Saffron

Vickster, how lovely that your Husband's aunt and uncle thought about you and sent you an invitation, even though they may realize that you won't be able to come. Afterall, if everyone else was sent an invitation and not you, it would have been a terrible slight, no? As someone mentioned previously, saying "no" can be a good thing, but so too can compromise. It sounds like you're striking a pretty decent balance between the two, which must be tough in your circumstances. I wonder, is it really the event (ruby wedding) and gift issues that's the problem, or do you also feel that your personal contribution including looking after the little ones and struggling with travel, naps, etc is being overlooked by your in-laws and/or husband? I only ask, b/c I feel that way too sometimes, sigh. In which case, perhaps your husband needs to let his parents know that they need to do something special to say Thank You, by way of recognizing that it's not easy to bustle children about the country when you have a very busy schedule at home. Afterall, it's fine for them to ask for a special gift, so it should be fine for your husband to ask for a special Thank You! On a personal note (and I know every feels differently, just thought I'd mention this for perspective...) My father-in-law was a real pain in the arse, but he was wonderful with our daughter. He died quite suddenly last winter. We do all miss him very much. My daughter was less than a year old when he passed, so she will never remember playing with him. And we only have just a couple of pictures of them together. From that point of view, some of the comments in this thread seem very materialistic. If children do actually have grandparents who love them and want to see them, it's a blessing. Sacrificing our time and energy as parents to make that happen is not a meaningless or minor task. I hope one day that my daughter will have children and bring them to visit me. And I'll try not to be a pain in the arse! xx

If the problem/pain occurs, mainly on work days, what's different about work than home? If you have a job where you are seated much of the time, your posture in the chair could be affecting your digestion. Even if your posture appears fairly good, there may be something very subtle about the postitioning of your chair, desk, ect that is not great for the GI system. What do you eat or drink at work that's different from home? It might be something as simple as drinking coffee at work versus drinking tea at home. Of course a new job and other issues are going to cause you stress, but if there is an underlying medical condition that should be treated, then this is another source of stress in itself. My personal feeling is that all she may have been well-intentioned, the GP did you great disserve by sending you away without any clinical investigations, b/c now the 'not knowing' seems to be a source of stress for you too. There are so many things that can be quickly checked by haematology. Are your white cells up? Is your iron low? Could you be vit D deficient? Is there a thyroid imbalance? I think it's unfair to patients to ascribe symptoms simply to 'stress' w/o investigating any clinical parameters. Practitioners have a duty of care to patients who come to them in good faith. Not investigating means missing an opportunity potentially to diagnose and treat a medical condition, IMHO.

Oh no keep searching! I'm sure I've had plain, no-sugar instant porridge in the past. Making the night before and reheating doesn't save a lot of time, b/c it takes a while at low heat to properly breakup the lumps of cold oats.

Can you get in touch with staff at the hotel/restaurant in advance? Even if they aren't generally a child-friendly location, if they know your situation in advance, they might be more helpful. I don't find your in-laws request strange or extravegant, but I do sympathise with you not wanting to make the drive up with an unhappy Little One. xx

Even going backwards down the stairs is not 100% safe. My daughter had a nasty fall down our stairs going backwards, thankfully it wasn't far from the bottom. We found that b/c she's tall for her age, and she walked relatively early, going forwards was easier and safer for her. We gated our steepest set of stairs, even though they are carpeted, b/c the landing at the bottom would be horrible. There's a long hall at the top for a good run up, and no room for a rolling stop at the bottom. Very little space at the bottom of the stairs means that any fall from the top would result in the child crashing directly into a solid wooden door immediately at the bottom. Womanofdulwich makes an interesting point re stairgates and other people's children. If for example the stairs in question are for common access to the living space, not just up to bedrooms, and you're quite keen to have lots of playdates at yours, then this could be an issue. In which case, if you decide not to gate the main stairs in question, could you still use a temporary gate elsewhere in the living space for visitors' children? What different types of stairgates have you looked at? Some are much, much easier to open than others. So, an older child could actually open the stairgate for you if you were carrying e.g. a younger sibling, if you think this would be a future issue. Plus a stairgate might not need as much DIY as you think, if it's really the right gate for the space. Or, would your landlord be able to meet you half way on the cost? Afterall, it's to his advantage to have a family friendly rental space in our current demographic.

