Tag Archives: New Parents

Great Apps and Websites for those who are Expecting or are New Parents

Posted on by
Reply

We live in an age where so much is readily accessible to us, but there can be so much information out there that it can often be overwhelming, especially for first time parents. With so many websites, forums and blogs that can sometimes be opinionated and not necessarily filled with the facts. Every person knows where they would prefer to get their information from, some of us like books and others like the world wide web!

Sometimes you can have a baby that is completely different to any before it or any you have known, and you may need additional help or advice. During these times you should always turn to a Midwife, Doctor or Paediatrician if you have concerns of any kind.

There were things I wished I had known more about before I had my son, and that was despite me reading both books and websites for hours at night when I had terribly painful SPD. I found lots of the websites and apps that I have listed below extremely useful at one point or another during the last four years. So I thought a blog post might help other expectant parents to see what information is available to them.

As a parenting blogger I often get asked about my personal opinion of which apps and websites have helped me since I became a mother. So in order to achieve this post I have gone back over four years of my browsing and researching and screenshot history, to bring you an alphabetical list of all the things that I have found the most useful. I have only included websites and apps that I used more than once and found them beneficial long term.

A Aptaclub Pregnancy and Birth
B Bounty App
B Baby Centre Apps and Email Newsletter and Website
B Baby Names App
B Baby and Child (British Red Cross First Aid)

D Duo ABC
E Ella’s Kitchen
E Emma’s Diary
F Free Prints (Photos and FP Cards)

G Get Creative (CBeebies)
G Go Explore (CBeebies)
K Kicks Count Website

N NHS Website
O Online 4 Baby Website

P Pokémon Smile (Teaching Toddler Teeth Brushing)
P PooGoesHomeToPooland (Teaching How To Use The Toilet)

S Storytime (CBeebies)
S Snapfish (Photo Printing)

Y Your Baby Club Website and Social Media

Let me now elaborate on a few of these now and the reasons why I found them so useful. Some of them are of course self explanatory, but others are really handy for tips and tricks. Some offer you freebies and others offer key medical advice or milestone information.

Bounty App
The app gives you information on the progress of your baby whilst in the womb, and then after the birth it gives you key advice on milestones and growth. An app that I found generally fascinating to look at every week as my pregnancy progressed. Now that my son is older he is still on the app as a 48 month old! And the app offers me developmental advice and articles to read. The articles can be read at any time of your pregnancy and usually the app updates what is relevant to you at the time you need it. There are also useful check lists on it too.
I score this app a 5✩.

Baby and Child (British Red Cross First Aid)
First Aid is such an important part of human life, however most people go through their entire pregnancy without knowing how to do life saving procedures on babies or young children such as, choking, allergic reactions and dealing with illness. The Baby and Child App gives advice as well as videos that people can watch at their leisure for a variety of situations. Just some of what they cover include; Asthma, Bleeding, Burns, Choking, Epileptic Seizure, Fever, Head Injury, Meningitis, Vomiting etc.
This app is one that I believe every single person should have on their phone, just in case.
I score this app a 5✩.

Duo ABC
I found this app while researching after my son had to start Speech and Language therapy. Due to the support being so sporadic due to the pandemic I did my own research, started my own lessons with my child at home, and created my own flash cards. But this app came up on a results search, and despite it being American my son found aspects of it to be beneficial. Writing the letters on the phone screen with his finger, sounding out letters and recognising upper and lowercase letters all helped on our journey. I did just 20 minutes with him a day for 3 months, alongside my other teaching and he soon knew his alphabet and could say all but 5 of the letters properly. If anyone is struggling with their child and they seem distanced from paper methods, try this app, just ten minutes a day with you, you may just see a difference as I did.
I score this app 4✩.

Ella’s Kitchen
Once your little one reaches the 6 month milestone and you consider starting to wean them alongside their daily milk amount, you may want some advice. Ella’s Kitchen App provide you with advice, recipes and you can sign up for a free pack with a journey poster, stickers and some vouchers for their snacks. It was fun when my son was little, but when he developed lots of food allergies I made my own recipes up.
I score this app 4✩.

Emma’s Diary
Emma’s Diary is a fun app where you can create all sorts of fun things to keep throughout your pregnancy, it also offers some information and it gives away bags of goodies at certain points of your pregnancy. It’s worth signing up to this as soon as you find out you’re pregnant to take advantage of all the items on offer.
I score this app 4✩.

