Essential Babycare DVD Review and Giveaway
A very wise person told me recently when I was having doubts about my parenting skills, “you wouldn’t be handed the keys to a brand new car without being given instruction on how to drive it, yet everyday new Mums and Dads are sent home from hospital with their new baby and expected to know what to do”. This is so true!!
I know when we were expecting Little Bean, we (well I did, to be precise) read every book I possibly could to give me a few hints and tips on how to care for our baby when we finally had them at home in our arms. I also bought books to read once I had brought her home but who was I kidding, I had a newborn baby, lack of sleep, a mountain of washing and ironing, when exactly did I think I was going to have time to read a book too?!?!?
Well, for new parents everywhere help is at hand in the form of the Essential Baby Care Guide from www.essentialparent.com which is a unique series of four DVD’s all stored in a lovely green fabric case (a great help for when you’re fumbling along the DVD shelf with your bleary eyes at 3am because baby won’t sleep). The Essential Baby Care Guide provides new parents with all the information they need to raise healthy, happy children with practical visual demonstrations.
The series is narrated by renowned baby expert Sir Robert Winston and covers feeding, care & development, sleeping and first aid & accident prevention. I began by watching the DVD on feeding as we all know what fun I have attempting to feed my children and I was very impressed with the way the DVD was done. It wasn’t patronizing as I expected it to be, it showed a number of people from medical experts to real Mother’s giving advice on how to feed your baby from breastfeeding, bottle feeding through to weaning and beyond. I liked having the visual aspect as opposed to reading a book, with a book if you get interrupted it’s sometimes difficult to remember where you were but with a DVD you just press pause and then carry on from where you left off. I also find that visual aids work better with my mind and sink in quicker (I do have baby brain twice over you know!). My only disappointment is that I didn’t have this Guide when I first set foot on the parenting trail as I am sure it would have made a difference to me.
The Essential Baby Care Guide is the health visitor at hand, or the treasured font of knowledge on speed dial any time day or night and they even have a Facebook page where you can talk to other new parents in the same situation as you, share tips, cry on shoulders and who knows, maybe even make the odd friend or two.
The Essential Baby Care Guide
The Essential Parenting Company has been founded by two women with extraordinary backgrounds: Diana Hill, has spent 15 years as a noted Director and Series Producer at the BBC specialising in science programmes and Dr Rebecca Chicot, who has a Cambridge doctorate in Child Development Psychology. Both women are parents and devised the DVD’s to meet the chronic absence of quality information and support for new parents.
Professor Winston, who has advised the company throughout, is the UK’s best known baby expert with over 40 years-experience as a scientist, surgeon, father and grandfather and is the most outspoken advocate of the overwhelming and urgent need for new parents to approach parenthood with the best possible parenting skills.
Independent research carried out by The Essential Parent Company has revealed the alarming statistic that 80% of new parents felt they were not equipped to deal with the practical side of parenting – indeed, over 50% were more confident at changing a light bulb than a nappy! And only one in three new parents was able to recognise symptoms of critical ill-health in their babies. These statistics coupled with the fact that at least 20% of new parents live more than 50 miles from their families underline the crisis that exists amongst the parents of the next generation.
The Essential Parent Baby Care Guide is solely concerned with supporting new parents in their own choices. The DVD content has been created to be completely non-judgmental: if a mother wants to breastfeed, it shows her how… if she wants to formula feed it shows her the best way to do it. It includes a practical first aid course demonstrating how to save a choking baby, how to recognise serious medical emergencies such as meningitis, resuscitation techniques, advice on issues of sleep, etc.
Says Dr Rebecca Chicot, joint founder of The Essential Parent Company, “parents are so focused on the actual birth event that many are completely unprepared for the practical responsibilities that come with having a new-born baby. It is impossible to describe how becoming a parent changes your life and consequently we are delighted to finally be offering these parents useful, informative and supportive techniques and advice to help them with their journey”.
I am very pleased to be able to offer two of my lucky Mummy Matters’ readers the chance to have their very own copies of The Essential Baby Care Guide. All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter draw below – good luck!!
29 Comments
Gillian Holmes
July 2 at 6:30 pm
Dropping her on the way out.
Rebecca Chicot
July 2 at 7:03 pm
Thank you Sabina for a charming piece about our Essential Baby Care Guide. It’s really nerve wracking being reviewed by an articulate mum who knows her way around a nappy. You write really well and I will enjoy following your blog. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch our DVDs and write a review. Good luck with your other readers with your competition.
