“Summer time and the living is easy…”
Not so much if you’re a mama! With the holidays fast approaching, here’s your ultimate guide to summer essentials for your baby and a few brands that I have tried and tested.
La Roche-Posay Anthelios Kids Spray SPF 50+ (R250 from Dermastore): This is probably the most important item to arm yourself with for summer. Children’s skin is so much more sensitive than adults, and so this sunscreen from La Roche-Posay offers high tolerance against UV rays. The two main ingredients are Mexoplex® SPF 50+, a patented filtering system against both UVA and UVB rays and the La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water that reduces sensitivity, contains antioxidants and is incredibly soothing. The spray leaves a very thin film on the skin which is great as you can then see if you’ve missed any spots. I’ve even used this on Aria’s face and she didn’t react at all. If you prefer a cream SPF, you’ll be happy to know that this product comes in that variant as well.
Sun hats (R30-R50 from Ackermans): This goes hand in hand with SPF, a sun hat is essential to have so that your little one’s face and neck are protected to the max! Your best bet is a wide brimmed hat that goes all the way around. There is always one in my nappy bag in case we find ourselves in a sunny spot, rather safe than sorry right? I found these really sweet ones from Ackermans but you can find them at most baby stores.
Mosquito Repellent Baby Sleeping Bag (R699,99 from Parental Instinct): Ok, this is pretty life changing… Summer time means mozzies, and lots of them. Aria has been sleeping in her Parental Instinct Mosquito Repellent Baby Sleeping Bag for a month now and has not had a single mozzie bite meanwhile I’ve been bitten to death the last few weeks. The ShooMozzie™ mosquito repelling technology irritates mosquitos so that they leave your baby to sleep soundly through the night. Another cool technology embedded into the sleeping bag is the AntiGerm™ technology, found in the super soft lining. This does a great job at preventing the spread of microbes, whether they’re from a leaking nappy, a milk spill or just from baby’s skin. Both of these technologies are chemical irritant free. Above and beyond those cool features, a sleeping bag is a must if your kiddie, like Aria kicks their blankets off during the night causing them to wake up. There’s enough space for her to move her little legs around but still stay covered and sleeping…hooray!
Fancypants Swimming Nappy (R195 from Fancypants): The cloth nappy revolution is in full swing and so it was only a matter of time before one of the leading cloth nappy brands brought out a swimming nappy. It’s made of a lovely organic cotton/bamboo mix so no need to worry about synthetic fibres on your baby’s delicate skin. The elastic around the waist is firm but not at all tight and combined with the drawstring, any “oopsies” that may occur, won’t leave the nappy! Once we are all swum out from a dip in the pool, I simply flush anything that needs to be flushed and pop the nappy into the washing machine. Easy as pie!
Swimming costumes (R150 at Woolworths): Sometimes I like to pop a swimming cossie over Aria’s swimming nappy (it fits perfectly by the way), and with these super cute ones, can you blame me?! I was really battling to find affordable swimming costumes in small sizes, everything seemed to be sized from 1 year up. Why I didn’t go to Woolies first is beyond me as they had a good three or four choices for babies. The striped two piece is a UV swimsuit and I love that the long sleeves give added sun protection. And the watermelon one, well, it was just too cute not to buy!
Munchkin 360 Trainer Cup (R159 from BabyGroup): It is so, so, SO important for little ones to stay hydrated. Dehydration can lead to so many terrible things that it’s best to always have a sippy cup of water around. I keep ours in the lounge (it’s where we spend the most time) and pass it to Aria every 15-30min. She doesn’t drink a lot every time but it all adds up and I can be sure that she is staying hydrated. I love this trainer cup from Munchkin, and I’ve tried about 5 diff’erent ones on the market. It’s a non-spill cup (woohoo!) and your child can drink from anywhere on the rim which helps with development of the oral muscles. I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to clean, I use a bottle brush to get into the edges but it’s also top shelf dishwasher safe, yay!
Great give-away! Liked and shared with my friends and family on Facebook and Twitter 😉
Would love this for my new grandchild
I was a little confused about how to enter. Do we pick a social media platform to enter? I’ve followed, retweeted & tagged a friend on Twitter. Hope this is enough because that mosquito repellent sleep bag is awesome!
Awesome, so in need for this for the summer!