New Aden + Anais Muslin Swaddles

At some point in your first pregnancy, somebody mentions swaddling. The first time someone mentioned it to me, I thought they meant either a) the old Chinese practice of binding children’s feet to make sure they don’t grow or b) something to do with Jesus.



As it turns out, and I’m sure you are already much better informed than I was, swaddling means wrapping your baby up in a particular way so that they feel soothed and comforted.


Unfortunately, I wasn’t much good at wrapping, and nor was my partner (as I think I saw Jason Manford talking about this subject on Live At The Apollo the other day - you only had to see the way he wraps presents to see that wrapping a baby was going to be a challenge)


However, doing my reading, like a good mother-to-be, I discovered that swaddling was a pretty vital component in the armoury of a lazy (sensible?) parent wanting to get as much sleep as possible in the post-birth period.


Apparently a practice as 6000 years old, parents have been swaddling their babies to keep them happy since, well, ever. And with good reason, as swaddling keeps babies feeling secure and safe, as in the womb.


Until my first little girl was born, I also had no appreciation of how scary she would find these strange limb-things that were attached to her, but which she had no control over, and that occasionally she would even accidentally hit herself in the face. As soon as I realised this, suddenly the swaddling thing made a lot of sense.


Additionally, I found out that swaddling is scientifically proven to help babies sleep for longer, and to have better quality sleep too, which helps their brain development.


Swaddling isn’t actually that difficult – there’s a more detailed explanation on our site here, but basically, you just turn fold a square blanket into a triangle, and wrap it round the baby, securing their arms by their side, or slightly bent on their chest.

Back in the day though, the only things available to swaddle in were cellular blankets. They sort of worked, but were pretty tricky – not really wide enough when folded to tuck securely under her body, and quite bulky, so that when I did manage to tuck them underneath her, I worried about her having a big uncomfortable lump under her back. I also worried, as it was a very hot summer, if the layers of blanket around her were making her too hot, and ended up dressing her only in her nappy, or just a short-sleeved babygro and nappy to adjust for it. Neither of which was ideal, since the too-short swaddle often unravelled, and she woke up feeling too chilly.


Since then, I have had two more babies, and tried each time to find something better to swaddle with: slightly stretchier knitted organic cotton cellular blankets, thin jersey cotton blankets and so on, but none were really big enough, stretchy enough or lightweight enough, and certainly none of them had cute and funky prints on.


So, I’m a little bit jealous of everyone having a baby now, as they have the opportunity to use these brand new gorgeous Aden + Anais stretchy muslin wraps that are exactly what I have been looking for all these years. Launched only this year, at the Bubble Trade Show, these wraps are lightweight, thin and breathable, and huuuuge enough for even my inept partner to successfully swaddle with. Plus fantastical prints.

If I had another baby I think I would buy the lot.


You can view the new Aden + Anais range of muslin swaddles at Cheeks and Cherries here

Plus a little video by the founder of Aden + Anais, on swaddling and its benefits is here:

New Close Parent Pop-In V4 and Caboo Carrier

Matthew, Kim and I just got back last night from the Harrogate Nursery Trade fair, which was excellent. Lots of fun products (and some not-so-fun...baby nose aspirators, we mean you!) to see, and people to meet. And after show drinks to drink (ahem)

Amongst the many people we saw and talked to over the 4 days were the team from Close Parent, known for their very popular, and cleverly designed Pop-In nappy, and lovely soft but supportive baby carrier.

Close has had a big brand make-over for the show, and gone all urban and contemporary. The branding's pastel colours and flowers have gone, and been replaced by chic urban greys, greens and steel blue. Funky young mums and be-stubbled urban dads feature on the promotional stuff, alongside some blossom trees and leaves for a bit of natural contrast.

Additionally the logo has been re-worked, along with all the labels on the nappies. They're bigger, bolder and clearer, and look fab. We like the new tagline too : "good ideas for great parents".

