susyp

A friend of mine is having twins soon and hasn't managed to find a (not too enormous) car that will fit a double buggy in the boot? Any ideas?! Susypx

Yes I eat with her and eat loads of veg, and definitely the suggestion that I eat her food if she doesn't want it works in many cases, but not with broccoli! I think she will be fine though, since a chicken casserole at the weekend she will now eat carrot - major triumph - but only if its chopped up VERY tiny and in sauce. Carrot peas and sweetcorn all going in - and tomatoes. That'll do me for now. We eat stacks of veg as get organic boxes since I was ill a couple of years ago so the example is there for her I guess. Funny things little people. susypx

Just wanted to update on this thread - the useful advice about just carrying on giving my daughter veggies but not making a fuss if she didn;t eat them (but big cheers if she did) was also backed up by a visit to a dietitian (not because of veggies hatred) - she said exactly the same thing - just ignore it if she doesn't eat it. Have tried this technique - and some veggies are going in, not a lot, but there is definitely an improvement and it's not a big deal for her anymore -she used to literally throw them over a shoulder if i gave them to her. Today she was picking out tiny bits of carrot from a chicken casserole and eating them as if they were sweets- most uncharacteristic. Tiny amounts going in, but still..... susypx

Mog books by Judith Kerr - in fact anything by her is fab. Also brilliant new author called Polly Dunbar has done a lovely series of books "Hello Tilly" etc which I am thinking of purchasing as possile start to read books as she loves them from the library and they seem quite simple (any ideas on good books for this - janet and john seem to have bitten the dust!)> susypx

interesting thread as i have been giving my daughter loads of juice to make her drink but will cut back - she has calcium added oj as is milk allergic so i figure that is ok. Plus having had breast cancer recently = personally i couldn;t really give a damm about my own teeth - fruit and veg have to be the way to go regardless of how they go in - have heard that it should be ten a day not five a day too. So keen to get my daughter (who won;t eat veg at the mo) to love fruit ( she does) . Everything is bad for you in excess I guess. susypx

hi this is where i confess i have acutally moved out of east dulwich but still LOVE this section of the forum. I went to gymboree in surbiton from when my daughter was 8 months (crawling) to when she just over 2 - the best thing i did by far - fantastic place. Really fun classes and lots of open gym sessions when you can just pitch up - it's great untl they were really big enough to enjoy the playground safely. susypx

houmous is great she eats tons of that - so that makes me feel a bit better! was having trouble even getting her to eat pasta but i just gave her spaghetti for tea as peppa pig had it this morning and she ate loads of it - sadly it didn't work when rebecca rabbit had carrots one day though!

yes she eats a lot of fruit too -endless amounts if I let her. She is dairy allergic so I am quite keen for her to eat green veg for the calcium . She used to eat loads too just before she turned 2 when she had a huge growing spurt. But now her growth has slowed and she is v fussy. Will only eat one type of soup but can try some more. At the moment she won't eat any pasta sauce and she used to eat loads but I think she will get back on to it at some point - in the meantime i don't dare hide veg in it - she would rumble all the annabel karmel ideas - she's always hated anything i have tried remotely karmelesque! I suppose you can't force them to eat veg. Sigh. Like others- also boundless energy and looks well. We are seeing a dietitian this week because of her allergy so will mention it then and see what she says. Not hugely keen on multi vitamins or anything like that. susypx

My 2 1/2 year old absolutely refuses to eat vegetables. She'll eat peas in a risotto I make and I also make a soup with sweet potato and carrot which goes down - but nothing else, not even potatoes (not even chips). . Oh and she will eat tinned sweetcorn. I have tried bribes, threats, no pudding, sending her to her room (when she refused to eat peas AND chicken in a roast - just ate the stuffing). She eats loads of other stuff but just not vegetables. When and how do children start eating veggies? I have come to the conclusion that all i can do is offer her food and not give her substitutes if she won't eat it - it's very annoying as I eat with her and do cook myself veg but would love to eat more vegetarian type stuff and there is no chance she would! Should I be worrying?! susypx

My daughter is 2 1/2 and is a 3 year old height and still quite happy in her cot(not cot bed) - she seems to like it being so cosy! Plan to keep her in it for as long as possible.....! She has only just started sleeping through so I have no wish to mess with anything to do with her sleeping! The side of her cot is broken so she could easily push it down and climb out but hasn;t figured that one out - I do tend to go to her as soon as she cries/calls though . We're having our house completely renovated in the spring so guess will get her a bed when it's done and everything has been redecorated but that will coincide with her starting nursery so may try and hang on to the cot until next christmas - when she will be 3 1/2 - but don't want her to feel like a baby if the others at nursery talk about their beds (but surely that's just not going to come up!). Luckily we have old 30s doors with high up handles so she can;t actually get out of the room to fall down the stairs. Is it wrong to keep a 3 year old in a cot?! She is tall but not yet touching the ends- agreed on travel cots was quite a shock when we went away last spring and i realised she no longer fitted in it - had to all sleep in one bed all holiday!! susyp

