Issue #021
2 Apr 2008

What's in this issue...

• Win a Sassy Feeding Gift Set
• More Cheese, Please - the Safest Cheeses for Baby
• Visit our New Pages
• Competition Corner
• How to Receive Daily Articles, Recipes and Tips
• Tip of the Month
• Safety Recalls
• Our Featured Product Review
• Visit Our "Website of the Month"
• This Month's Recipe - Homemade Whole Wheat Bagels

SPECIAL NOTE

We've had some reports that visitors have been unable to click on some of our links. Unfortunately, this is because some e-mail clients do not allow certain links to be clickable and is beyond our control. If this happens to you - and you can see the link - try copying and pasting it into your browser. If you can't see the link, then try forwarding the newsletter to a different e-mail address.

If you have any problems, please let us know and we'll do our best to help.

Win a Sassy Feeding Set

Congratulations to March's winner of our Baby Product Review competition - Carol Kelly, from Georgetown, Texas. Carol told us all about that baby care item she just couldn't live without - her Bumbo Baby Seat!

Other items reviewed in last month's competition included the Sassy Ideal Temp Feeding Spoon, the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer, the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy and the Sleep Sheep.

A big thank you to everyone who entered.

This month, we have a brand new prize waiting for the sender of our favorite baby product review...

the handy dandy Sassy Feeding Gift Set!

This amazing set provides everything your little munchkin needs at mealtimes - and it's ideal for use at home, or when traveling. This prize comprises 3 snack bowls with lids, a cheerful pocketed bib, a spoon and fork (with their own carrying case), a mesh teething feeder, a trainer cup AND a formula dispenser!

Just send us your review of that 'must-have', 'couldn't-live-without' baby care item... and if your review is chosen as our favorite, then the Sassy Feeding Kit will be yours!

Please note that the closing date for this month's competition is April 29th - don't miss it!

More cheese, please - the safest cheeses for your baby

This article has been moved - and you can now read it here.

New and updated pages

• We've updated our guide to Introducing a Sippy Cup. If you're thinking about ditching the bottles or transitioning baby from the breast, you'll find lots of useful information about the types of sippy cup available, the potential DISadvantages of using one - and some suggestions for non-plastic alternatives to traditional sippy cups.

• As we move into spring, it's the time when many of us begin making plans to get away from it all! In addition to our Travelling With Baby section, we now have a new page with ideas for yummy and healthy Baby Travel Snacks, to help you ensure your little one has nutritious foods wherever you go!

• We've added MORE fantastic recipes to our site this month, this time using nutritious butternut squash. Learn how to choose it, store it and cook it in our new Butternut Squash Baby Food section

Competition corner

Since we started our baby food recipes competition in the early part of last year, we've amassed lots of wonderful 'parent tested' recipes. So many, in fact, that we've split all our favourite entries into four new pages, making it easier to find the type of recipe you're looking for!

But first - to March's winning entry!

Aysha from the United States sent us a yummy recipe for Baby's First Apple Pie - and, if her name sounds familiar, that's because she won February's competition, too!

In addition to her apple pie recipe, Aysha actually sent us two more fantastic ideas this month - for 'Baby's Got A Cold' Soup and Baby's Healthy Banana Pudding. Wow - thank you, Aysha, for sharing those with us.

You can see Aysha's recipes - and other favourite entries from this month - on our Baby Food Ideas page.

And for YOUR chance to win a $20 Amazon voucher (or local equivalent), find out more about our Baby Food Recipes Competition

And now to our four new pages...

Made up entirely of suggestions sent in by other parents, visit our:
Baby breakfast recipes
Baby dinner recipes
Baby dessert recipes
Finger foods for baby

From recipe of the month... to Baby of the Month!

Find out here - you'll also see more of our favourite photographs sent in by our visitors AND the simple entry form to send in your OWN baby's photo!

Do you want to hear about new baby food recipes and tips as we add them to our site?

If you're a new subscriber to Baby Bites, then we wanted to let you know about 'Baby Food News' - the blog that accompanies our website.

Baby Food News is updated almost daily, with -

• news from our site

• details of our competitions... and our winners!

• feeding tips

• new recipes

• product recalls

• updates to infant nutrition guidelines

• Adding baking soda to veggies - a good idea or not?

• How to dry your own herbs

• Smaller pieces of meat boost iron absorption

• How to make whole wheat tortillas

There are 2 simple ways.

1. Sign up for e-mail notifications when new posts are made. Just visit Baby Food News, enter your e-mail address and hit 'Subscribe Me'.

OR

2. Subscribe to our RSS feed!

What's RSS?

Well, it stands for 'Really Simple Syndication' and is a brilliant way to receive updates to our site without having to check our site every day!

You need an RSS Reader (which you can download for free) - then you can subscribe to the RSS feeds of all your favourite sites.

Find out more about RSS and download an RSS Reader here - then return to the Baby Food News page, 'right click' the orange RSS/XML button to sign up... and you're all set!

But enough about OUR blog - now it's YOUR turn!

If you don't have time to send in regular updates, then you can just set up a single page!

