alieh

Are you taking a carseat too? When we travelled with our Bugaboo we used the carseat clipped onto the frame and wheeled it straight to the plane door. Then put the cot bit flat in our luggage.

I have heard of the this paediatric sleep clinic, but I don't think they take referrals from GPs so you would have to see a paediatrician first and get them to refer you. But just in case it is helpful: http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patientinfo/childrens/sleepclinic.pdf I have also heard good things about the Millpond Clinic (private): http://www.mill-pond.co.uk/ I really feel for you. My son is a similar age and still not a great sleeper, but we do get decent stretches where he sleeps through when he's well and not teething. Without these I would not have survived. You might find that even just a couple of sessions with an expert can make a big difference because it's so hard to see the wood for the trees when you're in the middle of it.

Maki, do you want to borrow a sling? We have an Ergo and a long gauze wrap thingy (Calin Bleu I think). You are more than welcome to one or both. I could pop in the post if there's time?

I think so. Though my washer does have a 95 degree setting (!) and a medic rinse setting so it's possible I used one of those (I can't remember what the guidance is from BumGenius re: max wash temperature). I really only had to do it once every 6 months or so, so not a huge deal if it was one extra hot wash.

Here are the instructions I used from BumGenius re: "stripping" the nappies. I had to do this twice in nearly 18 months of use. It solved both leaking and smell issues. I think "Dawn" is an American brand, so I just used regular Fairy washing up liquid and it seemed fine. STRIPPING Please apply the following recommendations for stripping of specific issues. Be aware, depending on the severity of the problem, you may need to repeat the procedure a number of times. FOR LEAKING ISSUES: 1. Wash once in hot water with Dawn liquid dish detergent in the original blue formula (yes, it must be Dawn). Use one tablespoon for regular top loaders and one teaspoon for high efficiency machines. 2. Do two additional hot water washes with no detergent, just clear water. FOR SMELL ISSUES: 1. Wash inserts once in hot water with Dawn liquid dish detergent in the original blue formula (yes, it must be Dawn). Use one teaspoon for high efficiency machines or one tablespoon with a regular machine. Use ? cup of chlorine bleach for a top loader and ? cup for a high efficiency machine. 2. Do two additional hot water washes with no detergent, just clear water. 3. Normally, covers do not hold odors as inserts can, however, you may strip them using the instructions that apply for leaking issues. (See above.)

It is totally normal for them to want to be close and "snacky" in the evenings, so I wouldn't worry yourself that it is because of supply issues, especially now that you've tried all those other things to boost supply. The only other thing to check is whether you've tried what worked for Knomester - i.e. putting him down in a quiet, dark room a bit earlier. This was our experience too. So many people had told me that babies are often fussy in the evening that I just perservered with him downstairs with us, bobbing on and off the boob all evening and being quite screamy. Eventually I tried putting him to bed in his hammock in our room very early - like 6:30 and he was much happier. He would wake for another feed around 9 or 10 or something but then go straight back down, much more like a night feed. Ever since he has been an early to bed kind of baby and toddler. It might not work, but you can only try!

I would agree with your interpretation too. Personally, in the early months when my son was feeding a lot through the night I couldn't really contemplate more than a small glass of wine in the evening (too knackered!). But once he'd dropped all of the night feeds, or at least wasn't feeding until at least 3 or 4 am I figured having a few drinks in the evening wasn't a problem.

Just to second the advice about the Baby Whisperer Forums. One key thing is making sure that you're not trying to get her to sleep either too late or too early. There are loads of mums on that Baby Whisperer site that will coach you through it and suggest what other similar aged babies are doing re: number of naps, etc. (not that there is any "standard" baby routine of course, but it could be worth a try!).

Hi Maki! So nice to see you and sounds like an exciting adventure! You might be lucky and get a spare seat. Beg and plead for this from the moment you check in, and don't take no for an answer until the very last minute. I've had the same experience re: sleeping on the floor - this is a no go. Also, I'm afraid, they wouldn't let me rig up a blanket to cover him because apparently they are responsible for him while he's on the flight so need to be able to see that he is breathing, isn't smothered, etc. Not sure if a different airline will be more lenient about this. With regards to sleep, even a spare seat has not been enough to guarantee sleep for us - you know S and A are very alike in their (non)sleeping ways! I did an 8 hour flight to Canada in the summer on my own and managed to get 1.5 hours sleep with him in the sling. Could you spend the time between now and your flight getting her used to kipping in a sling? Even 30 mins here and there might be enough to save your sanity. If it were me, I would mentally prepare for no sleep on the flight and then any sleep you do get is a bonus! It is hard, hard work but it does end. Are you taking a carseat? Because if you get a spare seat they might let you bring on your carseat, so at least you'll have somewhere to contain her and she might even sleep in it?? Will she pay attention to DVDs for any length of time? If so, I would bring a laptop or one of those mini DVD players.

