Baby Archives - Our Tiny Nest

0 In Baby/ kids/ Motherhood

Benefits of sensory play

This post is sponsored by Baby Einstein™, but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

Giving your child opportunities for sensory play encourages them to learn about their surroundings. From babies through children, they learn about the world around them through their senses.

What is sensory play?

Sensory play is any activity that encourages children to use their senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, balance and motion. Sensory play has been shown to enhance brain development and neuroplasticity.

Benefits of sensory play:

Promotes fine motor skill development
Promotes language development
Stress reduction
Promotes independent play and imagination
Aids in developing and enhancing memory
Invoke curiosity

Some of my favorite sensory play ideas:

Baby Einstein Strum Along Songs™ Magic Touch™ Guitar – This guitar is made with magic touch technology and plays sounds to respond to your baby’s touch. The guitar helps introduce colors and music while also encouraging the development of motor skills. It responds to baby’s strumming patterns to encourage self-expression and creativity. You can switch between 2 guitar sounds: acoustic and banjo. You can find the BabyEinstein guitar available at BuyBuyBABY now!

Sensory bins – I like to make various ones for the change of the seasons. It usually involves either cloud dough or water beads and an array of seasonal items for the kids to dig through and find.

Homemade play dough – My boys love this edible dough made up of frosting, confectioner’s sugar and sprinkles! And it’s super easy to make.

November 20, 2020 By Nicolle

0 In Baby/ Motherhood

Products for new mom and baby – a Babbleboxx review

Products for new mom and baby - babbleboxx review

This post is sponsored by Babbleboxx but all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own

Welcoming a new baby is an exciting time! One of things I looked forward to each time was trying out new products and gadgets for mom and baby. Babbleboxx recently sent me their new mom and baby favorites and I had the opportunity to test out some cool goodies. Read on below to see all of the products and read my review.

Baby Magic Bath and Body Products for Baby

Baby Magic’s Calming Baby Bath, Calming Baby Lotion and Gentle Baby Lotion keep your baby’s skin hydrated and soft. Baby Magic has been a trusted skincare company for little ones for several decades. All of their products are hypoallergenic and free of sulfates, dyes, parabens, and phthalates so you can feel safe using them on your babies. And they smell really good too!

Starting in September, Baby Magic will be donating a portion of proceeds to Baby2Baby. Baby2Baby is an organization that provides children living in poverty with all of their basic necessities, something every child deserves.

To purchase, click the links below.

Calming Bath

Calming Lotion

Gentle Baby Lotion

Disney Lullaby Playlist

One of the greatest gifts you can get as a mama, whether you’re a new mom or a veteran is the gift of sleep. Disney Lullaby is a playlist featuring calming renditions of all of your favorite Disney tunes to help soothe your baby to sleep. Music has been a huge help as far as getting our little guy into a sleep routine. (Read more about my sleep tips here). Download Disney Lullaby on whatever streaming service you use to stream your music.

Download the playlist on your preferred streaming service here

Auto-Dish Detergent Pods from Lemi-Shine

With a new baby around, you’re going to have alot more dishes and bottles to wash. Lemi-Shine dishwasher detergent pods combine citric extracts for extra cleaning power that helps remove hard water stains, stubborn grease and food. I love cleaning products that use less chemicals and these detergent pods are a cleaner version. They’re available at most major retailers like Target, Walmart and Amazon.

Get up and Go B12 supplement

Boost your B12 with these great tasting and quick dissolving B12 supplements by Pink Products. Each tab offers a blend of 5,000mcg of Vitamin B12 and L-Carnitine so 1 tab is all you need! Plus they’re free of gluten, dairy, artificial flavors and preservatives.

Visit pinkproducts.com for a $2.50 off coupon and to find a retailer near you! Valid through 12/31/20

My First Horoscope Book

I love all things that tell me more about people’s personality types, horoscopes, enneagrams you name it. This book is so cute! My First Horoscope would make a cute baby shower gift for expecting moms to learn more about their little one’s personality. Mav is a Cancer like me and Maxwell is a Libra like his dad. It’s so crazy the similarities.

Baby Banana

Baby Banana is a company most well known for their baby toothbrushes and teethers. These are a huge hit in our house right now since Mav is teething. All of their products are 100% non toxic and BPA free. We personally love the Mystical Dragon Toothbrush (also comes in a Unicorn) to help introduce little ones to oral hygiene as well as soothe achy gums (works great in the freezer!). The Lil Squish Jellyfish is also a great sensory toy and teether as well!

Use code FALL50 to get 50% off through 9/30/2020

Breastfeeding Consultation from SimpliFed

Lastly, if you plan on breastfeeding or pumping, this is a great resource for you! SimpliFed is a group of highly trained lactation consultants available online for virtual appointments to help you make decisions and guide you on your journey through feeding your baby. I love their mission which is to help moms through the decision making process of infant nutrition – whether that means exclusively breastfeeding, deciding what pump to buy and/or supplementing with formula.

