Keeping cool in my buggy

A stroll in the sun in the buggy is one of my favourite parts of my daily routine. Depending on the time of year, sometimes I find I need some shade to accompany me on my walk.

I have a parasol that attaches to my stroller, but this is pretty useless mainly because every time we turn a corner the angle of the sun changes and Mum needs to stop and fiddle with it to change its angle. On top of that it gets in the way when we are in shops and doesn't fit in the bottom basket when it's taken off and folded up. We don't even bother with it anymore.

I also have a blackout shade branded with the stroller (iCandy) that goes over my seat but it is very, very dark in there and Mum can't see me at all. She also can't get to me as it's so cumbersome to get on and off. If I was going to sleep in full sun it would be great but getting the thing on and off would wake me up anyway so it would only work if it was put on me before I fell asleep and Mum would need to take it off when I woke up. I'd then still need something to shade me so this is another pram accessory we don't use.

So after spending money on these two accessories for my stroller, we find the best things are the simplest things. My trusty sun hat with a wide brim and my sunglasses if it's really bright work well most of the time. But if the sun is really strong I just have a very light blanket, scarf or muslin draped over the hood and tied or clipped on the top to secure. I prefer a material that is slightly see through and I have the sides open so Mum can easily peek in at me. It's easy to whip off if we go indoors or in proper shade and will fold up to go in my changing bag or basket underneath.

Of course I can always use baby sunblock if I'm going to be in bright sunshine with my skin exposed but for my daily walk it's better for me not to be in the direct sun at all. Even the nice organic baby sunblocks have harsh chemicals in them so I prefer to use these only when I really need to.

So, sunhat, possibly sunglasses and the old muslin/ scarf is all I need and I'm good to go for my walk. See, I'm an easy baby really.

Breastfeeding covers

Breastfeeding is very much part of the local Emirati culture is usually met with no objection providing you are a little discrete so Mum likes to use a feeding cover to slip over us both when I'm having a feed in public.

The first one she bought is a vividly patterned Bebe Au Lait brand which looks pretty cool but Mum thinks it attracts a bit of attention due to the bright pattern. Look at us everybody- I'm about to have a breastfeed!! Hmmm, perhaps she should have gone for one of the plainer styles.

Its function is good- a bit like a mini apron with a loop that goes over Mum's head and there's boning built into the top edge so she can easily look down at me to see what I'm up to. There's also a little pocket in the inside bottom corner, handy for keeping a breast pad or wipe in. It does fold up quite small but still takes up a bit of room in my bulging changing bag. And although the material is a fairly light cotton, it's not so floaty and can sometimes get a bit stuffy and hot under there.

Our second one is made from a pashmina and can be used as a normal scarf, but this is no ordinary scarf. It's very simple and has a discrete loop for Mum's neck which is a simple strip in the same fabric and pops into a loop with poppers. It also has boning down part of one of the edges so Mum can peep down at me easily. The best bit is that the scarf is so light we don't get overheated during a feeding session and although it totally covers everything I can kind of see through when my face is close up to it, but no-one can see in. Now I'm a bit bigger I sometimes like to wiggle around and grab the scarf during a feed, but because this one is so big and floaty, there's no chance of exposing Mum.

When we're out and about and we're not using it, Mum wears it like a normal scarf and you'd never guess it was a breastfeeding cover. Sometimes she just ties it to her bag or just squishes it inside. It's lovely and soft and makes a good little impromptu blanket.

Sleeptime

As a July baby, the temperature in Dubai was over 40C for my first couple of months so in the daytime I often wore just a nappy, maybe with a t-shirt slung over my top or perhaps a vest. 

At night mum and dad put me in an all-in-one sleepsuit and I either slept in a very light swaddle blanket (Summer Infant Swaddle-Me) that has velcro strips to keep my arms from wriggling out. When I got to 5 or 6 weeks old I preferred a 1.0 tog sleeping bag (Gro Bag) instead of my swaddle.





I share mum and dad's room and the air con is strictly monitored so the room temperature is between 19 and 23C. My Gro Egg is a room thermometer that changes colour when it gets too hot or too cold - particularly useful during the night when mum doesn't have her lenses in and could see whether she needed to make it hotter or cooler without putting her glasses on. Within the packaging of my Grobag (sleeping bag) there was a handy card which showed the room temperature which is useful for travelling.

When it's so hot that we need the air conditioning on all night, I find the air can get very dry so I like to counter this by having something to put a bit of moisture back in the air, like a humidifier. I've seen some very high tech ones but I am just happy with my simple Goodsphere that Mum bought in Ace. 




Now it's January and a lot cooler and we don't have the air con on anymore at night but as it rarely drops below 20C in the bedroom, I still wear a sleepsuit and a 1.0 tog Gro-bag (sleeping bag) in my cot without any blankets. I've had to go up a size now though to 6-18 months!

Drinking water

Now that I’m coming up to six months old I am starting to eat solid food and I have noticed that a sippy cup of water appears at the table for me too.  My friends in the UK drink cooled boiled tap water, but in Dubai the tap water isn’t as high quality so it has to be cooled boiled bottled water.

