From Babies With Love: The Baby Clothes Company Which Gives Its Profits To Charity

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

At Frost we love ethical companies and great products. Combine the two and we are in heaven. One of life’s great joys is buying clothes for babies, so when I came across From Babies With Love I was intrigued. From Babies With Love lets you buy gorgeous organic baby clothes while supporting orphaned and abandoned children around the world. They are an amazing company who deserve as much support as possible as they donate 100% of their profits to helping children.

Here is their story in their words:

“We support orphaned and abandoned babies to live in SOS Children’s Villages.

The children have lost their parents through war, famine, disease or poverty.

SOS Children creates communities for children who have nobody to turn to. The children are cared for by their SOS Mother; they live in family homes in the village with their SOS brothers and sisters. SOS Mothers care for the whole family, comforting, celebrating; doing all the things that parents do.

This enables children who would otherwise be left to fend for themselves, on the streets or in slums, to have a second chance in life.

The children’s circumstances are not their fault, and by being loved, cared for and educated, they go on to lead independent lives, breaking the cycle of poverty.

As SOS Children’s Zambia Director, Florence Phiri explains, for an orphaned or abandoned child, the difference a children’s village makes is huge: “when they come to the village they are given a family – brothers, sisters and a mother to look after them. They have a home and can begin a new life.”

To find out more about SOS Children visit their website www.soschildren.org

Whether you’re buying baby clothes for newborns, first birthdays, baby showers, maternity leave or a special treat just because, every purchase enables these children to grow up in loving family homes.

A heartfelt thank you.

From Babies with Love x”

https://www.frombabieswithlove.org

Follow @frombabies on twitter

Potentially Hazardous Nanoparticles Found in Powdered Baby Formula

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Frostie

Very important information for our American cousins who have children.

Nanoparticles linked to potential health hazards were found in popular powdered baby formula products, according to a first-of-its-kind report released today. Scientists found unlabeled and under regulated nanotechnologies in six out of six formulas tested, including Gerber, Enfamil, Similac and Well Beginnings products currently on store shelves.

Friends of the Earth’s report, “Nanoparticles in Baby Formula: Tiny new ingredients are a big concern,” details new findings from independent lab research and compiles data from health impact studies on nanoparticles. Nano-sized structures and particles of potential concern were found in all six of the baby formulas tested, including: nano-hydroxyapatite (nano HA) in needle-like and non needle-like form, nano titanium dioxide (TiO2), and nano silicon dioxide (SiO2) (the nano TiO2 and SiO2 results demonstrated possible presence).

“This technology is moving from the lab to the marketplace without sufficient regulation, safety assessment and labeling,” said lead report author, Ian Illuminato, health and environment campaigner with Friends of the Earth. “It’s of real concern that these tiny particles are used in hundreds of consumer products, and now in infant formula, with minimal to no oversight. Companies and regulators must take extra care with a product fed to the most vulnerable among us.”

“Few health impacts studies have been done upon nanoparticles. Yet we have concerns about potential health impacts,” commented Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH, with the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. “Some nanoparticles are ‘needle-like’ in structure. This is concerning. We don’t know if they can possibly penetrate cell walls and migrate to other parts of the body, or cause harm when inhaled. The problem is, there hasn’t been enough research to suggest that using the types of nanoparticles found in this infant formula study is absolutely safe.”

Mark Mitchell, MD, MPH, chair of the National Medical Association’s Commission on Environmental Health agreed. “We know that our federal and state chemical regulatory systems are broken and have failed to protect our patients from illness resulting from product ingredients introduced into the marketplace before adequate health studies have been conducted. Babies’ bodies are developing and can be especially vulnerable to exposures from hazardous materials. As a physician working with low income communities and communities of color, I am concerned that this new information on powdered baby formula may indicate disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations.”

“The failure of FDA to protect infants and mothers from the presence of potentially harmful nanoparticles in baby formula is mystifying,” said Lynn Kersey, executive director of Maternal and Child Health Access. “I know that not all powdered baby formula was tested, but the presence of these nanoparticles in these specific products is concerning to those of us working with low income families who may be more likely to use powdered formula. This means potentially disproportionate impacts on low income people and families of color.”

