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Welcome to Gas & AirBranch reportIn and around HaringeyRainy days and MondaysBirth storyMeet a volunteerPlacing an advertNext issueNew volunteersUseful contacts

Baby Show 2016The Big Yellow Self Storage CompanyHelen Bartlett PhotographyChantry Hall Montessori NurseryTiny SwimmersColourstrings Music KindergartenJohanna Green Antenatal and Postnatal Exercise; Charlotte Wickers Pregnancy and Post-Natal Counselling and Psychotherapy; Back to Health Wellness Centre; London Au Pair and Nanny AgencyJenny Poirier CounsellingKidz KabinBright Horizons

Secret green spaces in HaringeyThe food sharing revolutionUsing cloth nappiesGreen parenting tipsHow to avoid a blocked drain

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Winter 2015Regulars

Features

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EDITOR’S LETTER

F or me, making greener choices really kicked in when our first little being came along. Quite suddenly, there were decisions to make about

feeding and clothing and nappies and toys and taking the best possible care of this someone else who will probably be experiencing our world long after I have turned into compost.

I didn’t immediately turn vegan and start making my own nappy buckets (but if you want to do those things, then you go right ahead). But in our small family some things changed for the better of the environment, and I suspect it’s not just a fad. Turning again to the wee subject of nappies (excuse the pun), on p. 18 you can read about one local mum who chose to use non-disposables, and why. Wet wipes are also under the microscope – even supposedly flushable ones (see p. 29).

We also sat down for a (fairtrade) coffee with the Haringey brains behind a brilliant new local phone app designed to minimize food waste. Read more on p. 14.

to the Winter issue of Gas & Air

For those of you about to embark on parenthood, and those of you already deep into the throes, we hope that our greener parenting tips on p. 33 will give you some easy ways to make yours a more environmentally friendly lifestyle where you can – time and sleep-deprivation permitting. Generally you will save pots of money too, which surely has to be a good incentive. To encourage you to get out there and embrace your inner green, p. 12 has some suggestions on Haringey’s more secret green spaces.

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this edition, and we’d also love to have some new baby pictures and birth stories making their way over to fill our next edition (see p. 40). We hope to hear from you.

Beth Applegasandair@haringeynct.org

WElCOmE

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particularly eco/natural/organic/green-minded or not, having a baby does make you think more about the kind of world you want your children to grow up in so hopefully our Eco issue will leave you with some ideas about how to do your bit for the environment. Please enjoy this edition of Gas and Air and feel free to recycle by passing it onto a friend once you’re done!

Best wishes,

Fiona Branch@haringeynct.org

UPDATEUPDATE

Branch report

Season’s greetings! This branch report comes packed with glad tidings. After last edition’s plea for volunteers it looks as

though Haringey NCT is about to be rejuvenated with a host of new mums who have kindly stepped forward to take on a range of roles within the branch. A huge thank you to them and a big welcome from the Haringey team – you can meet some of them on page 35 and I’m sure you’ll bump into them out and about if you drop in to any of our regular NCTeas or other upcoming events.

We’re happy to report another fantastic Nearly New Sale which took place in September, raising

over £3,000 for the branch. This money, as always, goes directly into supporting the branch and funding services needed by new parents in Haringey. We had a huge turnout of volunteers on the day which ensured the sale ran really smoothly. It’s lovely to see regular volunteers starting to return time and again to help out and it’s always appreciated. We also had another really successful Expectant Parents Pub Night at the Old Dairy in Stroud Green. These events give pregnant mums and dads the chance to meet other parents-to-be in the same area and develop contacts and friendships before their big arrivals. They are exceptionally well attended and it’s really great to see people forging those

all-important links with other parents. Many of you will know from experience that as well as being a whirlwind of excitement, being a new parent can be a difficult and lonely time, so having people to talk to and meet up with can really make a difference.

This issue of Gas and Air focuses on ways to go green; much of the news recently has been eco-centred (5p bag, anyone?) so this edition is a timely one. Having a baby can generate a huge amount of washing, rubbish and waste in your household so any ways in which we can be more mindful of our environment as new parents can only be a good thing. Whether you’re

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there to make sure all goes smoothly and to answer any questions about life with a baby in Haringey. We will have a reserved area in the pub, so please do RSVP so we can make sure we have enough space. Please email Chelsea on events@haringeynct.org We also have a private Facebook group for Mums and Dads of babies due in January, February or March 2016 so even if you can’t make the evening, you can still get into contact with all the other local parents expecting the same time as you. Please contact Alice on membership@haringeynct.org to be added to the group.

British Red Cross First Aid courses Saturday 23rd January 2016. See p. 28 for more details.

WEEKLY EVENTS NCTea @ Blend, N8 Mondays from 11am (except Bank Holidays)

Every Monday from 11am till 1pm, join local parents at the NCTea @ Blend, hosted by Natalie & baby Phoebe and Rose & baby Electra. It’s a great opportunity to meet other local mums and dads. Blend (www.localblend.co.uk), is a lovely spacious

CALENDARCALENDAR

IN & AROUNDUpcoming events and activities in Haringey – see nct.org.uk/haringey or facebook.com/haringeynct for our most up-to-date listings

UPCOMING HARINGEY NCT DATES

Special NCTea Christmas Brunch@Bill’s, Muswell Hill Road, N10. Friday 18th December 2015, 10am - 12 noon

Come celebrate Christmas with Lara and 14-month-old Freya at the last Friday NCTea at Bill’s until 15 January.

Expectant Parents Pub Night – The Old Dairy, N4, Wednesday 6th January 2016, 8pm

If you’re expecting a baby in January, February or March 2016 (or near enough!), please come to The Old Dairy (just past Crouch Hill station). 1-3 Crouch Hill, N4 4AP. www. theolddairyn4.co.uk on Wednesday 6th January from 8pm. This free and relaxed social event is a chance to share a drink with others whose babies are due around the same time as you, make new friends and perhaps exchange contact details. All welcome, wherever you live, NCT members or not – friends and partners very welcome, but also feel free to come by yourself. Haringey NCT volunteers will be

cafe on Green Lanes between Allison and Beresford Roads. It has a very child-friendly approach, so feel free to bring along your buggies and roaming toddlers as well as bumps and babies. Blend has great coffee, teas, cakes and a lunch menu, as well as a play corner with toys and books. The kind owners, Steve and Linda, are reserving the big table at the back for us. You do not need to be an NCT member, just a parent who would like to meet up with others. Contact Harringayladder@haringeynct.org for more details.

One of the current hosts Natalie is returning to work soon so we are looking for a new co-host. If you are interested in the role, please email Kathy at harringayladder@haringeynct.org for more details.

Pequeñitas @ Stroud Green & Harringay Library, Quernmore Road, N4 4QRMondays at 11.30am (except Bank Holidays)

This is a Spanish speaking meet-up for mums and dads, nannies and grandparents who are interested in speaking or practising their Spanish and making new friends. Stay and have fun, read Spanish books and play with lots of toys! It’s ideally suited to children aged 0 - 3. It’s also an opportunity to support one

another to bring up your children bilingually. It’s run by Rocio, who originally comes from Argentina and has a 14-month-old daughter. The group is best suited to a maximum of 10 children so please confirm your interest by emailing Rocio rociostclairford@gmail.com. Stroud Green & Harringay Library runs a free Spanish singing session from 11 11.30am on Mondays so do go along to that as well if you can!

NCTea @ Delicia, Fortis Green, N2 9HPTuesdays, 2.30 – 4.30pm

Join our hosts Lisa and baby Jacob and Kathy & baby Max every Tuesday from 2.30 in this lovely, child-friendly café on Fortis Green between East Finchley and Muswell Hill. Delicia has plenty of sweet and savoury food options to tempt you in from the cold, a child-friendly room with clean changing facilities, plenty of space for buggies and a toy corner for toddlers. Email eastfinchley@haringeynct.org for more info. See you soon! Bring your NCT Membership Card for a 10% Discount, see more about members’ benefits on p. 40.

