candj

Yes I agree with day time naps being very important. I have noticed with mine that if they missed their nap or had a shorter than usual nap for whatever reason that their night time sleep was greatly affected. One would think that they would sleep better if they didn't sleep in the day but my two would fall asleep immediately and would be more restless during the night (causing us to have disturbed night of sleep).

We've used St. Thomas More hall for a party, but it's a very big and vacuous space if you don't have a lot of people. Also had a party upstairs at The Mag which worked very well as you can bring your own food and the owner, Steve, is very helpful and of course, the bar is just downstairs. We had a few entertainers as well in both places. We've been to ones at Peckham and Beckenham softplay, Gambados and they were perfectly fine, if only just a little manic because you have other children around. What a great idea to have it at the Marsden Road Wildlife Centre - would be perfect for a summer or warmish weather birthday.

Hi Sanity Girl, I think it's totally normal not to have many friends until they reach school age (4-5 years old). My eldest has one really good friend who happens to be a neighbour who always gets invited to birthdays, but we also end up inviting friends/neighbours of mummy and daddy who happened to have similar aged children. My youngest who will be three this summer is in the same situation as she has a few local friends but as we lived abroad hasn't the same amount as my eldest (although she thinks all her sister's friends are indeed her friends and talks about them as such). I also didn't do any NCT classes and the antenatal classes I took were all in Central London. I think a few friends for a third birthday party is perfectly acceptable and your daughter will be thrilled anyway. Just wait until she starts reception and the season of birthday parties/after school play dates begin as she'll have more friends than you'll know what to do with (or want to deal with)! Hope this helps! -C btw, congratulations on news of your second!

I too don't want to jinx anything but my two (5 and a bit and 2 1/2) have both slept very well. The first one we implemented the, whisper it, GF schedule for sleep at 6 weeks and she took to it like a dream. With my second I was a bit more lax and she eventually fell into a pattern at 2-3 months or so and was a great sleeper, as well. They both also really like their naps as my youngest still takes one from 1-3pm like clockwork everyday. With both, we woke them up for the dream feed at 10.30 - husband would give them a bottle while I expressed as it was just faster and they immediately went back to sleep. We stopped the dream feed when they were well established on solids at around 7-8 months old. With our two I think they just liked the routine. It was something they were used to and we have a whole bedtime ritual we go through with teeth brushing, bath, getting into pyjamas, stories, getting into sleeping bag (younger one) and milk at bedtime (when they were younger). We even do this routine on airplanes and it works brilliantly to get them to sleep. Hope this helps and good luck with your little one.

Molly, tell hubby he can do some washing then drying in ours if he needs a demo or is not convinced. Anyhoo, as he's been away tell him YOU deserve it! ;) Saw the Miele on John Lewis website for ?1299 so a little less than ?1400. Good luck with the persuading. -C x

We too bought ours from backinaction and had it delivered the next day. You can get any colour you want on their website.

This thread is hilarious as we are all such experts with washing machines! Makes me want to start a thread about dishwashers...

Hi Beec, to answer your question, we usually stay in a hotel in Central when we go to HK because it's close to friends, husband's clients, and we've always stayed there even before children. We too had wee ones at one point or another and our hotel was very good with children (as is all of HK and China for that matter) offering to make veg/fruit purees and also cleared out the minibar for us so that we could stock it with groceries for the kids. Also, congee (rice porridge) is great for children at that age and you can find everywhere. You just have to ask but I think all hotels are very helpful with accommodating and catering for children. If you still want a service apartment recommendation I could ask so let me know. And just as a FYI, summer is very hot and humid and indoors can be absolutely freezing with the a/c on full blast so pack things like cardigans for your little one. Phillyboy - Disco Bay is fabulous with children with the beach and lots of playgroups and other children around. Should you move there, make sure you get the yearly pass for Disneyland frightening as it sounds but you'll probably use it - we don't even live there and I wish we got them for all the times we've been there. Good luck.

Hi Molly, I can recommend the Miele washer/dryer combo (also from Peter Jones/John Lewis). As we discussed before ;-), we bought it last August to replace our dying Indesit washer/dryer (5-6 years old and no more warranty and on its last legs). The Miele was about 3 times the price, but have to say the bigger load capacity (9K) combined with the fact that I can hardly hear the machine when it's on is fab. Also the dryer actually dries in a shorter amount of time and the towels are fluffy as opposed to the Indesit which sort of steamed the clothes to death before it dried anything (also couldn't put too much in the dryer). Hope this helps - I'd say splurge! Good luck. C x

did you do a search? Edited to add link

Poor little thing is right! That would be awful to go through and sorry to hear this. I thought that Gambados had a no shoe policy on their soft play frame thing? Perhaps they should now! Best wishes for a speedy recovery to your little one.

Hi darlin' Sorry, I don't have experience with dying slings, per se, but have in the past dyed fabrics. I'd say that if it's stretchy, it would mean that the fabric has some kind of elastin in it which may or may not be great for a dye to take. Cotton alone is perfectly fine and easy to dye but any kind of synthetic material becomes a bit more difficult. Although you could keep dying it until it becomes dark grey or black if the fabric didn't take the first time. Hope that helps!?

Hi Millsa, One thing we did was give our eldest a little present from the new baby when she arrived. We gave it to her when she and my husband came to visit me in hospital and she was absolutely delighted seeing that the new arrival came bearing gifts and thus couldn't possibly be a threat! Also before the baby was born, we went out and chose a small something for her to give to the new baby. To this day my oldest daughter still talks about the gift her little sister gave her so it must have been okay for her. Also agree that books like Za Za's brother are great for children to grasp (if only a little) the concept of a new addition to the home. Congratulations and best of luck to you. -C

Sorry, we're going out for Valentine's day so I will be staying in tomorrow (can't put the kids through two nights in a row of having a babysitter!). Hope all those who do meet up have fun! Catch up with you all soonest. -C

Dreadful and on the eve of his mum's funeral.. RIP.