Lisa Archer, director of the Food & Technology Program at Friends of the Earth and herself a mother, wants federal agencies to protect the public: “Like many parents and caregivers, I had to feed my child formula. I am outraged that these poorly studied, virtually unregulated and unlabeled nanomaterials are present in infant formula when there are suitable non-nano ingredients that have been used for decades and don’t carry the same risks. The FDA must act immediately to put a moratorium on the use of nanomaterials in formula and other food until they can be proven safe, and are regulated and labeled. In the meantime, formula companies must immediately commit to not use these materials.”

Gerber is owned by Nestle, Enfamil is own by Mead Johnson, Similac is owned by Abbot Laboratories, and Well Beginnings is owned by Walgreens.

Friends of the Earth and eight other groups have sent letters to the FDA urging immediate removal of formulas with nanomaterials and for a moratorium on the use of these materials in formula until safety assessment, oversight and labeling are established. They also sent a letter to OSHA advocating for better protection of workers who may be exposed to nanomaterials. A letter was also sent to formula companies demanding that they stop using nanomaterials in absence of safety assessment, regulation and labeling. Advocates are urging consumers to sign a petition demanding this action from companies.

For more information on nanotechnology, visit www.foe.org/nanotechnology/

True: Lee’s scrumptious! Vicky Edwards talks to Lee Mead

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Vicky Edwards

Starring in one of the most famous musicals of all time, Lee Mead tells Vicky Edwards why he’s so happy to be in the driving seat…

Pictures: Alastair Muir

At the wheel of the most fantasmagorical car in history, Lee Mead freely admits that when the offer to play Caractacus Potts in the stage musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was made, he didn’t have to think twice. It is debatable, however, who was more excited: Lee, or five-year-old daughter Betsy.

“I took her to see the show in Southampton and watching her get so involved was really special. She knows all the songs and sings them all the time,” grinned Lee, who is clearly both a proud and hands-on dad.
Having grown up watching the film version, Lee was already familiar with the Chitty story and score, but he also has another link to our fine four-fendered friend; a connection that dates back to the early days of his career.

“When I was just starting out, the show was opening in the West End and I went to an open audition to be Michael Ball’s second cover. Now, I can move really well, but I’m not a trained dancer and you needed to be part of the dance ensemble to be second cover for the role”.
Game over. Footwork not quite up to scratch, Lee lost the gig.

“It makes it all the more special playing the role now,” he told me, eyes twinkling with both amusement and delight.
Talking of things being special, I asked Lee what he thinks makes Chitty such a well-loved show and why audiences of all ages are still so enchanted by Ian Fleming’s story of a magical car and a single dad.
“I think what makes it one of the most iconic shows in the world is that it has such a heart,” he answered, thoughtfully, adding:
“The relationship between Potts and the children, Grandpa and Truly are really important, but you have to hit those beats or it becomes just a show about a flying car; you need those truths. The scenes going into songs are quite tiny so you have to really work to get those transitions right and to mark those moments.
“It’s also a great story. Even as an adult you are taken on that journey; you can’t help but allow yourself to do that. It’s a very clever show with brilliant characters and brilliant songs.”
Ah yes, the songs. Wonderful they are indeed, and thanks to an ace 12-piece orchestra the impact of the music in this particular production is nothing short of spellbinding.
“It’s unusual for a touring production to have such a big orchestra and they are incredible,” agreed Lee, who shot to fame when he won the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do, and with it the title role in the West End revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Leading West End roles in Wicked and Legally Blonde followed, along with the release of several solo albums, and also being cast in TV’s Casualty as Ben ‘Lofty’ Chiltern, for which he earned a Best Newcomer at the National Television Awards 2015.

Not bad going for a lad whose first job was singing on a booze cruise ferry where the clientele was often so well lubricated that Lee sang from a cage in case any of them, worse for drink, took exception to his dulcet tones.
“But actually I loved it and looking back I realise that not being able to afford to go to drama school in London was no bad thing. A lot of young actors now aren’t prepared to go on tour; they just want to walk into the West End, but that’s not where you learn your craft.”
From schlepping around the country on low-budget tours to playing gigs on car ferries and doing cabaret with seasoned old-timers like Ken Dodd, Lee soaked up experience and learnt as much as he could.
“Apart from being great fun I think you have a far greater appreciation of success when it comes than if you had just walked into the West End,” he nodded, explaining that the ratio of actors out of work at any time far and away exceeds those with jobs.
“I do talks in colleges and I always advise kids to go and learn on the touring circuit.”
Starring in a major musical, being a devoted dad, talking to college kids – nobody can accuse Lee of being a slacker.
Laughing, he said: “I’ve also released a new album called Some Enchanted Evening. I wanted to do an album of songs from the 40s and 50s film era, giving them a modern twist.”
A huge hit with fans, the album smashed into the top 20 in the Independent Charts. Typically modest, Lee is quick to credit his band, but is nevertheless thrilled.

