Yes, in case the proliferation of chocolate rabbits and hot cross buns in your local Tesco didn’t clue you in – it’s Easter time again!

Before we all get distracted by decorating baskets and planting choccy eggs around the house on Sunday, we thought we’d have a little Plum Easter celebration of our very own. And for us, of course, that means a lovely competition!

Tune into the Plum Facebook page next week to sign up – the competition link will be right underneath our big yellow banner at the top. You’ll have plenty of time to sign up for this one; we’re opening the competition up a couple of days before the prize draw, which will be on Thursday the 5^th. We’ll draw a winner every hour between 8am and 5pm, and here’s what we’ve got for you lucky bunnies this time:

• An adorable rabbit-themed print by Woop Studios, perfect for a hallway or a child’s room;

• A hardcover copy of  “A Zeal of Zebras,” a colourful and humorous alphabet book featuring Woop’s  whimsical designs;

• A gourmet chocolate-making course for two, courtesy of Melt.

• Four of Melt’s best-selling chocolate creations – truly sublime.

Or, last but certainly not least,

• Three yearly memberships to English Heritage, which gives free entry to all English Heritage properties for you, your partner and up to six children – guaranteeing a multitude of fun days out!

We’ll be giving away all these great prizes between 8am and 5pm on Thursday, April 5^th, just before the long Easter weekend – but the good news is, you’ll be able to enter early! Keep an eye on our Facebook page in the next day or so, and we’ll let you know as soon as the competition opens.

Good luck, and happy Easter from Plum!

And the winners are…

8am: winner of a pack of Melt’s best-selling chocolate creations is: Adele B

9am: winner of a pack of Melt’s best-selling chocolate creations is: Antonia R

10am: winner of a pack of Melt’s best-selling chocolate creations is: Tabitha G

11am: winner of a pack of Melt’s best-selling chocolate creations is: Ashleigh T

12noon: winner of A hardcover copy of  “A Zeal of Zebras,” a colourful and humorous alphabet book featuring Woop’s  whimsical designs is: Amy M

1pm: winner of gourmet chocolate-making course for two, courtesy of Melt is: Leanna T

2pm: winner of an adorable rabbit-themed print by Woop Studios is: Garance M

3pm: winner of an annual memberships to English Heritage is: Michelle T

4pm: winner of an annual memberships to English Heritage is: Vikki C

5pm: winner of an annual memberships to English Heritage is: Kylie V

Guacamole for babies? Why not?

Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? Babies are people too – therefore they’ll enjoy what we enjoy, right? But don’t pop that lasagne in the blender just yet – your baby’s still growing, so there are a few special rules to keep in mind when you start introducing him to the wonderful world of big-people food.

• Timing: Before 4 months, your baby’s digestion is still too delicate to cope with solid food – and after 6 months, babies simply need more nutrients than milk alone can give them. That gives you a two-month ‘weaning window’ to look for the telltale signs your baby is ready to give food a shot: namely, paying lots and LOTS of attention to what you’re eating, trying to grab your fork whenever it comes within reach, and being hungry. Really hungry. All the time. It’s also a good sign if your baby has doubled her birth weight and can sit up pretty well and support her own head steadily.

• Texture: Start off smoooooth. Your baby’s still trying to get the hang of swallowing something thicker than milk, and at first it will mostly come back out the way it went in. Soon, though, you’ll see some real swallowing going on, and then it’ll be time to add a twist or two by fork-mashing instead of pureeing it perfectly smooth, eventually moving onto a chunkier texture. Learning to chew and swallow more challenging textures gives your baby a taste for variety, and developing those mouth and tongue muscles is also important for learning to talk.

• Nutrition: The first few weeks are mostly about experimentation, so don’t worry if not very much of what you offer your baby actually goes down. By 6 months, though, babies have gone through the reserves of iron they were born with, and they’re growing so fast that their needs for other important nutrients like calcium, zinc, and the major vitamins have gone up as well. This means packing as much nutrition as possible into each meal – which can be a challenge when tummies are small and attention spans short! We handle it by basing our meals around superfoods – real nutritional winners like quinoa, spinach, salmon and sweet potatoes – which cram heaps of nutrients into each mouthful.

• Flavour: This is obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people forget that their babies have a very well-developed sense of taste! Little people don’t like flavourless stodge any more than their parents (well, most of their parents) do, so by all means offer your baby a few surprises along the way, like a lemony fromage frais, some soft flakes of cooked salmon, or even a smidge of olive or some basil pesto.

