The mad ramblings of one very average woman finding my way through the jungle of parenthood accompanied by The Hubby, The Boy and our Hairy Hounds of Hell!
I apologise for the break in the Daily Diary for the Bambino Mio Real Nappy Trial – we’ve had a very busy weekend (The Boy’s 1st birthday!) and as well as that we’ve not had much success so far with the Bambino Mio nappies! The very lovely Joreen at Bambino Mio has been very helpful in providing lots of advice, and the latest is that I’ve sent her a photo of how the Mionappy looks on The Boy so that she can see whether I’m doing it up properly and how it is fitting him.
Joreen sent my details on to a very nice lady (whose name I have already completely forgotten!) who gave me a call and we had a chat about it all, and she’s said that looking at the photo while The Boy is technically in the right weight range for the size Miosoft they’ve sent, as he is quite slender it doesn’t seem to be fitting him too well so they’re going to send the next size down. While this means it won’t come up his body any higher, it should mean that it fits better around his waist. She’s advised me to do the tabs up at an angle to maximise the leg hole space for him, and give it a go like that.
Once I got it on him earlier on in order to take the photo, I thought I’d leave it on him for a nap to see how it went. After all, the other reviews I’ve read for this reusable nappy system have been glowing, so I’m thinking it’s either me, or him, or maybe a combination of both of us doing something wrong!
Anyway, he had the Mionappy on and it was time for a nap, so I gave him his bottle and put him in the cot. He wiggled and fidgeted and moaned for about ten minutes before dropping off to sleep, and he slept soundly for two solid hours before waking up and letting me know he was awake by standing at the end of the cot bouncing and singing as usual.
When I walked into his room it was immediately obvious he’d got a dirty nappy and I admit I was a bit “Oh no” because he had the Mionappy on. I’d not dealt with a dirty one before, only wet ones, and my husbands experience of the dirty one the other day was not enviable, so I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. I got the wipes out ready along with a nappy bag to dispose of the Mioliner and the used wipes, and got down to it.
It wasn’t an especially dirty nappy, but I was impressed. The Mioliner had contained it well and it was a case of removing that to dispose of and the Mionappy itself had some staining but it wasn’t covered; the Miosoft didn’t have anything on it. The Boy had obviously done a lot of wee during the time he’d been asleep as the front of the Mionappy was soaked through (despite the boy fold) and the front of the Miosoft was wet on the inside at the front, but it was well contained and it wasn’t as much fuss to sort it out as I’d anticipated it might be.
Hopefully we’ll be getting the other size Miosoft in the next couple of days to try, and once we do I’ll be trying an overnight nappy including using the additional Mioboost to see how well that copes with the flood overnight from The Boy (as he usually sleeps 12 hours it is a lot for any nappy to cope with!)
The customer service from Bambino Mio has been fantastic – Joreen has been in contact asking how I’m getting along now, then the lady I spoke to earlier was really nice and helpful and it’s definitely a good plus point for me. I hate when a company expects you to spend out for their products but can’t be bothered to provide first class customer service, and Bambino Mio are definitely a company who looks after their customers as far as my experience goes! They’ve been nothing but helpful and supportive, and I’m looking forward to getting the other size Miosoft so we can continue as normal with our nappy challenge!
Our Day 3 challenge for the Bambino Mio reusable nappy challenge was going to be the overnight nappy. However, after washing the nappies overnight on Tuesday and hanging them outside to dry while everyone was out all day was a bit of a mistake, as after a day of blazing sunshine and soaring temperatures, a storm broke early evening before anyone got home and everything on the line got soaked, including the Mionappies, so we couldn’t use either of them for the overnight test as planned.
Instead, after a rinse and spin in the machine last night, I hung both nappies to dry in the airing cupboard and this morning both were ready to use again. Somehow in my half asleep state this morning I remembered to go and get one, and folded it all up ready to put on The Boy for the first nappy change of the day. I once again did the fold specific for boys, with additional absorbency at the front of the nappy, and I set about changing him.
Once again, his disposable nappy was saturated at the front; it had swollen so much and ballooned out that it had pulled the tabs around in a twist so the outside of the tabs was against his tummy, and the top of the nappy had partially folded. I thought it looked quite uncomfortable, and realise that I am paying much more attention to the appearance of his nappies since starting this challenge in the way that I am seeming to pick up more faults when I usually don’t have a problem!
I put the Mionappy on him, and again it struck me how much bulkier it looks. The Boy can’t close his legs together properly when he’s wearing it, and while I don’t think it would be uncomfortable I don’t think it’s particularly good for him so be held in that position or to restrict his movement. I’ve watched the video time and again to copy the folding and I can’t see how I could get it to sit any better on him. I also don’t find the length of the Miosoft enough, it seems to sit very low on his waist across his hips, and this means that unless I do it up really tightly it is pulled over his hips and there is a gap at the top of the Miosoft. While the Mionappy inside should soak up any moisture before it rolled out of the top of the Miosoft, I wonder if at night it would do it quickly enough, especially the amount he wets in the night, and the fact that he’ll sleep through 12 hours in a single nappy most nights.
