Baby

10 survival tips for stay at home parents

| thetwodarlings

I was watching one of my favourite influencers Sinead from The Beautiful Truth recently and she was talking about the repetitiveness that sometimes comes with staying at home and minding kids. And she is so right, kids, unlike some adults, are creatures of habit so routine suits them well. And we as parents, once a routine is working, are loath to change any aspect of it until it needs to be changed. However, in doing so it is sometimes easy to get stuck in a rut where everyday begins to feel like groundhog day. I have always found this to be particularly 

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What do you see when you look in the mirror? Pregnancy after miscarriage – 5 tips on how to worry less and enjoy it more

How and why we switched to cloth nappies

| thetwodarlings

It’s one of those things that has been on my mind for a long time, the volume of nappies we have gone through in the last 7 years between the ladies is nothing short of shocking. Our bin destined for landfill felt as if it was 50% household waste and 50% nappies most of the time. I had thought about going reusable when Lucy was small but then it transpired she had a dairy allergy and lets just say I didn’t have the energy or the enthusiasm for that level of washing!  Continue reading →

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3 effective ways to deal with and treat nappy rash

| thetwodarlings

There are, in parenting, a few things that are rarely avoided, like sleepless nights and sore bums. Nappy rash is one of those things that just occurs, there is usually no avoiding it that’s why the title of this blog post isn’t ‘3 ways to avoid nappy rash’ because it’s not like you can stop their teeth coming down ha!! At the moment little Miss Alice is suffering, I have no idea why, she’s not really teething so I figure it’s just one of those things that happens especially once they start on their weaning journey. And nappy rash can really hurt babies, it’s an awful thing to see any small baby suffer so I’ve put together this post which covers the three ways I deal with nappy rash to firstly make it as comfortable as possible for the baby while they’re suffering and secondly how to get rid of it as quickly as possible. I usually find I can get it to clear up within about 24 hours using these tried and tested (on four kids now!!) methods. Continue reading →

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Stocking fillers and Secret Santa gift ideas for everyone in your life

| thetwodarlings

(AD – This post is sponsored by Marks and Spencer) There are some gifts that are easy to buy and there are some that aren’t and honestly I find Secret Santa ones the hardest, you often find yourself having to buy a little gift for someone you may not know that well, maybe it’s the colleague at work you got in Kris Kindle, it could be for someone you just want to thank like the nurse who looked after you in the maternity ward or the childminder. Or is could be your brother in law or your aunt you want to get something nice for but you’re plain out of ideas – that’s why I am here and I have a huge selection 

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Pregnancy after miscarriage – 5 tips on how to worry less and enjoy it more

| thetwodarlings

This is one of those posts I’ve had in the back of my mind for, quite literally, years now but October is National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month so it feels right to publish this now. I haven’t really spoken much about what we went through because I’m not a total oversharer despite having a blog! That said, if you know me personally I am more than open about it. Miscarriage is a strange one, it happens for most very early on, before the 12 weeks when you’ve had a chance to tell anyone about it. And then if it happens it is so utterly shocking. I couldn’t even say the actual word, miscarriage, until long after Lucy was born. So it’s hard to just bring it up, hard to talk about it with friends when you need to. I think sometimes people feel then that it’s a taboo subject, like it shouldn’t be talked about but for me personally it wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk about it, I just couldn’t.  Continue reading →

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What to expect before, during and after an elective c-section in Ireland

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| thetwodarlings

This is a post I feel I had better write before all the info is gone from my head, lost in the blur or sleepless nights and school runs and preparing food! I have had four sections now, one emergency and the subsequent three were elective, all in Cork University Maternity Hospital so obviously the info I give here may differ from hospital to hospital. The second which is the pivotal one really, once you have two sections for the most part you have set your future birthing options in stone you can’t go vaginal after that (in the vast majority of cases). The main reason I had an elective section second time round was based on the consultants opinion. At 36 weeks the baby was measuring around 8lbs (in fact she was closer to 9lbs at that stage!) and given the previous history of my first birthing experience it was decided to go for an elective section at 39 weeks (standard elective sections are always done one week before due date). 

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Wise words for the new mother I was from the mother I am now Default ThumbnailThe ups and downs of breastfeeding

The art of transitional dressing, pre- to postpartum, with Marks and Spencers

| thetwodarlings

Ah maternity clothes…I have found over my four pregnancies that dressing an ever changing body is a real challenge. And maternity clothes are, bizarrely, becoming increasingly more difficult to find in the high street stores with most maternity ranges banished to the web. I always find it baffling really because of all the times in your life you need to try on clothes it’s when you are pregnant! Over the course of my pregnancies I’ve tried to mix it up in terms of what I wear from ‘maternity ranges’ and shopping around to find clothes that fit during and after pregnancy. This is the real dream, something that is flattering in both phases of existence, and while it can be tricky it is not impossible. Continue reading →

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3 essentials for your summer baby hospital bag to make the heat more bearable

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| thetwodarlings

I find myself in Cork University Maternity Hospital unexpectedly in June, while the country experiences the longest bout of insanely good weather I find myself literally baking alive inside a newish building that was built without air conditioning….firstly I think that’s insane because honestly I cannot describe how hot and uncomfortable it is here on the plasticy beds with windows that only open a crack into a courtyard thus leaving me without even a whisper of a breeze….anyway, can you tell I’m waiting a long time to be seen so I’m getting cranky!? Continue reading →

5 breastfeeding tips from a mother that finally succeeded Pregnancy after miscarriage – 5 tips on how to worry less and enjoy it more

Wise words for the new mother I was from the mother I am now

| thetwodarlings

When WaterWipes approached me to get involved with their latest campaign I was, firstly, more than delighted because I use the wipes anyway on the small ladies behind and, secondly, because the campaign really struck a chord wth me. They want to take a different approach, so much of what we see online features picture perfect mothers with glossy hair and a serene expression on their faces holding an equally serene newborn in their arms as they gaze into each other’s eyes…no dirty muslin cloths hanging around in the background, no reminints Continue reading →

5 breastfeeding tips from a mother that finally succeeded Default ThumbnailThe ups and downs of breastfeeding

Cows Milk Protein Allergy – our experience

| thetwodarlings

I’ll kick off this blog post by saying that this is going to be purely about our experience with Lucy and her allergy to cows milk protein. I’m not a dietitian, we haven’t even been to one yet with her so I’m mainly going to talk about how we came about figuring out Lucy’s problem and what we are doing based purely on advice I have picked up Continue reading →

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