Top Tips for Smart Moms…

1. Water down dettol: a minimum of 1 part dettol to 5 parts water. My pediatrician recently informed me that dettol not sufficiently diluted will damage the wound and skin further

2. Keep the same routine: it’s our experience that it is not so much the timing that matters, as the steps followed. For example my three year old has followed the same bedtime routine since day dot - sometimes a little later, sometimes a little earlier but always the same steps in the same order. Today he can tell me what ‘should’ happen next

3. Keep more than one thermometer: A rather uncomfortable lesson – high temperatures with a thermometer that kept reading a different temperature. In the end he was not as hot as the thermometer displayed. Only wish I’d had a second to verify before heading for emergency

4. Osteopath: My son was a ventouse baby. After an initial agonizing 5 days, my midwife suggested we visit an osteopath. I never looked back. For the first year of his life my son visited the osteopath every week… We managed to sidestep colic; since he was 6 weeks old he has been an excellent sleeper; and teething did not trouble us.