NEW! NCTea @ Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, N4 3JPWednesdays, 2.30-4.00pm (starts 9th December)

Please come and join our new Stroud Green contact Rhiannon and baby Ada for coffee, cake and chat at the Park Theatre on Wednesday afternoons. There is a big table reserved for the NCTea on the 1st floor (accessible by lift) with lots of space for buggies and baby changing is also available. This is a great opportunity to meet other local mums, dads and little ones in a lovely child-friendly environment - for more information, please contact Rhiannon stroudgreen@haringeynct.org

Bumps and Babies @ The Woodman, N6 5UAThursdays from 3.00-4.00pm

414 Archway Road, Highgate, N6 5UA (corner of Muswell Hill Rd and Archway Rd) www.the-woodman.com. Please come and join Laura & baby Callum and Rebecca & baby Samuel at this popular meet up for a relaxed chat over a cuppa in this central Highgate pub. Bumps and Babies is an opportunity for new or expecting mums (and dads!) to come and meet other parents in the area for a cup of coffee and a chat. It can also give you a chance to discuss any problems and hopefully solutions too! We meet in the Sol Room and there are baby-changing facilities available. If the weather’s good, we’ll be on the decked outside area just beyond the

Sol room! Please contact highgate@haringeynct.org for further information.

NCTea @ Pickled Pepper Books, N8 Thursdays from 11am – 12.30pm

Join us every Thursday morning for a cuppa and a chat with other local families at Pickled Pepper Books, 10 Middle Lane, Crouch End N8 8PL. www.pickledpepperbooks.co.uk Pickled Pepper Books is a fabulous children’s bookstore in Crouch End offering storytelling, author/illustrator event, film screenings and more. New hosts: Alison (& baby Madelyn), Kate (& baby Noah), Rachel (& 3 year old Imogen & baby Gabriel) and Hannah (& baby Eve) are sharing the hosting so you will see one or more of them each Thursday. We are collecting baby toys for our toy box at NCTea@Pickled Pepper Books. If you have any unwanted toys please bring them along to the bookshop and say they are for the tea. Bring your NCT Membership Card for £1 Tea and Coffee, see more about members’ benefits on p. 40.

NCTea @ Bill’s, Muswell Hill Road, N10 3HS Fridays from 10.00am – 12.00 noon (Christmas Brunch on 18th Dec, then back on 15 January)

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Please come and join Lara and 14 month old Freya and other local families for a coffee and a chat and even sample a breakfast or early lunch. Members and non-members welcome as are kids of all ages.Bill’s reserve the front section (on the right as you walk in) for us. There is space for buggies and there are lovely baby change facilities available. Our NCTea group gets 20% off the bill! Please contact Natalie for more details on muswellhill@haringeynct.org

NCT Stay and Play @ My Crèche, N8Saturdays from 10am – 12 noon (please call to check)

This free event which is suitable for under 2’s is held in the wonderful My Crèche in central Crouch End, at 143 Crouch Hill London N8 9QH. Mums and Dads, want to get out of the house on a Saturday but find it’s too wet and cold? Then bring your little one by for some playtime in the lovely warm and welcoming My Crèche and meet other parents too! There is a wide variety of toys for babies and toddlers, as well as a large outdoor space, so plenty to keep everyone entertained. Please can we ask you to bring your baby in a sling or a foldable buggy. For more details, contact parentsupport@haringeynct.org and check out My Crèche.My Crèche provides flexible full day and hour-by-hour care for children aged 6 weeks to 5, as well as parent and child activities daily, clubs for older children before and after school, evening onsite babysitting, birthday party packages, and much more!

Please note that occasionally the crèche is closed for private events. Please call 020 8340 8215 to confirm the Stay & Play is on to avoid disappointment.

FORTNIGHTLY EVENTS Dads and babies meet-up @ The Salisbury, 1 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, N4 1JXEvery other Saturday 3pm – 5pm (next meet-up Sat 12 December - no meet on Boxing Day!)

Are you a local dad interested in meeting other dads in the area?Why not join local dads John, father to baby Aldous and Simon, who has two daughters, Nancy and Esther for a drink in Salisbury, and get to meet other fathers. The Salisbury is a lovely spacious pub with open fires and high ceilings, serving great beers and food. It’s also child-friendly with unisex baby-changing facilities and high chairs. All are welcome and feel free to come with or without your babies/toddlers/buggies. You do not need to be an NCT member to attend. A table will be reserved under the name of ‘Dads NCT meet up’. Please contact harringayladder@haringeynct.org for more details or join the Facebook group (‘Dads and Babies meetup in The Salisbury’).

Mamás & Bébés, Little Dinosaurs, N22Every other week from 2.30pm

This is a Spanish-speaking group for mums and dads who would like to socialise and make some new playmates for the little ones. It’s also an opportunity to share songs and games from our childhood to encourage our children to speak Spanish in a fun and natural way. Please email Clarisa, a mum from Spain, on clarisaalonso@hotmail.com if you want to be included.

MONTHLY EVENTS Startup Mums, N8, The Alex, Crouch End, N8. Email for dates, £8 a ticket

Are you a mum who is looking to grow your business or develop your great ideas into one? Come along and meet like-minded mums for some friendly support, brainstorming and advice to help inspire you along. Any questions email Crouch End local contact Megan at crouchend@haringeynct.org or check the Startup Mums Facebook page (‘Startup Mums’).

Book Club @ The Bull, Highgate, N67.45pm, email for dates

If you would like to read some interesting books and have a night out with local mums once a month, come join Book Club! It’s a friendly, relaxed event with discussions about the book usually starting about 8.30pm and lots of time to get to know one another well. Newcomers very welcome! Please contact Emma at emmae74@hotmail.com to get date and location details. The book for November was ‘Wild - A Journey from Lost to Found’ by Cheryl Strayed.

Expecting a baby in January, February or March?

Come to a pub night on Wednesday 6th January 2016 from 8pm at The Old Dairy, 1-3 Crouch Hill, N4 4AP

All welcome, wherever you live. We’d love to see you whether you’re new to the area or lived here for ages – singles, couples, gay or straight, first baby or more, NCT members or not. Friends and partners are very welcome – do spread the word! More details on www.nct.org.uk/haringey and on Haringey NCT Facebook. RVSP to events@haringeynct.org

FEATURE

SECRET GREEN SPACES IN HARINGEYMore than a quarter of Haringey is open space, which is pretty unusual for London. You have probably already set foot inAlexandra Park, Highgate Wood, Finsbury Park, Lordship Recreation Ground and Lea Valley, but how about these other green lungs?

1. Parkland Walk – four and a half miles of atmospheric old railway line – London’s longest nature reserve, brilliant for blackberries and if you’re very lucky, you may even spot a rather rare Muntjac deer.

2. Railway Fields Nature Reserve, opposite Harringay Green Lanes station. Hidden behind the impressive iron gates, this is a Green Flag Award Winner, originally used as a railway goods yard, now a peaceful wildlife haven with different habitat areas to explore, an indoor learning centre and play areas.

3. Queens Wood is one of Haringey’s ancient woodland areas, named after Queen Victoria, and is a great place for bluebells, wood sorrel, woo anemone, wild mushrooms and woodland birds and animals.

4. Wolves Lane Nursery near Wood Green is another fantastic hidden gem, containing an indoor desert, palm house and rainforest area (where it actually rains indoors!) to help children and families learn about different habitats. If you’re lucky you might get to hold a real snake or a gecko. A little café sells a few treats.

5. The Gardens aka ‘the Oasis’, Doncaster Garden, off Stanhope Gardens, N4 is a lovely little community garden complete with old railway arch, and holds children’s events such as seed planting, outdoor film screenings and monthly gardening events throughout the year.

Have we missed out your favourite spot? Then tell us at gasandair@haringeynct.org and we may just publish it in the next edition.

