Top Tips

Baby Care Tip
If you would rather not use piles of un-environmentally sound baby wipes, try making your own, washable, re-useable ones. I use the soft blue and white striped kitchen cloths. I cut the cloth in half. Then I make a cup of camomile tea, and add a drop of lavender oil. I tip this over the wipes and make sure they are soaked, then I squeeze out the excess moisture and store them in an airtight container. I make them fresh every couple of days to avoid them going off. I prefer them because they smell nice, are gentle on bottoms and faces and are bigger and more effective than commercial wipes without the slimey feeling - and I feel that it must be better for the environment to re-use them. I find that it makes it easier when using washable nappies because they just go with the nappies into the nappy bucket. Mummybear.

Travelling/Food Tip
If you are travelling to France for a holiday and your little one is keen on yoghurt/fromage frais, get a big pot of Jockey from any French supermarket. It's available full- or half-fat and is plain fromage blanc, so sort of in-between yoghurt and fromage frais, and is delicious with fruit or honey. It's a staple pudding in our house! Anna34

Travel Tip
I found a couple of pashminas from Debenhams (£15) and these are great for travelling; they look stylish on you, are light and warm, they wrap babies up very easily and, in an emergency, I've even turned one into a makeshift sling and another into a sheet after a sicky episode in the cot! Riab

Travel/Toys Tip
Babies can't discriminate between toys and other objects. Don't worry about taking the whole of Hamleys to amuse your child, there are always paper cups, wooden plates and pepper pots to amuse them. Older children will often be happy with paper and crayons, books and balls, which shouldn't take up much space. Christina Hopkinson, from On Holiday with a Baby

Travel/Food Tip
If you and your child are often out and about, it is worth investing in a selection of plastic containers in a range of sizes, in which to pack your food. Make sure that your boxes have reliable, leak-proof lids. Children like to have their own individual container of little sandwiches. As well as acting as a crumb collector, this will save you handing out each sandwich across a crowded train carriage, and will limit the opportunity for sandwiches getting stuck under the seats of your car. from Feeding Made Easy by Gina Ford

Cooking Tip
When fruit is in season and readily available you can make delicious fruit purées, which can be frozen for later use. Simmer the fruit (chopped and stoned if necessary) until soft in a small amount of water - just enough to prevent the fruit from sticking and burning. Sweeten to taste with a little honey, maple syrup or sugar. The amount of sweetener required will vary according to the fruit - blackcurrants are a tart fruit and need more sugar than raspberries but they are high in vitamin C, so in my opinion the benefit of the fruit's goodness outweighs the disadvantage of needing to add sugar. Once softened, the fruit van be puréed using a hand blender or liquidizer and packed in plastic bags or boxes. from Feeding Made Easy by Gina Ford

 

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