Kleenbots Disposable Nappies

When it comes to disposable nappies it's important to find a brand that you like and works well for you. 
One of the main things we consider is quality and cost.

We use to use disposables on a daily basis with Blake until he was a few months old. 
These days we use them occasionally like when we have far too much washing to get through,
or for example in September we are going on holiday for a few days. 

We have tried out quiet a few different brands and recently we have been given the opportunity to try out
a brand of nappies that we have only recently heard of Kleenbots. 



Kleenbots have been in business since mid 2013 and they believe that when it comes to nappies price and quality are important. 

The nappies come in size 1 (3-7kg), size 2 (5-10kg), size 3 (9-14kg) and size 4 (12-16kg) .
The nappies have an elastic waistband, super absorbent core, double leak guard, wetness indicator,  soft breathable backsheet, refastenable tapes and lock-in leg cuffs


Inside the nappies feel really soft and Blake seems to feel comfortable wearing them.
We have had no leaks so far and have also had no rashes. 



The design of the nappies are cute and simple. 
I like the wetness indicator as it is very useful for younger babies who need to be changed more frequently.
 I also really like the elastic waist at the back of the nappy as it makes me feel that the nappy is more secure on Blake. 


As for the price of nappies the amount of nappies you get and the price depends on the size you need. 

300 size one nappies are £41 
300 size two nappies are 41
240 size three nappies are £35.60 
180 size four nappies are £31.04

All prices include delivery as they nappies are delivered right to your door. 









Nourkrin Two Months On

So I have been using Nourkrin for two months now and love the results. 
My hair is definitely a lot more thicker than it used to be and so much more manageable. 
I had my hair cut today and my hairdresser who has been doing my hair for the last 7 years or so
commented on how healthy and fuller my hair is. 

Before starting Nourkrin my hair was flat and lifeless and would break off easily and was so hard to manage. 
After one month of using Nourkrin I was already seeing the results that I really wanted. 
My hair was beginning to look and feel much more thicker and with less breakages my hair was much less wispy. 





As you can see from the photo's above there is significant difference in my hair from the front from before I started Nourkrin and over the last two months. 

I use to find styling my hair a chore as it was such hard work to get it looking how I wanted it to.
Now it's not so much hard work as I'm not having to constantly straighten my hair as much as it's
not as fly away due to the ends not being as wispy. 




I can definitely see a difference in all three photo's of the back of my hair. 
The last photo taken today my hair looks so much healthier and looks much thicker too. 

Next month will be the third month of using Nourkrin which is the recommended amount of time using Nourkrin before seeing a noticeable difference. This is really like anything in the fact that you have to give it time and that consistency is key to having an improvement with the condition of your hair. 


Have you ever tried a supplement to help with hair growth? 
I'd love to know your thoughts 
comment below


Washing and Drying Nappies

When we started using cloth nappies a few people have asked me about if I find it an inconvenience to wash and dry them.

My answer is no, having a baby meant that we were going to have to get use to having to do more washing 
anyway and I only have to do an extra load every two to three days.

Pre-wash 
One of the things that is recommend is that before you use cloth nappies you pre-wash them. If you don't they may not be absorbent enough and will most likely leak. 
It's recommended that they are pre-washed twice before use, it's not a hassle as there is no need to dry nappies in between the two pre-washes.
Pre-washing is simple all you have to do is add a small amount of detergent and wash at 30/40 degrees. Nappies will reach their full absorbency after five washes but two pre-washes are enough to get you started. 

Washing

We dry pail nappies which means that we don't soak our nappies we just flush away the liner and pop wet or soiled nappies into the nappy bucket. 


When it comes to wash day I pop the nappies into the washing machine and put them on a rinse with no detergent once that is done I then put in a small amount of detergent and a scoop of miofresh and run a 30/40 degree wash. I always put it on an extra rinse as well. 




Drying


We live in a flat but still manage to get our nappies dry quick. 
We have a heated dryer which we use to dry the cotton prefolds but all in ones and wraps I tend to put over a radiator that we don't have turned on. 



