Saffron

Read the Baby Led Weaning book. My copy is on loan to another Forumite, but I'm sure you can borrow it when she's done. The library also has a copy. I believe historically, the reason baby foods are labelled "4 months" is that this is the youngest age the government would allow baby foods to be tested. Even if you don't choose to go down the BLW route, the BLW book is a short and informative read. It talks a lot about what signs to look for in weaning. Regardless of age, before you wean you need to look for signs that your baby is developmentally ready for solids. Giving solid food too early will not benefit a "hungry" baby b/c the intestine in not developed enough to properly absorb the food consumed. If your baby can sit up and hold a piece of food in her hand, then this is a good sign she is ready. Other signs include following you with her eyes when you eat, and moving her mouth when you chew. Some babies even reach for food off your plate. My daughter was just under 5 months old when she was sitting up in my lap and grabbed a banana from my hands. She could hold it herself and eat, so I let her. But I didn't start full weaning onto beef burgoignon! We just took it a day at a time. If there was something I was eating, like fruit or a breadcrust, that she could hold then she got a little. We worked our way up from there through the BLW process. It was so much fun! Happy weaning. Do get in touch if you'd like to borrow the BLW book. (Unlike the library, I won't charge late fees!)

When he has an accident do you do all the bum wiping for him? I've heard that at some stage it's helpful to get your toddler involved with wiping him/herself. We're not quite there yet, so I haven't tried this with our toddler yet. I just thought I'd throw it out there for you. I think the potty training threads are really helpful and interesting from a developmental perspective. They definitely show what a variety of personalities and developmental leaps are involved in learning. Actually some of my earliest memories (around 2.5 yrs) are of potty training, and they are really happy memories of learning independence.

Yes, minder, I totally agree, a minefield! I think that's what keeps the discussions going, not just on the ED forum, but also in the popular press. Hopefully the discussion also fuels people's desire to know and understand more, and in turn leads to more research on both the outcomes of immunising and of not immunising.

You can of course believe whatever you choose to believe. However, your comments about immunity show that you have no actual understanding of immunity or the immune system. You are legally entitled not to immunise your children, and I do respect that as your personal decision. However, your statements about immunity are quite wrong from a very basic scientific point of view. They are indeed your beliefs, and not at all statements of fact. It is widely recognised and published that immunisations, like any medication, are subject to side effects which can in rare cases be severe. I think that immunisations are important, though it's not one-size-fits all. I symapthize with any parent of a child who has suffered severe side effects from imms. Equally, I sympathize with parents of children who have suffered profound disability due to contracting an illness against which their child could have been vaccinated. If people feel the need to make decisions based on their "feelings", it is their choice to do so. But, to make a choice on feelings alone without understanding the facts is to make an uninformed choice. But even worse than that, to know that scientific information exists about the benefits of immunisation, and to choose to disregard/disbelieve it, is as irresponsible as those who chose to disregard/disbelieve information about vaccine side effects.

Yes, baby hammocks are brilliant. We also had the Amby.

TE44 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Natural > immunity has no time limit That statement is not correct. Natural immunity does changes with time. In addition, the "lifespan" of immunisation is different for different imms, with some losing only minimal seroconversion over a lifetime.

http://www2.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/AvenueOfSail.aspx

Yes fenugreek is good for b/fing, and babies can have fenugreek infusion too. Coincidentally fenugreek is also good for digestion because it increases secretions in general (which is why it helps w secretion of breastmilk). You might also try prune juice diluted with water. This works really well for digestion. Definitely don't stop b/fing if you and Baby are happy to continue. Breastmilk is v good for digestion, and the formulated milk is much more likely to cause digetive changes. Digestive upsets can also be viral or related to intestinal development. As others said, see the GP/HV to put you mind at ease. xx

Yes, works with egg whites, but texture is a little different.

Yes, suspected that might be the case. Hmm plus the weather.

One Sweet World Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There's a free, child-friendly event on Sunday 3rd > at the Old Royal Naval College. > http://www.ornc.org/events/detail/the-big-jubilee- > lunch. My plan is to escape into Greenwich park if > it all gets too much! This looks like fun, but Husband asks if the Queen's portion of the flotilla is coming past Greenwich, or will her ship go only as far as Tower Bridge? He's quite keen to see her with the flotilla, and I'm not sure if she herself is coming past Greenwich?

Here is another interesting read,on vaccine safety in general and the surveillance of rare and serious side effects. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110525/full/473436a.html Here once again, dear forumites, as I posted previously note my use of the word "interesting". I'm not actually saying by this post what decision is right or wrong for you on this complex issue, so please don't lump me in with vaccine "nuts", and I'm definitely not scaremongering. I just wanted to make that clear. From the link:

I seem to recall it's about 0.5 to 1.0 hour before the expected awakening, but I don't know if there are age-related differences etc. Try googling "wake to sleep" there is a lot of info online.

