Knomester

We don't have room for a dryer, so we bought one of these last year which dries a large load of washing overnight and doesn't cost much to run: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/21736/Dry-Soon-3-Tier-Heated-Tower-Airer (We're not particularly enjoying the lack of sunshine this summer either, but I have to say it hasn't kept us indoors - impossible with a 22 month old toddler with seemingly endless energy! Wellies and raincoats and lots of dry clothes have been our saviour...)

I don't yet have a child of that age, but I was raised in a home where everything was always open and questions answered frankly. I knew all about how babies were made before I started at primary school (with a little help from this, rather explicit (!), book - http://jezebel.com/5300095/70s-european-childrens-book-depicts-penetration-crowning/gallery/1 ). I don't know any different, so I can't say whether it was the best way for my parents to approach things, but I certainly wasn't scarred by any of what I was told and for me it was no 'big deal' because I'd learned about it all in a natural way. I was a child of the 70s so I doubt my Mum was into shaving her legs etc at the time! My 22 month old already knows what tampons and panty liners are (they live in the bathroom and he has asked). Trying to convince him that he doesn't need to use them is another matter entirely...

Thanks theratprincess. I also PM'd Jurand but haven't heard back yet. Would be great to get a class organised!

Thanks. I think my toddler may be a touch too young at 22 months. But then we're in the park every day that I'm not at work anyway!

Thanks for this Fuschia. Do you happen to know what age range the sessions are aimed at? I can't seem to get onto the wensite... Thank you.

Sounds very familiar... We have been going through something similar with our now 22 month old toddler on and off about 3 months now. It started with him happily lying in his cot and then shouting to get up after shorter and shorter periods of time or napping 1 lunchtime out of 3. We moved his nap times around, tried later and earlier, organised very active mornings to tired him out, etc but nothing seemd to make any difference. Now we don't even bother trying. He will have a nap on the days he is with his childminder, but not at home, no matter how tired he is! The advice we were given by friends and family was to keep trying and stick with it, which may well work for some children, but in reality it was too stressful for us all. For whatever reason, he doesn't want a nap when he's with us at home. He has never slept in his buggy (even as a small baby...) and rarely falls asleep in the car, so we don't have the nodding off at 5pm issue, just the overtired toddler one! I hope your toddler takes to her nap again soon...

OK, so this isn't strictly family related...but I thought it might be of interest to some of you who like baking. The details of the events are usually hidden somewhere in the depths of the What's On section and get lost very quickly. The gatherings are local, friendly and free to attend. There are even already a few family roomers who come along! http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?6,914503

jollybaby - I am in awe of your solo travelling! We have just been on holiday and a friend recommended the Itsy Bitsy Spider app (which our 22 month old toddler calls 'jump hat'). We kept it as the last resort in our armoury of things to amuse him whilst travelling and he really enjoyed playing it.

We just have the basic reins from John Lewis and they are absolutely fine. We don't use them often, but always carry them around in the change bag in case we need them. They've come in handy for that added security when we are out and about somewhere busy or near the road as well as holding hands and also as a make shift harness if we go to a cafe / restaurant that doesn't have a highchair.

Thank you so much for the link to the rosybee website. We are looking for some more plants and bee-friendly ones will be perfect! Best of luck with your bees Chick.

There are a number of charity shops which may be interested in an extra pair of hands over the summer. My brother has worked at his local Oxfam once a week since he was 16. Perhaps your son could try contacting Sue at Suzanne James. She will of course be very busy because it is the height of wedding season, but she is a wonderfully community spirited woman who has helped set up local inititives including the HOPE project with Harris Girls' Academy - http://www.suzannejames.co.uk/news/harrisgirlshopeproject.asp - and a gardening project at Goodrich School. She may be able to offer some work experience or have contacts who can point your son in the right direction. There are various arts projects going on in Peckham where he may find something film-related, even if t's just a case of shadowing people? Best of luck to him. *edited for dreadful typos!