Pain usu on the left side after eating... and your GP doesn't want to investigate for an ulcer? It sounds like symptoms of an upper GI ulcer. It could also be irritation in the spleen, or just even just something as simple as a food tolerance. I'd go back and see a GP again, and push for further investigation. Because the pain you describe is severe, I would think the least a GP should do is ask for an H-Pylori test, FoB, and full blood count... just off the top of my head, though I'm not a GP, but these are very basic tests. Also, even if H-pylori test is negative, it doesn't nec mean that there isn't an ulcer. It just means that if there is an ulcer, it's not associated with the common bacteria H-pylori. In which case you might still find a PPI like omeprazole to help your symptoms. On the hand, if it is the early stages of IBS, or even just an acutely irritated bowl (not nec IBS), Colpermin should help. The drawback is that if it's an ulcer, Colpermin can irritate the ulcer, so you'd want to rule that out first, in my experience. xx

How steep are the stairs? Are they carpeted? How long a flight of stairs is it? How bad would a fall from the top be? Could you put a fixed-frame style stairgate part way up the flight of stairs? Is the priority to keep Little One from climbing up, or from tumbling down? xx

Haha, I can see it now... suds creaping out across the floor and under the dining room door just as the mother-in-law sits down to Sunday dinner! I've washed our large, long-haired style sheepskin several times. I've used about 2-3 tablespoons full of gentle shampoo, and then about 1/4 to 1/3 the amount of fabric conditioner I would for a regular wash. Then I dry it on a large radiator, or hang outside if sunny. The only problem is that the hair comes out curly when you wash it! When it's dry, a fine tooth combing restores the straight "plush" look to the hair. Alternatively, I guess you could brush and blowdry it when it's wet?! I've also washed leather riding boots, suede climbing shoes, and Ugg-style sheepy boots in the washing maching using this method (minus the blowdry, of course!) Re saddle soap on general use leather... is it not recommended b/c traditional saddle soaps are actually alkaline-based leather conditioners, rather than leather cleaners? I think modern saddle soaps are neutral glycerin-based cleaers and conditioners in one. I guess my point is that not all saddle soaps are the same thing, so best to read the label. Trying to remember what we cleaned saddles with when I was a trail leader many years ago. I seem to recall we had a special sort of rubbery sponge that you used dry on the leather to remove dirt from the surface and for general cleaning. Then a conditioner what applied separately. It was a spray, so not your traditional saddle soap then either. Hmm.

The Minkey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Um no - I don't think shampoo and washing machines > make good partners. Off to have a google. I use shampoo --just a little-- in my washing machine with my sheepskin, and it's fine. xx

Haven't tried this personally, but it looks helpful. It's an online calculator for converting from conventional to convection (fan) oven: http://convection-calculator.com/ Ah but you still have to do the conversion from F to C... see here: http://onlineconversion.com/ Or more specifically here... http://onlineconversion.com/cooking.htm

Yes, I also thought the problem might be oven temp. Get a thermometer to check your oven. Brownies need an exact and very consistent temp. And don't open the oven while baking. If you absolutely must open the even to check, let at least 3/4 of your total baking time have passed before you do so. Otherwise, what are you using for levening? Double check that everything is within its 'use by' date, and let the mixture come to room temp before placing in the oven. If your brownies fell in the middle and didn't look as nice as you wanted, try icing them with mascarpone to even-up the surface, then dust with cinnamon, cocoa powder, confectioners sugar. xx

Spray point will likely crack with time. Have you asked about a professional restoration? Otherwise, what about using a leather conditioner on the handbag? The grayish appearance may be b/c the leather is dry. A leather conditioner would improve this. To the OP, how did your chairs turn out? What method did you use?

helena handbasket Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yikes! According to the height calculator, my son > (who was 36" at 27 months) would end up being 90 > inches! That's 7.5 feet! Somehow I don't see > that happening. Haha, that's crazy! But possible, I guess. Although using the old-wives trick of doubling the height at 2.5 for boys (assuming he doesn't grow much more before 2.5 yrs), he'd be around 6 ft, which seems more reasonable. Yes, still a mystery. Let's all meet up in 20 years and compare how they turned out?! :)

Yup, I second that, F! GPs and paediatricians I've spoken to about it have pretty much said that we can throw the charts out the window, as far as parents are concerned. Charts are really more for tracking population trends, or as you say, monitoring the occasional serious problem in an individual. Sanity girl, I wish we had done what you did, no weigh-ins. If we ever have another, I'll do that too. I don't know of any studies that look at individuals as individuals. The all seem to track populations from a public health view. Would be interesting to read if there are any out there.

