srisky

From what I can tell by the graffiti on the roads - there will be speed ramps at the ends of Underhill Rd where it meets Barry Rd but no speed bumps/ramps on Barry Rd itself. To my mind this is completely pointless, as drivers stop at the give way lines on Underhill Rd and do not speed along/across it; the speeding happens along Barry Rd. Accidents at this junction happen for two reasons: (i) poor visibility at the aforementioned give lines on Underhill Rd (ii) speeding motorists on Barry Rd - as far as I can see neither issue is being addressed by these road works!

I assumed that we somehow missed a letter of notification about the night time works - clearly I was giving the council too much credit, as it seems that there was never one sent out. We have a very young baby and some warning would have been greatly appreciated as we could have made arrangements to stay somewhere else. I hope the drilling doesn't go on until midnight....sounds like it has stopped.... ....a letter of complaint to the council re: lack of notification given that it is a residential road and a school night

Re: resources - from what I understand it is more resourceful for the midwives to see patient's in their homes, as the practice covers the catchment area of DMC and they can, therefore, travel by foot, pushbike or in their own cars. It would be much more costly to construct a building with however many consultation rooms, a reception + staff, offices, toliet etc not to mention finding a suitable piece of land and the costs of running the place. The portacabin is on the DMC site but not run by or under the auspices of the DMC so they do not use their reception, staff or rooms (only the loo!). The portacabin is used as an office/occassional consultation room with much lower running costs. ClareC - were the appts at the portcabin the more 'routine' ones i.e check bp, urine not much else? I had a couple of those there but the remainder were all at home. I can definitely empathise with the tap dancing baby!

Yes, I was suprised when they said they would conduct the consultation at my home. However, the Lanes operate from a single-room portacabin on the grounds of the DMC and as such only have space to see on woman at a time and all the other midwives would have to wait outside whilst this was happening! Therefore, by going to the patient's home several consultations can be carried out simultaneously.

I hope this doesn't confuse you anymore.....I also wanted a water birth at King's, which I put in my birth plan, so my midwife called King's and requested a pool room when I was 8cm and we got one. However, you are not guaranteed a pool room regardless of whether you are with the Lanes or King's, as for obvious reasons you can not book in advance. Re: appt at MAU, the Lanes carry out you appt at your own home, which is of course v.convenient, but there's no scanner only the hand held Doppler probe to hear the fetal heart. Good luck!

I had a great experience with the Lanes. I had the same midwife for all my antenatal appt, which were conducted in my living room! However, I went into labour when she was on leave and another midwife (whom I had met at 'meet the midwives') from the practice attended to me. They provide telephone consultations during the early stages of labour but will come to see you if you or they have any concerns. Once I was contracting every 5mins the midwife came to me enabling me to labour in my own home for 8 hours until I was 8-9cm. This meant I couldn't have an epidural, which I was glad about, but may have asked for (and got) one if I had been in hospital. Nothing wrong with that at all (I would never judge someone for taking all the pain relief available!) it was just my personal preference. As things were going well she gave me the option to deliver at home but I prefered to go into King's, so she called the labour ward, got me a room and delivered my daughter. The King's midwives did not get involved in my care at any point (as there was no need) and I was in and out of hospital within 4 hours. The main advantage during labour was being able to stay at home for as long as possible, without to-ing and fro-ing to King's, work through the pain without medication and still having the option to deliver either at home or at hospital. The midwives (not always the same one but all very nice) then visited me almost every day for 2 weeks. I hope you have a fantastic birthing experience, whichever option you choose. The main thing is to keep an open mind about your birth plan and pack some bendy straws and a fully charged camera with plenty of space in the memory card! (sorry for the long post)

The whole thing is very confusing with so many (perhaps too many) options out there. I spent ages researching prams/travel systems, as we live in a first floor flat without much storage space. Also, we didn't want to spend an extortionate amount on some of the more in vogue travel systems. My only experience is with the Baby Jogger City Mini, which I chose because of our flat and also as we have a small car and, hence, small boot space. The pram is light (7.7kg), very easy to steer, folds easily using only one hand and is suitable from birth to 13kg (toddler age). It costs approx ?200 and you can buy a carry cot to attach to it if you really want but it is not necessary and babies outgrow them within 4-6 months. The pram is only forward facing but I haven't found this to be a particular issue, as my baby (like most) tends to fall asleep as soon as it starts moving, so there is no opportunity for parent/baby interaction. However, there are windows in its very large hood (useful in the rain and rare bright sunshine) for you to keep an eye on them. Once they get to an age when they don't sleep so much they prefer to be outward facing to take in the world. You can also buy adaptors for approx. ?20-30 to attach maxicosi car seats to the frame to create a travel system. Hope that helps! p.s there is a new version of the baby jogger, which can be converted to fancy twin buggy if you are planning to have babies very close together in age.