SimpliFed is offering a 10% discount for all of my followers and subscribers ! Once you book an appointment, you will enter OURTINYNEST-SimpliBox110. This code will get you 10% off a 30- or 60- minute lactation consulting appointment.

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August 27, 2020 By Nicolle

0 In Baby

5 tips to get your baby to sleep through the night

5 tips to get baby to sleep through the night

This post is sponsored by Phillips Avent but all opinions expressed are my own

Our first baby was an awful sleeper. To this day, 3 years later, he still isn’t consistent. So when it came time for baby #2, we were determined to create a better sleep routine. Teaching your baby to sleep is actually a learned skill but there are a few things you can do to help them sleep for longer stretches. Below I’m sharing 5 tips to get your baby to sleep through the night.

My tips to get your baby to sleep through the night:

1.) Set a routine – After dinner, we give the baby a bath and he gets a nice massage. I have his sound machine playing in his room and the lights down low when I bring him into his room to get him changed so that he knows it’s time for bed. He gets his nightly bottle or dream feed and then goes right down in his crib. Whatever your nightly routine is, just be consistent so that your baby can learn those cues and recognize when it’s time for bed.

2.) Dream feed – If you haven’t heard of a “dream feed”, it’s basically feeding your baby to sleep. Think of it like topping off your gas tank. Basically you rouse baby awake enough to feed and then put them back to bed. This cuts down on the number of times baby will wake to feed.

3.) Use a soothie – Both of my kids loved their Philips Avent Soothie Snuggler. The Soothie Snuggler is a BPA free soothie with a plush toy they can play with as they grow. There is a secondary piece that can attach to backpacks, bags etc. so they can use them when their older. They’re easily detachable which also makes them really easy to clean. Check out the cleaning instructions from Philips Avent below or this video.

To start, detach the Soothie pacifier from the Snuggle.
Sterilize the Soothie either in a Philips Avent Steam Sterilizer bag or in
boiling water for 5 minutes.
After sterilizing, allow the Soothie to cool for at least 5 minutes and
squeeze any trapped water out of the nipple.
Check the product before each use and replace the pacifiers immediately
in case of damage or weakness.
Philips Avent recommends replacing your baby’s pacifier after four weeks
of use.
You can wash the plush toy in a mesh laundry bag with your normal
laundry cycle. Set it out to air dry.
Once you’ve cleaned both parts of the Soothie snuggle you can connect
them back together and give the pacifier to your baby.
The plush toy is compatible with all Philips Avent Soothies and pacifiers
which can be swapped out and replaced with age appropriate
soothies/pacifiers as baby ages.
Philips Avent Soothies are designed for babies 0-3 months and 3+ month,
and other Philips Avent pacifiers are designed for babies 0-6m, 6-18m and
18+ months.
Once your child outgrows pacifiers altogether, his or her snuggly friend
can still stick around and conveniently attach to car seats, strollers, or
backpacks.

4.) Use a sound machine – I literally swear by mine! (Click for ours. It even projects little stars on the ceiling). Over time, my little guy has learned that it’s a cue that it is time for sleep once he hears the music playing. Now at a year old, when he’s tired, he goes in his room and brings me his little elephant sound machine to tell me he’s ready for bed.

5.) Give yourself grace – all babies are different. My first was an awful sleeper and my second has been a great sleeper since a very young age (me knocking on wood). At the end of the day, you have to do what works best for you and your family.

And be sure to check out these other posts

Nursery Reveal

Must haves for baby

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July 13, 2020 By Nicolle

1 In Baby/ decor/ home/ home decor

Nursery Reveal

This post contains affiliate links meaning I make a small commission.

I’m so excited to finally share Mav’s Nursery Reveal on the blog! Let me just say, that this process made it completely evident how things change after your first baby. When we were pregnant with Dude (we didn’t know he was a dude at the time), we had the nursery all set and were prepared well before his arrival. He ended up never sleeping in it (we coslept and then we moved), but it was my favorite room in the house and we would often play in there. This time around, I was in no rush because I knew we had time. And then once he came, life got crazy with the two (you can follow our story on Instagram here.) But I finally got around to finishing all the details and adding some personal touches.

Scroll below to see the complete Nursery Reveal.

You can shop by clicking the thumbnails below the photos or the links at the bottom.

And be sure to check out my Etsy shop for some cute personalized nursery decor.

As soon as we found out it was a boy, I knew that I wanted to give the nursery a modern, monochromatic look. I off-set the black and white with some earth tones and greens.

Spearmint Love is a small shop I found on Instagram. They have tons of unique crib sheets in all different prints and colors. (I’ve linked Mav’s sheets all the way at the bottom).