NEWS FROM COW & GATE GROWING UP MILK

THE WINTER POTTY LIST

Or 24 things to do before spring

It may be cold outside but there’s no need for toddlers to hibernate this winter with Growingupmilkinfo’s fun guide of things to do with your little one. The team from the toddler nutrition website are back with a list of must-do activities toddlers should have ticked off before spring has sprung.

From building a den to getting messy in the kitchen, the list has been created using suggestions from parents nationwide and experts, including children’s play expert Adrian Voce OBE and Growingupmilkinfo.com nutritionist Leanne Olivier.  The list is made up of 24 activities, one for each day of the weekend, to keep toddlers entertained and topped-up with essential nutrients throughout the winter. 

The Winter Potty List is not only a celebration of fun things that parents can do with their little ones, it also includes ways to ensure your toddler gets the hard to get nutrients they need, especially the ‘sunshine vitamin’, vitamin D, which children often lack in the winter time.  

The 24 must-do activities that make up ‘The Winter Potty List’ include:

·         Build a den with the biggest cardboard box you can find

·         Find lots of mummy’s funny clothes and play dress up 

·         Make music in the kitchen using your plate, pans, and a wooden spoon

·         Walk through a pile of leaves as big as you

·         Play chef for a day and design funny faces for Fisherman’s Jackets (jacket potato with yummy tuna) or yummy fish cakes. Not only is it fun but it’s a good source of vitamin D too

·         Make a warm drink and snuggle up in front of a Christmas movie

·         Host a teddy bears’ picnic, tucking into nutritious snacks and a beaker of Growing Up Milk, while mum sits back with a cuppa

·         Touch, Smell and Taste game: Try it with healthy foods, like tinned salmon, crunchy carrots and Growing Up Milk

·         Get your hands messy in the kitchen and make festive fruit flapjacks or fruit scones

·         Make a rain catcher

·         Decorate your room with handmade snowflakes

·         Build a snowman (or a snowdog, if there isn't enough snow!)

·         Decorate a gingerbread house

·         Play musical statues

·         Dance in the rain

·         Hold a treasure hunt around the house

·         Put on a Christmas concert

·         Get creative and make Christmas wrapping paper and gift tags

·         Make salt dough prints of your hands and feet

·         Make a snow angel

·         Visit Santa and his little elves

·         Camp out in the lounge using a bed sheet for a tent

·         Pop on your wellington boots and jump in the mud

·         Take a walk in the woodlands

Children’s play expert Adrian Voce comments: “Playing for toddlers is the way they discover and develop their own capacity to create and manipulate things, to explore their senses and how they come to know themselves. All of the activities on the Winter Potty List are filled with wonder for toddlers.

“Children’s play can have an extremely positive effect on a toddler’s happiness and health, which is why it’s so important to provide your little one with adequate opportunities for play. Growingupmilkinfo.com’s Winter Potty list is an easy way to get active, explore new experiences and, most importantly, have fun with your little one during the often dreary winter months.”

Growingupmilkinfo.com nutritionist, Leanne Olivier, adds: “It’s impossible for toddlers to get vitamin D from the UK sun at this time of the year, so it’s important that toddlers get a daily dietary intake. Unfortunately vitamin D is one of those nutrients that can be hard to get in the daily diet because it’s not found naturally in many foods; especially ones that toddlers like to eat.

“Oily fish and liver aren’t to every toddler’s taste buds, but Growing Up Milk, which is a fortified milk drink, is a great way to ensure that your toddler gets a daily boost of vitamin D in their diet. The Winter Potty List includes some tasty activities where you can use Growing Up Milk to top up your toddler’s daily diet.”

The years from one-to-three are an amazing period of growth and development for toddlers, so it comes as no surprise that they need the right nutrition, including vitamin D, to support them during this time. In the UK, toddlers’ opportunities to get vitamin D from the sun are severely limited during the winter months. This makes it even more important for parents to ensure they are getting all the essential nutrients they need through their diet.

Growing Up Milk is made from cows’ milk enriched with key nutrients that toddlers need, like vitamins D, A and C, iron, calcium and omega 3 & 6. Just two 150ml beakers of Growing Up Milk each day provides 73 per cent of a toddler’s reference nutrient intake of vitamin D and is an easy way to top up your toddler’s daily intake of essential nutrients.

