With all sorts of confusing ideas about what to eat while pregnant, you simply have to avoid some foods, but you can indulge in a few items to make meals and snacks that are safe for you and your baby.

Dangerous Dairy
Raw eggs are something that is smart to avoid whether you are pregnant or not. Eggs can be a common source of food-borne illness. Raw eggs can be tainted with salmonella, bacteria that leads to fever, diarrhea and vomiting. Other dairy products like soft cheese and unpasteurized milk can also contain bacteria that can cause a problems.

Raw or Deli Meats
Uncooked seafood or uncooked or undercooked beef and poultry should not be eaten because of the risk of ingesting bacteria like salmonella. Deli meats should also not be eaten unless you reheat the meat because it could be contaminated with listeria, a dangerous bacteria that can cause a miscarriage. 

Fish Facts
Fish is a very healthy protein to eat while you’re pregnant as long as you do a bit of research before buying and preparing it. Fish with high levels of mercury, like swordfish, king mackerel, and shark for example, are not safe for an expecting mother. Mercury is linked to developmental and brain damage in babies. When it comes to sushi, it’s best to opt out. Some fish used in sushi have high levels of mercury. Canned tuna is a common way to eat tuna that doesn’t have high levels of mercury, but should be eaten in moderation.

So What Can You Eat?
Natural eating is the best way to go as an expecting mother. For my own pregnancy, I chose to eliminate processed foods from my diet to help remove harmful toxins in my body so they wouldn’t be transferred to my baby. Plenty of fresh veggies and protein was my goal to keep my energy up and to take in essential nutrients. “Eating for two” also doesn’t translate literally as some moms may believe. For your first trimester, you should eat as usual until adding about 300 additional calories for the rest of your term.

Always make sure to check with your doctor regarding diet and ingredients.  Don’t be afraid to ask about specific foods—I always asked my doctor about everything, from diaper brands to cord blood banking to swaddling and A LOT about food. It’s always best to lookout for the health and wellness of both you and your baby.

Katie Moore has written and submitted this article. Katie is an active blogger who discusses the topics of, motherhood, children, fitness, health and all other things Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people! To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26

Forget About Overpaid Clowns, Dancing Bears, Pizza Shops Or Any Other Overpriced Option This Works Much Better…

Are you tired of trying to find a way to give your child a birthday party he or she will never forget that does not take up all of your free time and money?

What do you do when you are exhausted and just need your baby to sleep and they won’t?

What do you do if you have no idea what to expect from your newborn?

Babies don’t come with a manual, and they certainly never behave as you want or expect them to.

Baby sleep – please! provides practical, common sense advice that works. Real families have used these methods for generations to help their babies sleep.

We asked the author what made her write the book,

“I was lucky with my son, but that didn’t stop me worrying all the time about whether his sleeping was normal. My friends weren’t as lucky as me. Some parents go through so much and try so many things to try and help their baby sleep.”

You can download Baby sleep – Please! from iTunes

Easy to make, all you need is

• A4 card folded in half to make the actual card
• Coloured card or paper for the face
• Wool for the hair
• Leftover material
• Googly eyes
• Felt tip pens
• Scissors
• Glue

My son came home from nursery last year and gave me this card. I must say it made me laugh. Looking at some of the ones that his friends made, I think I got off lightly. My hair is the right colour, and I would probably wear a top not too dissimilar to that one. Add a pair of glasses and bingo, it is ME! Not sure about the earrings attached to the sides of my mouth though.

Now he has got to grips with scissors and glue it is great to watch him make fantastic creations. People now have two eyes not as many as he feels they should have that day – which is a step forward!

This self portrait is a bit worrying though. I think he might have been watching Edward Scissorhands.

He has recently drawn a picture of me. OK, he forgot that I have a body, but I just love my long thin legs. I asked him if I do really look like that. Apparently I do!

That’s kids for you!

The toddler rules of possession

1. If I like it – it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand – it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you – it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago – it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in ANY way.
6. If I am doing or building something ALL the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine it is mine.
8. If I saw it first – it’s mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.
11. If it’s broken, but you are having fun playing with the pieces, it’s mine again.
12. If there is ANY doubt, it’s mine.
    (Kevin McHugh)

Are all toddlers this predictable? Do they all find it almost impossible to share? Um yes, I think so.

