anna_r

Hi everyone, I have a quick nanny question and wondered if anyone had any experiences to share. We have been invited to a wedding of a close friend that we agreed to go to several months ago. It is in a couple of weeks. We had planned this to be our first night away as a couple leaving two daughters with nanny at home. Baby will be six months old, wedding is only 2 hours drive from london, have had wonderful nanny for our elder daughter for over a year. However since baby wont take a bottle this is looking increasingly impossible. Children not allowed at the wedding. So our plan is to pay for another hotel room (over ?200! ouch!) for nanny and take her with us for the night and me pop back a couple of times during wedding to feed baby. So what should nanny get paid? We expect she will put the babies to bed in our room and stay with them until probably about 9pm after which she will be off duty, but still away from home. Does she get the usual hourly rate (?9.50 per hour - which means a cost of around ?300 if she comes over at 10am, we drive there together and she's back around 4pm)? So ?500 for one night including room??? Do you pay full rate for sleeping hours?? It is a very expensive option just because daughter wont take bottle aargh. We considered not going but a) have already accepted b) is close friend of both of us and c) we probably wont be going on any other holidays this year and it looks like a lovely place! Thoughts? xx

We just had my daughter's second birthday party in the upstairs room at the old nuns head. It is a lovely room, ?50 to hire, no minimum spend, held about 40 people comfortably, very nice family friendly people running it, sound system that you can plug your iPod into, a load of fatboy beanbags that the older kids turned into a sort of soft play. Dont know about food as we just had a bar tab and brought our own birthday cake. Worked really well for us. Bit reluctant to tell everyone about it as don't want it to get booked up when we next need it (like the herne was when I tried...although I'm very happy in the end the herne wasn't available!)

Hey lochie :) I remember snowboarder asked this question a while ago: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,526275,526275#msg-526275 I'm getting a bit freaked out now as I drink a lot of juice (pomegranate and blueberry atm yum) thinking I was quite healthy...daughter though doesn't like it (hooray!) but loves water and is a milk fiend

Toddler world at crystal palace sports centre? Can either drive or get 363 bus. 10-12 mon-thur. about ?3.50

We went on Monday and bought our family annual pass. Quite reasonable really, particularly given the cost of the London aquarium. They said they were going to lose millions in the cuts. I work in the museum sector and although I think it's fab we currently have so many free museums and galleries it is very different to the rest of Europe and I can definitely see us heading more that way. I'd rather they charge and maintain the quality and number of acquisitions/upgrades to buildings etc. I'm amazed how few people I see putting money in the voluntary donation boxes.

If they are not overstretched brierley do their best to accompany you to hospital should you need to go, but may get called away to other home births (that's what happened to me - but I had good kings hospital midwives so was happy) Brierley antenatal care is v good

Loads of info in these threads http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,418250,437544#msg-437544 http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,404949,406460#msg-406460 Older thread http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1669,1789#msg-1789 Are you planning a home birth? Brierley only do home births whereas I think lanes take you even if planning hospital (?) I was with brierley and even though I ended up being induced had a very positive experience with them.

and check out this thread: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,527698,561349#msg-561349

Thanks! The doctor thought it was mumps from the swollen neck, which is much more obvious than swollen glands you get during other infections. She put an alert out to see if there were other cases in the area and I think if that comes back positive they'll do a salivary test. We have to go for a checkup next week. Not sure about the booster jab - good question, I will ask next week but expect it will still be the MMR. She actually seems ok (fingers crossed) - a bit grumpy but not too bad and actually eating ok still with no fever. I think it's much better to get it as child anyway - if you're going to get it - and also not so bad for women as men because of the potential infertility problems for post puberty males. Just in case anyone else gets it thought it might be reassuring to know it's not too bad. And birthday party rearranged for following week (dr says will not be contagious after s week) so things looking up! X

Daughter (2 next week) has just been diagnosed with suspected mumps. This is despite having had her first mmr jab. Hasn't yet had second booster due to various illnesses etc in the meantime. However as far as i understand it the traditional time to have the booster is aged 3 which is what I had chosen to do. Been prescribed antibiotics. Birthday party this weekend has to be cancelled. Daughter seems ok so far, swollen neck, no fever. Doc says may get tummy ache, fever but doesn't seem too worried since had mmr. Got to try and keep five month old away. Dr says should not be contagious after 6-7 days. Anyone heard of any mumps cases in the area at the moment? Any experiences or advice? Thanks

Hi sophie! I did the pur?e route with no. 1 but am thinking of doing more blw style for number 2. Ordered the book on amazon yesterday. However I thought you had to wait until 6 months to do BLW? I guess I will find out when I read it, but yes offering her a bit of broccoli at mealtimes might be the best answer.

I waited until 6 months with first daughter but don't remember her being quite this interested in our food, perhaps because she didn't have an older sister to watch??

