JessB

Fabiano da Silva on Barry rd is amazing. Google his name and you should find his website. He is great with babies and really helped with my two.

If that's Michael (barrett ?) who works through the AA then I learnt with him whilst pregnant with my first and he was amazingly calm and i passed first time. That was after I had started learning with a fairly local lady, all in all a very strange 12 hours where I mostly heard her life story and was only allowed to turn left! After an hour with Michael I had (gasp!) Turned right, gone round a roundabout and gone on dual carriageway!!

I have a rose and rebellion carrier, v similar to the one in the link above. The material feels v light and if dress appropriately v comfortable on hot days. They have some in merry go round on half moon lane in Herne hill if you want to see one in the flesh Jess

I think my 2yo gets it as on days I am suffering the most he also sneezes a lot and is streaming and rubs his eyes. I think you can get liquid piriton over the counter but apparently it makes them very drowsy. What am I thinking, that sounds perfect....the answer to all my mad toddler problems!

I have a rose and rebellion which is a very similar style sling - front and back carry but no face forward. They come in lovely patterns with all reversible to plain black. I think merry go round on half moon lane in Herne hill will be stocking them from next week. It is sooooo comfortable!

I was terrified of my second labour after a hard first one and flashbacks etc. At about 24 weeks i saw teresa a consultant midwife at kings to talk through it all. I went in with the hope of arguing for an elective c section. She actually put me with the brierleys for continuity of care and a hospital birth. As it turned out the brierleys gave me confidence to make a home birth possible and lent me Hypnotherapy CDs. I decided to make it my project to try to feel positive about the birth ao i ddid the CD everyday for the last month. I really think it helped! I consoled myself that we were so near the hospital and I'd probably end up there. As it turned out it all happened so differently and the home water birth did happen and quite quickly too. I guess my advice is to talk to the midwives and I think the will be more understanding than you might think. They even put me in touch wwith someone who'd had similar first time experience and a much better second time. I found that really useful. Do pm me if you'd like to meet up for a proper chat through all this. Good luck!

I am having similar issues with a 2 year old and 7 week old. Only difference is my toddler doesn't let me leave baby crying but insists I feed him (and helpfully instructs me each time that the milk goes in his mouth.......not his eye.......because he saw me putting milk in baby's gunky eye once) . I just keep telling myself it's a phase and I'm sure it will change for better or worse very quickly. I also try to see good friends at groups or houses so feeding is that bit easier. Good luck! Edited to add that I also end up cluster feeding whenever suits me and toddler best which is difficult and I would love a better "routine " but I'm sure one will emerge, it'll just be different second time round.

I have a 26month old and a 6 week old. I was reluctant to buy a double as had maclaren and sling and bugaboo with buggy board. 2 weeks after having the new baby I got a Phil and Teds second hand through this forum. It cost 80 quid so was a bargain I didn't want to spend a lot as 2/3 days a week my toddler is in childcare and on the other days I wanted to encourgr walking. I would say the sling / buggy board work well for most short trips but on occasion the double is fab e.g. longer walk, tired toddler, heavy baby etc etc. However i probably use it only about twice a week at the moment so glad I got a cheap second hand one. It is a bit of a squeeze having 3 buggies knockimg around but theyre all useful in their own way! I would say wait until baby is here, you dont really go out too much im first couple of weeks and you should be able to find what works and if you need a double you could probably find one cheap through here, use for a few months and then sell on again. Sorry for typos, feeding baby and typing with clumsy left hand!

Wow, didn't expect to cry!

Afraid I don't have a useful update! View was to wait and see if any problems later on and she didn't have any experience of dealing with this. Claire kedves the ither week did recommend massaging it to try to stretch it. Thinking about it I had a gap between my baby teeth but it closed with adult teeth so I wonder if that's linked. My poor little Bubba has a tight lower lip tie too and his bottom lip gathers in the middle! I'd be interested to hear what your gp says Ruth, if you don't mind sharing!

I'm on my way to peckham breastfeeding cafe now so will ask the midwife there as she helps at the tongue tie clinic too so may have a useful opinion. Will update later!

