Saffron

Good luck, Specklemum! Gentle sleep solutions can take a while to produce results, but once established they're less likely to have rebound effects. There's no perfect sleep solution of course, but at least you have a lot of support and sympathy from Forumites. xx

There's an 'opt out' of sex education on religious grounds in state-funded schools?!?

Please have a look at Debbie Howard's touching film project 'Still Born, Still Loved', a feature length documentary currently in post-production. http://bigbuddhafilms.co.uk/films/documentary/still-born-still-loved/ xxx

For what age baby/child? Dream tubes might be better than a bed guard. Otherwise any adjustable bed guard should be fine.

It was the milk to water fade, with some shush-patting that got us down from 5+ night wakings/frequent night feeds, to around 2 wakings. This was at a similar age to your LO. I was breastfeeding, but my LO would take a bottle during the night just fine. xx

I used some of the tips from the 'No Cry' book. Success was mixed, either helped or made no difference at least. I also got some tips from 'The Good Sleep Guide', mainly the milk to water fade for nighttime feeds I think. Some children just aren't great sleepers. The main thing is to be realistic about what helps and what makes it worse. I eventually went back to cosleeping because at least that way I actually got some sleep. Also be realistic about what normal baby sleep is, and the time scale it will take to change it - especially for difficult sleepers. Probably 6-12 weeks for any for any 'permanent' improvement. Avoid smug sleep parents like the plague. They have no idea what you're enduring. And try to congratulate yourself on the smallest progress. You've earned it. xx

Contact the animal charities directly, such as RSPCA. Even if you are not able to foster animals, you can help by donating money or towels/blankets etc. Many animal charities are helping with flood support and rescue. I'm sure they'd be grateful of any help you can give. Xx

Oh dear, that's very unfortunate! :-( Report it to the council?

I've had adult acne, sometimes better/worse. The best treatment I've ever had was IPL (intense pulsed light) at The Private Clinic on Harley Street. This made my skin worse for about a month, then REALLY fabulous for about 2 years! (You may need multiple treatments if your acne is severe. I had moderate acne, 2 or 3 treatments.) I've also had pixel laser treatment, but I thought it was better at treating early signs of UV damage than acne (and it's WAY more expensive). I had pregnancy acne too, but it cleared up after the first trimester. Have you ever used Proactive products? These use glycolic acid which both gentler and more effective against acne. It's a US brand, but you'd be able to buy it online. They have a UK website: https://www.proactiv.co.uk/?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=proactiv%2Bacne&utm_campaign=Brand%2BOffers.

Keep track of all the time it is taking you to sort this problem. Bill the nursery for it. Then threaten them with legal action when they don't pay!

This was my post on a preveious thread ( http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1029682,1030624#msg-1030624 )about talking to children about death: Since I wrote this, one of our cats also died, young and quite suddenly. Like Pickle, I've taken the honest appraoch, because old age and illness isn't always the reason for death. But it's also important for children to understand that people will die when they're very old because we all die. My father-in-law died when Little Saff was 1 yo, and we've always spoken openly and honestly about it. This has worked for us, but of course everyone is different. Life and death are all around us in nature. Maybe that's a place to start? Animals and plants in our parks and gardens live, grow, and die in tangible ways that children see and understand. xx

Well said VALFR59!

Surely part of good pest control contract should be that the contractor returns to collect the carcass of the squirrel?!

Add to that: 'Natural' agave 'nectar'--> Refined from the agave root, contains more high fructose content than some other refined sugars! Yuck. Suggest ways to politely decline from my over-enthusiastic hippy type friends, for a spoonful of plain ol' golden granulated?

My daughter has been at the Montessori nursery near Waterloo for about 1.5 years. She loves it, as do I. http://stpatricksnursery.com/

Alternating mornings and evenings. I couldn't make this one. Hope to see you at the next! xx

Vaccines are a pharmaceutical product. Like all pharmaceutical products they carry a risk. Equally, infection with M/M/R pathogens carry risks. So for children who were not vaccinated, their diminished risk of infection with M/M/R is due to the successful vaccination of the majority of other children. As a parent we each have to weigh up those possible risks, and decide which hazard to accept. That's an individual choice in the UK, and the majority of parents do choose to vaccinate because the preponderance of the preclinical, clinical, and epidemiological evidence suggests that vaccination presents a lower hazard than non-vaccination. For people who believe in the 'optimal health' scenario, where optimal health supposedly defends against infection, or severity of infection, take note that not only does optimal health not prevent infection, there are documented cases of optimal health making infections worse. For example, the flu pandemic of 1918 was notable in being a form of the virus which activated the body's own immune cells against the body itself. This meant that very healthy people with strong immune systems were worse hit and more likely to have died. This virus killed young, healthy people. Also the varicella virus can lead to encephalitis in healthy children, where the immune system again turns on itself in healthy people. There is currently no credible documented link between MMR and autism, but there are known significant complications from infections with any of these pathogens themselves. Regarding the previous posts on court cases purporting to show that a legal contextual link has been made between vaccines and autism, the linked websites presenting these cases are biased. You need to read the actual court documents themselves to understand the context in which the rulings were made. These court cases do not actually demonstrate the development of autism following vaccination with the MMR. By vaccinating your child, you not only protect them from the major risk of infection with M/M/R pathogens, you choose to participate in a social system that protects children who cannot be vaccinated due to age or serious medical conditions. By not vaccinating your child, you protect them from the very small risk of vaccine-associated side-effects, but you also choose NOT to participate in a social system that helps others who are unable to be vaccinated. For anyone who simply doesn't believe in herd immunity, or transmission of disease by unvaccinated children, there's probably very little that can be said or written to change their minds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance xx