I dropped my daughters at 2 and 2 months for same reasons you mention. It was hard work and she was begging to go to bed at 430pm initially! I started putting her to bed at 6pm and now it's at 7pm and she is fine all the way through . To get through the first few weeks she watched quite a lot of tv and had very early / easy dinner, sometimes just toast. After a couple of weeks it was fine and I feel vindicated in my decision to drop her nap! I just used to get so angry with her taking so long to go to sleep at lunchtime and in the evening and it wasn't good parenting to be yelling at her so for both our sakes it had to be dropped. Now she is happy to go to bed in the evening, and doesn;t have melt downs anyore in the afternoon. It does take a few weeks though. Lots of mums said to me I was mad because you need the break but I actualky find it better to have her asleep by 630/7pm and have a proper evening - she was up til 8 or 9pm before, and I didn't go to bed much later than that! I think you know your own child and what they need so just go with your instincts. susypx

Yes music helps my daughter too. Also I got her a groclock which also acts as a nightlight - it made a difference as my daughter was getting up at 5am and now I can get her to go back to sleep with a mixture of bribery/threats (no xxx today unless you go back to sleep) and persuasion that mr sun isn't up yet. I sympathise having had a hell of a time myself with my daughter's sleeping - she is by no means consistently sleeping all night but she does sometimes and even on bad nights she isn't awake for too long - hopefully she'll grow out of it. I also found that whenever my daughter was learning something new (crawling, walking, talking etc) she slept really badly. This week she has been having lots of nightmares so has been waking but only briefly. Oh and the other thing I tried when I was having a mare was to give her plenty of outdoor exercise, particularly in the afternoon - this definitely helps. She sleeps much less deeply if she hasn;t run around in the fresh air in the day. susypx

Have you tried dropping the daytime sleep? My daughter is 2 1/2 and had never slept through the night until about 4 months ago when I got fed up of spending 45 mins getting her to sleep at lunctime and up to an hour getting her to sleep in the evening - took a few weeks to get her to cope (4.30 pm+ she became very tired) but I haven't looked back - she is asleep by 7pm now and doesn't wake up til 7am and is absolutely fine in the day - still running around at 6pm! And goes out like a light. And its tons easier. I always had a routine with her and it's bliss now not needing one eg not worrying about where I will be at lunchtime will she get tired etc etc. I agree with the other comments - def wouldn't have stressed the breast feeding so much and also not worried about phases quite so much. susypx

just to add my tuppence to this question - my daughter has a milk allergy and had terrible wind and no-one could help me at all - I only found out she had an allergy at 4 months old when in desperation I tried formula and she had a huge reaction. I cut out all dairy but she was still really uncomfortable (it can take 2 weeks to get out of your system) so in the end just gave up BF and gave her the special prescription forumula - total turnaround. I recommend trying some forumula if you haven't already - it wasn;t the first time she reacted though - on about bottle no 4 or so when we switched to Hipp Organic (must have more milk in it) - hives, sick, diarrohea. Ten percent of babies have this allergy so it;s a possibility and you really want to find out sooner rather than later. susypx

yes sorry should have mentioned that - the stuff we have is on prescription. Can be hard to get them on it - we mixed it together with breast milk and over a day increased the proportion of the new formula (it's not nice) until she drank it straight as it were. But she was only 4 or 5 months old then. She won't drink soya milk - it is revolting. Are there any nice soya milks out there? my husband gave her parmesan yesterday unbeknownst to me and she was fine so I am hoping her allergy is waning too! susypx

That's a good idea re buying bigger pants will try. although she just isn't interested in trying at the moment. Tomorrow going to do first trip out without nappy - as the last two days she hasn't had any wee accidents in the house - save pooing in her pants. Sigh. Not taking a potty just going to keep finding toilets in shops. What do you do if you go out somewhere there aren't really any toilets accessible? She won't wee in the potty in the garden - only indoors - so no point me getting a travel potty. susypx

