Pickle

I'm a big fan of Tripp Trapp chairs, they are brilliant. I initially bought a Chicco highchair for my son when we started weaning it, but found it a complete nightmare in so many ways - hard to clean, took up too much space, meant he wasn't "involved" in mealtimes because he wasn't up at the table with us. I bought him a Tripp Trapp chair when he was about 18 months old and we haven't looked back, my daughter had one from when we started weaning her. Now that they are older they love their chairs, can climb up and down by themselves and they're great for sitting at the table to do drawing/painting etc. as well as for mealtimes. Super easy to keep clean and quite an attractive piece of furniture too.

Yep, it's on today. Counting down the minutes until I can get my two grumpy children out the door and hand them over to Claire the miracle worker. Just wish my son wouldn't spend the rest of the day telling me how pretty she is!

I remember vividly the first night at home with our son (I'd been in hospital for 2 nights post birth, struggling with feeding problems) - he went to sleep at 8pm and the next thing we knew it was 6am. We thought we'd hit the jackpot, couldn't see what all the fuss was about, our newborn baby was a champion sleeper. However 2 days later he was the colour of Bart Simpson, needing cold baths to wake him up enough to feed, and didn't weigh much more than our cat. Quite a steep learning curve :-$

I had inductions both times (3 weeks early), the first of which took ages to do anything - but with child 1 from waters breaking and contractions starting soon after to birth was 7 hours, but from 4cm to fully dilated only took 40 mins! The pushing phase took about 10 mins. 2nd child waters broke at 11pm and she was born at 2.30am, very quick as I had no contractions at all until after my waters broke, and once again the final phase of labour was super fast. I only pushed for 5 minutes, she was keen to meet me obviously :)

I'm so pleased to hear that all is well Sally81, great news.

I just logged in to add that if you're new to running joining a "beginners" running course is a good idea - Liz (who has posted great advice above) does beginners courses as do Dulwich Park Runners (a couple of times a year). My personal "warning" is that running can be very addictive. I started running about 7 years ago, and less than two years after taking my first tentative steps in Dulwich Park ran the London Marathon. Managed to go for a run this morning, but definitely felt the effects of BMF on Monday night, so it obviously worked some muscles that I'd forgotten about. P x p.s... I also highly recommend Powerpramming, I went when my 2nd child was tiny (with both kids in a double buggy) and really enjoyed it. As well as getting out and exercising it's a great way to meet other Mums.

Re: the WW weighing question - you get weighed on scales at the front of the room, but everyone is queueing and nobody tends to take much notice of what's going on at the scales. The biggest sin a WW leader can commit is to say someone's weight out loud, it's a complete no no. You will get told how much you've lost/gained (generally out loud if you've done really well, or slightly more subtely if it's a gain) and your weight gets written on your card. It's generally a very supportive, fun environment.

Having used the "I don't have time to exercise" excuse for 3.5 years I feel miles better already having made the decision that exercise needs to become part of my life if I'm ever going to feel good about myself again. Snowboarder - I fit mine in by running very early in the morning (out of the house by 6am) so that I can get home, showered etc. before hubby leaves for work at 7ish. Then weekends I get the chance to go out at a slightly more pleasant time. I'm now going to do one BMF class a week and there are loads of options for times/locations so no excuses! Molly - BMF was excellent, I've just signed up to do one class a week to supplement my running. A real range of abilities, if you can run for 30 minutes you'll be absolutely fine. You should try a free trial, nothing to lose :) I'm a bit sore this morning but nothing too bad, and I'm actually enjoying feeling muscles that haven't been used for a while!

You certainly can use the extra BFing points for chocolate - I'm a case in point :)) I found the extra 10 points quite "difficult" to eat some days, so would have a crunchie bar and a glass of wine - now that's my kind of diet! Heidi, the points really are just calories (and saturated fat), and there's a simple formula involved. I think the Points system is healthier than simple calorie counting as it also incorporates the saturated fat and therefore helps you to make healthier choices based on more than calories alone. Perhaps there would be a market for me to set up again as a renegate WW leader! Whatever you chose to do, diet and exercise are the simple things you need to get yourself back into shape. Diet doesn't mean depriving yourself of the things you like, if you think that way you will never succeed. Good luck to everyone. I'm off to try British Military Fitness tonight, so chances are I'll be hobbling my way round ED tomorrow! P x

There are quite a few WW meetings locally - have a look on the website. I used to run the Dulwich Village one on Thurs evenings, and the Wednesday morning one which is in a room at the back of the Bread of Life Cafe. There are also Monday and Wednesday evening classes from memory. It's been a while since I was a leader, but the website should give you all the updated days and times. I swear by it (obviously, having been a leader and also through losing a lot of weight pre-babies), and you can do it while breastfeeding - I'm testament to that having done it after each baby to lose my excess weight. I've started running v. early in the morning in an attempt to shift my stubborn Mummy tummy, happy to have company if anyone fancies it - while it's hard dragging myself out of bed at 5:50am it's lovely once I'm out and running in the fresh air and I feel sooooooo much better for it! P xx

