Lochie

I had a similar problem with my son at 2 and went into a drop in session under the advice from the HV at his 2 year check. He is now 4 and is the biggest chatter box I know, if that puts your mind at rest a little!! I do remember being so worried at the time though - I think it is natural to be anxious. You really can't help but compare progress with other little children and that is inevitable. I also found it so hard as he would bite and pinch other kids due to frustration at not being able to talk :-( Things changed a lot when my son went to nursery at about 26 months, he kind of just 'got it' and about 6/9 months later he had caught up. I now have a daughter who is 22 months and she probably has the same standard of speech that my son had at 3 years old, so there does seem to be a broad spectrum when it comes to picking up speech. Good luck and try not to worry. I would suggest having a look at Southwark or Lambeth Children Centre programmes to find a drop in S&L therapy drop in (we went to one at the Crawford Children's Centre behind Kings but that was about 2 years ago, not sure if they are still run there)...

I think you can self refer for CBT? I have had anxiety issues for years and still do but CBT really helped. It is something I have learned to live with and if ever it is bad the CBT techniques are really valuable. Meditation/mindfulness also useful to help focus on the moment rather than what may or may not lie ahead. I was recommended this book by the Maudsley where I have had CBT, it is very easy to read and will strike a chord if you do suffer from anxiety: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Worry-Cure-worrying-start-living/dp/0749927240/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388353889&sr=1-1&keywords=the+worry+cure I hope you feel better soon

I had terrible ms with first child and like you was nervous of meds and didn't take any. Was a truly miserable 9 months. I had very sudden onset ms with second child at 6 weeks pg and was hospitalised for 4 days to rehydrate. I really didn't have a choice but to take meds. I would rotate cyclizine and metaclopramide. No ill effect on baby at all. Have to say though meds are not a miracle cure (or weren't for me). They reduced vomiting of 3 or 4 times a day to just once or twice. Didn't take nausea away. They just minimised the vomiting, and the doctors told me that was the aim. It is so so hard to be in that situation with another child to care for so you have my sympathies. I found trying to conquer the mental side of it worked best so e.g. Don't think, 'I'm going to be like this for months on end', just think of each day and getting through it. Tiredness made it worse for me so get help with your looking after your child. I would also freeze bottles of water each night and sip on that every morning as I couldn't bear any liquids. You will get through it. Reward yourself each day with something nice like a bubble bath in the evening. I also had a flair up again at about 18 weeks and was admitted to Kings overnight and actually one thing that did keep me vom free for about 10 weeks was ranitidine- I think it is an antacid. So you could ask your GP about that. Good luck. It is so hard - as someone else said HG or any long lasting and severe morning sickness is absolute hell and I actually don't think many people understand how miserable it can be. It is completely worth it though so keep remembering that Xxxxx

Hi alimc actually yes I have experienced something similar. My daughter is quite clingy but since this infection has only wanted to fall asleep on me, she has never been this bad before! I'm just going with it for now...hope your daughter gets well soon

Thanks for all these amazing tips. I have tried bribery but she is too young to understand. Choc petit filous has worked to a certain degree. But I am positive she has only taken about half the required amount. Not much I can do about that now. The tip re: squirting tiny amounts into the mouth is probably the best way for her, I hate doing it, but she is one stubbon little lady. She'll thank me one day! ;-)

My brother in law spent loads on a lovely wooden play pen for us. It is the one thing we used least and became a pain as it took up so much space. Both my kids would make such a din if they were put in one as they wanted to get out! That is my experience anyway! IMO - Best thing to do is buy a travel cot and use it as a playpen so at least you have another use for it....

Thanks all. I am totally in favour of the bribery/carrot approach however she is not quite there yet age-wise to properly understand. Fortunately bribery has worked very well with my son but I remember he didn't really get that approach til he was about 3! I went to the pharmacist who told me that the amoxycillin only comes in that flouro yellow colour/flavour! She explained why I have to finish the course and suggested Ribena. I've bought some squash and a choc petit filous. She ate the choc petit filous fine so I'm just going to have to try my best that way (I know she won't have had all the course but am going to try as much as I can). Thanks for the tips.

no i think with both children it has been stubborness and refusal to take something on a spoon that they are suspicious of. Also with this case my daugther I suspect has had a really sore ear and throat and is naturally not eating much, so doesn't want to swallow anyway. I don't suspect its a taste thing as she is the same with calpol :-( I will take the bottle to the pharmacist and see what he says about different formulas. Wish they could just make this stuff tasteless then I could slip it into her water!!

