Birmingham's Baby Show

Flying Start’s Amanda Brown and her 7-year old daughter, visited this year’s Birmingham Baby Show accompanied by Flying Start’s resident product tester, 3-month old Charlie Henderson (& reviewer mum Lucy Henderson).

Although the show seemed smaller in size than previous years, it still turned out 25,755 visitors, who appeared more than happy with the event as they rushed around with bags and bags of goodies galore.

Charlie had slept through the motorway journey and awoke just as we arrived. The organisers were at hand with sandwiches and drinks in the press office as Lucy breast-fed Charlie, who likes to drag out his feeds for sometimes up to an hour! So once he was ready, we ran off into the hall to have a look at what this years Baby Show had in store for us.


As well as enjoying the usual events, such as expert speakers and features including Mothercare’s Catwalk, we were particularly interested in looking at some of the smaller companies attending the show, with our aim to find some new and exciting products for our readers.

One of the first stands we stopped to take a closer look at was showcasing the Huggababy sling; a natural organic sling that looked very robust and slightly different to some of the others currently on the market. The interesting fact that caught our eye with this sling was the discreet feeding position in which baby could be carried, and as we had our constant little feeder with us, the show was the ideal location to trial one of these. The owner of Huggababy was more than happy to offer us one for testing there and then. When Charlie awoke, Lucy fit the sling and put Charlie into it. As with any product a bit of adjusting was required until the straps were the correct size for Lucy to carry Charlie, but he was soon happily feeding away. This is when we found just how discreet the feeding position was – you could not tell that Charlie was being fed at all as Lucy walked round the show.  Once he had finished feeding he popped his head up and looked around, happy as could be in his new little hammock. Walking round the Baby show was another great tester for comfort and we found that the sling did not cause any discomfort what so ever. So our verdict: A simple, robust comfortable and versatile adjustable sling, ideal for discreet and practical breast-feeding and machine washable too, giving it a ten out of ten.
Click here to read Lucy’s full review on the Huggababy Sling.

Our next stop was the Lansinoh stand, a company founded by a breast-feeding mother more than 20 years ago. Lansinoh had a wide range of products available at the show, many of which Lucy already used, particularly the Lansinoh Lanolin cream for nipples which remains a favourite. However this time we were interested in trialling their Breast Pump, as Lucy had yet to try expressing for Charlie. So we added a Lansinoh Breast Pump to our shopping bag and took the product home to trial… click here to find out how we went on

We couldn’t help but stop and chat to Trunki, and Emma, our 7-year old reviewer showed that Trunki is loved by children of all ages, as she wheeled and whizzed around the floor on Trunki’s new addition to the family – Frieda. (Along with Trunki’s staff who also whizzed around showing that adults love him too!) Since the show, I’ve had numerous pleadings of “Mum please can I take a Frieda on holiday this year pleeeeeeeeeeease”. 
So Flying Start’s verdict: Although not properly tried and tested by us, (yet!) we can imagine that Trunki would definitely take the stress out of travelling. And if children do get bored of riding around on, or pulling their own luggage, it’s simple… on they sit and away you pull, helping those unavoidable tired “pick me up” episodes! www.trunki.co.uk


We were pleased to spot both Bugs by Dae and Pickled Pressies, two brand new small companies with impressive ideas and design.

Bugs by Dae create name art for babies and children. The creator designed her own unique Bugs alphabet - the end product… very quirky and colourful canvas name art, featuring bugs as each letter of the alphabet with 3d glow in the dark eyes. Personalised details can be incorporated such as D.O.B, weight etc for that extra special gift to treasure forever.
Visit www.bugsbydae.com

Pickled Pressies also caught our eye with another unique creation.  A hand embellished pickle jar containing gifts for baby. Available in all different sizes, the ‘ingredients’ label on the base of the jar features the contents… baby vests, muslin squares, socks, bibs, mitts or you can buy an empty hand embellished jar to pickle baby’s keepsake mementoes yourself! The charms, labels and bunting are all hand crafted making these absolute unique gifts.
Visit http://www.pickledpressies.co.uk/

Baby Blooms were showcasing their new Natural Cream Bouquet, combining the impact of flowers with practical items of baby clothing. The gift is created in the appearance of a bouquet of flowers and includes organic cotton baby garments such as socks, hats, bibs and sleepsuits nestled amongst a mix of velvet leaves, silk flowers and foliage which of course remain as a beautiful keepsake once the babywear items have been removed.
www.babyblooms.co.uk

During our shopping spree, we stopped off for a well-deserved break at the Plum stand, where we were given samples of yummy scrummy organic baby food. Plum use exciting and adventurous ingredients such as Plum, Pomegranate & Guava, Beetroot, Apple & Artichoke!
Visit www.plum-baby.co.uk to learn more, view the product range and find details of where to buy.

Now this stop was one for Amanda to shout about, as (hating to admit parenting defeat) her 7-year old daughter is not one to co-operate when it comes to brushing her teeth! Unsure as to whether the daily thespian outbursts of the gagging reflex were a complete excuse, and after trying numerous flavours of toothpaste but not actually managing to find one which is liked, you can imagine how over-joyed we were to spot a new addition to the Halos n Horns range… Toothy Fruity Strawberry and Banana toothpaste. Since the show, this toothpaste has been used every morning and every night, without a prior tooth-brushing reminder even being needed! Well-done Halos n Horns.
Visit www.halosnhorns.co.uk

An interesting chat was had with Smart Cells all about Umbilical Cord Blood Storage. There is a once in a lifetime chance to collect precious stem cells from the umbilical cord immediately after the birth of your baby. These cells can be stored for at least 25 years ready to be used should your child need them in the event of a life threatening disease.  Visit www.smartcells.com

A very kind gesture was made by Happy Hands, who stopped us on our way past and offered to print the children’s finger prints, which went down a treat with our 7-year old who sent the prints off to mummy’s partner who is currently serving in the Gulf. There is nothing better than receiving a personalised gift from a little one and Happy Hands can help you do that with their range of printed tiles, mugs, cards, certificates and much more, and also proved to us that it’s never too late to take your baby’s (or not so baby’s) hand or footprints!
Visit www.happyhands.co.uk

And last but not least, we stopped to say a quick hello to Monkey & Me, who had been slightly quieter this year due to the unfortunate positioning of their stand – so pop along and take a quick peek at their website www.monkeyandme.co.uk you’ll love what you find.

For a reminder of some of the companies who exhibited at the show, click here.