Saffron

Might depend on how much work your cleaner or babysitter does. Looking after Little Saff for a couple hours is pretty easy, and I wouldn't expect the sitter to do any particular cleaning. A couple of hours of cleaning our house is REALLY hard work.

Bleach will certainly kill the mould/bacteria, but it doesn't dissovle oils. It can't lift off bathscum the mould is growing on, even though it can kill the mould. And not all mould stains are 100% removed by chlorine, although it may prevent some regrowth. In general, moulds are very tenacious. Even with squeezing out the water, some toys still seemed prone to mould. :(

Holes in bath toys... seems like a good idea at first. The holes should let the water out, but they're never big enough to drain properly. Grrrr. Little Saff has recently discovered that her stacking cups are fun in the bath. These are great as they can actually go in the dishwasher. 99% of common moulds are not harmful, but I still don't want them in my bath! xx

I really struggled with this with Little Saff, and I never could tell the difference in her cries... maybe there wasn't any? I mean, everything was pain or discomfort to her. Hungry=pain, tired=pain, frustrated=pain, scared=pain, etc. She never had just a grumble or a fuss. Everything that was worth crying about seemed to tip her straight into full on screams (thankfully easily calmed by cuddles and booby). If figures she's turning into a proper little drama queen as a toddler. I might have to start calling her Little Diva.

When Little Saff was a few weeks old (in addition to all the other painful breastfeeding problems we had), she once got attached to my areola instead of centred on the nipple. She gave me such a painful and long-lasting hicky, the only thing I can compare it too is a cigarette burn! Thankfully things are much better these days :) x

I really wanted to find out the baby's sex. Hubby didn't. At the scan, we flipped a coin. Heads to find out, tails to wait. It was heads, I won :) We found out our baby was a girl. The technician seemed very certain, but still we always reminded ourselves of the possibility of the scan being wrong. A midwife told me that some parents who think they know the baby's sex, only to discover that it is the opposite, then go on to grieve for the 'lost' sex. This can make it hard to bond with the new baby. I really think though that this was more the case in years past when scan quality was not as high as it is now. But still it's food for thought. (Obviously it didn't change my mind though. And I'm glad I won the coin toss!!) xx

I clean Little Saff's bath toys by putting them in a bucket of warm watter with a dozen extra strength deture tablets. I rinse them in warm water, and repeat for the ones that look really grotty. If that doesn't get it, I throw them out. Someone gave us bath toys that have holes in them. I've thrown out most of these. I'm now more careful about only putting things in her bath that I can really get clean. You can also try putting them in the dishwasher, but some toys will just mould over and over again. xx

Yes, I looked into this too. It is indeed true. There have been a couple of situations where we took a taxi with Little Saff just belted into the middle back seat as best we could. Little Saff is very tall for a toddler, so it was ok. Not ideal, but it was alright for a short low-speed journey. (Not in a hurry to get caught in this situation again though!)

nunheadmum Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > And there's a cafe by the > community centre too - but never actually been > there. Loads of parking. Not a massive > playground but the slide is a bit different for a > change and the one o'clock always has plenty of > cars/bikes/scooters etc out. > The cafe by the community centre is lovely. They are child-friendly, but they do have a 'queit day' on Fridays. Can't say I think much of the 1 o'clock club at Telegraph Hill though. The only time I have ever been there, the staff were extremely rude, didn't say hello, and shouted at me when I accidentally parked my buggy in the wrong place! Not to mention it was fairly dirty inside as well... That was a while back, maybe things have changed. Dunno. Crystal Palace gets my vote for its 1 o'clock club. Much nicer.

Oh that sounds interesting! Where can I buy one? xx

What's a good first clock for a toddler? Does a 'bunny clock' really help them grasp the idea, or is it just an expensive nightlight? I've been thinking about getting something like this for Little Saff when we transition from cot to junior bed later this year.

It's making the rounds on FaceBook too!

Hilly Fields in Brockley, or Ladywell Fields in Ladywell... We live close to both, happy to meet up and have you over to ours for tea and bicuits. We're around most afternoons. Little Saff and I are joining friends at Crystal Palace one o'clock club Monday morning around 10:30am... I'm the *really* tired looking blonde with hugly outgoing 1 yo daughter. xx

If your LO is mainly breastfed with just the occasional bottle of formula, there is really no cause for concern. I agree with what others have said here. Unless the poo is hard/dry, baby is not constipated. There just isn't a lot of waste produced from breastmilk. The straining and grunting is normal too. Baby's digestion and elimination system has been 'quiet' for 9 months, so there are going to be some growing pains as the stomach and intestines adjust to life outside the womb. If the discomfort seems to accompany flatulance and poo, it's actually a good sign that the system is working. xx