When I did up his baby vest (it was so hot last night he slept in that alone) I noticed that it doesn’t fit particularly well over the Mionappy. The leg holes are cut for where legs are naturally, without a nappy on, and with a disposable this is fine but with the Mionappy the leg holes seem to be in the wrong place. I took him into our room to say good morning to The Hubby and he crawled about on the bed for a while, and I noticed a funny noise, like Velcro un-doing, as he moved. I un-popped the baby vest and sure enough the Miosoft top had twisted in on itself like the disposable had, but the Mionappy had only been on for ten minutes and was still dry. It just wouldn’t stay done up properly while he was active. I kept having to re-do it and The Hubby and I tried different ways to try and get it to stay done up, but it was un-sticking and twisting and rolling up and The Hubby said exactly the same thing as I was thinking – The Miosoft isn’t long enough, it doesn’t go to the right point on him to stay securely done up when he’s active. Looking at promotional photos on the net it looks like they should be coming up higher than they are on him; maybe this is why we’re having so many issues?
We went downstairs after a while and The Boy was put in his high chair for breakfast. Afterward he stayed in there chatting to The Hubby while I cooked breakfast (It is The Hubby’s birthday today, hence his day off work and cooked breakfast! This isn’t the normal run of things!) The Boy was in the high chair for just over an hour when The Hubby said, “I think he’s got a dirty nappy” so off they went upstairs for a nappy change.
I heard The Hubby muttering away upstairs and The Boy making noises back as he ‘answered’, I heard The Hubby briskly moving around up there with clear, definite steps, and the sounds of him back and forth to the bathroom after a few minutes and taps and the shower running. After a few minutes, the pair of them re-appeared - The Hubby strode through the kitchen with a nappy sack containing the soiled Mionappy for washing, and saying, “I don’t bloody like them!” as he strode past me!
The Boy had done a dirty nappy and the Mioliner hadn’t been enough to protect the Mionappy or the Miosoft from much damage. The Miosoft had been dirty and needed washing out, the Mionappy was very soiled and he’d had quite a job cleaning it all up off The Boy as well. Added to this that The Boy wasn’t in the mood for a nappy change and kicked up a fuss about it, The Hubby wasn’t impressed!
I really want to like this product, it’s a good idea and the Miosoft covers are fantastic design in so many ways but the size of it just doesn’t seem enough to me for The Boy and he’s within the weight range but it’s the height that seems to be the problem, they’re not long enough to come up high enough on him to do up well and fit well; and the Mioliner doesn’t seem to really do a lot, made even less by the fact that it doesn’t cover the entire Mionappy and while I folded it as directed we haven’t found the Mioliner particularly effective. I also folded the nappy and put it on as a 'night' nappy with the additional Mioboost pad (to practice), and it looks even more uncomfortable, his legs are pushed right out and it’s rock solid around and underneath him, I really can’t see how that can be comfortable and due to the heat recently I’m reluctant to put him in all that overnight in case he gets too hot as well.
MioNappies
Miowipes
Miosoft
Mioliners
As The Hubby pointed out, what if you were out somewhere and that kind of thing happened? You’re meant to take not just fresh Mionappies and liners, but also additional Miosoft just in case of a similar disaster where the Miosoft needs washing before it can be used again? With all that bulk in your nappy bag you could have packed four disposable nappies!
Tomorrow I’m going to try him the Mionappy for playtime and see how well it performs with him doing lots of movement, bending and stretching! We’ll put it through it’s paces without risk of issues in a public place!
Today, I made a bad judgement. It was an error on my part and I shouldn’t have been so foolish, but it was in part the result of a decision made weeks ago and by today I was unable to put it off any longer.
I had to Go Shopping – With Purpose, No Clue What To Get & Not A Lot Of Money.
I’m not, perhaps, your average woman. I don’t, particularly, enjoy the whole shopping experience. I’m more of a ‘guy’ type shopper, in that I like to plan in advance what stores I’m going to go into, know in advance what product it is I’m looking to get from that store, and what my alternatives are should that store not have the product I’m looking for, specifically, or whether an alternative substitute could be made. I am not the sort of person who enjoys spending an entire day shopping unless there are very certain circumstances.
Certain circumstances – such as winning the lottery …
In addition to the frustration of not having the faintest idea what I wanted to buy, but with the added pressure of knowing I had to find it today, was enough to drive me crazy. I can’t go shopping tomorrow, I’m in the office, hence out of shopping ability all day, as it means me dropping The Boy off with his grandparents at 8.30, leaving their house at 9 to make it into the office by . Usually this is my plan and it tends to run half an hour late. I won’t get time after work because everywhere will be shut by then, and then on Thursday it is one of this weeks special birthdays: My Hubby’s.
The Hubby is in his early thirties, he’s a couple of years older than I am, and the last birthday of his we properly celebrated was the one before I got pregnant, and we had lots of friends to stay and a drunken, middle of the summer BBQ. Then last year, I was heavily pregnant by The Hubby’s birthday – I couldn’t physically fit into my car to drive anywhere, and I was overdue and felt ready to pop, unable to walk for more than five minutes without needing to rest for half an hour! I considered internet shopping, but then had no idea what to get him and left it too late … I felt very guilty, and promised myself that this year, between me and The Boy, we would spoil The Hubby for his birthday.
