linzkg

Clare - give her time - these babies change from one week to the next. My son is 9 months now and I wish I knew then what I know now (as every mother would say - but its true!) Same but different - I was stressing about my little one falling asleep on the breast - over night he decided he was happy to go to sleep on his own and has ever since. All you can do is keep trying her on it and I'm sure she'll give in sooner or later. Some people will probably tell you to try different makes of bottles. If all else fails when she's a bit older and grabbing into things maybe give her the bottle to play with and explore - worked wonders with the toothbrush for my son.

Look at bromleymytime.co.uk - the pool is awesome for kiddies - I went the other day to have a look - don't know prices/membership though.

and if you decide not to find out but possibly worry about the bonding point then you could go and have the 4D scan .. we decided to go for it and it was an amazing experience! We went to Babybond, there's one not too far. All I can say is it was like a Mastercard advert - priceless! My partner's face and reaction was amazing - he always thought he'd "bonded" with the blob (as we called it from the start for some peculiar reason) but "bonding" took on a whole new dimension when he actually saw the little thing bobbing about, for me too.

Molly - we've got one too if for whatever reason you come stuck with the others x

Belle - just to add - we see a paediatrician on a regular basis for other reasons and he laughed at us saying 'you should be glad he dirties his nappy so often, can you imagine his size and weight if he decided to store it .. on a serious note all babies are different so don't get caught up in it'

I agree with Verds (and she's a little stunner too H ;-) 0Wait for the suprise - its so much fun! I wasn't sure what to think but my hubby was determined not to find out - i even pushed him at the 20 week scan - but i'm stoked we didn't find out! People had so many opinions as to what I was having from the way the bump was sitting (by the end people were convinced it was a stubborn little girl as my bump wouldn't turn from the breech position regardless of what i did) .. we had fun with names .. we didn't waste unnecessary money on items just because they were blue or pink but we had fun finding outfits with bright colours to suit both sexes .. you day dream about different outcomes .. and when my little boy popped out all of these ideas came flooding back plus many more! I wouldn't find out for the next one either. Ps, completely personal opinion obviously - but a good mate's just had a little girl but we all knew from the beginning what they were having, plus she mentioned names and i do feel the fun was taken out of it when she was born (sorry everyone else on here!) Jayd - just put 2 and 2 together .. I've responded to a few of your posts I think, without realising! Ps, the thank you cards were a hit too, sent them as a postcard.

Belle - my son is 8 months and has 6 dirty nappies a day and i stressed about it as they were mostly big ones so i couldn't quite work what his body was actually absorbing! i've asked lots of people, both professional and mom friends so was put at ease - some babies do just dirty their nappies a lot, others seem to dirty their nappies every other day only. My son was a 10kg by 6 months and definitely has lots of folds so i reckon he's ok - the docs stress more if they're not wetting their nappies it seems.

I read through loads of info before taking my little one swimming too .. gave in .. and took him swimming before all his jabs were complete - I didn't find the research conclusive and think they're obviously airing on the side of caution obviously.

ha - put that in your pipe and smoke it! such a simple argument .. just wait until someone throws a punch my way now ;-) good work molly x

That's a great idea - there seem to be lots of smaller groups trying to make an effort to put something together so would be good if one main idea is put forward and everyone goes with that - we should have a monthly thing (like the monthly singletons catch up that is organised through the forum) - though i appreciate it could get far too complicated! Somewhere like Clapham isn't too far and is full of cheesy venues? I'm sure amongst our smaller immediate circles we could manage taxis? My hubby is more then happy to baby sit on a Friday night especially as he can sit back and watch the Super 14 rugby.. Otherwise we could try the Vale I guess .. as its close by, open late .. not too sure about the crowd? Don't go there at all so can't really pass judgement .. Or we stick to good old cocktails and natter in one of the local spots! ;-)

My son is almost 9 months and I'm still breastfeeding but obviously with the introduction of solids the breast feeding has naturally slowed. Morning feeds are the best and one of the important ones - your milk supply "replenishes" through the night so a morning feed is definitely one to keep if you can - also from a personal and emotional side as there's nothing better then waking and snuggling with your bub before the day starts in my opinion. Will you be expressing at work at all? I'm lucky to still be at home so I offer him breast at 11ish and then he has a nap, I'll offer him breast at about 4ish, dinner at 5pm - so if you were expressing he could be given a bottle of expressed milk? We've got our son on a bottle of formula for the night feed and the change in his sleeping habits have been amazing - when I was breast feeding before putting him to bed he'd wake through the night looking for food - over night he slept from 7pm to 6am! but every baby is different .. I didn't want to stress about formula v breast milk after 6 months so I don't bother to express and he gets formula if I'm out or away and my body seems to just fall in line. I have found that my breasts have "adapted" quite well and my milk supply comes and goes with the amount of me feeding (I don't know if I'm just lucky though) so hopefully you won't be too badly affected and actually you'll find it a smooth transition - leave it to human nature I say!

