Thanks for sharing, this is a lovely list :-)

Hi

I am hopefully not duplicating any previous threads, but I was hoping to share ideas on maintaining optimum health for young ones including recipes, vitamins/supplements etc.

One of the mummies on this forum mentioned to me about holistic approach towards healthy living and that led to discussion on what would be good to eat from a very young age.

I am sharing some nice sites that I have found so far

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/
http://www.pureebba.com/
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php
http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/  (Great site to buy dairy/soy/gluten free products in the UK)
http://www.red23.co.uk/ (Another great site to buy wholegrain, nuts etc. in the UK)


My daughter is nearly 11 months old and we are feeding her a variety of food including quinoa, pearl barley, couscous, millet, rice, oats, lentils of all sorts, flaxseed, hempseed, chia seeds, various types of beans, veges, fruits, tofu, soy yooghurt, chicken & fish (we don't plan to introduce red meat in her diet). Recently, we introduced home-made almond milk into her diet in small quantities and she really likes it, she also drinks oat milk (alongside her normal 'formula' milk). I'd be keen to know if it is too early to introduce spirulina? Being of Indian-origin, we have introduced different spices into her diet in small quantities since she was 8 months old. We tried tahini with her recently but she got a runny nose subsequently so we have given it a break just for fear of allergy (she already has dairy & egg allergy).

I would love to hear from other parents on this forum on more recipes, herbs/supplements etc. to improve immune system.


Regards
BT

Tamsyn

I understand your views.

In our case, we can't afford for me to not be working (at least not at the present moment), so whilst I love the idea of homeschooling, its just not feasible - which means we have to look at private schooling where our daughter can make the most of the opportunities and teaching (in the UK, not all state schools have a high standard of teaching and of course not all private schools are as good as the fees they take). I just hope that we make the right choice in regards school. We do plan to add onto her learning by teaching as much as we can at home (during the times we have available around employment etc.) but this does mean that having a second child simply isn't practical at present :-(

I grew up without any siblings (but that was perhaps more circumstancial as my parents divorced when I was 6-months and I was raised by my mum as a single parent) and my husband is also an only child (out of choice by his parents to not have anymore). Neither of us missed having siblings when growing up but I now feel that it would have been nice to have a sibling with whom I can share my thoughts and vice-versa and get that 'family' support (blood is thicker than water as they say). I guess that's my main driver for wanting one more child so that my daughter has that family as she grows older (and when we are not around - not to sound morbid).

I have left it in the hands of god on whether a second baby is going to happen and if so, then everything else will also fall into place accordingly -finances, support etc.

Cool, thanks so much. I just looked at their site, it looks really cool. I have added it to my list of things to explore with my 11 month old down the line :-)

What agegroup does the site cater for?

Hi KeriLeanne

These links are super useful, just what I was looking for :-)

I will send you a seperate private message just to exchange a few more thoughts.

Thx
BT

Hi MummyRoo

Many thanks for this :-)

Full-time homeschooling doesn't really seem like a feasible option for us, financially as well as from my career aspiration perspective, I do want to continue having a career. However, I do want to accelerate learning and I think I will look into supplementing the school education with home-education which may in turn allow our daughter to sit for the formal exams etc. at an earlier age. The details you have shared, do help me with planning how we want to take our daughter's education forward - curriculum etc.

Best Wishes
BT

I am in a similar situation. I have a daughter who's nearly 11 months. I had the most amazing pregnancy however we found the initial 6 months extremely tough due to reflux and cow-milk protein allergy associated feeding issues. Now, my daughter has no reflux and eats/drinks etc. but I still find feeding stressful. Our paediatrician said that it's likely that anymore children we have will also have allergy issues which may go-away in time.

As a result (including taking into consideration financials, lifestyle etc), my husband made an executive decision that we won't be having anymore children. I am still having a lot of difficulty reconciling to that and find it really annoying that this is a decision made without taking my views into account.

From a practical point of view, it makes a lot of sense to have only one child (we are both only children and I never missed having a sibling whilst growing up) as we did decide early on that we wanted to give our daughter every opportunity out there including private education, lots of extra-curricular activities, travel etc. As I have gone back to work, we have employed a nanny and that hasn't come cheap.

In my heart however, I feel that it would be nice to have 1 more child, but I feel that it's a selfish thought because financially giving two children everything that's out there is not feasible presently but something we could afford down the line however that would mean more than 3years age gap and I think by then I wouldn't really want to go through the whole sleepless nights etc. all over again.

It's a tough one.

We quite like the videos from the following users on youtube:

hooplakidz
comptines (french)
Busy Beavers
AppuSeries
KidsTV123
BritishCouncilEKids
eDewcate

Hi

Welcome :-)

We have been using LR and LM since my daughter was nearly 6 months and LM since she was 7 months. She's now nearly 11 months and absolutely loves them. So, would highly recommend.

You could also consider apps like Sparkabilities (available through iphone/ipad), flash cards available in various languages, visual stimulation app, tweedlewink dvds etc. I made a few flashcards at home in the beginning, but since I found the brillkids package, I found it easier to use and also can add my own content to customise or download files prepared by other members.

I am by no means an expert on EL, there's lots of members on here with amazing kids, ideas and results. This forum is a great resource. There's also a facebook group called Early Learning Parents Page which has numerous members from this forum.

Best of Luck

Hiya

Second what's already been said about eating well - I would add flaxseed and goji berries to the diet alongside everything that's already been mentioned. Would also suggest to continue exercising - yoga, pilates and swimming are all wonderful. As your pregnancy progresses - swimming really helps in keeping fit and feeling light.

So it's a combination of diet, exercise and skin care that will help reduce stretch marks. They will definitely fade over time. Some of it may also be down to genetics, if your skin is prone to them, then it may not be something that you can avoid but you can certainly reduce.

I drank lots of fresh coconut water through my pregnancy and it helped me a lot. So you may want to try that too, coconut water contains lots of potassium, which is also very good.


Hope you have a fab pregnancy, best of luck.

Hi MummyRoo

Thanks for sharing the information and links with me. I looked through them briefly and saw that there was no requirement to follow any particular curriculum. What do you intend on following? Also, how does someone then appear for A levels/GCSEs etc. as presumabably that's still required for entrance to university? Is it possible to do both i.e. study at a school and home school during the summer holidays? I am trying to understand how you would get the school to recognise that the child in question is on accelerated learning path and therefore could possibly skip a grade or two due to having completed the required curriculum for that grade during the break?

Sorry for all these million questions, but I am very keen to understand the whole set-up. Also, how does one compensate for the lack of interaction with classmates etc. which is available by the formal schooling method?

Many thx
BT

Hi

I wondered if anyone knew how homeschooling worked in the UK? I note a large number of people on this forum are based in the US, where it seems norm to homeschool. I am not sure if that's such a popular or feasible option in the UK, but wanted to know how it would work, how do you notify local authorities, complete exams etc.


Thanks
BT

Thanks for the link. I am actually going to email the parents on the address provided at the end of the article, just to get some more ideas from them. Whilst, homeschooling is not an option for me, I would still want to get my daughter involved in early-learning as much as possible during the hours that are possible.

Hi

If you have wifi at home, then you can install splashtop on your desktop and on ipad, then you can access Little Math through Splashtop on your ipad.

Hope this helps.

Regards
BT