However, here we are and I don’t have a clue. He’s just spent a fortune buying stuff for DIY from his old job; He downloads books for his mobile phone now so it’s pointless buying him an actual book; Films and series he’s into he’s already got; Clothes seem so boring and unimaginative as a gift, unless it’s something particularly special; He does wear jewellery, but not often, and he’s got loads for if he wanted to wear it anyway so if I’d have found something special I’d have got it … But I didn’t find anything that really had the wow factor. I am such a bad wife! I found him stuff from The Boy, so that’s fine, but from me, I failed miserably.
To top it all off, the weather today. When I got up, it was cool and cloudy outside: As the morning progressed, it rained and I was quite glad, thinking it would leave it nice and cool as the day went on. I showered and dressed, got The Boy washed and dressed (in his Mionappy for Day 2 of our Mionappy Real Nappy Challenge) and we set off.
Already regretting my choice of wearing jeans for the outing, I was also concerned about The Boy, who was wearing joggers and I had no sun cream in the nappy bag as the sun had been firmly behind a cloud when we left so I’d covered them before leaving the house and left it sitting on the kitchen worktop. The Boy has issues with keeping socks and shoes on his feet, so on the whole now I coat them in sun cream and leave them bare if the weather is good enough, as it seems pointless worrying about socks and shoes going missing if they’re not strictly speaking required why bother putting them on in the first place! But it means continual re-application of sun cream to protect the delicate skin.
We flew through the first shop, emerging an impressive forty five minutes later (it’s a big store!) with some booty to show for it. I was happy; it was a good start – it slowly went downhill from there.
It was still, it was hot, it was horrible, close, airless heat, and soon the pair of us were wilting. I ensured The Boy was well protected from the sun with the sun canopy up on the Quinny Zapp and the parasol attached to the chassis but I did feel a bit silly when we were bouncing about on uneven pavements and the parasol was bouncing about too! (It reminds me of those silly head boppers you get) I was glad I had it, especially when I saw some babies in pushchairs obviously getting the full glare of the sun right on them (a couple of kids looked quite flushed) while The Boy was warm he was still happy, chatty, eating his pink wafer biscuit and asking me for a drink regularly. While on this note, I must draw attention to the fact that The Boy, despite being out shopping (which he hates) and being uncomfortably warm, he was quite happily entertained thanks to his Nuby Flip Flop book, which I attach onto the pushchair harness using the plastic ring of the toy to make sure he doesn't loose it. Not only is it fantastic to entertain him in the pushchair, I've also found it fantastic to attach onto the trolley in stores by the velcro tab in an effort to stop him chewing on the trolley metal. I have to be quick to realise what he's doing and jump straight in offering him the book instead, but on the whole he'll go for the book to play with and he always does, it was such a gem of a find that product - I got it in Tesco reduced to £4 and I'd never heard of Nuby at that point, but I thought it looked funky and might help entertain him and I'm a total Nuby convert!
Three hours later, we got home. I was exhausted, hot, thirsty and though fairly pleased with the booty accumulated for The Boy’s birthday which is at the weekend, I was also mildly annoyed that I hadn’t managed to find anything further for The Hubby. Why is it that when you have either no purpose to purchase items, or no money to afford them, you find lots of stuff. When you have a specific purpose, or on the rare occassion you have some money/are willing to stretch to afford and sacrifice something else if necessary, there is nothing to be had. It's the same when shopping. When I specifically need to go shopping for an outfit for a specific occassion, there is never anything I like, never anything in my size and never anything that ticks all the boxes. If I randomly pop into a clothes shop, or even while I'm wandering in the supermarkets not looking for stuff for me, I'll find loads of stuff I could get!
All in all mixed feelings for today and now I’m utterly exhausted, I’ve still got to wash my hair and get everything sorted out for tomorrow! I want to look forward to spending the day with The Hubby and The Boy for The Hubby’s birthday but I feel like I’m really letting him down on the gift front!
We started off on a bad foot, nappy-wise, first thing this morning. Admittedly the nappy had been on for over 12 hours as The Boy slept round from 8.30pm til 9am, so it did have a lot to deal with, and the first thing we had to do this morning was full strip, wash and re-dress which The Boy really wasn’t impressed with (He’s like me, and doesn’t function well when he’s just woken up, less is definitely more at that point for him) His soggy vest and PJ’s was whirling round the washing machine with the bed clothes before I realised I should have put the Mionappy in too. Doh. Which promptly brought me onto my next point – which challenge for the Mionappy today? I decided on the going out challenge.
The Boy and I were off shopping, and as he’d slept so well and woken so late I knew he wouldn’t want a nap before lunchtime, so decided to get ourselves sorted out and get out shopping sooner rather than later in the day. I practiced folding the Mionappy for the additional protection at the sides around the leg holes as we were going out and I really didn’t want to risk any spillages! I found it tricky to get right, and awkward to tuck the Mioliner around the nappy successfully and keep the Mionappy folded properly as it kept rucking up and leaving a gap between the leg of the Miosoft and the Mionappy. I would imagine this gets easier with practice, and it made me glad I’d decided to sort it all out before getting The Boy onto the changer, as if I’d been trying to do that at the same time as keep an eye on him I’d be in trouble!
