Sally81

Thank you Ruth, Sophie and Mima. You are all saying what I'm thinking really. He does sound like a good candidate for BLW. The thing is I'm usually a pretty laid back mum....he's a very chilled baby so I've no need to worry about much but this has got me a bit stressed and that's the last thing I want because I know it's not good for him. Right, I'm taking a deep breath and relaxing about it all! But, the two things that concern me most about baby-led weaning are; choking - what do you give as first steps when all they've ever had before, really, is milk? What things can't they have? Also, do they get much nutrition from eating blw style? If they need to weaned because they are no longer getting it from milk, how do we relax about what they are/aren't getting from food? I'm sure I will PM for tips Sophie, thanks for that and I'm going to look for a copy of the Rapely book in the library or online. I'll give you a shout if I struggle, Mima.

Oh great, something else to worry about! How have I not heard about that before. My boy loves his dad carrying him while facing forward...that's an end to that then.

is that true about forward facing carrying?? Not something I have heard before and a bit worrying! Will have to check out some research I guess.

Hi all, Can I hijack this thread please for some weaning advice? My son is 5 months and one week. He's big, probably around 20lbs now. He can sit up and seems very interested in whatever I put near my mouth and is always grabbing for things. I tried him on some baby rice/porridge when he was about 4 months and he seemed to quite like it but then one day he really didn't and I suddenly thought 'what on earth am I doing? It's way too early' and I stopped. A couple of weeks ago he was grabbing at a slice of pineapple I was eating from a fork. I let him suck and nibble at it (he also has bottom teeth). He loved it, same with bits of banana off my finger and with any other fruit, if I offer it to him to suck whilst I'm holding it. But he refuses any of the same stuff pureed/mashed from a spoon. This week I've tried again with the puree and he won't have any of it. He keeps his mouth shut and just turns his head at the spoon. He definitely wasn't doing this before. Does it sound like he's just not ready? If he was hungrier and really very ready, would he lap it up? I should also add he's still pretty much exclusively bf (he has the odd bottle of formula) on demand. He's always been a two hourly feeder and I'm not sure when to try the food for that reason. Does anyone have any advice? Should I persevere or just wait a bit longer. Also, I sort of wonder if he might do better with blw but it scares me a bit. I'm not sure how to start and can't imagine how it'll work at first.....help!

Hmm..it's so hard to tell if they work or not isn't it. You only have them cos you're overdue anyway, so who knows if bubs would have decided to get the heck outta there on that day or not anyway! I had two. The first one did nothing. The second one I had on a Sat afternoon and had strong back ache and period like pains pretty much immediately but still didn't start proper labour til the Monday night. The second sweep might have got things moving, but as others have said 'who knows.'. Also, the actual sweep itself wasn't too bad for me but, again, as others have said, they do leave you feeling very uncomfortable so I think you might as well wait as long as poss for things to kick off, cos let's face it, you're going to be uncomfortable enough when they do without adding to the pain! (Sorry and wishing you lots of luck.)

I see foxes in the day frequently...so do many people I know. I thought it was a very common these days.

I saw him a few days ago on the Rye with it on a lead!! It was tied to a bench while the pair of them had a rest and then they wandered off, the parrot on his shoulder. Made me smile!

Hi..sorry, bit of a boring one, but does anyone have experience of the pool temperature for this? I want to take my five month old for the first time but have heard the pool might be a bit chilly...What does everyone think? Surely it can't be that cold if this is a designated slot for the little 'uns? Thanks everyone.

Just given mine a cool bath (mainly cos he did a rather messy nappy) but now he's lying on a towel in his nappy with the fan blowing on him and he's much happier than he was.

I have loads too....it would be brilliant if there was somewhere. There must be places that would be able to use them....I just can't think where would take them. V non helpful post...sorry!

I think that piece was probably a very long and winding story and sadly it's been heavily edited to fit. It's tragic and my heart goes out to them.

Thanks Mel! I think I'll pop along...little man isn't crawling yet and I am really struggling to get him to enjoy moving about on his back or front for very long. He's really strong on his legs and just wants to be upright. But, perhaps a change of scene and a new place for him to get rolling will be good!

Hi, I've been looking for a new group to take my five month old to, can anyone tell me about this one? Is it a drop in one and is five months too young? Thank you for any info...

I hardly used anything i took with me. Even our baby clothes as we had a whopper and nothing fitted him! The things i did use though, which i was so glad of ... A very light dressing gown because, yes, it's SO hot on there but it's good to have one when you need to shuffle to the loo etc Ear plugs. They are the only thing i would make sure i had next time. Those places are noisy as i'm sure you know and ear plugs really helped me to get a little rest. Hair brush and anything that makes having a shower better because that was the best damn wash of my life! Oh and remember to take the iphone charger home! I left mine behind and though I phoned and spoke to a very nice lady who tried to help me, i never did get it back. Good luck!

