Surviving a heatwave- Summer baby essentials!

In England we are currently experiencing a rare, yet lovely, heatwave (as I write this its cloudy and it hailed this morning, by hey, that's British weather for you!) This week it has reached highs of 34 degrees where I live and it definitely to me by shock. Its my first proper hot summer with little one and boy did I get anxious about it! All week I have been continuously checking she's not too hot, if she's had enough water, that she's not getting burnt and getting my partner to reassure me that my baby is in fact absolutely fine. As well as all this, also remembering to actually look after yourself and trying your best not to keel over in the heat. So for all you new mums, or those struggling like I was at the start of the week, I thought I would share some of our summer baby essentials that have helped us through the heatwave.

First up, my new purchase! A baby paddling pool. Once I had heard what the weather had in store for us, I thought id better whip out the paddling pool at the ready, only to find the one I already owned really was a 'big kids' one and wouldn't be very enjoyable for my 11 month old. I went to my local mothercare and picked up a baby paddling pool, the difference being its got a very padded floor and only one blown up ring round the sides, making it shallow water so they cant go under. My little one has been loving this! I just pop it in the shadiest bit of the garden, grab her towel and bath toys and splashed away (small warning, you and the grass get just as wet outside the paddling pool)) I've found its one of the best ways of cooling her down, and she gets enjoyment out of it too- for only £6!. In the paddling pool, I have been putting her in this swimming costume from mother care (we also have a wetsuit for when its really sunny) and these swimming nappies. She wears swimming nappies so rarely that I don't really have a favourite brand, but these Little Angels swim pants work great and we have never had a leak! (there approved by mumsnet mums) We get ours in the size medium.

Some days this week its been so hot that I have actually thought it was safer for little one not to go out.You mummy's will know that the heat alone is enough to stop little one sleeping, never mind when they're full of energy from being stuck indoors all day! It has been getting slightly cooler in the evenings so just before bath we would go and have a quick play in the garden to wear off some energy, we have been loving playing with these bubbles! The rest of the family have also been in on this, and she loves watching the bubbles floating in the sky and sitting on the grass. I've found this bubble wand much more effective and its made really big bubbles which little one finds very exciting! Its been a lovely little evening activity, we got ours from Morrison's for only 50p! ( please do note that they're are for ages 3+ and for only to babies to watch and not get there hands on)

I have such a fear of little one in direct sunlight, I cant relax until I know she is protected and I have done all I can, one of the things which I do to make sure her skin is protected is a sun hat, she has a few of these but has a strong dislike towards them, she likes to pull anything off her head if she can, so I have been particularly enjoying putting this Peppa Pig hat on her from M&S Kids. This is because it has a Velcro strap that fastens under her chin, once she knew she couldn't remove this ( with my supervision) she just left it! It has a lovely big rim on it and gives lots of shade, the hat itself has UV locking protection.

Another accessory I have found very useful is a hair band, which is very rare for me to put one on little one as it usually doesn't last more than 2 minuets. In this heat, I have actually found she has wanted to wear one. Now she's getting more and more thick hair, her head can get very hot and sweaty and the hairband really helps to get her hair off her head and cool her down. I like using the soft material ones so she can hardly feel them, this specific one is from H&M kids and looks adorable! 

If your baby is getting a bit hot and sweaty throughout the day, they can get to a stage which I call the 'sticky stage' I hate feeling like this so I'm sure little one does too, a little trick I like to do is to keep her in her nappy and wipe a cool baby wipe over her skin, specifically in the creases where sweat can get trapped and irritate. This really helps to cool her down and is a nice little cleanse to freshen her up throughout the day. I like to make sure the wipes are as pure as possible, we usually use the Aldi Mamia ones but I recently (in a panic because of the lack of wipes but increase of filled nappies) picked up these Huggies ones. I like these because they're 99% pure water, so perfect for a little freshen up with no perfume! 

 The next one is pretty obvious, but just as important so I though I should still include it. Water, I recently picked up little one some more beakers, I got them in some really fun colours so she (an I) would want to use them. My absolute favourite beakers are the standard tommee tippee ones, she has really grasped how to use them now, and although we have the odd spillage, we are definitely improving! I usually put 6 ounces of water out of her prep machine into the beaker and will generally offer her some at each meal and snack. I always make sure the beaker is in the room shes playing in too, this way she can let me know if she wants some. If shes getting irritated or annoyed at the heat just offering her some water can really help and I can see the relief in that its helped cool her.

And last, but no means least- Sun cream! For a while now I have been on the hunt for that perfect baby sun screen ( I would of laughed at myself saying that a year ago) You just don't realise how important it is before you become a mum. I finally found a 'kids' one, which was fine but I really wanted one specifically for young babies. When the sun arrived at the start of the week I came to find I had lost her sun cream (which I am still in denial of, I'm sure a fairy has taken it along side my hairbands, baby socks and wet wipes) I desperately needed a new one asap, so I went down to my local pharmacy in which I was enlightened by the amount of baby specific creams (although horrified at the price of them) This is where I found the Bapanthen Baby Sun Cream. This was a slighly more familiar brand to me so I went with it. This stuff has been amazing all week! Its so easy to put on little one, even if shes crawling away! It has a 50+ spf and states it is a very high protection. Its so lovely for babies skin being suitable for sensitive types and its water resistant- so perfect for the paddling pool. ( suitable for babies from 6 months)

I hope you've enjoyed seeing a little insight to my baby summer essentials. If your in the UK I hope this week hasn't been too hot for you and little one! and hopefully this post helped you with some little tips and tricks into how to help stay cool!

Laura and Little one xxx


Products mentioned:

Peppa Pig Hat

Pool

Swimming costume

Swim Pants

Hairband (Similar)

Wipes

Beaker

Sun cream - Its on sale!!