If you were raised on a flavoursome cuisine, don’t hesitate to introduce these tastes to your baby, too – in fact, if you ate lots of spicy curries or garlicky seafood while you were pregnant, there’s even some evidence that he’ll have gotten a first taste of those flavours already, through your amniotic fluid!

Of course, you’ll want to start mild and build your way up, but there’s no reason your baby can’t try almost any flavour out there – and lots of reasons he should. Offering lots of variety now will help your baby grow up to be an adventurous eater – and that makes him more likely to have a varied and healthy diet later in life.

One note of caution, however – when you’re adding flavour to your baby’s meals, make sure you’re not also adding salt. This can be an extremely sneaky ingredient, and it often shows up in things like stock (cubes or canned), tomato products (especially ketchup), and spice mixes. Your baby’s kidneys aren’t equipped to deal with it yet, so it’s important to leave it out. And while you’re at it, you might want to try preparing your own meals the way you do your baby’s, with herbs and spices instead of liberal doses of salt (which we all get too much of as it is!) Your blood pressure will thank you for it.

Got any good adventurous recipes to share? Post ‘em here for other mums to try!

Keep an eye on this page as we announce all the winners! Please note that all winners will also be contacted via email within the next 7 working days…

13 Pairs of Baby Show tickets:

Winners: Sheona K, Kelly B, Verity T, Kerry M, Viktoria V, Samantha W, Sarah B, Victoria F, Annwen A, Michelle W, Louise M, Lucy S and Rachel G

6 Champneys Gift Sets:

Winners: Natalie M, Michelle S, Stephanie Q, Sharon W, Deb G and Louise P

£75 gift voucher for Hurley Burley Jewellery (which uses semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls, combined with hallmarked sterling silver, to create stunning and very wearable jewellery)

Winner: Emma B.

Two professional family portrait photo sessions, from The VIP Studio and Nicky Adams Photography

Winners: Sarah D (The VIP Studio) and Roxy M (Nicky Adams Photography)

A meal for two at a Michelin-starred restaurant (after all, our recipes contain ingredients from some of the same suppliers these restaurants use – we figured, if it’s good enough for your baby, it’s good enough for you!)

Winner: Paula S

and, last but certainly not least…

The big prize: A day for two at Champneys day spa, with a delivery of Plum baby food and an allowance towards child care to keep your little one happy, PLUS a scrumptious goody bag of Gü products to have for dessert that evening!

Winner: Tamasin E.

Congratulations and Happy Mother’s Day to you all!

Love,

Plum

Mother’s Day is coming… in fact, if you sniff very carefully, you’ll almost be able to smell the aroma of burnt toast on the way, served by loving little hands along with a nice cup of tea (weak, with six sugars). Ahh, ain’t it grand?

And yet – here at Plum, there’s been much discussion recently about what else mums might like to get for Mother’s Day. After all, we were founded by a mum, and most of us have kids of our own, so we know for a fact that you’re doing what is indisputably one of the toughest jobs on the planet. Yes, it’s incredibly rewarding too, but really, on this one day, don’t you just want to be PAMPERED? Banish the bodily fluids and hand the feeding spoon over to someone else… this is YOUR day, darn it, and we want to show you a good time.

So we decided to hold an amazing Mother’s Day prize draw on Friday, March 16^th, in order to show all the Plum Mums out there how much we care. Our last comp was for the babies, and we gave away some impressively massive boxes stuffed with Plum products (see right) … well, this time, it’s for Mum, and we’ve done ourselves proud, we reckon!

Here are the prizes on offer:

• 13 pairs of tickets to this year’s Baby Show at the NEC

• 6 Champneys gift sets

• £75 gift voucher for Hurley Burley jewelry, which uses semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls, combined with hallmarked sterling silver, to create stunning and very wearable jewellery

• Two professional family portrait photo sessions, from The VIP Studio and Nicky Adams Photography

• A meal for two at a Michelin-starred restaurant (after all, our recipes contain ingredients from some of the same suppliers these restaurants use – we figured, if it’s good enough for your baby, it’s good enough for you!)

and, last but certainly not least…

• The big prize: A day for two at Champneys day spa, with a delivery of Plum baby food and an allowance towards child care to keep your little one happy, PLUS a scrumptious goody bag of Gü products to have for dessert that evening!

So, how’d we do? Sufficiently luxurious? Adequately relaxing? Do you feel special yet? Good. Because you are.