Wow, madmum, bravo to your mother for going in guns blazing! But equally bravo to you too, susyp, for not responding at all. Dignified silence is good sometimes. Probably the worst thing you can do is get drawn into an argument that you can't win b/c the other person is obviously not of sound mind. The other parent was way out of line from what you posted. It sounds like you're doing all the right things. Try not to let it get you down. xx

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/Development > -Babys-first-year-Height-and-growth--Whats-normal- > and-whats-not+3300+212+article.htm These height calculators are interesting, but are they only really accurate if your child falls within an overall average height range in the population? I mean, do these calculations assume that the child's height is a relative (to gender) average of parents' heights. Genetics don't necessarily work that way. The child can disporportionately inherit genes for the height of one parent rather than the other, no? In which case, if that parent is very tall (or short), the child's height will not be a straight average of the two. And what about the effects of recessive genes? The old-wives saying for height is that you take the height (for girls) at 2 yr and double it (2.5 for boys b/c they have their teen growth spurt later than girls). This is an estimate +/-2 inches for adult height. The growth calculators put my daughter's estimated height around the same as mine: 5'6". The old-wives method estimates her to be no less than 5'10". She was already in a size 7 shoe at 2 yr, and clearly to us she takes after my husband physically (6'1"), I'm sooo curious to see one day how tall she really will be! Edited to say... this site is great if you need help converting height, weight, etc between metric and conventional: http://onlineconversion.com/

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/birthtofive/Pages/Yourc > hildsweightandheight.aspx From the article, "Weight: Usually, weight gain is quickest in the first six to nine months. It gradually slows down as children move into the toddler years." Hmm, that's interesting. Are they drawing their conclusions from a population of mixed-fed babies, I wonder? Because, in my experience, many exclusively breastfed babies have very slow weight gain in the first 6 months. Sometimes I think these blanket statements can be a little misleading and cause b/fing mothers to feel doubtful of their babies' growth. I guess it just shows how deeply formula feeding has become part of baby culture, that the article doesn't even say if this is or isn't different. I'm not opposed to formula feeding, but I do think there needs to be better education --even in the medical community-- of the differences in weight gain in the first year.

Does the medicine say it's to be taken on an empty stomach? Otherwise, it's just going to mix with food in the stomach surely, so mixing with milk or juice in the bottle wouldn't appear to be an issue. Ask a pharmacist if you can't reach anyone in the GP's office. We had a similar situation with Little Saff not taking Calpol. I used 0.5 mL plastic eye-dropper with a rubber squeeze bulb. As ridiculous as it sounds, I gave her the entire 5 mL dose of Calpol in 0.5 mL increments over the course of 15 min with little sips of milk inbetween. Half a mL seemed to go down without much thought to swallowing, and it wasn't enough really to spit out either. With the 5 mL syringe, the problem seemed to be that she didn't like the arrival of a large amount of strange tasting goop in her mouth, which she then had to deliberatly swallow. Crazy, but true. I guess it just goes to show how parents will try anything to get the meds in their child! As for getting meds down our grumpy cat? ...well that's a whole other story...

jennifaah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > its a nice place, but the cafe is really small > though! It think TDLP received special funding -- innovation in business grant or some such? I heard that their location might not be permanent. I guess if the business is successful, they would look for a better space. Maybe worth asking next time you drop by? On Saturday mornings TDLP also has a stand at the Brockley Market (green produce, baked goods, seasonals etc in the Lewisham College carpark, intersection of Tressillian and Lewisham Way). It's ?2.50 for an art & craft session usu with story telling at the TDLP stand. Take the 484 bus from Nunhead and alight at Tressillian. It's a 3 min walk up the road. Also plenty of onsite parking.

Alan Medic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > DONT use saddle soap. Why not? Just curious.

Alan Medic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > DONT use saddle soap. Why not? Just curious.

Yes, it's fine physically as far as the MMR goes, although I wouldn't take her if you think her cold could still be contageous. Otherwise it's just down to your judgement, whether you think the office visit will be particularly upsetting for your little one while she is feeling a bit grotty still. I would do whatever would create the least stress. xx

So sorry to hear you wainted for ages in A&E and didn't manage to be seen by a senior physician, but it's good that you are able to speak with a physician you know in Italy. From personal experience, I've known people to have the most benefit from omeprazole, but ranitidine has a not dissimilar mechanism of action, in that they both decrease acid production in the stomach by acting mainly on specific pharmacological targets in the upper gastrointestinal system. Whereas, antacids work by buffering the stomach pH once the acid has already been produced, so only best effective for occasion reflux. Domperidone hits more pharmacological targets outside the GI system, so it has the potential to have more side-effects outside the GI system too. I totally agree with Buggie, that Baby needs to be assessed thoroughly to exclude any other possible problems. I hope you're able to see a specialist soon, so things can get better for you and Baby. xx

Is there any update on this?