jills

My 18 month old has chickenpox (they're EVERYWHERE) and just as we're getting to the itchy stage, he's refusing to take any paracetamol or Piriton. I think the taste of the Piriton has put him off anything on a spoon as he used to take medicine no problem. I've been using the aqueous calamine lotion and oatmeal baths but he's getting really itchy and not sleeping well so I'm desperate to get the medicine down to take the edge off a bit. Would really appreciate any tips!

Ruth - your poor little guy. I hope they offer some information/options. I'd love to hear what they had to say.

Gussy - Oh my god, squeezing his cheeks together while bf! What, with your third arm? We also had a tough time with bottle teats for his top ups. Eventually we found that Medela worked best when he was little, and after 7-8 months or so he could get his mouth around an Avent teat without too much trouble. Got better as he grew. Jess - keep us posted!

It's so interesting to hear everyone else's experiences. It sounds like it's fairly common which surprises be because of the lack of information from health professionals. Thanks JessB and Gussy for the names, hopefully in time a referral may shed some light on the subject. Maybe balanced against a dentist's opinion. As I'm fairly new to the area and don't have a dentist here, does anyone recommend a dentist that you think would be helpful re baby's frenulum?

derbyean Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The divorce rate is rising, > > and marriage is no longer for life, > > many are marrying or 'shacking up' together for a > second or third time, > > a vasectomy seems very permanent, > > frequently it cannot be reversed - damaged during > the initial op. SOME marriages may not be for life. I think someone willing to go for the big v sounds pretty contented with his lot to me. For those who are uncomfortable with the permanence of it (From a quick search it sounds like less than 50% are reversible) you could freeze sperm and get the birth control without the finality of it all.

Hi Gussy, good for you for managing the bf so long - hats off. I'm sorry to hear you've not been getting too many answers either. It's funny you mention the weaning - at 18 months my son still won't go near anything with lumps because of a bad time swallowing in the early days. He basically went from purees to pieces of food - but is still very fussy about what he eats. We started out well because of soft stage 1 foods, but soon fell behind everyone else. I had it chalked it up to a fussy eater. I try not to worry about it, but definitely something to consider. I have noticed a slight improvement in the last month which I'm trying to take as a sign of good things to come. You're not alone!

Thanks for your posts. Ruth - it must be hard to watch him get frustrated at not being able to say things. I am starting to wonder about speech too but it sounds like your little one has a lot more words than ours so I can't tell much yet. I'm now worried he will sound like Madonna...maybe an attached frenulum caused that weird accent! Fudge - Am glad to hear that the operation even later on wasn't a point of concern, thanks. I have heard it's possible for it to be done by laser these days, but only by dentists. It's great to hear that the attached frenulum doesn't cause everyone bf problems. I should have said that because of the particular shape of my son's mouth things were more complicated for us. His upper lip is pulled very low/tight, he still can't open his mouth very wide (we have to use very flat spoons), and he has the cutest, but barely there, thin little lips so combined with the attached frenulum, all made for suction problems. There was always air getting in at the sides. Oh, am totally happy to blame my boobs too.

My 18 month old son has an attached upper lip frenulum (i.e. the skin that attaches the upper lip to the gum grows right down between his two front teeth, a bit like a tongue tie but on the upper lip). We never noticed it until his front teeth came in with quite the gap - adorable, but it's a good one. When he was born they only checked his lower mouth for a tongue tie. Once we figured out what he had (he was close to a year?), I flagged this with the HVs (Edinburgh at the time) who just shrugged and said it will probably go away. More recently, my dentist suggested it may need to be snipped, but he's in Canada. So I'm wondering if anyone else has had an experience with this and could give some advice. There seems to be a big, scary 'to snip or not to snip' debate. Dentist also wanted more teeth to grow in first, which makes sense to me, but some reports say a snip earlier mitigates teeth and speech issues. Advice greatly appreciated! PS - It's always worth checking those upper lips if you're having trouble with bf in the early days. I wish I had looked into it more at the time as I now see it's probably why we had so much trouble breastfeeding and never got a proper latch. We did our own version of bf (bad latch followed by formula) that lasted 5 months, by which time he was not interested as I clearly didn't have much milk (never did, and was only ever able to express one ounce at a time - sometimes pumping for 30-45 min to get that ounce - ahh the memories). We had been admitted to NICU for a week post birth due to birth weight dropping so much, followed by 2 different feeding clinics (twice a week for months), numerous midwives, HVs, and GPs and no one ever picked it up. Had we only looked at that little lip we may have saved ourselves a lot of grief!

Hi Paps, I also agree with what ClareC and others since have said. Don't forget the reasons you have already carefully weighed up and based your decison upon. There are many benefits to think about, and the only way to know if this will work for you is to try it. Just to share our experience - we're a month in. My little one started 3 days/week at 17 months. The first day is heart-wrenching, there's no way around it. But it got better every day. The nursery staff were full of cuddles. I also asked them if there was a time in the morning that was quieter (i.e. other children already there and settled) and I chose this time to drop him off. I'd agree with what others have said re one day per week being difficult. I still find that day 1 (of his 3 day week) is always harder than days 2 and 3. Where on day 1 he may turn back to look at me, on days 2 and 3 he's running into the room without a glance back at poor old mum. Hang in there!

I seem to recall on the dash that you don't have to put the main seat back/flat for the maxi cosi because it sits above the frame a bit. If same goes for the vibe, technically you could fit the doubles seat on the back. But like you said, I'm sure there's 'rules' and issues of balance. If you were in a pinch however...

Yep. Thule. First one weathered 10 Canadian ski seasons, gave to friends when I moved over here and from what I hear, she's still going strong. If you have rails on car already you won't need full fit kit, just the attachments.

I just moved to ED in Nov and would absolutely love to meet some other mums and little ones. I have a 16 month old son and afternoon playdates would be ideal. Happy to host, and would love to be included in anything that's going on. The book group is really appealing as well - I'll get messaging. A great thread, thanks!