Love, Plum

PS – We’re looking forward to seeing you all bright and early on Friday! Entries will open at 6am (just in case you’re awake – and we were astonished last time at how many of you were!); the first winners will be drawn at 8am, then every two hours after that until 6pm. If you’d like a look at the full terms and conditions, feel free, but here’s the basics:

If you’re already a ‘liker’ of our Facebook page, you’ll need to click on the competition tab on the left side of the page to enter; folks who haven’t been to the page before will see a special screen asking them to “like” us in order to enter. You only have to enter once, and your name will be in our Great Virtual Hat for all the prize draws during the day. And just like last time, you can double your chances of winning by sharing the comp to your own Facebook wall (this option will pop up automatically after you enter).  Good luck, and happy Mother’s Day!

Today, I’m thinking about stress. No idea why… unless it’s because the grade-schooler conveniently forgot about ‘dress like a book character’ day until 7:15 this morning . Or maybe it started when the dog snuck into the house with muddy feet and made a good six or seven manic revolutions of the lounge room before I could catch him. On the cream carpet.  Or it might have been the ‘six homemade, nut-free, book-themed cakes’ I’m meant to donate for the school coffee morning that’s giving me the hives. Whatever it is, by around 9am I could feel it building – that simmering, stomach-clenching, blood-pressure-raising sensation that can’t really be adequately described by the single word ‘stress’ (but often is anyway).

Before we have children, I think we all think we know what stress is. After all, many of us have had jobs with tight deadlines and demanding bosses, and everyone has to deal with modern headaches like money worries, traffic and running late. Adding kids to the mix, however, takes our lives to a whole new, Olympic level of complexity – and stress, like it or not, is part of that mix. Suddenly, we have the joys of getting spit-up all over Daddy’s last clean work shirt ten minutes before the train. Or an Armageddon-style nappy explosion when you’re out shopping and haven’t brought your usual exhaustive gear. I can see you nodding at the familiarity already… been there, done that, now own several t-shirts.

So, the million-dollar question: How do we deal with this without turning into the sort of screeching harridans we sometimes see at the supermarket, haranguing their children with feverish intensity?

Sorry, sometimes we don’t. But here’s the secret (well, one secret at least): THAT’S OKAY. I mean it. Some days, we all lose it a little. The myth that there is, somewhere, an Ideal Mother who never, ever loses her cool, who never makes a mad rush for a wine glass at the end of the day, or has to ‘take five’ in the bathroom after depositing a terminally grizzling toddler in his playpen… it’s a myth. And accepting this as the truth – which also means letting yourself off the hook of mummy-perfectionism – is one way to stop a lot of that stress in its tracks, or at least make it not seem so all-fired important.

A few other helpful things to remember and/or try when the stress hits:

-       To quote Annie, the sun’ll come out tomorrow. It may seem endless when you’re in it, but bad times don’t go on forever.

-       Use your imagination. So the baby’s gotten her nappy off and covered herself in poo. What’s the worst… the very worst… that will happen? Being up to your elbows in faeces is no one’s idea of a picnic, but hey, kids are washable, and you are too.

-       Find a friend you can laugh about it with. Preferably someone who is or has been there. Motherhood can be a gritty, grotty, in-the-trenches sort of job sometime, and giving yourself the freedom to have a bit of a grouse about it (with as many profanities as seem necessary) is essential.

-       When it all gets too much, make a list. You’ll automatically feel more in control of the situation, and then you’ll get to cross things off. (hurrah!)

-       Pick just one thing, and do it. Make it something that will be visible and make you feel better once it’s done. For instance, I just vacuumed the living daylights out of that darned carpet; it felt gooood, and it’ll give me a lift every time I look at that nice clean surface – even though the kitchen table is still covered in laundry.

-       If worst comes to worst, and you feel like your head’s about to explode like Wil E Coyote, TAKE A BREAK. Put your little darling/s in a safe place, like a playpen or cot, and take thyself to the shower. Or the garden. Or anyplace you can take a few deep breaths and let your shoulders down from around your ears. The child will be fine, and you’ll be much, much saner. Really.

Got any more tips from the trenches for stressed-out mums? What works for you when the stress is high? I’d love to hear your advice- after all, I may very well be needing it myself!

- Amanda

Happy birthday to us!

On March 6th, we’ll be celebrating six years of Plum, and in addition to an office party and cake, we’ll also be sharing some very nice presents with you, our Plum mums and dads. Of course, there’s no peeking before the big day, but you’ll want to be there, we promise.