I look out for the sodium (Na) and sulphur (SO or SO4) content in the water I drink. The NHS advises that the content of sodium should be less than 200mg per litre and less than 250mg/l of sulphur, but of all the labels I have checked there is nothing that comes anywhere near those levels.  Here's the results of my research to find the best bottled waters for babies readily available here in Dubai:

Ordered by lowest sodium content (mg/l)

1.           Arwa (3.3)
2.          Evian (6.5) and Acqua Panna (6.5)
3.        Al Ain (8)
4.        Masafi (10)
5.        Volvic (11.6)
6.        Aquafina (16)
7.        Nestle Purelife (18)

Ordered by lowest sulphur content (mg/l)

1. Al Ain (5)
2.  Volvic (8.1)
3. Evian (12.6)
4. Masafi (19)
5. Aqua Panna (24)
6. Nestle Purelife (22)
7. Aquafina (51)
8. Arwa (96.8)

I tend to favour Al Ain and Evian if I need to buy a smaller bottle but for our kitchen water dispenser I tend to settle for Masafi which is still pretty good as Al Ain and Evian is not available here in the 4 or 5 gallon containers.

But just to make matters more confusing I also need to take account of the bottles themselves. Two issues I am concerned with – whether the plastic contains BPA (Bisphenol A) and whether the bottle has been reused (ie. flushed out with chemicals).  Ideally I would drink water that has only been in a glass bottle as this would significantly reduce the amount of chemicals leaching into the water from its packaging as glass is pretty inert but the next best are BPA free plastic bottles. BPA is especially uptaken by the water in the heat which is why I am careful to note what the bottle is made from in this climate.

Masafi  4 gallon bottles are not refillable and therefore much less likely to be contaminated during the chemical cleaning process that most of the large 4 or 5 gallon containers undergo. Although this sounds terribly un-eco friendly I do ensure Dad recycles them. They are also BPA free so on the whole, although Masafi does not score the lowest sodium and sulphur content, on the whole it passes my strict approval process.

Beach Tent

I love going to the beach but find that unless I happen to be lucky enough to grab the shade of a palm tree, I really need my own special beach tent to provide me with some shade and it also comes in handy for some privacy during a breastfeed.

I chose this one that was big enough for Mum and Dad to fit in too. My tent pops up by itself in one swift manouvre so no precious beach time is wasted. Getting it back in its bag the first time took a bit of effort but as soon as Mum and Dad had worked out the knack it was very easy. It comes with pegs so I could use it on grass too but on the beach Dad just puts some sand in the special pockets to stop it blowing away. I have the option to have the back of the tent closed off for privacy or open so I can have a good nosy in all directions.

There's no ground sheet built into the tent which means it's very easy for me to wiggle away the towel Mum puts down and dig my little fists straight into the sand (and then into my mouth for a sneaky taste).

Vitamin D

One thing I find really tough is knowing how much sun I need to make enough vitamin D but without burning my delicate skin.

Being fair skinned I need less sun than my darker skinned pals to get my dose of vitamin D. My paediatrician advised me to get out once a day with my arms and legs uncovered and no sun block on after 3pm or 4pm  for 15 - 20 minutes. In Dubai at certain times of year this can be tough as even 15 minutes in the summer is a struggle at over 40C and high humidity, but we do our best and mum makes sure I have plenty to drink.

At other times I prefer to be in the shade with my sunhat and even my sunglasses on. I haven't yet worn any sunscreen as I prefer to keep out of the sun at my young age, but I have bought some organic baby suncream which I will be using from a few months time.

Vitamin D tablets that mum took and I got through the breastmilk

In December I was in the UK for a month and it was impossible to get enough sun. I was all bundled up nice and warm in my natty flying suit with just my face exposed and most days it wasn't even nice enough to go for a walk. I got mum to take extra vitamin D tablets and I got the benefit of them through my breastmilk. Job done!

Sunglasses

My Baby Banz

My mum bought me a couple of pairs of sunglasses for me to wear from being just a few months old. To start with I was having none of it and quickly made Mum aware of my views on these plastic contraptions covering my handsome face, but as I approached 4/5 months I chilled out about them and even started to rather like them. Now I'm happy to wear them in my stroller, well unless I am feeling the urge to chew them anyway.

I have two pairs- one is a Baby Banz camouflage style which is held in place with an elastic stretchy band and much more difficult to prise off my face and into my mouth. The others are a more traditional pair of baby sunglasses which I'm wearing in my photo below. Both have 99% UVA and UVB protection which is important otherwise they could do more harm than good causing my eyes to dilate and let more rays in.

Introduction

I am a British baby born and growing up in Dubai, UAE. I am fair of face and skin and I need to protect myself in the strong desert sunshine, but I also need to get out there in those rays to get some vital vitamin D. It's also much more fun to be playing outside in the garden, on the beach, in the park than being stuck indoors on my play rug.

I'd like to share my experience of living in a hot climate, offering my thoughts on things I find useful bearing in mind the heat of this part of the world. I will also share a few of my adventures around the UAE and beyond and provide a bit of info on my favourite places to visit in Dubai.