Once I got the Mionappy folded into the Miosoft with a Mioliner in place and I was happy, I got The Boy dressed with it as the starting point. I chose joggers for him as at that point in the day it was cool and cloudy and had been raining on and off for a couple of hours. The joggers went on more easily over the bulk of the nappy than the shorts yesterday did, and we set off.
We went out in the car so he was in and out of the carseat, the buggy and various trollies as we made our exhausting shopping trip to just about every store I could think of. To add to this, it quickly became uncomfortably hot, and as much as I was regretting wearing jeans, I was regretting putting him in the Mionappy and putting him in joggers. The reason I was regretting putting him in the Mionappy was that he was drinking such a large amount because it was so hot – and coupled with the fact that he would be pretty warm, probably sweaty; I thought the elasticated leg holes of the Miosoft and around the waist would have made him red and sore.
We got home almost three hours after we set off, and the first thing I did was go upstairs to change him – he was covered in pink wafer biscuit crumbs, much of it smeared into his clothes, and he’d drunk so much water while we’d been out he would have made the nappy pretty wet. I was pleasantly surprised when I found he had no marks at all where the elasticated leg holes and around the waist of the Miosoft would have been, and while the Mionappy itself was heavy with moisture, it had absorbed very well and he wasn’t half as damp as I’d have anticipated.
Both the Mionappies are in the washing machine tonight: I don’t have a tumble drier so I’m not expecting them to be dry before bedtime tomorrow evening, so we'll have to see what happens and when they're ready for tomorrows test!
Our challenge kit from Bambino Mio arrived on Saturday morning. As The Boy was spending the weekend at his grandparents house, it gave me a good opportunity to have a proper look at the contents before I officially started the challenge today (Monday), and I must say on first appearances I am overall impressed, but do have one reservation, though we’ll go into that later; don’t forget, as well, that the whole point of this challenge is to see whether Bambino Mio products can convert me from being a full-time disposable nappy user with my almost-1-year-old.
The Challenge: “ … is designed to demonstrate how easy reusable nappies are to use and also to show that by using just one reusable a day will help not only reduce waste going to landfill, but will save you money in the long run.”
Now, I’m not going to claim to be a wonderful, 100% organic, vegan eco-warrior mum. Sorry; that’s just not me. Having said that, I am conscious of turning lights off and not just for the electricity bill saving (though being on a key meter does have that effect too) I use the big, canvas type re-usable shopping bags (I adore the comedian Tim Minchin, and in my head I’m singing his song Take Your Canvas Bags ...as I’m doing the weekly shop) I do my recycling like a dutiful good member of society.
Since having The Boy, our household waste has definitely increased; a large amount of this is nappies. When I was pregnant, I found the Bambino Mio “Birth to Potty” range, but it was expensive and I wasn’t sure what size to get if I just got a basic set – The Boy was a lot smaller than I had expected him to be at birth, and as it happened I could have got a fair amount of use out of the ‘Newborn’ size (up to 11lbs) I dithered about trying to decide, we couldn’t really afford it and there was a fear of What if I spend all that money and it’s rubbish? I didn’t know anyone else who’d used the Bambino Mio range, and while it looked fantastic there was a voice in the back of my head that kept reminding me that there are lots of products that love marvellous and wonderful and life-perfecting, but you end up finding out two weeks later that they’re really not all they looked. I brought varieties of disposable nappies because it was familiar and easy; as plenty of people pointed out, I would have enough to do in the first few weeks and months of becoming a mum for the first time, without adding the stress of trying to wash and dry re-useable nappies too if I didn’t have to.
The Boy now is 23lbs and 80cm tall. He is broad but his lower half is slender, and I’ve always found issues with disposable nappies fitting him well. Most of them I have to try and do up so tightly around his middle or there’s a big gap at his back. A lot of the time the cheaper nappies don’t go up high enough around him and by morning the front is pulled down and so saturated that they’ve been on the point of leaking. The Boy sleeps now, on the whole, from about to about . I’m not saying that’s every single night without fail, but on the whole that’s about average. So I admit the nappy has a lot to take.
I’ve been very fortunate that The Boy hasn’t suffered with nappy rash too badly so far – I’m interested to see whether that changes at all with using a reusable nappy, even for one nappy change in a day. (I’m hoping that if anything it makes it even less likely) He’s a real fidget (he has been since I was pregnant) he’s constantly on the move, even when he’s asleep – The times he’s ended up widthways and upside down in his cot, blankets all over the place, are too many to recount them all.Add to this that sometimes, if he doesn’t want me to change his nappy (for instance if he has got a bit of nappy rash and it’s sore) he will fight like a banshee to try and stop you cleaning him up and putting a fresh nappy on. Considering his age (and his size) he can be very argumentative about it all and it isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do, and for this reason I am slightly dubious about using reusable nappies, because if I’ve got all these different bits to put on isn’t that going to be even more difficult if he’s being moody about having a nappy change? People must cope, surely, so hell we’ll give it a go!