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Q. Tell me a bit about your new phone app OLIO – what it does, and how you thought it upA. My co-founder Tessa is a very old friend of mine who I’ve known for thirteen or fourteen years. The two of us are always the ones who are packaging up everyone’s leftover food at restaurants and making sure that it gets eaten. We both come from pretty traditional corporate backgrounds but we found ourselves with an opportunity to take some time out from the workplace and do something together. We both wanted to do something that would be scalable AND have a really positive impact.

We were trying to come up with an idea, and Tessa was moving back from Switzerland at the time. She had a leftover cabbage and several sweet potatoes, and she didn’t know any of her neighbours, and couldn’t find anyone friendly on the street to give them to. She ended up bringing

them back to England because she wasn’t going to leave them in her corporate flat to rot. When she was telling me this story, she wondered aloud why she couldn’t just open up an app and find someone to give them to. We just knew at that minute that we had to make OLIO. That was in February, and we moved really quickly, because we didn’t want to miss the summer. Our hypothesis was that people would be much more inclined to take walks to collect things, because there are longer days, because there are all kinds of food festivals and farmers markets, and food is obviously much more plentiful.

Before we invested our own savings into building the app we did a ‘proof of concept’ trial. I recruited twelve local strangers, and the Haelen Centre participated too. For two weeks we put them on a WhatsApp Group, and said ‘here are the rules, go for it.’ And within a few

minutes of launching, someone posted a bag of shallots. And somebody else said ‘I’ll take them’. It worked!

So we launched in July, from Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill, with Crouch End at the heart of it, mainly because I live here! We had an overwhelmingly positive response. Before we even launched, we had 2,200 people who had pre-registered and the whole concept of food sharing seemed to really resonate with people. First of all, most people genuinely hate wasting food. Secondly it feels morally wrong, contrary to how most of us were raised. But we’ve gotten used to it because food’s so cheap, and it’s become the norm that you don’t really think about that half bag of lettuce that gets binned.

we’ve gotten used to wasting food because it’s so cheap”

Q. Was there anything that surprised you when setting up the app?A. Something we didn’t quite recognize early on is how much people want to form relationships with their neighbours and community through OLIO. There’s a whole variety of people who are using the app – mums, families, single men in their 20’s who will go pretty far on their bicycles for homemade birthday cake! I like that social element – using technology to perform a digital transaction but bringing it back into the real world. There are not that many apps that do that, that allow you to connect online, but then create a relationship

THE fOOD SHARINGREvOlUTIONWe talk to local parent Saasha, co-founder of a new app designed to freecycle your surplus food – developed in our own little corner of North London

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face to face in your community. That’s actually been really powerful.

I like that social element – using technology to perform a digital transaction but bringing it back

into the real world

Q. What is your take on food waste globally?A. Over a third, and by some estimates, over half of all food that’s grown is never consumed. In developing countries, food loss occurs in the fields due to lack of refrigeration or storage, but in the home, food waste is next to zero in places where they don’t have very much money. In the West, it’s flipped – we have sophisticated farming and distribution technologies, so there’s very little food waste along the supply chain due to rotting or anything like that. About half of all food waste occurs in the home, and it’s in small quantities.

A lot of people get really upset about supermarket waste, because when you see a whole skipful of sandwiches it is really shocking, but actually in-store supermarket waste is less than 3%. That said, supermarkets do have some awful practices that need to be remedied, such as cancelling orders at the last minute with suppliers (when it rains at Wimbledon and they don’t need all those strawberries), or rejecting food based on cosmetic standards. Unfortunately, farmers have to absorb this waste.

Food waste when it does go to landfill turns to methane, which is worse than carbon dioxide (CO2). A third of all municipal waste is food, which is very heavy. Food recycling still has a long way to go.

It’s not just the environmental impact of the food that we waste, it’s all of the resources that went into producing that food. 25% of the world’s water is used on food that’s never eaten. Agriculture is very intensive – there’s the labour involved, the fossil fuels involved, and there’s the distribution and transportation. We are actually clearing natural habitats to grow food that’s never eaten.

Our demand for food in the West is insatiable. For us it’s very cheap – it feels like it’s disposable. But actually because we demand so much, in native areas where they are actually growing food, farmers prefer to export food because they’re going to get a better price than if they sell it locally. So we basically displace the crops that would be grown to feed native populations through our demand for food that’s not going to be eaten.

Q. Is OLIO designed to feed hungry people?A. There are 800 million malnourished people on the planet. A quarter of all of the food that we waste could feed every one of those hungry people. There are a lot of organisations focused just on hunger but there aren’t that many people focused on waste. There will be two billion more people joining the planet by 2015, and it’s going to be literally impossible to feed them if our ratio of food grown to food wasted stays the same. There’s not enough space, there’s not enough water – the only way we’re going to feed those people is to reduce our waste.

the only way we’re going to be able to feed everyone is to reduce our

waste

Q. How do you see your app working in the future?A. Our vision for OLIO is that it’s home time, you exit the tube, and you ask yourself what are you going to have for dinner tonight? Rather than going straight to your local supermarket, you open up the app and see what’s available between you and home that needs to eaten today. Maybe there’s some foccaccia at the deli, or some meat that’s sell-by date is today, or your neighbour has some carrots. So you make one or two stops to pick up food. That’s food that you don’t buy, so not only are you saving money, but you’re purchasing less, and you’re preventing other food from going to waste. If everyone displaced 5% of their weekly shop with food that they have sourced from their neighbours and local shops (food that would have otherwise been thrown away) our demand for food as a whole would decline by 5%. Resources are freed up and less goes to landfill. We have this real vision of how this becomes the new normal. So you go to your farmers market, you go to Tesco, you get your big online shop once a month – and you look at OLIO every day.

Q. What have been the highs so far?A. The high point was when the BBC covered us, and we went from having 800 people to 3,600 people signed up in a matter of two days. Every time we see a new person join and add food or collect food and have a wonderful experience, every single time is a reaffirmation that we’re not crazy and that there’s potential for OLIO to be really transformational.

“The high point was when the BBC

covered us

Q. Have you had any unexpected problems when setting OLIO up?A. The lows are when a day goes by and nobody does anything. You worry people aren’t going to come back. And the other lows are when the app plays up. Obviously we had to be very budget-oriented with it, so we’ve not been able to invest in proper testing, for example. New users are joining, and if their first experience is that they can’t send a message or something isn’t working then they may not come back and it’s really frustrating.

Q. Is there anything parents can do to help?A. Obviously to download the app! You can also come and volunteer with OLIO. We’re volunteer-led, and have lots of mums on maternity leave helping us out. So if anyone is looking for a fulfilling project and wants to get involved with their local community, then please get in touch!

Q. What are your favourite things to do in north London if you had a spare afternoon?A. I love Parkland Walk – it’s a real local treasure. For eating out: Cats on Stroud Green Road is the best Thai food in London! The London Zoo is great too – the annual membership is really good value.

Q. What are your best tips for NCT parents thinking about changing to a greener lifestyle?A. Freecycle is great – you can find lots of amazing free stuff, and it is also a great way to give your unwanted items a second life.

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I always knew that I would use cloth nappies, and the moment I found out that I was pregnant I was straight on the Internet ordering my first nappies!

My decision to choose reusables was for environmental, financial and also for health reasons.

The Environmental...I’m very conscious of protecting the environment so I try to live accordingly. I hated the idea of sending around 4000 nappies to landfill where they would be still hanging out in 400 years time. Some people argue that the energy used washing the nappies is just as bad, but that doesn’t have to be the case at all; obviously if you are washing at 90 degrees in an old, energy-hungry machine and then tumble-drying, then yes, your carbon footprint will be yeti-like, but if you wash at 60 in an energy-efficient machine and line dry then you’re fine. If you already make household choices based on what is better for the environment, such as choosing appliances that are A+ rated or higher and/or getting your electricity from a green supplier then you really don’t have to worry.