Oh very interesting! Would like to know more about that.

supergolden88 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I did not mean he took less EBM because he was > satisfied with less. Rather he took less because > he realised - wait a minute I get that from a > boob! > We had that too sometimes with Little Saff, but only if it was me giving her the bottle. She was quite happy to have a bottle Daddy. She once had 12 oz of EBM in 3 hours! While I was out late one afternoon, Little Saff was grumpy, so hubby kept giving her milk until she was swimming in it. I think that was around 5 months. Sorry that's not more helpful. I guess every baby is different. And if you're mixing breast and bottle feeds, it's tough to know how much is enough sometimes. About 5 oz per feed sounds pretty reasonable to me. Think about it in terms of how much liquid milk your body could produce at a given interval. xx

@ Fuschia HRT treatments are constantly changing and improving. By the time you reach menopause, there may be a form of HRT that would be viable for you. Don't feel like you have to block it off completely as an option until you've reviewed what's available in the future. @ intexasatthe moment I'm all for crossing bridges when I come to them too... but I do like to know which bridges and what river! Longsighted...my tragic character flaw. :) xx

Not all HRT is created equally, just like not all birthcontrol pills are the same. My mother had a kind of stop-and-start menopause (not uncommon) in her 50s, then a uterectomy (leaves the ovaries), then a full menopause. For a while she was taking full HRT, but she got this attitude like 'I don't need those things'. So she stopped taking the full HRT. After that she noticed that her hair started falling out! She also developed very sensitive skin and other allergy conditions. She started on HRT again, but this time at a lower dose (different hormone combination also maybe? can't rem). Everything got a lot better after that. Over about a 6 years she has tapered off the HRT at her own pace. She is now 70 and feels fine. I believe HRT has gotten a bad reputation. For many women HRT can be hugely beneficial physically and can also give them some control over when and how their bodies change. I do believe in growing old gracefully. But I don't belive that means you have to be bald and brittle-boned at 65! For me this is a chapter in my life that I hope not to be writing for many years to come, but you can never tell what the future holds. My friend has just beaten breast cancer only to be told the chemotherapy sent her into early menopause.

I have a nappy cover for swimming that Little Saff has outgrown. You're welcome to it. I'll PM you details. x

supergolden88 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Funnily enough when the bottle > contains just breast milk he takes mucg less than > when it contains formula or a mix. > > I just read the formula recommendation is for > 210ml for each feed and 5 feeds a day at four > months. He takes nowhere near that much from a > bottle and I cannot believe he manages that much > breastfeeding Breastmilk is generally more nutrient/Calorie dense than formula milk. It would make sense that he would be satisfied with less breastmilk compared to formula. We started offering Little Saff a few regular bottles of formula milk around 6 months, and I was never sure how much to offer either. Sometimes she would glug it in one. Sometimes she would prefer the breast instead. She is generally a 'go with the flow' baby, so in the end that's what we did. xx

When I was expressing milk, I found the MotherLove herbal products were really helpful to increase letdown. I think this is the one I used: http://www.motherlove.com/product/3302-More-Milk-Plus-Alcohol-Free.html xx

Gomukhasana ('cow face pose') in the morning and before bed really helps. Try just 30 sec on each side. Hold the pose a few seconds longer every time you do it. You might also find that although you blame your poor posture for your back pain, this may be entirely backwards. Your posture may be poor *because* you have back pain which is not your fault at all. It's not at all uncommon for your spine and pelvis to become misaligned during pregnancy. Even a small misalignment can cause you a lot of pain. You may not be able to see it for yourself, but a good massage therapist or osteopath will be able to identify and correct it. xx

The consultant at King's told hubby and me breastfed babies are never truly constipated. He also said the same baby could one day do for example 7 poos, then no poo for 7 days, and this is totally normal. Our poo-free record was 16 days. Then one Saturday afternoon I could hear hubby running down the hallway shouting, 'Get a bucket-- she's doing a poo!' Also, I could tell when a 'poo day' was approaching b/c when Little Saff was b/fing she would get really squirmy, kicking her legs and pumping her arms. As far as wet nappies, we were told to expect 8-10/day, but Little Saff only ever did around 6 wet nappies a day, and this is normal too. xx

My daughter loved a pint-sized milk jug, rinsed and filled with dried peas. Different sized peas/beans make different noises. Bigger beans = more noise. The little handle on the milk jug is just the right size for babies. You can try different types of bottles too. I had a clear plastic soap bottle filled with red and white beans that was a big hit with Little Saff at that age. xx

matlow Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Creams can contain preservatives which can > irritate eczema. That is so true! I was really surprised to see that alot of creams for dry skin/eczema/etc contain SLS and/or parabens!!