anna_r

Does she usually poop at a certain time of the day? It took a bit longer for our daughter to get her poos on the toilet as well as wees and she would usually do them after her nap. So we left her without knickers on at that time and she started asking to use the toilet when she needed a poo. It could backfire but worked for us...perhaps its the sense of having something to catch it that feels like a nappy?

oh and cheerios. No other cereal.

oh we are in the same boat. eldest (nearly 3) eats sausages (no skin - yes I seriously peel little tiny kids sausages), fish fingers, pasta (plain or with pesto), mango, apple (no skin), yoghurt, chocolate, chicken (no skin), rice (plain), cucumber. So dinner is usually a combination of three of the above items. Note the extra work required for mummy skinning everything. New nanny is having a little more success I think so I do think it is a testing boundaries with mummy thing. Nanny also has more patience than mummy. Daughter used to eat everything. Her sister eats well at the moment (1 year) but who knows how long it will last?

We tried formula, soya milk, goats milk, cows milk, strawberry milk, choc milk, milk mixed with apple juice. Hot, cold, warm. Bottle, beaker, cup. Spat all of it out. But she takes it now :) needed to forget boobs existed.

One more thing...instead of early morning feed we went straight down and did breakfast - sometimes at 5am - to avoid waking and expect milk association

Same, cold turkey at 13 months, husband went in at night instead of me and had to deal with three bad nights. Didn't drink any milk/formula until a couple of weeks ago (a month after stopping) and now she has a good sized bottle before bed. Distract with activities? Non low cut tops. Avoid snuggling in breastfeeding position for a while so can't smell milk. We ramped down slowly though so by end was just bed feed. Make sure really full from dinner. Good luck! I had some of the same feelings just before giving up. I think you often know when you're done xx

Just feeling a bit weepy about my two (aged only 2.5 and 1) getting older and wondered how often others feel this. Most of the time I look forward to the future, enjoy seeing them learning new things etc. But today feels like the end of an era. Our lovely nanny (of two years) has just left to go on maternity leave and it's making me think about how much my little girls have changed since she's been here. I put together a photo book for her and going back over all the thousands of photos makes me both happy and tearful. We're having loads of fun, but I'm sad about them growing up! Cheer me up family room :) The bonkers parents thread is working quite well, I have to say...just don't tell me the only answer is more babies :) xx

Yes you can check it in, I think cares is a good option. Have fun!

oh and we have also bought (from the states) one of those sets of wheels you can attach to your carseat so that you can wheel it through the airport almost like a buggy! Hope it works. As you can see we are in a complete panic about the flight and have done everything possible to try and avoid another experience like last year! 3 hours or so to Italy with one is nothing though :) x

We are flying transatlantic soon on BA with our 2.5 year old and our 1 year old. We have booked seats for all of us. You can book a seat for a child under 2 if you ring the airline but not if you do it online. We are taking a Britax Prince carseat and a CARES harness and will use those on board in some combination with the BA infant seat they provide (although thats not allowed during takeoff/landing which is the time we have trouble containing our daughter). BA website details about carseats onboard are here: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/child/public/en_gb?gsLink=searchResults Car type safety seats You may prefer to use your own car type seat for use by infants with a minimum age of six months to a maximum age of three years. The seat must meet the following standards: The seat must be designed to be secured by means of a normal aircraft single lap strap and face the same direction as the passenger seat on which it is positioned. A purpose-designed children's car seat must have a 5-point restraining harness. The car seat must not exceed the dimensions of the aircraft seat. The maximum dimensions of the seat must fit into an area of 45cm x 45cm (17.5ins x 17.5ins). Please note: Two part car seats, where there is the seat and a base are not suitable for use on aircraft seats. I have printed this out and will be waving it at the staff if they say we can not use the carseat onboard. The Prince fits the maximum dimensions and can be fixed with a single lapbelt. Trying to avoid a repeat of our last flight which was a complete nightmare. We have also bought a CARES harness (aka Amsafe system). Again details from BA.com Infant or child restraint device (AmSafe System) You can use your own AmSafe System, which is an approved child restraint device, consisting of an additional belt and shoulder harness that encircles the aircraft seat back and attaches to the passenger lap belt. It can be used for infants from 12 months to children of 4 years of age. The AmSafe System is not suitable for use on First class or Club World sleeper seats, or World Traveller Plus seats. It cannot be used in the same row as the emergency exit or the row in front or behind the emergency exit. We do not supply the AmSafe System, but you can bring your own with you.