I also agree that you should see your GP, there are varying degrees of PND so it's worth getting assessed. It does sound like you're an amazing woman fitting so much into your life, and I understand how being a perfectionist will be putting extra pressure on you as I'm exactly the same. I hope you get a chance to have a chat to your hubby and things start to look up. You've had some amazing support on this post which I hope has helped. P xx

They are very useful, I can't imagine potty training without one. It made it a lot less stressful, as it was always under the buggy, and disposal of contents was so much easier than if we had been carrying around a normal potty. Doubling as a toilet seat was also great in the early weeks, and seemed to make our son more confident about using toilets when out and about as it was familiar to him. We'll be using ours again soon to embark on potty training with #2, so a worthwhile investment in my eyes. P x

I'd be in hospital after two bottles these days :-S Having breastfed for around 2.5 years in total (2 kids) there is no WAY I would have got through it without the occasional (nightly, stress of raising kids and all that) glass of vino. My kids never seemed to suffer, but that said probably the most I ever had was about the equivalent of one bottle of wine. I remember being told the two bottles thing at the workshop too, made a complete fool of myself by doing a little celebratory "whoop" in an otherwise quiet room!

Good post Snowboarder. We moved to ED about 7 years ago now, pre-children. When I got pregnant with #1 we bought a bigger house but always talked along the lines of "we'll hang around here for the first couple of years then move", but now my kids are 3.5 and 2 and we've invested money in our house, making it into a "home" where we now plan to stay for another 10 years at least. We are lucky in some respects, as we do have a garden (smallish, but big enough for our needs). I love East Dulwich, and honestly can't imagine living anywhere else at this point in our lives. On my annual trips to visit family in New Zealand I find myself feeling lonely, missing the fact that in ED I can wander to the local park and always find someone to talk to. Central London is so accessible, and the parks we have here are fantastic. Our neighbours have school age kids, and I love seeing them meeting up with their friends and heading out to the park to play football. All the kids I know locally seem well adjusted, nice kids, and the sense of community is second to none.

Congratulations!

I went. Can't possibly divulge what was discussed, top secret ;-)

We've just (reluctantly) had to turn down an afternoon nursery place as my son still sleeps after lunch and is showing no sign of giving it up. I spoke to the deputy head at the school involved (Goodrich) about the possibility of him coming a few days a week at first and easing into it that way but she was adament that they must attend 5 days - which I fully accept and have no problem passing my place to someone who can use it properly. Now we have our fingers crossed that a morning place comes free for us!

I also used a stick (hand) blender, was fine for most things. After a while I just used to mash things rather than puree them, which is easier for things like sweet potato etc. Just make sure you don't use a hand blender on normal potato or parsnip, you'll end up with a big glue-like mess!

Thanks all - after a not too bad day he could barely open his eyes again this evening by bedtime, so will take him to the GP next week for something stronger. Thankfully for now he's at home with me for most of the week so I'll be able to dose him up with medicine and hopefully get it under control. At least at 3.5 he understands what's happening, and is happy to have the eye drops etc. put in as he knows it will help him. Fingers crossed my daughter misses the nasty hayfever gene that I've passed on to her brother and follows her Dad's side of the family, none of whom have ever had to deal with it. P x

Brilliant :)) A great start to what should be a lovely weekend of sunshine, enjoy. P x

Any tried and trusted remedies out there? My 3.5 year old son has developed severe hayfever in the last week, having never suffered from it before - mine has been bad this week too, so there must be a different pollen in the air. Poor wee man is mainly struggling with his eyes, which the other night puffed up so badly he could barely open them and they are really itchy. I'm using the maximum dose of Piriton syrup and am also using antihistamine eye drops - we are just about managing to ward it off, but every time he gets an hour or so away from being due another dose it gets really bad again. Nothing more heartbreaking than having your child saying "make the pollen stop hurting my eyes Mummy" in tears :( I used to get it really badly as a child, so know exactly how he feels. Any other ideas out there (medical and non medical appreciated). P x

Never in a million years did I think I would be posting on a Football thread - but here's to the Kiwi's this afternoon, come on boys!

When your 2 year old starts every sentence with "when you're finished on the forum Mummy..."

Piriton is fine to take while breastfeeding, I took it when feeding both of my children (and was prescribed it when pregnant, so it's safe for pregnancy too). It's not the best hayfever medicine but is better than nothing.

I have two kids, now 3.5 and 2, and we didn't use any of the safety equipment you can buy, barring stair gates for a short time (when I had my 2nd child, to keep my older boy contained while I fed the baby in her nursery). I'm a firm believer in teaching kids about the dangers as they get old enough, and while they are babies I didn't find it difficult to keep them out of harm's way. I have nothing against safety equipment, but just wanted to put a different perspective on it as I feel a lot of it is unnecessary. P x