Sophie the Giraffe is not trying to kill your kids, your bad hygiene is.

I am fed up with hearing about Sophie the sodding giraffe.

Sophie the Giraffe is not trying to kill your kids, your bad hygiene is.

Toys that get damp inside, either from use in the bath or through sucking by a toddler are going to grow mould. And before you all jump on me, no of course I'm not the perfect housewife with a spotless house, but when a plughole in my house is stuffed up with congealed soap and pubic hairs I don't alert the media. Nor do I return the sink to Bathroom World and complain.

Now I'm sure this lady who discovered the horror that mould had grown inside her child's favourite chew toy didn't immediately grab the phone and ring the BBC, I'm sure she just intended it as a reminder to her online chums that they should clean the toys in their homes and keep an eye on what babies and toddlers chew on. (see how I haven't read every article so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt over this)

Just like when I found DD, as a crawling baby, chewing on a well gnawed plastic dog's bone and reminded people that babies crawl and that dogs leave spit slimey toys laying about (thus winning the 'no shit Sherlock' award of the week). I guess that the media were just having a slow news day, probably all the wars had stopped or something.

Really, I am bored of reading about Sophie.

If you have toys that can get water (or baby dribble) inside them, you should wash them inside and out regularly. Use some water with sterilising fluid in, squeeze the toy under the water a few times to ensure water ingress, then give it a good shake, leave it for 10 minutes, empty and repeat. Empty and leave the toy to air dry. You should do this at least once a month, more often if you have the time.

Now excuse me, I have plugholes to clean.

The Fight Against Lurgies

Is Lurgy a real word? I don't know, but being British, having 'the lurgy' seems to be a common thing. The lurgy can vary from stomach bugs to colds but we all know it when we have it. Yuk. Feeling ill, infectious and generally 'grotty', when you live with other people you are shunned for fear that they will be next.

Gruesome tissues and your used cups will be avoided Like...well like the plague! Because no one wants to be next on the list to be struck down.

I suffered from the lurgy a week or so ago and serendipitously received a product to try at the same time. The product was NatraSan, a first aid and general cleaning spray made not of alcoholic gel, as many hand sanitisers are, but of water based hypochlorous acid. This acid is both strong against germs but mild on your skin, in fact your own skin makes it to protect you from the germy horrors that lurk...

So NatraSan can be used as a hand sanitiser, wound cleaner, surface cleaner, even a food cleaner! I used it during my snotty time in bed to wipe down things I touched, to clean my hands, and to clean surfaces etc, and it seemed to work as Mr TM remained bug and lurgy free! (Lucky him - I was in bed for 4 days!)

The spray is also perfect for camping - I'll be taking some to festivals - great for hand cleaning without the drying or stinging associated with alcohol gels, safe for small children to use (even if they suck their hands while they are still wet with NatraSan), excellent to rinse out scrapes and grazes ,and perfect for a quick wipe down of a dropped apple...no rinsing needed.

I was sceptical of the claims I admit - so I did a bit of research and sure enough it does work! The sanitising properties of hypocholrous acid have been known for some time, it was keeping it stable that was the problem and now that it is solved I can see it becoming more widely used. It's not cheap but I think the safety aspects, along with it's efficacy and the fact that small children can use it will make it a useful addition to your 'cleaning arsenal'.

Some facts:

Fact 1: This antiseptic, anti-viral and anti-fungal sanitising spray kills 99.9999% of germs, bacteria and viruses within seconds.
The active ingredient in NatraSan is hypochlorous acid, a very mild but powerful chemical produced by the human immune system to fight infection. Hypochlorous has evolved to kill microbes quickly - it oxidises germs, which means that it penetrates the outer layer of the germ cell and literally ‘blows it up’.

Fact 2: NatraSan is 300 times more effective than bleach but it is no more dangerous to human skin than water.
Because hypochlorous is a natural chemical that is produced by the human body it is safe to all human tissue, including young, old and sensitive skin, whilst causing almost instant death to germs. Rigorous laboratory tests have found it to be more effective than bleach for killing bacteria, with the added bonus of being natural and kind to skin.

NatraSan has been independently laboratory tested in UK laboratories and complies with British Standard/European Norm (BSEN) 1276 (bactericidal) BSEN 13697 (fungicidal) BSEN 14204 (virucidal) and BSEN 13704 (sporicidal).

