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My four month old has just been diagnosed with eczema and we've been prescribed some cream which i hope will help. I wondered if anyone has experience with other things worth trying to stop it? He is exclusively breastfed and i plan to wait to introduce solids until 6 months (particuarly now after this diagnosis). I think the ezema first appeared after taking him swimming - does baby eczema mean he wont be able to go in chlorinated pools? Are there foods i should eat / avoid? I noticed on another thread about adult eczma that cutting out alcohol and dairy can help - should i be avoiding too? I eat a lot of dairy and drink the odd glass of wine.. Any advice would be great!

Thank you all! I went to gp today and it is eczema according to gp - have got some cream so hope that clears it!

My 4 month old has come up in a sort of rash - most obvious on tummy but also v dry skin on arms and legs. We were fortunately at dr's for vaccinations when i noticed it first and the nurse looked at it and said it could be connected to having just been swimming or teething (no sign of teeth yet but loads of drool) It is sort of patches of red and on the tummy there are little raised bumps - has been there now for about 4 days and the aqueous cream suggested by nurse doesnt seem to be doing anything. Does this sound familiar to anyone? He isnt at all bothered by it - in good spirits and doesnt react when you touch his tummy...

Obviously i say this with zero medical knowledge but just to let you know my baby has never slept so well as after his bcg! Gave him calpol just after and he slept for hours!

Doing some research into costs of various childcare options - i found lots of useful info on this forum but im confused about tax...do you still have to pay nat insurance etc for an au pair? What about an au pair plus? I think im right in assuming you pay tax on a nanny even if she lives in?

I found a great thread on here about losing weight after babies - which was full of really useful advice and reassuring tales of it taking a while for baby weight to disappear - but i have a more specific question. What experience did people have w breastfeeding in terms of losing weight. It would seem to make sense that if you eat normally you lose weight if you breastfeed - but some people seem to find its not true? Do you think that is because its easy to overeat and overrestimate how much extra you can eat and breastfeed? Did people find that after a certain point weight came off more easily? Do you think continuing to breastfeed after 6 months makes any difference compared to weaning earlier?

Dont know if you've tried this but i've always found milk and bread or cereal incredibly good for falling asleep- combination of carb and milk somehow really knocks me out when having trouble sleeping

I'm wondering if any experienced parents have any advise on the following dilemma:my 3 month old has fallen into a very good pattern of sleeping from about 11pm til 8:30/9 in the morning - until recently he would stay up with us all evening - always in good spirits - sometimes cluster feeding for much of the evening. In the last week or so he's become much more active during the day and naps for shorter periods. Unsurprisingly he is more tired and more crotchety in the evening. So we decided to try and implement an earlier bedtime - problem is that if we put him down around 7ish he sleeps but only for 45 mins and then wakes up crying quite hard, only consolable with lots of feeding..he then falls asleep around 10:30 and stays asleep until the usual 8:30ish. So my question is - should we just count our blessings he sleeps at night or are we storing up trouble for future? Im really loathe to try any kind of controlled crying when hes sleeping well at night...im wondering if i might have to implement more of a routine during the day / control nap times more - but im enjoying the freedom of not having a routine. (tho i suspect theres no having your cake and eating it!) Is it too much to ask that a baby this age sleeps all evening and all night anyway? We're happy for now to have him awake in the evenings but not sure how to spot if he's overtired?? Maybe he needs to sleep in the evening?

I wonder if there is a way to harness the power of the forum :-) and get prospective goodrich parents as well as existing ones to put pressure on the head if there are changes that need ti be made at goodrich? I imagine there are a lot of parents with an interest in how well goodrich does who dont currently have kids there? Obviously would need to give the head a chance to defend him/herself so that those of us not involved could understand the full story?

My husband has been great about getting up w son first thing in morning - especially at first i slept much better not having the baby next to me but knowing he was safely downstairs- meant i got a couple of hours of deep sleep. I found in the first few weeks it was all about the quality of the sleep rather than quantity...Even just a few hours proper sleep was a godsend

My tips would be to buy everything you can think of that might help w breastfeeding - nipple shields, expressing machine (i didnt use for ages but i think can help w engorgement), gel pads to put in fridge and sooth sore engorged boobs etc . I also found epsom salts really good for stitches - and organise for someone in addition to your partner to be around to help him/her. They are exhausted too and having to run around fetching things every 5 mins is hard work. Id also make sure you have iron tablets, paracetemol and something to help keep you regular! Constipation was my main worry in the days afterwards!! :-)

So strange was just sitting looking at my son feeling overwhelmed by the fact of him and remembering how hard those first weeks were. I certainly was better prepared for the birth (tho of course didnt go to plan at all) than for the first weeks after. I felt lousy - was v anemic and even a phone conversation was tiring. I was so emotional as well. My husband was amazing but i found it hard being so dependent on him when stuck on the sofa breastfeeding and i think we were both a bit shellshocked by the birth. I remember the only thing that made me feel better was holding this gorgeous bundle. I hadnt expected to be so sore and physically incapacitated - and trying to figure out breastfeeding seemed a cruel trick to add to the exhaustion and discomfort. But of course you are also in this bubble of love - i felt (and continue to feel) closer to my husband than ever having just been thru this amazing experience and of course couldnt believe what we'd created. Im finding so far that it gets easier all the time. My

Just wanted to thank those who have sent me private messages - have had some really great tips!