I really love that it acknowledges mums and dads' inherent natural abilities, as so many baby products claim to be rescuing clueless parents from imminent disaster- not a great subconscious message for an anxious new mum already struggling with the tidal wave of exhaustion and hormones.

As they say in their very concise little brochure: "Close believe that parenting does not need to be complicated, overwhelming or pressured, and because you love your little one, all the ingredients are already in place". Couldn't agree more.

New Dream Dri V4

Launching in June will be the new AI2, the Dream Dri V4, and (drum-roll...) new colours too. The old pastel colours will remain, and new bright colours will be available alongside, consisting of a sunflower yellow, burnt orange, mid-green, dark plum and turquoise colours (my descriptions, but did you see that clever thing I did with the text there?).

The new bright coloured V4s that we saw had grey velcro and snaps too, creating a kind of sporty, biking/camping/running-wear look which was very striking. Close are very keen to create a distinctive and contemporary look for the modern mum (and dad), which they have certainly achieved.

Functionally, if I remember correctly from the demo, the new V4 will have boosters that snap together, but not directly, using a little tag at the end of each booster with a snap on it to attach instead. The aim of this is expedite drying times - as material that is snapped on top of another piece of fabric will always take longer to dry.

So, when you hang up the new inserts, they can remain attached to each other, but the fabric layers won't touch each other. Clever, eh?

New Baby Carrier - the Caboo

The Close Parent baby carrier has also been re-worked, and will be called the Caboo. The same lovely soft and stretchy fabrics, and muted classic colours are available, but the wrap part has had an extra bit of elastic round the bottom to keep baby even more supported.

These carriers look equally fab on mums and dads, and are also made of organic cotton, which we love, as it reduces your baby's exposure to the chemicals that other cotton products bring with them - especially important for newborns with their thinnner, more delicate skin.

New Training Pants

We also loved the new Close training pants that will be launched in June too. They look and feel like normal cotton 'big boy/girl' pants on the outside (not like bigger, pull-on nappies, as with many other brands offerings). The inside of the pants is lined with super soft french soy fabric that will contain 'one big wee', as the lovely Heidi explained to me! With cute embroidered designs on the outside, we think these will be a big winner with toddlers who are very aware of wanting to wear 'proper pants', and their mums, who don't always want to mop up the resulting puddles!

We are looking forward to getting all these lovely goodies in store at Cheeks and Cherries for you soon - do give us a call if you want to know more on 0844 665 3664 or drop me a line to alix@cheeksandcherries.co.uk

Tots Bots in Tesco

Well, there's been a right old hoo-hah all over the blogs and forums since the announcement that the Tots Bots EasyFit nappies are to be stocked in Tesco.

On Tots Bots Facebook page, there's been a lot of positive reaction from cloth-loving mums... delighted to see modern cloth nappies in their local big supermarket, alongside chemical nappies, as a natural and normal choice for new parents.

From the photos many have spontaneously taken and posted online, most seem thrilled to see fluff taking its rightful place on-shelf in a major supermarket alongside disposables. There's even a sense of feeling proud that our decision to use cloth nappies has been vindicated as an acceptable choice for all parents, not just eco-warriors.

For many of us modern cloth mums, the stocking of a brand of cloth nappies in Tesco spells the beginning of the end of the endless having-to-explain-again-and-again to family, friends, people we meet at baby and toddler groups and child-carers... "No, they're not just covers for disposables", "Yes, you wash them, and use them again when they're dry", "No, they don't leak", "No, I'm not brave, and I don't like doing lots of washing either... I don't have to", "No, I don't put poo in my washing machine, I use liners" and so on...

No-one likes to feel like a freak, but the chemical nappy industry have done a great job over the last 25 years at characterising cloth nappy usage as backward and unhygienic.

Unfortunately, combined with most people's image of cloth nappies as rough terry squares, giant stabbing pins and PVC plastic pants, this hasn't been hard to achieve and maintain.

