GinaG3

I second the above opinion, we went there recently and it was gorgeous. You always see families in there with young children and babies. Give it a try, if you like Turkish food, it really is nice!

Sex 4 days after birth!! I could never do that, I couldn't walk properly for 2 weeks (tmi?) let alone do the deed. Cor blimey, my partner was lucky just hitting the 1 month mark. ClareC - Breastfeeding as a contraceptive is 99% effective if you stick the strict regime, and by strict I mean STRICT!! Baby must feed a certain amount of times a day, not be on any solids, have a strong stuck, feed between certain times of the night and no periods can be present within the mother. The baby cannot be over 6 months old either. Very interesting studies carried out, I'm sure you could find them online if you are interested.

Am I mad for thinking a good age gap is about 18 months (not the birth of the baby but conceiving)?. I'd do it at the drop of a hat now my daughter is 19 months old but partner has other ideas. First anymore kids was a no go for him, he wants daughter to have our undivided attention, but I cant stand the thought of her being an only child. He is one of 2, I am one of 5. We are both still very young and have all the time in the world, he has turned around and said in 10 years maybe, but this is a no go for me. I want to have my children now and then when they all start school I can get back into a job and rise up the ranks without having a gap to have more children. I have been so broody for the last 13 months, I have a lot more love to give. He think more children means favoritism but I think more children means my remaining love can be spread equally between 3 (my ideal number of children). Oh what to do when you have to take in fathers considerations too. Hard work I say..

Do you know majority of people don't want to offend - what if the lady isn't pregnant after all and sits there thinking why did this person just offer me a seat? This happens often, so I hear. A lot of the time seats aren't even offered to old people who clearly cant stand for long.. I often see people take the attitude of 'head down, mind your own' I mean should you have to carry a pass or something to be eligible for a seat on a bus..? I think not millsa, do you think random people will care about your bump after all its not them that got you pregnant or made the choice for you to get pregnant? They wanted a seat too, that why they sat in one when they got on the bus, is it their right to defend their seat against the more needy? And believe it or not, some people still say no even when you do ask.. Then what?! On to the next person?

I probably wouldn't want to ask for a seat but people in priority seats should be aware they are in such seats and always move for anyone pregnant, on crutches, clearly unable to stand or old. Its morals really, some people have manors and some don't I suppose. Certainly men are rather bad (sorry men), some realise straight away and give up the seat without a second look, others just ignore you and think 'so shes pregnant, so what, deal with it' Put your hand on your back and play on the 'ohh my back', keep rubbing and hope for a seat I say. Once I had to breastfeed standing up on a bus when no-one would give me a seat, truly unacceptable I believe. Two men in priority seats too mp3s in reading newspaper, they did see me though!!

I must say I agree with fuschia 110% on what she said. My daughter did the same for a good while at that age. Food is just for exploring right now, they still get most of their needs from milk. We sat it out and tried to stay calm - easier said than done I know. We found the more wound up we got the more she played on it, simply looking for a reaction. Stay calm and positive. Let the baby try food off your own plate if wanted. The less you stress the better. Good luck with it, it will pass trust me!

We are in newborn mode with breastfeeding right now at 19 months I might add, I know its going to be so hard to stop so sympathize with you 110%. I don't want the day to come where I feel I may have to wean her instead of her doing it herself. I hear a lot of women have success stories from actually not being around during the day for a couple of days, don't have experience of this myself yet though I'm afraid. Good luck with it :) I hope it goes well.

Haha, ?80 a month = child benefit payments for new clothes, days out etc. So not actually that much, but we got that instead of pocket money but it came with responsibilities I assure you. ?2 I say!!

Every lucky number must contain a 3.. Can I have number 33 please(?), double lucky I say. Hope no-one else has caught onto lucky number 3, there are no other lucky numbers out there, I know!

We used to get ?2 and the occasional magazine, until it turned into an allowance of ?80 a month, but we were around 14 by then, this stopped once work started at 16.. My daughter will have the same treatment, I always thought ?2 was a fair amount.