Other ways on drying nappies are: 



Line drying this is the best way as the sun is a natural bleaching agent and can get stains out of nappies pretty well. 



Tumbling drying nappies can make nappies feel nice and soft but works out expensive and shortens the life of your nappies. 

You could also use a ceiling drying rack, in your airing cupboard and radiator. 


Another thing to add is that by using a high spin on your washing machine you can reduce the amount of drying time needed. It is recommended however to go less than 1000 revs as higher than this can damage some nappies or at least make some nappies go tatty. 









Blake 8 Months

On Sunday Blake turned 8 months old he has been suffering from a cold since last Thursday.
We have had a few disturbed nights due to this and he has also been very clingy. 

Clothing
Blake is now into his 9-12 months clothing which is pretty scary he is getting so big. 
I have found that the sleepsuits we have for him are getting tight already! 
I think we will stop buying sleepsuits now and purchase pjs instead. 


Teething
He has two little teeth that are trying to push there way through at the bottom of his month. 
He has had a few moments of needing teething gel, teething toys and the very occasional dose of calpol so far. 


Sleep
Blake is still sleeping well and getting approx 12 hours of sleep as usual. 
Although over the last few days he hasn't been due to the dreaded cold that he
has.


Feeding
We have been trying to cut his milk down so that he has three feeds a day. 
This isn't happening every day at the moment, but he is now eating three meals a day.
This is sometimes with one or two snacks as well. 

He is enjoying proper meals now such as chilli con carne, roast dinner and tuna pasta bake. 
Although we have noticed he doesn't seem to like pasta that much. 




Development/Milestones

- Blake is able to sit up with support but still not ready to sit up on his own atm. 

- He is able to stand up unsupported for a little while holding onto the sofa. 

- He is also getting more mobile as he can now crawl backwards. 


Other

- He is such a wiggle bum and changing his nappy and getting him dressed is now starting to become a challenge. 

- He loves to wave at Mummy and Daddy 

- He has outgrown the bouncer so now just plays in his walker or rolls around playing with his other toys. 
We are getting a Jumparoo soon which I'll be blogging about. 

- He started to try and clap although Stuart keeps missing it. 

- He will cry if you eat in front of him so we have to eat at the same time or when he is napping.

Paddy's Bathroom

Blake loves bath time and we love trying out new bath products for him. 
We try and bath Blake every two days, every three days at a stretch. 
Sometimes he has to have an emergency bath after a poo explosion which is happening a lot less these days. 


Paddy's Bathroom sent us a range of yummy, fruity smelling products for Blake to try at bath time! 
Paddy's Bathroom has launched a NEW range of certified organic and natural  toiletries especially for little ones. 
Created by Ella's Kitchen brand founder Paul Lindley, Paddy's Bathroom toiletries have as much natural and organic stuff as possible in them. 
They are super gentle and sting free protecting little one's eyes.

Paddy's bathroom is on a mission to make bath time fun with playful textures, heavenly smells, squirty bottles and loads of bubbles. 


Two of the Paddy's bath room items that we have been sent is the squirty stuff.
The squirty stuff are foamy hair and body wash and comes in "smells like squishy mango's" and "smells like juicy pineapples".

The foamy stuff is also a hair and body wash and comes in "smells like rosy apples" ideal for making bubble beards. 

The Bubbly stuff "smells like tangy tangerines" is a scrummy smelling bubble bath which makes lots of bubbles. 

The stuff for shiny hair "smells like squeezy lemon's" is a lemony shampoo that is kind to little eyes. 

Last of all is the stuff for hands "smells like squeeky clean lemons" is a fun foam hand wash. 
I have put this hand wash to the side for when Blake is a little older and is able to wash his hands himself as 
I know this will make hand washing much more fun. 

We were also sent a little set of bubbles which Blake loves and also a cute little turtle bath toy which both Stuart and I love squirting Blake with on his belly at bath time. 

We are huge fans of Paddy's bathroom range even mummy has secretly been using the shampoo and one of the body washes herself ;). 


