scareyt

The interactive area in the science museum is amazing, you have to pre-book a slot and it's a treck out of the centre but worth it. Maybe more worth it they're a bit older though. I also wouldn't bother with Disney yet. The Pompidou centre is great for running around outside and going up the outside escalators and often they have kids craft activities on as part of an Exhibition. Definitely Jardins de Luxembourg, you have to pay to go into the playground but it's lovely. Have fun!

It's the time of year and the heat too. Midsummer madness. We are mammals after all, more active during summertime. My son is 7 so I can't remember anything helpful but he's been awake till 10pm for the last week or so. Nothing I do or say makes any difference, he's just too hot and its too light for him to get to sleep. We might just need to wait for the earth to start tilting away from the sun again before bedtimes return to a more civilised hour.

Ah good ideas thank you! I'm going to put a block in the freezer right now. I've been getting a washcloth wet with cold water, wringing it out and spreading it over his bare tummy while we have our bedtime chat. I take it away when I say goodnight so it doesn't make the bed wet so might try the cold water bottle idea too. I also keep his curtains shut during the day to try to stop the room heating up so much to start with.

A couple more thoughts from your questions above: Don't stress too much about skin on skin straight away. You will have loads of time to bond with your baby once you are home from hospital. We didn't have an ideal start at all but the baby was basically fine and is now a happy loving 7 year old. My husband held him while I was sewn up which was actually really nice for him to do. We had a lovely hour all together in the recovery room & he fed a little bit and then the midwife did the heel prick test and discovered his blood sugar was too low so he was whisked away to special care before I really knew what was happening. I didn't see him again for 24 hours but my husband went with him which we had agreed beforehand he would do if he had to go into special care. We were half expecting that to happen because he was early and very small but I was very unprepared emotionally. Looking back, we could have done with one more person there to look after me and reassure me and go back and forth between us figuring out what was happening and reporting back, as my husband felt torn in two between us and wanted to stay with the baby as much as possible and I was confused and freaked out because I couldn't move and was still full of painkillers that made me very dopey and my baby was gone. So if you have an extra person like that in your life who you would both be happy to have around in those circumstances, I would recommend putting them on standby just in case. At one point I had my sister stationed on a chair just outside the door of my room telling people not to come in so I could sleep! We did manage to establish breastfeeding but it was tough. If you want to bf and your baby goes into special care, the thing I would most recommend is to buy your own electric pump and not use the hospital ones. The hospital ones are alarmingly powerful and quite complicated to put together, and the ones in the baby unit are different to the ones in special care. You could even get your own pump beforehand just in case and both you and your partner learn how to put it together and sterilise it in the comfort of your own home. It's quite useful to have one anyway later on if you want to spend any time apart and carry on feeding. Also make sure you get to see a lactation specialist, you have to ask for them to come see you but they are the nicest people in the postnatal world and their help makes all the difference in the world. I was in for a month altogether, two weeks beforehand with preeclampsia and two weeks afterwards until the baby's blood sugar levels stabilised and my blood pressure came down. By the end, they would have discharged me but I didn't want to go home without him so they let me stay until he was ready to come home too. Not much fun but I said many private thanks for the NHS and not ending up with a horrific hospital bill at the end of it all. Oh one more thing - one of those rigid breastfeeding support cushions that buckles around your middle like a donut is really helpful. It gets the weight of the baby off the scar and makes it much easier to find a comfortable feeding position. They have some in the hospital but not many and it's nice to have your own. And a final thought - not many people know this but it's actually possible to relactate. So even if the feeding goes pear shaped in hospital you could establish breastfeeding anyway, later, if you really want to. My mum and baby sister were both hospitalised when my mum had severe PMT and the baby was losing weight and they switched to bottle feeding. Later on when she was better, she re-established breastfeeding from having had no milk at all. Good luck. It will be amazing.