My three week old has a very tight upper lip tie that is pulling his top gum up. This was spotted while dealing with Claire kedves at kings about his tongue tie. Claire said that kings don't cut lip ties but a consultant in Southampton might??! At the tongue tie clinic they also commented on it and said the gap would likely close with adult teeth but some orthodontic treatment may be needed. Feeding is fine and better since the tongue tie cut, but he has a big sucking blister on his top lip from not turning his lip out enough, no doubt because it's so tight. As an aside my 2 year old had a minor untreated tongue tie and is a very fussy eater particularly lumpy food because of difficulty moving food around his mouth, although he's fine with things like biscuits etc. Although he has no obvious lip tie, the eating issues and some of the speech ones sound familiar and mat be caused by tongue tie. Also, Claire kedves is now on holiday for about 3 months I think! She is the tongue tie guru but the lady who runs the peckham breastfeeding cafe on a Thursday morning is aalso very good and will make referrals to the clinic etc.

This also runs on Sundays - and a couple of weekday evenings but I'm not sure what age group the weekday ones are.

I tried all sorts of different breastfeeding tops etc and none of them worked properly (slits in silly places, lost shape when washed etc) and you end up exposing more than with normal clothes. I found my saviour in nursing bra, normal vest top on top (H&M maternity vest tops are great as they are long and stretchy straps) and normal t-shirt on top of that. Then lift t-shir up and pull vest top down. Keeps your tummy warm in colder months (and saved people the view of my ravaged stomach!) and covers the top bit too. Minimal exposure and minimal expenditure too.

Discussion is good! I wouldn't mind being further from the shop and hand-holding etc although I do find it hard to walk with a little toddler (20 months old) across the car park with the way some people drive their massive cars round the carpark, without resorting to carrying him which is just plain heavy. In principle no problem with it at all, just saying that it is harder work, but I'm also just grumpy and pregnant! We're lucky to have parent and baby bays or internet shopping (my mum can't believe my luck when she thinks back to taking us supermarket shopping!). I do think that if the bays are provided, then they should be used properly otherwise what's the point?

Please don't - I'm definitely learning how to use my new phone and online shopping app now!!

I went to Sainsburys the other day and parked in a normal space, albeit pretty close to the entrance, but it was a normal space next to a trolley park. I really struggled to get my toddler out of our two door car, whilst also being pregnant (so not very bendy) and it was very awkward and quite painful! The nice car washing men came to help me and got me a trolley so I didn't have to carry my toddler to the trolley. The parent and baby bays near the entrance make a big difference as then the toddler has space to get out by themselves, and it's not too far (or dangerous) for them to walk (obviously holding my hand) over to the trolleys by the entrance. Online is definitely the way to go. Now, where is that new Ocado app on my phone.....

Kings have a very good team for blood clotting. I saw them during first pregnancy, because my mum had a PE after giving birth to my older sister (the risk is also raised post natally, so keep a watch then too) and they consider that the risk can run in families, particularly through the female line. Dr Arya at Kings heads up the blood clotting team in haematology there and he took it very seriously and even got my mum down from the north for tests! The tests were inconclusive, but he recommended I inject Clexane (I think a sort of mini heparin) for 6 weeks after giving birth. I did that, and didn't get a clot. I have no idea if I personally am at more risk, but now I'm pregnant again and they are recommending I do the same. Definitely be aware of the risk and symptoms as the risk is significantly raised during and after pregnancy. I think it's something to do with the hormones, as there is also a raised risk from taking certain types of the pill. So glad they caught yours Vickster, that must have been quite a scary experience.

The sessions at Jags are on Saturdays and Sundays - 9am - 10.30pm outdoors for about 4.5/5yrs old to 11/12 (they divide them up into age groups) and then at 11am - noon indoors for littler ones. It is drop in and is about ?3/?4. I probably should know more as my husband coaches there and we would take our little one but now he sleeps at that time so will be going back as soon as he's through that phase. Snowboarder - we took ours along to one 11-12 session when he was about 18 months and although he couldn't follow instructions (fat chance!), such as sit on the red line, put the ball on your head etc - Danny was very happy for him just to run around playing with all the balls and it was really good fun and we joined in too! The sports hall is massive and so plenty of space for them all.

I feel for you Fi, having felt similarly insecure etc after meeting with some other mother-friends. I have found that often people present what they want you to see of their lives, and the way I try to deal with it without losing someone who might be a good friend in some other ways, is by thinking that if that makes them feel better and that is how they cope with things, then so be it. Often you may get hints that things are not as rosey as they seem in their lives. I tend to be a bit of an open book, but others aren't. I have a similarly shall we say"energetic" boy, who is charming and cheeky in equal measure, and we tend to spend most of our time with lovely non-smug people now, but that doesn't mean that your friend can't have a place in your life, just perhaps not the place they had previously occupied. I agree with Dulwichmum - step back until you feel in control of how you deal with this friend!