I thought this might be of interest to some of you... http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/jun/28/save-childhood-forest-schools?CMP=twt_gu

I have been on the look out for French language versions of children's DVDs for my 22 month old toddler, but finding that they are quite expensive to buy online. I know I can download episodes from youtube onto my phone, but I'd rather have something he can watch on the TV. Does anyone have any that they wouldn't mind lending us for a few days or alternatively selling if you no longer need them? I'm thinking of short episodes like Thomas the Tank Engine, Roary, etc.

Swaddled our only one (now 22 months) and really think it helped with sleep in the first few months. 1) When do you swaddle - only at night / all the time? We swaddled from from day 1 at night and also for day time naps once there was some semblance of a routine (i.e. not just falling asleep at any given opportunity!). 2) How and with what and is it worth buying a proper swaddling blanket? We used old pieces of sheet at first and then invested in a grobag swaddle blanket which was nice and soft and stretchy. I didn't know about the miracle blanket until Baby Knomester was too big for it, so sold the one we had bought to try on the forum. If we had another I'd definitely buy one of the cocoon style zip up swaddles which must be loads easier for middle of the night re-swaddling! We also tucked him in quite tightly with a sheet over the bottom half of his body. 3) For how long? We sawddled in the day until 9 weeks when he made it clear he didn't want to be swaddled for naps anymore. At night we only stopped swaddling when he went into his big cot at around 4 months because he would 'get lost' in his cot (he was in a crib at night until then). We switched to sleeping bags with a sheet tucked in under his arm pits and rolled up towels to fill the gaps on each side so he still felt snug. 4) Arms up or down? Always down at first but once he learnt to wriggle an arm free (and took to sucking his fingers for comfort) we left that arm free. Eventually he would free his arms completely.

I think it depends on the size and shape of the baby! For Baby Knomester, as he grew out of his original basic John Lewis babygrows, Next were the best fit and M&S. Both washed and wore well too. He was always long but slim.

Hello. I too had an emergency c-section. Aside from the emotional difficulties, having had previous spinal surgery I have struggled to recover physically, despite having weekly pilates sessions both ante and post natal and doing some yoga. My son is now 22 months and I have still not regained my abdominal strength. I would be more than happy to talk to you / email. I'll PM you with my details.

Jurand - We would certainly be interested in a class in East Dulwich if it would be suitable for toddlers (my toddler will be 22 months soon). A Friday morning would suit us too. Thank you.

You'd think it would be a simple thug to find wouldn't you! Sadly all the usual suspects only had baby sizes or 3 upwards or sold out because they were winter stock. However, thanks to the amazing Ruth (and a last minute dash to Oxford Street for bits and pieces this morning), H&M on Regent Street saved the day. A lovely little navy cardigan in the sale for ?5. Happy mummy.

Stunning eco79, if a little out of my budget... The John Lewis 'school' cardigan would be perfect (like the Next one KatDew mentioned) but they start at age 3 which would drown him at the moment. I shall remember for next year (when I'll probably want yellow or green or red!). Pickle - I wish I had known sooner. We do have knitters in the family, but unfortunately very slow ones who can't be relied upon to finish knitting something before it's too small! I shall head off to Mothercare in Peckham over the weekend in search of the one with a hood I think. better than none at all. And thank you for the offer Ruth, incredibly kind but I wouldn't want to put on you.

