Teething can be a frustrating time for any parent. An exciting one, but very frustrating.

Listening to your child cry from the pain of teething often leaves parents feeling helpless. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to keep your baby a bit more comfortable.

Instead of a rubber or plastic teething ring, go organic. Use a wet washcloth (organic cotton is always a good choice) that you’ve kept in the freezer for 20-25 minutes. This will cool the cloth considerably and help soothe the swelling in your baby’s mouth. Always wash the washcloth after use.

You can also gently massage your baby’s gums. Always wash your hands thoroughly before doing so, and be very gentle. And watch your fingers; your baby is starting to teethe.

Keep a wet cloth handy, not for the teething itself, but to wipe your baby’s face. Your baby will end up with more saliva around their mouth during teething and it is important to keep their mouth clean.

In the end, the teething process just takes time, and eventually your child will be feeling better with a mouth full of beautiful baby teeth.

What have you done that has helped your child through teething?

We’re always making small changes to our nappies, working to provide you with the best environmentally friendly disposable nappy on the market.

Sometimes these are small changes that you can’t see, like changing the amount of biodegradable materials. Other times they are bigger changes that are noticeable, like changing the fastening system.

After much research and development, many of these changes are now in place! And we couldn’t be more excited. This new nappy is by far the best nappy we’ve ever produced and we think you’ll agree.

Some of the changes are technical, like the changes to the fastening system. You’ll notice front tabs which enable easier use for parents when fitting the nappy. The tabs are softer and allow for more stretch improving the flexibility and fit of the nappy for your child.

Other changes are meant to make your life just a little bit easier. We know that having small children crawling around takes a lot of energy. That’s why we now print the size of the nappy on the nappy itself. This allows you to be sure that when you take the nappies out of the package, you know exactly which nappy you are using.

We’ve also made changes to our packaging. Of course you’ll still see the clean design and beautiful baby and nature pictures, but we’ve simplified the naming of the nappies. Instead of the confusing Size 5/5+ combination, we’ve changed the name to a simple Size 5. Of course, the weight range is the same.

These nappies will be rolling out to stores in the coming weeks. You’ll know you have the best environmentally friendly disposable nappy when you see the new simplified sizing system.

Let us know what you think!

We’ve had some interesting weather here in Stockholm this week. We woke up on Wednesday to a snow storm. In the middle of October. I don’t think any of us here in the office were ready for that. Luckily, the snow didn’t stick around long and by Wednesday afternoon it was bright and sunny again. Today we have rain.

All this crazy autumn weather got us thinking though, as much as we’d like for the summer sun to stay around, winter is just around the corner.

Even though the calendar says it is only October, Mother Nature doesn’t seem to care, and we have had some cold temperatures. When it gets cold outside, it’s incredibly important to keep your child warm. Here in Sweden it is often said that there is no such thing as poor weather, only poor clothing. There is something to be said for that. We know; we’re just a few hours away from the Arctic Circle.

Keeping your child warm starts, very simply, with dressing them properly. Dress your child in multiple, thin layers. This can start with a layer of long underwear under a shirt, add a sweater and finally a coat and your child will have a good layered approach to braving the elements. By layering you will be able to watch your child’s temperature so that they don’t get too cold. Or too hot for that matter.

Remember, your child just won’t be able to handle the cold as well as your average adult, so a good rule to live by is to add one extra layer of clothing than you would wear yourself. You’ll always be able to take that layer off if need be.

Enjoy the waning days of autumn and be sure to stay warm!

Allow us to gloat for just a second, because Nature Babycare was just awarded EcoBabyWorld’s Green Award for Outstanding Product 2009 for our Pull on Pants! We can’t tell you how proud we are.

EcoBabyWorld does not allow submissions for this award, but instead goes out and chooses the products from companies which they deem to be “creating safe and eco-friendly baby products.” The people behind EcoBabyWorld then test the products to determine which are eligible to be considered an Outstanding Product.

It’s not every day that a small entrepreneurial ecological baby company in Sweden beats out the big guys like Pampers and Huggies. But, come to think of it, while it may not be everyday, those days are coming more and more frequently as of late. And we have only you to thank.

So thank you. Thank you for continuing to support what we do. Thank you for thinking about, and taking care of, the environment. And of course, thank you for putting the health, well being, and future of your baby, first.

Nature Babycare is now on both Facebook and Twitter. We’ve been updating a few times a week now.

On the Nature Babycare Facebook Fan Page and the Nature Babycare Twitter feed you’ll find all kinds of exciting news like:

• A Twitter post about Nature Babycare being awarded the Good Environmental Choice certificate by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation for our ECO Shampoo, Wash, and Bath.
• Environmental tips on ways to green up your bathroom in a sustainable way.
• Childcare news on living a healthy lifestyle.
• Going green when buying a pet.
• Links to green shops where you can buy Nature Babycare products as well as other environmentally friendly stores.

We know that you are informed consumers. Engaged consumers. That’s why we want to make sure that you all know what is going on with Nature Babycare. Especially because rather than spending millions on marketing campaigns like some of the multinationals, we focus on constantly improving our product.

If you’re interested in helping out there are a few easy things you can do:

• Blog about us 
• Follow us on Twitter 
• Become a fan on Facebook 
• Link to us from you website
• Tell your friends and family

And of course, feel free to comment. We read every comment and love hearing from you all!

