Ruth_Baldock

Not at all, I'll keep you all updated! I wanted to ask, how do you get an appointment with Clare Kedves/her colleagues if you needed it? I'm assuming they're mad busy, serving the whole of Kings and their infant feeding woes! (I am overly paranoid about my second baby having tongue tie, so wanted to ask in advance...)

:O SHOCKED that anyone would suggest giving up breastfeeding and bottle feeding, rather than sort out the problem at hand! This makes me sad. Seb's is definitely affecting his speech now, and also, he will not let us brush his upper teeth which makes me think it's hurting him- poor sod. We're seeing our GP next week to get some kind of referral made. I feel very, very sorry for him. In another note, my husband has the tell-tale Madonna teeth and there are certain things (including my own name...) that he can't pronounce. His Mum says it was worse when he was younger. I had both upper and lower tongue tie, the latter was snipped, the former never been much of a problem. So I'm not surprised little Seb has it!!!!

Well done, sounds like you've handled everything beautifully! Glad you're at home now and that SB V2.0 is a chilled little one. I will be keeping my beady eye on any jealous toddler troubleshooting threads.... Love to you all xxx

I don't think that's cruel! I think it's sensible! My son likes to run around when I am opening the oven. Awful thoughts. I don't like to put him in his high-chair because the inevitable screeching makes for more accidents (for me, and I'm accident prone at the best of times...)Something that does help is taping various ceebeebies faves for him to watch for 5 minutes or so, or letting him watch his Baby Einstein DVDs. I'm sure TV won't kill him and it keeps us both happy. He also likes to sit in the living room 'sorting' (putting things into boxes, and tearing up newsaper). But, again, both only last a few minutes, so it's not as if I could cook a five course meal from scratch with Little Man next door. It IS all a phase, afterall, but I know it doesn't make it easier. They'll grow out of it, surely. I know I don't act like a mentalist when my Mum makes me dinner (on the rare occasions I go round to hers for dinner).

Correct, Belle! I think, THINK, vasectomy is day surgery*, where as hysterectomy more akin to a c-section in terms of being risky. Very invasive in any case. *Yes, yes, I know ALL surgeries, however small, carry risk...

THE CHEEK! What an absolute sod!

Not much advice, just tonnes of sympathy. I never normally link my blog, but I wrote about this recently, maybe it'll make you laugh: www.se5mum.co.uk Our little boy is SUCH a diva. I took the rubbish out the other day, and I could hear him from the street SHRIEKING and rattling like mental against his babygate. Unbelievable. Don't get me started on if I dare not take him to the loo with me. I mean, HOW DARE I?! I have cried tonnes in front of my son now, normally after I've snapped when telling him off. I know it's just a phase and all, but he pulled a pint of orange juice onto the sofa and floor and then rolled around in it, and I had just had one of 'those' days. I blame my hormones, but I'm pretty sure I'd be bellowing/crying in any case. I sometimes put him in a 'safe place' (playpen) and say 'Calm down, please' and let him have a scream whilst I sit on the stairs going mad, but usually I just say 'No...NO! STOP IT!' and then cry myself. I probably won't be winning any parenting awards anytime soon, ah well. Never mind!

Hello, Our 14mo old has this, luckily it didn't affect his breastfeeding but he does have those tell-tale 'Madonna' teeth. We were going to leave it, but me and my husband have a nasty feeling it's affecting his speech. There are certain sounds he CANNOT make- and it frustrates him. We can see him trying over and over to say things and he gets so upset that he breaks down into floods over it. With that in mind, we are thinking of getting the snip for him, but are trying to put it off as long as possible.

(tu)Good idea! Yes, as far as I know, you CAN get them reversed. We won't be. Or if Husband does, I will murder him, thus solving all problems anyway...

Keef, YES! Without wanting to give too much away- ahem- nothing has ever worked with me and Husband. Always end up preggers. Breastfeeding and sleep deprivation was a good 'un for a while but still... Theres always Natural Family Planning for those who fancy it, which was the only thing that DID sort of work. Worked better than the alternatives, anyway. ALSO, Vasectomys are reversible- no?

Mellors, Surely with 3 under 5, celibacy will be a given for...ooh, a few months? I say fabric scissors- you can be a reproductive DIY person- what with helping me deliver New Babby like down on t'farm and all.

I am instructing my husband that he is getting the snip after this one, thanks very much. Doesn't matter HOW careful we are, I somehow wind up pregnant just by him looking at me. He's already spoken to his GP about it, who has advised him to come back again when New Unborn Baby is 6-12 months old. If I had it my way, he'd be having it done as I was delivering my placenta, but anyhoo...

I think ours is a comfort- is that the one with the diamond shaped back support panel thing? The front of it is drool stained (thanks seb...) but you're welcome to try it. However I alsways found our rose and rebellion and babyhawk carriers SO much more comfortable than the baby bjorn, baby's weight was better distributed so it was kinder on my back. Just a thought...

Thanks everyone :) I have emailed Jill and got a response v quickly- she was on my side and has asked whether I'd prefer to go with a waiting list for the community mws or transfer to hospital care. She also agreed that the whole 'i've booked your section already' was utter piffle. Which is nice to hear! I'm due to have an actual talk with her next week too, huzzah. Fuscia, it's a hospital birth rather than homebirth (unless the baby comes pdq before husband gets back from work- in which case i'll also have to rely on good old ceebeebies too!) on the whole, I'm happy with how things are Turning out at the moment as I expected a lot more opposition to my complaint but so far so good!

