I have been planning the Mama Meet and Markets now for 1 whole year! It only just occurred to me when I started this blog post that May means its the one year anniversary of the start of a little idea that is still blossoming but becoming a part of my life that I hope can remain permanently! Although the event has been successful so far its hard to use the Mama Meet & Market for socialising on a smaller level, I love the way the market is going and its shaping up to be such an amazing way to shop small, support family businesses etc but I feel theres a little gap for smaller events (or workshops if you will), now I know workshops usually intend to teach a skill and although I would say I have many (joke) I wasn't sure where to start. I thought it would be great for the workshops to cover different subjects, parenting and lifestyle topics that cover a variety of things ranging from more serious or important topics such as First Aid to less important topics like styling children party's. I just knew that I wanted to run these alongside the market as a chance to continue events but on a smaller scale.

Fingers crossed I can do more of these! The atmosphere was so lovely, it was small enough for all of us to chat and feel comfortable with one another and everyone was able to act out what we were being taught by our first aid trainer on dummies. I am also always keen to make sure children are welcome in most of the events I plan, its not always easy for everyone to find childcare and I hate the thought that so many of us miss out on what we want to do because we are owners of little people.

So having worried about that I decided to create a play space where little ones would be entertained, parents knew they were safe and we could see them clearly. It was very well used and the little ones that attended LOVED it! We had a ball pit that was kindly gifted from Baby ball Pits, one of the coolest ball pits I've ever seen! We also had books, rocking horse, a play house, building blocks and a few other bits that proved a massive hit! The most important part of this was for everyone to feel comfortable, parents that are feeling relaxed would have a way better chance of truly taking the information in.

We had cake from Hello Cake and a lovely postcard print from the wonderful Freddie The Kid, for me its the little touches that make something special. The prints say 'Begin each day with a grateful heart' and it seemed so fitting for the occasion. Each session included a short interval were we could all talk about what we had learned so far and everyone that took part told me first hand that they were leaving feeling confident in the knowledge they had received.

Some of the information we received I thought I would break down for you, I learned so many obvious and simple things from the day that are so easily transferable, other parts of the day were more serious and I feel must be kept as part of the workshop. Learning how to administer CPR and also how to act with Choking situations were extremely informative and we acted out on the dummies to see exactly how it must be done. Each baby we used had lights on the nappy area, when both green lights were active that was only when we were administering correctly, let me tell you it wasn't easy to activate those green lights. It opened my eyes massively to how hard you must work and just how serious it is to take part in training like what we did. I recommend that if your reading this and you too want to get some training that you do it, I have waited a long time to finally receive mine and I found the whole experience so life changing that I am in a rush to plan a whole load more of these workshops.

The main topics we covered included:

Unconciousness
Choking
CPR
Infant Convulsions
Allergies
Meningitus

Did you know that we have around 8 minutes of oxygen stored in our adult bodies?

In a scenario that we lost consciousness we have an 8 minute bracket to act and administer the right techniques. 8 minutes doesn't seem a long time to try and save a life does it?

Children have only 3 minutes of oxygen before they would become starved!

That right there puts everything into perspective for me, and I now feel that I would know the correct steps to use those 3 minutes wisely! Something else I found so useful was the simple idea of writing things down, things such as temperatures, oxygen levels etc then recording them every few hours if you feel that your little one is very ill then this could help ambulance staff or paramedics when they arrived and offer your little one an easier diagnosis. I now plan to make sure I have an oxygen level reader and a better thermometer that records an internal and external temperature. You could speak to your doctor or pharmacy about which ones they would recommend.

You CAN use a Defibrillator on children 1 year plus!

As scary as that sounds and I know that not one person reading this wishes that they have too, however that option is there and the percentage of survival increases to 90% survival rate. These are found often now in Telephone boxes, outside supermarkets and you will ALWAYS find them in Gyms & Dentists too.

Babies can't regulate their temperature.

Sorry if that sounds patronising, I know we are all told so often when we are expecting a baby about keeping them warm and that using cellular blankets would help a baby regulate their temperature etc But I don't recall being told about convulsions or how to cool a baby down so this was a great refresher.

Strip them off! Remove all clothes if you think the infant has suffered a convulsion!
CALL AN AMBULANCE!
TEPID water! Never cold water, but sprinkle the tepid water over the whole body. Its important not to cause the infant to go into shock, going from one extreme to the other could cause shock!
A FAN! We love a fan in our house in the summer time but again never direct the fan at the little one in question as this could cause shock, simply direct it up and let it regulate the air in the room!

To avoid choking always cut into cubes. Avoid anything thats disc shape, Sausages are criminal for this!

Now choking was one of the things thats hot topic for me at the moment, I have seen far too many tragedies in the past couple of years on social media and in the news. I knew I wanted this topic covered. If you feel the same then I urge you to find First Aid training in your area.

First thing to do is administer 5 back blows! If nothing changes, CALL AN AMBULANCE! Another thing to remember is to always support the jaw when administering this to protect the infant from any damage to the head!

Mothers instinct is a great thing, we know our children and we know them better than anyone! We can tell when their behaviour changes, we know their temperament and their energy level etc We must bare this in mind when figuring out what steps to take when we think that they are ill.

Theres so much pressure on not wasting the time of the NHS which I completely understand, they are stretched and I respect that! However we can't waste time when It comes to our children, this training encouraged us to make sure we take our children to the hospital if any of the above topics have happened or even if we think they may have happened. Anytime a child looses consciousness, has a convulsion, chokes etc they HAVE to be checked out at the hospital and thats vital. Don't ever feel that you are wasting anyones time!

There is so much that I could cover in this post but I would never want to incorrectly advise you, I just wanted to share some information that I knew was easily transferable and simple enough to make you question whether or not you knew about it! I hope its opened your eyes a little or that you have learned even ONE thing at all, If you wish take part in the next workshop then keep your eyes peeled for some more dates and in the mean time perhaps research other avenues as I can recommend it enough. I feel confident and thats what I wanted to take from this! Its also made me consider asking the people who I leave in the care of my children occasionally to consider doing the same also.

Thank you for reading...