Given most modern real nappy manufacturers and retailers are still quite small, there hasn't been the budget to combat the combination of outdated impressions and deliberate misinformation amongst the general public.

Now, though, in my opinion, Tesco have potentially given not just Tots Bots, but the whole cloth nappy industry a huge boost. Simply by stocking the bright and colourful Easyfits next to the insipid paper nappy brands in their biggest 100 stores, Tesco could achieve for cloth nappies the kind of exposure amongst mainstream mums and dads that the industry has only previously been able to dream of.

Unfortunately, although perhaps understandably, the reaction of other online nappy retailers has been a lot more circumspect. There's been a lot of worrying about how Tesco stocking the EasyFit will affect their own sales, and pleas not to forget the smaller online retailers.

This has been exacerbated by Tesco deciding to launch the Easyfit at £14.99 rather than the usual RRP of £17.99, which means that we all will have to follow suit and cut our margins on this product.

However, although this is definitely annoying, I think that overall most small online retailer's fears about Tesco just aren't justified. However successfully the EasyFit performs in Tesco, they just aren't ever going to stock the range of nappies that even the smallest word-at-home mum cloth nappy retailer does. Nor will they be able to provide the tailored, thoughtful, personal customer service and trouble-shooting that most smaller online retailers generally provide as standard.

Yes, we might miss out on the odd sale of an EasyFit to an established customer who decides to pick one up with her weekly shop, rather than purchase separately online.

But there's another potential scenario, which I believe is more likely and much more positive:

A mum or dad who has fallen in to the habit of using disposables, despite feeling a bit guilty about it from time-to-time goes into Tesco, and sees colourful, funky EasyFit cloth nappies suddenly sitting next to their usual buy. They decide on a whim to pick up a single pack of EasyFits as well as their usual disposable brand, and give them a go at home. They like them (although, of course, some won't) and either go back to Tesco for more, or, get online to see what other choices they might have in the cloth nappy arena.

Either way, the online retailer either wins, or at least, doesn't lose out. If the newly converted parent decides to purchase all her cloth nappies from Tesco in future, then we don't lose out, because they are customers we would probably never have had anyway. If they get online to see what else is available, then hey, we all have the potential to win a new customer here!

Finally, even if our new cloth mum or dad only ever purchases EasyFits from Tesco, then at the very least, all the people they come into contact with, friends, family, child-carers etc, will start to see cloth as a normal and acceptable choice... which can only benefit the industry as a whole.

I think the worst thing that could happen to the industry is that Tesco declare the experiment a failure, remove it from their shelves, and relegate cloth nappies to further years as a niche product beloved only of an exclusive online club of those 'in the know'.

Whatever your misgivings about Tesco, they have huge clout (and must be doing something right, as so many of us shop there), so if you want to help make chemical nappies clogging up our landfill a thing of the past, then why not use the might of the Tesco machine to help?

As bizarre as it sounds coming from an online retailer who stocks the EasyFit, I urge all those who want to see more cloth nappies on babies bottoms in future to go out and buy an EasyFit from your nearest large Tesco this week. Every little helps, and all that... (do you see what I did there?)

Do cloth nappies work in the real world?

Do Cloth Nappies Work In The Real World?

Article published in www.daisygreenmagazine.co.uk this week!

At 36 weeks pregnant with my third baby, my sister called me and announced she was going to send me some cloth nappies to trial when my new son arrived.

I tried to sound politely interested, but mentally filed in the ‘yeah right, too much work’ bin.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to be the greenest parent I could be. I had used ‘eco-disposables’ with my first two children. I searched out baby toiletries full of nice natural ingredients and no sodium laureth sulfate.

I used to hang out at the Green Baby shop in Islington, swooning over the organic, fair-trade moses baskets and swaddling blankets. I religiously bought local, seasonal organic veggies to puree for my precious babies’ first foods… Oh yes, I wanted to be green, and organic and the best mummy I could.

But cloth nappies? Purlease. Soaking, pinning, washing and drying? No thanks. I was a mummy of the Noughties, not the Fifties.

