It's never too early to start introducing your children to a bit of housework!

-Stefan

Did you know that honey is potentially lethal for babies of up to 12 months? This week there was a story on the German news wire (DPA) about the various problems of giving honey to babies. "Babies up to 12 months should not eat honey as it could contain certain bacteria that release "Botulinumtoxin", a neurotoxin which can lead to severe food poisoning", according to Antje Gahl who works for the German Nutrition Society.

Gahl was keen to stress that there is no need to panic but that parents should check baby food that may contain honey. To be on the safe said she suggested to avoid honey as a food for babies altogether. Gahl said that honey was safe to eat for toddlers from about 1 year onwards as their digestive system is fully developed and can neutralise the toxins. ... read more >>

I guess it was only going to be a matter of time until our little man got his first cold. He's just got over it and I thought it would be useful to summarise my experiences. It did indeed start with a cough. As coughing is not unusual for our baby I didn't even notice ... later that night it became obvious that he's got a cold as he clearly struggled with a blocked nose and also seemed very quiet.

The nights were quite tough because he just couldn't breathe easily or had to cough / sneeze constantly. So he woke up very frequently and was also quite difficult to settle. Amazingly during the day he was almost his usual self though a bit less energetic than usual. So we checked with friends, midwives, doctors and a pharmacist how we could make life easier for him. Here is what we got: ... read more >>