Cheeky Weekly w/c 1st August

Hello! There's been lots of chat on our Facebook page this weekend about the new concept BumGenius prints, whether we like them or not etc, so I thought we'd do a poll to see which you like best (if at all!) - see to the right of this post->
(If you want a reminder of the prints, they are at the bottom of this blog post)

As we are thinking about pocket nappies with prints, we thought it would be appropriate to give away a Mini La La Pocket Nappy in Cathedral Royal print!




 Each entry in to the poll will count as one entry to the giveaway, (but please post a comment below to let us know you have done it!)

 Plus, you can get extra entries by doing one of the following things below:
(You don't have to do all of them though!)

1) Leave a review of any product on our website (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)


2) Comment on any post on our Facebook page (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)


3) Become a Facebook Fan (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)

4) Follow our Blog (post a separate comment to tell us you are following us)


5) Join one of our Champs' Facebook pages (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us who)


6) Leave a comment on one of our non-Cheeky Weekly blog posts (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)


7) Link to Cheeks and Cherries in your own status on Facebook (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)


8) Post a link from your own blog to the Cheeks and Cherries blog (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)


9) Share this blog post on Facebook (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)


10) Share this blog post on Twitter (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)




Good luck, and thanks for entering!
Alix
xxx



Cheeky Weekly Winner!

Thanks so much to everyone for your entries to last week's competition. We love reading all your thoughts, and hugely appreciate you linking to us, and reviewing our products online, tweeting about us and generally sharing the C&C love.

The winner of this week (ending 31st July 2011) is .... Jody Smith!

Jody has won the Itti Bitti Beach Stripe Tutto:

Congratulations Jody... please could you drop a line to orders@cheeksandcherries.co.uk to let us know the address to send your prize to.

Thank you!

Another Cheeky Weekly will be coming up shortly...

Alix
xxx

Cheeky Weekly Is Back!

OK folks, the Cheeky Weekly Giveaway is BACK BACK BACK!

But this time on our blog in case the Facebook police get cross with us doing the competition on our FB page (illegal according to the Rules, apparently).


The prize this week is a summery Beach Stripe Bitti Tutto!

We will draw an entry at random to win this... you have until midnight this Sunday 31st July to get your entries in!

Doing one of the following actions below = one entry to the Cheeky Weekly. You don't have to do all of them though!

1) Answer the Cheeky Weekly question on our blog here!

What is your favourite nappy for summertime and why?

2) Leave a review of any product on our website (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)
3) Comment on any post on our Facebook page (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)
4) Become a Facebook Fan (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)5) Follow our Blog (post a separate comment to tell us you are following us)


6) Join one of our Champs' Facebook pages (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us who)
7) Leave a comment on one of our non-Cheeky Weekly blog posts (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)
8) Link to Cheeks and Cherries in your own status on Facebook (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)
9) Post a link from your own blog to the Cheeks and Cherries blog (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)
10) Share this blog post on Facebook (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)
11) Share this blog post on Twitter (and come back here and post a separate comment to tell us)



Good luck and have a fantastic week!

Alix
xxx
 

Choosing Your Nappies

Claire Jones-Hughes is mum to one charming 2 year old daughter, second baby is due any day now and "lucky to be married to a very good man". A keen blogger she lives in Brighton, East Sussex and is known on her blogs and twitter as 'Contented Mummy' (@contentedmummy). Her big passions are family days out, enjoying wine time with friends & without children, music and striving for the elusive work/ life balance as before maternity leave, she worked full-time. Claire also runs an on-line community at www.brightonmums.com with another mum.

Although we've used washable nappies before we probably only ended up using them 50% of the time with our first daughter. Our second baby is due at the end of this month and this time we've decided to use them from birth, 100% of the time.


There were a few simple factors in why we've decided to use washable nappies more than we did for our first, economics and the environment being the biggest. We are acutely aware, as a growing family, our impact on the environment will increase, so need to make more of an effort to be green. But also with our growing family, we need to keep our household costs trim and cutting back on the nappies seemed an obvious way to save case. Plus disposables have their drawbacks too. They are not always the most comfortable for small babies becoming lumpy and awkward when full. Some brands don't fit all babies at every stage of their growth and are prone to leaking, especially with poo explosions!


With our eldest, we bought a set of used FuzziBunz nappies from a friend. Although a perfectly acceptable product, in true 'first-time parent' fashion we lacked the confidence to use them 100% of the time. Usually at night or when we went out of the house for longer than a few hours, we would use disposables. After speaking to a few friends who have been braver with washable nappies, I realised how many different brands there are on the market and they are all good for different situations. I then hooked up with Cheeks and Cherries, their website guided us through the process of choosing the right nappies. This time I thought about some of the concerns I had from our first time round:


- Newborn: the nappies I used before seemed really large and uncomfortable, so I wanted to choose some in a small size for those first few months.


- Lifestyle: what kind of activities will we be doing the most of? What would work best during the day at home or while out?


- Night-time: what were my main concerns about night-time wetting before?


- Washing & care: what would be the easiest to use and clean? With a newborn and a toddler to care for, we need products that are low maintenance to wash and dry.


