ladyruskin

We've just returned from Paris where we saw one of these: http://www.bestbuggy.co.uk/category/single/babyzen-yoyo/ We were on a river boat tour and they managed to push it along a rather narrow aisle. It folded flat in 2 easy steps and was so compact when folded it fitted under a seat. It even comes with a shoulder strap for carrying. It looked amazing and if we didn't already have 3 pushchairs of varying styles I would be ordering one pronto!

What about a theatre matinee if that's your sort of thing?

We were at the nhs clinic so weren't paying. That's my objection. She was supporting at the nhs clinic so I didn't see her privately. If we have another baby with tongue tie we will go privately, so I'd be interested to hear your experiences. Good luck with it all. It made such a difference for us once it was done.

She's called Katie/Katherine Fisher. I first encountered her at the kings TT clinic 18months ago where she assists. I was in a similar situation to you and had been told by the surgeon that they wouldn't perform the procedure as my son's tongue had good flexibility and we shouldn't be having problems. I ended up sitting in the recovery room sobbing uncontrollably whilst feeding my so and Katie Fisher have me a URL to her own website saying 'this woman has some good advice if you download her 'a problem free feed' leaflet'. I had to pay to download it (she also has a helpline at ?1.23/min) and still ended up back at the TT clinic where my son was diagnosed with a double tounge tie and operated on immediately. I am highly dubious of the ethics surrounding the whole clinic, especially as one of the lactation consultants seems to be making money out of it! I spoke to a midwife from another district and they check all babies for TT immediately on birth and treat there & then. There are no ridiculous '2 referral from breastfeeding clinics' process. It took me 12 weeks in total to get everything sorted with my son. I imagine a lot of women would give up breastfeeding in this time because of the pain and then feel guilty because of all the pressure from the health service to breastfeed for as long as possible! Sorry for the rant but I feel very strongly about this after my experiences. Go private if you can afford it and save yourself all the effort of jumping through the hoops that kings put in front of you, but steer clear of Katie Fisher if you ask me!!

We are as close to those cash buyers as we can get. We've got a buyer, mortgage approved, 50% cash deposit. If we move to renting we lose our current mortgage deal which would make the whole thing unaffordable.

Any ideas why I can't log on to the forum using IE9? I enter my username & password, click on the button and the fields just go blank.

Thanks for the hints. We're trying not to lose heart. I delivered 94 hand-written letters last Tuesday. So far not a sausage. Will keep trying though. I just wonder where all these people are getting ?650k in cash from!!!

We have been pipped to the post on sealed bids by cash buyers several times now. Is there any hope of us getting a home for our family anywhere in south east London? Vendors seem to be hanging out for as much money as they can get and it's going crazy. We're doing everything right; we've got a buyer for our flat, mortgage agreed, massive cash deposit & I'm on first name terms with loads of local estate agents. We're even looking outside the catchment area of Charter school ;) Any other hints people an offer?

Our son has been at Under the Willow since early December, when he was 15 months old. We have been really pleased with the childcare provision and find the staff to all be very friendly & open. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to answer. I know they have currently got a problem with the catch on the main gate which they are looking in to. If you do visit and find it open or have difficulties closing it , please let them know.

I'd be interested know if anyone has found any good British (ie not American accents) educational apps for pre-schoolers...

It's our son's first birthday this weekend. With it being in late July we've planned a picnic to celebrate. Given the rain looks to continue does anyone have any ideas for an indoor location (our flat isn't big enough to fit everyone in!)? I am going to see if St Faiths can help us but with it being a Sunday I'm doubtful. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

We have found a childminder to look after our son when I return to work. She's lovely but she wants us to pay for 4 weeks holidays she takes off each year. Is this standard practice? I work in IT and contractors it that field are paid on a day rate but aren't paid for the days they don't work. As we're not employing the childminder directly (not paying her tax & NI for instance) are we really responsible for ensuring she has paid holidays? I know everyone is legally entitled to 4 weeks of paid holiday including bank holidays, but isn't she effectively self employed and therefore responsible for ensuring her day rate covers things like holidays & sickness? I'd appreciate other people's thoughts/experiences. Thanks in advance.

I return to work from Mat leave on 24th July working 3 days (Tue-Thu) and the childcare we had sorted out has just fallen through. Does anyone know of anyone who can help us out for one or all of these days? Ideally we'd like them to be based near Denmark Hill station as both my husband & I commute from there, but we're willing to travel further. If anyone can help or knows anyone who can please get in touch. I have already had one sleepless night and am feeling sick at the thought of going through the whole process again. I have already posted a 'Wanted' ad in the classified section but I am desperate for help! Thanks in advance.

We have some tins of soup that, whilst currently in date, are going to fester in our cupboard until they are out of date. I know it's too late for harvest festivals but are any schools or clubs that are collecting tins of food for charity or christmas hampers?

Thanks for the advice. I think I may give leaving him to settle himself a go. I tried that last night and managed to last for about 50 mins of grunts and shouts before giving in and feeding him. I am sorely tempted to put him in his own room, I do think I may be fussing more than I need to!

My son's sleep patterns have recently gone haywire and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to get him back on track. He used to have a feed at around 10:30-11 ish and then wake around 3:30 and 7 which was fantastic. Over the past week or so he has started cluster feeding through the night - either from midnight every 1.5 hours until 4 or more recently from 2:30 until 6:30 ish. I'm pretty sure he's not really hungry as he tends to bob on and off the boob during these feeds but I don't know why else he's waking. He has also gone from making half asleep hungry noises to being wide awake and very pleased to see me (hence the feeding as that gets him back to sleep)at these times. He turned 3 months on Sunday so I'm wondering if this sleep regression come early. He self-settles by sucking his thumb when he first goes down at 8pm but tends to fall asleep whilst feeding a lot. Could it be that he's relying on me to get hom back to sleep at night? He's still in our room and I'm a very light sleeper. Maybe he'd go back to sleep naturally if I didn't get him up to feed? Any suggestions would be welcome!!

We used this site for our baby:http://babyhunch.com/ our family and friends all thought it was a great idea.

My husband ended up bringing in a couple of camping mats to sleep on after 3 nights in the hospital chair. Not the most comfortable night's sleep but post c-section I found it invaluable having him there.

I can second the recommendation for Claire Kedves at King's. I have also encountered Katie Fisher at the Tongue Tie clinic and she has also been helpful.

I'd like to give NUK dummies a go with my baby. Does anyone know if I can buy them locally and if so where? I'm not sure we can wait for an Amazon delivery... Thanks!

I think the crossing has been moved in advance of the new station entrance which is going to be built on Champion Park later this year/early next.

I second The Help. It was well written and an easy read - I actually miss the characters.

I went for Aveda as it's somewhere I've been meaning to try for years. Will report back if you'd like :)

I'm afraid I can't make it as off to get my pre-bany hair do! Enjoy x

Yes Ruth it was The Fitting Studio. I went based on recommendations here and thought they were great. Not a tape measure in sight!