All products retail at £4.49 each except for the bubble bath which is £5.99.
They are available from selected Tesco, Asda and Boots stores and online on Ocado so for a fun and sensory bath time experience purchase Paddy's bath time products today. 


What are your favorite bath time toiletries for your baby and/or children?
comment below.

Our Cloth Nappy System

Having a good cloth nappy system is important to make life a lot easier for you. 
When we first started out using cloth Blake was a few months old and we started out using pocket nappies.
We didn't really get on well with them, although we had only tried one brand we did find Blake leaked from them a lot as he is a heavy wetter. 
We also didn't like them as they were a faff to use when it came to stuffing the pockets.

Nappies
Over the last few months I really got into cloth nappies after purchasing a Bambinio Mio Miosoft set in Aldi. Having had great results we ended up purchasing a set of 20 cotton nappies in one size and eight wraps, four in size one and four in size two. 

For some people its easier to use All In Ones (AIO) over the last week or two we decided to purchase some Bambinio Mio Miosolo's (AIO). We chose to purchase these as Blake has started to leak badly from his disposables that he was wearing at night and it gave us  an opportunity to start using cloth full time. AIO are also easier for when you are out and about and on the go and are just as quick and simple as a disposable nappy. 

Another thing to think of is the fastening system as you can get poppers or velcro. 
We personally like velcro more due to the faff of trying to do poppers up on a wiggly baby
is just too tricky.




Accessories

Buckets:

An essential accessory is a nappy bucket and laundry bags. 
We use the Bambinio Mio ones the bucket is a great size with a lockable lid which means Blake wont be able to get into the bucket (Yet). 
The mesh laundry bags are a great size and are great quality and makes life easier for us as we don't have to touch dirty nappies when loading our machine. 
We dry pail which means that we don't soak our nappies we just pop them all in the machine when it comes to wash day. 

Wipes:

We usually use cloth wipes (not pictured) we purchased some cheap ones from Ebay whilst I pregnant but if you have the money  to spend a bit more a brand I have heard is great is cheeky wipes.

We also have some Bambinio Miowipes which we got in the accessory set that we purchased.They are a natural baby wipes which have been specifically formulated to help prevent the causes of nappy rash by providing baby with a gentle, alcohol free alternative to normal baby wipes. I like these as they can be flushed down the loo with Blake's liners especially when he has done a poo. I won't be purchasing them again as I prefer to use cloth wipes and when I do use disposables I tend to go for Aldi's ones which are cheaper but we only use them when out and about for convenience. 

Liners

Again we use ones from the Bambino  range we have recently purchased some of the softer Mioliners  that have recently come out and we really get on well with them. They can be flushed down the toilet and catch poo very well. 

Mioboost

The Mioboost's are essential to me as Blake can be in nappies a bit longer than usual when having these in his nappies. In the miosoft nappies he can last up to four hours with a mioboost in them and lasts overnight with a mioboost in his miosolo's which with Blake is on average 12 hours.

Miofresh

I use a scoop of miofresh in every wash.
This is a nappy cleanser which  is designed to clean, freshen and deodorize cloth nappies.

So that is our cloth nappy system 
It's a pretty simple system and they are such great products too. 

If you are a lover of cloth I'd love to know your cloth nappy system. 
If not i'd love to know your thoughts on my system.

comment below. 

Grace and Valour

Grace and Valour is a fairly new company by Rachel who sells stylish covetable jewellery, designed in the UK. 
She is also sells a range cards and gifts so that you will find something you will love.


Grace & Valour is passionate about stylish covetable jewellery. Designer in chief Rachel is a serial collector of jewels, curator of quotes and general lover of quirkiness

The jewelry is of the best quality and made with great care. 
Rachel brings 20 years of design experience to Grace and Valour and an eye for beautiful, unusual or slightly bonkers. 
Grace and Valour designs are mainly Sterling silver, in some instances we uses Silver coated with Gold or Rose Gold vermeil, semi precious stones & Swarovski Crystals



I was sent this little necklace to show you my followers.
This necklace is different from my usual style as I am a fan of dainty silver or gold pieces. 
But I know the perfect person who I am going to pass this on to. 
I love that it's such a statement necklace so will suit someone who loves that kind of thing. 
The necklace retails at £12.99.


