Keeping Fit during Pregnancy

Fitness during pregnancy is especially important for your health and strength during the labor and delivery of the child, whilst the stamina obtained will enable to keep up with the energetic little one after birth. Your own body is also far more likely to return to pre pregnancy weight which is another great incentive to exercise during this tough time. 

  Keeping fit as you carry more weight may appear to be a contrasting ideal but it is not as hard as it appears. Here are some useful tips.

Nutritional Intake – Nutrition and Fitness are inextricably linked as one the former fuels the latter’s strength. During pregnancy your body needs a healthy diet more than ever and a typical recommendation for a healthy pregnant women should include,

- 6-11 servings of grain products.

- 4-6 servings of fruits and vegetables.

- 3-4 servings of dairy products.
- 0.4 mg of folic acid.
- 30 mg of iron.
- 80-100 grams of protein.

Use a calendar or similar diary to record and analyse your consumption of food and show to your Doctor during pregnancy appointments that may provide additional meal recommendations.

Fluids – Water is key to a healthy pregnancy and lifestyle and flushes out infections by facilitating a flow of nutrients through the body and importantly to your baby. If water is not appealing to you try adding a bit of lemon or lime to increase its appeal. Carry a large bottle of water with you everywhere you go and keep yourself hydrated.

Activities – Avoid high impact sports that involve physical contact but instead focus on exercises such as swimming that exercise muscle groups and flexibility ready for the labour process. This will enable blood and oxygen circulation in addition to your emotional well-being. Yoga is another great way to keep the body fit and you may find classes with similar pregnant women attending and the option to use appropriate fitness equipment.

Health Consultation – During pregnancy consulting your doctor over your health is vitally important to ensure the right set of fitness goals are set to you and your individual body.  The levels of fitness prior to the pregnancy will dictate the strategy moving forward whilst simple steps whilst following simple steps in nutrition, hydration and exercise will enable you to professionally manage a safe, healthy pregnancy.

Author Bio – James Barnett is a researcher on behalf of Powerhouse Fitness documenting contemporary fitness training and development techniques for families. 

Films for all the family

With weather forecasters predicting a mixed bag when it comes to the rest of the great British summer this year, households up and down the country are on the hunt for family-friendly entertainment suitable for all weathers.

There is no better way to keep the whole tribe entertained, come rain or shine, than with unlimited access to hours of great family-friendly films and TV series from LOVEFiLM Instant.

LOVEFiLM – Europe's largest subscription service, instantly streaming films and TV series over the internet and sending DVDs and games by post – has a whole host of family favourites available from just £4.99 a month. From timeless stories such as The Chronicles of Narnia, to new favourites like Gnomeo and Juliet to swash-buckling adventure Pirates of the Caribbean (available from 13 July), there’s something for everyone.

What’s more, LOVEFiLM Instant also features a raft of kids TV series for little ones to enjoy. Pingu, Barney and Friends, and Bob the Builder are just some of the familiar faces on-hand to entertain during the summer months.

If you’re still not sure what to watch, LOVEFiLM Just For Kids is a handy new online tool available from the 25th July which will guide you with films organised by category – including Action-tastic, Kids Rule and Far Far Away – and age group www.lovefilm.com/justforkids.

You don’t even have to brave a summer shower to get your hands on unlimited family entertainment – simply visit www.lovefilm.com to sign up and start watching thousands of films and TV series - there’s plenty on offer for Mum and Dad too!

HiPP Organic Introduces 10 Newest and Yummiest Recipes...

HiPP Organic, the original organic baby food company, is delighted to announce the arrival of four brand new ranges of nutritious and delicious baby foods, including ten new recipe flavours, specifically developed for babies from four months onwards.
HiPP Organic's new products work hard to liken a baby's taste buds to healthy, adult foods, enabling them to discover and adapt to new tastes and textures at a very early age.

