How I fed my baby – real parenting stories
Before having our baby, I had fully intended to breastfeed. It was really important to me, I had breastfed before and knew the benefits. But two weeks and numerous extra visits from the midwife later, I realised that, actually, the most important thing was that our baby was fed.
My First Five Years changed how I think about child development
I’ll be honest, I write for My First Five Years as a freelancer and have also been an early tester of the app because I have a three-year-old son myself. So, you won’t be surprised to know that I recommend this app to everyone I meet with young children. However, for a while, as a busy working mum, I wondered whether I’d prefer the app to just contain lists of simple-to-set-up activities that I could search for and randomly try when I had a spare ten minutes to play.
Learning from the everyday – child development and your daily routine
We know that for most parents life is busy and finding time to dedicate to activities that support your child’s development can be tricky, particularly in the week when we may also have work to contend with. However, we also know that opportunities for development and play are everywhere! In addition, children benefit from being allowed to get bored sometimes and from discovering new things for themselves.
Prematurity - a unique journey
Our first interactions with our son Tom were not as we had anticipated. He arrived preterm at 32 weeks and caught us by surprise! He was whisked to the neonatal special care unit as he was not quite ready for life outside the womb. We followed behind and peered in at him in the incubator with a mixture of awe, excitement and fear.