Inside the pack:
2x prewashed mionappies – made from 100% cotton, a highly absorbent and breathable fabric, perfect for nappies.
1x miosoft nappy cover – made from a water resistant material and provide a comfortable and snug fit.
50x mioliners – 100% reusable and flushable and are used to retain solids and reduce moisture seeping back onto baby’s skin
miofresh – a nappy sanitiser which kills bacteria allowing you to wash your nappies at a lower temperature
1x mioboost – can be used to increase absorbency when needed, ideal for overnight and long journeys and is made from a highly absorbent microfibre with a stay-dry top later, helping to keep moisture away from baby’s skin, simply place on top of the nappy inside the cover.
1x scoop (for the miofresh)
The Miosoft nappy cover is a white background with multi-colour dots in playful colours but it isn’t in-yer-face bright and bold like so many kids things. The Miosoft (the cover) is size Large, in the 21-27lbs category. The Mionappies are size 2, which is for babies 16-35lbs. Also included in the pack is a USB stick with some videos about the nappies and how to fold. The lady on the video introduces herself as Jo, and I know from reading the letter included with the Bambino Mio pack that she is the co-founder of the company, along with her husband Guy, and that she is mum to three children and has used the product herself. Needless to say, she makes all the different ways of folding look effortless; I pay special attention and copy the folding technique specifically for boys, with additional padding at the front, as The Boy does end up with the front of a disposable nappy particularly wet first thing in the morning. In addition, I practice the fold to provide additional leg coverage, in the instance of babies who are breastfed or are more prone to loose bowel movements. Since The Boy certainly has his moments I think that one is beneficial to know too! Jo makes folding the different pieces together look easy – the Mionappy is folded as required, fits quickly and neatly into the Miosoft, and with the addition of a Mioliner it’s ready to go just as quickly as a disposable would be. I think I’ll need to get the nappy all sorted out and arranged before I attempt to get it onto The Boy due to his tendency to be so wriggly, but I’m certainly willing to give it a go.
The first thing The Hubby said when he saw the system was “It’ll be bulky, won’t it?” To be honest, I can see his point – add together the thick, folded up Mionappy with the Miosoft I can see that it is probably going to be a bit bulky, but not to the extent that traditional terry towelling nappies would be, and I don’t think there’s going to be much difference between it and a disposable once it’s on. I think trying to visualise how it will fit when you’re just sitting there with it makes it difficult to see how bulky or well fitting it might be. In addition, if you consider that for overnight or long journeys you have the additional Mioboost, this is certainly going to make it chunky, but as that is only meant for overnight and long journeys, does it really matter? Baby should be asleep anyway!
I’m impressed with the idea of the Miofresh – simply add it to your washing powder drawer in the machine to wash the Mionappies at standard temperatures with no need for soaking or pre-washing. As you remove and dispose of the liner, which should take the worst of the mess, it’s fine to put the Mionappies in the wash with the rest of your normal washload, which is handy for me as I’m only using two Mionappies, and for one nappy per day, which isn’t enough to warrant a full washload nor would I be able to get them washed and dry in enough time. Since the machine is always on at least once a day anyway, adding the Mionappies with the Miofresh won’t be too much difficulty, as long as the Mioliners do as well as I hope they will and keep most of the mess off the nappy itself, otherwise I think I would probably soak & hot wash separately.
For Day 1, during part of the morning while he was awake, but mostly while he napped upstairs, I watched the videos and read the information and practised folding. After his nap, he had lunch, we went to the supermarket and we collected The Hubby from work on the way home. Back at home, The Boy needed changing, so I proudly demonstrated to The Hubby how to fold the Mionappy with boys in mind, with the double thickness at the front, and we put him in that for our first ever test.
It is bulkier than a disposable, but not as bad as an old style terry towelling nappy. The first problem was that the shorts he’d been wearing all day were very difficult to get over the bulk of the Mionappy, though they’d fitted easily when he was wearing a disposable. The Boy didn’t seem uncomfortable in it, but he was moving slightly differently as he was crawling around the bedroom floor: He adapted quickly to the difference in the way it fitted compared to what he was used to, and enjoyed his playtime just as much as any other day until it was time to go downstairs for dinner.
Dinnertime takes a while for The Boy – everything is a distraction and it can take anything between ten minutes and an hour to eat a main course alone. Today it took forty five minutes for him to finish all his dinner, and much of that time was spent bouncing up and down in the high chair and beating the tray with his fists and various pieces of food. If he’d wet the nappy he was certainly now testing out how well it would absorb with all his bouncing! After dinner he sat and chatted with The Hubby for a while, then we went upstairs to run his bath and settle him for the night.
At some point he’d made a little mess in the nappy and as I was clearing up the used baby wipes and removing the liner from the nappy, I did think to myself that this was perhaps not going to be the easiest job in the world should a proper messy nappy happen in the Mionappy. I know that’s part of the testing, but to be honest I’m a bit wary of that. I don’t know as I’m ready for The Boy and his flailing legs with a nappy full of stuff I’ve got to mess around with getting the liner out of!