P - (just left a voicemail so ignore it now!) but that's fab news - i'm super excited for you! xxx

Aveeno cream is lovely - good for baby too!

I just want to say again I certainly don't want to bad mouth them at all - just going completely on what I was told (firsthand) their premises were sold back in November through auction - but I don't know what that means .. Hopefully they make it work though!

H - I ended up with both the maclaren and the microlite - I will bring both along next time and you can text drive both otherwise I can pop over to you tomorrow sometime if you want? mircolite - super nifty as its sooo light and easy to steer (with one hand steering and the other hand holding a shopping basket!) but i agree that it can tip easily. the back wheels are not plastic so i find i can bash it around more and S is ok (ie, up and down stairs at the train station) maclaren - lies flat and seems to be more sturdier x

So the one on Forest Hill Road has been sold recently .. I hear they went bust .. A few of my mates went in to check it out and came out running! They were really cheap too .. But apparently still not worth it! Sorry to put a spanner in the works - but maybe the one closer to you is run better - dunno.

is that the same company as the nursery on Forest Hill Road just up from the Co-op?

I second Verds - mind you Francine made the class for me but I'm not sure she's still taking the classes - but you definitely come out feeling as if you've done something.

I put a new handful in a sock every time. Made a huge difference to my little one. Also camomile tea bags or rooibos tea bags - both known for treating skin issues. Second Molly - aveeno cream is lovely too. I had to go to the dor for my son and they prescribed me with epiderm which is heavy but worked wonders. Another thing to consider thou - thrush is common in babies and easily mistaken for eczema especially in all the fat rolls and again doc gave me timodine.

PS, I wanted to add that I tried the controlled crying with mine and just popping back in and saying shoosh shoosh etc and often just from popping my head back into the room he seemed to think 'ok they're still here if I need them' and he'd go to sleep! In my opinion that definitely helped towards him being a better sleeper ;-) I totally agree with everyone else in the recent threads - it depends on the child! But hopefully from this thread you have got lots of different things that you can try on your baby as and when and I'm sure you will find something that suits you and works on the babe too.

Mine doesn't have the bells so that's better .. but yes - it works wonders .. and the colours keep him stimulated too! Yes, Amber does have good properties I agree :-)

My son is just 8 months now and I've given everything a go, even though he's never been a bad sleeper as such as he has never fought sleep and when he's asleep he stays asleep for +- 5 hours generally. I tried the "crying it out" but gave in within minutes .. its difficult to say 'don't feed them to sleep' as it goes hand in hand somehow with the timings - my son suddenly one day was able to put himself to sleep daytime naps and evening sleeps and this seemed to tie in when we introduced solids, granted it was when he reached 6 months or so (but again he's so easy to get to sleep that I didn't mind patting his bum, bopping him around, settling him on my chest, feeding him breast. Looking back I miss the time when he was so little and fell asleep on me so maybe just relax for now and "enjoy" this time? A neighbour recently gave me one of her books to keep on side and I have thoroughly enjoyed paging through. I really like the way they put things and its always made me feel so much better! The Baby Book, Dr William Sears and Martha Sears. I've also found that actually he sleeps better in his own room in his own cot, we have had evenings where he's stayed with us in our bed but he doesn't seem to stay settled and sleep for long periods. I've also not changed my lifestyle much for him, he's just fitted in, I'm not big into exacting routines either - so on occasions we'll be out and he'll go to sleep in his buggy, or if we're driving home he'll fall asleep in his car seat, I may be out during the day so he doesn't get his full lunch time sleep - I definitely pass him around which has resulted in him being content and confident in himself - I would say this goes hand in hand? Definitely give the book a go though - I wish I'd known about it earlier! Also, try stay relaxed in these next few months - there is so much going on .. growth spurts, teething, feeling unwell bla bla bla .. you can't get it all right and you can't fight it either - from one day to the next they can be so different (I look back and wish on some occasions I'd dealt with things differently and not got so worked up because your little one can definitely feel it even if you aren't showing it.) All the best

so anyway .. ;-) Molly, I have the BF that I got from you and S loves chewing on it so its been v useful in more then one way - keeps him entertained for hours! (but also guessing I should be a little careful)

A follow on from this possibly .. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,418456,418456#msg-418456 Sorry, this link .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qplyv/Case_Notes_Maternity/

We recently bought a comfortable house followed by the birth of our baby - based on 2 city salaries - we had budgeted everything and had it all mapped out .. I was made redundant 5 weeks before our son was born .. so there went that idea! He's almost 8 months old and I'm still home - though even stat maternity pay is soon to run out but I do have a few other ideas to bring in money - but in the meantime we're making it work - you'll be suprised that you CAN make it happen somehow - there are things you possibly 'wasted' your money on that you cut out without even knowing it. Point being - you can plan to your hearts content but things can change over night. Good on you for being responsible and it can be stressful trying to put everything in place - but remember the fun in a baby and also the unknown and the future. All the best!