stacker285

That's exactly what I kept saying but she was so adamant that the doh guidelines said about it. I'm not exactly ignorant of child health matters, but I haven't been a mother before and I look towards professionals for guidance. Buggie - he was 8lb4 at birth, so is doing fine IMO. I'm not worried about his gain in the slightest, he is a bouncing baby boy, generally happy if his reflux isn't bad. Kes - good idea about bottle after breast feed. I'll try that. I'd like to be able to give a bottle occasionally if I need to, to give me a break or sleep. I've also got pnd after a really stressful first 6 weeks of reflux worries and severe sleep deprivation. My husband helps as much as he can but obviously he can't breast feed!

The more I think about it, the more I think I'll speak to her supervisor. She also advised me that I could use a door bouncer thing from 6weeks which I know is rubbish.

Thanks everyone. If anything I've had an oversupply of milk, and I thought that my baby would just feed for longer to get the milk he needs as he gets older. He was never going to be small, I'm 6'2 and my husband is 6'4. I think I'll just stick to my guns on this and take my cues from my boy. If he starts showing signs of being ready to wean earlier than 6 months then maybe I'll start it, but most def not before 4 months! I'm debating whether I should speak to my hvs supervisor, as this is not the first conflict of opinion I've had with her.

Thanks ladies, I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks she was talking rubbish. Its hard tho, when she's quite insistent.

Hello. Some advice desperately needed! My son is 10 weeks old and weighs 14lb 10 oz. My health visitor has told me that once he reaches 16lb I should consider weaning him as I am likely to struggle to meet his calorific demands with breast feeding alone, unless I am happy to continue feeding him 3-4hrly ( or more frequently) day and night, which is generally what I'm doing now. Has anyone any experience of this? It sits uneasy with me. I know that the advice changed from weaning at 4-6 months, to 6 months due to allergies etc and gut immaturity. My boy has quite bad reflux too, and is on omeprazole and domperidone. I would rather try combination feeding than wean too early, but here in lies the next problem. We started giving him a bottle of ebm at 6 weeks, just to get him used to the bottle, but with limited success.we've tried closer to nature size 1 and variflow teats, and the Dr browns bottles. He doesn't refuse it, but starts sucking fine but quickly seems to get overwhelmed by the flow and starts gulping air and gets agitated. It is not a calm experience at all. If he's really hungry he can empty the bottle but more often than not, its not pleasant. Has anyone got any ideas? He takes a dummy fine, so I was thinking of trying a teat shaped like that next. I'm a first time mum and so far out of my depth it's scary! Thanks in advance

Thanks Pickle! Lloyd's did well out of me this morning - storage bags, nipple shields and infacol! I will make b/f a more pleasurable experience for both of us!

Hello I have a newborn and now my milk has come in I've started expressing for future use ( altho admittedly I've used the milk I've expressed so far). I don't really have the freezer space for bottles, so can anyone recommend any freezer friendly milk storage bags? I'm not hugely mobile post c section, so if there's somewhere local that sells them that would be preferable. I could always order them online but quite fancied getting them tomorrow/Tues. Thanks

i'm so out of date it seems. I grew up in Berkshire, and sitting the 11+ (or 12+ in my case) was the norm for everyone. Mind you, there are plenty of grammar schools in berkshire, so it never seemed anything 'special'. We certainly didn't require extra tutoring, as far as i remember, exam prep was built into the curriculum. I guess this is where things have changed. I passed, btw, and I am glad I did - i'm not sure i would've been pushed or had the drive to achieve what I have today (like moving out of the area!) if I'd gone to the local comp.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/19/are-obedient-children-a-good-thing Very nicely written article imo and has certainly given me pause for thought for my impending arrival

I should note that i'm not affilitated to the NSPCC, lol

As susvp says, this does sound like a family that needs support. If you don't want to speak to social services directly, why not contact the NSPCC who can listen to your concerns and assess the response needed. They are a 'big power' within child protection, not just a childrens charity, and can provide you with the support you need by reporting your concerns, as well as taking the appropriate course of action in the childs best interest. I deal a fair amount with social services, and they can be intimidating to contact as a professional, never mind as a 'concerned neighbour'. NSPCC seems to tick the right boxes to me as far as non-professional referrals are concerned. Whichever route you have taken, you are never likely to find out the outcome of your referral, but you can rest assured that someone will have taken note and responded approriately to your concerns. Good luck!