I was going to post similar to this... I've just signed my boy up to start in Jan next year. I visited twice and got a great feel. They paid so much attention to my son and everyone seems very happy. All the children were smiling and chatting to us every time I've been and the staff seem to be very happy there and very interactive with the kids. The older class were having a great giggle during a group reading session with the teacher! Laughter filled the room. Obviously as it's a converted church, there is far more space than in other nurseries I've visited, which I really liked. It felt far more like a 'home from home' nursery than some and less like a business. In the terms and conditions bumf I have, it does say that it is a "Christian principle based" nursery.

When I was moving here about three years ago I stumbled across this forum and thought the same. The thing is, it's true that because we have the forum we do hear about muggings etc, which we would know nothing about otherwise, as is the case in other areas. Don't worry, nothing has ever happened to me here and I love it. You need to be on your guard at times and as others have said, take sensible precautions but that really is the case pretty much anywhere these days. It's totally normal for alarm bells to ring when you read this forum though! Ignore any sarcastic replies. Good luck with your move and enjoy the area.the good points far, far outweigh any of the bad.

I have a bit of a throat infection going on and that is how it started for me. I got a bit hoarse and felt as if I was losing my voice. The pharmacist in sainsbury mentioned that there seemed to be lots of sore throats around, so you never know, it could be that. Hope she gets better soon.

I would love one!! Am trying to convince the OH we should get one ( he helps a lot so it's not as if he's expecting me to do it all while I'm off with baby) I feel guilty plonking my boy in his jumperoo or whatever while I try to quickly scrub the bath and loo or clean the kitchen floor. I'd much rather be with him and pay someone else to do these jobs. I find it hard to do them with just one small child, I don't know how others with more kids manage to fit it all in. I had family visiting this weekend and hubby and I were hoovering and floor cleaning on Fri night when we should have been relaxing together. If you can afford a cleaner, have one. It provides a job for someone else and gives you one less to do.

Thanks Vik. Ianr - the kind of circumstances where you check for times, they show as running a regular service, then get to the station to find that is not the case.

does anyone know if trains are running to and from ED/LB today? My OH seems to think they are not but the live departures board seems normal, however i've known it to be wrong before.

I've been feeling a little bit better the past day or so, but it all comes and goes. Like most of you have mentioned, I definitely have a bad back too. I've always had problems with my lower back, but I obviously put the recent aches and pains down to bending, lifting, carrying, pushing buggy, feeding, changing...takes its toll eh?! I will certainly mention everything to my GP but to be honest I don't feel I have much faith in GPs nowadays. I feel very fobbed off by them most of the time and I have a feeling they'll tell me to wait and see if it gets better, which I will. But if it doesn't, I'll chase it up, especially in light of your post Kes- thank you and I'm glad you got to the bottom of your problem. I did have a few tears the other night as I felt physically wrecked! Do you mind me asking what your symptoms were?

Does/has anyone else suffered joint pain post pregnancy or whilst still breast feeding? I've had achey hands and wrists for a while since my son was born (he's nearly 18 weeks) which is becoming bothersome. But worse is my sore knees! getting up and down is a bit painful at the moment and I feel like an old woman. I've honestly been worried that I have the early onset of arthritis or similar but my husband reckons it's down to breast feeding and it'll all get better when I stop.... Really?? Anyone else shed any light or experienced the same?

Thanks everyone....I'm going to call Green Tomatoes in a min, had never heard of them! Thanks veryseriousgirl. Audrey - It's still worth getting a car seat and my advice is get one that fits onto your buggy if you can. We bought one from the forum for the journey back from hospital - husband just bought it with him when he came to get us. Now, even though I don't have a car, I wish I had bought one for the buggy as I would not be having this issue. Could simply pop him in car and then clip him in buggy wheels the other end. I'm going to get one. Thanks everyone....safe travels!

Thanks hoipolloi but I'm afraid not. It was them I used when he went on my knee and they don't use them anymore. Anyone know of any others??

Hi trusty forum! Anyone know of a local cab company that has baby car seats? I have to get a taxi to Kings Cross station tomorrow morning and last time I needed a cab as a last min thing I had to travel with my four month old on my knee, which unnerved me. I'm told that taxis are not required to have car seats for babies now and as I don't have a travel system for my buggy (as we don't have a car at the mo and rarely need one) do I just have to risk him on my lap with the seat belt around us both? Does anyone have any advice?