Monkey

This working mums v stay at home mums debate is sterile. I wish we would concentrate more on how to change employers' attitude and give parents more flexibility. I would have told Vanessa if I had been at home listening to her show!

If it's not urgent enough for A&E, what about the minor injury unit (although it does not sound minor!) at Thomas? If I were you I would look for another GP. Leaving DMC and registering with the Gardens has made a significant difference!

I have two rare days off on Thursday and Friday and am looking for something arty to do with my three-year-old darling daughter. Does anyone know of any art drop in sessions out there? Thank you.

I agree londonmix. I really regret not looking further afield than ed when we had our daughter. But it's good to see my local, Goodrich, on the up!

If I am reading the results properly, 82% of Goodrich pupils now reach the required level in English and maths against 72% last year. That's a big jump. If that's right, well done Goodrich! http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?urn=100790&superview=pri

I would still try and look for someone who might be able to help you in the morning. You never know.

We recently moved to the Gardens surgery from the Dulwich Medical Centre. A completely different experience. Phones are picked up quickly and getting an appointment is not a problem. Check their website to see if you are within their catchment.

There's a new one opening on east dulwich road: buds i think. There's an advertising banner for it outside Budgens.

My daughter hates gloves and hats. And this is new: coats. No suggestions, sorry.

Deep breath, deep breath. I have the opposite issue with my mum appalled that Little Monkey is being taught about religion at school.(My mum is French and there's nothing said about religion in French schools.)

We try to do most of our shopping on Lordship Lane. We will miss Soup Dragon this year though. :-(

Will be interesting to see how this pharmacy is run given chaos at the medical practice.

I'd use the steroids to soothe this flare up but please do, do, do insist on a referral. Gps do not know anything about skin conditions. From someone who was prescribed completely wrong medicine to put on infected skin by not one but four different gps. Dermatologist I saw after that went from pale to shocked to very angry.

Oh good. Thank you, ladies. Puzzles, play dough etc... is just what we do. Thanks again.

Not wishing to sound like a pushy, worried mum but an awful lot of three-year-olds I meet seem to do things such as sounding out three-letter words or writing their names. My daughter does not know her letters yet. Am I surrounded by little geniuses or is it what three-year-olds are like these days?

I am sure I have seen badly behaved children but nothing bad enough for me to actually remember it. I find children in ED pleasant and well behaved. And I am sure that I have never tripped over a buggy.

Could not agree more, DaveR. As I think I have mentioned before on this forum, my GP congratulated me on not being upset about not being able to breastfeed (or giving up rather, call it what you want, not sure myself!). She said that she often gets women in tears who "almost want to give the baby back" when things don't turn out as expected. I am sure it's an exaggeration but still the pressure seems to be there. Where does it come from though? Maybe it's the people I associate with or simply the fact that most ED mums are decent, polite people but I have never felt under any pressure whatsoever.

I don't recognise the East Dulwich some of you describe, I really don't. Chill, ED residents, chill.

Each to their own. My mother in law practically force feeds my daughter ice cream and dodgy things (latest being a milky way yoghurt which littlemonkey refused to eat) but nearly has a heart attack when I give her a piece of camembert with gorgeous white baguette from the french bakery. But I do agree that a mars bar for breakfast is not a good idea. A brioche would be better for breakfast on the go.

Cyberia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, if a majority of people really think it > makes no difference (or very little) then no > wonder: > > - that there is exactly one baby-friendly hospital > in all of London (accounting for just 3.54% of > births) - as of about a year ago! > > - health professionals in the NHS simply couldn't > care less and rather than provide bf support they > simply give or recommend formula (sorry, can't > rely on Unicef for this one, but it happened to me > - and when I finally found help outside the NHS, > no one seemed surprised to hear it... 'happens all > the time'... apparently) > > Seriously, is there a single OB or paediatrician > in all of South London who is also an IBCLC? It > would be delightful to hear that such a person > exists. > > What me, bitter? ;-/ A lovely paediatrician from the neonat unit at King's told me that if the biggest problem at King's was a baby refusing the boob, life would be fantastic. I have no idea what's on offer privately but at King's at least the ob and paediatrician have sadly much more serious problems to deal with.

Loving,caring parents secure social, emotional, intellectual development.

I would take it with you with disposable bottles. No harm in being prepared. I would have found it very useful when exhausted and confronted with a bunch of unhelpful midwives.

My last point should have been a third para. Not related to the op incident but to some of the comments on this thread about mums in cafes, which paint all mothers with the same brush. In any event, I am never bothered by pushchairs in east dulwich or anywhere. They are a fact of life and certainly less big than the silver cross my mother in law had in the 70s. Having said that, she says that mums pretty much stayed at home then...

Love pugwash's post: groups of mums taking over a cafe, children running everywhere, screaming, people bringing their own packed lunches? Bit of an exaggeration from that ed cafe owner perhaps? Going back to the original post, the op wanted to have lunch with her friends. What the hell's the problem with that? They were using the cafe for what it's for. Is it acceptable for a cafe to say "no mums for lunch here"? How about if it said "no gays, we are Christians", "no black people, our customers are mostly white", "no smelly oldies"?

Tiddles, that is unbelievable. I prescribe DMC a big heavy dose of reality check. Dr Gupta would have to venture out of his mansion on to the mean streets of South East London though. Never have I hated a surgery with so much passion. We're at the Gardens now. So far so good!