Beagle

Second what Sanity Girl posted, my thought too was the forum as SH has enthusiastic and knowledgeable following.

We have an 18 week old and a 3 year old and I was just not prepared for the difficulty/ hardwork second time round being from a displaced toddler rather than a new baby. We haven't cracked it but we are managing. I do let my daughter into the bed when she comes in looking for me, or if she calls out I get into her bed and then go back to mine when she is settled or I hear the baby. It is like musical beds, but by responding to her perceived need she has become more secure and we see her less and less at night. It's not perfect by any means. Ido get cross when she wants to chat at 3am or go downstairs to play and warn her to be quiet or she will wake the baby. In her defence, as my husband has pointed out, she has never woken the baby talking. clearly in the initial weeks she wanted to be where we and the baby were. It is hard, a toddler is still so needy of its mother too that it is hard not to feel split and sometimes resentful and frankly at times as if you are doing everything wrong. There are evenings we are all in tears but these are now few and far between but I have had to learn how to parent two children. The best of luck.

I found no suggestion this was a breast v formula discussion, rather a study of aluminium levels in different brands of formula.

You are not alone in struggling to get out of the house sanity intact. In our house once it escalates to shouting there is no way back and it's always me under time pressure and getting stressed nothing my child has done. Definitely get bags lunch etc sorted night before in as much as possible. I have just read an article on supernanny.co.uk on taming a wild child. My child is not wild i should clarify and is only 3 and I am probably the root cause of the morning disharmony, but I found some of the advice on stopping things escalating really useful. I do think kids take their cue from us and our stress.

Are you currently with Syd Green? It has seemed "looser" than its usual very good service of late , although that may just be our experience. Over the years we have been pleased with it and am hoping that they have just had a little blip of late (admin side has been poorer of late).

Never had any issues first time round or this time round. Agree you need to get clothing right, top up, stretchy vest down. I find most people don't even notice as it is possible to feed really discreetly. Summer was great, big sun hat on baby's head covered everything. Happy feeding.

My 12 week old had rotavirus vaccine orally last week as part of the 5in one immunisations. She is as normal apart from lack of poohs ( is breast fed and was a frequent poorer at least 2 a day) and terrible wind. No discernible tummy aches just frequent passing of really smelly wind. I think the last pooh was Friday. Not overly concerned as apart from the guff she is in great form. Anyone else had this and how long did the symptoms last. The smell is so awful I keep thinking she must be in discomfort but she doesn't appear to be!

I looked about 3 months before I went back to work. To be honest I thought I would go nursery route but as baby was 9 months when I went back to work I preferred the continuity of a childminder and the home setting and am pleased I opted for cm. There is childcare.co.uk and also a list available from your local borough. Vacancies come up at childminders all the time for various reasons. I wouldn't do anything until you know how you feel post birth about a return to work,it may initially seem unimaginable, and also find a good match for your baby's personality/requirements. There are loads of threads on here about childminder v nursery etc. do a search and you might read a lot that will help you and take the pressure off for time being.

I think you are really sensible to wait and see. I have an almost 3 year old and new baby and got a double buggy ahead of arrival. I have barely used it as 10 week old loves sling so use that and Mclaren for toddler. Also is encouraging toddler to walk more frequently on short trips. Wish I had waited longer.

The late lamented Crystal Palace One O Clock club operates now as Diddy DINOS out of school term, two sessions daily and has indoor and outdoor space. That is where I am heading with 3 year old and baby. ?3 for kids, ?1 for babies for. 3 hours.

Second all the above suggestions. Also last year we stayed at a lovely campsite above Weymouth that had it's own pebble beach. I think it was no more than 2.5 hours in the car early one Saturday.

I had my second 6 weeks ago, when I got to the pushing stage I asked husband to find me something good on the radio. He tuned in Xfm and shortly afterwards they played the Iggy pop track Passenger. Being a big Iggy pop fan my husband urged me to "come on push the baby out to this one" as I was at the I cant do this stage this did not go down too well although I was unable to voice my disdain. She was born to the next song Stone Roses Waterfall. Pretty good choice we agreed.

Yes, my constant refrain to husband is " I didn't live like this when I was a student!". Just gone on maternity leave and finally getting round to cleaning things that have bothered me for ages - dirt down side of cooker etc - and have managed to turn a posterior baby while doing it so double benefit. Storage baskets that all the toys can go into and trying to keep on top of the washing up (that breeds behind my back). Also have doscovered nothing looks clean until the floors do, so a sweep or a hoover seems to really improve the situation. I ignore looking at the bookshelves which are a repository for anything not on the floor. I feel like Sisyphus most days reassuring I am not alone.

I was listening too but more worried by the opinion of the vicar that the expense distracted from people's anxieties that the marriage wouldn't work. Did I misunderstand her? I was offended by that assertion. I think people marry in good faith. A girl in my office is getting married "we have to have a photo booth" ! She remarked once it hit 14k you stop worrying and keep spending . . .