While the Mionappy itself was quite wet at the front, it had retained the moisture well. I noticed there were no red marks around his legs or tummy as I usually get with disposable nappies, especially in warm weather as it was today and he gets hot, but there were no marks at all after wearing the Mionappy. The only trouble I’ve found with it already is that The Boy keeps undoing the Velcro of the Miosoft if I try to leave him wearing just the nappy!
I like the idea, and I like the theory and I admire people who do use reusable nappies all the time and have done in the past, I’m not sure how practical it really is and this is why I’m doing this, to see whether I’ll change my mind and become a complete Mio-Convert! After Day 1, I’m not sure whether that will be happening, but 6 days remaining a lot could change!
What? From the KUB furniture range, the Tundra cot/bed.
How much? RRP £220
Where from? Exclusive nursery retailers
Part of the process of getting ready for the imminent birth of your new baby is getting the nursery sorted out. Some people go all out for a real nursery look, with colourful borders and co-ordinated photos on the walls, some people find out the sex of the baby before it’s born so that their son is welcomed into a blue nursery with car, train or football themes, or their daughter has a pink princess room with fairies and butterflies and flowers.
We chose not to find out the sex of our baby: We much preferred what is viewed by some as the ‘old fashioned’ idea of having a surprise when the baby arrived. I understand that some people like to find out in advance, but for us it’s like opening your Christmas present early. We painted the bedroom cream and brown, with a teddy bear theme from Mothercare for the accessories; the curtains, the bedding, the cot mobile, etc. We made it suitable for a boy or a girl, and to compliment the colours of the room we chose a cream and oak chest of drawers and a Tundra cot/bed from KUB furniture.
We chose the Tundra cot/bed partly because it fitted so well with the colour scheme in the bedroom and partly because of KUB’s eco-friendly design and build principle, and partly because it seemed like a sturdy, well made product. Designed to be used for many years as it has the ability to be changed into a junior bed when baby is old enough to not have the cot sides, we decided that while it was expensive to make the purchase it would be worthwhile in the long run as we wouldn’t need to then buy a junior bed when baby grew out of the cot.
The Tundra cot/bed in cot mode
The Tundra has three settings for the bottom; the highest setting, for a newborn baby, the mid-setting as they get a little older and the lowest setting for older babies and toddlers, when they’re able to stand. It comes complete with plastic teething rails down either side so that when your little one starts chewing they won’t damage the sides and more to the point they won’t damage themselves by ingesting pieces of paintwork.
Though we set the cot/bed up prior to our baby being born, we used a Moses basket in our bedroom to begin with. We had hoped that it would last til baby was six months old, but he grew out of it length-ways and width-ways by the time he was three and a half months old, and reluctantly I had to start sleeping him in his own room in the cot/bed. (There was no way I could fit that in our room to continue sleeping him with us, and we couldn’t afford to spend more on a rocking crib or other alternative to fit in our room for the next few months). My first night without baby by my side was a fretful one for me, but The Boy was absolutely fine and he’s slept in his own room since.
The first issue we discovered with the Tundra was when we needed to move the base down to the mid-level. The Hubby, being the handy DIY type that he is, quite merrily undid all the necessary bolts and removed the base carefully – and at that point, three of the four wooden lugs broke off. These lugs fit from the two base side bars that slot into the ends of the cot/bed and they sheared off because they were so weak and thin. The Hubby was disappointed as he commented that even on cheap sets of drawers you have better quality dowels than they are, and as they’d broken so completely he ended up drilling much larger holes than the factory drilled ones, and fitting replacement dowels that are thicker and better quality. We were disappointed, but it wasn’t an issue that we dwelled on; after all, we’d rectified the problem easily and the cot/bed was safe to continue using with the replacement dowels in place. When we changed the setting from the mid-level to the lower level after The Boy learned to stand up while holding onto the sides (and leaned over the railing!) we had no problems.
When The Boy started chewing on everything thanks to his teething, I thought the cot/bed was a safe environment for him to be in. Unfortunately one afternoon time was getting on and I thought he should have woken up from his nap, so I looked in on him and found him standing at the foot end of the cot/bed chewing on the foot board. While the sides have teething rails, the ends do not. At the time, he had two top and two bottom teeth, and the scraping action of these razor-sharp teeth had removed the white layer of paint from the foot board of the cot/bed, revealing the chipboard underneath. In a few minutes, he had scraped a patch the size of a postage stamp and had bits of white paint in his mouth. Fortunately I’d realised and I’d gone to him and was able to extract the paint and take him out of the cot/bed; I photographed the damage and sent it to the customer services department voicing my concern about this and enquiring whether there was a teething rail for the end sections that they could send me. The response I received was less than satisfactory: All KUB furniture is VOC free, contains no formaldehyde in the glue and the finish is tested for non toxicity and also for any emissions so your baby is not in any danger from toxins. We don’t have a teething rail that will cover the ends but generic rails can be ordered from Mothercare online for £14.99 and they’ll fit square and round cot bed ends.