Free Prints (Photos and FP Cards)
Free Prints have two useful apps, the first one is Photo’s and you get some free prints every month just pay the postage. And the second one is Cards where you get one free card a month like a postcard, just pay postage. Upgrade to proper cards for pennies and they offer lots of other fun affordable products throughout the year. The more you order the more deals you’ll get.
I score these apps 4✩.

Get Creative (CBeebies) and Go Explore (CBeebies)
Apps that I don’t know what I would have done without! When I became a single parent even taking a shower was tricky. Sitting my son on the bathroom floor safely on a bean bag when he was a toddler, my phone playing CBeebies programs and videos off the app were a godsend! Now he is older he is using the various parts of the app to learn all sorts of things like shape sorting, mathematics, role play like shopping and problem solving. The Creative app allows freedom in Art and expression using some of the CBeebies favourite characters, and the Go Explore is more about learning and fun, again with the usual friendly faces. Love these apps! In moderation of course.
I score these apps 5✩.

Kicks Count Website
Kicks Count is something that is really important, and all pregnant women should visit the website and learn about the importance of kick counting and the work this group do. It’s worth following them on social media too.
I score this 5✩.

NHS Website
When you have questions in the small hours of the morning the NHS website can have useful information or point you in the direction of help if you need it.
I score this 5✩.

Online 4 Baby Website
An excellent website for affordable baby items such as changing mats and muslin cloths. Worth a look when they have a sale on for certain!
I score this website 4✩.

Pokémon Smile (Teaching Toddler Teeth Brushing)
Whether you like Pokémon or loathe it, if you have a child that refuses to brush their teeth you will try literally ANYTHING to make that time of the day and night less stressful. For us it was this app that allowed my son to turn a corner! There is an icon of the mouth that follows them while they brush and indicates where to go next so they don’t miss any teeth.
I score this app 5✩.

PooGoesHomeToPooland (Teaching How To Use The Toilet)
Another app that is a little annoying but if it helps your child to understand that poo goes down the toilet and not on the floor then so be it! My son watched it every day for about a month and then got bored of it, but it certainly helped him realise that
I score this app 3✩.

Storytime (CBeebies)
Another CBeebies app and this one is all about books and stories. The app can read to your child or they can try and read themselves. The stories are often interactive as well, lots of fun.
I score this app 5✩.

Snapfish (Photo Printing)
Free photo’s every month just pay the postage, a great way to keep family up to date with how little one changes and you can make an album of their first year for less than £20.
I score this app 4✩.

Your Baby Club Website and Social Media
As a Blogger Writer for Your Baby Club I often provide them with useful articles surrounding parenting. These first hand experiences from parents go alongside their informative articles on the websites and on their social media platforms too.
I score this 5✩.

Thank you for reading this blog post today, I do hope that you have found it useful. Please pass the link to my website on to family or friends who are expecting so that you can share these excellent websites and apps with them. Hopefully they will be just as happy with them as you were today! (I hope).

Keep on visiting Severn Wishes Blog for Parenting related blogging, Product Reviews and general Lifestyle Posts! Thank you! Have a lovely day!

✩ Sabrina ✩

Six Tips for New Parents – the things that everyone forgets to mention!

Posted on by
Reply

These are my Six Tips for New Parents – but they are the things that everyone forgets to mention!

So despite being post birth and genuinely exhausted, most mum’s will admit to that feeling of pride that comes with the arrival of a child. Be it your first or fifth baby, they are all special and all little miracles. Just look what you have achieved!

However there are things people forget to mention to you and I thought I would share some of my tips in this blog post for getting passed these… we will call them the six newborn phases!

When you become a mum you look at your bundle of joy and you feel incredible, that rush of emotions and pride… you just grew and birthed (in whichever way you did) a small human being. Go you! Own it!

But, while trapped in a chair under said small human, (in fear of waking them up if you were to even clear your throat!), you can’t help but wonder why your amazing body didn’t also develop the ability of telekinesis while it was doing this awe shattering feat! How amazing and useful would that be?! So here are my six phases… I guarantee you’ll laugh before the end of this article…

✩ ✩ ✩

Phase 1. The “I Can’t Put The Baby Down Because We Are Bonding Or Cluster Feeding” Phase.