Belle - it saddens me to read your post. I mentioned the cases of babies being admitted for iv rehydration after their mothers depserately tried to persevere with breast feeding and it is heart breaking. Breast may be best but not at all costs. A sick baby and a desperate mother does not make a happy situation. Breast feeding may be natural but it is damn hard and like many natural things it sometimes does not work. Health professionals should encourage and support breast feeding but it should be emphasised that you have not failed as a mother if it does not work for you and your baby. You should not be left with the impression that your child will suffer as a result. Motherhood is full of enough guilt about whether you are doing the right thing for your child.

Don't get me wrong, I am pro-breast feeding and think this would be great for both mother and baby if it all goes well. All mothers should be encouraged to breast feed, be given the opportunity to breast feed with early skin-skin contact and should be provided support in the community. Society also needs to adapt so that breast feeding in public is the norm. We are lucky that we live in an area that has several sources of support for breastfeeding. Mothers that attend the breastfeeding workshop are those that are most motivated to breastfeed, so there is a huge selection bias there. My issue is more with the way in which information has been provided to me. I am fortunate enough to have the knowledge, confidence and social support with regards to breastfeeding. However, my concern is for those mothers who do not have this and leave the breastfeeding workshop with the idea that if they do not manage to successfully breast feed then they have somehow failed their child. I can only speak for myself when I say that the issue(s) I had with the breast feeding workshop was the very one-sided/biased information provided. I left feeling that if I did not or could not breast feed then my baby, and possibly the generations that followed, would suffer from allergies, recurrent repsiratory tract infections, malalignment of the jaw requiring removal of teeth etc. That was inspite of knowing already that this was not true. I feel that it would have been far better for them to stick to topics such as: how to breast feed; common problems the mother and baby may encounter; how to solve them; and where to seek help from. An appropriate balance to the breastfeeding advice that the workshop should have provided would be to say that if breast feeding doesn't work despite seeking help from various health professionals, then formula would be a safe alternative for your baby. I found the various pointless stories, including Ms Kedves description of how she has suffered life long eczema after being given formula milk at hospital as a baby, the most insulting to our intelligence. There is as much scaremongering and misinformation/bias from the heavily pro-breastfeeding groups as there is from formula/baby food industry. Neither extremes are helpful and are likely to be detrimental.

The reason there is so much differing advice re: breast feeding/weaning is there is no specific time when a baby should begin solids. Every child is different. The advice to breast feed exclusively and for as long as possible is most applicable to countries where there is a lack of clean water and access to appropriate foods, such that early weaning could result in severe illness or death of the child. I have been on the breastfeeding workshop run by King's and I left feeling very angry. There is undue pressure to breastfeed exclusively and for as long as possible. The rise in allergies, atopia, childhood obesity etc is multifactorial and not due solely to early weaning or formula milk. There are far too many babies admitted for intravenous fluids to treat terrible dehydration/weight loss as a result of mothers desperately struggling to breastfeed, as this is what they are constantly told is 'best' for baby. Go with whatever works for your baby. Try breastfeeding and if it is difficult then get help EARLY. You are not a bad mother if you can not breast feed and your baby will not suffer all sorts of ills as a result. COI: Myself and siblings were all partly breastfed, partly formula fed, weaned early. Bolied water introduced from birth (shock horror). None of us have any allergies or medical/solical/psychiatric problems and all have 'achieved' academically. Equally, I know of plently of people who were purely breastfed and have asthma, eczema, hay fever and food allergies. What does this tell me? Nothing. Be sensible - breast/formula feed and introduce healthy food when you and your baby are ready.

Hi All, I'm afraid I can't make this weekend, as I am working :( but hopefully will get to meet some of you at the next gathering. Neshe

I'm not discounting childminders at all. However, I don't want to pay for a nursery and then also pay for a childminder to collect the baby if I can't get back in time from a full day at work. If our child needs to go to a nursery then I'd rather work half days and collect the baby at lunchtime than leave them there for a full day. From what I understand nurseries have a very long waiting list, so would like to put our names down for a suitable ones sooner rather than later. In the meantime, if we find a good childminder then we can remove our names from the waiting lists.

Hello, I have just seen the thread for the winter babies club and would like to meet up with you, too, if it's not too late! My first baby is due at the end of Jan. Neshe

Hello! I am expecting my first child at the end of Jan and plan on returning to work part time in Nov. Does anyone know of any nurseries in the area that take babies for half days?? Most nurseries seem to only accept babies for full days but I don't think I'll be able to get back from work in time for 6pm. For those nurseries that do stay open later, it would mean the baby being there for more than 10h a day. Any advice welcome! P.s I'd like to avoid having to hire a nanny/childminder if I am going to use a nursery anyway.