I had been a career girl, an ex-advertising exec with a shoe collection to prove it. I wasn’t about to start spending my days swishing poo soup in a bucket.

Baby arrived. Blissfully, at home, in water (another story). And the cloth nappies arrived too.

Cute, they were. Teeny tiny, soft little things, shaped just like a disposable nappy, and not much bigger either. They fastened with Velcro or poppers. Kind of easy, actually. And very fabulous patterns on the outside. Soft and furry, with Dalmatian spots all over them. One with little sailing boats all over it. Daddy liked this one. Another with the Very Hungry Caterpillar and his cherry pie round the waistband. I liked this one so much I took pictures of the new arrival in it to send to my sister.

Performance-wise, no major leaks. And best of all… poo explosions kept under control. No right-up-to-the-neck mustard poo accidents. Literally, none, which was an unexpected bonus.

And then, revelation! Washing was easy. No soaking at all! No poo soup!

I popped the few I had in the washing machine with some dirty towels and dishcloths. Washed at 30 degrees with half my normal amount of liquid, and they came out completely clean, smelling lovely, and ready to dry and use again.

I couldn’t believe it… how had I been so stubborn and foolish about this for so long? These would save me a fortune (mentally I bought the shoes a £500 saving over 3 years would bring me).

I would also be rid of that awful nagging guilty feeling I had every time I wrapped up a soggy piece of paper (and sometimes, chemicals) in a small plastic nappy bag and threw it away.

And so it began… scouring the internet for more of these amazing things with their funny names: Fuzzi Bunz, Cushie Tushies, TotsBots, Bimbles and Bumhuggers… where to start with purchasing more? Which should I buy next?

Before I knew it, a full-blown addiction had developed. Non-parents, and non-cloth nappy users will think I have truly lost my marbles here. Let me tell you, though, that there is little in life more satisfying of some long-buried deeply-held maternal instinct, than wrapping your precious little one’s soft and pure little bottom, in an equally soft and pure fluffy nappy.

A quick google search of some of the cloth nappy forums will confirm that this is a properly addictive pursuit. As I realised, after I moved on from plain old (but still adorable) fluffy bamboo nappies, to tracking down one-of-a-kind sumptuous, cushiony, hand-embroidered items made from organic bamboo velour. As a friend put it, “wearing one of those must be like peeing into a pillow”.

But addiction aside, the rational side of me became more convinced, the more searching I did too. I realised that some of my assumptions about the disposable versus cloth nappy debate had been misinformed.

For example, for years, I had kept in the back of my mind the Environmental Agency report that had apparently found little difference in the environmental impact of disposables and washable nappies. Any time my sister had mentioned cloth before now, I had cited it to her.

But now, having actually done some research of my own, I found to my shame, that it wasn’t what I thought. It’s a complicated subject, for another time, perhaps, but the sum of it is this:

The environmental impact of a disposable is fixed.

But you can lower the impact of a washable nappy substantially by laundering them normally.

That is, mainly at 30 degrees, line-drying wherever possible and not ironing.

(I only mention the ironing, because it’s one of the key assumptions in the EA report. Let me assure you though, nobody irons modern cloth nappies – it’d melt the waterproof layer in most of them for a start)

However, we aren’t saints, by any means, and we do use disposables still. But our general philosophy on this, and all green issues is that every little helps.

Even just one single cloth nappy a day will save on average over 1000 disposables going to landfill. We did our own little survey on cloth nappy users, and almost everyone uses the odd disposable alongside their reusables, to a greater or lesser extent.

Disposables can be a great solution when you’re in a fix. Stuck in a jam on the way to the grandparents? Sure, bung a disposable on.

But they don’t have to be used all the time, 24/7/365. Just as we buy kitchen towel paper, and fabric dishcloths too, there’s no reason why we can’t use both types of nappy interchangeably… even though the fabric nappy is more cost-effective, and arguably more environmentally-friendly too.