Another shout out for Broadstairs. We went with 2.5 year old bankholiday Sunday, what a revelation. Lovely beach, beautiful compact town. Also Rye and Deal and really surprised recently by a trip to Chartwell as the little Marycot house had our girl entranced and nice grounds they are not overly precious about kiddies running round on. Wetherham nearby a lovely place for lunch and also a good stop en route to Godstone.

I had this show up in a blood test about 18 months after first baby. Symptoms were thinning eyebrows and hives. I also have a sister (diagnosed during her first pregnancy) and father with this condition and a previous false positive result years ago, so was vaguely aware of the condition. Doctor told me it was not uncommon in women who have had a baby and advised I have a retest after several months. I did and it had reverted to normal with no treatment. I am pregnant again and it hasn't been an issue.

Been following this thread with interest as expecting second soon and had picked out leaflet on reusable nappies at my surgery. Lewisham has a push on at the moment and has been hosting nappy natters. Will go to the next one but there is also a website www.realnappiesforlondon.org.uk so obviously a London initiative rather than individual boroughs. They seem to be offering a ?25 voucher to get you started. Anyway my reasoning was just guilt at the amount of disposables I sent to landfill first time round, so thought I would at least investigate this. Said it to my mother last week and she thought I was insane having used cloth nappies for 3 in the seventies. Usually I ignore most of what she says though.

Pregnancy definitely having odd effect on me, was watching a music doc on BBC4 recently and found Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin (late sixties footage) unbelievably attractive. In fact any hairy man in any of the footage looked unusually fine. Apart from that it's Hathaway in Lewis.

Walk in when I used it 3 years ago. I think I called to check. Have a feeling was only walk in until 4pm when I was a patient.

like all posters above mine was really slow to crawl and didn't walk before 15 months, once she took off never looked back. Verbally was miles ahead of other kids, like KateW above I wonder if they focus on mastering one skill at a time. My sister's second refused to budge (even crawl) and nursery kept suggesting to her something was wrong (even though she didn't think there was) after several hundred ? for a specialist appointment she was assured all ok (which she knew anyway but felt unduly pressurised to confirm). All she had was a very strong willed daughter who sat there like a buddha waiting for my sister to come to her.

duchessofdulwich Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > has anyone been told that after having children > period pains are not as bad ? Duchessofdulwich, I was told this at 20, took me 15 years to consider finding out but in my case I feel better generally since I first got pregnant, in fact what I loved about being pregnant first time round was how evened out my hormones felt and continued to feel.

I started getting the same thing in my late teens onwards, similar symptoms, when I was in labour the contractions felt more manageable than what I experienced with period pain, as the period pain never lessened whereas contractions peak and end, until the next one, and felt purposeful. That probably only makes sense if you have had really painful periods. The sonographer found fibroids when I was 8 weeks pregnant which follow up scans have shown are shrunk to pea size now, and since my baby I have had one episode a few days before my periods restarted but never since. Is there any chance you could have fibroids or another underlying issue. Did you use TENS during labour, I remember thinking how useful that would feel to take the edge off period pains as it works on muscle pain, would it be worth borrowing one to try? Apart from that ponstan used to make me feel sick and ibuprofen, and hot water bottles, a bath helped more. Swimming and yoga too also cutting carbs a few days before period even though mostly all I wanted was chocolate and toast. Sorry I can offer nothing more constructive other than to sympathise with how debilitating this can be. Last occasion my other half came home to find me lying on the floor crying with our 11 month old sitting on my head wanting to play.

Forgot kids unlimited nursery at New Beckenham station.

We went with a childminder as baby was 9 months when I came back to work so this is anecdotal but there is Fenny's on Kingshall road next to Kent House Station. I know a couple of people with kids there who seem really happy with it. It is currently a building site though as appears to be being extended. It didn't have a great Ofsted in 2010 as I recall being quite surprised reading through it so the building work may be addressing some of the comments on that. There is Little Elms practically opposite Beckenham Spa. Don't know anyone with kids there. Cator Park Montessori has a very good reputation if you are interested in the montessori method. Lovely park too. Beckenham is great for relatively quick drives to Godstone Farm, out to Westerham for a walk, Keston. There are some lovely play groups in churches during the week. I'm not so good on Beckenham, but Penge has Mondays at St John's Church and there is a Tuesday one my daughter goes to with her childminder but can't for the life of me remember which church, think one further towards Clock house. The library at Beckenham has a lovely children's section as does the library at West Wickham and finally Crystal Palace isn't far away and the playground/sandpit is great.

I used one for 24 hours at home before going into hospital. It really helped me, and worth the price of the rental. I used this company. http://www.tensmachines.co.uk/Maternity-Tens_c_1.html Certainly took the edge off the back pain during contractions, but could never remember to change setting to pulse for contraction, didn't seem to matter too much.