chantelle

please delete!

As I said earlier, we put Stillness first, Dalmain second and got the offer from Dalmain. You can email Lewisham admissions with your address and they will tell you exactly how far away you are. The nurseries don't operate on the same basis - so a neighbour of mine has her son at Stillness nursery although I'm not sure she's aware how little chance he has of getting into reception there.

We moved to HOP two years ago, with our hearts set on Stillness. Turned out we were something like 27m too far away at 503m for 2012 intake. We were eighth on the first round list but never got an offer. But even before that we'd been to Dalmain (which we are closer to, at around 330m) and really liked what we saw. Now we are 100% happy with Dalmain, and it is where most of the kids on our side of HOP seem to go. HOP in general is fantastic, and the houses are generally bigger and cheaper than SE15/SE22.

Zany, that's awful, I would have said fine, take him and you can have a sixth then if you're such a perfect mum!

just came back to thread and happy to see you had some success with my tip!

I've been to a bunch of 5th bday parties in the past few months and I think the most popular one was very simple - church hall with a hired bouncy castle and some organised games. Rhubarb & Custard is also nice, I haven't been to a party there but have been for crafts sessions.

my son said those exact words "i want to make you dead" several months ago and I was pretty shocked! It only happened the one time. Your technique around hitting sounds interesting and like a good way to defuse the situation. I have had some success saying - oh are you going to hit mummy? is that what you want to do? - to get him to think about what's playing out and get his feelings back under control.

I got great relief from an osteopath. The physio at Kings was really no help at all, but everyone is different it seems. I also had to wait 16 weeks for the Kings appointment, after requesting it at 14 weeks pg!

I think a quality second hand car seat is probably a better option than the super cheap ones, assuming you trust the chances of someone selling a damaged one are extremely slim. I've gotten one on this forum, and another from a work colleague.

God, I totally remember this phase of being held hostage, and it still goes on sometimes at age 4. I don't really have any advice, I would stay as long as I could and then leave till tears. I think it was just easiest to stay until they're asleep because going back two or three times would take a lot longer.

However if you want to take up free 15 hours preschool from 3, you are meant to apply when they are two. That placement has no bearing though on getting a reception place.

We saw Tony Jacob at Blackheath Hospital for my son's hearing problem and snoring. Was quickly sorted with adenoid surgery and grommets.

Wow, so many American moms! It was great to coincidentally stumble on this get together today and hope there will be another soon. -Margot

My two are the same ages (boy turning four in two weeks, girl 7 months). Let me know if you all are planning any activities!

i don't know that company but I pay something like ?125/year to PAYE for Nannies. I think there are just a couple of really overpriced services out there and others are competing (rightly) on price. What they do is really pretty basic though IMO it's money well spent not to do it myself.

Just got the letter and we are only 27 meters off first choice Stillness so should have a decent shot on the wait list.

thanks for that explanation Carbonara. Scotlass - surprised that came up as a wild card - it has a decent reputation, we don't live too far but didn't apply as we are not church going of any type.

haven't tried Village East but had awful food and pretty poor service the other night at the Garrison, its sister restaurant. It was such a disappointment! I am another fan of Angels and Gypsies though ...

I get a bit confused - do you have to reject your choice to get on waiting lists and if not, how do the places free up? In other words, why would anyone reject the place they've been assigned before knowing they have another place? (barring moving house of private school admission)

got second choice in Lewisham. What did you get Bishberro? We had Stillness first but got Dalmain. We are closer to Dalmain but only 600m from Stillness.

thanks, I may leave baby at home - though she has managed to sleep through blaring music at mummies and babies fitness class, and Zumba!

both my children had it and were prescribed gaviscon. My son also ended up with ranitidine and finally grew out of it once he was on solid foods. It is frustrating - I mix feed my daughter, which makes it a lot easier to give the gaviscon (in a bottle) but it's heart wrenching when she can't even latch and breastfeed because of the pain.

sorry, no answer for you, but I'm thinking of taking my baby and 3.5 year old tomorrow so hopefully it won't be a disaster!

Just getting the flouride in is a big part of the benefit - if you can even get them to chew on their toothbrush and not rinse!

I think anyone interested in this topic should be sure to read Hanna Rosin's controversial Atlantic Monthly article - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/the-case-against-breast-feeding/7311/ if you haven't already. Also, 75% of women do initiate breastfeeding in this country, so it is "the norm." In London, 72% of women are still breastfeeding at their 6-8 week check. (DoH data) I think it's right for health authorities to promote and support breastfeeding. However I think the sense of bullying and guilt some women feel about it is an unwelcome byproduct. Babies' health can also be put at risk when health professionals are trained to support breastfeeding at all costs. So women don't want to be undermined and told to top up with bottles, but at the same time some babies may need additional milk to survive (my daughter seemed content with breastfeeding but lost 17% of her body weight in 10 days and had to be admitted to hospital.) I was a fervent breastfeeder with my son but in retrospect it was SUCH hard work, so physically painful for the first 10 weeks, so nerve wracking when he dropped down the centiles and cried all the time from hunger despite feeding every hour or two, and so difficult to do anything on my own since I couldn't be away from him for more than a couple of hours. I hung in there but it never really got easier until he was on solids and less reliant on milk. With my daughter, now 3.5 months, I mix feed so she is still getting 4 or 5 brief breastfeeds a day yet most of her calories come from formula. I don't feel guilty at all, this works for us and I am so much happier this time around, having just that much more freedom to do something like go to the cinema. Maybe biologically we are meant to breastfeed on demand, but we're also "meant" to have 10 or 12 children in our reproductive years and all sorts of other things.