A cows milk protein allergy Christmas I loved dairy before we went dairy free it made up about 60% of my diet! So being dairy free was challenging. Now Christmas is upon us an I was dreading it all the delicious treats I would not be able to eat! But fear not I have a few tips to help CMPA sufferers through the festive period. We had our Christmas early so I have complied a list of things that are good substitutes ( I say good because it’s never going to be the same as the real thing). Also things to avoid during the festive period. Christmas dinner  Starter I made tomato soup to start, that way we could all eat it and I may my own bread rolls (tomato soup & rolls recipe is in my highlights on Instagram - but it you don’t want to make rolls you can always buy half baked dinner rolls from Morrison’s you just pop them in the oven for 10 mins the are delicious I have also tried them and they are dairy & soy free). Parma ham and melon is also a nice e...

This is my second blog on breastfeeding but I feel like I am a seasoned breast feeder - (see earlier blog) I expressed for my first babe, my second babe I fed for 17 months expressed an breast and my third babe is exclusively breastfed with breast and EBM - expresses breast milk). One of my best friends is due to have a baby soon and wanted them to know the ins an outs of breast feeding, I said I would write her a little info booklet then I thought I may aswell share it will all. First things first! I’m going to be brutally honest! It’s hard graft (at first well maybe for the first six weeks to eight weeks) but let me tell you it’s completely worth it! And once you get past the initial hard bit - it’s gets 100% easier you have milk on tap any time day or night at the right temperature, right amount for your baby, no worries about were your going to make a bottle. Many woman say they can’t make enough for their baby or their milk didn’t come in. This is often a misconception as...

Since Doll & Winn we’re babies we have always taken them swimming from around 10 weeks old! One of my priorities in life is making sure the girls can swim, Doll goes swimming everyday (when lee is home) and  3-4 times a week (when lee is away), Winn on the other hand goes 1 to 2 times a week (purely because Winn is struggling with weight gain at the moment I don’t want to over exert her). The first reason is safety, we live in an area with lots of canals and beaches around. Equipping the girls with the knowledge and skills of how to get them selves in and out of the pool could potentially be life  saving. (In my opinion taking them from an early age gets them used to the water so there is no fear). The second reason is it’s really good exercise ( and the girls sleep so well after it too - I get all my jobs done after swimming) but it’s a great way of exercising every part of the body and it’s fun!  Also swimming and getting in an out of the pool is re...

So we as a family have been given a fantastic opportunity to review tropic skin care products. So as many people will have seen on my insta story I was reviewing the products but I thought I’d write a quick blog for anyone who missed it. It’s all natural & vegan with no chemicals (we try to be as healthy as possible in our house, we try an eat around 40% organic food where possible - don’t get me wrong we all still loves a maccies treat). But with the girls having sensitive young skin the less chemicals the better. I have never used Johnson’s baby products on the girls as there it’s lots of research regarding it being carcinogenic << it’s actually been proved in a court of law. So there’s no way there going anywhere near our girls.  Anyway Vickie our lovely tropics rep brought a wonderful basket of goodies round for us!  So firstly we bathed he girls with the shower gel which was amazing and smelled devine, Doll had nappy rash so we used some of the tamanu b...

Just over one week in, on our dairy free journey. When Winn was just over 3 weeks old I went to the doctor and told him, I thought she had a cows milk protein allergy (CMPA) ....she was referred to Alder Hey as she had, poor weight gain, blood in her stools constant crying and back arching.  When we arrived at Alder Hey I explained to the doctor that this is what I thought she had he disagreed. He said he thought she had reflux apparently CMPA is really rare in breastfed babies & she didn’t have “all the signs”.  Anyway all the symptoms persisted and the crying the constant crying and no sleep for me or Winn ( we are very lucky Doll loves her sleep at night & in the afternoons).  To cut a very long story short just shy of 15 weeks later we returned after weeks of poor weight gain, blood investigations (as in the earlier blogs I have mentioned about her siblings having congenital problems - which we were assured this baby would not have any) and visits...

The instagram life that no one is living.... actually I applaud you if you are, but we really know your not! We all fall victim to it! The insta life were everything looks amazing, and looks like your living your best life. I will hold my hands up I am one of the worst for it and the first one to do it. But actually some days just go to shit. It’s ok not to live the perfect life because we’re all different and life would be boring if we were all the same and living the perfect life! And it’s ok not to take the perfect picture because after all we never laugh at the “perfect” ones do we?  Some mornings I wake up early after having 4 hours sleep straight through the night an make everyone organic smoothies & pancakes for breakfast and feel like a goddess. - (Pictures get taken) Some mornings I have about 5 minuets sleep straight we lie in an eat breakfast bars. - (No pictures get taken) Some days we go out all day on big longs walks looking at nature an wildl...

Here we go: we have made the jump from one bambino to two bambino’s ( in 23 months).  First thoughts .... it’s not as hard as everyone says until Lee went back to work he was home for just shy of 5 weeks! Well saying that our first outing it took us 2 hours to leave the house! How is that even possible?  Just to put you in the picture my husband works offshore so when he is away we don’t see him for 3 weeks at a time. Therefore I am relating this blog to learning how to cope with two babies when Daddy returns to work weather that is your partner works away or he does a 9 to 5  .... it’s a work in progress! The lack of sleep: The sleepless nights aren’t too bad (Lee & I don’t need that much sleep anyway) but I am breastfeeding so Lee would pass me the babe & then go back to sleep. (A perfect way for a dad to help a breastfeeding post c-section mama), he would also get up with Doll in the morning so I could rest! (Sharing the child care load is so impor...