Well, for a start, I checked Mothercare and every other nursery retailer I could think of, and I couldn’t find anything suitable for the end of the Tundra cot/bed. The ends are broad and square, and obviously they’re shorter than the sides, and every retailer that sells teething rails sells them for the cot sides (so I’d pay a fortune for side teething rails that I’d need to cut down) and the width of the average teething rail seems to be narrower than the dimensions of the Tundra. Where the quote for £14.99 online came from I don’t know, but I was unable to find anything suitable from Mothercare online in any price range. Unhappy I had no choice but to continue using the Tundra as I had nowhere else for The Boy to sleep; I couldn’t leave him awake in there while I popped to the toilet or did the housework upstairs as every time I left him in there awake he was chewing more.
It wasn’t that I was concerned about the toxicity levels of the paint he was potentially ingesting (I would hope that there was no toxicity risk!) – my point was more that he was peeling off pieces of paint that he could easily have choked on had I not realised what was going on. The Hubby was at work, and I messaged him to let him know what was going on. When he got home from work he had a look and we discussed what options we had; further trawling online searching for teething rails suitable to fit the ends of the Tundra cot/bed was fruitless and discussions with family and friends threw up a variety of ideas but all of them were decided against for one reason or another.
Then The Hubby was at work one day and he came up with a plan; white plastic angle from the DIY store (the stuff you use to protect corners on walls or the end of the kitchen worktop). He purchased a single length and then when he got home he measured it up and cut it to the required length and filed the edges round. We left The Boy with his grandparents to stay overnight and The Hubby fixed the angle in place over the end of the cot/bed and held it in place with the cot sides and No More Nails to ensure The Boy couldn’t remove it.
This not only has hidden the numerous patches where The Boy had peeled off the paintwork, but it has also provided a teething rail of sorts so that if The Boy started trying to chew it again he couldn’t do further damage and was no longer at risk of choking from the bits of paint he was peeling off. The Hubby put a matching length of plastic angle on the head end of the cot/bed to prevent the same thing happening there, and it seems to have resolved the issue for us for now.
The Tundra cot/bed is not a drop-sided cot/bed. Nowhere does it claim to be, so it isn’t falling down on another point or failing in some way, but I think it needs to be. I’m 5ft 6ins and The Hubby is over 6ft and now The Boy has the base on the lowest level it’s a hell of a bend over the side rail to get him in. It isn’t so bad getting him out – he’ll stand up and hold his arms up to you and it’s easy. But getting him in, especially when he’s fallen asleep in your arms and you’re trying to gently lower him onto the mattress is a knack that you have to perfect. Its hell on your back, as he’s now 23lbs, and you’re bending so far over, it really is awkward. We’re not planning another baby just yet, but if I was pregnant again there’s no way I’d be able to do it, which would leave me pretty much stuffed as I wouldn’t be able to put The Boy to bed.
Unfortunately, for the cost of this cot/bed, it falls down in too many respects for me to think of it as a worthwhile cost. It does look very nice, but the fact the sides don’t drop make it less than entirely practical and the problems we’ve had with the dowel pegs and the paintwork have really let me down as far as quality goes. I wouldn’t recommend this product to a friend and I wouldn’t buy it again knowing what I know. There are also marks on the cot bars on either side where he has knocked toys against them, and what child do you know that won't do that? I give it two out of five because it is an expensive mistake that I’m stuck with til The Boy needs a proper bed as I spent so much on it I can’t justify spending out even more money for a junior bed. I feel very let down by the response from the customer services department and I feel there are many improvements that should be made on this product to justify the extortionate high price.
So here we are, nearing the end of July, and what a disappointing summer it’s been so far! It started so well: In April I stocked up on sun cream, shorts and sun hats for The Boy and we spent days in the garden, at the beach, we had the fans on to keep the house reasonably cool and we slept with windows open and only sheets covering us. What happened?
I was talking to my best friend the other day and remembered that this time last year she came and stayed with us for a week ‘just in case’. According to my dates, my baby was due on 27th July, but according to the hospital measurements my due date was 2nd August, needless to say everyone was quite twitchy from mid-July onward whenever I had a twinge! Hence my best friend coming to stay.
The weather was boiling: I was in and out of the shower probably as often as I was going to the loo, which was pretty often! If I wasn’t going out I was wafting about the house in flip flops, pants and oversize thin cotton shirts, or my other favourite was a vast cotton maxi dress. I was getting through a box of Jubbly ice lollies every day and the freezer couldn’t keep up with my demands for ice for cold drinks, as well as clearing my local supermarket of fruit juices and flavoured water. My best friend and I made plans to go out every day, cancelled them every day as I was too hot to move, and we spent all our time in the back garden under the shade!
