mima08

Hiya, I am using the word "training" in the loosest sense, as we are really trying to be child led here. But recently, my LO has started to be very aware of bowl movements - pointing to his bottom half, clutching, and making (quite funny) noises to indicate when he is about to do a po. This is now quite reliable. Similarly with pees, although not all the time (I know about the peeing as we tried a day of no nappies around the house - my floors have never been cleaner). He also hates wearing nappies, and tries to pull them off. So I thought it would be a good time to try the whole potty thing - but suggestions of sitting on the potty are generally met with blank refusal. Sometimes with howling (even though I don't try to force the issue at all...). We have two potties - a plain one and a fancy car-shaped one, which was of lot of interest as a toy - not as a potty.... Any suggestions? He seems genuinely upset about going in his nappies (although 1min after the deed, he forgets about it...) thanks for any recommendations! mx

Hiya - 18months on, I still love my bee and LO seems always very comfortable. I am not very tall and find it easy to lift into the bus, simple to fold and manage to pack a huge amount of "stuff" into the bottom basked. We too had the shimmying wheels but absolutely no problem to get the repair kit (I phone the helpline no. in Holland, I believe, and they were very relaxed, no questions asked about purchase, just sent us the kit within 3 days). I have seen there are places that allow you to hire a buggy for a week or so to try it out (obviously difficult if you don't have a baby, too :)) One reason I went for the bee was its high resale value (currently, at least)... mx

Hiya- I am trying to buy things that will prove interesting for a long time, e.g. Duplo, Brio train set etc. I look for these on here, to keep the costs down - all I got so far has been in ace condition! happy hunting for presents! mx

Hiya, I have just posted this offer in another section of the forum when I remembered that there are a number of people on here how are just starting out/ work from home who might be interested in getting a website designed for free. Please have a look if interested: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?30,944327 PS: I promise a friendly, low jargon approach! mx

Hiya, we had the cocoon, but no liner - i then bought custom liner and foot muff from ebay - it says custom but they were a lot cheaper than the bugaboo ones.... takes a bit of trawling through, but I paid only ?10 for a reversible liner and about ?25 for the footmuff.

Hiya, we were still feeding at 4am every night until very recently and it was a habit -he was 16months, and sleeping in another room. One thing that really helped was letting him have lots of toys (cuddly, cars, little hardbacked books - you name it). I stopped feeding him and pointed out that his toys were there all waiting for him to come to sleep, plus lots of "shshshsh" and "snuggle downs" with soothing pats etc - and amazingly enough it worked! (I was totally surprised, believe me, he was never a good sleeper...)So now he sometimes wakes, I can hear him playing in his cot with his toys, then goes back to sleep. It seems to make no difference to tiredness in the morning. Of course, some babies get overexcited by having toys and want to get up to play - it really depends on your LO. Best of luck, hope you get good sleep soon! mx

Hiya, I don't have direct experience of night terrors but a friend of mine still gets them (she is 31) and she says it tends to be brought on by trigger points of stress and overtiredness. I guess with little children, there is so much going on that could stress them (not even bad things, just excitement, change of routine etc). There is someone on here who posts under childsleepsolutions - I don't know them personally but maybe you want to PM to ask advice? I really hope you get a better night today, and some more help soon mx

Actually I was just forwarded an article in the German new magazin Der Spiegel on the subject of an increase in the number of cases in both children & adults in the UK but also in Germany. So maybe more awareness is needed....

My experience with mortgages is 3years ago, but it was not good. At that point, banks did not want to consider a lending multiple based on the combined income from my husband (self-employed) and mine (salaried at that time) - even though he was low risk, had 25years experience in his industry etc. We ended up using my salary only. If both of you are freelancing, you might be struggling. There might be specialist lenders out there, but I am not aware of any and guess the rates would not be great from them. On the other hand - what do you have to lose if you take this contract? You could always terminate it if something better came along (i.e. sense of self-preservation...)

Hiya, I just bought a second hand mini micro for my LO. He is only 18months but has been longing for them a while (lots of sly attempts to play with other kids' scooters at the playground). He cannot really use it yet, a couple of tries with one foot but mainly he just pushes it along. But it keeps him very happy and entertained for long stretches of time. I justified the early purchase with the fact that one was going cheap and that it will (hopefully) last for years to come...