RE bad reactions to the MMR... do/don't with the 2nd jab. I just wondered if anyone in this scenario had considered having a blood test for the child to determine how high the seroconversion to the 1st MMR was? My understanding from the current scientific lit is that the 2nd MMR is not a booster, as with other imms. It is instead intended to catch those children who did not sufficietnly seroconvert (ie, produce adequate antibody reaction) to the 1st MMR injection. This is not an insignificant number of individuals, therefore warranting by current public health guidelines a blanket admin of the 2nd MMR. If, however, your child had produced a fair immune response to the 1st MMR as measured by a blood test for seroconversion, then you might consider the 2nd as unnecessary. I have no idea how readily available or expensibe this test would be. It's just crossed my mind as a possibility. Pending the outcome of the bloodwork, you'd then have to decide what level of immunity you felt was ok. Eg, 40%, 60%, 80%?

I have also heard that wake to sleep is very successful. I think the understanding is that by going in before they awake and gently rousing them not quite to wakefulness, you can reset their sleep cycles. After about a week, this is supposed to yeild a stable new sleeping pattern, but you'd have to be able to take getting up at 4:30 in the morning everyday for a week! Good luck. I'd love to know what does/doesn't help. We have a notoriously difficult sleeper, and we're always trying different things with her.

prickle Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Vaccination is a public health issue and perhaps > we need to sacrifice some of our personal freedom > to choose for the sake of the benefit of society > as a whole? Indeed there is a precedent for it in the UK. Queen Victoria (Act of Parliament 1853) made compulsory the smallpox immunisation.

taper Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My response is to TE44 who is clearly trying to > resurrect the MMR/Autism scare on this forum by > linking through to a scare site. Saffron too > (JABs). Apologies, taper, but if you're lumping me in with "nutters" (re: JABS.org), you have entirely misread and misunderstood my post, and in so doing it misrepresents my intentions in posting. In case anyone else is unclear in a similar way, let me take this opportunity to clarify. I have never tried to scare anyone. I posted the link b/c I thought it was interesting. According to the definition of "interest", an item need not be right or wrong to be of interest. To be of interest it needs only to excite curiosity or attention and thus yield a state of wanting to know or learn more about the subject of interest. I highlighted the excerpt from Jabs.org as an example of information which is out of date in so far as UK immunisations are now concernd, to the best of my knowledge. I would strongly encourage people to read information very carefully and fully from all web sources, especially non-scietific sources, regarding any medical information, and not to jump to their own conclusions without reflecting on the information they have read. Reading this thread fully and completely, it will be abundently clear that I do not support scare tactics:

What is it with Barry Road, I wonder? We had a neighbour who wrote us nasty notes too, over really simple things she could just have spoken about to us. Maybe make a point of speaking to any of your neighbours when you pass them. Ask if it was their cat. Even if it wasn't, you can then assure them that yours was not the vehicle that hit it (in case they were ones who left the note!).

From the link above: One might wonder whether if these diseases reached a national epidemic proportion, if exemptions would be revoked on all but the most extreme grounds?

This currently is the case in some US school districts. Exeptions are only given under special circumstances. I'm not saying whether this is right or wrong, just noting that the practice does already exist. http://www.babycenter.com/404_can-a-daycare-center-or-school-require-me-to-have-my-child-v_70735.bc

I found this an interesting summary: http://www.jabs.org.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5599 Note, that in the US case(s), they're talking about thimerosal (mercury) in immunisations, which are no longer in use in the UK.

neilly1973 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > was your friend's teenager daughter ok after > getting mumps? Yes, thankfully she had an uncomplicated case of mumps, and after being profoundly ill for some time she has recovered completed. My mother had measels in ~1947, and she was not so lucky. The infection damaged her eyesight to such an extent that were her vision any worse, she would be registered blind. She was around 6 years old at the time. > > I think there is a lot of unnecessary fear around > the jabs and the illnesses - and part of it, like > with the being on time is to do with 'hitting the > numbers' as all GP surgeries are bonused on > hitting immunisation targets. The government is > very dependant on the funding they get from the > pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them. > If you are saying pharmaceutical companies fund the government for their compliance, I don't believe this is correct. Perhaps I have misunderstood the statement?

Last night, disaster. No nap all day, asleep by 7pm. Up in tears 3x between 7-9pm. Up for good at 10:30pm. Didn't go back to sleep until 1am!! I think we'll try to force a nap today, even if it's at 5:30pm. Yesterday I was crying, pulling a pillow over my head, shouting GO TO SLEEP! I'd rather she napped late and went to bed at 10:30, than kept me up till 1am. Plus she was up at 5:30 this morning asking for milk, since she was too tired to eat much of her early dinner last night. Please, please let this pass by summer's end. I have to start work in the autumn!!!

I think this is not a common side effect of the MMR, but if no fever probably nothing of concern. Please telephone NHS direct 0845 4647 and speak to a nurse to make sure. Our own experience was fairly typical in that my daughter had no discernible side effects from either immunisation. And I believe in general side effects, if present, are observed as being less after the 2nd dose of MMR. Could it be a coincidence? Both rotavirus and noravirus are making a re-emergence this spring. I would really speak with a nurse/GP to make sure. xx

Well that IS food for thought! Perhaps these are best for only small trampolines, so kids can't make too high a bounce on them? Plus you could have fitted crash mats around the trampoline over the decking, I suppose. Good point about the importance of netting on large trampolines, EDmummy. Hmmm, on second thought, maybe a nice wood burning hot tube instead of a trampoline?