I’m not good with extreme weather. In the cold weather I get cold to the extreme if I don’t layer a ridiculous amount of clothes (we’re talking thermal underwear, knee high socks, vest tops under t-shirts under long sleeve tops under sweatshirts, the works) In the hot weather I overheat very easily: I sweat like a pig (excuse me, ladies most definitely do not simply glow) I get migraines, dizzy spells, and it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve managed to not pass out at all at the peak of the summer. My doctors very simple analogy of it was that I’m like a car with a broken radiator – I have no way of regulating my body temperature, for whatever reason best known to biology – and the pounding heat of last July combined with being so heavily pregnant was worrying. I knew I’d end up as a sweaty heap during labour regardless of the overall temperature anyway, so the fact that it was so hot worried me that something more could go wrong – I’d overheat and pass out during labour or something, or my body just wouldn’t be able to cope with it all and something terrible, like a fit during labour, could occur.
I was fortunate: A week before my due date according to the hospital, the weather cooled. The day I went into labour, five days overdue from the hospital date, was clear and bright but not overly hot, and by the time The Boy was delivered a summer storm was thundering across the evening sky, making the hospital windows shudder in their frames and bringing with it a welcome cool breeze (not that I benefited from that much, stuck in the stifling recovery room with my newborn and not an open window to be had in the whole hospital, though they did bring me a fan). Indeed the labour was just as hot and sweaty as I suspected it would be. Luckily I’d had the sense, before leaving for hospital, to have a shower, wash my hair and tie it back in a plait, but the staff were concerned at how hot I was during the final throws of labour and a couple of times they got me cold compresses for my forehead (which was a lovely thought, but when I’m in that kind of situation I’m a bit like a caged animal and you better have a damn good reason for touching me or I might just have your hand off!)
After The Boy and I arrived home following our stay in hospital, the weather was bright and warm but not too overbearing, which was nice as I’d been concerned about keeping a newborn baby the right temperature and if it had been too hot that might have been very difficult. Then summer gave way to autumn, winter was just round the corner and before I knew it I was pushing a pram through four inches of snow.
I was hoping, when April brought such lovely sunshine, that this summer might be a nice one. After all, The Boy is almost a year old, and fantasies of taking him to the beach, for ice creams, playing in the park and the garden, putting him in cute t-shirt and shorts outfits with sun hats, played through my mind. We’d go for day trips to the zoo, to the local water park, I’d take him swimming in the outdoor pool at the place where my parents own a holiday home and we’d enjoy the lovely sunshine together.
And yet here we are, late July, and it’s another grey, overcast day. It’s been that miserable recently that The Boy’s Grandma (The Hubby’s mum) has knitted The Boy a grey bobble hat (complete with ear flaps) for wearing out and about as when she looked after him the other week and they went out walking the dog she was concerned that his head and ears were too cold. I mean, come on, right? It’s July! It may not be hot enough for shorts and t-shirts but surely a child can get away without a full on woolly ensemble of bobble hat, mittens and a scarf? Apparently not! I’ve even got her a footmuff for the pushchair she has as the blanket she used the other week blew away in the strong wind! (Luckily she was with The Boy’s Grandad who went off and caught it, if she’d have been on her own with The Boy and her dog the blanket would have had to be allowed escape).
It’s The Boy’s birthday the first week of August, and I was hoping for lovely weather so that we might go for a picnic in the park with some of his friends; At the moment I’m considering going to the local indoor soft play place for children, as at least it won’t matter if it’s raining or cold! I shouldn’t have to consider this when the child has an August birthday! It should automatically be a given that his birthday will be bright, sunny and warm!
We were going to go out today, weather permitting, but between the weather being so rubbish and the fact that The Boy napped from til almost has taken most of our afternoon, so at the moment we’re both still in our PJ’s watching CBeebies and eating chocolate. It’s a bit of a winter lazy day activity but we’re happy enough with Waybuloo and Little Charlie Bear keeping us entertained. I do like to get The Boy out of the house as often as possible as I don’t want him to be one of those kids who spends their whole time indoors watching the goggle box, but some days it’s the right thing to do, and we’ve been out every day so far this week so I don’t think one day of PJ’s and telly is going to matter much.
We’re still awaiting delivery of our Bambino Mio products to test, which surprises me as the lady seemed certain that they’d arrive by today (we were out yesterday, but didn’t receive a card from the postman to say he’d tried to deliver anything) Knowing my luck they’ll arrive tomorrow morning (our Saturday postman turns up at 8.30, our weekday postie not til 10!) while we’re having a lie in!
Since The Hubby has been working all week this week, tomorrow morning we’re going to let The Boy get into bed with us for his morning bottle and we’ll watch a film – maybe Shrek or Shrek 2 (again!) or perhaps Finding Nemo (for the millionth time) I got The Witches the other day with Anjelica Houston, simply because it was reduced in Sainsbury’s to £3 and I loved the book as a kid, but I’m aware that at the moment it’s a little old for The Boy so I’ll have to wait before I can watch that with him and make out it’s more for his entertainment than mine! Cars seems to be a current favourite of The Boy’s, he’s into everything motor related right now which is lovely as I remember my brother being the same as a child. I’m hoping my mum will manage to get him the lovely ride-on car she’s seen for his birthday.
Well, I’d better be off, need to close the back door as it’s a bit too chilly in here for my liking with it open and I can hear the theme song for I Can Cook!