On the washing subject, a friend of mine felt that handling dirty nappies would be a step too gross for her, but to be honest when you have a baby you get very blasé about poo and you’ll be up close and personal with it whether you use reusables or not. The Financial…I needed to bring my baby up on a budget, being an actress married to a theatre director! The savings from using cloth nappies were extremely attractive – you

can easily save £500! Plus you can use them on subsequent children, or (as some people do) sell them on. I personally feel a little strange about using second-hand nappies, but many people don’t mind – after all, they will have been thoroughly cleaned. There are tons of Pre-Loved nappy sites on Facebook.

when you have a baby you get very blasé about poo”

Cloth nappies do cost a lot up front, you can buy a full set of around 20 nappies plus the necessary accessories (nappy bucket, liners etc.) for about £300, but then you don’t have to keep buying after that (unless you want to!).

Once I knew I was pregnant I signed up to various nappy manufacturer/retailer newsletters and Facebook pages as they regularly send out offers. Some manufacturers also sell seconds at greatly reduced prices but with the same guarantees as their perfect stock. Most of my nappies were bought as seconds and they work just as well.

I mentioned above that you don’t have to keep buying the nappies unless you want to. There is something that you should be aware of when you enter the world of cloth nappies – this is the desire to buy more. Before you were a parent, you may have enjoyed shopping for shoes, cookware or Toby jugs (whatever your shopping compulsion was) but once you become a

USING ClOTH NAPPIES parent using cloth nappies you may start to look at different nappies in the same way! There is a great smorgasbord of nappies on offer – shaped, all in one (AIO), 2 parter, bamboo, minky, cotton, hook and loop (Velcro in the normal world), snaps (again poppers in the normal world) and then there are all the patterns, colours and cute prints, not to mention all the Special and Limited Edition designs! There is apparently a woman out there with a tattoo of her favourite Bum Genius nappy! (I know.) I have limited myself to one brand of nappy (Tots Bots), so I only have to resist their new prints, and I do (mostly!) succeed.

The Health Reasons…I didn’t like the idea of wrapping chemicals around a large part of my child for the next couple of years. Disposables use moisture-retaining granules that are far from natural and are pretty much the same as what you would buy from a garden centre to put in your hanging baskets! Then there is all the plastic, chlorine, dyes, bleached fabrics and so on. There are disposables that don’t contain these things that are natural and chemical-free. Even though these ones only take 40 years to break down in landfill, they still go there in the first place.

There is some argument that babies who wear cloth are less likely to get nappy rash – this is probably due to changing cloth nappies more frequently but using cloth nappies will probably not stop it occurring. I think that regular changes and nappy-free time is the best way of preventing and treating nappy rash. Plus, a baby in cloth nappies is more likely to potty train quicker than a baby in disposables because there is a delay between peeing and the nappy absorbing it so the child feels wet so therefore knows when they have been to the toilet.

I didn’t like the idea of wrapping chemicals around a large part

of my child

In Practice…Once my daughter was born I went from cloth nappies in theory to cloth nappies in practice and I have never looked back, but I did learn a few things on the way.

I ended up using eco-disposables to start with as the nappies that I had bought (Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch Size 1) covered the umbilical stump which I didn’t like, I felt that it should be uncovered to allow it to dry out. Once the stump fell off and the area looked dry I started to use cloth. I have since discovered that the brand Close Parent do a newborn pop-in nappy that is contoured at the front to sit below the stump. I have also used eco-disposables on holiday when I have no access to a washing machine and I didn’t fancy having a bucket festering away for a week which I then had to transport home! If I were staying in a holiday home or somewhere with a washing machine then I would definitely continue to use cloth. Some cloth users are quite hardcore about this and will only holiday where they have access to a washing machine.

I have also used eco-disposables on holiday when I have no access to a washing machine and I didn’t

fancy having a bucket festering away for a week…

If you do have to use the occasional disposable, don’t feel bad, just remember that for every cloth nappy you use that is one less nappy going to landfill.As I have used disposables (always the natural eco

Morag Sims, mum of four-month-old Verity gives us the lowdown on why she chose reusable nappies

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ones such as Beaming Baby or Naty) as well as cloth I can say quite definitely, that in my opinion, the cloth nappies perform so much better than the disposables, especially at night. I’m not sure you can beat a Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch with boosters at nighttime – they can very easily last 12 hours.

Alongside my cloth nappies I also use reusable wipes called Cheeky Wipes. They are essentially small cotton flannels that you keep moist in a box at home or in a wet bag whilst out and they are so much more effective at removing poo than disposable wipes (and better for the environment). Using them with reusable nappies is so easy as you just throw them in your nappy bucket and wash everything together. (Cheeky Wipes do offer a ‘mucky’ box to put your dirty wipes in but I find it so much easier to throw them in with the nappies.)

If you are considering cloth nappies but don’t know where to start then there are loads of useful websites out there. The one that I would recommend for advice

and for buying is The Clean Green Nappy Machine – www.cleangreennappy.co.uk – they have great video tutorials, a huge range of stock and they regularly have sales and offers.

There are loads of nappy brands and you can either be a purist and stick to one, or you can play the field and have a little bit of everything! I chose Tots Bots based on the fact that they are made in the UK and because they have won lots of awards, but that’s just me. I have friends who swear by Close Parent pop-ins and Bum Genius, but which ones should you buy? I don’t know, but luckily most nappy online retailers do trial packs where you get several different types to try for a discounted price.

Lastly, lots of local councils offer incentives to get people using cloth so do investigate if you can get any cashback. I got £54 back from Waltham Forest* and as Tesco says – ‘Every Little Helps’!*Ed: Haringey Council will give you a nappy voucher for £54.15

through their scheme, see their website for details at

www.haringey.gov.uk

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Get educated NCT offers a range of courses - contact Belinda bookings5b@nct.org.uk for any of these or click on the links: Early Days - for new mums with babies 1-6 months old - Crouch End - course starting 14th January https://www.nct.org.uk/course/24668628 Twins and Multiple Births 3 hour workshop with Pauline - Muswell Hill Saturday 23rd January https://www.nct.org.uk/course/25214011 Introducing Solid Foods Workshop for parents/carers of 3-6 month old babies - Crouch End 14th December https://www.nct.org.uk/course/24922283

Volunteer vacancies

Harringay Ladder local contact – this is a great way to meet other parents and get connected with the local area. The role only takes a couple of hours a week, answering emails and sending out the e-newsletter and updates (most of the info. is already provided).Maternity Services Liaison Committee (MSLC) Representative – the MSLC Rep makes sure that the body that commissions maternity services listens to, and takes account of, the views and experiences of users and providers of those services. The MSLC Rep also takes part in committees and walkrounds of Haringey maternity services.First Aid Coordinator – to act as the main contact point between the branch and the British Red Cross, and to coordinate, manage and take bookings for 8 courses a year.NCTea Co-Hosts needed – various locations.For further details on our latest vacancies, please see our website at www.nct.org.uk/haringey/get-involved

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mEET A vOlUNTEER

How long have you volunteered for NCT, and how did you get involved?Since March 2015 when my baby Phoebe was 3 months old. I had been to an NCTea (a coffee morning in a café) a couple of times and was asked if I would like to take over hosting it every week. Once I started doing that I became aware of other roles in the branch and gradually took on more volunteering!

Why did you want to help out in these roles in particular?Hosting the NCTeas was a great way to meet local parents and it kept me sane while Phoebe was young; to have a regular event to go to and the adult conversation. I grew up in East Finchley and Muswell Hill so I was very keen to become a Local Contact. I like making it my business to try out local classes and be able to answer questions about NCT and other events locally. I recognised that the regular Haringey NCT events have helped me ¬– I wanted all local parents to be aware of them and reminded of when they are running – so I took over the social media role too! Was it important to you to volunteer for NCT?I feel part of the local parenting community and it gave me something to focus on when I didn’t want to think about feeding, changing nappies and getting Phoebe to sleep!

What do the roles involve? Do you need any special training?Being a Local Contact means adding some local information to the branch newsletter and emailing that out once a month.

