dullified

Hi My 3 years and nearly 4 months old still wakes up in the morning and shouts for me (mummy) to come and get him - this morning because he had a bad dream at 6:00am. My partner says I am pandering to him and he should get up and play quietly with his toys by himself at this age - is this right? Does your 3 year old get up and let you have a lie in??? While of course being considerate enough not to wake up his one year old sister too?

No book recommendations but I did recently bring my newborn home (last weekend!) and I too was advised to get Daddy to do the introductions. Although the hospital were happy to discharge me straight from the delivery room in the morning I stayed in hospital all day and brought the baby home after my toddler (2.4 months old) had gone to bed. Then in the morning we brought him into our room, sat him in bed as normal, gave him a drink then got Daddy to introduce him to the (fortunately) sleeping baby in her moses baskets. Then explained how she wasn?t in my tummy anymore and how I had a sore tummy etc. He?s been absolutely fine about her arrival since. Also made sure we both patted my tummy and said hello to the baby everyday in the weeks leading up to the birth. To be honest though he goes to a childminder who frequently looks after a baby ? this has probably helped more than anything else. So if you can get might be a good idea to get some baby experience in beforehand for your toddler (borrow a friends???).

Not what I would say but what I?m forced to wear (the other sunhat from his Next two pack). He has the blue star version, I get the (I feel slightly inferior) green ?Mummy where is your hat?? ?But I?m driving/in the supermarket ? do I really have to wear it?? ?MUMMY HAT ON!? I don?t mind looking like a fool in my own house to please a 2 year old ? ?Mummy beard! Mummy beard!? (my white foam bubble bath beard he likes me to don every evening) it?s just in public I feel a tiny bit silly. Edited to say: I try and stand firm whenever he requests me to wear a bib.

Hi I think the title says it all. Is it worth it ? it has excellent reviews but at over ?110 for seat plus toy it?s rather pricey? How much baby hands free time will it buy me each day? Having had no luck finding a comfy chair for my first child (tried a fisher price swing which he hated, a mamas and papas rocker he was less than impressed with and a bumbo which he would not tolerate at all). I?m keen to find a decent baby chair for the second which she will happily sit in and watch the world go by in for at least 5 minutes leaving me to get on with making a cup of tea and unloading the dishwasher. Thank you in advance for any opinions/reviews.

Sounds (to me) like the parents sling the kids out into the garden whenever they can?t cope anymore ? if the garden is a safe, protected environment and the kids have each other and its summertime I would not say it constitutes neglect or child abuse. It?s just a not very good form of attempting some sort of parental control, irritating to the neighbours and something you don?t particularly approve of. Also sounds like the kids know a little emotional blackmail (a couple of ?Daddy?s I love you? will gain them access into the house again. I find locking children in bedrooms overnight a far more disturbing practice. Really quite shocked. Hate the thought of a child waking up distressed or ill at night and not being able to seek help.

I too have chosen a cabin bed as a first bed (one from Next) very low for a cabin bed at 90 odd cm's and has big sides. Very positive reviews from parents of 2/3 year olds (haven't moved my son yet as he's only 25 months and can't escape from his cot). Personally I wouldn't want to go any higher. http://www.next.co.uk/x471216s1?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_search&utm_campaign=googleps#747876x47

Not sure if someone has mentioned them already but I had success with the MAM silk teats when my son ws 7 months old. I know they have worked for others definitely worth a try.

Legoland 2 for 1 offer on a tub of Vanish I bought yesterday.

Jars! WTF indeed ? I would get my personal chef to blend me three trays worth of ice cube sized chunks of food instead if I had the money and inclination towards eating baby pap.

I have a 2 year old who suffers from chronic constipation. I give him very diluted coridial (no sugar added) to make sure he gets his 6-8 cups a day. I also try to give lots of watery foods like cucumber, tomatoes and kiwis. However everything I have read on the subject suggests his bowel muscles don't have the necessary omph yet to squeeze stuff along and that he will hopefully improve with age. So I also have a perscription for Movicol (better than lactulose) to try and avoid any potential toilet issues in the future and keep things sloshing along. I have a Dutch friend and they recommend semi-skimmed from the start of drinking cows milk over there. Which makes me think it must be ok.

As I really dislike getting up early I always fed at 05:00am and put baby straight back to bed (in room with blackout blinds and very thick dark brown curtains). Then up at 8, lazy breakfast about 9 which fitted in with us as one of us was always at home. Eventually slept through at 11 months without 5:00am snack. Since then has consistently slept 8 till 8 which suits us. I didn't dream feed and found the early morning was the only feed from about 4 months (started at 3am and then pushed to 5am). I don't know whether this helps just my experience - I prefer slight disruption 5:00am and back to bed till 8 than up at 6:30 and baby asleep again by 9. (Not that I ever got on top of consistent day time napping).