The whole reusable nappy market is seeing a new resurgence since the advent in the last five years of these amazingly functional, and beautiful modern cloth nappies, that are comfortable, cute and incredibly easy to care for.

And the dreaded extra washing? Well, honestly, I barely notice it. A family of five generates a lot of laundry, and the nappies are the least of it.

I guess I would say that though, since as a result of our own search for clear information and the ultimate reusable nappy, we started our own online reusable nappy boutique: www.cheeksandcherries.co.uk.

If you have a baby, or are pregnant, try just one, though, and make your own mind up.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.

3 Itti Bitti for just £33 for 3 weeks!

Save £9.00 = 21% discount on RRP

All those who know their real nappies will know this is a really fantastic opportunity to stock up on the best-selling, super-neat design that is the Itti Bitti D'Lish.

For newcomers to real nappies, this is a great opportunity to get effectively a "trial pack" of the most popular real nappy on the market at the moment.

Offer only valid for 3 weeks from today (til Friday 9th October), and whilst stocks last, so get in before the rush. There are even a couple of Limited Editions left, which are included... so fill your boots, people!

Funky baby legwarmers

Whilst you're at it, find some co-ordinating Huggalugs, (see photo, top) and make the most of the last of the Summer. They are completely cute, and do double duty by keeping fluffy pants on show!

Once the chillier weather sets in, they'll be great under trousers, or on top of tights to keep little legs warm.

(Or you can borrow them to relive your finest Flashdance moments)

Our link with Tommy's

We are very proud to announce our link-up with Tommy's, a baby charity that funds research into miscarriage, prematurity and stillbirth.

I don't know about you, but I think it's completely unacceptable that 1 in 4 women lose a baby during pregnancy. That's 8 stillbirths and (at least) 240 miscarriages EVERY DAY in England and Wales (see here for the research stats)

The anguish of stillbirth, prematurity and many miscarriages can last a lifetime, and we hope that by helping to fund research, we can help to prevent other families from having to suffer in this way.

We have a long-standing personal connection with the charity, which you can read about here and will be donating 10% of our profits to Tommy's every year.

Tommy's exists to fund research, and provide information to prevent problems in pregnancy. You might have heard of their 'Tommy's Let's Get Baby Friendly' awards, or seen their range of pregnancy vitamins in Boots. They have a brilliant 'Ask a midwife' line too, which is open 9am-5pm Monday to Fridays for non-urgent pregnancy information and enquiries.

Several real nappy brands, such as Happy Heinys were started by mums with premature babies, who found that the chemicals in some brands of regular disposables were not helping their baby's health, and so started making their own cloth nappies to fit their tiny baby.

Happy Heinys still makes a special 'mini onesize' nappy specially to fit premature and extra-small arrivals! We will be stocking this soon, and developing a special 'Tiny baby trial bundle' containing a variety of cloth nappies specially sized for early and smaller babies.

We love working with Tommy's and hope we can help them to help all mums to have a healthy pregnancy, and a gorgeous healthy baby.

Our first exclusive brand in stock: Cushie Tushies

Announcing our first exclusive brand: CUSHIE TUSHIES

IN STOCK NOW

This is a great new designer nappy that is making a big name for itself in Australia, and we are very excited to be the first to bring these to the UK.

Cushie Tushies Coutures are super-soft, and absorbent All-In-One onesize nappies, that will last from birth to potty.

A fabulous style statement in prints such as 'Bumble Bee', 'Choc Lime Bubbles' and 'Giraffe'

these funky nappies always cause a stir when we go out and about in them. Team with a matching (or clashing) pair of Hugglalugs baby legwarmers for top baby style points.

There are also matching fabulous nappy bags, good for keeping the nappies in, or to keep any of the other million sticky, yoghurty, slightly damp, milky things in that babies seem to insist on dragging around with them.

With a useful attached smaller zip-up bag for wipes, or for keeping sticky and clean separate from one another. Just pop in the wash to clean... easy.