I hope I can still start my growing balcony this year. I am collecting things, albeit slowly as I'm trying not to spend any money but grow everything from recycled pots and even seeds/off cuts etc. Very satisfying if I may say so myself. Will I be too late for these if I plant in a few weeks? Lettuce, garlic, onion, tomatoes and many variety of herbs.. I dont have a clue to be honest, just fed up of my ?25/w veg bills and want to teach my 18 month old where her food comes from. BTW PR - I keep walking past a balcony on my estate and they have really big bushy tomato plants but the tomatos are still bright green. Maybe they aren't enjoying the climate this year.

Somethings got to give somewhere down the line. In 10 years whats going to have stopped the homelessness rate in this country doubling or tripling etc? Nothing I suppose. I hate to think of the world my daughter is going to be living in. You can exhaust every housing option with Southwark and still get nowhere. I hate to think of people trying to get affordable housing in Southwark, its a nightmare to say the least.

It seems a joke to me, there are only 5/6 guys working between Plough and Court Lane. Maybe it will be done by Christmas 2020.. I also notice people jumping the Plough temporary lights, how silly. BE CAREFUL!!!

Oh I was intrigued.. My daughter loves to beat up my keyboard. The top one wont work on my mac, silly considering it is supposed to be a iphone app grrr

I agree that most people living in social housing do need the accommodation. But, personally if I knew I could afford to move out of social and into private accommodation I would to free up space for someone who has become more needy than me. As I know what its like to be turned away. I wouldn't sit in social housing all my life just because I know I can, that to me is rather unfair although I can understand why people do it. I cannot believe those stats and I was right they did knock me off my chair. I find it even harder to get my head around the fact that E&C development will only provide another 1,100 home for people in need. Thats outrageous, do the other 4,000+ will become available on the private market, or are reserved for 'waiting' residents? Seeing all these boarded up houses, flats and high rises just makes me angry to be honest. Obviously in certain cases it is needed for regeneration but in others the council could just take action to get the owner to sort out the fact its derelict or slap a compulsory purchase order on the place (of course the owner will probably deny this request). The cycle just goes on and on it seems.

DJKQ You know my situation so you can understand my frustrations at councils but I can fully see it from your angle too. Something has got to give in this country with housing. I feel complete and utter despair at some stories I hear of trying to get housing. Being declared homeless with a child and still not getting help from your local authority is just not fair. There are some people out there that play the system, same with benefits. DJKQ Do you know total number of people waiting for housing in Southwark alone? Out of interest. (Its probably going to knock me off my chair but thats okay) I will actually say I think its wrong that housing benefit makes up the gap between social and private sector housing, but what other option is there right here, right now? Its a right battle even finding landlords who are willing to accept tenants in receipt of DSS, a hell of a lot of private landlords will not accept. But why if as you say they are getting their mortgages paid off for them, the usual argument is not being paid on time or the state the flat will be left in (surely this doesn't matter if your essentially getting the mortgage paid for you, your earning a free house). Im still finding all of this very interesting but its really making my own situation hit home. At least in council housing you can feel stability, what about all these people thrown into private housing thats paid for them when they receive benefits? No stability here, when starting work the rent cannot be paid so HB come to fill in the gap again, in this situation housing benefit can be relied on for a long long time. No chance of getting council housing once you find other means of accommodation as your covered then, within their bands your not in desperate need. So being stuck in a cycle of never being able to afford your rent by yourself, and never feeling you will have stability is unbelievably depressing. Some people could afford to pay off a mortgage easier than private rents (I do know people to whom this applies) every month but then to get that mortgage you need stability and that enormous initial cash outlay. Oh what to do, move to a desert island? No money, no need, no problems?

Typically the flat I rent in the private sector is ex local authority as were most of the flats I viewed that were within my price range. In my personal opinion council housing shouldn't be allowed to be sold off, neither should people get the right to buy. Council housing should be used as an aid to help people in the most need. If you enter a take up tenure on a council home you should have your circumstances review after X amount of years. This happens with benefits so why not housing? There are definitely people out there who need a secure tenure for life and I have no problem with this whatsoever, but the majority of people living in council housing do not need this. It seems extortionate that my rent in the private sector for one month could keep 2 families in council housing for a month. Would it not be cheaper in the long run for the council to build, buy or take over properties that have fallen into disrepair than to pay double rents in the private sector for the overspill of people looking for social housing?