South London Travel Centre was recommended in a recent thread. Looks like their prices are fairly reasonable. http://www.yourtravelclinic.co.uk/SouthLondonTravelCentre.php

Yes, there is a shingles vaccine. I think it's currently only available on the NHS if you're 70 or 79: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/shingles-vaccine-questions-and-answers.aspx. However, you could pay to have it at a private clinic. xx

Convex Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks everyone. The go just said they don't do > it, perhaps I will go in and ask rather than over > the phone. > > We want to vaccinate anyway for various reasons > but with 2nd baby on the way and an upcoming > family event happening soon I wanted to get it > done quickly. > > I will look into the above re herd immunity > though, I had thought a vaccination and booster > gave the same immunity as having had it, if that's > not the case then maybe not such a good idea. Read the CDC webpages for more info: http://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/vaccination.html 2 doses of the vaccine are 99% effective at preventing CP infection. Also, if you've already been exposed, you can get the vaccine within 3-5 days of exposure to significantly reduce your likelihood of infection, or minimise the severity of infection. My daughter had her first injection through the private walk-in centre near Charring Cross, but they no longer have a paeds consultant. So we'll have to get her second somewhere else. Interested to know where others are having it done? My understanding was that NHS GPs won't do it unless there is a specific underlying reason for it.

Strawbs Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I enquired about it actually with the immunisation > nurse at my GP and she said the same as devsdev > said, that it would require a booster and as the > country doesnt vaccinate as a rule (unlike > Australia where I am from) that the child then > wont be protected later on in life as there is no > 'herd immunity' so I would imagine it would a case > of getting regular boosters and hoping it isnt > contracted in between. Other than that sorry i > have no idea, I think you can google private > places in town somewhere that will do it for you. > x This is also not quite correct. The vaccine does indeed require boosters. However, when given correctly boosters DO prevent contracting CP. In clinical practice, (current understanding of this last time I looked into it) CP vaccine is given initially as 2 injections 1-3 years apart, which is 99% effective at preventing CP. Experimental data suggests this could be followed by a booster in the teens, one in adulthood, and one old age, depending on population dynamics. Having had CP in the past does not necessarily provide lifetime immunity. There are many documented cases of individuals having CP more than once. It is thought there is a genetic susceptibility to this, though I haven't yet heard of this being associated with a specific set of genes. Also having had CP in the past mean that you're susceptible to shingles later in life, which you'd need to be vaccinated for anyway.

devsdev Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Apprently it's not very useful in the UK because > it's not part of the general immunisation > programme. As such there is no "herd immunity" > which makes having the vaccine less effective - > had asked the nurse when I went for the MMR > booster. Obviously you may have other reasons for > getting it, so please ignore me if so! That information is not correct. Low uptake of the varicella vaccine for CP in the UK does indeed affect disease transmission (ie herd immunity). However, this is in no way related to the potency of the vaccine. Varicella vaccine is a potent immunisation against CP. It is not currently part to the UK childhood immunisation program for a variety of social and economic reasons, not because it is less effective here than elsewhere. xx

This company lets you customise your bag, and they ship internationally: http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/. They specialise in messenger bags. Between DH and myself we've destroyed several bags from various companies over the years, including changing bags. After ~10 years, my Timbuk2 bag is still in great condition. I really recommend this company for durable bags!

I doubt these would be accepted by any major international charity, though you might try checking with the Red Cross directly: http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-Now/Donation-enquiries/Donating-medical-items Otherwise, try online forum boards for people who suffer from the illness(es) for which these items were originally supplied? You might find this site useful as well for some smaller charities that might take medicines: http://www.howtodothings.com/health-fitness/how-to-donate-unused-medicine Note that if the medicines were originally prescribed through a GP, then you may need them to be donated through the GP rather than yourself. And donations have to comply with not only British laws but those in the country to which they will ultimately be supplied. Hope that helps. xx

Yawn.