Baby Weaning Advice - Introducing Solids To Your Baby's Diet

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There will come a time in the first year of your baby's life, when you will need to introduce her to solid food. Initially milk will provide all the nutrients your baby needs, but there is only so much milk that a baby's stomach can hold and she will get to the point when a liquid feed does not produce enough calories to give her the energy that she now needs to crawl and eventually walk.

It is a natural progression for your baby to move onto solids and even though this is an important step, it should not be rushed, even though modern parents are constantly under pressure to make the change. You should look for the telltale signs that will signify your baby is ready. Your baby will seem to be unsatisfied with the milk you are giving her and may cry until she gets another feed; there is also a calming down of her desire to suck. The whole process of this change usually occurs around four to five months.

The first type of food you should give your baby, has to be fairly bland and semi-liquefied. It is a good idea at this stage to use a blender as home prepared food is a better and more healthy option than bought ready prepared baby meals. Ideal dishes include:

Blended bananas, apples or pears.

Blended potatoes, carrots and cauliflower.

Glutton free rice cereal.

Vegetable soup or lentil soup.

You don't need to sterilise all of the cooking utensils when your baby is starting to eat solids, but obviously you should maintain a high level of hygiene.

To initially start to wean you baby, you should give her two or three small spoonfuls of liquefied food with a normal milk feed. If you have a problem with your baby using a spoon, then you could try putting some food on your finger and introducing it gently to her mouth.

It may be at this stage that it becomes difficult to feed your baby with her sitting on your lap, so it is now that you should purchase a baby chair, which will make life a lot easier.

As soon as your baby accepts one or two different types of solid food, introduce different tastes and textures, as you child begins the journey from sucking to chewing. To satisfy your baby's thirst; plain water or diluted fruit juice is the ideal solution.

For more advice about bringing up your baby, click here

Buying Advice For The BumbleRide Indie Twin

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If you are looking for a super double stroller, the BumbleRide Indie Twin is a unit that you must consider. This thing is just great. The BumbleRide lets you do everything that you need to do with two kids. This includes visits to the park or sitting and watching an older siblings soccer game. The BumbleRide is designed for the way you live.

Kids First
The great thing about this double stroller is that it puts your kids first. Now don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that you should actually put your own needs first, then consider your kids. They are pretty flexible for the most part. But it's also great when the stroller manufacturers remember to make your kids first class citizens with comfort and big canopies.

Big Flexible Seats
As an example consider the seats. First and foremost, they are large. This is important because that tends to make them more comfortable but also because it future proofs your investment. I don't know about you, but I like to buy the right thing once and only once. They are also very flexible. This is important because I have found that rarely are my two children either awake or asleep at the same time. When the infant goes off to sleep, she can lie back and relax, but the 2 year old can sit up straight if he wants and vice versa of course.

Stylish
Another very nice feature of the BumbleRide Indie twin is the ability to choose different colours. It might seem like a small thing for for a stroller of this caliber but it should be the case. It's generally available in green, black, blue, pink, red and a few other colors.

All Terrain Tires
This double stroller comes with 12 inch air filled tires. Yes, it does help make the ride more comfortable for your kids, but just as importantly it makes it easier to bump the Indie over rough terrain. This is important if you like the nature trails or even rough grass. I like to take my kids everywhere I go and this makes it easier. It also pushes through snow and slush much easier.

Sun Screens
The canopies that come with the BumbleRide Indie twin are not just ordinary canopies. First of all they are large and flexible, but as importantly they are actually spf rated. That means the have been tested for their ability to screen out harmful ultra violet rays.

Car Seats
I'm not a big believer in leaving kids in the car seats in the stroller. There actually been cases of asphyxiation from the child's head leaning over too far for too long. But there are times when baby is asleep and you want her to stay sleeping in the car seat. The Indie Twin can take several of the most popular car seats including the graco, chicco and peg perego models.

The BumbleRide Indie Twin is an awesome stroller. Check out more great features of the Bumbleride Indie Twin by clicking here.

Car seat purchase advice and guidance - car seats for babies and children

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Choosing the Correct Car Seat

Choosing the correct car seat can often be very confusing as not only have you to ensure the correct size car seat for your child but that the car seat that you choose is also a correct fit for your car. Selecting a car seat that scores highly in the many test reports available is all very well but selecting a car seat that fits your car properly is probably the more important feature for your childs safety.

If you are in any doubt about which car seat is the correct fit for your car consult the car seat manufacturers web site as many of the leading manufacturers such as Britax, Maxicosi and Renoluxwill have a Fit Finder guide detailing which of their car seats are most suitable for your model of car.

All child restraints sold in the UK must conform to the United Nations ECE Regulation R44.03 or later version of the standard and must be clearly marked.

Choosing a car seat that is suitable for your childs weight and height.
Group 0+ Infant Carriers

Group 0: for babies upto 10 kgs (22 lbs) approximately from birth to 6-9 months.

Group 0+: for babies upto 13 kg (29lbs) approximately from birth to 12-15 months.

Group 0+ Infant Carriers

This group of car seat can be used in the front or rear of the car but CANNOT be used in the front passenger seat if there is a passenger airbag. It is safer to put them in the rear. Rearward-facing seats provide greater protection for the baby's head, neck and spine than forward-facing seats.

Babies should be in a rearward facing car seat and should not be placed in a forward-facing seat until they weigh at least 9 kgs and can sit up unaided. Babies should be kept in a rearward-facing seat for as long as possible. Once your child is above the maximum weight for a rearward-facing seat or the top of their head is above the top of the seat they should be moved into a forward-facing seat. It is not important if their knees are bent in the seat, provided they are still within the seat's weight range.

