Mathilda

Hi, I agree sounds normal to me for a 4 mo old, I didn't drop the night feeds until my daughter was 6-7 mo and on solids. When I did though, rather than giving water, I picked up and held her for an hour, and fed her then, ie an hour after she had woken up. After 2-3 days of this she would wake up at the "new" time and then I repeated the process until she was sleeping for a lot longer...hope that makes sense! Takes willpower though and you need to feel sure that the feeds are not needed.

Personally I really like the layout - there's lots of space and its light and airy. I only looked at one other nursery but the rooms there were small and cramped in comparison. Not sure what the concerns might have been but probably best to just go and look for yourself? They have only been running I think for around a year and the inspection was quite early on, so makes sense that there might have been a few things to improve on at that early stage.

Its in the diary :)

Sounds good - and yes a Tues or Thurs would work for me.

My daughter has three milk feeds a day, we switched one at time, leaving a few days in between each switch. She was absolutely fine with it.

I heard she is going to set up her own group at some point soon...

Was going to suggest the same about making a weekend of it - then you would arrive at the lunch relaxed and maybe enjoy it! Ruby wedding is def a big deal, my parents had a big party for theirs.

Hi, I wouldn't worry too much about nursery. With me, my daughter has her two daytime naps in the buggy, this suits me well as don't have to traipse up & down stairs, and she can sleep if we're out and about. The times I have tried putting her in the cot for naps she doesn't sleep well. But at nursery (3 days/week) they hold her and rock her to sleep and then put her in a cot, and she seems fine with it.

This afternoon's East Dulwich group was great fun, and the toddlers seemed to love it too! Looking forward to next week's already.

Hi, my LO is a year old and we are about start the process, on HV's advice, of reducing volume of milk, switching to a cup and switching from formula to ordinary blue-top. The thing is, first milk feed is at 6am so at the moment I have a carton of readymade formula on the bedside table that I can just pour into a bottle and feed straight away, and would rather not have to trek downstairs to the fridge every morning if I can get around it. Does anyone know if I can get small (200ml?) cartons of UHT whole milk anywhere? Have just been looking at Sainsburys website and can't find anything. HV is very against using follow-on formula.

Hi Mike, sorry to be so slow replying, I can't make it tonight after all but have a great time x

Hi, I started at around 5 months as LO was showing the signs. I did traditional weaning, although wasn't all that strict about it, eg didn't bother with the whole wait 3 days after introducing each new food thing. Started trying soft finger foods (eg fruit, toast) at about 6 months. I found weaning quite stressful as people can be very strident about their way being the "right" way! Also, books all have different advice, some HVs are v pro Baby Led Weaning, others not. So imo its all about finding what works best for you and your baby. Good luck!

I used the vital baby disposable bottles when we went to a festival last year and they worked well. They are a teat with a plastic bag attached for the milk, so they are v small and light to carry.

I have the Little Dish book which is great, fail safe meals from it are the spag bol and the chicken pie. Most of the recipes are for spoon feeding though, I agree its difficult to think of interesting finger food meals. Can he pick up bits of pasta? Macaroni cheese is working well for us lately.

24th works for me MP x

Strawbs - the NHS leaflet that emza links to above doesn't mention anything about killing off nutrients and says boil kettle and leave no longer than 30 mins - I think making straight away is fine.

Ooh I might be able to make it along to this one...hope it is Ganapati :)

There's also a theory that around 5-6 weeks the baby suddenly becomes aware of surroundings and by the end of the day can be overwhelmed / overloaded until they gradually adjust. My daughter cried a lot in the evenings at this age but it was just a phase and decreased quite quickly. Can't think of any tips really...good luck!

Hi, I've been on a couple of times with the buggy at 8.30-8.45ish and its been busy (schoolkids plus commuters going to Brixton tube) but not packed.

Thanks everyone for all the useful info and tips, we went this morning and both had a great time. Can't believe I was worried about it really :)

I've yet to take my 10 month old swimming locally and am quite nervous about it...Peckham Pulse sounds like the best pool because of the warmth, but would really help to know a bit about it... Do you have to book (do you have to be a fusion member to book?) or is it OK to just turn up early and queue? What do you do with the buggy? Can you take your towel to the poolside? Do they have floats in there? The weekdays I can go are Weds and Fri and the session times are a little awkward on those days, 12 and 1 ie lunch and nap time. Sundays are better at 10am but is this one packed? Thanks..I'm sure its all very easy really and I am being silly!

I too had a bad impression of the NCT, I did the free NHS classes instead which were great. I've since heard that NCT in this area is good though. NHS breastfeeding workshop has some useful advice but is more than a little odd and really piles on the pressure I thought. So treat with caution!

Mum & baby cinema at the Ritzy in Brixton is lovely. Am jealous - my baby is far to old for this now!

We went to Cheeky C's today and really enjoyed it - great range of toys and lovely coffee and cake, a little tricky actually consuming the coffee and cake whilst running after my girl, but I managed :)

Hi Jenny, my daughter is at the same nursery as yours and whereas at home she naps around 8.30-10.00, at nursery she still has a morning nap but its later and shorter. I think just because there's so much going on and babies will always do things slightly differently when not at home!