Natalie is the Web Editor, Social Media Coordinator and the Muswell Hill & Alexandra Palace Local Contact for NCT Haringey

Anne, the Parent Support Coordinator, showed me how to use the relevant computer programs. I get a few emails a week from local parents. I chose to set up an NCTea in Muswell Hill and have recently found another parent to host it for me as I am about to go back to work part time.

As the Web Editor, I keep the Haringey NCT web pages up to date with new courses, event dates and new photos. I can use those updates in my Social Media role: to publicise branch news, courses and events on Facebook and Twitter. I had never had a Twitter account before starting this role so I’ve enjoyed teaching myself how it works. Is there more you would like to do?I’m keen to help the branch to engage with as many people as possible. Social media posts which include photos seem to get more attention online so I have been contacting volunteers to send me photos or going to some of the events myself to take photos. I’d like to build that up so that both hosts and attendees email me or tweet the branch with photos and comments. Do you have any other commitments that make it tricky to balance this role?I am going back to work as a teacher in December, three days a week, so I will see how it goes but the great thing about my volunteering roles is that I can choose when in the day or night I do them. Do you have any tips for green parenting?I try to buy nappies and nappy bags that are said to degrade quicker. Babies are just as happy with kitchen utensils and packaging to play with as expensive toys. When Phoebe’s older, I hope she does lots of junk modelling! Buying nearly new and second-hand clothes, books, equipment and toys. Borrowing books, dvds and toys from your local library.

What is your best piece of advice for new parents?I think communication is key and picking good times of the day to talk when you are not completely exhausted or distracted. As well as obviously trying out the Haringey NCT events!

You can contact Natalie by emailing her atcomms@haringeynct.org or muswellhill@haringeynct.org

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PERSONALPERSONAL

My birth story doesn’t really begin when my waters broke at 11:30 on Saturday 29th August. In my opinion, this

story started with all the preparations, mental and physical that I did in the build-up to my birth. I see my birth of my daughter Iris on Sunday 30th August as the final stage in a series of processes in which I played an active role in preparing for before I went into labour.

I did most of my labour at home before travelling a short distance to the Whittington hospital to give birth at the birth centre. Whilst I was at home, I started off resting in bed. However, when the contractions became too intense for me to remain in bed I moved into many positions that helped to move my baby further down the birth canal. For a while, I remember standing circling my hips to use both gravity and motion to help relax me between contractions. Sometimes I would kneel on all fours and keep rotating my hips. These repetitive motions were quite useful for me to zone out into a trance-like state. I think it was very important for me to focus in getting into a steady rhythm as it prevented me from making sudden, jerky motions or descending into panic. Although it seems like a funny thing to say,

Highgate mum Hazel explains the techniques that helped her to bring baby Iris into the world

I felt like as long as I could keep my body swinging like a pendulum, I could control my breathing and keep feelings of fear at bay.

as long as I could keep my body swinging like a pendulum, I could

control my breathing and keep feelings of fear at bay

By the time I reached the birth centre at the Whittington I had make good progress, and I felt sure my baby would arrive soon, as I could feel extra weight bearing down in my hips. I was offered gas and air and diamorphine but I rejected both (I know that this doesn’t happen in all cases and many women have no choice but to accept medical intervention). But since things had progressed well for me, these things might hinder the rhythmic pattern that I had brought myself into. I thought the gas would make me dizzy when I was already tired and needed to focus on my rhythm. I also did not want opiates to go into the bloodstream and make my baby dopey when she arrived. By the time I arrived at the hospital, I was 5cm dilated and Iris arrived

three hours later. I was lucky enough to have a natural birth because my body made the transition from one stage to the next fairly quickly.

I did not want opiates to go into the bloodstream and make my

baby dopey

In my preparations before birth, I had practiced different breathing exercises and yoga positions that helped me prepare for coping with the pain of contractions, and to find a way to aid my body through the different stages. One of these exercises was to practice sitting in a position that was safe but none the less uncomfortable for the body, e.g. raising arms in air, squatting against wall… until muscles started to ache. Then to practice doing deep breathing for a few minutes or the average length of a contraction. This way I could prepare myself for being able to focus on my breathing whilst in a position of discomfort.

Whilst I was going through contractions, I imagined I was swimming up to the surface of

the water from the depths of a very deep lake. Whilst you are undergoing contractions, your brain cannot think in a normal, rational way, so I found it useful to meditate on a simple visualisation that helped me to focus on my breathing and to block out many of the things going on around me. I also found it useful to be in positions that used gravity to help my baby along the birth canal, and when my daughter eventually arrived I was sitting on a birth stool with my husband sitting behind me as if we were on a bobsleigh, supporting my body and upper back.

My birth – as is every birth – was a messy, bodily process; I was very vocal, I was sick, I restlessly moved in and out of positions, at times I was like a helpless baby myself, clinging to midwives I had only just met as if they were my mother. Every birth though, whatever the complications, is a deeply moving event, and it is an incredible experience that has brought a new connection between myself and other women who have gone through this process.

THE bObSlEIGH bIRTH

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HOW TO AvOID A blOCkED DRAINThe NCT are supporting the UK water industry’s national Bag it and Bin it Campaign which asks people to avoid flushing items that can block sewers and pollute the environment.Baby (wet) wipes are one of the biggest culprits. Did you know that wet wipes being flushed down toilets cause more than a third of all drain and sewer blockages in the UK? Even wipes described as “flushable” cause blockages and the biodegradable ones often don’t spend long enough in the sewer to start to decompose. These blockages can cost families hundreds of pounds to clear and significant blockages can cause toilets, sinks and baths to overflow inside homes, causing extensive damage which is extremely distressing. If the sewer floods externally it can pollute watercourses and the environment.

Even wipes described as flushable cause blockages

That’s why water companies ask customers to only flush the three Ps – pee, poo and paper. Anything else should be put in the bin, including tampons and sanitary towels. It’s also a good idea to dispose of poo from a disposable nappy in the toilet (if you can) before wrapping up the nappy and putting it in the bin so as to reduce the amount of faecal matter sitting in landfill.Another pain in the drain which causes blockages are cooking oils, even vegetable and nut oils, which are poured down kitchen sinks. These solidify as they cool and can block people’s private pipes as well as the public sewers, leading to flooding. Small amounts of cooking oil can easily

Our next local course is on

Saturday 23 January 2016 10am and 2pm

Location: Project Me, 84 Park Road, London, N8 8JQ

be disposed of by wiping pans with paper towels which can then be thrown in the bin. Oil can also be transferred into plastic bottles, once they have cooled, before being thrown away or taken to a local tip to be recycled into biofuel.

If you want to cut down on the number of baby wipes you use then

try using re-usable wipes

If you want to cut down on the number of baby wipes you use then try using re-usable wipes. These can be purchased from the NCT shop or you can make your own from a length of fleece or old towels, cut into squares. Soak them in boiled water (if you like you can add a camomile tea bag) then keep them in a watertight tupperware and you have a ready to use pack just like a pack of baby wipes. If you need something more soothing use a diluted oil like calendula oil from the Weleda baby range as you don’t want concentrated oils on a baby’s skin. It makes sense to use them particularly if you are using reusable nappies anyway and fans of reusable wipes say they are much more efficient at removing poo than disposables. Some disposable wipes can also be washed several times before disintegrating if you like. For faces and hands a clean and damp flannel in a plastic bag is a good alternative to piles of wipes.For more information on the campaign, visit www.southernwater.co.uk/bagitbinit. Thanks to NCT Godalming and Cranleigh branch for permission to use this

article

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My PND story

Both my children were born in October, when the dark nights set in for the next few months and it’s five months before the sun sets any time after 5pm. That’s when I found it the hardest having a newborn baby.

I would try to make the most of the daylight hours, but to be honest when I had a newborn baby, it was difficult to get dressed before midday, let alone try and plan somewhere to go. I would plan to meet friends, others I had met at NCT classes – we were all in the same boat having just had our babies.

