sanity girl

I'd also like to recommend Emmanuel Marshall at ED warehouse. Went there on a saturday with my daughter and got excellent service - she took a lot of care and time fitting and paid attention to the shape of my daughter's feet and toes (high instep, long toes), which John Barnetts never bothered to do. Incidentally, she said that she takes old childrens shoes and passes them on to Variety club charity for reconditioning and sending off to children in Africa.

You can also get them from Fill Your Pants, who do free delivery. Theirs definitely work with M&S, mothercare, george at asda, john lewis, but not gap, green baby or H&M.

I would def try a washable nappy wrap/cover over the top then. They are better at containing leaks as they are elasticated and easier to get a snug fit. Happy to lend you some if you want.

I have some that work with most brands but not gap, h&m or green baby. I'm not using them anymore as I've given up on poppered vests - my boy has such a long body plus cloth nappies and would need 18 month size plus extension! PM me if you'd like them (for wine or swap)

I second the recommendation to put a washable nappy wrap over the top. I have a couple of large sizes you are welcome to borrow to try out. I've also used beaming babies (on those occasions travelling etc when not using cloth) and they were excellent.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure that will work for us as I need to let my kids have free roam of each floor while I do stuff (they'd go bonkers otherwise!). I think possibly the lascal retractable stairgate will work - need to measure. Otherwise I will have to stick with dragging heavy baskets etc across the gaps!

Bear in mind that a washer dryer will usually only dry smaller loads at a time (i.e. may wash 6kg, but you can only dry smaller quantity) so can take a while to dry things. I had one in my flat but never used the dryer. Now it has died I am getting it replaced with a normal washing machine as apparently washer dryers can also have issues with not rinsing as well as normal machines. One solution to the condensation would be to use a de-humidifier in the room where you hang the washing out to dry. I also found putting up temporary double glazing (the clingfilm type) helped with the condensation in winter. John Lewis website has some good info about washer dryers washer dryer info Hope that helps with your decision.

I need to get some stair gates as baby is so mobile now but I am at a loss as to what to choose - I have very awkward stairs (very wide openings, narrow metal railings with no obvious fixing point). Does anyone know of somebody who can advise on this? It's hard to tell looking at the extendable stairgates online whether they would work or not. Cheers!

My daughter is also like that. She always throws the duvet off in the night and is usually sweaty when I go to check on her. My brother is still like that aged 40! Don't think it's a problem, apart from the extra laundry required.

Biff in dulwich village stocks petit bateau leggings etc for toddlers/older children

I was going to suggest Gap, as their fit worked well for my slim toddler, but I see you say they are too baggy. Have you tried their skinny leggings? I found them to be the only ones that were actually tight fitting and not baggy! I also had some good hello kitty jeans from H&M - I found she needed a size far smaller than her actual age so maybe try that?

I also warmly recommend the fitting studio - excellent service and they really know what they are doing. I didn't rate the fitting service at pretty pregnant - they just went by what the tape measure says which is never going to work (there is another thread about this on the forum somewhere but I'm afraid I can't remember where.)

Thanks, will try Oxfam in Herne Hill later - hoping to avoid trips any further afield as I cannot face H&M in Brixton or Primark in Peckham!

So I sent my daughter off to school in the drizzle this morning and realised she doesn't have a raincoat - oops! Any suggestions on where to buy one that's not too expensive locally? Checked Sainsbury's but they didn't have any. Cheers

My boy has eczema which is under control as long as I use cream after every bath. I switched washing powders after he got a bad flare up when I used ecover washing powder (apparently it can be problematic as it has essential oils for perfumes) - I now use daz but in very small quantities and I usually do an extra rinse cycle to make sure there is no residual detergent left in the clothes. I prefer powder to liquid as it is less prone to build up and doesn't leave that nasty scum in the washing machine that liquid does after a while. Also, I find it cleans better! (I am obsessive about my laundry, can you tell :))

So, now I am here in the US I thought I'd update you on how the journey went - it was a breeze :)) I was lucky enough to get a bulkhead seat with an empty space next to us, so I made a little play area on the floor and baby E played happily there a while with the stacking toys I bought from fisher price at the airport. He was also thoughtful enough to have two 2 hour naps (he never does that usually!!) so that was half the flight sorted. The rest of the time he entertained everyone with his yogic flying style of bum shuffling up and down the aisles. And of course he did the foulest poo he's ever done while on the flight! The real challenge was a 1.5 hour board meeting this afternoon with a jet lagged baby who didn't want to nap - I was too tight to pay for a nanny just for a couple of hours so he came with me and he was all over the place - tired, hungry, yelling etc. I ended up putting him on the boob :-$. Luckily my colleagues were very understanding. Anyway, tomorrow morning nanny arrives so I can concentrate on work, then I just have to hope that the return journey goes as well the way here!

In our household we use fifi. Works well for us and I think it's a cute name! For boys good old willy.

You will always find plenty mums and kids in peckham rye or dulwich park cafes!

You could try using a sheepskin buggy liner - that makes the seat much more shallow. In fact I had to stop using one with my son as he is quite big and it was pushing him out too far and making the straps too tight.

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. I will get hold of some little toys and will investigate iphone games too (though not sure he is advanced enough for those yet, bless him!) He currently loves pressing buttons so I'm sure I can find lots of things that involve that. I am taking a manduca baby carrier so will definitely have him in that if he needs calming down at any point, and I have requested a bulkhead seat with bassinet (no idea if he'll fit in it as he's massive and in 18 month clothes already!). Thankfully we are coming back on a night flight so hopefully that won't be so bad. Finally, there's always the boob to fall back on :))

I hope that's a joke! :)) Just checked and realised it's a 9 hour flight not 8 hours. Help...

So, I am taking my almost 1 year old with me on a work trip to the USA next week (I know I know, but no other choice!), and I am faced with the prospect of an 8 hour daytime flight with him on the way there. At the moment all he wants to do is get down on the floor, crawl/shuffle around and open stuff. Any suggestions for really cool and small toys that may keep him entertained? Thanks!

Hi there, the faith and non-faith ("open") places at Dulwich Village Infants are divided 50/50. I would say you have a good chance of getting an open place, especially if you are at the bottom end of Ruskin Walk. It wouldn't hurt to put it as your first choice, particularly as it's your closest school. Regarding the religious element of education, I don't know what it's like now, but when I was there back in the 70s it was pretty light and inoffensive to non-believers - I am an atheist, raised by atheist parents and it did me no harm :)) On their website they say: "We will do everything we can to ensure that each child demonstrates excellent behaviour and a respect for the cultural and religious differences of all." Can't do better than that really! Good luck with it all.

JAGS sports club do a holiday multi sports academy which takes children for one-off days. I think it costs about ?25-30.

Hi, I had this when I stopped feeding my daughter at 15 months, was also down to 1-2 feeds day. If I remember correctly it lasted about 10 days. Massaging under hot shower or in bath helps, and wear a good comfy supportive bra (no underwires!). Once the pain/fullness went it still took my boobs a few weeks to deflate to their usual size, and I still had milk for ages and ages (I'd do the occasional squeeze to check, just out of curiosity!)