All the pertinent details will be posted on our Facebook page very soon, so make sure you’ve ‘liked’ us before then to get the latest updates… and pass this along to your friends, playgroup acquaintances, family members and any stranger you see with a baby, so they can do the same!

One week to go… see you there!

In the surreal, hormonal blur that surrounded the birth of my son, one memory in particular stands out, crystal-clear. My husband and I had just made the nerve-wracking ten-minute drive home from the hospital, newborn bundle periodically squawking from the back seat. We unlocked the front door, carried his little capsule inside, set him on the floor in the corner of the bedroom… and looked at each other. The expression on both our faces said it all: What the heck do we do now?

Fortunately, the second thing we did was to laugh – at ourselves, each other, and the ridiculous optimism of the nurses at the hospital, who clearly thought we were capable enough to entrust with the life of this baby. And guess what? We were, after all.

Parenthood is, on the one hand, the most natural thing in the world. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is literally what we were born to do. But the responsibility of it all can feel overwhelming at first, and any mother soon realises that too much advice is just as bad as (nay, worse than) not enough.

It’s a very good thing, then, that nature equips us with a small miracle in the form of oxytocin. When your baby’s born, your body begins pumping out this hormone at a furious rate. It’s responsible for lots of things, from helping you deliver the placenta to getting the milk fountain flowing – and it also helps you bond with your baby. This sounds a bit mystical, but it’s really just paying attention – closer attention than you have likely paid to anything in your life. In those first sleep-deprived weeks, you get to know this little person’s every nook and cranny, and become an expert interpreter of each little snuffle and cry. You are, quite literally, closer to your baby than you are to anyone else; after all, until very recently, he or she was a part of you. Hard to get much closer than that.

All this boils down to that semi-mythical beast, motherly instinct. From detecting a fever, to knowing just how to soothe a cranky, teething toddler to sleep or deciding when to give weaning a try, mother usually does know best. So listen to the GP, the health visitor… and yes, even your mother-in-law… but remember, it’s your call, and you’re the best-equipped person on earth to make these decisions. If something feels wrong for you, your baby and your family, it probably is.

A few things to keep in mind:

• There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to care for a baby. Only a loving and safe way.

• If it’s not working, try something different. What works for you may not work for your friend’s baby, and the trick that worked like a dream yesterday might flop tomorrow.

• Feel free to eject the audience; trying any new skill out in front of others is always more difficult.

• Know yourself and your own limitations, and ask for help if and when you need it, especially with things like laundry and dishes.

• Go easy on yourself. Repeat after us: No parent is perfect.

• Accept that you’ll have good days and bad ones. The baby  wakes up grumpy sometimes,too. Make sure to enjoy the good days when they come!

• If you’re struggling, it’s good to ask for help, but you may not want to shop around too much. Info overload can just leave you confused. Once you find something you’re confident will help, go ahead and give it a try.

• Try watching other mothers with slightly older babies – you can learn a lot by just observing.

• Avoid competitive parents. Half the time they’re lying anyway!

Please pass this along to any mums you know who might need a confidence boost!

Weaning is a bit of a rollercoaster, but it doesn’t take most parents too long to realise that different babies’ reactions to new flavours can vary wildly. Some little ones are mini-foodies, hoeing into anything and everything with a (grotty) smile, while others are more like restaurant critics, nibbling delicately and turning their noses up at even the most lovingly prepared dinner. It’s enough to leave many a poor mum wondering where on earth she’s gone wrong.

Turns out there may just be a good reason for this fussiness – and (cue relief here) it’s nothing you did. In recent years, scientists have taken a better look at how we perceive flavour, and found that around 25% of us are what they’ve dubbed “supertasters” – meaning their tastebuds are much more sensitive to flavours, especially bitter ones. Women are more likely to be supertasters, as are people  of Asian and African descent… and yes, babies can be supertasters as well.

How can you tell? There’s a simple online test for adults, but until your baby can point and click, it’s really a matter of parental guesswork. If you’re curious, you can set up your own small experiment by giving your baby a tiny smidge of something strong-tasting, like lemon or Kalamata olive, on the tip of a clean pinky finger, and watch the reaction. If your little guinea pig looks at you like you’ve just tried to poison her, you may indeed have a supertaster on your hands.