But there was a nagging feeling I had – they seemed to be getting the hang of things far better than me. I felt like a fog had descended around me and I was walking through treacle. Everything seemed to just not feel right. But I couldn’t put my finger on what I felt or why I felt it. I just knew that I wasn’t feeling how I had expected to feel as a first-time mum.

When you hear about postnatal depression, you hear the extreme stories: “I couldn’t hold my child”; “I wanted to harm my baby”; or “I felt really down”. I didn’t feel any of these but some mums do.

I wanted to feel happy inside and so I put on a fake smile and tried to laugh off the crying baby I was holding in my arms when I met my friends at the coffee shop, by saying “oh, she’s just a bit grizzly today”.

I put on a fake smile and tried to laugh off the crying baby I was

holding

However, inside, I felt consumed by anxiety. I couldn’t bear to hear my baby crying and would do anything to prevent or stop her from doing so. I would sign up to loads of baby classes thinking she was one of those babies that needed stimulation all the time. My mum would see me and say I’m doing too much with her, she’s just a baby. But I knew that if I didn’t have plans for the day I would go stir-crazy in the house – especially if she started crying. I bought an endless supply of dummies so that the crying could be kept to a minimum.

On the outside to others, I would seem the calmest mother on earth! Who knew what I was actually really feeling? No-one. My husband would pick up on the subtle changes and suggest I pampered myself with a massage or manicure. My request for wine to be picked up by him on the way home would be his only indication that my day might have been slightly stressful. But to be honest, every day felt stressful. Every day I would wake up after having broken sleep due to breastfeeding and/or insomnia (another one of my PND symptoms) and start worrying about my day. What was our plan, we were seeing friends in the afternoon but what about in the morning? How would I occupy myself and my baby? Quick I need another plan!

RAINY DAYS AND mONDAYSWhile babies are a special gift and parenting can offer the most amazing experiences, the changes that occur with parenthood can take a lot of adjusting to. The early years of parenthood can sometimes be an isolating and lonely experience. It can knock our confidence, shake up our sense of identity, put a strain on our relationships and play havoc with our emotions. One mum Charlotte tells her Postnatal Depression (PND) story, and what she didwhen she came out fighting on the other side.

I would overthink things, go over whole conversations had at that play date in my head. ‘What did that person mean by saying that? Why did I say that? Did that person take offence when I said that?’ It totally consumed me and left me feeling utterly exhausted.

After about two months of feeling like this I decided to speak to my health visitor. She could see that I was finding it difficult and suggested I speak to the doctor. I found it hard trying to express exactly how I felt but after doing a questionnaire called the Edinburgh scale test I could see that I needed some help. As I was breastfeeding I was worried about antidepressants so decided on going to seek some counselling.

As I was breastfeeding I was worried about antidepressants

I was still feeling anxious. Visiting family members were a worry for me. They would want to hold the baby and what if she started crying? They would then give her to me and my anxiety would be at an all-time high. What if I couldn’t calm her down? I would rather not go and visit but that wasn’t an option either. Imagine feeling really nervous when riding a rollercoaster and knowing that the feeling won’t go away – coupled with the feeling you get when you leave your mobile at home and all you want to do is go back and get it. That gives you some idea as to how tense I was inside.

The days grew longer and lighter, and talking about things helped. Soon the summer was here, and I felt stronger as a new mum. Doing things for me felt like a luxury – I would generally sort out myself last but I realised that for me to feel happier and get rid of these feelings, I needed to relax more. Easier said than done.

It took a year for me to finally feel I could laugh without faking it and smile genuinely knowing I was feeling more myself again.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and had I known, I would have

researched different talking therapies, as I believe CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) might have been the best one for me; enabling me to find ways of trying to cope with my anxieties. And I would have spent time researching safer antidepressants to take whilst breastfeeding too.

Second child:

My desire to extend our family went beyond anything I had experienced during my first pregnancy and postnatal experience. My second daughter was born one week before my eldest’s second birthday. Talk about having two children close together in age!

I did get PND again the second time around. I started to recognise the same feelings over again. I sought support from the health visitor and doctor, but also found an amazing support group based in Hertfordshire. They provided free weekly phone support and a monthly support group. Just to sit and chat to other mums who needed no explanation as to how or why you felt the way you did was such a relief. This time around, as well as the support group, I took anti-depressants and had counselling again. I also tried meditation too, which helped enormously.

no mum should feel like they are going through their postnatal

illness alone

Once I was honest about how I was feeling with my husband, close family and friends, I found that their support was invaluable. Without being open to them, going through my PND journey would have been so much harder.

I knew that once I got better from the illness that I wanted to support other mums. My strongest passion is that no mum should feel like they are going through their postnatal illness alone. cont.../

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FEATUREFEATURE

GREENPARENTINGTIPS

TOYS, CLOTHES AND EQUIPMENT

Chat to parents with older kids – you’ll find out what is really essential and what’s not. You can even put together a pre-baby ‘want list’ so that you don’t end up with too much stuff you don’t want or need

Acquire second-hand, reused, recycled toys and clothing – make charity shops, Freecycle, Gumtree and NCT sales your friend. It’s great for charities, it’s green and let’s face it, your child won’t know the difference if it isn’t new.

Buy wooden and cloth toys – they are biodegradeable and free of nasties like Bisphenol-A (BPA), still found in some plastic products, including baby bottles.

If you are buying new baby clothing, then hemp and bamboo are the fabrics of choice for their

eco-friendly credentials; grown in the UK and Europe means it has less airmiles attached.

Or even better, get creative and knit your own with wool from UK farms or channel that Sound of Music vibe and make those clothes out of vintage charity-shop curtains.

Host a toy and clothes swap – another brilliant way to recycle your old stuff, get some new exciting toys and meet other local parents. The least green aspect of cotton clothing and baby furniture for example, is in the production, so by extending the life of these products by reusing and recycling, you are minimizing their carbon impacts.

BOTTOMS UP

Use home-made wet wipes – you can make them from old muslin cloths, cut-up towels, fleece squares etc. even old socks! Keep a spray bottle of water mixed with a little bit of soap / essential oil to moisten when needed, and a Tupperware container for used wipes, and then bung in the wash when you’re ready. Cheap, environmentally friendly and good for your baby’s bottom. Coconut oil makes a fantastic substitute for nappy cream too. What’s not to like?

Use cloth nappies (even if it’s just occasionally) – made without bleach, fragrances or latex. Kinder to baby’s bottoms and the environment, cheaper (Haringey Council will give you £54.15 towards the cost). Real nappies are now a lot easier to scoop up and wash, they don’t leak like they used to and there are even companies who will take them away and wash them for you.

Think this list is just for lentil-munching militants? Look again, people – green can mean saving money and having fun as well as minimising your environmental impact

Consider the ‘Elimination Method’ – no nappies at all! Not for the faint-hearted but a very eco-conscious way to really understand when your baby needs to go, with the added advantage you will potty train an awful, awful lot earlier.

Use eco-friendly disposable nappies – even the major supermarkets are finally stocking these.

FOOD AND DRINK

Breastfeed if you can – because it lowers the odds your little one will need antibiotics, reduces both your risks of cancer, and it’s an environmentally friendly source of food for your baby (no processing, packaging, sterilizing or heating needed).

Make homemade baby food when you can – you will reduce packaging waste and save money not to mention it’s nutritional, and teaches your baby to eat how your family eats.

Give toddlers smaller portions to minimize waste – you can always give them more if they want it, and ‘finishing their plate’ can be rewarding

If you are buying processed food, get to grips with the small print and ask yourself why the E numbers and added ingredients are there.

Go meat-free on Mondays – meat isn’t so good for the environment, and it’s expensive, so even if you don’t want to go completely veggie, then cutting down on the number of days that you eat meat is a good approach. Grow your own food – it can be a great project to get children involved with, even if you just have the odd windowsill for wild strawberries.

