Tommee Tippee Closer to nature digital baby monitor review

Back when I was pregnant we knew we needed to get a baby monitor and naturally, I wanted a good one. I'd had my eye on this one, but at £180 it was way out of my price range.  Then at an Asda baby event, they had it on offer for half price, so just £90 - that was a price I was more comfortable with, and the order was placed.  Over 5 months on, I thought I'd share my thoughts with you on it.

It does come with a sensor mat that the baby sleeps on and will detect if they stop breathing.  I felt that I'd be a nervous nellie if I used this, so we decided to put that bit to one side - this we bought for the LCD monitor more than anything.

The system itself is great, it can tell the temperature in the room, and has full on infared night vision - so that in the night when all the lights are off, you can still see how your little baby is doing and if their dummy has popped out etc.  It's a decent sized screen, and you can zoom in and move the image about a little etc.  It also has a 2 way chat - so if your baby has woken up and needs some reassurance, you can press the chat button and talk to them.

Other than the full colour screen seemingly seems to have a pink wash over it, it's pretty good and serves the purpose.  It's also got a decent range on it so I can see him wherever I am in the house.

However, for us, this hasn't been the perfect solution we thought it might be.  For example, when unplugged from the charger, the battery doesn't last that long, it won't last a full day, so every night it needs to be on charge.  There's also been quite a few occassions where he's been crying and the monitor hasn't picked it up until a good 30 seconds after.

The screen is supposed to come on if it detects movement from him, but 90% of the time the only occasions when the monitor comes on is when one of us walks past it, and that's only now and then - normally the monitor only lights up if we make it.

I think for the money this is a very over-priced piece of kit - yes it's great to have the screen and be able to see him, but other brands like Motorolla do similar systems for a lot less money - here ytou're paying for the sensor mat, and as much as I haven't used it myself, I have been told it gives a lot of false positives - but that's just conjecture.

All in all, I wouldn't buy it again, I'd try something else.  I'd definitely go for a video monitor again, but not this one, I think it's really over priced and has a very poor battery :/

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Shnuggle baby bath

Back towards the end of my pregnancy, this lovely baby bath landed on my door step.  At that point, I'd never bathed a baby before so had no idea if it'd be any good or not.  After having Squidge, when I was still in the hospital, a nurse came around and showed me how to bathe him, in a normal bath, so I was a little nervous the first time I bathed him in this as it's quite different in shape to a standard bath.

Well, I needn't have worried, it wasn't exactly rocket science!  The Shnuggle bath is made up of a special foam called expanded polypropylene which is great at holding the heat from the water.  It's also a really light material - they say the bath is the same weight as a loaf of bread, but as it has a larger surface area, I think it feels lighter.

The bath is designed so that the baby is in a more upright position, and the bath has a bump in the bottom of it for them to sit against, to help the upright position.  It's also scooped at the front so it's easier to get your arms/hands in and out to bathe your baby.

Those of you with sharp eyes will see that little Squidge doesn't like having a bath :P  We have this face, the crying eyes looking right at me every time with a look of 'Why are you doing this to me mummy?', there's no reason for it too - the water is tested with a thermometer as 'warm', he just hates being in water, strange baby!

Things I love about it:

It's light, so easy to pick up with your one free hand when you're holding your baby
It's small, so I can tuck it away in a nook easily
It's great at holding the temperature of the water

Here's where I'd list the things I don't love about it, but in all honesty I don't have any dislikes, perhaps the price, it's not a cheap baby bath, it's £30, however they do have a section of clearance baths for £20 which makes it more reasonable.  The one I opted for is the mint green one as it fits with the colour and theme of his bedroom :)

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*Post contains PR samples

Little butterfly nappy cream

I'm probably not alone in being one of most mummies who reach for Sudocrem or something similar when their baby's bottom is getting a little red, or to prevent the redness.  Until I'd tried the Little Butterfly nappy cream I hadn't considered going rogue and trying something new.  I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling like my baby is precious and only wanting to put the best, and what's right on their skin.