I admire anyone that does work like this. I would find it absolutely heartbreaking. I wish I could be of help with some information, will definitely keep my eye out. I can only begin to imagine the pain families feels when a loved one goes missing, let alone a child. Very touching video by the way. Keep up the good work & well done on reaching charity status.

I wish you all the best with trying out the routine. It will be hard work but worth sticking at for sure. When you have that first nights sleep after what feels like years its total bliss. I got a 5am wake up call this morning, 2 hours in to my day already. Ho hum..

Personally I would wake the baby every 4 hours (maximum) in the night. Night feeds are also very important to keep your daughters supply up, especially seeing as the baby is 2 weeks old. I had a baby that slept 20 hours a day and was really hard to wake especially during the night. I set alarms at 3 hour intervals throughout the night to wake her to feed.

I would seriously give sleep training a go again before paying for someones services. I was getting barely any sleep but managed to sleep train regardless, of course this meant me catching about 3 hours sleep a night for 2 weeks, but it was sooo worth it. Daughter still wont sleep for a 'full 12 hour' nights sleep but will sleep 8-9 hours solid thats great with me. I would definitely try (my devised plan); - Waking at 6-7am - Persist with nap around mid-day, try relaxing together, singing or books were great with my daughter (beforehand, great! Nice to wake from nap for a spot of lunch) - Try a bedtime routine if you haven't already we did dinner at 6pm, in the night garden, then bath (every other day), massage, pyjama then reading books or something calming We found this continued cycle for 2 weeks a miracle. It was really hard work, she even had a few bad teething nights during 'training' but stuck at the routine really well. So proud. Then came the battle to do this in her own cot, but that was a breeze a few nights of putting down, waking up, putting down, waking up but we did it in just a few nights.

My daughter started sleeping through all night at 16 months she still breastfeeds to sleep now. We cannot break this cycle. At 8 months she sounds like exactly the same baby as your boy. The really late nap at around bedtime was a nightmare then not going to bed until sometimes as late 12-1am. We ended up waking her up super early regardless of whether she was in bed really late the night before. At 6-7am she would normally wake for a feed but I would try and not let her fall asleep again and get up with her instead, very early mornings but they worked. She would then have her nap by 11 at a push (being reluctant) latest she would nap is 2pm, this would be a hour long nap and then she would become flat out desperate for sleep around 9pm. This worked really well for us getting her in a 'sort of' routine. Then at 14 months we made the even meal later by 1 hour and now she sleeps through without a single sound. Her tummy must be fuller for longer at night. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, we struggled for 14 months to get where we are now, it was a horrible time, sleep deprivation leads to more stress of the situation I think. BTW - My daughter had to have a nap a day to realize bedtime was bedtime and not a nap. If she didnt nap during the day she would nap at bedtime. I would sit there and breastfed rocking, singing, swaying anything, eventually she would fall asleep even if it took 2 hours of dedication. Wishing you lots of luck..

If he refused to pay his fare, the bus driver would of refused to drive as they do, and someone waiting to get somewhere would of got involved. His name and address and have been popping up all over websites online, the same name every time, he is obviously a troublemaker. Hope the police have got him now. Got himself famous though hey, I suppose thats what matters *sigh*

I'm so pleased you got it sorted. Poor latching is by far the biggest cause of broken and cracked nipples. Its usually easily helped with a bit of guidance. I suffered latch problems for 2 months so well done you for getting it all sorted by 2 weeks. I hope breastfeeding is everything you hope it will be and more. Good luck with the rest of it.

Sadly occurrences like this only seem to be getting worse. Normally fuelled by racist behavior. Of the 7-8 incidents I've seen on buses in the last 3 months or so, about 5 of them have been racially motivated and usually occur on the just going into Peckham or entering Camberwell I hope they catch him, I always get on the bus with my toddler in her pushchair. If this happened when I was on there I would have a toddler totally frightened. This has happened to us before and she was absolutely hysterical and we weren't allowed off the bus either. Really unfair on commuters and I specially hate this behavior in front of children. It does happen, a lot!