Medela Calma

The Medela Calma is a new product from Medela, designed to, well, sell more product from Medela.

What it also is, is a genuine solution to mums that plan to go back to work after baby and want to continue breastfeeding as part of that.  (yes, you most definitely can keep breastfeeding even returning to work full or part time!)

If breastfeeding breaks aren't a possible option, then expressing and bottles will be and the deal with the Calma feeding system, is that milk will only flow if the baby works and creates vacuum to get it - in as close a way as possible to feeding directly at the breast.

With Calma:

• Mum only needs one type of teat throughout her breastfeeding duration.
• Baby can feed, pause and breathe regularly. 
• Milk will not flow unless a vacuum is created. 
• Milk flow stops when the baby relaxes to pause and breathe. 
• The baby’s natural sucking rhythm will be maintained, enabling easy transition back to the breast.

The Calma is a teat specifically designed for bottle feeding breast milk but we recommend you abandon thoughts of breastpumps and bottles UNTIL you have established breastfeeding.  This might take 2 weeks, it might take 6 or longer!

Check out our tips for new breastfeeding mums in our advice section here

Beyond Awesome Giveaway - Winners feedback

We have a true rainbow of feedback from our $10,000 Beyond Awesome Giveaway Winners.  Thought it would be nice to share it with you and for fun, I've done up a word cloud of the best of the feedback we've received.

• Once again thanks so much, I live in chch so it had made my week that little bit better.
• Wahhhhhoooo
• Yay!!!! I never win anything. And with a week from hell, this is an awesome pick me up - thank you so much!!!
• Thank you so much for contacting me with this wonderful news. I had my baby boy on Tuesday morning and am still at Birthcare until tomorrow, so this is a fantastic. surprise. 
• I am going to give this to my daughter who is expecting a bub she is a single mum and really struggling so it is going to go to a worthy recipient.
• Thanks so much for the prize pack.  I have already found someone to share the things in it that won't be suitable for the age/stage my wee boy and I are at - a new mum with a gorgeous wee prem girl.  She is pretty excited as well! 
• Yahoo!!!!!!! I've never won anything before

We love happy winners!    See what they've won here

How to tell a fake ERGObaby Carrier

We've just received another email from someone who had purchased a cheap ERGObaby Carrier on Trade Me, that is being sold as a genuine ERGObaby (left), and has asked us to check whether it's a fake or not - it was.

How can you tell a fake ERGObaby Carrier?

The first rule of thumb is this: anything that is claiming to be new with a DVD is a FAKE (ERGObaby carriers were sold with DVDs in the past, but have been phased out some time ago).  There are other tell tale signs too but this is the easiest for a carrier claiming to be new.

Other tell tale signs:

• The fabric is different and doesn't feel as weighty as it should
• The body of the carrier is narrower in fakes (which can be quite hard to spot in photos)
• The lining colour and in some cases the carrier colour often look similar to the real thing but are different shades.
• The waistband and shoulder straps are thinner and also don't have as much padding
• The fakes I've seen have more hood snaps

I know everyone wants to get a bargain, but some of the cost involved in putting together a carrier like ERGObaby and why it sells for what it does, is all the testing, safety accreditation and quality control that the fake ERGO's simply do not have.

Imagine putting your child into a carrier that hasn't had to undergo any of those things and having the untested buckle or strap snap - it really doesn't bear thinking about.  Danger aside, there is of course no warranty protection offered with counterfeit products either - genuine ERGObaby Carriers come with a full 12 month manufacturers warranty.

Our current ERGObaby carrier special includes the free Heart2Heart Infant Insert (RRP $55) and we delivery the carrier free NZ wide* so the fakes aren't even all that attractive cost wise anyway!

Belly Beyond is an authorised ERGObaby stockist and we are NZ's number one Ergo retailer!   Please read the warning below and checkout our authorised range of ERGObaby products here 

Here is the official warning from ERGObaby Head Office:

IMPORTANT ERGObaby WARNING

Over the past few months, increasing numbers of counterfeit ERGObaby Carriers are being offered for sale on eBay and Trade Me. Authenticity can usually be determined by comparing auction site pictures with those on our website. Additionally, if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is a fake. Counterfeit products are exempt from any manufacturer’s warranty policy, and we would caution anyone thinking about using counterfeit products about their safety, comfort and reliability.

Counterfeit ERGOs are:

· made with inferior material and parts – particularly the buckles!

· not product tested against safety standards

· not covered by any Product Insurance

· not covered by Product Warrantee

· not likely to comply with US lead-free criteria

We strongly suggest that all purchases of ERGObaby products be through authorized ERGObaby stores and webshops such as ourselves. To verify that we are an authorized retail stores, please visit: http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/retailers/

* Stewart Island and Waiheke Island not included in Free delivery offer.

When Good Ovens Go Bad

I had a strange feeling come over me at the weekend and suddenly had the urge to clean the oven.

I had a fantastic sense of pride when I'd finished, the result not quite sparkling, but a far cry from the housework horror reality shows that it had been.

Skip forward a couple of days to the eve of my daughters 6th birthday and requirement to bring cupcakes to school for the class.  Firstly, who started that tradition?  And secondly, I believe next year I shall probably be the one to break it.

"Ewwwwww, what's that smell?" say the kids.  My (almost) sparkling oven was not quite as well wiped down as it could have been and when heating the oven, the oven cleaner aroma was overpowering.

Egads, the dilemma!   Option 1) cook the cupcakes and poison an entire class of 5-6 year olds or Option 2) explain rationally and calmly to Miss almost 6 that cupcakes were a silly idea and no one in her class probably liked them anyway.

Instead I took Option 3).  I Googled "remove oven cleaner smell from oven" and went straight to a tip on cutting an orange into quarters, removing the flesh, and baking it for a while in the oven to make the oven cleaner smell completely disappear.  Worked a treat and said cupcakes are now well on their way to Betty Crocker perfection.

The moral of the story?  Nothing good ever comes from cleaning the oven and Mr Google does indeed have the answer for everything.

Inside the Belly Beyond Showroom

Here are some of the interior shots of the Belly Beyond showroom - lookin' good!

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Monday - Friday, 9.30am - 3.30pm
Saturday - 10am - 1pm