We’ve got a guest blog from one of our own clients today, Dean & Steph from Daddynatal and Bump, Birth & Beyond. They’ve had a brilliant week, going from teaching local classes, to national coverage via a TV appearance. I thought it would be really helpful for other people who have small businesses to hear that opportunities for national coverage are out there, if you’re prepared to work hard and make the most of the opportunities available….. 

While everyone else seems to be winding down for Easter things have never been busier at Bump Birth and Beyond Ltd. It has been a hectic week, but a very positive hectic week!

Our busy week kicked off on Saturday, listening to the first interview Dean had recorded for The Baby Show broadcast on Star Radio. The interview was focused on the role of the dad in pregnancy, and very exciting for us, as it was the first ‘official’ interview Dean had done, and it definitely was a great learning experience.

Then, Sunday saw us officially announce our partnership with Peterborough City Hospital at Peterborough Baby Show. Bump, Birth and Beyond are now running DaddyNatal and Active Birth Classes, on behalf of the hospital, free to parents. How fantastic to have a Head of Midwifery who is so forward thinking, she really is one of the first in the country to recognise that fathers/birth partners have huge antenatal education needs which have never (until now!) been met.

There was an excellent response to the news of the classes, with signups both on the day and since. Both courses are already 10% full, and we are still awaiting the formal press release and for the community midwifery team to start promotion yet!

Sunday also marked the completion of the first part of training for our new Daisy Birthing teacher, Alison. Courses have been so successful that Steph cannot keep up with demand on her own, so we are extremely excited about Alison’s arrival. She will commence teaching in June which will allow us to offer more courses in even more locations.

On Monday and Tuesday evenings, Steph was out teaching her regular Daisy Birthing classes in Peterborough and St Ives. Steph teaches classes to around 40 pregnant ladies a week, as well as managing all the bookings and day-to-day admin of the company. And she looks after our two toddlers full time as well!

Little did we realise what more the week still held in store… At 10pm Wednesday evening, Steph arrived home from yet another Daisy Birthing class to the news that Dean had been invited down the next day onto The Vanessa Show on Channel 5 to talk about fathers at birth. Turns out a producer had heard his interview on The Baby Show website and wanted him there for a discussion segment about birth! How could we refuse…?!

So scrapping all previous arrangements for Thursday, Dean travelled to London to record the show. To say he was nervous would be a major understatement! He was petrified to be doing his first TV appearance only a few days after his very first ever live media interview! But, of course, he was also really excited. The people were brilliant and he had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Pearl Lowe and Christina Hopkinson, as part of the segment on the discussion of fathers at birth. They were lovely and certainly put Dean at ease (although nerves kicked back in once the cameras started rolling!). You can see his appearance here and judge for yourselves how Dean got on at The Vanessa Show.

Feel free to comment as we would love to hear your feedback. It was a long day though – Dean left home at 11.30am, and didn’t get home again until 8.30pm (luckily Thursdays are Steph’s evening off!)

But there was still work to be done… Friday saw us at a meeting at Peterborough Hospital to discuss some of the logistics of our partnership, and then followed by an agreement that we would produce contact and reference packs for the community midwives, so that became our focus on Saturday!

However, the support and excitement of what we are doing, coming direct from the midwives is so refreshing. It really is a pleasure to be working with them all.

And finally, we finished the week on Sunday with one of our Couples Antenatal Workshops in Kettering. Our classes are jointly run between the both of us, to make sure that we cover all the essential points from both the mum and birth partner perspective. It was a really great class – we thoroughly enjoyed it, and then arrived home in time to spend the remainder of the afternoon in the garden with our two children.

So a busy week made busier by some unforeseen media appearances! A great experience though and we look forward to seeing what the next few weeks brings us.

So that was our hectic week how was yours?

It seems like the press have very much highlighted the fact that Mariah Carey has decided to decorate her bump and her tweet about it after going into false labour over the weekend.

To me it seems a great bit of fun to be had – and to be honest has probably helped some of the boredom during those last few weeks of pregnancy.

I decorated my bump, with clothes mind you. But does everyone feel that sense of pride in showing off thier bump? I wore lots of stripey and tight tops to highlight the fact I was growing a little person. I loved the attention I got but I know that others feel completely different.