reneet Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Surprised that they did not check the tongue tie, > when I initially had problems with BF despite a > good latch the first thing my midwife checked was > if the baby was tongue tied, which he was not. It > just happened that since he was a big baby I > needed to position him differently My midwives checked for Tongue tie several times but never picked ours up. Some are very obvious but some, esp posterior Tongue tie, require an expert (ie Claire kedves) eye. What will they do when she retires?? Good luck! It may not seem like an immediate fix after the op (although it is for some) but you should see some improvement soon. Can you express while you let damaged nipples heal before the 3 hourly feeds? It helped for me although the week with obligatory 3 hourly feeds was very tough. We had Tongue tie plus thrush plus two bacterial skin infections but got through and have just stopped breastfeeding at 13 months X

Alan Medic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > Horrible for who? The kids would have no > inhibitions about peeing anywhere if they weren't > conditioned. Are you talking about your kids? > Where did they come from then I wonder? If you > feel uncomfortable about it say so, just don't say > it's because of the kids. I don't feel comfortable with it and I don't particularly want my two young daughters seeing a stranger's willy in the park. Not terribly appropriate in my opinion.

Alan Medic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > curlykaren Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > the footballers peeing in the bushes near > colyton > > road entrance to the park is REALLY offensive, > > yuck! It happens ALL the time, I won't walk > over > > there any more on football days, creeps me > right > > out. > > Now curleykaren, how many times did you have to > witness this to be really offended? Oh,and why was > it offensive? Was it men or women or a mixture of > both? A well known Olympic athlete pee'd on > worldwide television during the London Marathon as > the picture shows. The fact that they are in > bushes suggests they are trying to be discreet. > I've seen this lots of times too. It's horrible when you're walking past with kids. And not all them are trying to be discreet. Some just kneel down beside the pitch and do it, with everything on view.

I do tumble tots 9.30 with my 1 year old and 10.30 with my 2.5 year old...have often wondered if any of the other people there are on the EDF. I'm usually frantically trying to stop them going round the wrong way raher than chat but it would be nice to put some names to faces! :) were any other edf mums there today?

Lochie - your goddaughter will not eat food I make for her, even if it is identical (same batch!) to the food eaten perfectly with nanny the day before. Drives me bonkers!!!

The Old Nun's Head? They have a room upstairs which was perfect for our daughter's second. No climbing frame though!

I will be following this thread with interest as I'm in a very similar boat (although not trying for siblings, just feel now is the time to stop as for us brestfeeding is strongly linked to sleeping. Since I've stopped going in to feed during the night and my husband has been settling instead daughter has started sleeping through). Anyway, my daughter is also 12 months, feeding twice a day (morning and night). Today was the first day I didn't feed her in the morning and I got a bit emotional too. She is so used to it and she usually follows me around until she has been fed! However today we just took her straight down for breakfast and gave her that instead and she ate a huge breakfast and immediately forgot about milk. So I guess distraction and alternative food is one technique? I cut out the daytime feeds first, very gradually. I was pumping at work so I could tell I was gradually pumping less and then stopped one day. I have no idea how we're going to drop the bedtime feed (she won't take a cup or bottle) although like your baby mine is a good size and eats a huge dinner. She's goes down for a nap with no milk now so I think we're just going to have to bite the bullet and try the same at bedtime. It will probably be my husband though the first week or so as she will not understand why I'm not feeding her and will scream :( I'm looking forward to getting to do bedtime books with my eldest again sometimes though :) Any other tips?