NatraSan costs £10.00 for 250ml and £7.00 for 100ml - available at www.natrasanuk.com 

Disclosure: I was sent a complimentary bottle of Natrasan for the purposes of this review.

Safe and clean - a review of Aquaint water based sanitiser

A little gem has appeared and become an instant favourite on my 'things to take when I go out' list.


Small and easy to fit in my bag a bottle of Aquaint has replaced a previously carried bottle of alcohol based hand gel.


Aquaint's claims made me initially think it must be too good to be true! Kills 99.9% of all sorts of horrors, can be used on babies and children (from birth!), isn't dangerous if ingested, can be used to clean 'things' as well as hands, dummies, rattles, (so if anyone throws their toys out of the pram they can go right back in after a quick spray and wipe) plates (perfect when camping as I often leave things to dry in the sun where flies no doubt have a wander!) and even fruit!


So could it really be true? Water based, non toxic safe and yet kills bacteria, fungus, viruses...


Well it turns out yes it can! I had a look through various scientific papers that have looked into using hypochlorous acid as a disinfectant and the results were all positive. It's a naturally occurring acid and not toxic, your own body makes it anyway, and after testing it for a few days I'm hooked! No dry skin as it's water based, no strong smell (great just before you eat a sandwich!) I will be stocking up with a few bottles in preparation for festival season.


I can't imagine why I hadn't heard of this product before.


Disclosure - I was sent a couple of bottles of Aquaint for the purposes of the review - but I'm genuinely happy to recommend this product.

Aquaint is a 100 per cent natural, eco-friendly water-based sanitiser that kills 99.9 percent of bacteria in seconds. Water provides the base for the product to be highly effective as a cleanser and its only other ingredient, Hypochlorous Acid, provides its anti-bacterial properties. Hypochlorous Acid is a harmless, natural acid produced by the human body to kill bacteria.

Aquaint has passed official UK Drinking Water tests and is endorsed by Allergy UK as an ‘Allergy Friendly Product’. It is the safest sanitiser on the market and ideal for the most sensitive and delicate skin from birth. Its lack of chemicals, fragrances and preservatives mean it is completely harmless, even if digested. It can even be used as a mouthwash.

Product Overview

• Suitable for use on the skin, surfaces and even on food
• Safe to use from birth
• Suitable for sensitive skin and endorsed as an ‘Allergy Friendly Product’
• Kills 99.9% of bacteria in seconds
• Multiple uses at home, out and about and while travelling
• Does not dry out or irritate the skin, even after repeated use
• Does not need to be rinsed off
• Gentle, powerful and extremely safe
• Harmless if swallowed
• Safe to be handled unsupervised by infants
• Eco friendly
• Safe as drinking water!

It is available in a 500ml trigger spray bottle (£4.99) for use around the house on kitchen worktops, dining tables or in the car and can even by sprayed onto food. The handy 50ml mini spray bottle (£2.49) is ideal for carrying in your handbag, keeping on your desk or taking on days out, camping trips and festivals as a quick and easy way to cleanse hands or skin.

It can be used to freshen-up and deodorise the body naturally, used as a mouthwash or mouth freshener and sprayed directly on to the skin or surfaces without the need to rinse off as it does not leave behind any residues or toxic chemicals. Aquaint is perfect if you’re worried about exposure to harsh chemicals as it does not contain any alcohol, Parabens, Pthalates etc.

Aquaint is stocked in Boots, Babies R Us, Ocado, Vital Baby, JoJo Maman Bebe, NCT Shop and Amazon and is available to purchase on the website at www.aquaint-uk.com.

Chore Wars

I wasn't going to talk about it, I turned down a company who asked me to talk about women doing the lions share of the housework. I saw posts on twitter about it, I read blog posts about it, but I stayed strong. I didn't blog about it. And then today, finally, a radio ad for Woman's Hour (a show I've appeared on and yet loathe) broke me. So here I am.

Chore Wars

How ridiculous. Are women really so feeble we can't ask a bloke to help if we need to? Are men really so lazy and feckless they just lay around watching footie and drinking beer from the can, unless poked by a feisty female?