So if you want to show off your bump feel free to do so below and even if not tell us your thoughts on decorating your baby bump

Weston Communication and Bedford NHS Trust Maternity Unit are taking advice and will be providing a statement regarding the Bedford New Baby Guide next week. All is well and we look forward to giving you more information in due course. Thank you for your continued support of the New Baby Guides, the only NHS distributed and branded resource with local information for local parents.

Beautiful mum and her new baby

On the one hand, I think this story is quite funny, because I don’t know many people who would consciously try to get pregnant again within 6 months of a baby arriving… So there’s lots of “uh huh, not a problem here as we aren’t having sex” lines. But as people who wanted a small ish gap between children, it’s interesting reading to hear that the “risk of complications is higher among women who conceive another child soon after a birth”.

Dr Sarah Brewer has a book out, about pregnancy so I appreciate that she wants to make headlines and get media coverage. She reported that “women who conceive within six months of giving birth face a 60 per cent higher risk of delivering a low-birth-weight baby compared to women whose child was conceived between 18 and 34 months since last giving birth. Furthermore, the risk of premature birth in increased by as much as 40 per cent.”

The comments come after a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics found that children who are born after shorter intervals between pregnancies are at an increased risk of being autistic.

Dr Brewer advised: “In an ideal world, it’s best to recover from the rigours of pregnancy and childbirth. It takes at least nine months to build up nutritional status again, as pregnancy increases your requirements for vitamins A, B1, B2, C, D and folic acid.”

I’ve heard people talk about a window where ‘mother nature’ makes you not want to have sex, because it’s not good for you to be pregnant again quickly. I’ve also heard people talk about ‘mother nature’ kicking back in again when your baby is around 18 months old, as that’s when your body is ready to do it again. So this seemed quite interesting to me.

What do you think of it? What gap do you have between your children? Would you have the same gap again, or longer or shorter?

The original text can be found here:

ALERT: THIS IS A SALES PITCH. IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BENEFIT FROM ACCESSING FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN LOOK AWAY NOW ;)

Young Families Bump, Baby and Toddler Shows are brilliant

I’m so sorry. I’ve been doing that thing again of thinking that everyone has telepathy. Which of course I know we don’t, even though we are all parents extraordinaire…

So I’m now officially telling you that the next Young Families Bump, Baby and Toddler Show will be held on Sunday 27 March 2011, at Watford Leisure Centre. I’m in trouble because I’ve not been telling everyone about it enough… So here goes….

Do you have a business that would benefit from meeting 750 people who are either pregnant, new parents or parents of pre schoolers?
Would you like to meet them in a family friendly environment?
Do you want to be seen as a supporter of your local NHS Maternity Unit and benefit from them promoting attendance at the show as being a good thing?

Well, the Watford Bump, Baby and Toddler Show is the place for you to exhibit at…

The early bird deadline official finished on Friday 14 January, but we’ve had a rush of enquiries this week and some of them ended up in our spam folders, so we are telling everyone about it again, and extending the early bird deadline until next Friday, 21 January 2011. This will give everyone who wants to, opportunity to book at the early bird rate of £150 instead of £175. We’re biased, but we think that our Bump, Baby and Toddler Shows are great. But rather than sell the benefits of exhibiting to you ourselves, we like to let other people do it for us!

In light of our previous “baby show” experiences, your show was fab, your team were on hand if we needed anything and we didn’t feel that anything was too much trouble.  We had a really good day, were extremely pleased with our sales and bookings. Thank you for organising such a great event. Debi Hogston,www.waterbabies.co.uk

“We attend a number of ‘baby shows’ across the South of England but none of them compare to the Young Families events. We have now attended two Young Families events and they are extremely well organised, well advertised and well run. The team behind Young Families are second to none. We will not miss a Young Families event.”  Emma, www.waterbabybirthingpoolhire.co.uk

What does it cost?
Early Bird, single pitch (2x2m), with quarter page colour advert in Show Guide = £150.00

Benefits for Exhibitors at the 2011 Shows.
A quarter page colour advertisement within the Show Guide, at no extra cost.
If you need electricity, contact us and we’ll do our best to help, at no extra cost.
If you need a wall behind you, let us know and if we can arrange this, we will, at no extra cost.
We provide one 2m x 2m pitch, two chairs and a table.

New partnerships
We have teamed up with the Maternity Unit at Watford General Hospital, who will be promoting the Show via their antenatal and outpatients clinics with flyers and posters. This exclusive arrangement for our Show is a significant new promotional vehicle and we will make the most of this opportunity with our design and print offering for it. The Maternity Unit will also be attending on the day with Midwives and their Infant Feeding Co-ordinator hosting a drop in, informal clinic for anyone and everyone who wants to ask questions, get information or find support. It will be a huge draw for pregnant women and their families and we expect a high volume of footfall on the day.