Just red your first post again and saw its your first baby, I hope we haven't made you more nervous! The op itself will be absolutely fine, with a whole team of the most skilled Drs and anethsatists in the country looking after you. Just talk to them when you go in and say you want to do skin on skin as soon as possible. I didn't realise at the time, but the baby can be laid on your chest while they sew you up. You may have to wait for your op if emergency cases come in when yours is scheduled. Headphones & a good audio book might help. It's the aftercare at Kings that's a bit more hit and miss as they have such pressure on beds and staff in postnatal that they want everyone out as quickly as possible. It can feel like you're being pushed along on a factory conveyor belt just when you need to be really well looked after. Your birth partner needs to be mentally prepared to be your advocate/dogsbody/messenger/extra nurse afterwards, making sure you get the care you need, befriending the nicest midwives, figuring out who is who and how and where to get help with things. The good thing about kings now is the M&S food downstairs so you can send them on errands to get you more food without it being a treck into camberwell with a list! I think partners are also allowed to stay overnight now which would be a huge help. Good luck. I found the first two-three days afterwards such harder physically than I expected, but then from then it got better much quicker than I expected.

I had a not exactly emergency, not exactly planned c section at kings and would recommend you take: Those very weird big string pants so air can get to the scar Lots of maternity pads. something like a dressing gown cord you can tie to the foot of the bed to help you sit up for the first couple of days Dried fruit & peppermint tea to avoid constipation afterwards. Lots and lots of food. If you're planning to bf, a nightie / pyjama top you can feed from the top of, so you don't have to hoik the whole thing up, and crossover style nursing bras with no fiddly bits. Minimal visitors, they can wait till you get home! This was 7 years ago now, but there were a few private rooms in antenatal and postnatal that were allocated on the basis of need. My baby was in special care on the floor above and I was trying to establish breastfeeding by pumping, which was all pretty traumatic, and on the third night on the ward I lost the plot and they moved me to a private room back in antenatal which then made everything else bearable. So if you don't get a private room, you can console yourself that's because you're having a much better time of it than the people that do get given them.

Last Halloween I saw a rat walking down the pavement on my road, and then a crow swooped down, grabbed it and flew off with it. Very seasonal!

I spoke to a policeman there this morning who said it was an isolated incident involving one family and nothing for the community to worry about. A bit later the whole of Sunray Gardens was shut. Sounds like something sad and horrible but not as scary as it could be.

Oh which thought - anybody want a huge sandpit...?

I have spent an embarrassing amount of time searching online for the exact same thing. Anything small enough to fit is too babyish to be of any use to my climbing-obsessed 6 year old. This is the best option I've found so far and has the bonus that we can all use it for fitness training. http://xorbars.co.uk/product/6-5ft-monkey-bar/ I haven't gone ahead yet but spoke to the owner about how we could fit it into our garden which as well as being small has a big drop down to the patio level. He was very helpful on the phone and I think we will go ahead with it once I can get the space cleared. Only downside with it is it works out expensive if you get them to supply all the other bits you'll need and even more if you get them to install it, but the upside is he won't outgrow it ever!

You could post this question in the forum of the South London Makerspace and I'm sure you would get lots of helpful replies. https://discourse.southlondonmakerspace.org

I've sort of handed over the issue to my son age 6. I set an alarm in my phone for teeth brushing time and for getting out of the door time. And told him that if we don't manage those steps when the phone says, he's the one who will get a late card, and I don't really care either way. It saves a few steps of nagging if it's the phone rather than me. We used the alarm for a couple of months and then ditched it when it got too annoying. We're now a long way from perfect but that has definitely helped him feel some of the sense of responsibility for getting out on time, rather than it all being on me. But I guess that approach would completely backfire with a child who genuinely doesn't care about being late for school!

Im so sorry you're having a hard time. Going through all the faff and indignity of expressing and then ending up throwing it away would make anyone feel wretched. Trying formula in a bottle sounds sensible to me, less emotionally (and literally!) draining. You can get those little single cartons so no need to fiddle about with powder or worry about whether it's sterile. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. I hope you get some good help soon. You could try searching for a private midwife or doula, they can help with all sorts of baby things not just birth. I found the first six months of motherhood pretty grim (and I absolutely hated expressing) but it does get better.

