Pickle

I'm away in NZ and REALLY hope my Sky+ is doing it's job as can't wait to see all the episodes I've missed!

If money were no object I'd buy out the whole of business class and let the kids run riot! ;-)

We fly to NZ and back once or twice a year with our two kids. Singapore Airlines (and others) provide bassinets for infants (SA ones will carry a child up to the age of 2) which mean you get bulkhead seats and the associated space. In the days where we had only one child we did the trip 3 times - 2 of which we had a bassinet, once just a spare seat, and he slept equally as well simply lying on the seat. In fact it was almost better, as if we struck turbulence we could just put a seatbelt on him and not disturb him, whereas babies in bassinets had to be lifted out. We're currently in NZ and booked a seat for our nearly 21 month old, and she happily slept lying on the seat (I had one child each side of me, I ended up a bit squished due to legs/heads, but they slept!). From my experience I would say that a carseat would be a total pain for a long haul flight. The extra seat is such a useful thing to have when you're travelling with kids, and having a carseat there will be a nuisance. Also, depending on how far you're travelling, you'd potentially have to deal with it in transit - our trips involve two 12ish hour flights, with 5 hours to kill in Singapore, at which point it's hard enough dealing with kids/hand luggage without having the added bulk of a carseat to carry round. P x

I looked round it when I was looking for a part time place for my 3 year old - my daughter spent some time in the baby/toddler area while we looked round with our son. To be completely honest I left feeling that the whole place seemed a bit tired - very old toys, the whole building inside looked like it could do with freshening up etc. There were a few small babies there all just sitting in bouncy chairs with nothing to look at/touch and to be completely honest I felt really sorry for them. My experience of nurseries is very limited, so it may be that this is the norm, but we decided before we even left the building that it wasn't the right place for our children. I also found the staff very pushy and rude when they did a follow up call and we said we wouldn't be going ahead. This was last summer, so things may have changed by now!

I've had one of each too. Loved that my first born was a winter baby (Jan) as I had an excuse to stay inside in the warm, and also enjoyed wrapping him up in the pram and going out for walks. My 2nd was a summer baby (June), and although it created issues in terms of keeping her cool it helped my sanity being able to get out and about and spend time at the parks with my then 16.5 month old.

My two have one 1.5 - 2 hour nap after lunch like most others have already said. In the early days we did lunch at 11.30am, as they were more than ready for bed at 12. These days (youngest 20 months) lunch is any time from 11.30 - 1pm depending on what we're doing, and they sleep afterwards. I never let them sleep later than 3pm. My daughter took a while to settle into a long lunchtime sleep, but perserverance was the key, and these days she asks to go to bed - result! Stick with it. Life is definitely a whole lot easier if you can get a bit of a break early afternoon. I always start each naptime with good intentions of doing housework/cooking/washing, but end up sitting watching Loose Women and wasting time online ;-)

That's great news Molly :))

I had this problem and it was related to Skype which was automatically logging in - sometimes it showed the numbers (with the Skype phone symbol beside them), other times it made all numbers disappear. Problem solved by not being logged in to Skype all the time.

Lunchtime! We're 13 hours ahead of you. Having a lovely time in the sun, thanks :)

This is absolutely appalling, but great to see the response on here, and the fact that Mind have taken it seriously. We have had bad experiences in the shop previously when attempting to donate things, and from the description it is the same member of staff that we have dealt with. In nearly 3 years (in total) of breastfeeding my 2 children I never had any negative response to it when in the East Dulwich area, and I was never one to hide away to feed. Very sad to hear that some feel uncomfortable in public, but agree with JDR that you shouldn't let it stop you. You've got as much right to BF in public as others have to bottle feed. Well done Fatherjack for bringing this matter to the attention of the forum, and to everyone for the fantastic response.