The difference between buying washables versus disposables if you do have to spend time researching and choosing the right selection for your and your family. But that makes sense, as it's a one-off cost, one-off exercise which with disposables you still end up doing but more as you go along, weighing up brands and sizes as the baby develops. With washables, many nappies are exceptionally well designed to fit babies of different builds and sizes from the start, so you can relax - one thing to tick off your list! We chose the following brands:




Bambooty Easy Dry



Bambooty Easy Dry in the small size. They are slimline and incredibly delicate in structure, perfect for tiny babies.





The Close Parent Pop In Bamboo , all-in-one nappy style, one size. They look a little bigger for newborns but the reputation for absorbency, especially with the booster insert would be ideal for those first few months, with the short sleep bursts, frequent feeding and wetting.

Close Parent - Pop-In - Bamboo

itti bitti - bitti tutto , all-in-one nappy style, one size. Another popular nappy with parents, they come with soft, fluffy outers in a range of colours and patterns plus have a highly praised 'poo fence' mechanism to help cope with tricky soiling incidents.



itti bitti - bitti tutto



BumGenius V4.0 with poppers, 'pocket' style nappies, one size. These seem to come out as the most versatile nappy throughout the baby's development from birth. On appearance they seem quite large for little babies but that doesn't concern me overall, as they don't stay that petite newborn size for long!

BumGenius V4 - Snaps



Overall, I wasn't expecting these nappies to be so easy to figure out how to use, to be so soft, almost like another garment. My first impressions have already boosted my confidence to get stuck in from the first moment i need to use a nappy on my pending arrival. We have less than two weeks to go till my due date and are as ready as we'll ever be.



Potty Training Diary - Part 1!

Chelle McCann is a first time mum, blogger and social media addict. During her maternity leave she set up www.socialmediamums.co.uk and she guest blogs for product sites as well as giving personal advice and random thoughts of her own on twitter.

She loves writing about her experiences on line and is going to share her thoughts on starting potty training as well as testing a few of our products so you can see how they work, wash and if they are a must have too!

Hi I am Chelle and I am a first time mamma to a fiery redheaded toddler called Miss Fizz. Miss Fizz is 18 months old and like any other parent we’ve been dreading that time when it comes to potty training. We have found ourselves in a lucky position though. Our toddler has started to let us know she is ready.



The first time we had a sign was when Fizz held onto the sofa, strained and then tried to get my attention before patting her bottom. The second time she vocally said ‘poo poo’ before patting her bum at bedtime. I, like probably any other parent, thought this was an avoidance of bedtime but in fact after calling daddy to tell him we found that on changing her nappy she was soaking wet – this was after being changed ten minutes before. So for us I think that Miss Fizz is becoming aware is a great sign and with that we are on our travels through potty training.

However yesterday Miss Fizz decided to tell me about her poo mid nappy change. Instead of the usual hands to the front of the nappy she quickly put her hand to bottom to tell me poo. My mouth trying to stay calm and saying no………One clean up and bath later and thankfully no repeat performance so far!

 Time for potties scattered around the house so Fizz gets familiar and time for us to think about how we can make the transition from nappy to potty easier for Fizz.



We also have the difficult position of having a lodger so it'll be a bit strange with random potties around the house as well as for us having to empty, clean and get used to the fact that our little girl is growing up.


I’d love if anyone has any tips as we get started and to share experiences along the way!

Bitti Tutto - Review

Chelle McCann is a mummy blogger who also runs her own social media support business. After discovering cloth nappies 6 months after her daughter was born she is a huge fan. We asked her to try out the Itti Tutto with her toddler.

After meeting Alix from Cheeks and Cherries at the NEC Baby Show and drooling over the soft fabric of the Itti Tutto I was offered one by Alix to review. I was sent home with a lovely green coloured, soft, silky nappy as well as being given a demonstration of the nappy before returning home.

The nappy itself is luxurious in the fabric - it's very soft and that has stayed with each wash so far - we have used it every other day for 3 weeks now.


The colour coding in the nappy to where each of the attachments go is perfect for those who are confused by what goes where when using cloth (a wink towards the dads here). There is no way you can fit this nappy together the wrong way. What's also great is all the attachment panel inserts are included with the nappy - no buying additional night time boosters needed!


The Itti Tutto is at the higher end price wise at £17.50 but if you consider that by the time you add a night time booster to other nappies and this comes with everything you are actually outlaying around the same amount give or take £1 and to be honest the fact that it really is birth to potty.

There is an extra popper at each side to stop that drag down on the side panels often seen with other birth to potty nappies, a great vibrant colour choice perfect for matching to any outfit, the ultra soft fabric and also the poo fence inside the nappy - no leaks, all contained similar to the gusset on the original popins but with this nappy all the panel inserts fit in very neatly. The elastic seems really durable meaning it will last that distance from birth to potty training.

All in all this nappy is a great one whether you are starting to use cloth or near the end of the cloth journey as Miss Fizz is.

Royal Wedding - Did you know...

So, I know the Royal Wedding is totally over (although the bride and groom have only just nipped off on their honeymoon), but I just found out that Millie Pilkington, the photographer who did our first ever photoshoot here at Cheeks and Cherries was the ACTUAL Royal Wedding private wedding photographer!

If you spotted the lady getting into the front of the car at the same time as Kate Middleton and her Dad, apparently that was Millie!

We did know that Millie also does the photography for Party Pieces, the Middleton family business, but it never occurred to us that she would get like, THE gig of the century!

Huge congratulations, Millie, and just to celebrate (oh all right, and show off a bit) here are some of the amazing images she took at our photoshoot in 2009.