I think it's rude of your friends to drop out two days before, and especially rude that it was only in response to a reminder from you. And also a bit weird of them to already be stressing about a show that's 10 months away. I would invite more school kids whose mums you like and just explain you have some unexpected spaces and sorry it's late notice. Everyone knows it can be stressful managing numbers and if they're sensible and nice they won't mind. :-)

I did some research into this last year, we didnt end up going yet because we're going to wait for the new Star Wars stuff to open next year. I did find out that there is a huge refurbishment programme going on ready for the 25 year anniversary of it all opening. Some hotels have been refurbished, some are going through it now and some won't be done till later this year. It sounded like the Newport Bay Club was a good hotel option - the refurb there is completely finished and it's only 5 minutes further from the park than the top tier hotels.

It sounds like there is a gap in the football activities world for a beginners class for age 6+. My son is also 6 and has already decided he's not good at football because there is already a huge gap now between the kids who have been really into it from toddlers and are now quite skilful (and who take it very seriously!) , and everyone else. And it seems such a shame for him to write off such a potentially fun sport at the age of 6! Maybe we should get our non-expert footballers together for a kick about.

The best arrangement also depends what your jobs & commutes are like - if you both work long or unpredictable hours a nanny will be much less stressful than any other option. And life is much easier in the mornings if you don't have to get a baby/toddler up, dressed, breakfasted and delivered somewhere before you can get to work. Most of the differences just come down to logistics really, plus your gut feeling about the individuals involved. I would first figure out if you can afford a nanny, then go visit all the nurseries & childminders in locations that would work for you, and then go with your gut feeling. If you want a nursery or childminder place you need to get on waiting lists asap. If you want a nanny, you can start interviewing nearer the time. If you want to do a nanny share, I think people usually find a second family first, who have a similar approach to child rearing and live as near to you as possible, and then choose a nanny together. Good luck!

On Friday mornings the shallow half of the pool is roped off for lessons but it's free swimming in the rest of it. It's not to deep to stand up in. It's also actually free on Fridays for Southwark residents!

That sounds like a horrible stressful day for all of you. I've had success with persuading my son to take horrible-tasting medicine by saying we'll have to go back to the doctor and tell him this isn't working if we can figure it out between us. He hates going to the doctor and could tell what I was saying was true so that worked. The struggles and upset sound worse than the dry eyes. It sounds like you all need to have a chat about it in the morning when you're feeling calmer and say sorry to each other and have a family cuddle. That's what we do after a row.

Worth noting that if you hav not moved in time for the application deadline, you can apply late and will be added to the waiting list based on distance, not date of application. We moved from Anerley to Herne Hill and love it. It's very quiet but if you're looking to stay put for 20+ years that could well grow on you! Easy to get into London and easy to get to East Dulwich for pubs & restaurants. If you're mostly going to commute by bike I would go for Herne hill. Denmark Hill station can be grim in the mornings though so if you're going to commute by train in peak rush hour you might be better off living further out so you can get on the train easily. You can always get a seat on the train in Crystal Palace which is great. But it's a long journey in by bus or bike from there.

The soft play at Brixton rec is good - huge with lots of levels so is good for slightly older kids.

I think it would be fine. If it was on for two hours solid and pointing in the same direction the whole time then yes the floor would get slippery. But you can turn them on and off and move them around for bursts of bubbly fun and just keep an eye on how the floor is doing. It's only tiny amounts of liquid for each bubble. For a group of kids aged around 2 - 4 bubbles are hard to beat for instant happiness.

Hi Kate, we're coming tomorrow, looking forward to it! And an email went out to Bessemer Grange parents about it today. :-)

We had Max from Nutty's being a pirate for my sons 5th birthday and he was absolutely lovely. Great with the quieter kids and not too much screaming. He brought a guitar and did loads of games and was very good at calming things down as well as making it fun.

A trampolining park?