JulieBhosaleAchive

Sleep and food go hand-in-hand. It can be a vicious cycle which is difficult to break when these get out of harmony! I actually have a whole section on this in my new book coming out in August. Sleep, or a lack of it, is one of the biggest challenges we are faced with as parents, especially in that first year. I really encourage mums and families to seek help when struggling with this - we are not meant to know everything about parenting - which includes getting your baby to sleep! This weekend I am down speaking in Hamilton for our National Starting Solids Tour - home to the incredible Emma Anderson who is the founder of Sweet Dreams NZ - she is also delivering a presentation at this event and she has a guest blog here on tips to help with self-settling. Emma Anderson - Founder of Sweet Dreams NZ Self-Settling Advice Like many areas of infant sleep, the topic of self-settling has varied opinions and philosophies on when you can start teaching your baby how to self-settle, and even i...

Keeping fit and doing daily activity during pregnancy has many benefits for both mum and baby but it can be hard for mums to know what is safe and what is not. This is why we have asked Lorraine Scapens from Pregnancyexercise.co.nz to answer your questions about exercising during pregnancy.   Lorraine Scapens is a pre- and postnatal exercise and wellness specialist, and has over 20 years experience. Her focus is on diastasis prevention; healing and ensuring mums are pain free and can enjoy living an active life with their kids. Lorraine created her website Pregnancyexercise.co.nz  five years ago as she wanted more women to benefit from her knowledge and experience. Back Pain Many women suffer with lower back and pelvic pain during pregnancy but the good news is you don’t have to and most pain can be prevented and or treated. Back pain in pregnancy is often caused due to: Pregnancy hormones - relaxing and loosening ligaments, Poor posture, Diastasis Recti – Abdominal muscl...

July is Oral Health Month here in New Zealand. Encouraging the care of healthy teeth in little ones is something I am really passionate about as diet plays a fundamental role in this - especially avoiding sugary drinks. Currently 5000 children a year under the age of two get their teeth extracted under a general anesthetic (in New Zealand).  This is heart breaking and something I am determined to help change - and so is Dr Domonique Joe of WM Dental who has a guest blog with loads of helpful tips for us! Healthy Teeth Tips from a Mum and Dentist  Many parents are surprised to know that tooth decay can start from the age of one. Dental decay in young children can cause toothache, pain and infection. Losing a tooth too soon can result in speech disorders, crooked permanent teeth and poor self-esteem. As a dentist I have seen first hand how badly children suffer from tooth decay. No amount of hugs, love or paracetamol can soothe a child with tooth ache. Prevention is definitely better tha...

When I asked our Facebook community for advice and tips on preparing for a baby one of the areas which came up a few times was insurance. This is something I also strongly recommend looking into. I can hand on heart say medical cover was a godsend for both of our boys - who required seeing a specialist for ear infections and asthma symptoms at a very young age and thanks to medical cover this was all possible! (You can read more tips on preparing for life with a baby in the previous blog here ). Nicole Dellow is a mum of two and runs Lifestyle Cover - I meet Nicole when pregnant with our second baby and she was a HUGE help in making sure we were fully covered and had the best insurance deals possible - and not just medical cover, Nicole also looked into our income protection and life cover which we had done in a hurry as our first baby arrived early. I have a guest blog from her on the importance of private medical cover for your new baby! Why to Arrange Private Medical Insurance for ...

Our second son has been a 'sleepy baby' - especially compared to our first who was definitely not in this category at all. In fact, to this day we are still surprised and how Smushie can just fall asleep almost anywhere as this was just not something that ever happened the first time around. About a month ago however we went through a typical toddler sleep regression with him and holy molly was it hard - between having both boys wake up multiple times in the night my husband and I felt like we were back in newborn days, but with a super full work load. Like most hard parenting phases this has luckily passed....for now! This week we have a guest blog from Amy McColl of Baby Sleep Consultants  on toddler sleep regression. I am a firm believer of seeking help when you are struggling, which has only come from raw experience of battling so often on our own, so do make sure you check out this great service - they offer a free 15 minute consultation on the phone! Amy's Toddler Reg...

Hi, I’m Gemma the Owner and Editor of The Baby View. I am a Mum of one beautiful 3 year old girl who looks like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth (but on some days I know better!) I absolutely love kids! When I left school it was my intention to become a teacher, so I started a BA at The University of Auckland. When I got to the end of my BA, I didn’t want to stop so I continued on with an MA. By the time I had completed my MA I had spent 5 years at Uni, so was sick of the poor student life! It was my intention to work for a couple of years and then come back to finish off my teaching diploma. Well, that didn’t end up happening! Instead of doing that, I got married, bought a house and joined the Corporate business world! Then I fell pregnant with my daughter. I had always said to my husband that I wanted to spend as much time at home with our children as possible, but unfortunately money does not grow on trees! I was very lucky to have an employer that allowed me to work some of my day...

We really struggled to toilet train our first son....a number of things went wrong and we didn't know what our next step was. I fumble my way through motherhood most of the time but one thing I have learnt (the hard way) is to ask for help, especially from an expert! Enter Laura Morley of Toddler Talk NZ . Laura was our saving grace! I had a one-hour skype consultation with her and came away with a very clear plan and loads of tips and tricks to build our little man's confidence back up and nail this learning phase! One of the things she strongly recommended (and turned out to be one of the keys to our sucess) was not to use pull ups (or disposable training pants) and use resuable pants like Weepants. Here is a guest post from Laura to tell us why! Laura Morley: Parents at workshops always look at me in horror when I recommend that they take their child out of disposal nappies and put their kids in to underwear for a few hours each day.  It means that their child can get used t...