We had this every now and again with the BumGenius. I think the instructions on their website talk about how to "strip" them - I think it was actually with a very small capful of washing up liquid in the washing machine, but double check that I haven't made that up! Then, like Pickle says, a wash through with vinegar couldn't hurt either.

It is crazy that there is a 5 hour breastfeeding workshop on offer as part of the ante-natal classes out there but that it doesn't cover ANY of the issues I and others faced when breastfeeding. All I remember from the workshop is the video at the beginning where the woman is skiing and then opens her ski jacket to reveal a BFing baby, a discussion about how much alcohol you can drink while breastfeeding, and a demonstration about how to feed lying down. It seemed more like a propaganda session to convince you to breastfeed when, really, most of the people who took 5 hours out of their day to learn about breastfeeding had probably already decided they wanted to give it a go and would really benefit from more in-depth information about the problems that can occur and where do go for help if they do.

Coffee on Saturday the 4th sounds good at this stage. Hopefully I can leave my wee nearly-2 year old menace at home in order to have a proper chat. Where are people located in ED generally? There is a new cafe just across from Peckham Rye park near The Gardens in an old electrical shop, but there are obviously no shortage of other options if L.Lane is more convenient.

That is amazing Gussy. I'm not sure I would have had the guts/pain threshold to continue if my son's TT procedure hadn't worked. And same re: nipple shields here too - would NOT have made it without them. Snowboarder, most midwives are pretty good at checking for tongue tie these days but some tongue ties are not as obvious or straightforward (for e.g., the posterior tongue tie, which my son had too). In my son's case it took a lactation consultant to spot it, and then Dr. Patel confirmed it. But even after the LC diagnosed it, the midwives were looking in his mouth saying "there is no way that this baby is tongue tied". It's not their fault, as they can't be expected to be experts in everything but it was quite annoying because they spent 3 weeks drawing me pictures of aereolas (sp?) and telling me over and over again what a good latch looked like, when my nipples were shredded and hanging off, and my baby feeding for hours at a time but still not gaining weight. I just wish they had suggested I see a lactation consultant a bit earlier.

I would take her to A&E too. I have asthma, and TBH things can escalate quite quickly in children (don't want to scare you) and it really is worth erring on the side of caution. I remember the terror of having trouble breathing when I was small, and it really is important that they get her airways as open as possible. Have they offered oral steroids? My asthma is very under control with inhalers (preventer and reliever) normally but when I've had any kind of cold (viral or bacterial) my breathing becomes out of control very quickly. Sometimes the only thing that fixes it is oral steroids (sometimes antibiotics will be enough, dep on whether it's an infection obviously). Not sure if they offer these for children, but if she has been having breathing problems this long I do think they need to consider ramping up from the inhalers if possible. But I'm not a doctor, so obviously they're the experts. As if you don't have enough to worry about right now, but minimising possible allergens might make a huge difference. Even if you just focus on a major clean up of her bedroom. Take out as many soft furnishings (rugs, soft toys, etc.) as possible, major hoover of every nook and cranny including mattress, wash all bedding including pillows and duvets at as high heat as possible to kill dust mites, and keep the door closed to keep the cat out if you don't already do this. This makes a huge difference to my breathing when I'm having trouble. A warm mist humidifier also really helps me at night, as does propping up with obscene amounts of pillows until I'm almost sitting upright (very difficult to convince a toddler to do this I know).

That's great that you have an appointment for "the snip"! It made such a difference for us, though don't be disheartened if you don't notice it straight away because baby needs time to learn how use his/her new tongue. I'd say by a week after the operation, breastfeeding was virtually pain free for me. We had it done when my son was about 4 weeks old. The only thing that saved me in the days/week leading up to the operation were nipple guards, novogel and silverette healing cups. And sometimes paracetamol before feeds. I know people freak you out about using nipple guards, but without them I wouldn't have been able to keep feeding and we found it easy to wean off of them once the tongue tie was resolved. The genetic link is interesting because my mum BF me no problem, but my sister she could not get to latch so matter what she tried. It's possible that my sister had an undiagnosed tongue tie, but grew out of it (common apparently).