In the past, Nature Babycare has always thanked our Ambassadors by sending out a voucher for a package of nappies. We have also been sure to send out vouchers as compensation for faulty nappies. It’s always been important to us that those of you so interested in Nature Babycare products have a good experience.

Unfortunately, due to technical issues, Tesco will no longer be able to accept the voucher we have sent out.

The vouchers can still be redeemed at stores such as Boots, Co-Op, and Sainsbury’s.

We’d like to apologize for any problems this may have caused. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send us an e-mail at info@naty.com.

We know that there has been some confusion about composting Nature Babycare nappies. Hopefully, our earlier post, “How to Dispose of Nature Babycare Nappies” cleared up some of those questions. We still suggest that you place the nappies in our Nature Babycare Disposal Bags and dispose of them in the trash bin.

That being said, we recognize the importance of ecologically friendly composting. So, for those of you who have the space in your garden, we’d like to explain how to get started with your very own compost pile. It’s the perfect step for anyone interested in environmentally friendly organic gardening.

First, you need to make some room. The size of your compost pile is up to you, but you usually want to set aside a one meter by one meter area.

To ensure that you get a good pile of compost started, some wire fencing around your composting area is a good idea.

Once you have the area set aside, you’ll need something to compost. There are two different forms of composting material, usually referred to as green material and brown material.

• Green material is just what it sounds like, green material. Things like old fruits and vegetables and even grass after having mowed your lawn. Green material acts as a nitrogen source for your compost pile.

• Brown material is your carbon source. This includes things like dead leaves and even un-dyed cardboards.

Make sure that you have a good mixture of the two different materials. It is important to the decomposition process and a good balance will allow for a better compost pile.

How you mix your compost is up to you. Some people suggest you layer your brown and green materials in the beginning, others suggest you mix them all up from the start. I prefer to mix them from the start.

Now that you’ve got your compost pile started, make sure that you the pile stays damp. Not wet, but damp enough that decomposition can occur. To ensure that decomposition is occurring, turn your compost pile once or twice a month. Once every two weeks usually works well.

Over the course of a few months, you’ll notice that your compost pile is shrinking. This is a good thing. That means it is working. You’ll start to notice a dark rich soil appear which is perfect for your vegetable garden, flowers, or anywhere else around the house.

Because you are most likely adding material to your compost pile, be sure to sift through the soil so that you don’t have any material that has yet to fully decompose.

With that, you’ve created a compost pile which will put you on your way to an organic and environmentally friendly garden.

Good luck and happy green gardening! 
 

First, we’d like to once again thank everyone for their feedback in terms of the new design. We read every comment written here, we read every e-mail sent to us, we make sure that we take into account what you are saying. Without our engaged customers, Nature Babycare would not be the company that it is today.

We have received many questions about when the improved nappy will be in store. Unfortunately, this is a difficult question to answer. Because of the fact that not all sizes of nappies were affected, and not all areas in the UK were affected, the timing of deliveries will vary. It should be noted that only a small proportion of nappies were affected and that the vast majority are fully functional.

However, the new nappies were produced about three weeks ago (approximately the first week of July) and were immediately shipped to the UK. Production has continued since then and shipments continue to roll in. The nappies should be on shelves throughout the UK fromt his week onwards.

In the meantime, we would like to let everyone know how to decipher the batch code. The batch code is the indentifying code which helps us with our quality control.

The batch code is printed on the package of all Nature Babycare nappies as an ink jetted black dot format. It usually begins with a letter followed by five (5) or six (6) digits and a time stamp.

The relevant numbers are those directly preceding the time stamp. These numbers can be read to identify when the nappy was produced.

The first digit represents the year. For 2009, you will see a 9. The next three digits represent the day of the year on which the nappies were produced.

For example a batch code C902518:53 means that the nappy was produced in 2009, on the 25th day of the year, January 25th.

In order to provide you with the performance you deserve, we took immediate steps to improve fastening issues on the larger sizes of Nature Babycare nappies. The improved nappies will be sold in the same packaging as before, but we hope that the above information will help you as Nature Babycare works to once again allow you to go green without giving up performance.
 

We are constantly working to improve our nappies. That’s why we value your feedback so much. We have created a new design, a thinner nappy that uses fewer raw materials so that it fits your child better. Unfortunately, there is a possibility that certain sizes of the new design Nature Babycare have proven to be less effective than we would have expected.

We have received prompt feedback from customers in the UK about our new Comfort Fit design. While some are quite pleased that we have created a thinner nappy, and thus cut down on the amount of raw materials used, some have also raised concerns about the fastening system.

With the feedback from you, we have been able to design a solution. We are in the process of making this change immediately so that our Nature Babycare nappies will continue to give you the performance you came to expect. To be sure that you can begin using Nature Babycare products with confidence, we are shipping new nappies to the affected areas. These new nappies will ensure that the tab fastens properly to the front panel and will be arriving shortly. This will once again allow you to go green without giving up performance.

We love hearing from users of Nature Babycare. Your ideas and comments are incredibly valuable to us so that we can make sure our nappies continue to perform at a high level. As mentioned, we are constantly working to develop our nappies further and will continue to take your ideas and comments into consideration as we work to improve upon our existing design.
 

From an environmental viewpoint the best way to dispose our nappies is to put them in a biodegradable nappy-bag and put them in the waste bin. It’s not recommended to put used nappies in the compost bin. The reason is that human waste contains bacteria that will not be destroyed and can contaminate water and people.