We will donate 100% of the income from the door entry to the Maternity Unit at Watford General Hospital.

We know that you are busy, so we don’t do 20 page booking packs. We enjoy what we do, and it shines through in our attention to detail, from our pre show communications, to providing people to help  you unload on the day of the Show. Our brilliant re booking rate and out of area exhibitors demonstrates that our Shows really are the way to meet your market. We expect at least 750 people on the day, based on footfall at our previous shows, and hope that you will be with us to meet our visitors.

The Watford Young Families Bump, Baby and Toddler Show booking form can be downloaded here. We look forward to receiving your booking shortly

If you have any questions, please call or email as is easiest for you: 01223 501520 | 07515 910231 | liz@westoncommunications.org.uk

PS. The website is now in being updated for the new show and will be live shortly. But please check it out in the meantime, so you can see how we run our other shows.www.youngfamilies.co.uk

This is our first ever award. I’ve been awarded the title of “Future 100 Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2010″. It’s amazing. 100 of us, from thousands of applicants, have been awarded this title. And it’s extra special, because you have to demonstrate that you are socially responsible to win it.

I’m so proud of this, but it’s not just for me. It’s for Hannah, who works  so hard to keep me on schedule and manage all our admin, scheduling and processes, Husband Richard who quite literally keeps the home fires burning, looks after our boys and runs the house so I can do this, Tami who makes the New Baby Guides look so great, Steven who does the research and Fiona who helps us with sales.

We have donated£16,000 to NHS Maternity Units since we started nearly two years ago.

NHS Maternity Units love what we are doing for them.  Glynis Moore is Head of Midwifery at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital “We are delighted with the Norfolk and Norwich New Baby Guide and thank you for making this publication possible…. Our readers will benefit from all the information therein and we look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.”

I’m asked all the time as to what the New Baby Guides are. The most basic answer is that they replace the piles of leaflets NHS Maternity Units used to give to women in pregnancy and postnatally. So Maternity Units love them because they save them time (in getting the leaflets produced, printed  and onto wards), money (because we produce them at no cost to the Units we work with) and, we produce something much more professional than they would be able to with their limited resources. It’s also a good thing environmentally as we save on paper output from the Units, so it ticks all the boxes.

We work with 15 different Maternity Units across the UK. We have a waiting list of more Units who want to work with us, who will come on board in 2011. We give NHS Maternity Units complete control of their Guide. From the front cover, to the style on the inside, to colour schemes, images and of course, the content,  it’s all within their control.

Advertisers have a local presence and are approved by each Maternity Unit. All advertising is Babyfriendly and WHO compliant.

Is this a lot to juggle? YES! Wouldn’t it be easier if everyone did everything the same? YES!

But the reason why our Units love what we do, is because we give them complete control of their publication and can update it annually, and it’s all for FREE.

So how is it funded then? New Baby Guides are funded by advertising from local businesses. Businesses want to access local families so that they will buy their products or services. Being in an NHS publication is THE way to get themselves in front of pregnant and new parents, so they all want to be in the Guides. Whilst the NHS Maternity Units each have a disclaimer and do not promote or  endorse anyone in any way, this is the closest a business can get to being in the Unit itself.

We received a lovely email this morning  from Debi Hogston of Waterbabies, to use in our press release: “Waterbabies is delighted to hear that Liz and the New Baby Guides have won this award. Waterbabies features in all of the New Baby Guides because they are a smart way for us to support NHS Maternity Units and access the local parenting community. Liz’s decision to profit share with Maternity Units is admirable in the current climate and we applaud her strategy. We are pleased that their impact has been formally recognised and congratulate Liz and the New Baby Guides team on their success.”

So this is me, beaming, collecting my award in London, last night. Richard kindly came with me to take photos and be supportive. And he can verify that two of the judges – one  was the Head of Business Branch banking for Natwest (!!!!) told me that they’d remembered my application and commented on different aspects of it to me. I stood there, trying to think of something to say other than “Thank you” because I couldn’t believe that they’d remembered my writing. To hear them telling me  that they were impressed with what I was doing, and how they could see me scaling it up was, well, brilliant. I’m looking forward to having their input and support as I go to grow the New Baby Guides in the future. What mentors eh?