“The response has been brilliant and I’ll be touring the album in October when I finish on Chitty.”
Actors are often slightly rigid about their pre-show routines, so while I put my coat on I asked Lee if he had any such rituals.
“I like the five minutes before the show to be silent and focussed; to have that still moment before you go out on stage and it is like an express train,” he says, unnecessarily apologetically.
Wanting a bit of peace and quiet before a musical marathon hardly counts as diva behaviour, I countered.
“And I’m a bit OCD about my desk area,” he joked, in mock hopefulness of sounding like a highly strung artiste.
Sorry, fella. You’re just too much of a sweetheart to qualify as a foot-stamping prima donna. And, after an hour in his company, and later watching him in rehearsal, I can confirm that this triple threat performer and gentlest of gentlemen is also absolutely perfect as Potts.
Vicky Edwards

For more information, visit www.chittythemusical.co.uk
Facebook: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang The Musical
Twitter: @ChittyMusical / #chittymusical

Ella’s Kitchen Cereals Range And Kids’ Snacks Range Review

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

My son loves Ella’s Kitchen so much that his little legs start kicking when we pass that section in the supermarket. When I heard about the new cereals range I got very excited indeed. So did the little one. He has been a happy little tester. Here is what we thought:

The cereals have a range of textures for the weaning journey and are all organic.

Multigrain Baby Rice

Super smooth and deliciously scrummy, these two taste-tingling multigrain baby rice products offer bags of flavour + can be enjoyed any time of day. Suitable for tiny tums 4 months+, the carrot multigrain baby rice is a great way to teach little ones to love veggie tastes, right from the start of their weaning journey! The little one loved these. We don’t give him too much rice so it was a new experience for him. Both samples ended up with a clean plate.

Porridge

This berry good breakfast will help introduce little ones to more exciting flavours + is jam-packed with delicious strawberries + raspberries! Textured with yummy crispy bits and not too lumpy, the consistency is perfect for tiny tots from 7 months+. The LO loves porridge. This one did not go down as well as I thought it would. Babies are fickle. Strawberry porridge was his favourite but I think he has gone off it now. He still eats it though.

Muesli

Made to help little ones learn to chew, this new cereal for 10 months+ is the perfect next step on their weaning journey. With a chunkier + lumpier texture, this yummy muesli is full of scrum my banana + cinnamon to tickle tiny tastebuds. This was LO’s favourite. His mouth was wide open every time. No matter how big the portion was, he wolfed it down.

Easy-Peasy

The cereals range comes in great packaging which allows you to easily reseal the pack. It is also easy to pour, making it mess-free. I love the range and the little one did too. Thumbs up.

The Ella’s Kitchen’s cereals range is available in-store now with a RRP of £2.30 for Multigrain Baby Rice (125g), £2.50 for porridge (175g) and £2.70 for muesli 175g).

Also new from Ella’s Kitchen.

Look out! Our super tasty + super cool Kids’ Snacks range has landed – yippeee! Created especially for big kids from three to five years, these delicious snacks are not only super tasty, they’re super fun too!

Featuring two scrummy products and seven BIG taste combos, the 100% organic range provides bigger kids with snacks that are lower in sugar and introduce exciting veggie flavours to encourage healthier appetites.

Smooshy Snacks

Representing one of your five a day, these four taste-tingling smoothie combos feature a mighty VEG ingredient to show big kids just how cool veggies can be!

– mango + pumpkin

– orange + carrot

– strawberry + beetroot

– apple + cucumber

These are a great addition to the Ella’s Kitchen pouch range. The flavours are interesting and work well together. The little testers were fans.

Fruity Bars

With three exciting taste combos on offer, new Fruity Bars are completely unique and

includes tasty additions such as crisped rice, oats, flaxseeds and coconut.