There's several things that made me happy to try this on little Squidge, the fact it's got the BUAV leaping bunny which signifies it's cruelty free and not tested on animals.  It doesn't contain any parabens, paraffin, mineral oil, SLS, silicone, DEA, TEA, PEGs and no artificial fragrances.

Also, 100% of the ingredients are from natural origins, and 99.7% of the plant ingredients are organic.  With that in mind, I felt confident that this was good enough for my baby, it passed the over-protective mother test :)

It's a different consistency to the likes of Sudocrem, it's softer, it's still firm and set but it has a slightly more whipped consistency to other brands.

In the weeks we've been using this on his bottom, it's ticked all the boxes for me:

• Hasn't reacted with his skin
• Reduced redness by the following nappy change
• Helped to prevent redness
• Absorbed well into his skin, leaving no built up residue
• Left his skin feeling very soft

The only negative is the price tag, it's £25* which is quite a lot for your average parent on a stretched budget.  However, would it make a lovely gift for a new mummy? Yes! It came in a lovely bag tied with a ribbon and presented really well.  The fact that it's a natural product with a good rate of organic ingredients and not tested on animals is reflected in the price - quality products like that never come cheap.

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*Post contains PR samples

Mustela stretch mark care oil

Back when I was pregnant, I was sent a few products from Mustela to try out, one of them being this stretch mark care oil and now that I've been trying it out for a while, I thought I'd let you know what I thought of it :)

The Mustela 9 month stretch mark care oil is made up from vegetable oils and natural active ingredients like lupeol (strengthens skin), pomegranate seed, musk rose and baobab oils (nourishes and improves elasticity), avocado oil (hydrates) and sunflower oil (nourishes).  It comes in a bottle (105ml) with a spray dispenser.

The formula and spray dispenser actually confused me the first time I used it (sounds strange I know!) but the product is quite a thick oil, so I didn't expect it to spray very well, however it dispenses really well.  It has a lovely warm and slightly sweet scent and absorbs into the skin really well (despite being an oil).  It's very thick and leaves my skin feeling really soft and nourished.

During pregnancy I did have some stretch marks pop up around my belly button area and while this didn't really change how red they were, it certainly made my skin feel healthier.  Had I used it earlier, it may have helped prevent them, or better yet, less red.  Now, I've never had a baby before, so I couldn't tell you if stretch marks on the tummy change colour straight after birth or not, but what I can say is that my stretch marks have faded already, that happened within about a week of Squidge being born - whether that's normal, or down to the Mustela I don't know, but either way I'm happy!

It left my skin feeling soft, nourished and smelling lovely - so whether it helped my stretch marks or not, it did leave my skin feeling lovely.

If you're looking to pick this up to give it a try, they've launched in a range of independent pharmacies, and on a Google search I found them on Amazon too - this product was on there for £12.59.  They also have a Facebook page recently launched if you'd like to check them out.

Would you recommend stretch mark creams?  If so, which was your favourite?

Georgina <3
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*This post contains a PR sample

New things to try - Mustela

Ever heard of this brand? Me neither until about 1-2 weeks ago.  I was contacted by a lovely PR to see if I'd like to review some of the products, namely their stretch mark care oil.

Given that I've broken out with some stretch marks around my belly button (the narrowest part of my inflated waist) I thought this would make a good test.  I've taken 'before' pics but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to share them just yet, we'll wait and see :)

I used the stretch mark care oil for the first time today, it's a thick oily consistency that blends in and absorbs really well, it smells lovely too :)

As well as the stretch mark oil, they also sent me some nursing comfort balm which is safe to use while breastfeeding (and it's paraben, phthalate and phenoxyethanol free).  Simply apply it to the nipple area after breastfeeding and it is supposed to help to soothe the area.  Obviously, I won't be able to trial this for a while as the baby isn't due for a good few weeks yet.

They also sent a small tube of double action stretch mark cream, for those dark and sore marks.  And a little tube of nappy cream (change cream) to help prevent and repair nappy rash.

I'll let you know how I get on with these as and when I try them - first to report back will probably be the stretch mark care oil :)


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