Not sure if anyone can help. My daughter is 22 months old and has a really nasty ear infection - has had fever of 40 and not eaten since last Thursday. I took her to the doctor yesterday and he has prescribed her antibiotics and told me to get started on it asap. I already have a 4 year old son and am canny to medicine refusal, the doctor told me to get a syringe if she won't take it off the spoon and squirt it down the back of her throat. The problem is that even this fails. She just spits it out of her mouth. Unsuccessful attempts also have also involve putting it in her food. She doesn't drink juice and I think she'd detect the taste in her water. Should I just stop giving it to her? Is that really bad for her health wise? I would say she has probably had about 2 full doses out of a total of 6 attempts. I don't want her to get a complex about medicine by me trying to ram it down her throat but also don't want her to suffer by not finishing a course of antibiotics once I've started. She doesn't have a fever anymore and has perked up a bit today... Any tips would be appreciated. I have gotten around this before by using supposotories up the bum for paracetamol rather than Calpol. But I don't think this is an option for antibiotics...

Also quite a lot of fun stuff here: http://www.sciencemuseumshop.co.uk/children#items-/children/_all

Hi SB my eldest is 4 and can barely sit still for 5 mins! My mum is getting him a geomag set this year. I haven't ever seen it in action but it does look quite good on the blurb on Amazon. I also got him a light up globe from John Lewis for his bday which does fuel the odd question about planet earth. Can you tell I am veering toward the more educational gifts!?! We really have so much STUFF I feel that the rule for letting anymore toys in the house are that it has to be small or educational! Have you looked on GLTC? They have lovely stuff there? What about a wigwam so they can make a den? Or I love this: http://www.gltc.co.uk/vw-camper-van-pop-up-tent/play-tents-and-wigwams/gltc/fcp-product/10002595 (clearly breaking my small and educational rule!)

I am 2 kids in and have same issue re running :-( I've done a lot of research on suitable exercises and an exercise bike seems to be the way forward. That or swimming which I don't have time to do! My problem area is my stomach which needs a major tone up. I'm hoping that the bike will help and I'll be able to do half hour stints through the week in front of the tv! Going to wait til jan to buy one in the sales....after a major pig out over Xmas of course ;-)

Thank you all, so useful. Will defo try one of these

Hi all, I was hoping someone maybe able to make a recommendation for a financial advisor or mortgage broker? I trust the recommendations in the Family Room hence the reason for this post! What we are really interested in is someone looking at our finances and advising our best way of buying a home in 2014, taking into account the government's help to buy scheme (this is probably our only chance of buying in London) and our complete financial situation. Not sure if a Financial Advisor or broker would be better? Would prefer not to pay, not because of being a skinflint, just because spare cash is a bit sparse! Obviously don't mind paying a few hundred quid if it really is worth it. Any recommended contacts gratefully received...

I think the main difference is kudos. The Saddlers scholar is the pupil who ?scored? highest during the 11+? My brother was the Saddler?s scholar for his year (I think there is only one per year but maybe mistaken). The only thing I witnessed from memory was a lot of expectation and pressure to achieve at that high level throughout the 7 years. It may not be that way now (this was the 90s) but I would imagine it is as Alleyn?s is now a better school than it was then and probably even harder to get in to...!

Thank you so much for these lovely suggestions. I reckon farmers market and scrap book then cooking is a fantastic idea. I just looked up Crafty Cooks and no Saturday class but they do have a Monday class we can all do in Crystal Palace so thanks for that as had never heard of them! Yes and cinema is a good one, when there are kids clubs. Couldn't believe it when I took my son to see Despicable Me 2 a few weeks ago not realising it was normal prices, and didn't get much change out of a ?20 note! BST yes I know, crazy think school next year for the boys! Bye bye babies!! :-(

I'd really appreciate any suggestions as I am stuck for ideas! My son has just turned 4 and I'd love to find a hobby or class to take him to, just me and him, maybe once a week (weekends are only viable time really). Since the arrival of his sister 18 months ago (who is very clingy), I feel now is a good time to start having some one on one time away from her! (we spend pretty much all of our week altogether and they go to the same nursery). Naturally during the weekend his Dad will do sporty things with him and I'll potter around with my daughter, as well as doing stuff all as a family. But now school is looming next year I feel a desperate urge to have some mother/son time but don't know what regular activity we could do. Does anyone have any suggestions? Something he can really start to get an interest in? His interests are Octonauts, eating and cooking and he is really good at problem solving e.g. puzzles. Thanks :-)

I've had the magi mix micro mini for about 4 years and its amazing. Blitzes an onion in a few seconds. Carrots, peppers, courgettes etc. Ice no problem. I use it daily to make kids meals, I wouldn't bother if it was full size but it only takes a few seconds to clean. It's probably in my top 5 baby/child related purchases!