If you’ve not seen a copy of the Guides, or would like to be featured in them, just email  me at liz@westoncommunications.org.ukor call 01223 501520 / 07515 910231 and we’ll get samples in the post today, along with info on how you can become involved.

Do you have a presence in the New Baby Guides? If you do, please comment here on who you are and what you do, as we’ve got all sorts of media coverage coming up and I’d be delighted to ensure that you are mentioned as a supporter of them and local Maternity Units. We couldn’t produce the Guides without the support of our advertisers, so it would be great to get extra recognition for you as well.

If you’re in the media, this is the press release. I am available for press interviews and radio discussions on all  matters entrepreneurial, parenting, NHS and family related so please get in touch.

Here’s to a fantastic Friday everyone!

PS. Check out the rest of our site to see compliments on our work to date with the Guides, Baby Shows and PR and Marketing support we provide to businesses large and small….

To brighten up the start to November, we have a hilarious guest post from Northern Lass Lexy, mum of one, (age 7 months), Trafford Centre regular and prolific tweeter – follow her @Mammywoo.  I’ve followed her tweets for a while and loved them, so I asked her to guest blog for us. She blogs at http://www.misslexywoo.wordpress.com 

I am a mother on Maternity leave.
Therefore by default, the Trafford Center belongs entirely to me. (and Woo obviously!)

I am also a creature of Habit, and for the last 8 months I have visited the Trafford Center coffee house, each morning, between 11-12 for a Grande, skinny (because you have got to make an effort with weight loss.) Vanilla shot (because you have skinny so you can have a shot!) cappuccino (because it sounds sophisticated.) and a chill out with my little monster.

It is wonderful, and relaxing and calm. It is a weekday. The big children are in school. Most people are at work. It is peaceful. People Amble! How lovely! We sit like ladies and babies of leisure, me sipping on my Mocha. (Oops I mean skinny cappuccino!!) and Addison chomping on a slice of pear while making poo noises. (He makes poo noises while he eats, I don’t know why. He just does. Hopefully this will rectify itself before his first date…)

We sit together and watch the passing fashion, ooo great bag! Ooo great shoes! Ooo you shouldn’t be wearing that top love (…she says stuffed in to her post partum girdle like a sausage in cellophane.) Or in Addison’s case (as he watches the baby fashion!) ooo Nice wheels, Ooo nice (foot) muff, ooo your mum looks nice and slim (…sideways glance at my gut! I see you child!) and it is wonderful. It is times like this, I wish maternity leave could last forever.

So I have to ask, Christmas shoppers! Just who the heck do you think you are?

There are no seats, the high chairs are splattered with gloop, there are long queues, MY parking space is taken, there are teenagers sat on MY sofa, (…which makes me wonder about ‘FRIENDS’ and how odd they always got the sofa… I shall have to look in to it!) and worst of all? Addison is no longer the center of attention! He has competition! When he gurgles at people now, they choose to ignore him! He is baffled by this, and I am outraged! There is no ambling anymore! People are stressed. People hussle! People tut and sigh and roll their eyes when faced with my pram. A (now worse for wear) woman literally walked directly in to Addison’s high chair as if he didn’t exist!! She knocked him flying! She didn’t even apologise! (Mummy? Why did you kick that woman?…. Not really, but in my mind I gave her a Jackie Chan ass whooping. Ninja styleeee…)

The Christmas approach is truly awful! And don’t even get me started on half term!

We are not going back anytime soon. I will be buying my Christmas presents online.
Which means, if you know me, you can expect something off eBay.

And as for you Christmas shoppers?
The Trafford center belongs to me! Have some decorum! (And pass me another hot chocolate! ….oops I mean….. Oh sod it! Ill have some whipped cream too…)

@Mammywoo.  
http://www.misslexywoo.wordpress.com  

Image from http://www.clairemoir.com/

I don’t know what I think about the possibility of  having to pay extra full page in maternity leave – as a woman, I know that an extra 14 weeks of full pay in Maternity leave would be very welcome. But as a small business, we’d be crippled by the cost of paying someone that as well as paying for the Maternity cover.

I don’t get politics at all, but the one thing I do know, is that David and Nick won’t be making allowances or incentivising us to take on women of childbearing ages if this is brought in, so women will suffer generally, whether they are intending to have children or not.

What do you think? Should we pay full pay to women on Maternity leave for 20 weeks?