I had occasional better days (more so in my 2nd pregnancy once I'd started being careful about what I was eating), and it was much much worse at night. Even if you feel a bit better still go and get the tests done, better to be safe. Kings induce at around 37 weeks with this condition, due to the risk to the baby after this point. Good luck. P x

We went through this with our son - he was up umpteen times in the night saying he needed the toilet, would sometimes manage a little drip, yet was still very wet in the morning. Very difficult situation as you can't really say no to them. Thankfully after a few weeks of nights where it felt like having a newborn again he seemed to calm down again, and these days doesn't get up in the night at all. Hopefully she'll simply get through this phase like he did! Son was just under 2.5 when he was potty trained, and this phase happened a couple of months into it.

I had severe cholestasis in both pregnancies, starting from 30 weeks onwards, and your symptoms sound the same as mine ("normal" pregnancy itching isn't anywhere near as bad). You need to see someone ASAP to get tests done, as it can be serious and you will need ongoing monitoring. I was induced at 37 weeks both times due to this, and was absolutely miserable through it (complete lack of sleep, no creams/drug worked for me to relieve the itching). I used piriton, aqueous cream, calamine (complete waste of time), ursodioxycholic acid... nothing worked. One of the signs that it's cholestasis as opposed to regular itching is if you are finding the palms of your hands and soles of your feet are itchy. Mine was so bad I ended up with bleeding open sores on my legs and feet, as when I did manage to sleep I must have been scratching in my sleep. Three years on from my first baby and I still have scars from it. I did quite a lot of research during my 2nd pregnancy when it struck again, and found that dietary changes helped a little (basically cut out anything nice - fat, sugar and dairy). On the plus side, it disappears as soon as you have your baby, and both of my children were born completely healthy at 37 weeks. Please feel free to PM me if you would like more information. I really struggled with this condition, it made pregnancy miserable for me. Horrible horrible condition. Take care, and please go to the maternal assessment unit ASAP to get the tests underway (quite honestly I think going to a GP will be a waste of time in terms of this condition, you're best going to Kings) - they will do liver function and bile acids, but the bile acids generally take a few weeks to come back from the lab which is frustrating! Take care, Pippa x

I did feel for him, as I felt terrible when I had it, and I got to lie in my own bed all day. He spent the best part of 8 hours in an airplane toilet! My Mum is much better now and so far Dad has escaped it - we do feel terrible that we've bought a bug with us. On the plus side the weather is beautiful and we've been enjoying afternoons at the beach. If anyone walks past my house please let me know the state it's in (kitchen should now be demolished, am waiting for pictures to be sent to me later in the week - feels very strange being so far away and knowing there are people working in the house!). P x

Hello from sunny NZ! Thought I'd update on the dreaded tummy bug... Flight from London to Singapore a breeze, sleepy children, chilled out parents. Five hour stopover in Singapore (just in the airport) no problem, kids ran round in a play area, tired parents sat and drank coffee. Flight from Singapore to NZ (10 hours or so) children didn't really sleep, and 2 hours into it Mr Pickle came down with the bug! Needless to say I was quite stressed, dealing with two very tired children who didn't seem to agree with my "why don't you just lie down and have a nice sleep" suggestion and worrying about the fact that my husband had been missing for a couple of hours! We finally arrived at my parent's house, Mr Pickle went straight to bed, thankfully my parents were on hand to help with the kids as I was completely exhausted. Next day - my Mum came down with the bug! So whatever it is, it's very contagious. We're now keeping our fingers crossed that my Dad avoids it. I hope it's gradually working it's way out of East Dulwich and that you're all OK. On the plus side, having had it myself I managed to lose half a stone, so can now indulge in a bit more kiwi food and wine ;-)

I have two very different babies in terms of personality, but they are both good sleepers. Like others on this thread we have a daytime routine which includes an afternoon nap of around 2 hours from 1 - 3pm. Both of my children have this nap, at 3 and 20 months respectively. Our bedtime routine is very strong, and also along similar lines to others we have a wind-down from dinnertime onwards. The kids go to bed at 7pm, after a bath, story and milk (for the younger one). Both have always been put down awake in their cots from an early age and are great at self settling. Our routine has come into it's own in the last few days, as we arrived in NZ on Saturday. Despite day suddenly being night they have happily gone to bed at their normal time and were basically over their jetlag after a couple of nights. We're finding they are going into a very deep sleep in the afternoon, which is to be expected as their bodies think it's night, but are being strict about the length of this nap and it's working well. I am a strong believer in the sleep breeds sleep theory, and have always found that if my kids don't sleep well in the day their nighttime sleep is disrupted. No idea why this works, but it really does seem to be true in many cases. Hope you're all well... am thinking about you all as I lie in the sunshine ;-)