We were waiting until 6 months, but Baby Knomester was clearly ready and so eager to eat solids that we gave it a go from around 5 1/2 months. We weaned in what seems to now be referred to as puree weaning (although I always think this is a bit of an anomaly as the real puree stage passes very quickly). From a first few gums on our bananas and pitta bread, we worked our way through first tastes of baby rice with breastmilk, purees fruit and vegetables and on to mashed / finely chopped meals and finger food in less than a month. We spoon fed, but always gave baby Knomester his own spoon and offered finger food along side the (then) pureed / mashed food until he got used to lumps and had some teeth to chew with! We never forced him to eat when he didn't want to, didn't 'coax' him into eating and always stopped when he let us know he'd had enough. He took to food brilliantly and by the time he was 10 or 11 months was eating 3 large meals plus snacks and had naturally dropped to 2 BFs per day. He could reliably spoon feed himself his meals from around 12 months after his Daddy spent lots of time gently teaching him to 'scoop' (Daddy has more patience than me...!). I would say he is a good eater. There are foods he is not so keen on, but very few that he won't try at all (smoked salmon is the only one that springs to mind, but that's really not a problem, is it?!). Like all toddlers, he has gone through phases of refusing meals and certain foods, but we have just continued (and continue) to offer everything and (unless ill, teething, etc) we don't really offer alternatives. (As an aside, there is some discussion above about attitudes towards parents and their choice of the way in which they wean their children. I have also personally faced some pretty harsh criticism of the way in which we chose to wean Baby Knomester from people who have chosen BLW (not from anyone commenting on this thread I should hasten to add, and certainly not from my dear friend bluesuperted who has a toddler the same age as Baby Knomester). I recall one particular incident when I was feeding Baby Knomester some homemade food sat outside the Kernel Brewery arch at Maltby Street one Saturday morning - a lady behind me quite openly criticised me to her group of friends, telling them how cruel and psychologically damaging it is to spoon feed babies and that I ought to have done BLW. I'm not sure if she knew that I could hear her or not, but it left me feeling very upset.)

KatDew - Thank you. I'd already checked at Next and have just double checked - they do have one but only starting from age 3 upwards which will be too big! Ruth - No joy at Gap sadly, but I haven't tried H&M. Not sure I'll have chance to make it up to town before we leave though - I should have thought of that before...

I have searched high and low for a simple, knitted plain navy blue cardigan for my son but alas everything seems to be stripes, tracksuit tops, hoodies or emblazened with logos..! I'm just looking for a basic plain navy button up cardigan (wool or cotton - I don't mind) to fit a tall toddler (age 2-3 in most shops) as an extra layer to go with several outfits before we leave for our holidays at the beginning of next week. (It needs to be plain because we've already gone a bit mad with stripy shorts and t-shirts). If anyone has seen such a thing I would be eternally grateful to know where! Thank you.

I had the same and, as others have said, it did not affect feeding (I continued until 18 months). Around the 5 month mark I did also notice more hunger and a significant interest in other food, so we started with some solids around 5 1/2 months. If you do feel like you'd like to try and boost your supply, I can recommend the Contented Calf Cookbook which you can buy at The Dish & The Spoon cafe in Nunhead and probably also in Rye Books (as well as online). It's a book of recipes for breastfeeding mothers which have been developed to incorporate lactogenic foods.

Salia, I'm so sorry to hear what a traumatic experience you had at King's during your labour and afterwards. Your concerns for your next labour and birth are completely understandable. There is lots of wonderful advice here which I hope will help you have a better experience next time. I just wanted to pick up on one point which may be important for you (because you say that you would like to have a midwife or someone else qualified to be with you throughout labour), which is that being with a midwife team attached to a GP practice (Lanes, Brierly, Oakwood) will not necessarily guarantee that one of those midwives will be able to accompany you to hospital and throughout your labour. I was with Oakwood midwives who were excellent, however, when I had to be induced at 42 +5, it was a bank holiday weekend, some of the Oakwood midwives were on holiday and it was an exceptionally busy time for labours and births. As a result, none of the midwives from Oakwood were able to be with me at King's. I don't think that this made a huge difference to my care during labour (my husband was with me and very proactive), although I would have appreciated the support my midwife could have offered, but it did mean that I didn't have my midwife with me as other posters have suggested to be the case (I don't know how common my situation is). I just wanted to make sure you are aware of this in case you choose to register with one of the practices and rely on them being there for you (when they may not be able to be). For after care (once I was home), I don't know where I'd have been without Oakwood.

I used the chocolate cake recipe for the monkey cake I made for my son for his first birthday last year and just doubled the quantities. It worked really well. Incredibly rich, but then it was mostly adults at the party anyway! I'll try to dig out a photo and post it later...