Always keep the essentials close by, as in within an arms stretch! This goes for the TV remote, your phone, at least one snack, your phone charger or a charging device, iPad or a book, and definitely a glass of water. If you have a little one who won’t sleep very much then life saving materials can be what get you through those afternoons, as you cradle your small bundle who is finally napping but you dare not put them down. Instead you settle in to an afternoon of Netflix binge watching and you have a whole packet of biscuits with your name on.

Personally I had a lunch bag size cool bag next to where I sat with my son. Inside it were snacks, a reusable bottle of water and piece of fruit. I kept a table to one side of me with the remotes and my phone on, and a box of tissues. On the other side within a stretch away was the cool bag, my iPad and a portable USB charger. Life savers for me on several afternoons!

✩ ✩ ✩

Phase 2. The “Where’s The Flipping Muslin Cloth” Phase.

Buy Extra Cloths! So cloths for a newborn are a given, but have you considered you may need to wipe all sorts of things off your baby and multiple times in one day. I couldn’t believe how many cloths I went through a day at first. The tip for this is to keep a folded clean pile of muslin’s somewhere in every main room of your home. Also buy similar colours of cloth so that you can just throw them all in the wash together. Because Muslin cloths are thin they don’t take a lot to wash and also dry, but you won’t want to wait a few hours when you’re down to your last one and baby is due for a feed…

✩ ✩ ✩

Phase 3. The “What Time Is It? Oh My Days, I Forgot To Stop For Lunch, Again” Phase.

Nobody tells you how fast the time goes. This isn’t a lie, time actually goes faster and you will forget what time of day it is and then realise you haven’t had a drink for hours! Make sure you always get nourished every time you journey into the kitchen, keep snacks and fruit handy, things you can eat one handed, and keep a reusable water bottle by your favourite seat. Keeping hydrated is most important especially if you’re breastfeeding and recovering from birth too. If baby is having something to drink then you should be too!

✩ ✩ ✩

Phase 4. The “I’m Too Tired To Cook, Let’s Open Up The Fast Food App” Phase.

Every parent will admit to ordering fast food in those first few weeks with a newborn baby. But if you can organise yourselves in the weeks running up to their arrival, you’ll feel better for it, both stomach and bank balance!

The answer is this, Bulk Cook your favourite Foods! Keep some of those previous takeaway Tupperware tubs, check how many you can stack in a drawer in your freezer. Then bulk cook a few of your favourite dishes using fresh ingredients. Then you can freeze them in tubs and in portions. Throw in Veg too if you like, at least then you’re getting healthy food inside you. Chicken Curry with added Veg or Spaghetti Bolognese made with a few Veg to bulk it out are both easy to reheat.

✩ ✩ ✩

Phase 5. “I Managed To Put The Baby Down, Shall I Pop On That New Series On Netflix Or Go To Sleep?”

It’s really tough when Social Media blows up with the latest Netflix series, and you’re surviving on maybe 4 hours of sleep and only scrolling on your phone in order to stay awake during the 5am feed… But there will come a day when things get easier, your baby won’t need feeding every two hours forever. And then you’ll sleep a little more… (does 6 hours or less sound good to you?). Plus you’ll get used to the lack of sleep and gradually be able to do more, like managing to watch half an episode of something… once a week… then forget what happened and watch it again… and so it goes on…

✩ ✩ ✩

Phase 6. “We haven’t had any us time for a long time…”

This phase is a serious one and more to do with you as parents, it’s brand new, it’s exhilarating and exhausting but remember you have become two different people. You are still you, and what time you spend together is still important. You might not get a date night in weeks, if not months after baby is born. But if you have the support of family and you trust them, then there will come a time where you can leave your baby with that person and get back to being you “both” again.
People don’t tell you how hard it is, not being able to go out just the pair of you, you won’t get to watch television or a film without interruption or pausing it every now and then. This is the new normal and it’s okay to find it a difficult transition. Especially if you’re used to going out for a meal once a week or pop off to the cinema at an hours notice…
My tip to get through this phase is this, plan, plan and plan some more. Make timetables and plan ahead with a calendar and try your best to stick to it. Change the usual cinema outings to a Netflix movie and a meal at home, with a big bag of popcorn and sweets from the supermarket as a great and cheaper alternative to the cinema treats…

✩ ✩ ✩

Thank you for visiting Severn Wishes today, I hope that I see you here again soon for more parenting posts.

✩ Sabrina ✩