We've always used a gadget known in our house as a "snot sucker"... bulb like thing that you squeeze, seal off the other nostril and release - very effective for drawing out the nasties and great for using before a feed. I still use it now on my two who think it's hilarious!

I remember when we bought our washing machine from John Lewis the very helpful sales guy telling us that washer/dryers generally meant compromising a bit of the standard of the actual washing machine, and that he recommended buying separate whenever possible. Whether this is right or not I don't know, but I guess it makes sense. We don't have a tumble dryer, but do have the benefit of a large bathroom which is only used for the kids in the evening which has a "hot water cupboard" (the cupboard with the cylinder, really warm) as well as heated towel rails which make the room warm, so washing gets dry very quickly in winter. P x p.s... I've been in NZ less than 24 hours and here I am, already checking the EDF :-$

Great advice from Fuschia. My son used to do the same and had lots of periods of cluster feeding over the first few months, I would always sit on the sofa watching TV while feeding (generally stuffing my face full of chocolate, on the basis that if I was going to be burning all those calories while sitting down I may as well make up for it ;-) ). This phase will pass, I remember how stressful and frustrating it can be, so just try to ride it out as comfortably as you can. P x

This is such a shame, I fear it will signal the end of Leapers full stop, rather than just the end of it being an open access group. I was a regular at the Tuesday morning session until the end of last year and also benefited greatly from the support/advice/friendship that was found there, especially in the early days of coping with two children under 18 months old. I'm not aware of anything else in the area that even comes close to the service that Leapers provided, and truly hope that those who apply for and get places make the most of it!

Ann, I didn't mean it in a harsh way. I certainly don't expect all midwives to have children themselves, was just saying it from a purely personal point of view - in that before I'd had kids I'd never been exposed to midwifery to have ever considered it as a career. I guess it's different in her case, as she said she comes from a family of nurses, so she would have been exposed to the different aspects of nursing from early on. The young Dad was very sweet, scared out of his wits, but bought a tear to my eye when he held his little girl.

I only wish I was reading this post in about 3 years time, at which point I'd jump at the chance!

Yes, an ironic name if ever there was one ;-) Having spent a couple of days wandering aimlessly round the Kings labour ward listening to half of South London successfully having babies while mine was staying put I can sympathise with her. As trivial as it seems, I also found that silly things like when my meal was coming and pillows/TVs etc became ridiculously important to me, as it felt like they were something I had control over! I found it interesting that the senior midwife had never had children - to me, midwifery wouldn't be a career I'd even have thought about without going through childbirth. She seemed very old school, but the sort of person I would have liked to have looking after me.

Are we all watching this week ladies? I know it's wrong, but I can't help but giggle at the young girl causing such a fuss (and the reactions of people around her!). I COMPLETELY sympathise with the woman waiting for her induction to work - mine took 2 days (so not as bad as hers) and I was on the verge of being admitted to the ward for a "rest" when my waters finally broke. I think if I'd had to wait any longer I would have killed someone, so can understand why she's so grumpy! I think I'll be watching this online next week from New Zealand, haven't enjoyed TV so much for a long time.

Just wanted to add that none of us have had a fever, just the vomitting. Agree that 5 days of high temperature is something to get checked out ASAP, especially in such a young child. Daughter seems to have got off lightly, hasn't been ill all day, and I gave in to her endless pleads for "mulk Mummy, pleeeease, mulk, pleeeease, mulk...." and gave her a bottle of (slightly diluted) milk mid afternoon and this evening - and so far so good.