Best wishes
Rebecca Chicot
IamMummyMatters
July 3 at 11:34 am
Thank you for your comment and for giving me the opportunity to review the DVD’s they really are fantastic and have been very well considered. I look forward to hearing what the competition winners thought of them too!!
Tracy Nixon
July 3 at 2:37 pm
Thank you for the lovely giveaway. I was worried most about cot death, especially with my surviving triplet who spent 3 months in the SCBU before we brought him home. At least when he stopped breathing in hospital, alarm bells rang and nurses were able to attend to him straight away. I worried he might stop breathing at home during the night and I would never know. I had read that prem babies were more prone to die of cot death so I have a sleepless first few months!
Allan Smith
July 3 at 4:02 pm
Everything!
SARAH LAMBERT
July 3 at 5:00 pm
I have also got to say Cot Death as i feel the midwives scare people half to death about how to position your baby when you put them down to sleep,I spent weeks listening to my baby breathing i could never settle properly
xx
Karen Barrett
July 3 at 6:47 pm
Being on my own in sole charge of a newborn baby is very frightening.
Victoria Boland
July 3 at 8:57 pm
It felt very strange walking out of the hospital with my son. I couldn’t quite believe that someone with no training or experience was allowed to take a newborn home 🙂
Ashleigh
July 4 at 6:13 pm
I would have to say absolutely everything!
Mummy Fever
July 5 at 7:56 pm
The long lonely nights @MummyFever
Kirsty fox
July 5 at 9:57 pm
The thought of strapping him into the car and all the maniacs on the road was my initial thought, I think we drove home at about 10mph
Solange
July 7 at 1:01 am
Cot Death
Baby Care
July 7 at 7:06 am
This is is my first visit on this blog.
This blog is really attractive and most informative because it has many reviews of a Essential Baby Care Guide book, from this people reviews i think the book should be revealing. I surely suggest this book title if need any one.
Tami Q.
July 7 at 9:10 pm
I’m most worried about switching the baby from breastfeeding to bottle when I return to work.
esther james
July 8 at 7:42 am
BREASTFEEDING, I WAS TERRIFIED THAT I WOULDN’T GET THE HANG OF IT
Hannah Moody
July 8 at 5:00 pm
SIDS :-/
Hilda Hazel Wright
July 10 at 2:41 pm
It was a terrible prospect figuring out a demanding newborn baby when I was too tired to function, felt like a zombie!
Carolin
July 10 at 4:32 pm
Walking up and down the stairs holding my baby was a horrible thought for me.
Jane English
July 11 at 5:55 pm
I suppose it was being on my own with the little one after all the visitor had been & gone & hubby was back at work. I wasn’t sure how well I’d cope but it seems I had nothing to worry about, they’ve all turned out fine & healthy.
But its ever so scary becoming a parent, my son & his fiancee are due to have a little girl in August, they think they are ready to grow up & put computer games, weekends away, the latest gadget etc on hold for a few year whilst they have children, it seems only a few weeks ago I was bringing him home from hospital all small & helpless.
Laura Cooper
July 13 at 7:36 pm
making sure i don’t miss anything important
Suzanne sendell
July 16 at 12:49 am
Panicing that he was too hot or too cold,was he In pain when he cried
Was I doing everything right
Just got to say this was when I had my eldest and my first son, everything turned out fine as he just graduated on friday with a law degree with Honours xxx
Still was the same though with my 2 other children
tamalyn roberts
July 19 at 10:41 am
when i brought my daughter home, i was worried that i would forget i had her and go down to the shops to something without her lol silly me
emma cella
July 19 at 9:30 pm
I was worried most about cot death
Christina Marriott (@Chrissy4116)
July 23 at 1:08 pm
Breastfeeding and getting it right! worried me all the way through my pregnancy but I’m still going strong now at nearly 9 months 🙂
di dilly
July 27 at 9:16 pm
After being put to sleep for my emergency C-section I worried myself sick that I had been given someone else’s baby to bring home!
Jade Vine
July 28 at 6:23 pm
I’m worried I might sleep through her crying during the night!
Kay Lou Smith
July 30 at 6:44 pm
My first baby is due in September and I’m really worried it’s going to cry constantly and I won’t know what’s wrong. I also worry that I’m going to be constantly worrying and checking baby’s ok!
IamMummyMatters
July 30 at 9:09 pm
I remember that feeling well and I’m sure that you will be absolutely fine. It’s surprising how quickly you attune to your baby and know exactly what they want (most of the time!!) – good luck x
Joanna Sawka
July 30 at 9:11 pm
I was worried I could not handle it