I wondered if anyone w experience of autism spectrum disorders has any advice on how to be as supportive as posaible to the child who has been diagnosed and his parents? My (nearly 3 year old)nephew is highly intelligent, very chatty and affectionate - but does exhibit some challenging behaviour and has just been diagnosed as on autism spectrum (aspergers suspected but more tests to come) I want to make sure i dont say anything insensitive or unhelpful and wondered if there were any tips that parents of children on autism spectrum would advise both in terms of relating to my nephew and being helpful to his parents?

Reminds me of my brother aged about 6 when we went for the first time to a posh(ish) restaurant. I was older and suitably impressed, but my brother looked around, sniffed distainfully and pronounced loudly and disappointedly for the restaurant to hear 'this is no macdonalds' Needless to say his child lives on entirely organic food and has never darkened the door of the golden arches!

What about brick lane? You could go and wander round spitalfields and the shops round bricklane- should be cool enough for older kids. there is qlso the rich mix cinema on bethnal green road which tho not free might be nice to dive into if its cold. Fridays are good days for spitalfields pottering. Now really easy to get to aswell w east london line to shoreditch. AnotHer thought is the museum of london which has been revamped and has brilliant old footage of london on computer screens for older kids

Im after some cheap and cheerful decorations - most importantly a garland to wrap round banister. Just one of the fake ones. Am newish to the area and wondered if theres anywhere easy to get to by bus (dont drive and will be pushing pram)that would sell this kindof thing?

Im a very new parent and following no method at all in the early fug of parenting. Im surprised that this innocuous post on the usually good natured family room has elicited such strong feelings. Surely everyone is just desperately trying to find something that suits them and their child. Not surprising that people might want to meet others who are drawn to the same type of thing they are. Its so easy to feel alone as a parent and quite hard if everyone you know is parenting very differently from you.

I've got to take my 6 week old for bcg tomorrow - he seems so tiny to put a live vaccine into but i guess its a necessary evil given high rates of tb locally? Should i expect him to be a bit unwell afterwards - how long for? Wondered what others experience has been?

My 6 week old has been an enthusiastic eater since day one and i avoided being engorged early on cause he was feeding loads. Am still exclusively breast feeding and since yesterday boobs feel very full and uncomfortable and i keep feeling cold and shivery- though husband doesnt think i feel hot - need to find thermometer to check temp! Could i be engorged at this stage? Baby still feeding well and im feeling bit less sore after morning feed...any experience of this? Advice on managing? Im hoping this isnt mastitis? Really dont want to trek to gp! Hope this breastfeeding lark will soon get easier!

Tomorrow i will try ale! Am having same problem and finding it so frustrating - after an evening of feeding all the time my nipples get so sore- he falls asleep on the boob and then thminute i take him off wakes up and wants more food!

Ah it is nice to hear others feeling the same way -btw the post heading is supposed to be entitled 'can you really not OVERFEED a breastfed baby- that's 3 hours sleep plus overactive spell check for you!

I am determined to exclusively breastfeed my 3 week old baby and we've been v lucky ( w great support from midwife)that he has latched on well and is feeding well. In fact that is my problem it seems to be constant w particularly long feeds at night and all evening. It's wearing me out a bit so I hoped some expert mums could give some words of encouragement to help spur me on. I've been told that after a while the feeds will be more efficientand less frequent - please tell me this is true! He is suffering a little w wind but is generally so good tempered and alert and happy - I'm sure all the feeding must be good for him - and of course I know all about the health benefits for me and for him. I know its worth it but I feel a bit like a prize dairy cow at the moment!

Another thought - is there a poorly insulated loft above your baby's room ? In our old flat we converted our loft and put in lot of insulation and I was amazed at what a difference it made to the rooms below which had always been freezing previously. In our new place our bedroom is freeZing and I'm going to get some roll out insulation and put it down in the loft in the hope that it will help!

Just to clarify the east dulwich classes w tess are twice a week with one evening and one morning class for a 4 week period. The women all came to every morning as well as evening class as we all got time off work and many of the men were able to ask work if they could take a few hours and made it to a few of the morning classes. We found the classes very useful in and of themselves and much more fun than I'd expected. Really helped me get into baby mode as I got closer to my due date. You should sign upsoon as they get v booked up