enter an open wound they begin to work as a nerve toxin (poison), affecting the central nervous system and causing painful and uncontrolled muscle spasms. Tetanus can cause one of the most painful deaths known to man.  Newborn tetanus strikes rapidly. A newborn infected with tetanus may appear perfectly healthy. Symptoms usually appear from three days after birth, when the baby’s jaw and facial muscles may tighten due to the tetanus poison. The baby’s mouth will continue to grow more rigid so that it becomes “locked” (thus the name “lockjaw” given to tetanus) and the newborn will no longer be able to breastfeed. The newborn’s body may stiffen or arch and he or she may convulse when stimulated by light, sound or being touched. Finally, the newborn may no longer be able to breathe and will therefore die.

Maternal and newborn tetanus are completely preventable through immunisation and hygienic birth practices. Tetanus Toxoid (TT) is a safe and inexpensive vaccine that not only protects women of childbearing age against maternal tetanus for three years but also passes on protection through maternal antibodies via the placenta to their babies. Two doses of the tetanus vaccine are needed to protect the woman and any baby born to this woman during a 3 year period. The baby is protected for its first 2 months of life.

A newborn receiving their first tetanus vaccination

I had the honour of attending a very special press conference in London on Monday where some amazing UK bloggers were privy to the launch of the 2009 Pampers-UNICEF campaign for maternal and newborn tetanus vaccinations.  Natascha McElhone, star of the films “The Truman Show”, “Ronin” and “Solaris” and the hit US television show “Californication”, is the 2009 celebrity spokesperson for the Pampers-UNICEF campaign.  She shared her experiences after visiting Angola earlier this year.  Natascha comments, “As a mother in the UK, I’ve never had to think about the devastating effect of tetanus. However I was shocked to learn that it is still killing thousands of mothers and their babies in less industrialised countries. Once newborn tetanus has been contracted there is no real cure and within days of exposure it can lead to a fast and painful death. I am proud to be supporting the Pampers-UNICEF campaign to help eliminate newborn and maternal tetanus and give these women and their babies a chance to live a happy, healthy life”.  Natascha shared some amazing stories about the conditions these proud and brave African woman are enduring and was even present during labour and delivery of some babies.  The reason the African women had made it into the health clinics was due to the unending efforts of the “social mobilisers” (health visitors) who work tirelessly and voluntarily to educate and inform the Angolan women of the dangers of unhygienic birth practices and the vital importance of the tetanus vaccinations both for mother and baby.

Natascha McElhone, Pampers-UNICEF spokeswoman

Pampers has joined forces with UNICEF for the fourth year running as part of its ongoing dedication to helping eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus by 2012.  Since the start of the campaign in 2006, thanks to the support of mums in the UK and around the world, Pampers has provided the funding for a life-saving dose of the Tetanus vaccine for a mother and her baby every two seconds. This amounts to over 200 million tetanus vaccines donated to UNICEF.  This year, together with the support of UK mums, Pampers is hoping to raise the funding for a further 100 million vaccines to help UNICEF eliminate this deadly disease history.

You are now probably wondering, “what can little old me do”?  Well, it’s immensely simple.  During the months of October, November and December of 2009, for every pack of Pampers nappies and/or wipes purchased with the logo “1 pack = 1 life-saving vaccine”, Pampers will provide the funding for one life-saving vaccine to help protect both mother and baby.  That’s it!  All you have to do is buy a pack of Pampers nappies or wipes with the logo “1 pack = 1 life-saving vaccine” and you have effectively saved a life.  “Uh, pardon me…we don’t use Pampers!” you say?  Well, guess what?  Maybe for a month, you could?  Or maybe you could buy a pack for a friend who does use Pampers!  And if you really can’t use Pampers nappies, go for their wipes!  That will count as well.  It couldn’t be simpler, really.  What are you waiting for?

In addition to purchasing nappies and wipes, you can feel free to donate through www.pampers.co.uk or better yet, click on the badge below my RSS coffee cup feed button.  You’ll be immediately re-directed to the Pampers-UNICEF campaign page to make a donation for an amazing cause.  And if you’re really feeling generous, YOU’LL PASS IT ON!  Pass on “the gift of life” to your friends, family, acquaintances, bloggers, random strangers.  Encourage them to donate by setting an example and challenging them to do the same.  If we all make a little extra effort in the next three months, that goal of 100 million vaccines and elimination of tetanus by 2012 will be obliterated.  Give the gift of life this year; make a difference.

Despite the fact that it is completely preventable through an inexpensive vaccination, over 128,000 babies in less industrialised countries will not live to see their first birthday every year due to the disease and it’s not just babies – thousands of women will also die from maternal tetanus.

To make a donation towards the Pampers and UNICEF tetanus campaign that will help to reach more children around the world or for further information about the campaign please visit www.pampers.co.uk or www.unicef.org.uk/pampers

Natascha McElhone & the Midlands Bloggers

Natascha McElhone admiring the Lovely Little Miss

Little Miss & her amazing Godmother enjoying the press conference

Natascha McElhone sharing her experiences

Changing Bag Dilema

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 19, 2009 in Uncategorized | 13 comments

I have a changing bag dilema.  We have a really useful and heavily used changing bag which came with Little Miss’ first travel system, Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System.  It’s taken us around the East Midlands, to America and back and out and about every day in our neck of the woods.  It’s now on its last legs.  The stuffing is coming out, the plastic lining is ripping and catching in the zip, it’s losing its mojo!  It makes me a bit sad as it’s been a loyal helper for the last 14 months!  And it was Little Miss’ first changing bag.  I’m a bit emotionally attached to it, as you can see.  But it’s time…

I’ve just purchased a new bag from a “mumpreneur” that I found on Twitter, My Funny Bunny.  The bag is a brilliant “mummy” bag…super soft, lovely large handles, useful for Mummy and baby.  But I still will need a larger bag which will assist us on longer days out and for big trips like the one we have coming up in October…to America again.  I am a bag-aholic.  I see a changing bag hanging off someone’s pushchair and after checking out what pushchair they have, I scope out the bag as well.  I see Pink Lining bags in the shops and think “Oh…what a pretty bag…I want that one!”.  Our bank balance and future makes this a non-starter.  Would you like to see a few that I am coveting?  Sure you would…bet you like one or two as well!

JJ Cole Collections

BabaBing Tote

JJ Cole Collections

Maxi Cosi Essentials

OiOi Tote Bag

Seed Tote

Wallaboo

Yes, these are a few of the bags that I would love to have.  Toting around all of Little Miss’ little life.  And I do tote around a lot for this girl!  Here is a list of the contents of Little Miss’ Graco Changing Bag:  sunscreen, travel cutlery case, Little Red Medical Book, Neosporin (US version of Savlon), plasters, Carex Hand gel, change of clothes, container of biscuits, container of raisins/rice cakes, Sudocrem, nappies, Pampers Sensitive Skin wipes, Milton wipes, muslins, bib, Arnica cream, E45 cream, sippy cup, Momma’s stuff (purse, lippy, dummy covers, keys, phone, sunglasses), dummy, USA bandana. 

It’s choc-a-block!  So, what’s in your changing bag?