With another mum I met online, we set up a PANDAS support group, which is affiliated to the national postnatal depression charity.

We run a twice monthly peer support group every first and third Friday of the month from 12.30 to 2.30pm at Coppets Wood children’s centre (note new location), Friern Barnet, London N10 1JS (£2.50 donation).

PANDAS HELPLINE: 0843 2898 401www.pandasfoundation.org.uk

You can also try NCT’s helpline which offers practical and emotional support in all areas of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood: 0300 330 0700.www.nct.org.uk

by Beth Apple

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- White vinegar is the queen of cleaners: you can put it in a spray bottle and add essential oils for scent, and use for general cleaning. Vinegar can also be used as a fabric softener in washing machines or a rinse-aid in dishwashers, as well as a window-cleaner (polish dry with old paper).

- Particular essential oils you can use include lavender (antibacterial), orange/lemon oil (degreasing and lovely scent), chamomile (anti-inflammatory for delicate skin), tea trea oil (antiseptic and anti-fungal properties – good for the bathroom).

- Bicarbonate of Soda is very effective at getting rid of smells – shake it on the stairs and vacuum up; add it overnight to shoes and dustbins and shake out in the morning to deodorize. Mix up a paste with water, vinegar or lemon juice and you have a great scrub for showers, toilets etc.

- Olive oil can be used to polish wooden cupboards, drawers, tables and chairs

GENERAL

Green parenting can also mean a walk in the park, puddle-jumping (a particular favourite), beachcombing, animal spotting, junk modeling – all fun, free things to do with your kids.

Chelsea NguyenEvents Coordinator I moved to Highgate when I was pregnant with Liam and ever since NCT has played an important part in our lives. We met a wonderful group of first-time parents through the NCT antenatal course and then many more friends through other activities such as NCTeas and Bumps and Babies. As our family is not close by, I feel extremely fortunate that NCT has enabled us to find and join a friendly and supportive community of parents in the neighbourhood. The experience has been so overwhelmingly positive and I want to give something back to the community by helping parents make the most of their maternity leave. I am excited to be the new events coordinator for Haringey and look forward to organising many more fun and useful activities for all parents and their babies. I’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions, so please feel free to contact me at events@haringeynct.org

Rhiannon HortonStroud Green local contact

I moved to Stroud Green last year and my daughter Ada was born in February. I love living here and have enjoyed exploring the area during my maternity leave.

After doing the antenatal NCT course at the start of the year, I got to know a great group of mums and it is my pleasure to volunteer as the Local Contact for Stroud Green.

I am already working on setting up an NCTea in the area (watch this space). If you have any ideas or questions, please contact me on stroudgreen@haringeynct.org

NEW vOlUNTEERSChildren are often more keen to eat the food if they’ve picked it / grown it themselves.

Buy local, seasonal and organic food when you can – if only for the free tastings at food markets and chance to chat to the people who’ve actually grown the stuff. There are also numerous health benefits, a distinct lack of packaging and less food miles.

Get composting, or invest in a wormery or bokashi bin. Haringey Council offers you a discount on these bins and also on rain butts here: http://www.haringey.getcomposting.com

TRAVEL

Get yourself out there walking, cycling with a baby seat (or a bike with a child trailer attached – the kids will love travelling in style). It’s free, it’s exercise.

Look into car clubs instead of thinking you’ll need a car once the baby arrives. You don’t have the hassle of insurance, MOTs, parking etc. which means a pay-per-hour service can work out much cheaper in the long run.

CLEANING / HOUSEHOLD

Wash at 30 or 40 degrees C when you have enough clothes for a full load. Air-dry clothes when you can (or fit as much into the tumble dryer as is humanly possible).

Make your own cleaners with vinegar, lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda to kill those germs, viruses, mould, and mildew and disinfect baby’s high chair:

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Kathryn Brooke Bounds Green & Wood Green local contact

I moved to Arnos Grove four years ago, having lived down south in London for over 10 years. Our first baby, Aidan was born back in August and we are enjoying the steep learning curve that is first-time parenting. We did NCT antenatal classes in Barnet and found them invaluable both in terms of the class content and having the support of fellow classmates afterwards. Currently on a year’s maternity leave from my job as a fundraiser, I thought volunteering for this role would be a great way to thank NCT for their support and meet new mums close to home. Do get in touch with any questions or ideas for things we can do in this area: boundsgreen@haringeynct.org

Amy Glider Bounds Green & Wood Green tea host

My name is Amy. I’ve been living in the area for seven years and in Bounds Green specifically for about three years. I am currently a stay-at-home mum to Wilf, nearly 4 and Ottilie 3 months having previously been a primary teacher in Barnet. I think it would be really nice to create a community for the parents in the area, with a regular space to meet up. Hope to see some of you soon!

Francesca Jemmi Publicity Coordinator I came to London about a month ago from Italy with my wife, our two twins Carlo & Guido, and the dog Peggy. I quickly looked for initiatives that involve children in our area, and with great joy, I found that the British are masters at this! This is how I learnt about NCT Haringey, and I thought that I would love to be involved in the life of the borough this way. By chance, Anne and Fiona were looking for a press officer, which was exactly the role I had been doing in Italy! This is a great opportunity for me to meet people and I will do my best to promote NCT Haringey events and initiatives. You can get in touch with me at publicity@haringeynct.org

38 39

RATES

PlACING AN ADvERTGAS & AIR is published quarterly.Our print run is 880 copies.

There is a 20%

discount for advertising in 4

consecutive issues.

The deadline for the Spring issue is 1 February 2016. All prices are exclusive of VAT. We reserve the right to alter advertisements.

Please contactAnna Nalborczyk for any advertising enquiries advertising@haringeynct.org

Acceptance of advertisements (including inserts) does not necessarily constitute endorsement of the advertiser’s products or services either by the NCT™ or by Haringey Branch.Please let us know if you have any complaints about any of our advertisers.

Registered Charity No. 801395

Size Colour or B&W Cost per issue Specification

1/4 page B&W £35 62 x 92 mm

1/2 page B&W £60 128 x 92 mm

Full page B&W £110 148 x 210 mm Colour £130

Inside cover Colour £130 148 x 210 mm

Back cover Colour £200 148 x 210 mm

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Full page advertorial B&W £120 148 x 210 mm Colour £140

Inserts Colour £160 single sheets (max A5)

(other options available)

NCT bREASTfEEDING PEER SUPPORT TRAINING - NEW DATES NCT is excited to offer a new round of breastfeeding peer support training this year and is calling on local mums in the Haringey area who can spare 2-3 hours a week to become Peer Support Volunteers. Volunteers would support mums and mums-to-be with breastfeeding by offering practical and emotional support at local breastfeeding support groups, visiting postnatal wards, supporting on the telephone and chatting to expectant parents at antenatal classes. It is a great opportunity for local mums to learn extra skills, volunteer alongside health professionals and children’s

centres’ teams and gain an accredited qualification. Full training is provided for volunteers and there are more training dates coming up in January 2016 (open day 13th January). The course is free and is accredited by the Open College Network to a level 2. Applicants should have personal experience of breastfeeding for at least 3 months so they can share this knowledge. Once trained there will be regular support and help for volunteers in their role from the NCT team.

If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a breastfeeding Peer Support Volunteer or taking part in the training please contact Haringey Peer Support Team by emailing Haringey.PeerSupport@nct.org.uk.