It’s mine!

“Mine” is often one of the first words a toddler REALLY gets to grip with. They use it often and really mean it. They don’t understand sharing, they want something so why shouldn’t they have it? It’s a hard lesson to learn and seems to be much harder for single children than those with siblings; where older children will force them to share! (often not in a nice way). A toddler is constantly learning that they are not totally inseparable from you and asserting their independence and personality.

It’s hard for us as parents to see our children changing from baby to child, no longer totally dependent and compliant in everything, but it must be very frustrating for the child. They don’t know the rules yet, they don’t know how to behave, they only know what they like and don’t like, what they want and don’t want.

My advice is try and calmly explain that they need to take turns, that they CAN have the toy back soon. Try to understand how they are thinking and how they see the situation.

The “mine” stage seems to last forever, and changes to “BUT IT”S MINE!” the frustration and confusion stays too. Ownership and sharing is a hard lesson to learn. Some adults still haven’t got the hang of it so why do we expect a toddler to hand over their toys and snacks willingly?

At my son’s school the Reception and Nursery children take home Storysacks each week. It is a great idea. Each Storysack has a theme, from fire engines to cooking … to ducks. There are books, toys, or puzzles in each sack, and the kids never know what their sack will reveal until Friday evening after school when they open them like it’s Christmas morning.

I am getting ahead of myself though, back to this sad little duck (which I think is really a platypus). Of all the Storysacks the “Duck” one has struck a chord with the children. They take him to bed and cuddle him all night. They give him a name and make him one of the family.

Just what is his attraction? I think they may feel sorry for him as he is bedraggled and looks like he has had a hard life. Maybe he tells them stories about life on the pond, fighting with ducks and herons, waiting for children to wander down to the pond side and throw them tasty (stale) bread. They care for him and don’t care that he has had better days, they see past his bald spots and his green tinged legs.

It makes me think that we, as adults should think like children and that duck a bit more often. I am quick to judge, and make far too many assumptions. I don’t see the best in people often enough. A child wouldn’t walk straight past a big issue seller, a child is happy playing with a cardboard box, a child loves without barriers.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of our children’s books a bit more often!

He is doing well at school, so I don’t think so, but it got me thinking that all children need a bucket list of things to do before they start school.

So this is our bucket list (even though it is a bit retrospective), of all the wonderful things we did do while he was still in those wonderful pre-school years. (And a few we should have done.)

1. Have a pyjama day
2. Watch his favourite video non stop all day
3. Learn to spell out, write and read his name
4. Paint with our feet so the paint goes all squidgy between our toes
5. Face our fears – him: dogs me: spiders (not really conquered mine so he is beating me there!)
6. Go swimming
7. Have his friends over for a sleepover
8. Go to a friend’s house for a sleepover
9. Stay up REALLY late
10. Learn to ride his bike – without stabilisers
11. Jump in every puddle on a rainy day
12. Draw on the pavement with stones
13. Visit and write to Father Christmas
14. Learn to answer the phone
15. Learn his address
16. Have a birthday party
17. Master all the things in the local park
18. Search for fairies in the woods (we found some!)
19. Stay in a hotel – (he can still remember the room number and thinks that it is his personal room number for his whole life!)
20. Drive like crazy on the Bumper cars at the fair
21. Learn left from right
22. Use a map to find our way to Grandma’s house
23. Get dressed on his own
24. Learn to fasten his coat
25. See the Blackpool Illuminations (UK readers will know what this means, to the rest of the world, Blackpool has the most brilliant display of lights as Christmas approaches)

And finally,
Use his bucket and spade to dig the biggest hole in the world in the sand at the beach – after all this is a Bucket List.

Get your child to help you make an obstacle course out of chairs, tables, towels, cushions to name but a few.