Oh, I also need to know about the Thomas the tank potty... please

Agree with all the above - ours actually got freaked by the ballons but then loved the fact that there were lots (10) people. And keep the camera ready - you never know what firsts will happen! Have a great time! mx

We also had a babydan until LO could walk - then just used stair gates to stop him from climbing upstairs. He loved the playpen initially but then totally refused to get in - cue mega screaming. He is very, very active, but we just kept him in the same room as us and he is allowed to run around between the rooms on the same level. We have baby proofed the kitchen but not really the living room - just insisted from early on that he should not touch certain things. It does mean toys everywhere but saves having a big playpen crammed in... good luck!

brilliant!

When Alex was just a few days old and I needed to see a dr urgently for myself and he had developed a few spots, no other symptoms, they saw us within minutes, gave Alex a thorough check up (he had prickly heat) and sorted me out there and then... guess it is a lottery on who is on....?

Thank you everyone - it is surprisingly difficult to find people who know about Belgium - just as you say, Charlotte, it seems to be very overlooked. We want to stop over after about 4hrs drive from London, not including Ferry (although of course, sometimes it takes that long just to get out, sigh!). Will look at Ghent & Bruges - I have actually heard nice things about Bruges, had always been on the list for a weekend trip. It might be a bit too early to stop thought - leaving too long a drive the next day. We are going to Mainz, near Frankfurt - so Aachen might also be ok... Has anyone been to Liege by any chance? Purely because of the geographical location....

Hiya, I did not have a nightnanny (beyond financial reach) but can really sympathize: I thought I was going to go crazy with the lack of sleep. However, I did get a lovely lady to come 1x week to take my LO for the afternoon so that I could get some sleep. She was a trained doula & very recommended so I felt confident letting her look after him. And one night a week my husband would do all the night duties. The very knowledge that I would get some sleep at a specific time helped hugely - and was affordable over a longer period than just a couple of nights. 4 weeks is probably too early to be talking about habits and sorting out sleep issues, but there are things you can do to make life a little easier, e.g.co-sleeping works great for some; we had a moses basket on a rocking stand - that helped, baby massage helped with relaxation (me as much as LO) and pulling in help from anybody & everybody. I really hope things get better soon - and they WILL definitely get better! mx

Hiya, we (2adults, a 16yo and a 18months old) are going on holidays in a few weeks time, driving to Germany. To break the drive up a bit, we are considering stopping over for a night in Belgium - does anyone have any recommendations as to location or even accommodation? Thanks! mx

Hiya - my husband has been taking guitar lessons for almost 2 years with John now and a friend's partner takes bass lessons. We know that he teaches children as well -but don't know them personally. He can probably provide references if you ask? good luck mx

Hiya - I find a vapour rub on chest & back helps. we use Boots own brand for babies... mx

Hiya, not sure about his availability, but John Hudson at www.johnhudsonguitar.co.uk (sorry, I don't seem to be able to do links?) is excellent and reasonable pricewise...(as far as I can tell). mx

Hiya - I would definitely be interested - in fact thought about something similar some time ago. There are a fair few things to consider, in terms of regulation etc, but not insurmountable. I am happy to share what I found out at the time, pm me if I can help. mx

Hiya, thanks for the posts. I agree on the reassessing - and he certainly understands that some of his actions have reactions (testing, testing, and - again testing). He amazes me sometimes with the things he does understand (like when I tell him that he has to wait before going out because I have to put my shoes on - he turns, hands me my shoe & starts off to the door) but I am sure I'm guilty of expecting too much. Thanks for the reassurance - I did think more complex forms of disciplining (like going home when he is having a tantrum)were too early - just wanted to hear what others are doing. Come on those language skills! mx

Hiya, just to second the no books rule: our little one was ok in the car but recently through up at two separate occasions - each time he had a book to "read". No problem at other times (fingers crossed he did not inherit my bad travel stomach....) good luck mx

thanks for the reminder, Saffron - I now remember reading this at the time... "tantrums are no different than thunderstorms or other natural phenomena" - well, they certainly feel like it in this house! Any suggestions on how much a toddler at that age can understand about behaviour and consequences?