I was also sent a scarf from Grace and Valour's range I love the color and the cute little bird design on it.



Why Use Cloth Nappies and Wipes


First of all we are not against the use of disposable nappies and wipes in fact we still use them but are slowly progressing into using cloth full time. I use disposable wipes when out and about with Blake just for the ease of it and also only recently started to use cloth nappies when out and about and overnight. For us we chose to use cloth nappies for a number of reasons which I will share with you below. 

Cloth nappies can be quiet confusing when your a newbie to the whole thing. There are different types, brands, ways they need washing etc. I was lucky in the sense that Stuart's Sister in law  has used cloth on our nephews so she was able to explain things to us in a way that we would understand. We also use reusable swim nappies when we take Blake swimming.

I also did an awful lot of research into it whilst I was pregnant but also I still try to gain more
information and get advice from online sources such as The Nappy Lady

There are many reasons that we have chosen to use cloth nappies and wipes and our main reason is: 

Financial
Although cloth nappies can be expensive to buy upfront in my eyes they are a real investment. Think of it this way on average you will change your child six times a day this can sometimes be more or less depending on your baby. 
With disposables the price goes up with each bigger size you need to get and also depending on the brand that you use.It is estimated that on average you can save £700 from newborn to potty training by using cloth nappies. Of course if you add wipes into the mix and change to cloth you will be saving even more £'s. 


Reliability
Once we started using cloth nappies more on Blake and knew more on what works for us we have found them to be more reliable. This is due to having less leaks and poo explosions as every thing is contained in the cloth nappy and this is due to cloth nappies being a more snugger fit.

We have only recently stopped using disposables when out and about and at night as we found that he was starting to leak a lot more often from them and we often found him in the morning in a wet sleep suit and vest. 

When it comes to cloth wipes and there reliability we like them as they are just as quick and easy to use as disposables but I find they clean babies bum better as they don't tend to smear poo around and pick it up much better. 

Comfort
Disposable nappies have dyes,perfumes and absorbency chemicals in them but real nappies do not. When it comes to cloth nappies I have found that when using them Blake is less prone to nappy rash so therefore we hardly have to use nappy rash creams unless he is teething.

Again comfort is key with cloth wipes as you know what your putting on your babies skin by
making up your own wipes solution. 



 Environment

Not a reason I really thought of too much initially but by using cloth nappies and wipes they are better for the environment. Of course there is the land filled issue  but there is also the environmental cost when it comes to production.

 So they are our reasons for using cloth nappies and wipes. 

Do you use cloth nappies and wipes?


Nourkrin One Month On

Back in June I told you about my Hair Issues and that I am going to try a hair loss treatment for 
three months called Nourkrin. 
I have been pretty busy recently and need to have a better schedule for finding time for blogging.
So unfortunately this post is up a bit later than planned since it's nearly coming up to two months of using Nourkrin. 
However the photo's were taken back near the beginning of July. 


The first photo is of the back of my hair in June before I started taking Nourkrin. 
The second photo is after taking Nourkrin for a month, the back of my hair has always looked more thicker than the front of my hair. 
But I can see a little difference from the two photo's. 
Before: June 2015
1 Month on: July 2015

In the first photo of my hair from the front prior to taking Nourkrin my hair was very wispy and would break off very easily, it is also looks flat and was hard to manage. 

In the second photo after using Nourkrin for a month my hair looks and feels thicker and isn't as wipsy at the ends like it has been previously. I have also found my hair more easy to manage on a daily basis. 

Before: June 2015


1 Month on: July 2015

Overall so far I am pleased with the results that I am experiencing by using Nourkrin.
I take one tablet three times a day and am hoping by the time the three months of using Nourkrin is up that 
the results have continued to be positive.