Ideas:

• Make a ‘tunnel’ by putting dining chairs in a row, you child can then crawl though the legs. Make the tunnel more exciting by placing a blanket over the chairs.
• Make stepping stones out of cushions on the floor, and get them to jump from one to another.
• Roll a large towel up longways and use it as a balancing beam.
• Tie a cord between two chairs so children can ‘limbo’ or crawl underneath it.
• Our son likes placing chairs, cushions,blankets and so on from one end of the house to the other, and tries to get from the start to the finish without touching the floor (the floor is the sea and you will get wet if you touch the carpet!)

You can make the obstacle course more interesting by seeing how fast they can get from one end to the other. Older children need more of a challenge, see if they can do it while balancing a beanbag on their head.

Always supervise children when playing this game and keep and eye out for safety issues. (Make sure they cannot fall and hurt themselves, or knock your favourite ornament off a shelf)

I’m gonna do a test, my son will NOT eat smoked mackerel. He did as a toddler, it was a food he loved. However, these days at the grand old age of 5, he won’t touch it – “IT’S DISGUSTING!” is the response I get from him if I make such an offering!. The School Food Trust have suggested a recipe for smoked mackerel. I am going to try making it and trying it out on my son. I think it sounds delicious – we’ll see!

Here’s the recipe:

Smoked Mackerel Spread

Ingredients

• Smoked mackerel 70g
• Lemon juice  1 teaspoon
• Parsley, fresh chopped – 3 sprigs
• Yogurt, plain, low fat – 30g
• Ground black pepper

Method

• Remove the skin from the mackerel and put the flesh into a small bowl. Remove any remaining bones.
• Add the lemon juice, parsley and yoghurt. Mash together to a rough paste with a fork, or use a blender.
• Season with black pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

I gathered the ingredients and asked 5yo if he would like to help make lunch. Normally being a budding Jamie Oliver he jumps at the chance of cooking, however he thought the smoked mackerel smelt “DISGUSTING”. I have to agree there – mackerel does not have the best smell in the world.

So off I trundled, alone, to make lunch. I stuck to the recipe and resisted the urge to “test” the fish paste.

I did add sliced cucumber. 5yo is crazy about cucumber, so I thought this might make the difference.

Right better hurry up with the taste test – the cat is looking very hungry and licking her lips!

Hubby: “Tasty, I would have it again.” – man of few words

Me: “Very strong tasting, but I quite like smoked mackerel anyway. I would add more lemon juice and more parsley, and maybe some sliced tomato and spinach leaves.”

5yo: “Yeeeeeuck. THAT’S DISGUUUUUUUSSSSTING.” In very loud voice.

Didn’t go down well then!

He is not adverse to “disgusting” food. He likes his fish fingers dipped in milkshake. He thinks jam on his ham sandwiches is fab – maybe that is just because jam and ham rhyme though. However, he likes blander food, mackerel is just too smelly and too strong tasting. Back to the drawing board School Food Trust!

They offer advice on what food youngsters should eat an help for fussy eaters. The report says more than a fifth of children are overweight or obese when they start school. We can’t agree more that eating the right food, right from the start is essential. That watching their salt, sugar and saturated fat content is crucial to their health, however we do question their lunchbox ‘menus’.

I know my son, would not touch some of their suggestions. How many children like tomatoes – I don’t know any!

Their advice on eating fruit vegetables and a varied healthy diet is great, many parents worry how they can do this properly on a tight budget though.

I’m gonna do a test, my son will NOT eat smoked mackerel. He did as a toddler, it was a food he loved. However, these days at the grand old age of 5, he won’t touch it – “IT’S DISGUSTING!” is the response I get from him if I make such an offering!. The School Food Trust have suggested a recipe for smoked mackerel. I am going to try making it and trying it out on my son. I think it sounds delicious – we’ll see!

Here’s the recipe:

Smoked Mackerel Spread

Ingredients

• Smoked mackerel 70g
• Lemon juice  1 teaspoon
• Parsley, fresh chopped – 3 sprigs
• Yogurt, plain, low fat – 30g
• Ground black pepper

Method

• Remove the skin from the mackerel and put the flesh into a small bowl. Remove any remaining bones.
• Add the lemon juice, parsley and yoghurt. Mash together to a rough paste with a fork, or use a blender.
• Season with black pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Right, check out my next post to see how well it goes down!

Smoked mackerel sandwiches – do kids like them?