My two also had the swine flu jab last week (2 1/2 and 5 years old). Just a lump in both of their legs around the injection site, but other then that, nothing. Molly, our GP said they might be ill for 24-48 hours after the jab and said that a bit of Calpol should they be grizzly would be fine (as you're doing with the Calprofen). Fingers crossed baby C recovers soon. -C x

There's a dreadfully sad memorial somewhere near to Bromley/in Bromley (I was lost so didn't know where I was) with a load of stuffed teddy bears on two or three trees by the side of the road. I literally had tears in my eyes when I saw it the two times I passed it. They looked like they had been there for years. My husband had an eighteen year old cousin die in a tragic car accident in Ireland and his memorial by the side of the road is an actual headstone, a bit more permanent although he's not buried there. Sad indeed.

We moved back from Shanghai last summer... Not HK but we did fly to HK every month from Shanghai and know HK very well and have friends there. What would you like to know (schools, nannies, doctors, etc)? In fact, we're going to HK for the Easter half term and are you not going there that time as well? PM me if you want. Best, -C Sorry edited because my post sounded really obnoxious the first time!!

I don't think the chicken pox jab is enforced by law in the States either, but you do have the option of having it now. I know a few friends in the States who never got the jabs for their children. I too have heard that if you had a mild case of chicken pox, that you could get it again because your body hasn't built up an immunity with the first round. Eeeek.

Hi Newcomer, One more thing I wanted to say was that if you can, try to book a night flight. It's so much easier to try to keep to some sort of a schedule and get your little one to sleep during the night as they would at home (presuming you have a schedule at that young!!). Again, best of luck! Sorry if this has been mentioned as I didn't scroll through all the messages!

Thanks Helena! I didn't even think about Amazon as I just looked in all of our local card shops and all they had were the bigger normal sized cards, not the little wee ones for kids. Definitely next year we'll be up for this for the school friends. Oh and speaking of other holidays, we 'do' Halloween as well, carved pumpkins outside, spooky things on the windows and doors.... and so much candy your teeth will ache! It's all since having kids and I've noticed more and more people on our street doing it each year. I love it.

It is definitely a North American thing as I remember giving Valentine cards to my school friends - they came in huge bags and had silly, cheesy sayings, but fun for kids to give to one another. I actually looked for them here so my daughter could pass them out to her school friends, but no such luck!

Hello Newcomer, We flew with our eldest when she was 6 weeks old to Miami and it was most definitely the easiest time with children. You don't really need to see a doctor before as long as your baby isn't sick. I believe we delayed one set of jabs by a few weeks and it was perfectly fine. I don't believe you need any medical certificates, just the passport! We also always fly BA and I must say they are excellent with children. As you will tell them you have a newborn they will place you in the bulkhead where the bassinets fit. They also have a car seat that you can use which is brilliant for babies when they are awake. The carseat on the flight slots in the same place as where the bassinet does, so you can use one or the other, or change if you need to. The air hostesses were very helpful when we've flown so hopefully you'll have the same experience. Also, at that age, the white noise of the plane will be great for sleeping (both of you hopefully). I recommend one thing with the carryon luggage. Pack a smaller bag inside your carryon with the things you will need for baby changing (ie, nappies, changing pad, wipes, change of baby clothes or whatever you use) as it will be easier to bring that into the airplane loos rather than your big carryon. Some other things you might want to consider bringing are: -enough nappies for every hour of the trip (including car travel) -nappy wipes -disposable changing pads -plastic bags for poo clothing or other accidents -dummy if you use them =bottles and formula if you are not breast feeding (BA will be able to give you boiling water and you can mix it with bottled water to cool if need be) -a few changes of clothing for your baby AND yourself in case of accidents (my children have all pooed on me during newborn phase on tiny plane loos) -baby's blanket -a few baby toys but hopefully they will be asleep. -I also used to bring a small face towel just to have to wipe my little one's face -things you would pack for yourself, books, magazines etc. As everyone mentions the hardest part was getting the passports done quickly but you just present your ticket (eticket is fine) and they should rush the service. Tell them you need it urgently as you are travelling. I also believe that BA will tag your bugaboo and allow you to bring it to the gate. Just ask that when you land if they could bring it to the plane rather than to the baggage reclaim as it's much easier, they should be able to do that for you. In fact, you should just ask for any assistance as you are travelling by yourself and with a little one. And finally with regards to ear pressure, don't worry about waking your little one up for landing or take off as their ears will adjust naturally. If they are awake you can breast feed or use a dummy, if they get grizzly, but sometimes babies don't notice the change in pressure. And finally, finally, order yourself a nice glass of wine when you're all settled! Good luck to you and your little one, you'll be absolutely fine! Best, -C

Three doses? Are you sure? It was my understanding that the MMR was given in two doses - one at 13 months and a pre-school booster (this is because the first jab leaves approximately 10% still vulnerable to the diseases so the pre-school booster is to cover those). Recently because of the rise in measles the government/nhs/whoever has brought the booster forward, but I have never heard of being given three doses. I think the OP is asking where she can get the mumps vaccine, not debating the fact of whether her little one should have it or not. Best, -C edited for typo

Perhaps contact a private GP and see if they offer the jabs separately. PM me if you want a recommendation - she's not local to ED, but could point you in the right direction if they don't provide them. Good luck.