SEVEN COMPACT STROLLERS

Seven

Compact Holiday strollers

LECLERC BABY

Price: £399 Designed for style-conscious new parents (and little ones who are sure to follow suit!), the Influencer stroller from Leclerc Baby will quickly catch the eye of fellow mums and dads when it’s paraded around the park. Coming complete with a sun canopy and rain cover for keeping them covered and comfortable no matter the weather, it can be used from six months, well into the toddler years.

INGLESINA QUID 2

Price: £274 The Inglesina Quid 2 is a lightweight compact stroller. Set for holidays, Set for adventures. The Quid stroller will fit in the most compact of car boots and overhead storage lockers on planes. The Inglesina Quid Stroller measures just 46.5 x 58 x 17.5 cm Closed and weighs only 5.6kgs.

BABYZEN YOYO² 6+

Price: £429.00 Offering ultimate comfort for your child and practicality for you, the YOYO² Stroller by BABYZEN folds and unfolds with one hand, can be carried over the shoulder, slips in anywhere, stores easily and travels as carry-on-baggage*. Designed with unparalleled flexibility and cushioning, thanks to the new, individual suspensions on all 4 wheels, this stroller perfectly navigates all types of surface so that you can get out and about and explore with your little one.

DIDOFY ASTER 2

Price: £299 The Aster is the ultimate innovative compact fold pushchair. Designed by parents for parents to provide a reliable, safe, and highly practical ultra-compact stroller to make life easier for parents-on-the-go.

MAMAS & PAPAS AIRO

Price: £399.00 The super-slim Airo will have you gliding through city streets and tight spaces, then folding it up quickly using just one hand when it’s time to travel or store it away at home. It’s so compact that it’ll tuck neatly into car boots and footwells, luggage racks and overhead compartments and can even be worn as a backpack when baby wants a toddle in the park.

MAXI COSI JAYA2

Price: £229 The Maxi-Cosi Jaya2 stroller has everything you need for a comfortable ride! It is compact and lightweight at the same time, and you can fold your stroller with just one hand thanks to the automatic fold feature. The perfect stroller for urban parentsl!

JOOLZ AER

Price: £419.00 Taking a walk, popping out for an ice cream, or just enjoying some fresh air, the Joolz Aer is your best buddy! It’s a compact, lightweight and collapsible buggy. It’s the ergonomic thinking that makes the Joolz Aer so unique, with its super comfortable seat that keeps your child happy when you’re out and about. When you need it, your folding buggy flips open in a second. It weighs just 6kg, and once we can travel again, rest assured it will fit neatly into an airplane’s overhead compartment.

Making Weaning

THAT LITTLE LESS DAUNTING

Feeding a growing and increasingly hungry baby can be one of the biggest challenges parents face every day, especially when trying to provide healthy meals quickly. To help make weaning that little less daunting we spoke to Nichola Ludlam-Raine, Registered Dietitian and Mummy Blogger at Mummy Nutrition.co (@mummynutrition on Instagram) and here is what she had to say

WHAT IS WEANING?

Weaning is the gradual introduction of foods to a breast milk or infant formula fed baby and involves exposing them to a variety of different tastes and textures.

During the initial stages of weaning, the focus shouldn’t be on how much your baby is eating, but rather getting them used to food and the idea of eating, as they will still be getting most of their nutrients from milk. As your baby eats more though, the proportion of energy from food will become more than that from milk.

WHEN SHOULD YOU START WEANING?

Weaning should start when your baby is around six months old, provided they can hold themselves steady in a high-chair (or for a few seconds when sat on the floor), are able to bring objects to their mouth, and have lost their tongue-thrust reflex. This can be tested by placing a clean finger or baby spoon onto their lower lip; if they reactively stick their tongue out, then they are not yet ready to be weaned.

HOW DO YOU TO START WEANING?

From around six months of age your baby can be offered foods of a pureed or mashed consistency, progressing to foods with some lumps at around 7 months, as well as soft finger foods; for example cooked pieces of broccoli, parsnips, peppers, courgette and avocado, as well as banana, kiwi and pineapple.

Starting with green vegetables such as broccoli, kale and spinach can be helpful in order to encourage your baby’s bitter and sour taste buds to develop.

Their sweet taste buds are already mature, meaning they will naturally accept sweeter foods such as fruit more readily.

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To make things easier (and save on washing up!) you could use a product like the Beaba Babycook NEO, which is a 4-in-1 baby food maker that will steam cook, blend, defrost and reheat. It’s ideal for steaming and pureeing foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, meat and fish, all whilst retaining valuable vitamins and minerals that can be lost during the cooking process. It’s really easy to use, plus you can set it to four different constancies depending on where you are in your weaning journey, from super-smooth, lightly mixed, small lumps or big chunks!

Following vegetables and fruit, you should offer your baby foods such as porridge as well as mashed potato and soft bread sticks, in addition to soft pieces of foods rich in iron and protein, for example; slow cooked beef, dark chicken, turkey, fish (with no bones), eggs and lentils. Full fat, unsweetened and pasteurised yoghurts may also be offered however full fat cow’s milk shouldn’t be offered as a drink until your baby is 12 months old; it can however be used in cooking, on cereal or to mash up food. Baby rice can be useful to thicken purees if they come out too runny.

Regarding fluid, it’s good practice to offer a small amount (no more than 50ml at a time so the cup doesn’t become too heavy) of water with a meal from a free-flowing cup to teach your baby how to sip. If your baby is under 6 months old the water should be cool-boiled. Breast-fed babies should continue to be offered regular breastfeeds but you may want to encourage a routine in order for weaning to progress. Formula fed babies should be offered around 500-600ml of infant formula across 3-4 feeds.

Initially babies need only to be offered food once a day, but you should build up to three times a day to mimic your own three meal a day meal pattern by 7 months of age. By the time babies are around 12 months old they should be eating at least three small portions of healthy family meals plus 3 small snacks in between. If foods are rejected, and the bitter vegetables will be, at least initially, keep offering the food as it may take several attempts for your baby to eat and enjoy it.

Green Beans & Peach Weaning Recipe

This recipe from Beaba’s Your Baby’s First Food cook book is ideal for babies aged from 6-months; after you’ve tried them with green beans and peaches on their own.

Ingredients: 1 handful of green beans & 1 peach

Method: Trim the green beans, wash them and drain. Peel the peach, remove the pit, and cut the flesh into small dice. Put the green beans and peach into the steamer basket, fill the reservoir to level 2, and cook for 10 minutes. When cooked, put the green beans and peach into the blender and blend to a smooth consistency.

Nichola Ludlam-Raine (née Whitehead) Specialist Registered Dietitian BSc (hons) PG Dip MSc RD

www.nicsnutrition.com / @nicsnutrition www.mummynutrition.com / @mummynutrition