So, apparently it’s not celebs who are to blame for Yummy Mummy Pressure; it’s other mums.

A new survey, commissioned by Sheer Cover mineral makeup, polled 1,600 mums across the UK, the majority of whom are feeling pretty depressed about their appearance.

Interestingly, 50% of mums feel pressure to look good from other mums versus only 10% from celebrities.

So much for the big bad media being entirely to blame.

The survey also revealed the following: 1/3 of mums spend less than 5 minutes in the morning doing their makeup compared to 1/5 of non-mums; 40% of mums felt better about themselves before children; 1 in 10 mums have avoided social situations because they are unhappy with their appearance, only 2% of women selected their mums as their beauty role models.

It’s a sad day when women forget how to support one another, even if it’s unintentional.

I am no feminist – maybe just a little – but I am a big believer in positive reinforcement. No-one better understands ‘a mum’s life’ better than other mums.

Rather than trying to ‘one up’ our mummy friends, we should offer encouragement; a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, whatever cliché it takes to lend a helping hand.

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Where can you buy black breast pads? Read on!

Black breast pads hit the shelves (yay!) The release of black breast pads; this is a big deal for me. Pity I am no longer breast feeding…

I am definitely a black underwear kinda gal and white breast pads with a black nursing bra is just not cool.

I suffered through ten months of self-imposed fashion faux pas because finding a black breast pad was like finding a needle in a haystack. Impossible.

Anyway, enough ‘woe is me’ blab. I actually have some great news!

The award winning Carriwell brand has been the first to launch Black cotton washable breast pads  (that go nicely with Carriwell’s black nursing bra range).

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Imagine this: a buggy board that transforms into a scooter – no mess no fuss. Wouldn’t life be that much easier!?

It’s time to get excited mums and dads because your dream for a world of greater convenience has come true thanks to Mountain Buggy’s ingenious Freerider. Surely the best buggy board ever?

Freerider offers dual functionality that transforms a buggy board into a scooter in seconds (no tools required!).

For all the ‘go, go gadget’ dads who want to know how it works (I’ll assume mums just want to know that it requires minimum effort – which it does), check it out:

buggy board

* buggy board attaches via a connector that fastens to the rear of the buggy

* the connector can be positioned anywhere on the rear tube dependent on the users preference

* 2-mode rear wheel castor – swivel for using as a board to follow the buggy in any direction

* clip-in handle bar can be taken off for folding up the back of the buggy

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Dummy versus Thumb; the battle of the soothers. Who ever thought parenting could get so complicated?

Teach your baby to self-soothe but run the risk of an entrenched habit that lasts through childhood and perhaps longer.

Thumb sucking gets a bad rap a lot of the time, so I thought I’d do a little research and debunk some myths, Thumb sucking – The facts!

Thumb sucking will not cause crooked or prominent teeth unless your child is still sucking her thumb when the adult teeth are coming through, usually at around 5 or 6 years old. Research and dentists agree that thumb-sucking as a baby or toddler will not have any lasting effect on your child’s teeth.

There is no evidence to suggest that a sucked thumb will not grow properly. It may get soggy and sore, which can be rectified with a mild cortisone cream.

Thumb suckers are not mentally unbalanced. Who knows how this myth came about?

Sucking is one of a baby’s natural reflexes and is used as a way to calm down when tired, hungry, bored or just in need of comfort. As it is relaxing, it may also help induce sleep.

Many parents like the idea of a baby learning to self-soothe with the help of a thumb but are afraid that the habit will become entrenched for a prolonged period. Which is a reasonable concern.

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It can be a pretty stressful experience, for all parties involved. Your toddler’s first haircut. Where and when? Here’s what we did -

My husband recently trimmed my sixteen-month-old daughter’s hair. She was beginning to look a bit feral, kind of like Mowgli the jungle boy, with a fuzzy back bit and a draping fringe that was most certainly vision impairing.

You may have noticed that I said that my husband cut my daughter’s hair.

I am horribly useless at all things hair and scissors – I once trimmed my husband’s hair on his insistence and a colleague at work called him Mushroom-head, which of course I found quite hysterical but he certainly did not.

The point: he was not about to inflict me on the hair of our little lovely.

You may be wondering why we didn’t just take Amelia to the hairdresser… well, sitting still is not my daughter’s strongest point (as is true for all toddlers I am sure) so I thought it’d be easier to sit her in front of Tinga Tinga Tales and let hubby do the job. Which worked really well for us.

If you feel that your child is going to be anxious about the big shiny scissors; entering a strange, funny-smelling environment; getting teased and cooed over by everyone there; climbing into a large, odd-looking chair; and being wetted down and wrapped in plastic capes, then home-styling is definitely a great way to go.

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