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Five Minutes, Alfie – Review and Giveaway!

Five Minutes, Alfie - children's book

Five Minutes Alfie Blog Tour

 

Welcome to the Five Minutes, Alfie Book Tour!

If you are the proud owner of small humans, you’re in for a treat today. I have the honour of introducing you to this stunning book, Five Minutes, Alfie – AND – if you keep reading, there’s a fantastic GIVEAWAY. Now, don’t say I don’t look after you!

Brazen Mummy Writes is part of the book tour for this delightful new children’s book, written by the talented Lily Mae Walters.

Firstly, let me show you the thing they call “the blurb”, which is that fun teaser on the back of the book:

 

The Blurb for Five Minutes, Alfie

Alfie snuggles down in bed,
dreams still in his little head.

He dreams he’s a king going out for a ride.
“A dragon sleeps in front of the gate,” they cried.

How will they succeed in waking him up?
By helping each other and lots of luck. Continue reading “Five Minutes, Alfie – Review and Giveaway!”

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The Brazen Alternative to Sleep Training

Featured image - alternative to sleep training

The brazen alternative to sleep training is…well, no sleep training. (Ooh, and a few extra hot tips which I’ll share with you at the end.)

OK, so maybe it doesn’t sound all that crazy. But bear with me, because I wish I’d known this.

I’m here to tell you that if you decide not to ‘sleep train’ your baby, if you shun the books and theories and just kind of see what happens…

If you go with the flow, let nature take its course, help your child get to sleep any which way you can rather than following some stinky set of ‘rules’…

Drum roll…

It will probably be OK.

And that’s the bit the books, courses and even sleep helplines don’t tell you. Because they don’t want you to know it will be alright. Otherwise who will buy their books, their courses and fund their pesky helplines? Err, well nobody, I guess.

No need for those sleep training helplines
Yes…is this the, err, baby sleep training helpline?

Alternative to Sleep Training – the Back Story

Continue reading “The Brazen Alternative to Sleep Training”

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Guilty of Mum Guilt – With Freebie!

No! Do not let mum guilt beat you. Read this post then pick up your FREE downloadable guide!

One thing I wasn’t prepared for when motherhood kicked off was the amount of time I’d spend feeling guilty. When I haven’t actually done anything wrong!

That DREADED mum guilt. Do you know the thing I mean? It seems to pop up everywhere, like an uninvited jack-in-the-box, with a dumb taunting face and stupid flashing fairy lights. Quite honestly, I wish it would just pee off.

It can quite happily invite itself to any situation. Wobbly toddler has a little topple (whilst you may have been checking your phone)? GUILTY. Baby gets nappy rash because you tried out those two-for-one nappies? GUILTY ONCE MORE.

And if you caught my recent post about comparing your little one to others, you’ll know I feel that panic every time I see a child acing something I haven’t taught my offspring to do.

(Ooh, excited side note – I have a FREEBIE for you at the end..!)

Guilty About the Little Things

Now here’s a mum guilt example. When I was pregnant, I read ALL OF THE BOOKS. I mean, I love a good book anyway, and who doesn’t get excited about a project(!)

Well, this one book called Brain Rules for Baby suggested that children under two shouldn’t watch TV. It was written by a very clever brain scientist, so who was I to argue. (Yes, yes, I know. First time mum with all those crazy ideals! PFFFFFFFFF.)

Mum guilt - feeling guilty about letting toddler watch TV
What, this thing? A TV? Err, no…KEEP YOUR EYES AWAY!!

Now, I was doing pretty well with this until recently…. Continue reading “Guilty of Mum Guilt – With Freebie!”

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Beat Overwhelm – The Brazen Mummy Guide

Beating Overwhelm - Featured Image

Overwhelm. Now there’s a snazzy little buzzword. If you’re feeling like you’re going to smash a few plates with all this juggling, keep reading, mumma. We’re going to fix all of that in a jiffy…

(Also –  when did overwhelm become a noun as well as a verb?

Was it when we all became so overwhelmingly overwhelmed, that some flashy business guru had to invent more jargon? Well, don’t let it be said Brazen Mummy doesn’t keep you on the cutting edge of fancy schmancy lingo.

Anywaaaay…)

So are you suffering with this overwhelm too?

And what does it look like?

Err, you know that thing when you’ve got so much stuff to do you can barely stop for breath? When you might just yank your frazzled hair out and scream big ugly swear bombs just for the eff of it? Yes, well that. (So a friend tells me…)

Overwhelm - lady feeling overwhelmed
Are you feeling like this yet?

You may wonder why Brazen Mummy would suffer with this overwhelm. Aren’t I “just” a stay at home mum? Well, firstly, this mumming is a damn sight more demanding than my years of swanning around the office. The days when I could pee solo and make coffee the first time the kettle boiled.

Mumming is a twenty-four hour Piccadilly circus, with no pay and a two foot boss who can tantrum like a b*tch.

But secondly… Continue reading “Beat Overwhelm – The Brazen Mummy Guide”

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Stop Comparing Yourself to Others, Mummy

Stop comparing yourself to others - my guide for mummies everywhere.

Stop comparing yourself to others! But urgh, why is it so hard..?

Comparing yourself or your child to others will steal your happiness. Yep, that’s right. It will rock right up in its woolly balaclava and snatch the very joy from your delicate little palms.

So today I’m thinking about why we do this to ourselves and how we can just flaming well stop it! Because we should just concentrate on being fabulous us, have faith in our parenting skills and be proud of our gorgeous little bundles of craziness in all their ratty, snotty glory.

Hell yeah mummies, let’s crack this.

Should you stop comparing yourself to others completely?

OK, I’ll admit it. Just like the big guy with the twiddly moustache from the advert says, a bit of comparison can be a useful thing.

I mean let’s face it, none of us are born knowing how to mum. We learn and take our inspiration from others, to some extent. I know I’m often taking a sneak peek at how other mums do things and thinking bloody brilliant, I’m stealing that snazzy little trick.

And that sort of comparison is OK, as long as it makes you happy, and the person you’re copying isn’t some sort of child-hating Cruella de Vil. But… Continue reading “Stop Comparing Yourself to Others, Mummy”