Hello We've booked a place at Smithfield House nursery for our pending arrival. However that's in EC1A area so may be too far for you.

I'm afraid I am now lovingly calling my bump my 'energy sucking parasite', bless it. I niavely thought that tiredness mothers in late pregnancy felt was down to carrying the extra weight, but I feel fine from that perspective - the baby is just laying down fat. Wish it would be a bit more discerning where it takes it from tho, I have a few areas that would benefit from being harvested ;-)

Hope to be able to attend one of these - the 23rd will be after a night shift, and the 28th before! Bring on mat leave (8 shifts and counting). Is anyone else experiencing third trimester nausea? Am a seriously miserable, fatigued bunny right now!

Unfortunately couldn't make it - had been asked to go for a growth scan as fundal height was 5cm too small, so was a bit twitched and paranoid that I would be comparing my bump too much. Had the scan today and if anything, the baby is on the bigger side, lol! I'm tall so I just carry it differently. Phew! Have requested to join the FB group as I'd still like to meet to meet up at some point! Time is certainly ticking on with the pregnancy!

Do we need to do a headcount first? 2pm would still be during their Sunday lunch trade, wouldn't it?

Thanks for the advice Strawbs - whilst Horizons is open 7-7, i think they only take children for 10hrs max due to Ofsted recommendations. At least, this is what I understood from their brochure. Am very happy to look into it more tho

It was a cold, long winter ;-)

Bit of an advance ask this, but can anyone advise me on the hours a childminder will work? I'm expecting my first child in October, and I'm looking into nurseries etc now as I know waiting lists can be horrendous. I work 12.5 hr shifts (days and nights) and my husband works 8-6, so we're struggling to find nurseries that will be able to accommodate us as we obviously need to allow some time to get to/from work as well. We've found one nursery near my husbands work in central london that we should work for us. However, if they don't have spaces, we're going to be really stuck. Does anyone know if some childminders will work 7am-7pm? We would only need 2 days a week, and if I'm on nights, our child could be picked up earlier. Help!

Eat regularly and sleep as much as you can. I'd like to say this got me through it, but only the fact i had no choice got me through it. I had a packet of choc biscuits next to the bed (and still carry them everywhere) and had to eat before I did anything else. I learnt the hard way by wretching my way to work and throwing up in my car at traffic lights. My stomach turned at the strangest things - washing up water (thank you husband for taking that on), the smell of my car when i first got into it, vegetables (i had a very healthy diet before this) and pretty much lived for 18 weeks on mashed potato, cheese and strawberry milkshake (which now turns my stomach. Simple pizza also seemed to stay down, but could only eat tiny amounts of anything, regularly. It really was a case of feed the nausea.

Unfortunately I'm working nights on the 6th so won't be able to come along. I'm 22 weeks and only just showing (blimey, it's suddenly appeared and so much bigger at the end of the day!). Having up and down days and finding the whole pregnancy thing a bit freaky.

Hi - new to this thread too. I'm expecting my first in early October and am VERY anxious. Didn't want to join the thread until after my 20 week scan, which i'm pleased to say was fine. Now in the throes of reality!! For life of me can't remember what I'm working on the 6th, but if I'm able to, would love to come if you have any room for a shy one!

Done

The cardiology team is wonderful at the Evelina. Owen is a star and incredibly supportive and approachable - you are in safe hands aliewells

Dodo1 - there are two car parks opposite STH that are ?12 for all day - I often recommend parents to use them, rather than the hospital car park, as much better value for money, and the car parks are fully supervised. They are under the railway bridges, on upper marsh.