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My name is Sarah and this is my journey

As one of the creators of Ethan the Fox, and a mother to two children I wanted to share with you my story which led onto many of the inspirations behind Ethan The Fox

This photo was taken only a few hours after my eldest little love was born. My head was spinning and I was struggling to comprehend what my body had been through. Yet, my heart was filled with so much instant, unquestionable love for this tiny human that Steve and I had created.

So much changed for me that day and the years that have followed. I loved becoming a mum and throughout all the challenges in early days, I survived.

You don’t always hear the bad stuff. The beauty and amazing process of pregnancy and childbirth is often shrouded by the joyous experience and the love of a new born. People forget to mention the painful breastfeeding for example, and how much of a failure you feel if it doesn’t work. This was one of many difficulties I experienced, and overcame professionals telling me it was the “right” thing to do. But it didn’t feel right all of the time. Yet again, I survived.

Then the teething game starts, oh the joys of this! Nothing really prepares you for this, seeing this little baby struggling with pain and discomfort. I searched high and low for a solution, which eventually led to the creation of our Ethan – you can read more about this here.

There are days that are filed with pure joy and there are days that are NOT. This is OK and I feel as parents recognising this makes such a difference (for support please take a look at this blog from MumsJourney)

It is OK that things are not perfect, your little love doesn’t care. They just need love and encouragement.

And through all of this, and as if motherhood wasn’t challenging enough, I decided that this was the moment to change career and embark on a new journey into running our own business.

The days are long, complicated and I find myself catching minutes here and there to get on top of the to do list, not daring not to sit down as the 2-year-old (littlest love) sees this as an opportunity to use me a climbing frame, I push on and I’m currently surviving (JUST).

Ethan the Fox teether review

Guest post: Not Another Mum Group

I love finding things for Teddy that are a little bit different to the norm and when I saw Ethan the Fox I loved him!

Each one is hand painted so they are all unique.

He is bigger than a usual teether and is a very bright orange colour. He really does look cute!

Ethan the Fox is made of 100% natural rubber and the shape of him, with his pointy ears and nose, means that babies can chew on him, easing the hard to reach sore gums when teething. Lots of places to chew.

The legs are a good size for tiny hands to hold on too. The material is so soft to the touch and he smells pretty good.

Teddy loves that you can squeeze his tummy and he makes a little noise. He finds it hilarious. And anything that makes my boy belly laugh is alright with me. It’s my favourite sound.

It’s really easy to clean too, you just use soapy water.

We have been recommending Ethan the Fox to all of our parent friends as it’s suitable from birth.

Teddy loves him. Ethan the Fox comes everywhere with us now and he doubles up as a toy. It’s designed to stimulate babies sense of sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing so it’s ticking a lot of boxes

Let us know what you think!!

*This blog includes gifted items but all opinions are my own.*

Checkout the Not Another Mum Group blog here.

Old wives’ tales about teething

Who knows where most old wives’ tales come from. These ancient nuggets of wisdom have been passed down from generation to generation with plenty of time for embellishment and Chinese whispers-style misunderstanding… Which is probably why so many of them have absolutely no grain of truth.

We’ve taken a look at some of the oft-quoted – as well as the more bizarre – old wives’ tales about teething and tried to discover whether or not there’s any truth to them.

Teething causes vomiting

Many people believe that teething results in babies being sick. There’s no truth to this at all. Babies are still building up their immune systems which makes them more susceptible to bugs, and this means it’s almost inevitable that, at some point during all the months they’re teething, they will be sick. It’s purely coincidental.

Rubbing brandy/whisky/rum on the gums

This is a hugely popular myth that rubbing spirits on your baby’s gums will help ease the pain, but again this is not true, and the alcohol can potentially be toxic to your little one. Instead, try massaging their gums with a piece of cotton towelling, distracting them with a toy or allowing them to gnaw on teething products – some experts suggest chilling (but not freezing) the products first as the cold will help numb the pain.

Amber or coral necklace

In some parts of the work, people say that you should allow your baby to chew on a necklace made of amber or a coral (depending where you come from) to help relieve the pain. This is not a good idea and is potentially dangerous, so don’t even think about trying it at home. Natural rubber teething products will do the job safely.

An old sock’s tale

Bizarrely, some people still believe that if you put an egg in a dirty sock and hang it in the nursery, it will ease a baby’s teething and help them sleep through the night. Some say the egg should be hard-boiled, others that it should be raw and have the baby’s name and date of birth written on the shell. But all appear to believe it needs to be in a dirty sock. We’re not even going to investigate the science on this one, just shake our heads sadly!

Other myths that have left us open-mouthed in disbelief include: rubbing sore gums with the brain of a groundhog; not allowing the baby to look at itself in the mirror before it’s a month old (apparently that’s what causes the problem!); feeding the child the ashes of dogs’ teeth mixed with wine and honey; and biting the head off a mouse yourself, then hanging it around your baby’s neck with a piece of string that doesn’t have a knot in it – delightful.

Alternatively, you could invest in an Ethan the Fox toy, which has been designed to ease the pain of teething and be a much-loved companion!

Dream In Colour: Baby Essentials

Guest post: Aimee @ Dream in Colour

So on my Instagram travels I noticed this ever so cute little teether, he is called Ethan.

Ethan is a fox, designed by parents for your very precious little person. Teething is a horrible time not only for your little one but for you too, they cant tell you the pain and discomfort they are in. Ethan is designed with little hands in mind, he is bright and colourful and is perfect to soothe your little ones gums.

I love the concept behind him, i love foxes and think this is a must have item for all mums and dads out there dealing with a little person trying to get their toothie pegs to cut.

Its designed by a husband and wife team, for their fox mad little people.

Checkout Aimee’s blog ‘Drea in Colour’ here.