My daughter used to bite when she was about 16-18 months. I introduced the naughty step and that seemed to stop it - she used to bite me and other children if they had toys she wanted - it was awful. Then a couple of months ago just before she turned 2 she started pushing other children - and she is quite strong so they would fall over and often hurt themselves - it really really became awful going to groups etc with her. She was influenced by a little boy she met in one of the groups who did it. So I left that group so she doesn't see him anymore (bad influence at 2 years old!!!) Then I introduced "good girl stickers" and she got one everytime she was good to other children in a group - I think of all the behavioural things I've tried it's been the most effective- it worked straight away - and now she is really good with other children. My only problem now is she is over affectionate and can cuddle far too tightly - especially little ones. But at least their parents no longer think she is demon child!! The other thing I worked out was that she was bored - so I now take her to groups with 2 1/2 + year olds (she is 2) - before she was in groups with slightly younger children. That also worked a treat and she has had no problems learning slightly harder things (she is a July baby so now is in groups with her year group which is great). And it made me worry less as at least the children are now all bigger than her and the parents less protective because of that. I am a stay at home Mum and co-slept with her also and haven't done any controlled crying so it can't be attention seeking - I think it is just working out how to play with other children. But I did notice (as with cuppa tea post) with the pushing when I was telling her off all the time it wasn't working - that's why I decided to offer her praise instead. Not easy working out the psychology of a toddler is it! It was really really awful - seeing your child who you know is affectionate behaving like that for no reason at all - and seeing other parents judge her. susypx

I too am potty training now my 2 year old but I think we are almost there - the first week was mainly misses and she was weeing really frequently too - but now she holds it for about an hour - and today we went our for 2 hours - I put her in a nappy - and when I came back it was dry and she did a huge wee in her potty - wey hey! She won't poo in the potty though - I just stick a nappy on her after dinner when she likes to poo. She likes to go off and do it behind the curtain privately so I think until she can take her own pants down and go off to a little corner somewhere she won't do poos. I put her in nappies to go out though so really need to take the plunge now!! I was despairing to start with too - but then I met some other mums who just said take it easy - and it's a lot easier now. She slept really badly the first 2 weeks too and was exhausted all the time - I think it's a big thing to learn. anyone got any advice on how to get her to learn to take her pants down - they I wouldn't be running around after all the time worrying she's about to wee! She doesn't ask yet to go - I can just see the signs. I think she has asked a few times the last few days but more just by tugging at her pants not by actually asking (and she can talk!). susypx

prob a bit late for me to post this but my daughter has a milk allergy and I initially went private to Dr Sloper at Ealing Hospital (where I lived then) - now I see her every 6 months for retesting through the NHS. If you find somoeone who does private and NHS you can see them quickly to get tested privately and then enter the NHS system. Our private consultation only cost ?120 and we had 3 different tests and she had several others a few weeks later. My daughter was initially allergic to Soya too - she is on Neocate special milk. She also had problems with wheat when being weaned. IF they offer you Nutramigen don;t take it - it is much cheaper but has broken down cows milk in it - Neocate is entirely without any cows milk . My daughter was ok on Nutramigen for a while and then started vomiting it up - the GP wouldn't change her prescription and this was when she was 5 months old so she was having nothing else - I rang Dr Sloper in a tizz and she faxed over a new prescription to my GP. Think a lot of people make a lot of money from allergy testing so make sure you get a proper consultant. My daughter is now fine on everything except cows milk and is due to be retested in September - I think the allergy is waning although it is still there. good luck! susypx

Pretty sure the culprit on Marmora Road is that sh**ty little terrier (or something like that - not a dog person) that's walked by a rather odd looking man. I have caught it doing its business by my car on one occasion. But that was some time ago now so he may have cleaned up his act and been replaced by someone else.

how funny i was just looking around on the internet for answers to similar cat hell problems. I've just moved my cat into my hubby's flat ( we'd kept her at my flat for as long as poss as his is upstairs, and recently decorated so looks like a show home!). She's been here 2 days and although she hasn;t pooed or weed (i am paranoid about this on his lovely floors) she has now scratched a very expensive bit of furniture and he has stormed off to work. He also thinks it will be a nightmare with a baby arriving in a month - cat hair causing baby allergies and general overcrowding. I may have to re home her if I am not to destroy my marriage but its a very upsetting idea. How have people found having cats and babies together - is the cat hair a problem?

I pull into the lane where you are supposed to - sod the people who are already in it trying to undertake me. They can screech to a halt and swear all they like- they're in the wrong!

yes as on earlier post i've seen this guy too. but maybe someone else inconsiderate has moved in so now we have double the trouble. it is absolutely disgusting along the road now and down forest hill road.

I know this has been discussed before - but i wanted to ask forumites advice on a particular case about parking in a disabled space. My boyfriend this morning saw a big BMW with a swiss number plate reversing into a disabled place. As the young woman sprung out the car, he asked her why she was parking there - and then was subjected to a torrent of verbal abuse. I've suggested (hopefully) she might have got a ticket anyway - but he thinks because it's a foreign number plate that it's very difficult to enforce. Is this true - can people drive around parking willy nilly if they don't have UK registered cars?

i can't believe the rspca came around for that - lots of people have indoor only cats. Mine isn't but she spends most of her time looking out of the window at the front !