Does anyone have any good suggestions for where to stay in new York with two kids? After the flight from hell last year (seriously, I've never posted about it on the flight threads in here so as not to put anyone off) we are going to split our annual trip to see the inlaws in texas into two flights stopping over new York there and back. That way we can avoid any night flying and 7 hours seems much more possible than 11. We may stay with friends in new jersey but I would love to stay in manhattan for 1 or 2 nights. Is it possible to get a family friendly apartment (ideally with 2 travel cots!) or am I being a dreamer?? Not looking for luxury, just clean and relatively central. I've lived in new York before but alas, that seems like a lifetime ago and was well before babies... Have fun Ruth! We took first daughter to NY when she was 5 months and have some fab pics of her at the top of the rock (much better than empire state building) xx

Dr Jay gordan is the approach we took for sleep training. Have followed pantley ideas since daughter was quite small and was good for naps but just could not get her to stop night wakings. If we had been able to cosleep I think I would have found the wakings less obtrusive but daughter just would not settle with us. Good luck snowboarder you will get there xx

I just fed our second to stop her screaming and waking up my eldest. It was usually 2 feeds a night, although sometimes more, and sometimes awake for extended periods, settles for 15 mins, then scramming again. She just turned one so we have spent the last week sleep training and (I don't want to jinx anything!) she has started sleeping through from 8 til 5am. The last three nights have been bliss. I was on the verge of phoning millpond but then we decided to try ourselves so my husband went in and sat with her for several hours at a time the first 3 nights. We just cut out the breastfeeds and break the wake to feed association. She wasn't eting much by then, just comfort food, but whenever I went in she would expect food, so I couldn't do the training!! She would just scream, relentlessly if I tried not feeding her. And her screaming was so loud, far louder than my first daughters. New Mother - I think prolonged sleep deprivation is something you just learn to live with. I have actually been more tired during the days recently that she has been sleeping through as I think my body is starting to return to normal. I have been working three days a week on broken nights and expressing at work and exclusively breastfeeding but although I have felt like a zombie I have been a reasonably functional one. Hopefully after my body adjusts back I will have become so used to operating on not much sleep that I will be able to function like a machine on full sleep!!

Great thread. Heres one we did last week: Make necklaces and bracelets out of pasta shapes and bits of string. Can paint them first. Look for fun pasta shapes in different supermarkets. I bought cool little round ones that look like wheels which are good for this. Also potato stamps. New potatoes are good. Adult cuts out hearts/diamonds etc then just let loose with paint in a plastic lid.

damzel Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Okay, so not just about toddlers but a book I was > recommended to read which I have found really > useful and will always keep close to hand is "The > Secret of Happy Children" by Steve Biddulph. The > advice is so darn obvious AFTER you've read it. > It should be handed to every parent by the stork. I liked this too. Some things have really stuck with me (I think that was where I read them?) like instead of saying 'don't fall' say 'hold on tight' to help them visualise the positive outcomes and say what they should do rather than shouldn't. And never to say any sort of negative name as a joke. Although my dad is a psychologist and always called me miss podge which im sure would not be considered a great nickname and i'm fine, no eating disorders!! Lots of other nice things in this book though and very easy to read.

This thread reminded me to get my second daughter done (one last week which is the first age they can have it) so we have an appt tomorrow at Victoria medicentre. I have written about this before but can't find the thread. Our reasons were: - My husband is from the states where it is routinely done as a vaccine - didn't want to use all parental leave/holiday to take lots of time off work as we need hol to go and see grandparents in US - I have chicken pox scars, didn't want daughters to have them - sister in law got chicken pox the day before her wedding aged c28 as she never had it as a child which was a major inconvenience for all involved These may not seem like significant reasons to some but together they convinced us in our situation. I had it done for my first daughter at a Harley St clinic and she didn't even notice it, no tears, no disruption to sleep, no scars. Trying Victoria place as it's quite a lot cheaper I believe.

It's good if you have two and is usually pretty empty. Equipment all very clean and if they get bored there's usually lots of other things going on (diving, swimming etc) to watch. ?4 each child. Several months ago they were planning on having more equipment suitable for older kids (eg beam) on certain days but I don't know if they are doing that.

We were there on sunday too... Must have been a crowd of edf-ers passing each other in the paddling pool :) it was our first time and agree it was loads of fun. The fountains at myatts fields are brilliant too.