Convenience factor with this stage of car seat is that most models will have a carry handle enabling you to easily remove and carry the baby without removing them from the car seat especially handy if the baby is asleep and may also fit onto corresponding pushchair converting it to a travel system.

Group 0+ and 1 Car Seats

Suitable for Babies upto 18kg, Birth to 4 years approximately.

Ideal car seats if you do not have to constantly remove them from car to car or car to home. They are a much larger seat designed to protect your baby from newborn to 4 years approximately. The car seat is used rearward facing when using for a baby up to 9kgs. The car seat can be used forward facing once the baby has reached 9 to 13kg weight. Baby does not have to be forward facing until they are 13 kgs. It is important to check that this style of child car seat is compatible with your vehicle when fitted forward AND rearward facing. You must never leave baby asleep unattended in any car.

Forward-facing child seat

Group 1: for children weighing 9-18 kgs (20-40 lbs) approximately from 9 months - 4 years.

Once a child has outgrown a rearwards facing seat, the best option is to use a Group 1 seat with an integral harness, the large area of the harness helps to reduce the risk of injury if there is a crash. The bottom attachment between the legs will also prevent the child from sliding under, and out of the harness. They can be used in the front or rear of the car but it is safer to put them in the rear especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front. Once again it is safest to keep children in this type of car seat until they have outgrown it.

Only move your child to a booster seat once they have exceeded the maximum weight for the child seat or the top of their head is higher than the top of the seat. If you intend to use this car seat between two cars please ensure that the model of car seat purchased is suitable for both cars. It maybe simpler to purchase two seats each one fitting the car perfectly rather than buying one seat which may not fit either car perfectly as great care is needed to follow the seat belt routings and tighten well. They can also be car specific for correct fitting and not every child seat fits every car.

With this in mind it maybe worth checking out ISOFIX fitting car seats. This is a system that is intended to make fitting child seats quick and simple. All new cars are manufactured with ISOFIX points built into them allowing ISOFIX child seats to be simply plugged into the ISOFIX points in the car. This is a very useful development as many people find it difficult to fit child seats correctly and many surveys have found that a high proportion of the child seats are not fitted securely enough. Most child seats are currently designed to be fitted by using a car's adult lap and diagonal seat belt (or sometimes, just a lap belt). However car seats, seat belts and their anchorages vary dramatically between different models of cars. Car seats have different shapes, some seat belts are much shorter than others, the position of the anchor points differs so some are further forward or have shorter stalks than others. All these factors make it virtually impossible to make a child car seat that fits all cars and sometimes tricky to fit a child car seat correctly.

ISOFIX car seats are designed to solve all these problems. The ultimate aim is that any ISOFIX child car seat you buy will fit your car simply by plugging it into the ISOFIX points. The other benefit of ISOFIX is that it will create a rigid link between the child seat and the car to provide extra solidity. It is important to make sure that any ISOFIX seats that you use in the vehicle are approved for it. It is not yet the case that any ISOFIX seat will fit in every car with ISOFIX points. To fit an ISOFIX seat into some cars you may either to use a top tether kit or an ISOFIX car seat that has a drop down leg to stabilise the car seat to the car floor. Please ensure your car is suitable for whichever seat you choose by consulting the relevant manufacturers web site.

Group 2 Child Car Seats: for children weighing 15-25kgs (33-55lbs) from 4 to 10 years approximately.

If your child is over the 25kgs weight but is below 135cm in height it is recommended that the child remain in the seat. The majority of Stage 2 seats have a height adjustable back to allow you to gradually change the height of the back as your child grows; this also changes the height and angle of the seat belt, keeping it constantly in the optimum safest position. These seats do not have to be fitted to each car and will generally fit all vehicles without too many problems - sports car owners with bucket seats will need to choose a seat with a small base.

Group 1 & 2 Child Car Seats:

Suitable for children weighing 9-36kgs (20-80lbs) from 9 months to 12 years approximately or up to 135cms.

There is now a greater choice of car seats in this range than ever before. The car seat will include a child harness to be used up to 15-18kgs then the harness can be removed and the child seat can then use the adult car seat belt with most of these seats having an adjuster or seat belt guide so that the belt does not rub on the childs neck. The back rest of these seats will be height adjustable with some even having width adjustment as well.

Group 3 Child Car Seats:

Usually Suitable for children of 22kgs (48lbs) or 6 years upwards.

This child seat raises the height of the child so they can use the adult seat belt in the correct position.

WARNING:

No child seat is escape proof as harness systems are not designed to be completely child proof in order to comply with the legal requirements of ECE R44. The harness must be fastened and adjusted correctly with children encouraged to sit within the car seats harness.

If child seat has been involved in an accident or sustained any damage whatsoever it must be replaced immediately. Any damage to the car seat is not always visible such as the harness which is designed to stretch helping to prevent damage to the childs internal organs. This can only happen once with any further impact leaving the harness with no more stretch thus risking injury to the child.

This is why you should never use a second hand car seat.

If you allow your child to eat and drink in the car seat please ensure that you keep the buckle of the childs car seat clean as any food or drink that finds its way in may prevent the buckle and harness from working properly.

Nishik is an expert in baby car seat [http://www.just4baby.co.uk/acatalog/Baby_Car_Seats.html] buying advice and tips.

Other baby and nursery furniture and products [http://www.just4baby.co.uk/acatalog/Nursery_Room_Furniture.html] guides are also available.