1. Savoury Pouches (rrp Stg1: 99p each. Stg2: £1.29)
Bursting with oodles of flavour and natural goodness, each pouch contains a natural source of Omega 3 from organic rapeseed oil, essential for your baby's healthy development. The nutritional experts at HiPP have also developed the stage two savoury pouches with little lumps to encourage chewing which is essential at this stage of weaning. There are four yummy varieties to choose from: From four months: Carrots, Cauliflower & Peas and Potatoes, Carrots & Beef. From seven months: Creamy Tomato & Leek Pasta and Scrummy Spaghetti Bolognese.
2. Tray Meals (rrp £1.59 each)
The latest editions to the already very successful HiPP Organic Tray Meal range include Creamy Vegtable Lasagne and Garden Risotto with flaky White Fish, both suitable for little ones from 9 months onwards. The new meals contain tiny lumps to encourage a baby to adjust to solid foods. They also contain at least one of your baby's 5-a-day.
3. Dessert Jars (rrp 70p each)
Made from plump, juicy, organic fruit, these fabulously fruity desserts are the first fruit only jars to be added to the HiPP Organic range. The Apricot & Apple Desert and Plum & Pear Pudding contain at least 2 fruit portions of your baby's five-a-day.
4. My First Yogurts (rrp £1.49)
Completely unique to the baby food aisle, the new mini pots contain 80% yogurt, so provide 23% RDA of calcium in two pots (100g). This latest product innovation can be served as the ideal introduction to solid foods and can also be enjoyed by those that are more established in weaning for breakfast or as a tasty snack. Available in two tasty varieties Banana and Raspberry and made with organic fruit, these scrummy little pots are perfect for tiny tummies.

Best Bear Childcare

Best Bear Childcare www.bestbear.co.uk has been offering a unique service to parents looking to hire a nanny for a number of years. Nanny agencies are not regulated so Best Bear developed a unique vetting process to test and check nanny agencies before listing them on their website, giving parents peace of mind in the knowledge that they were using safe and secure agencies, recommended by Best Bear. Since the website launched in 1998 many additional services have been added, but the core focus remains on its unique listing of recommended agencies.

To help make it even easier for parents to find recommended childcare agencies, Best Bear has invested heavily in a brand new website, which launched last month. The new site has been built following feedback from parents, childcarers and nanny agencies and has been designed to make it quicker and easier for all who use the website to find what they need quickly and easily.

Parents can use the website to look for recommended childcare agencies, browse childcarer CVs, post a job advert, organise reference checking and find useful childcare information and resources. Childcarers are able to promote their availability for work and their skills and experience by uploading their CV, or they can browse through jobs listed by parents and agencies, as well as finding information on career development and training. And finally, agencies are able to demonstrate that they are reputable and trustworthy and can use the website to promote job vacancies to and to find parents needing childcare, and childcarers looking for work. It is a win-win situation for all involved.

Sally Harrison, director of Best Bear said “We are very proud of our new website, and hope that users find it even quicker and easier than ever before to find the contacts and information that they are looking for. We are dedicated to helping parents, childcarers and agencies who all have different needs from using our website, and we are continually developing new ideas and initiatives to help them all. The new website gives us an opportunity to quickly expand and add new services and we have lots of ideas for new services which will launch later in the year”.

50% off HappyLand with ELC

Early Learning Centre have a sale going on with some of their Happy Land Toys with up to 50% off. Now my son is into Dinosaurs BIG time at the moment so I treated him to the HappyLand Dino Playset which was down to £19.00 from £38.00 and with a discount code (CROCODILE) I found online I managed to knock a further couple of pounds off it making it £15.20. Total bargain.

HappyLand Dino Playset. Was £38.00 Now £19.00

HappyLand Cherry Lane Cottage. Was £38.00 Now £30.40

HappyLand Light and Sound Lift Off Rocket. Was £32.00 Now £16.00

HappyLand Race Track Sports Day. Was £20.00 Now £16.00

HappyLand Sunflower School. Was £28.00 Now £22.40

HALF PRICE twitter sale over at @cuddledry

Tomorrow evening at 8pm Cuddledry are having a half price sale of ex-display stock. Everything is new but just missing the packaging. Just think, you're helping to save the planet by not receiving the packaging! I'm after a new towel for the new baby in our lives so will be tuning in to @cuddlydry over on twitter to see if I can grab myself a bargain!

Find out more about the HALF PRICE sale over on the Cuddledry website.