~Ends~

For more information, contact:

Frank PR 0207 693 6999

toddlercensus@frankpr.it

Notes to Editors:

·         Growingupmilkinfo.com is a resource created by Cow and Gate for parents who want to find out how using a Growing Up Milk for children aged one to three can support toddler nutrition

NEWS FROM COW & GATE

KIDS DON’T JUST SAY THE FUNNIEST THINGS…THEY EAT THEM TOO

Toddlers’ eating habits cost UK families millions of pounds in damages a year, but what is the real cost to their health?

A SURVEY RELEASED today reveals that the nation’s toddlers regularly have mouths full of mum’s jewellery and chew on family essentials like car keys and cameras – with the average toddler costing mum and dad £60 in damages during their first three years[1], equating to a shocking nationwide loss of over £14.5 million a year[2].

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk, who commissioned the survey to highlight the hard to get nutrients required to support toddler growth and development, found 21 per cent of parents’ bundles of joy caused more damage in the home than the family pet1! With 86 per cent of children spending up to 30 minutes per day1 chewing or sucking on household items like remote controls, which came top of the carnage list of items most commonly damaged1.

In light of additional research reporting that the typical UK toddler is more likely to have eaten a burger than broccoli[3], the new poll shows that a supper of crayons, keys and toys is commonplace for our little ones.

Released to coincide with Cow & Gate’s new TV advert, the survey also reveals that inquisitive taste buds are not limited to the household, with creepy crawlies also appearing on this unusual menu of toddler fare, with a quarter of children chowing down on between five and fifteen insects, worms and slugs in their first five years1. It’s not just the celebrities participating in Bushtucker Trials it seems!

Whilst “mouthing” is not to be discouraged, Doctor Leanne Olivier, nutritionist and spokesperson for Cow & Gate, comments: “It’s common for little ones to put weird and wacky things in their mouths, from cushions to remote controls, but they won’t find the essential nutrients they need to support their amazing growth there! A healthy balanced diet including just two beakers of Growing Up Milk[4] each day is a simple way to provide little ones with the hard to get nutrition that they need.”

Dr Richard Woolfson, child psychologist for Growing Up Milk, adds:  “The results of this survey confirm that “mouthing” is very common amongst toddlers. It’s simply another form of exploration and discovery. Mouthing lets curious and inquisitive toddlers learn about the object’s texture, resistance, taste and structure. That’s why you need to watch closely – your toddler will happily mouth anything they get their hands on, big or small, safe or hazardous.”

Toddler Tasting Tactics – Some bitesize facts:

·         The top ten items that toddlers most commonly put in their mouths are: toys (17%), crayons and pencils (16%), remote control (13%), keys (11%), camera, phone and iPod (10%), soft toys (9%), plastic plates and bowls (6%), items of clothing (5%), security blanket (4%) and jewellery (3%)1

·         Over a quarter (28%) of toddlers have eaten more than five insects, worms and slugs in their first five years1

·         30 per cent of toddlers mark their territory and display the first signs of ownership by sucking on their beloved security blankets, soft toys and toys1

·         More than half of parents (57%) say that their toddler has damaged something in the home as a result of “mouthing” 1

·         7 per cent of frustrated parents state that their toddler frequently causes damage in the home, causing destruction more than four times a month1

Cow & Gate’s latest advert for Growing Up Milk highlights just how hard it can be for toddlers to get the essential nutrients they need as we see curious little ones putting ordinary household items in their mouths as they ‘feed their personalities’.

ENDS

For more information, contact:

Frank PR 0207 693 6999

gumbuzzteam@frankpr.it

Notes to Editors:

·         Cow & Gate’s brand new advert ‘Lick Lick Chomp’ is currently airing on television and is available to view on YouTube

·         Growingupmilkinfo.com is a resource created by Cow & Gate for parents who want to find out how using a Growing Up Milk for children aged one to three can support toddler nutrition

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[1]Data gathered from 1,000 parents of children aged 1-5 surveyed between 22-23 November 2012 

[2] Statistics based on ONS data - 723,913 live births in England and Wales in 2011: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/birth-summary-tables--england-and-wales/2011--final-/sb-births-and-deaths-in-england-and-wales--2011--final-.html

[3] The Toddler Census was based on survey data gathered by Opinion Matters in July 2011 from over 1,000 mums and insight gathered from professionals in the field of toddler nutrition, child psychology, parenting and trends, underpinned with statistics on toddlers from a variety of sources including the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and the Infant and Toddler Forum. Among those involved in authoring the final report were leading nutritionist, journalist, author and mother of two, Amanda Ursell

[4] Two 150ml beakers of Growing Up Milk is an easy way to provide your toddler’s diet  with the hard to get nutrients they need, including vitamin D, iron and omega 3