DFDS Seaways Ferry receives a Daphne Seal of Approval

 

   

Poor Daphne had to stay in the Doggy Hotel of the Ferry to Newcastle. Along with 2 other dogs she was left in a room with various sized dog cages, plenty of fresh water and some food. She refused the food – protest perhaps?

We were allowed to visit her but did not go down too often, as I thought that it might be more unsettling for her. When we did visit, she was incredibly happy to see us but did not seem too bothered about going back into her cage afterwards. She is a sleepy mutt anyway, and a bit fed up of the children being home on school holidays so probably saw it as a chance of having a wee rest.

Just outside the room was a massive doggy loo where she could relieve herself when we visited. All in all, not a traumatic experience – except for our daughter, who cried when we left Daphne. I suspect she was trying to work out if she could smuggle Daphne back to the cabin.

On arrival in Newcastle, Daphne’s doggy passport was checked and we were allowed to proceed with no difficulty.

DFDS Seaways for doggy transport between Europe and UK, now with the Daphne Seal of Approval.

Flaschennahrung Vorbereitung - How to make up baby formula safely

This is a strange post, is it not? My children are 8 and 6 years old and it has been quite some time since I made up bottles.


There was a discussion on Mumnset recently about making up baby formula safely. We had discussed the fact that many parents were still making up the formula to outdated instructions and putting their babies at risk from Salmonella poisoning.






I am particularly interested in this topic as my son had Salmonella poisoning when he was just 5 months old, which was particularly unpleasant for him. We were lucky. I always err on the side of caution with any kind of tummy bug - and this one was extreme, I could see that - so we hotfooted it down to the doctor. We were in Scotland and the time, visiting my parents, and our family doctor thought it was likely an infection but sent a stool sample off to make sure it was nothing nastier.


It was indeed nasty. Salmonella infection. How did that happen? He was bottle-fed, not weaned yet and did not eat anything else. We racked our brains to think what could have happened since none of the rest of the family were ill. A woman from Environmental Health came out to the house and asked us some questions to see if we could pinpoint the cause, but it remained a mystery. Our son was put on antibiotics and made a full recovery.


We were indeed lucky, as Salmonella can be extremely nasty when young children catch it.


In 2004, the year our son was born, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN and the World Health Organisation met in Geneva to convene a meeting on the risks of food poisoning from infant milk formula. They found that two things could dramatically decrease the risk of food poisoning:


- boiling the water, then cooling to no less that 70°C before mixing with the formula


- a decrease in holding times and feeding times, ie. using up the milk later, particularly reheating the milk.


The WHO in it's resolution WHA 58.32 requested that the WHO develop guidelines on the safe preparation and storage of infant milk formula to reduce the risk of food poisoning. The group met again in 2006 to address further issues.


A lot of people do not know that infant formula is not sterile. The FAO/WHO group found that the biggest danger is from the pathogens Enterobacter sakazakii and Enterobacter Enterica. (Salmonella). Severe illness and sometimes death can be caused by an infection by these pathogens. Those at most risk are young babies, particularly premature babies, and any children with compromised immune systems.


The manufacture of sterile infant formula is currently not possible so the only way of preventing these illnesses is the safe preparation of infant milk.


The report of the FAO/WHO group included the recommendation that water for preparation of infant formula be boiled then let to cool to no less that 70° and that bottles should not be kept for a later feed. Each feed should be made up individually.


So far, so good. These recommendations, while coming too late to have saved my son from a nasty infection would prevent other children suffering the same or worse.


Only if the parents and carers preparing the bottles know about it. There are still very many parents who do not know this, or who have been falsely informed by their midwives, health visitors or who have asked friends and relatives.


Ok, so if a parent is unsure then he or she can look up the internet or check the back of the packet. This is where the shocking bit comes. When I checked the internet pages of several German formula manufacturers to see what the current recommendation is, I found this:

Nestle (click on Zubereitung) Benötigte Wassermenge abkochen, auf etwa 40°C abkühlen und ca. die Hälfte in die Flasche geben. 

Milupa  

Kochen Sie frisches Leitungswasser ab (benötigte Menge entnehmen Sie der Dosierungstabelle auf der jeweiligen Milupa Milumil Packung) und lassen Sie es auf 40° abkühlen. 

So both of the leading manufacturers of infant formula are still recommending a temperature of 40°C, which will not kill off the bacteria responsible for Salmonella poisoning and other nasty infections. 

Hipp and Humana have both changed their preparation instructions to reflect the FAO/WHO recommendations. 

Nestle's UK website carries no advice on how long to cool the water before using. 

This is a disgrace. It has been 5 years since the FAO/WHO recommendations were published. Why has Nestle not followed their advice and changed the preparation instructions? Why does Nestle think that it is just fine to leave things as they are and put small babies at risk?

Further to this, why are is there no recommendation on any of the German websites  that I looked at (with the exception of Humana and Hipp) about the safe preparation of baby formula. Even baby fora such as  this one have it wrong. Almost all of the websites that I looked at had the wrong information, even a website from the Thüringer Midwives Association.