– briiilliant banana + raisin

– pow powww pineapple + coconut

– rrrocketing raspberry + mango

The fun doesn’t stop there though! Featuring super cool comic strips on pack, kids will meet an entire cast of superhero characters, including a cheeky rabbit causing mischief with a crew of fellow superhero animals. To join in the superhero fun, simply use our pull-out superhero masks + collectible pop-out finger puppets. Snacking has never been so cool!

These are a brilliant idea. The packaging is fun and gets kids interested while the snack itself is yummy and nutritious. Super cool indeed.

How to find us

Ella’s Kitchen’s Kids’ Snacks range is available in Sainsbury’s and at sainsburys.co.uk with a RRP of £3.49 for Smooshy Snacks (4 x 100g) and £2.50 for Fruity Bars (5 x 20g).

Gardening Fun for the Kids

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Jack Shamash

The Children’s Garden

There are two ways of getting your children into the garden and away from their Xboxes and Playstations. Either you can lock them outside and ignore their frenzied screams, or you can buy them a book like this.

The Children’s Garden is written with parents in mind. it has lots of great ideas and projects, so that youngsters can actually enjoy their time in the great oudoors. You can have a lot of great fun, with very little money if you do simple things such as pond-dipping or going on bug hunts to uncover beetles and woodlice and other creepy crawlies

The book has chapters devoted to simple things such as growing vegetables, including potatoes and spring onions, which can all be done in just about any container. And it makes the very valid point that children are more likely to eat things that they’ve grown themselves. And they can have lots of fun growing flowers from seed such as nasturtiums and sunflowers – which are really great because they are completely edible so even if the seeds end up in a toddler’s mouth, they won’t do any harm.

This book is a handy size – not too big – and has lots of great pictures. And if you want to inspire your child with a lifelong love of gardens and gardening, this is a great place to start.

The Children’s Garden by Matthew Appleby is published by Frances Lincoln, £14.99

30 Days of Gratitude Day Six #30daysofgratitude

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Today I am grateful for mothers. Not only my amazing mother, but mothers everywhere. Most of whom work 24/7, seven days a week and not only don’t get paid, but sometimes don’t even get any gratitude. Mothers are amazing, here is to them.

Catch up on other days:

Day 1.
Day 2.

Day 3.

Day 4.

Day 5.

What are you grateful for?

Playmobil creates another winner by Margaret Graham

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Margaret Graham

At Frost we love Playmobil’s products. The company seem to have a great understanding of what children want.

At Christmas we gave their long-lasting ‘alternatives to chocolate’ advent calenders. The children are still playing with the characters, happily creating worlds of their own.

We at Frost are really pleased then, to see the new Playmobil Gift Eggs for Easter 2016

This year there are four new themes:

Mermaid with Seahorses

For those into football

What about the Pirate hunting for Treasure?

Our personal favourite is the Zookeeper and his alpaca.

Partly because one of us lived near an alpaca farm and the farmer would walk them along the cliff path as he took his family for picnics. Gorgeous.

One of these eggs will find their way into the lives of our little ‘uns this Easter. Such a lovely time of year, and these eggs will go on giving pleasure until the figures can be added to next year.

All eggs @ £6.99 each.

http://bit.ly/PLAYMOBIL_UK

Gift Ideas For a New Baby

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Frostie

Shopping for a new baby can be a minefield. Never mind that you might accidentally buy the same present as everyone else. To help out we scoured the internet and have came up with our top picks.

An ISA.

Starting, or putting money into, a junior ISA is a great idea which will have little ones set up for the future. It also stops the home of the new parents becoming cluttered. You can get a stocks and shares junior ISA from Chelsea Financial Services which invests in funds. Chelsea currently offer their junior ISA for no charge. All you pay is the fund managers charge which is typically 0.75% a year. The advantage of investing in a fund versus individual shares is that your money is invested by a professional and your investment will be spread over many different shares, so if one does badly it won’t bring down your whole investment. Chelsea have a number of ready made junior ISA portfolios selected by their research team if you don’t want to choose your own funds.

Investing early is extremely important because it allows the magic of compound interest to take hold, what Einstein called the eighth wonder of the world. By investing early a small amount of money can become much larger over time. The Junior ISA has the same advantages as a regular ISA. It has protection from capital gains and doesn’t need to be included on a tax return. The one disadvantage of a junior ISA is it cannot be taken out early and can only be withdrawn by the child after they turn 18. So if you want to save for school fees you would be better off investing in your own ISA.

Our other picks are from www.notonthehighstreet.com