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UPCOMING

provides a sound foundation for parenthood. The information in this newsletter is for the use of NCT members only, in connection with NCT activities, and may not be used for any commercial purposes. The conditions of the Data Protection Act may apply. This newsletter does not necessarily reflect the views of the NCT nationally, nor of the Haringey Branch, but rather the views of each individual contributor. Acceptance of advertisements (including inserts) does not necessarily constitute endorsement of the advertiser’s products or services either by the NCT or by the Haringey Branch.All material included in this newsletter is copyright of the Haringey Branchof the NCT™. Consent must be sought from the editor prior to using any material. Registered charity no. 801395

NCT has a volunteering registration system:An online system has been developed to register volunteers to provide all the tools, resources and information they need to carry out their roles. Members who are volunteers will receive a discount off their membership, saving them £14 a year. Members can also update their contact details through this new system.https://babble.nct.org.uk/~forms/2ndpart/Volunteer_Registration/

NCT discounts and benefitsWe have a whole new range of discounts and benefits for NCT members in Haringey including cafes, pubs, health and fitness, haircuts, beauty treatments and boutiques. All you have to do is show your membership card to take advantage of the fantastic offers from our local businesses! Please visit the Member Benefits page on our website to see details of all the offers available to NCT members.

lOCAl fACEbOOk GROUPS

Mums and Dads of babies due in January, February and March 2016, we have a Facebook group where you can post your questions, rants, worries, joys, tears, chuckles, suggestions, events, calls for coffee, park meet ups, walking dates...anything! So even if you can’t make the evening, you can still get into contact with all the other local parents expecting the same time as you. Please contact Alice on membership@haringeynct.org to be added to the group. Raising a child on your own? NCT Haringey has set up this private Lone Parent Facebook Group to provide support and friendship for sole parents. Anyone welcome, whether you have a bump, baby or a toddler and you don’t need to be an NCT member. To join the group please email membership@haringeynct.org for an invite. An additional Facebook group is set up for parents having their second, third (or fourth and fifth) child. To share tips, ask questions, arrange meet-ups...It can be daunting starting a second maternity leave without a pre-made group of friends, this Facebook group can help meet new friends with children of a similar ages. To receive an invite to the group please email Alice at membership@haringeynct.org. This group was previously the Two-Under-Two group. We have broadened the audience as while a small age gap creates particular difficulties (which can still be discussed here) a new addition to a family is challenging whatever the age gap.

WE NEED YOUR ExPERIENCES fOR OUR mSlC REPRESENTATIvE

Emma Dent, our MSLC rep, is looking for feedback - good or bad - on new parents’ experiences of local breastfeeding support services. Do you think you got adequate support and advice after having your baby, either in hospital or at home? Could you access NHS or NCT provided services easily? Are there enough breastfeeding support groups available locally, at the right times and in the right places? Have you found the advice and support provided useful? (The Maternity Services Liaison Committee (MSLC) is run by Haringey Clinical Commissioning Group - the NHS organisation that ‘buys’ NHS services, including antenatal, maternity, and post natal care, on behalf of local people.) To pass on feedback or for more details contact Emma on mslc@haringeynct.org Emma Dent is the Maternity Services Liaison Committee (MSLC) representative for local maternity services from NCT Haringey. This means she is in a position to convey the views, experiences and aspirations of local parents and parents-to-be to NHS decision-makers. Emma would like to hear from you if you have had particularly good or bad experiences of local hospital or community maternity services, and about your thoughts in general on local maternity services, antenatal and post natal care. Please note that Emma will not be in a position to take up individual complaints with a service but, by hearing about your experiences, can build up a picture of what is or is not working locally.

The Mind/Body issueWe need your help! The next issue of Gas & Air will be about mind and body. Do you know your pre-school from your playgroup? And what makes a Montessori different? Do you have any tips for pre- and post-birth exercise and nutrition programmes? If you have a story connected to mind and body, then please email Beth at gasandair@haringeynct.org by 1st February – we would love to hear from you!

Would you like to make your baby a cover star? In the next issue of Gas & Air we would like to feature a local baby or toddler on the cover of the magazine and that means we need your help! Please email a high resolution picture of your little one, preferably a face shot, to us at gasandair@haringeynct.org, including his or her first name, age and where you live (area and postcode). We will try to feature babies from all around the borough in the next few issues so you might well be in with a chance!

Helping you to become the parent you want to beThe National Childbirth Trust’s purpose is to enable all parents to have an experience of pregnancy, birthand early parenthood that enriches their lives and

Spring 2015

NExTISSUE

42

CONTACTS

ALExANDRA PALACE Natalie Steiner alexandrapalace@haringeynct.org BOUNDS GREEN Kathryn Brooke boundsgreen@haringeynct.org CROUCh END Megan Thomas-Thiede crouchend@haringeynct.org EAST FINChLEy Naomi Simon eastfinchley@haringeynct.org hARRINGAy LADDER Position vacant harringayladder@haringeynct.org hIGhGATE Johnnie (Rebecca) Johnson highgate@haringeynct.org MUSWELL hILL Natalie Steiner muswellhill@haringeynct.org STROUD GREEN Rhiannon Horton stroudgreen@haringeynct.org WOOD GREEN Kathryn Brooke woodgreen@haringeynct.org

LOCAL CONTACTS

NCT CONTACTS

BRANCh COORDINATOR Fiona Doyle branch@haringeynct.org TREASURER Tammy Thomas treasurer@haringeynct.org MEMBERShIP COORDINATOR Alice Tringham comms@haringeynct.org PARENT SUPPORT COORDINATOR Anne Towler parentsupport@haringeynct.org

PSA LINk Manuela Trisoglio psalink@haringeynct.org NEWSLETTER TEAM Beth Apple, Jordanna Jarrett, Clinton Dos Santos gasandair@haringeynct.org ADvERTISING COORDINATOR Anna Nalborczyk advertising@haringeynct.org WEB EDITOR Natalie Steiner website@haringeynct.org SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Natalie Steiner comms@haringeynct.org PUBLICITy COORDINATOR Francesca Jemmi publicity@haringeynct.org NEARLy NEW SALE BOOkING COORDINATOR Delphine Grauf nearlynew@haringeynct.org EvENTS COORDINATOR Chelsea Nguyen events@haringeynct.org FIRST AID COURSE COORDINATOR Position vacant firstaid@haringeynct.org ANTENATAL TEAChER 020 8883 2209 Kate Shepherd kbshepherd@btinternet.com Zoe Solanki zehooper@hotmail.com Natalie Misaljevich natrallym@yahoo.co.uk Alison Ryan birthclasses@gmail.com Beverley Maragh beverleymaragh@rocketmail.com CLASS BOOkINGS 020 8752 2343 Belinda Gubbay bookings5b@nct.org.uk MATERNITy SERvICES LIAISON Committee (MSLC) Representative Position vacant mslc@haringeynct.org

CAESAREAN AND vBAC SUPPORT Vicky Woodward cs-vbac@haringeynct.org POSTNATAL LEADERS Emma Gilmore emmacgilmore@gmail.com Rebecca Cresswell rrcresswell@btinternet.com

NCT NUMBERS

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.nct.org.uk/haringey www.independentmidwives.org.uk www.doula.org.uk www.caesarean.org.uk www.birthchoiceuk.com www.uk-sands.org www.apni.org

Class Bookings 020 8752 2343 Haringey NCT 0844 243 6151Breastfeeding 0300 330 0771Pregnancy & Birth 0300 330 0772Early Days 0330 330 0773 Shared Experiences 0300 330 0774General Enquiries 0300 330 0770

LONE PARENTS SUPPORT CONTACT Alice Tringham membership@haringeynct.org BREASTFEEDING COUNSELLOR Sally Brooks 07909 907681 AMEDA BREAST PUMP hIRE Ardo Medical Ltd 01823 336362Laura Edwards edwards_laura@hotmail.co.uk

We welcome children from 3 months to 5 years

Bright Horizons Nurseries and Preschools

We would love to show you all we have to offer, please contact us to arrange a visit at any of our nurseries:T: 0800 085 4074E: parentenquiry@brighthorizons.comW: www.brighthorizons.co.uk

Bright Horizons is the UK and Ireland’s leading nursery group, with over 200 nurseries in the UK

and Ireland and a reputat on for excellence spanning over three decades. Each of our nurseries

and preschools off ers except onal and naturally inspiring early years care and educat on;

our staff partner with you in your child’s learning journey and create rich learning and play

experiences that empower children to become conf dent, creat ve lifelong learners.