Thanks all for the really useful comments. I get so torn between 'training' her to sleep and letting her get what she needs in the night, regardless of detriment to us both in the day. So the worst thing is that I am inconsistent! Your words are really encouraging as sometimes I forget I am the only one up at night with a young child screaming! My only issue with sleep training is that (apart from finding it hard as she is so stubborn so I give in), we have just moved house to quite a small terrace house, and I know full well that my neighbours can hear her screaming in the middle of the night. Which is fine if its for short bursts, but they have 3 kids at school age and I hate to think of them losing sleep too for hours on end. Also she has molars coming through and though she doesn't seem to be crying out of pain (more sheer will to get out and play), it does make me feel bad about leaving her to cry. But maybe these are all excuses....if this continues I do think I will definitely sleep train as am starting to make mistakes at work due to sleeplessness :-(

Am hoping someone (anyone!) can advise how to deal with awful, ear drum busting night time tantrums which are currently leaving me like a zombie during the day. In a nutshell: - Daughter 18 months - Regularly co-slept til a few months ago, we broke this habit by settling her in cot with bottle of milk and another in the night when she woke - the co-sleeping had to stop as she wouldn't stay in the bed and would want to go on a ramble in the night - She now wakes in the night and INSISTS on getting up. Getting in my bed is not enough, neither is a bottle of milk - she wants to go downstairs to play. I have not yet given in and instead have put her back in cot, she responds by having an awful tantrum - I know the screaming is not for company it is because she wants to get out and play (she actually screams "GET OUT"). If I ask her if she wants a cuddle she says no and just points at the stairs. - I can cope with screaming for up to an hour but after that I get her out and another hour of coaxing leads to her consenting to sleep on floor next to my bed If anyone has experienced night time tantrums can you tell me how you have dealt with it? I wonder if going down to play at 2am is a good idea if this is just a phase, or would I be opening pandora's box?

Hello yes, I think I applied in May. We are going on holiday in September so wanted to allow enough time but they came through very speedily thank god!!!

I applied direct, not through post office (so therefore cheaper) and both son and daughter passport arrived within 2 weeks.

I think being a mum can be really lonely. I don't think you ever think of that before you have a child! I certainly found that with my first child. Less so now I have two. When I had my first child I only had one friend who didn't live locally that had a baby. None of my other friends had children. I think there is an assumption from non-parents that you may have your hands full and so maybe too busy to do big social things. They therefore ask you out less as they don't want you to feel awkward at having to say no? I also think there is an assumption that all you want to do if you have kids is talk about baby related stuff, and their chit chat may seem a bit superficial now you have moved on to 'bigger' and more important things. I know for most mums this is not the case and they would do anything to go out and share a bottle of wine and catch up on all the goss from girlfriends. I think you will find in a year or two some of your friends who don't have kids will be starting to, especially as you say some are now getting married. This will change things as they will find that their social lives change, and may look to you and your family to become more social with, by doing more day time stuff (weekend lunches etc). Most of my friends now do have kids and its really nice when we all do stuff with the kids in tow. I don't see my friends as much at all as I used to pre-kids (its simply not logistically possible and it took me ages to get used to that), but when we do meet up we really all appreciate the time together (I hope!). One of my oldest closest friends who doesn't have kids seems to have such a busy social life and like you, I sometimes think, 'if only you knew what it would mean to me for you to come out with me and have some drinks, just me and you, for a proper catch up.' It sounds a bit pathetic, but probably the best way forward is to just tell your friends how you feel, or over emphasise how much you do want to go out and do the things you loved doing pre-children. The last thing I would say is that I really found the lonliness disapated once my first born started to properly talk. He is now nearly 4 and literally talks ALL THE TIME. There is never a quiet moment, and though I do crave adult conversation particularly on those long days when I don't see my husband at all if he is working late etc, my son now makes a good little companion who I enjoy talking with. I therefore find myself craving going out less in the evenings than I did when he was a baby, because I quite enjoy the peace and quiet of sitting in front of the telly without the chit chat!! Anyway, good luck, I really think you should just be honest with one of your really good mates. Or hang on in there and things will change naturally with time...

Hello Cbcx, I bought a Babymel last year which has been fine and is durable. I did notice when I was buying my bag, they have one style that is aimed at mothers of twins: http://www.babymel.co.uk/product.php?shopprodid=31 Might be worth a look...

I second Kristin Haywood!