So what does this mean? Unfortunately, there’s no link between “super” tasting ability and any other useful powers – and while scientists have found that supertasters’ dislike of fatty and salty foods helps prevent overweight later in life, this ability can also mean they’re less likely to eat healthy green cancer-fighters like broccoli, kale and brussels sprouts. Turns out that the compounds that help protect against cancer also taste slightly bitter, which makes these veggies a challenging proposition for a supertaster.

The best solution? If your little one turns up his supertaster nose at green veg, try and try again. We can all learn to like new flavours, even if they seem strange at first, and the health benefits green veggies offer your baby are way too terrific to give up. Studies have shown that it can take babies up to 10 tries of a new taste to accept it, so put on your ‘patient’ hat and start with small quantities – freezing tiny bits in an ice cube tray can help cut down on waste. Blending green veg with fruit purees is another good tactic – you can start with mostly fruit, and increase the percentage of veg as you go along. (And if you’re out and about, or just sick of the blender, our Spinach, Sweet Potato & Apple Puree is a popular choice, too…)

Let us know how you go! Oh, and keep the camera handy – photos of hilarious reactions may just win a prize…

Happy Thursday from Plum HQ, where we have a burning question on our minds:

Do you ever taste your baby’s food?

A surprising number of parents we’ve polled say no, sometimes with a rather funny look on their faces, as if we’ve asked them to sample some Iams puppy kibble, or nosh on gerbil mix. And we get that, we really do. After all, plenty of the baby foods on the market do taste rather… shall we say, unappetising?

That’s why we’d like to invite you to take what we’re calling the Plum Challenge. Just choose any Plum recipe and taste it yourself, back-to-back with any of our competitors’ products. We’re that confident that the quality, purity and depth of flavour in our recipes is second to none. And to reward you for being so brave, we have 200 copies of “Harden’s Eating out with Babies & Toddlers 2011″ to give away to the first 200 folks to submit a review. It’s an extra-handy guide to over 1,000 of the UK’s best baby and toddler-friendly restaurants, cafes and pubs, and  there’s even a 50p-off coupon inside, so you can save on your new favourite flavour of Plum.

The fine print: All entries should be emailed to yummyyummy@plum-baby.co.uk. They need to be 200 words or less, and should specify which Plum recipe you tried, and which competitor’s product, along with what you thought of them both. Feel free to include your little ones in the taste test as well, if you like, and let us know what they thought too. Honesty and humour are always a plus, and the most colourful entries will gain a spot on the “Your Plum” section of our website. We need to receive your entry by Thursday, 23 February at 5:30pm, and you must include your full name, address and postcode for mailing of prizes. Winners will be notified by Friday, 24 February, and prizes will be posted on or before Wednesday, 29 February.

Weaning can be a tense time for parents. After all, here’s this small person, so new and pure, and it’s up to you to decide what to put in that little mouth.  So you read all the books, you ring your health visitor a few dozen times, and (if you’re anything like me) your vegetable steamer and food processor start to get more use than they have in years. Relax – that’s a great start.

Most parents, however, will sooner or later find themselves standing in an aisle full of baby food, scratching their heads and wondering where to begin.  So we thought we’d give you a few key things to look for on the label.
First, have a look at the ingredient panel. Don’t be intimidated by all the numbers! What you’re really looking for here is nutrient density –  the nutritional bang for your proverbial buck. This is an especially good thing to pay attention to when babies are first weaning, as they usually drop a milk feed around this time, and they often don’t actually consume very much of those first solid foods – it’s more about experimenting and enjoying this new experience.

Nutrient-dense foods are actually very easy to spot: just think colour. Bright green spinach, orange pumpkin and sweet potato, burgundy beetroot, vibrant berries – the rainbow colours are sure signs these foods pack a big nutritional punch, and ideally you want to see as large a percentage of these ‘superfoods’ as possible on the label. Luckily, they also have wonderful flavours for your baby to explore!

The ingredients to avoid, generally speaking, are white stuff: plain potato, white rice, and thickeners and bulking agents like cornflour, tapioca flour, or modified food starch. (The exception to the ‘white’ rule is our favourite superfood here at Plum, quinoa, which has the same mild flavour as rice but contains stacks of nutrients and more protein and fibre than any other plant food we could find. Check out how great it is here!)
So, to boil it down to one piece of simple advice: go for colour and avoid pasty fillers that won’t give your baby anything but a full tummy. And most of all, enjoy this time – it’s one big messy adventure!

Eva gets stuck into her superfoods

Do you read labels when you buy prepared baby foods? What do you look for?