Uploading your baby's photo and news to our site is as easy as can be - just visit our Baby Food Blogs page to find out more.

Whilst you're there, don't forget to take a moment to read the blogs we've already published and the photographs of beautiful babes from around the world!

Tip of the month - Mealtime Fun with the Food Tube

Our favourite tip this month comes from Patricia in Sydney, Australia. We'll let Patricia explain...

"My husband invented the 'Food Tube' one afternoon when he was looking after our 11 month old bub, Jake - on a day when Jake was particularly grumpy!

Trying to think of something to distract him, hubby made a small hole in the side of a cardboard tube from the inside of a roll of kitchen paper. Then, he dropped Jake's favourite finger food - crisped rice - into the hole.

Well, Jake's face was a picture as he picked up the tube, looking for his cereal - and it all fell out the end!

Now he does it for himself and stays occupied for ages, pushing food in the hole and watching it slide out again.

We restrict this game to dry foods, of course, and we don't do it at every meal - but I often bring out the Food Tube if Jake's getting bored in his highchair and I want to finish my dinner! I take it out with us, too - it works wonders when we eat out at a restaurant."

Thank so much, Patricia - what a brilliantly simple idea! With all the entertaining baby gadgets around these days, it's easy to forget the delight that the little things can bring.

Please keep your ideas coming! Just use our contact form to send in your favourite baby care tip and we'll publish it here so other parents can benefit from your brilliance!

Safety Recalls

Here's our list of food and product recalls issued since our last newsletter. Please take a moment to look through items listed below and click on the relevant link(s) if you think you may have these items at home. This will take you to our blog for more information. If you have family/friends who may have any of the items listed, then please do forward this newsletter on to them.

• Infantino Lamb Grabby Rattles (US)

• Gulliver Highchairs Recalled by IKEA (UK)

• Maize Flour Polenta (UK)

• Ellaroo Ring Sling Baby Carrriers (US)

• X Force Commander Toy Airplanes and Super Famous Toy Cars and Motorcycles (US)

• Play Wonder Toy Sundae Sets (US)

• Battat Magnabild Magnetic Building Toys or Sets (US)

• Toddler Pear Juices (Canada)

• Update to pear juice recall (Canada)

• Pinewood Cots (Australia)

• MEGA Brands MagnaMan Magnetic Toy Figures, Magtastik and Magnetix Jr. Pre-school Magnetic Toys (US)

• MEGA Brands Recall - Contact Details (Australia)

• Camouflage Eggs and Spinning Egg Top Toys (US)

• Wrong Advice on Cow & Gate Baby Milk (UK)

• Cantaloupes (US and Canada)

• Toy Penguins (US)

• Backyard and Beyond Metal Water Bottles

• 'In the Night Garden' Cutlery Sets (UK)

• Wooden Maracas sold by Mothercare (UK)

• 'Rock ‘N Ride' Plush Rocker Toys (US)

• Stonyfield Farm Yogurts (US)

Our featured product review - Make ALL your photos perfect!

Your baby may be a cheeky little devil sometimes... but those glowing red eyes really do spoil a beautiful photograph!

Yes - we all have those family photos that would be perfect if it weren't for the dreaded 'red eye', less-than-ideal backgrounds and poor lighting.

But all is not lost... a company called Fotofix can edit your precious pics, giving professional-looking results!

Here's how it works

First, you need to create a membership (which is free of charge), then you send Fotofix your photos to be 'repaired'. You can either upload them directly from your computer, e-mail them - or arrange for free collection.

Then, you wait... for up to 24 hours! Fotofix will then send you an e-mail, showing your photograph both BEFORE and AFTER editing. If you're not satisfied, then they'll carry on editing until you are!

This service is available from only 99c per print, which we think is a small price to pay for perfect images that you'll be proud to show off (or treasure forever!).

Click here to
Enhance your photos at Fotofix.com!

(Oh yes, one more thing... they can make you look younger, thinner AND whiten your teeth! But that's our little secret!)

Website of the Month - Veg Box Recipes

It's always great to come across sites that promote cooking with natural, healthy ingredients - so we were delighted this month to find a wonderful British site called Veg Box Recipes.

The site directs people to companies in the UK running vegetable box schemes (that's where you receive a box of locally produced, seasonal veggies delivered to your door). Veg Box Recipes then provides loads of tips and recipes to help consumers make the most of the produce in their boxes!

Whilst the site is, of course, most useful for people in the UK, the recipes and tips it provides are great for families everywhere! You'll find 20 minute meal ideas, plus recipes for innovative salads and soups. We love the Rogues' Gallery, which lists all sorts of weird and wonderful veggies that you may not be quite sure how to prepare!

There's even a 'Kids' Box' - where children can take part in the Great Mushroom Growing Challenge!

The site is clear, beautifully presented and easy to navigate... and it gets a big thumbs-up from us as a superb resource for veggie-loving families everywhere!

Recipe of the month - Homemade Whole Wheat Bagels

This recipe has now been moved to a permanent spot on our Infant Finger Food page.