Written for Doddl.com by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Pre-children, you and your partner may have enjoyed eating out in various restaurants, trying out different foods and experiences. I’m sure that you viewed these outings as fun and social experiences – we tend to be brought together with our friends and family by food and the occasion of it. Post-children it is very common that eating out in different restaurants (other than those which have the ‘child friendly’ signs) are a thing of the past and where you think you will go once the children are ‘much older’!!

Written for Doddl.com by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. When we are feeding children it can bring about a great deal of emotion for us. There is overwhelming joy when the child/ren have eaten something that we have been slaving over for hours to make (there is no feeling like it!) or sheer disappointment and frustration when they sit and either refuse to eat what you have made or pick away at it saying “I don’t like it”. The emotions that we experience when this happens can often lead to irrational responses and a feeling that we want to give up and just stick to pasta and grated cheese for the rest of their lives!

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant.  Early waking can be a very common issue at this time of the year - the mornings getting lighter earlier can trigger our little ones in to thinking that it is time to wake up! However, for some children it can happen at any time of the year and can be a very difficult thing to resolve.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant.  What does ‘sleeping like a baby’ actually mean? The way that this phrase is used suggests that a baby who ‘sleeps like a baby’ is sleeping soundly straight through the night until the morning, but we all know that this is very often not the case for babies, particularly in the early days!

We first met Simon at the Twins and Multiple Births Association volunteer day where he gave a talk about his and his husband’s journey towards becoming parents to twins by surrogacy.  His talk was informative, sensitive and funny all at the same time and we wanted to get to know Simon a bit better.  We hope you find our chat with him as interesting as we did...

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. If you are approaching the weaning stage with your baby you might be feeling quite overwhelmed with the amount of advice and products which are out there on the market. We’ve written this blog to help guide you through!  

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Even the title of this blog might make you feel uncomfortable – many of us find it difficult to talk about death at all, let alone with our children! 

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Embrace and understand that parent guilt is real! Nothing that anyone says or does can make it any better.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Holidays can often put our routines out of sync, and, after Christmas, this is the time to start getting back to a ‘normal’ routine – whatever that might look like for you!

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Tinsel, tree, turkey (and tantrums!), Christmas day is full of excitement for all of us but most of all for the children who will have been building up to it from mid-November (or even before)!