anna_r

Have you tried different types of music? Strange as it may sound, when my daughter is ready for a nap and in the car she often falls asleep to repititive house music eg mylo...something about the regular beat?? If she is in awake mood and grumpy me singing along loudly with a cd of nursery rhymes usually buys a while longer. I have had terrible journeys before though (usually when overtired, or hungry) and it is a complete nightmare :( Like pickle I now time driving very carefully around nap/feeding times. I even booked recent eurostar tickets thinking about the car journey to the station and how it fits with the routine. Knowing my luck she'll probably decide to change everything around by then. Good luck

Thank you for your kind advice and words. Belle - I will speak you my friend and PM you. Thank you for your offer of contact. Glad to hear things worked out well for you. x

Tried all sorts of bottles with my refusing baby at around 3 months I think and nothing worked until we tried MAM ultivent which she took immediately. Magic!! Have a couple of other friends who experienced exactly the same. Still using them every day at 10 months.

A very close friend gave birth 6 weeks ago and has just been diagnosed with post natal depression. Does anyone have any recommendations for books/support groups that I can pass on? She is avoiding doing Internet research etc herself at the moment as she is scared it will put more negative thoughts into her head. She has started taking antidepressants and is being seen by the Lambeth community mental health team as apparently there is a long waiting list for the perinatal pysch unit at kings. Feel free to pm if you'd prefer. Thankyou so much

Another vote for simply childcare. The nanny we chose (I interviewed 8) was found through it.

This book is so good. It made me feel so much about being a new mum and about all the things I was doing without realising it. I read it a few weeks in during a couple of nap sessions while my daughter slept on me. I'd recommend it to anyone who's just had a baby.

Does anyone know what's happening with the development of this church? Scaffolding gone up in the last few days after many months of no action. Anyone talked to the builders or agents about timescales. Can't wait to see what they do with it...the falling down walls and big yellow boards have been an eyesore for too long.

Thank you so much for all the fantastic advice. I am feeling much more confident that we'll be able to make it work (fingers crossed). We are going to go with nannypaye - they seem really helpful as yes contracts for a share seem a lot more complex. Fuschia - currently my baby sleeps in her cot in the morning from about 8.30/9.00. She has a bottle then a couple of minutes of rocking but she gets put down slightly awake and 3 out of 4 times she manages to settle herself. I suppose the other baby can be put in a playpen with some toys while that goes on. I am also quite flexible if the nanny comes up with a better routine e.g. for morning nap to be in double pushchair if that works out to be more convenient...I guess its a bit trial and error.

It appears there are a number of people on this forum who do a nanny share and find it works very well. I wondered if you had any tips for me. We are about to embark on a nanny share with a good friend from NCT from October when our babies will both be 8 months old. We will be sharing the same days (4 days a week). The nanny has done a very successful nanny share before but with slightly older children (from 14 months). Some questions I have are: - How do you get the two babies into the same routine? Both are not great nappers during the day and need a bit of help to fall asleep. What do you do with the other one while you are getting the other to sleep? Neither of us have gone down the controlled crying route. - How frequently do you switch between the two houses? What additional equipment do we need (e.g. travel cot, high chair)? We have a double pushchair. - On a negative note: what happens if it doesn't work out? Do both families have a right to call it off? We found the nanny so assume we would have a right to keep her as a sole charge role? Or could the other family have a claim? I guess it is just a question of communication clearly between families and nanny, together with a clear contract. - What are the best activities if someone is looking after two babies? Any twin mums with suggestions? - What happens if one person is late from work and the kids are at the other house...do they both pay the overtime? - Anything else?? I found the nanny through Simply Childcare and I think I'll give them a call as well as they were so helpful when I was looking, but I wondered if anyone had experiences they would like to share. Thanks!

I have one and I love it...but then I am also a gadget freak. It is expensive and probably wasn't an essential purchase but it makes life very easy and anything that saves a bit of time as a new parent is a good thing in my book :) It purees things super fast with one touch of a button and all the bits go straight in the dishwasher. I still use the microwave for defrosting though as it is faster so I mostly use the babycook for steaming and pureeing. Today I blended chicken for the first time, no problems.

jumpinjackflash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Is she very light skinned like she could be mixed > race and looks about mid 30's? I think this was > the same woman I saw whilst waiting for bus on > corner of Mertins Rd/Ivydale Rd. she asked me for > some cash and she was crying saying she needed > milk for her kids. I told her didn't have any > cash (only had debit card) but I wouldn't have > given it to her anyway as did not believe her. > > She asked everybody that walked by and even chased > one guy on his push bike. If it's the same woman > then she is very convincing as she can cry real > tears! I actually flt bit sorry for her. This woman came up to me a couple of months ago with the same story about milk for a child near Honor Oak Park station. Quite scary as I was on my own, 8 months pregnant and it was dark (around 6:30pm) and she was being very very pushy. Didn't give her anything and she went straight onto the next person, chasing them down the street.

sazzle Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There was one little girl who was crawling all > over the floor the poor waitress had to climb over > her with several plates and the mum just watched > and ignored... The little girl was then lying > across the floor head down not moving, by the bar > on the walk way to the back area. As the place was > so busy people coming in had to step over her, > only it got so busy people at the back of the > queue didnt realise she was there and she got a > kick in the head poor thing. The guy felt really > bad as she started crying. So while there might > be family orientated pubs, i think parents should > stil be responsible for their children! I think I was also there when this happened (New Years Day?) - sitting at the table right next to her.