This has come at an interesting time for me too. My daughter has just turned 5 months and is exclusively breastfed...not wholly by choice I might add, won't take a bottle! Anyway, I have been considering whether to start solids a couple of weeks before she is six months, the main reason being that I just feel so guilty when we all sit around the table (my husband, our other daughter and me). 5 month old literally stares at us all eating, almost salivating and tries to grab anything she can. She is 90th percentile weight and sitting up well in high chair and has never slept through so there are no sudden changes in sleep patterns to suggest she is not totally satisfied on milk...I just feel mean at mealtimes. Did others feel this way at around this age and did it influence your decision to wean early?

I recently came across a chicklit type book in the Peckham Rye charity shop which is set in East Dulwich called 'The Rise and Fall of a Domestic Diva' by Sarah May. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rise-Fall-Domestic-Diva/dp/0007232330/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1295124321&sr=8-3 Has anyone else read it? It's about five women all trying to get their five year olds in the good local school, St Anthony's (does not seem to be the one on Barry Road!) and the lengths they go to as a result. I would definitely not say it is high quality reading, and I actually found it quite depressing and unsatisfying. However saying that it was quite fun in parts as it talked about local places (e.g. Northcross Road, Bellenden Road) and some observations rang very true. Anyone else read it? I'm very happy to pass it on if anyone is interested (after a friend reads it first). Has anyone come across any good books set in the area?

We chose little fockers in the end based on it being 15 minutes shorter! It was a silly film but it was so fun to be at the cinema again and all the babies coped very well. The manager came in at the beginning and they seem very open to feedback re films to show, timings etc. Kings speech in two weeks. Next week they're showing 127 hours and The Next Three Days. There was a decent crowd there I thought for the first time, although I think most went for the Jake Gyllenhaal choice, for some reason! :)

Thankyou so much sunbob! I will pass that on. Didnt want her to get put off after going once by taking a difficult route.

Please can anyone tell me how easy it is to get to this on public transport? My nanny who doesn't drive is planning on going but I'm hoping she doesn't have to negotiate all those steps down from the bus stop on the Parade. Thanks!

Nannies in east Dulwich currently earn between ?8-10 per hour before tax (?9 average) for sole charge and ?2 more per hour (ie ?5.50 per hour per family average). That's what we pay our nanny and we have some full charge days and some shared days. Simplychildcare.com are really good for these sort of questions - you can phone them and get free advice on current rates. We increased our nannies salary from ?9 ph to ?9.50 after she had been with us for a year (and been brilliant) and from ?5.50 ph on shared days to ?6 ph. Hope this helps.

Here it is: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,527698,561349#msg-561349 x

I'm definitely up for this! Would be good to get a reasonable number along so they carry on doing it. I was thinking love and other drugs too as although I liked the other fockers films I think the jokes are wearing thin. May have to check which is shorter though as I remember when going to see a film with first daughter it seeming to drag on towards the end as her patience wore out...if only I could take my glider chair into the cinema and sit and rock with her. Shed be happy for hours! :)

When I told the pharmacist I wanted it for my 2 year old they wouldn't sell it to me, even though the instructions inside say it can be used on children. Instead they told me to try teething powders, as if i hadnt already tried everything else for 2 year molar hell. So I sent my husband out to get it and tell them it was for his mouth ulcer.

Thankyou so much everyone. Good to hear some positive stories - makes me feel a bit less stressed about it. I will ring HR department. I work for a big institution but it's very traditional so this may be a first for them. They have been great over maternity leave and going part time though so I'm sure they'll be supportive. I'm less sure about the raised eyebrows from others but am sure I can cope with that. Xx

I'm currently exclusively breastfeeding my nearly 5 month old daughter. She's stubbornly refusing all bottles (EBM and formula) and I'm due to go back to work in 2 months. I work part time, three days a week and my hours are good - I leave at 8am and arrive back at 5.30. With my first daughter I had fully weaned onto formula by the time I went back to work when she was 7 months, however this time round I'm facing the prospect that that probably won't happen although I'm going to persevere with the bottles. I am happy to keep breastfeeding her and do enjoy it (although I would like the occasional break that a bottle would provide and worry what would happen if I got ill and couldn't breastfeed her). What are people's experiences of continuing to breastfeed while working? For example: At that age (7 months) how much milk should she need? Can I get by with only a morning/evening/night feed (she is currently nowhere near sleeping through!!) If so do you think I'd need to pump during the day to keep up supply? Did you have to request special conditions at your workplace (eg rooms, fridges, breaks)? Did you store milk in the same fridge everyone stored their lunches in??? Did you meet with any disapproval? Do you think by that age she could have a cup? Or I guess milk mixed with baby rice and eaten with a spoon counts too? Thanks in advance for any tips!

We bought a stokke based on everyones recommendations but then bought an antilop for our nanny share which we've ended up using instead as my daughter seems to prefer it and to be honest it seems more practical. We have the funpod as well that keef posted (although without the high chair bit) and it is fab - has been so useful.

My husband liked the Christine Hill one too. But to be honest he mostly relied on me briefing him about what I'd read!