Despite several searches, I could not find any official (ie. from the Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, or any other German Government agency) advice on how to prepare baby formula, such as the this website from the UK Department of Health.

What can be done? I will be writing to Nestle and to the German Minister, Frau Aigle, to  askifor an explanation. I will also be contacting WHO and the Midwives Associations of Germany. I hope that others will join me in protesting.

 

La Plage Publique des Eaux-Vives

Driving around Geneva recently, I kept seeing these wonderful posters, reminiscent of the Côte d'Azur in the 1950s.  I was unaware that there was a beach at Eaux-Vives, knowing only the little beach at Baby Plage that I blogged about not long after we arrived in Geneva.

When I got home, I looked up the website  from the posters and found that it is an advertising campaign to inform Genevans about the new development between Baby Plage and the Port -Noir.

Geneva council recently voted to approve the development which shall encompass a public beach with cafes and a new port with moorings for over 600 boats. The council meeting must have been fun as apparently le magistrat Vert wore a hawaiian lei, sunglasses and brandished a pair of flip-flops. Not very Swiss!

The photos certainly look impressive. This development will, in conjunction with the proposed development at Geneve Plage and the boat harbour, transform Geneva's waterfront. The total cost is said to be over CHF 60million.The Plage des Eaux-Vives part of the development is due to be finished in Summer of 2013.

Holiday Home in Vaucluse, Provence

 We recently stayed a week in this holiday home in Provence, in a small village called Sablet. The village is pretty, not far from Orange and Avignon, and has the basic amenities: baker, butcher, small supermarket and a chemist. Sablet is perched on a hill and the views from the top of the village, near the church are spectacular.

I found the holiday home on Owner's Direct, and the pictures and description sounded promising. On arrival in Sablet, we met the charming owner, received the keys and had our first look at the house. To be honest, when we saw the house we were a bit taken aback, there did not seem to be many windows and I did wonder if it would be very dark.  

When we entered the hallway through the attached garage it did seem a little bit gloomy but we were so charmed by the pretty stairs with the painted tiles that we hardly noticed.

On the ground floor was a decent sized bedroom with two single bed and an ensuite bathroom that the children claimed for their own. We could see that the house had been recently renovated, in 2006 I believe, and that the owners had put a lot of thought and money into it. The bathroom was small but lovely, the beds were old but comfortable. The bedroom also boasted an airconditioning unit, as did the other rooms of the house which we rarely needed to use as the house did not really get very hot. We put the AC on for an hour or so just before we went to bed to cool the bedrooms down.

Upstairs, on the first floor we found a wonderful, light and airy room with a large dining table, wooden dresser and a two-seater couch with a television. There was also a desk that held brochures and information about the surrounding area.

The dresser held plenty of dishes, cutlery and a good selection of kitchen and serving utensils. I was impressed to find not only a quiche dish but also a cake tin, although I am afraid that I did not use it. More to the boulangerie in another post.

Also on the first floor was the well-equiped kitchen with a dishwasher (hurrah!) a gas/induction hob, a oven and a microwave. And of course for the Brits, the all important kettle. The owner had supplied the basics - tea and coffee, salt and sugar, and had not removed the items that previous renters had left behind so that there were many other basics already there. Even a basil plant. The only thing that we missed was a tea pot but that is just us being British. Or me anyway. I used one of the jugs but there is something just not right about doing that.

In the fridge we found a bottle of water, and a bottle of the local white wine which we found a lovely touch. There were also candles and matches for those romantic Provencal evenings on the terrace.

Outside the dining / kitchen area was a large private terrace. It was enclosed on three sides so was very sheltered, both from the wind that whistled around the corners in Sablet and from the hot Provencal sun.  We ate here every day and enjoyed relaxing with a coffee and an Aperol Spritz after our meal, when the children were downstairs getting ready for bed. The opening to the street meant that we could watch the sun setting - and have a good nosy at the people passing by.

The large picture windows were open to the terrace so that the house was very light without one having the feeling of being observed by the neighbours.

Going upstairs again, we reached the second floor and the Master Bedroom. The bathroom is not strictly ensuite, but it is just across the stairwell. Again the bathroom was beautifully finished, with double sink unit and a large shower.

The bedroom was pretty and again filled with light, due to the large windows that led out onto another terrace, which offered a view of the terrace below and up into the sky. It was here that I would sit in the evenings once the children were in bed to read, drink  wine and gaze dreamily at the moon and stars.

We had a couple of slight problems - the WC next to the children's room would not flush and the tap of the kitchen sink flew across the room if it were not held tight but when we informed the owners, they came around and fixed it immediately.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the holiday home in Sablet. The standard of the accomodation was high, the little touches of decoration and the attention to detail turned the small house into a proper gem.

Our little dog was welcome, as were the children although it has to be said that the house would not be suitable for younger children due to the many stairs and the fact that the bedrooms are so far apart. There was another bedroom in the attic of the house, suitable again for older children as the stairs were a bit steep.

Ok, so this is a smug and boastful post. So shoot me.

After all it is not every day that one's husband cycles to the top of Mt Ventoux.