Fuschia, you poor woman. What an awful stress. I was having enough of a shocker when my FIRST was breech in the last few weeks of my pregnancy and I had none of the associated scheduling stresses you have. I am really surprised that they would talk about admitting you for 2 weeks+ at 38 weeks rather than an elective section because even with just a breech baby they are gagging to book an elective section at week 38 whether you want one or not! I think you're doing amazingly well, just keep putting in place as many plans as possible and thinking positive. If you did end up with a section at 38 weeks, there is every chance you could be out in less than 48 hours. I was and my c-section recovery seemed to be far, far worse than most people I know. Many people are up and walking after 12 hours. So don't add the stress of an elective section and post-natal recovery onto all of your other stresses - it doesn't have to be that bad. TBH, if I had to choose between an elective section and a couple of days in post-natal recovery or TWO WEEKS + in hospital, I think I'd just go for the section (and this from someone who is desperate for a VBAC this time, so don't take sections lightly). But hopefully none of that will matter because bubs will be happy with his/her new head down position!

In some ways, the younger the better. Our best trip by far was when my son was just 2 months old - they're too young to get jet-lagged (or else they don't sleep really yet anyway!), can be held easily and just fed for the whole flight, etc. We did a trip when my son was nearly 6 months, with a long flight to San Francisco, side trip to Napa Valley for wedding, trip to Toronto on the way back, etc. and it was completely fine. The trips started getting bad once he hit about 8 months or so (very aware of being away from home, getting harder to manage him on the flight, etc.) and after flying with him for 8 hours on my lap at the age of 20 months, you couldn't pay me to get on a long flight now until he is 2 and has to have his own seat!

A recommendation for Katie Fisher, who saved breastfeeding for us. Katie Fisher - 020 8662 0184 / 07949 176776 (I think these are the right contact details).

Looks like there was a problem in the U.S. re: Pampers and chemical burns back in May! http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/06/health/main6466948.shtml

Yes, the Huggies were a change in nappy for us. Since I've been using disposables I've used Pampers Baby Dry at night because I found the more eco-friendly ones always leaked and Pampers have always been fine for us. The first day I tried Huggies he seemed very irritated and uncomfortable! Maybe a case of different batches of nappies having different levels of irritants? Makes me miss my cloth nappies but he grew out of all the ones I had and I really don't want to invest in a new batch in an XXL size when I hope he will be potty training in a few months (ha ha ha).

You might not like these because they are sort of the same concept as the Boob ones, but I bought a really nice Milker jumper in a really soft almost cashmere feeling wool. Like these here: http://www.bellamama.co.uk/37--breastfeeding-knitwear- I mostly did what others suggest with having a breastfeeding vest under my normal shirts, but I did like to have a couple of options of proper nursing shirts like the Milker ones because I did find they were a bit more discrete if I was going out. For nursing vests, I loved these to help make my tummy feel a bit less flabby and lumpy(after a couple of months, mind you....not mere days after actually having the baby!): http://www.everythingunderthedress.com/product.asp?pid=2291 The prices are crazy, but I had one in white and one in black and alternated between them almost every day.

So odd because we had the same experience this week, but with Huggies! My son is almost 2 so was able to sort of communicate that he was uncomfortable, tugging at the nappy, continually crying about his penis, saying "hurting" etc. As soon as I used cloth or a different brand he was fine. Quite worrying really!

I really loved our Amby Hammock and plan to use it for #2 in March. In fact, you would be welcome to borrow it until then if you wanted to collect it from our friends in Thames Ditton! We don't have a car and have been meaning to slug it home on the train for ages. They often come up on ebay too, or you could post a Wanted ad on the classified section of the Forum and then just sell it on if it doesn't work for you.

Wow! How exciting. Congratulations. Re: lb and oz, I think 4 kg is just under 9 lbs. Mine was just a hair over 4 kgs and we figured he was 8 lb 13 oz.

Yes, I remember hearing about the risks of transverse lie. With this being your 4th, especially after twins, I bet the chances that the ECV works are really high. I have my fingers crossed for you!