Reading through the posts it would seem in an odd way I?m quite lucky to have a mother who freely admits (despite having 3 children ? all accidental which might explain it) to having ?no advice to give? and that?s she is ?more an animal person?. She didn?t visit until my son was 5 weeks old as she knows how ?fraught life can be? with a newborn and even got his second birthday wrong this week. However I love her eccentricity, uniqueness and sense of humour even if she is of no practical use to me and is quite emotionally distant. I also understand why she doesn?t want to be particularly close to her own children (she was the only adopted child of a very overbearing mother). Personally I would like to be more involved with my own grandchildren but I shall certainly hold back from giving parenting advice unless asked for especially after reading through here. Will just discreetly volunteer my baby sitting and food cooking services. Definitely age not motherhood has brought us closer.

Hi I don't know whether anyone else has stumbled across 'the nub' theory: http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2009/06/03/nub-theory-baby-gender-prediction-at-12-weeks/ Or the even more unreliable (or at least in my case) the Chinese Gender Calendar... http://www.chinesegendercalendar.info/

I say do use a (Northern) based cheap as chips solicitor. We have used RA Wilkinson & Co. based in Birkenhead, The Wirral and our past 3 house moves they have been absolutely fantastic ? super efficient and very reasonably priced. There isn?t anything that requires an intimate knowledge of the local area. Why pay London based solicitor prices when you?re already paying London house prices?

If "We prefer male nanny. Or just nanny." Then why didn't you title the post "Sex wth the Male Nanny"?

Maybe worth moving this thread to the family room? I'm looking for some inspiration for a hen night in December. I was thinking a Burlesque lesson but have done a disco dance lesson on a hen night before and we were all abysmal. Think you definitely need to combine the dancing with the drinking.

I had a look on the Which website to find their recommended best hoover (especially for floorboards) they recommended the Bosch BSGL5126GB Pro Energy Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner for ?130 from John Lewis. Had it for 2 years and it is very,very good. Scored higher marks than a Henry. Edited to say also have a cat, toddler and DIY crazy partner - it copes with all their mess too. Sometimes even use it to clean up ash in the real fireplace but that's not recommended by the manufacturers.

Two kids go free vouchers on every childs happy meal from Burger King in Peckham at the moment valid for a number of attractions including Legoland. (You don't even have to take the kids just get a happy meal for yourself they are quite filling)!

I think it is realistic to expect a 6 to 8 hour stretch at night from a 4 month old breast fed baby (but pretty unusual to do any longer). Mine did that stretch from 7.30pm to 3.30am. This stretch then became naturally longer until he slept through at 11 months. Maybe you are making night feeds too much fun? I always kept the lights low as possible plus talking to the bare hushed minimum plus a bit of yawning and even closing my own eyes (although never do this if there is a a danger you will fall asleep).

I had a great book Your baby Week By Week which covers the first 6 months of a baby?s life and actually baby?s are pretty predictable for the first 6 months but after that it is very hard to predict how they will develop (hence the reason the book finishes at 6 months). If a baby isn?t premature the book had first smile about 6 weeks, laugh about 12 weeks, roll over as early as 15 weeks (but of course some babies are much later). It also covered the week a bay uncurls their legs from foetal position and produces real tears unfortunately forgotten what weeks they are.

When can babies and children (specifically toddlers): Q. Learn to say ?Yes! Yes! Yes!? to a suggestions made by their lovely mummy. (Instead of ?No. No. No.? or the odd very reluctant ?OK?.) A. ?

I have to admit as a Northerner I have on occasion stumbled across the odd Southern counterpart who sadly displays all those southern stereotypical behaviours or personality traits I rather hoped were just myths namely: They take themselves rather too seriously (no irreverent or self deprecating sense of humour). They aren?t terribly good at abandoning themselves to completely hedonistic pleasures (?ooh could never get wasted on a school night!?). Are outrageously materialistic (in particular property obsessed). Also have rather pedantic natures and depressingly provincial, reactionary and parochial attitudes to life.

Another vote for Your Baby Week by Week - fantastic bite size weekly chunks covering the first 6 months. I preferred it to 'What to Expect' and I also tried The Baby Whisperer and Gina Ford but neither were for me - I found them both too long winded and too concerned with a selling a philosophy/promoting the authors own brand of baby care. Only problem with Week by Week is it doesn't cover napping schedules. So maybe worth supplementing with Elizabeth Pantleys the no-cry nap solution.

LittleEDfamily very sorry to hear your mum passed away before you were able to share your own experiences of motherhood and attempting to run a home with her. While I have no desire to be some sort of domestic goddess I do already follow and have devised frighteningly similar mundane routines to the ones you posted from flylady to make sure everything flows smoothly. Including laying out my clothes before I go to bed, sorting all post as it arrives (junk, file or ?actioned?), writing things down on a shopping list as soon as I run out and once a week creating a must-do list and devoting the day entirely to making sure everything on the must do list gets done. I found initially it took will power and discipline to get into the routines but once they become habit they are rather comforting and satisfying. However it?s a bit like going to the gym, giving up smoking etc. - the initial discipline, will power and habit forming behaviour really has to come from you.

LittleEDFamily you could maybe ask your mum how she managed to be so organised? Presuming she?s still around to share her secrets. Personally I think my mum would bang her head against a brick wall if she knew I hankered after improving my domestic skills and better systems for organising my house (luckily I do not) as she was from a generation (not so long ago) where a woman?s role in society was very much confined to the home and the realm of the domestic and career options were very restricted.