School daze: gifts from the germ factory

12 September, 2012 By 1 Comment


“Mummy, Miss J has snot all over her face!” – JD, 4

JD started school last week, or as I like to call it, the germ factory. Yep, just like when he started nursery, JD has spent his fledgling few days as a schoolboy bringing home forms to fill in, drawings to stick on the fridge and colds to fill our heads.

We’re all sniffling, JD is off school today and poor Miss J has got it the worst. You know how it goes – every sneeze creates enough snot to fill a paddling pool and attempts to sleep are scuppered by a snore that becomes a snuffle that becomes a spluttering, coughing jolt awake at 2am. Good times.

Luckily, Miss J and JD eat their greens and get plenty of vitamin C, so 48 hours in they’re already looking healthier. Just in time to face the next bug, no doubt.

JD is great about hand washing and while we can’t really stop Miss J putting her fingers in her mouth, we do keep her hands clean, particularly before meals. They drink plenty of fluids and we also use Sterimar Baby, which safely clears out their little nasal passages with sea water and no nasty drugs or chemicals. All that seems to help fight off the bugs faster, which is good as apparently I can’t wrap them in special suits and put gas masks on their heads – it wouldn’t fit the uniform policy.

So, how do you keep the bugs at bay?

Disclosure: I am a sponsored Sterimar Baby ambassador. All posts are 100% honest and in my own words.

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I’m a Sterimar Baby Mummy Ambassador

27 April, 2012 By 1 Comment

And then it goes tshhhhhhh and all the snot comes out! – JD, 4

Several months go, I was sent a Stérimar Baby natural seawater base nasal spray for review, which I duly stored in the cupboard ready for when Little Miss J faced her first cold.

With JD regularly attending that little germ factory we call preschool, it wasn’t long before he brought home a nice fresh cold and Little Miss J became all red eyes and snotty nose. It’s heart breaking seeing a baby not able to feed properly and Stérimar Baby did the job of clearing her nose brilliantly – you can read my full review here.

Fast forward a few months and we’ve used Stérimar regularly – it not only clears her nasal passages, it keeps them clean and stops the infection getting as nasty as it otherwise might. And a big bonus is that it’s totally natural, so you can use it as much as you like without fear of overdose.

I’m a Sterimar Baby Mummy Ambassador

I use the adult version for myself and have raved about it at nursery and baby group, so when Stérimar asked me to work with them as an ambassador, sharing the benefits of the nasal spray with other mums, I was happy to go ahead.

One of the main things I’ll be doing as an ambassador is spending time on the new Stérimar Baby Facebook Page with experts and other mums, talking through our experiences and sharing thoughts on all things parenting related.

A chance to win £500

To kick off the launch of the new Facebook page, Stérimar Baby is running a ‘Cutest Little Nose’ photo competition.

To enter, visit the Stérimar Baby Facebook Page, click on the Cutest Little Nose app and submit a photo of your little one being super cute – I know, I know, how are you going to choose one photo?

You’ve got until 20th June 2012, after which, the cutest photo (as judged by Stérimar) will be chosen as the winner and the ‘most creative’ photo will win a runner up prize of Stérimar Baby products. Good luck!

Disclosure: I have received a fee for working with Sterimar as an Mummy Ambassador. As always, all content is 100% honest and in my own words.

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Baby with a blocked nose – the spray and aspirate solution

9 December, 2011 By 4 Comments

Is Little Miss J poorly, mummy? Shall I give her a magic cuddle? – JD, 4

Last week, my poor little lady caught a cold. One of those horrible colds that leaves them gasping, snuffling and generally miserable.

JD had a cold too, but he was quite happy curled up in a duvet, dosed up on Calpol, watching Octonauts and getting through hundreds of tissues while demanding the healing power of ‘mummy’s magic cuddles’. Little Miss J being so tiny (7 weeks), the options were more limited.

The aspirator solution

As I sat there at 4am, dosed up on emergency caffeine, watching her stare back at me red faced and uncomfortable, I remembered the bits of kit I’d stored away at the back of the cupboard: a nasal aspirator and a nasal spray, both designed for babies.

If you’ve never heard of a nasal aspirator, it’s a simple, bulb-shaped contraption you can use to suck the snot out of your baby’s nose, and it really works. Press in the rubber base, position it under your baby’s tiny nostril and let go. Slllllurp, it sucks out the snot – genius! I got mine from Toys R Us for £5.99.

When things get tough (and snot gets stuck)

After a few days of lurgy, the snot in Little Miss J’s tiny nose had become thick and dry and wouldn’t budge even with the aspirator. That’s where the nasal spray came in. Sterimar sent me this rather clever solution a few weeks back – I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use it so soon.

To use Sterimar Baby (£4.07 from Boots), you lie your baby on her side or sit her up with her head tilted to one side, then you put the spray nozzle up to (but not up) her nostril and push the nozzle. It shoots a jet of clean sea water up the nostril and loosens the snot, which dribbles out. Use the aspirator a minute or too later to clear the remains of the softened blockage if necessary and you’ll have a much happier baby.

We did this once or twice a day with Little Miss J and it kept her comfortable and able to feed. We’ll definitely keep the bulb and spray on hand.

Have you got any other tips to help a bub with the sniffles? Let me know.

Disclosure: Sterimar Baby was provided to us free-of-charge for review. No payment was received and this post is 100% honest. Please see my review/disclosure policy for more information.

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