I'm not sure if my GP surgery are affiliated with any other MWs, to be honest. I'm also a bit (read: really) scared of 'losing' my VBAC, argh so many other things to worry about too! Basically, the main things that have really annoyed me are: 1) At my booking (13wks) the MW scheduled my c-section for 38wks, despite me saying over and over I wanted a VBAC. At my latest appointment, she told me she it hadn't been cancelled and wouldn't be, so if I wanted my 'risky- but your choice' VBAC I had to deliver by then. I complained, and was told it had been re-scheduled (WHAT?! NO!!) for when I am 40wks. My due-date, basically. Won't be turning up to either of these sections, thanks very much. My Mum is calling the 'bulls***' card here, saying that sections aren't scheduled till quite a bit later, so godknows what everyone is playing at. It's always the same 2 MWs who I have a bad experience with, the other 2 are absolutely fantastic. 2)ANY question or query, no matter how small, is met with 'You need to go to the MAU/Labour ward. Now.' Sometimes this is just (when I was spotting and contracting) sometimes this is bloody stupid (can't be bovverd to give minute details). I can't go off to Kings whenever I like, especially when I don't really need to, because I have to drag poor old Seb with me the whole time. Mellors: Cuboard v large, really! When I was expecting Seb, I used to hide in there on my gym ball as the MOMENT I turned 37wks, I had about 5 phonecalls a day asking 'ANything happening?'. It was my hidey hole and freaked Husband out.

Hi all, Has anyone ever changed their ante-natal care, quite far into their pregnancy? How did you go about doing it? The MW group practise I am with have upset me on a number of occasions during my pregnancy, and quite frankly, I've had enough. My husband and I have made a formal complaint about the most recent thing that upset us, but really, I've had enough of this now. I'm not even sure if I'd get 'in' with any other MWs now, so maybe it's better to suck it up and stay where I am (as my Mum suggests)? The last thing I want is to be without any ante-natal care, especially as a VBAC and also because of other crappy complications I have. Or should I abandon all western medicine ideas and go and give birth in a box under the stairs...like a cat? Thanks forum!

LATIN? REALLY? Well, at least they'll all be in good stead to take on degrees in Law, in due course.

ARRRRGH, Seb STILL does that! When we get to toddler groups I wake him up. When he makes a fuss I point out he should have had a lovely lie-in 'till 9am instead of waking at the crack of dawn. That'll learn him! Seb did this when my MW was over this AM: Climbed onto the coffee table, pulled down his trousers and nappy (his new trick...) and then got down on all fours. And weed. No poos THANK GOD. She was doing my BP at the time and couldn't stop laughing. I found it less amusing. Later on she had to do a few bloods and we had to bribe him with ceebeebies. Having blood drawn whilst you and your MW witter on about 'Oooooh look! A lovely CARTOON! Look, there are CHILDREN! See the CHILDREN, darling???' is surreal. Why, baby, WHY?

I feel for you! I also had a c-section, which I am sure adds to the problem but must point out that awful backache isn't univeral; I do have a spinal condition so expected some of this to be honest. Post baby, pre-second pregnancy, I did have some physio which helped and I also changed my posture- when breastfeeding and pushing Baby's pram in particular. I was also bending to pick up Cheeky S in the wrong way, and I know thinking about the 'right way' of doing it is a bit of a moot point when you're scrambling to attend to a baby crawling into a hazard (mine liked crawling towards hot cups of tea- now he runs towards them saying MINE MINE MIIIINE). I'm afraid for now, lugging Huge Bump around I'll have to seek 'quick fixes', but I know better now in terms of posture and excerices for when she arrives.

I like the idea of the tiger balm etc, I'm all for creams and such. The TENS machine doesn't really do much for me, which is odd because it was my best friend when I was in labour!

Aha! A plan! We have an abundance of duvets here (Why?! no one ever stays, we don't NEED 4 duvets...).

Pebbles; you are lovely. I may, or may not, have shed a little tear. My Mum expressed for all and sundry in her day and when she was looking after my cousin, she breastfed her as she wouldn't take a bottle. No one batted an eyelid, it was all for the babes. However, when I showed her the article, I thought she was going to be sick. I think she's of the 'breast is best...for babies' camp.

Has anyone used any of those big sausage (mmm, sausages...) like pregnancy pillows for backache? Has it worked? At 20w, I am HUGE (No, really, it's an eyesore...) and my back is killing me. It gets so bad that it resonates round the front of my bump and to my hips. Hot baths SOMETIMES work, but all the lugging about of buggies and toddlers doesn't help. I'd love to have regular massages, but I don't know if I have the time or ???? to cover it. I am scared of acpuncture (says the Mum with 35+ hours of tattoo work...). Any other tricks? Crying? Blaming husband? Eating ice-cream and vowing 'Never again...'. Alternatively, lets all moan about pregnancy aches and pains. I do love a good moan.

IIRC, at 4 months, Cheeky S was breastfeeding every hour from 7-10. Nice. Then every 2 hours. But I felt the 12, and even the 2am possibly were comfort feeding. We were bedsharing and he has easy-access, but it was still knackering. He also had a dummy which DID help as long as my husband did the whole dummy retrival thing. If he realised I was even an inch near him, he'd want boob. In hindsight, if we'd moved him into his cot and been a bit more consistent, we could have dropped the two 'comfort' feeds- we didn't manage to do this 'till he was 9 months old in the end. In short, I have no practical advice but tonnes and tonnes of sympathy. :(

I would say a childminder, hands down. I'd start looking for a childminder 2-3 months before you actually need them, and ask on the forum etc. Southwark has a register of all...er..registered childminder's in the local area.