I don't think so. I think we are grown ups. I think that mothers raise sons and we raise them to be equals in a relationship, just as we raise our girls. I hope that mothers of boys (I only have a daughter) teach them to cook, clean, wash up, split the laundry into lights and darks, and how to handle babies just as I teach my daughter.

I hope other mothers of daughters are teaching their girls how to light real fires, check their oil and antifreeze levels (ooh must take car to garage - don't let me forget) I hope they are learning to change a wheel, use power tools and mow lawns with stripes.

I think the constant bashing of men as lazy hurts us all and the frequent martyr language of the long suffering mum at home does the same. Are you a couple? Then you are a partnership. You split the chores and housework as best suits you, as a partnership. Your gender is irrelevant. You are a team. Pull together, face the world, win.

In my house there is a full time worker and a stay at home partner who does the majority of the housework and looks after DD. This has worked for us as a family for 14 years.

The fact that it's me that works and DH that knows how the washing machine works, is neither here nor there.

Buying in bulk

When Mr TM and I shop for the house, (and we hate shopping for boring house stuff) we tend to buy lots of things that won't 'go off' because that way we can leave nice long gaps between visiting the supermarket. We try and shop local for fresh foodstuffs.

When it comes to things like cleaning stuff, washing liquid, toilet rolls, rubber gloves, surface cleaner, toilet cleaner etc we tend to buy a lot ... as much as we can afford really, and store it away until we need it. Currently we have 8 bottles of Cif, 3 x 24 pack of toilet rolls, 4 each of bio and non bio washing liquid and 5L of washing up liquid...and 6 pairs of rubber gloves (I always imagine that at least in a zombie apocalypse scenario we will be clean)

The reason we have 5L of washing up liquid is because I was asked by NCSOnline to write a review. Little did they realise that I was already a bulk buying convert!

Now I realise that to buy in bulk you have to spend a bit up front and that's not possible for everyone, but if you can then once you get started you can save a lot of money! (and save on boring trips to the supermarket)

So I've been trying the washing up liquid and it seems at least as good as the one I normally use (It's very thick and removes grease well, though oddly it loses its green colour while in the sun on the window ledge - not that being green makes a washing up liquid work!) and at £4.25 for 5L is a good saving, even a supermarket own brand works out at £5.90 for 5L and as I browse the NCS Online Kitchen Cleaning Products I can see a few more things that I could make some savings on. As always, check postage costs when buying online, buying more can save you that too!

So take a look and see if buying in bulk could save you some money.


Disclaimer ; I was sent the 5L washing up liquid to review but the opinions in this post are my own

we interrupt your usual blog for a message from a sponsor..

I do reviews, not too many I hope, but I do them. I only review products I use or would use. So was quite pleased to be asked to try Ecover Zero. I already use Ecover non-biological washing liquid, but this was new, no colour, no scent (yes @mamacrow NO SCENT!) no additives, just a basic, kind to the environment, kind to skin, range of clothes washing liquid and, amazingly, fabric conditioner.

I was also sent a dish washing liquid to try in the same, colour-free, scent-free range. We do not have a dish washer (except me) so that was put straight to work. Very foamy, cleaned grease very well and DD noticed the difference from our usual liquid on the first day.

"Mum, this glass is really clean, we never have clean glasses" (*ahem* obviously we always have clean glasses but she meant that it was streak free)

So I'm fairly sold on the dish washing liquid, I love the lack of smell left on the dishes and the lack of stupid colour (why is washing up liquid the colour of methadone btw?)

But for clothes washing reviews we must ask my darling husband, yes ladies, I realise you are jealous but in our house the lovely Mr Tattooed Mummy does the housework, including the washing.

So I asked him for a verdict. He was a little surprised about a clothes conditioner with no smell, "it's the smell I like" he said, but the washing came out clean, fresh (no 'artificial' 'air freshener' type smell) and the clothes don't feel scratchy (we have no tumble dryer so they are line dried) So I think that's a result. He is happy to use it again as he doesn't like biological liquids, both he and DD have delicate skin.


If you have an aversion to artificial smells, if you like the environment, if you have sensitive skin, then EcoverZero might be just what you are looking  for. And if you spill it, it doesn't leave green/blue stains all over the kitchen.

• Looks 9/10 
• Value For money 8/10 
• Usability/Usefulness 10/10 
• Fun 6/10