bobby's bear

I have seen on the BBC today that a motion has been tabled in parliament for parents of summer borns to be able to choose when they start school without losing a place in reception. This is based on the evidence of long term disadvantages that summer born babies can face at school. Here is a link to the motion http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/213 The suggestion is that if you agree with this to ask your MP to sign the motion.

My 2y8mo has been a great sleeper since she was about 1yo, however over the past month or so she has started waking 2-3 times per night and crying out for me. Usually all I have to do is go in and rub her back and she settles straight back to sleep but it still means I'm up! I have tried leaving her for a bit but it usually escalates to her shouting 'I want mummy' over and over and I end up going in as I worry she will wake my 9mo too. Coupled with this she has also been howling and clinging to my leg everytime I drop her at childcare even though she has happily gone there for almost 2 years. She is always happy when I pick her up and the childminder says she is fine within minutes of me leaving. She is also demanding to be carried all the time and always wants to sit on my lap esepcially at meal times. She seemed to have adjusted well to her sister and does get tons of attention on the days she is at home with me. Anyway the night wakings are getting to me (espec as baby is often up for the day at 0530) and it is really upsetting to leave her howling at the childminders so I really want reassurance she will settle, and or tips on things I could do differently.

We (2 yo and 9 mo) often combine a post nap trip to grove vale library (open til 7pm) with a coffee / hot chocolate at Blackbird which is usually deserted at 4pm ish and so you can get the sofa, and it is open til 7pm too.

It's my understanding that the legal requirement for them to be schooled starts when they turn five, so you only have the right to hold them back until then.

We were at Brockwell Park this morning and the gates were locked and no water, the toilets in the playground were also locked which was a bit rubbish!

I started a thread on this a few months ago as I had similar concerns, serach for 'delayed primary school starting' as I can't work out how to link to a previous thread! The basic answer was that the only option was to miss reception and then they go straight into year 1 so will still be the youngest, and that there is no legal obligation for them to go to school until they turn 5 so they could go part time for the first year.

Thanks everyone, my gut feeling was good but it is always reassuring to get good feedback too. We're going to go for it!

We are thinking of moving our almost 3yo to Mother Goose Waveney from a childminder she has been with for 2 years. She loves the childminder but she is now there with lots of babies and we feel it is probably time she hung out with some bigger children. It is a hard decision so I would appreciate some honest feedback on this nursery, good and bad! Thanks in advance

On a similar theme I read this in the paper today..... "What I wonder about is why we love our children so asymmetrically, so entirely, knowing that the very best we can hope for is that they will feel about us as we feel about our own parents: that slightly aggrieved mixture of affection, pity, tolerance and forgiveness, with a final soupcon - if we live long enough - of sorrow for our falling away, stumbling and shattered, from the vigour that once was ours."

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice / tips from those with bigger kids...... My 2.5 yo was potty trained about a month ago, she did brilliantly and got it almost straight away and from about day 3 we had very few accidents and had about 2 weeks with none at all. Last week we went on holiday and as the week went on we had more and more accidents, I think due to a combination of us being a bit lax about reminding, drinking more fluids, and the other children we were with were all in nappies. Now we are having at least 4 accidents a day, she also stopped asking to go during the week and would only go if we took her and demanded a wee. Back home things are no better and after 5 changes yesterday I am not sure what the best thing to do at this stage is. I'm not keen to go back to nappies as I know she can do it. So I am not sure how to play it? Ideas I had were back to square one with house arrest for a few days and chocolate rewards, a bit of light disappointment (we obviously avoided this 1st time around), giving her the responsibility so only going when she asks so she is 'in charge' of it. Any tips much appreciated, I am finding it very frustrating!

Thanks Smiler that confirms what I suspected.

Thanks everyone for replies. What I understand from the postings is that it is not possible for her to start reception the september after she has turned five, ie holding her back a year and applying a year later. Am I understanding that correctly (Renata??)

Hi My second child was born in late August and so will be only just 4 when she is due to start primary school, this is in contrast to my first born who is a September baby, there is almost two years between them but will only be one school year, bad planning I know! I am worried that she will be at a disadvantage being both the youngest at home and at school and so was wondering if it is possible to delay starting primary school until the following year given that there is no legal requirement for schooling until she turns 5. I have heard of children going straight in to year one, but we would ideally like her to start in reception just after she turns 5. Does anyone have any experience of this? I am an August baby myself and although I turned out ok (I think!!) I hated being the youngest and it definately has affected me into adulthood. Thanks

My almost six month old only naps for 30-45 mins at a time three times a day irrelevent of where we are (sling / buggy / cot) she is my second and number one did this too, only settling into longer naps from about 7 months despite trying everything under the sun. So I would say wait and it should sort itself out in time IME.

Steve has just done another painting job for us before christmas and at short notice. He always turned up when he said he was going to, did a good job and charges a very resonable rate. I would happily reccomend him.

Baby number one was a terrible sleeper - two hourly wake ups until she was about one and so I was dreading this with baby number two. Amazingly since about four weeks old number two has been giving me between 6 and 9 hrs (occasionally more) unbroken stretches, so I thought we had a great sleeper!! until this week...... She is now 17 weeks and for the past week has been waking every one to two hours over night, crying urgently and only settling with a feed. I am finding this tough with a toddler to entertain during the day and am thinking it might be a growth spurt (do they have one at four months?) or is it the fabled 4 month sleep regression. My main question is if it is sleep regression how long can I expect this to last and will I ever get my good sleeper back??! Number one was never a good enough sleeper to regress! Or maybe I shouldn't complain as at least I had 3 months of mainly good sleep this time!

Thanks everyone, and thanks canela, I would be interested in the details of your place.

After such a terrible summer I suddenly can't face the long winter ahead without some sunshine so I am trying to talk the OH into some winter sun. Does anyone have any reccomendations of child friendly places to go with a then 2 1/2 yo and and 6 mo, I was thinking the Canaries are about as far as we would want to go, but am open to other ideas. Has anyone any suggestions of quieter places to go in the Canaries away from the masses? And any accomodation reccomendations? Thanks in advance

Thanks everyone for tips, is is so upsetting seeing him struggle to breathe and wake up in a panic. Re the nasal aspirators are they a very short term solution and do you keep having to do it, or do the affects last for a while?

Hi all, My six week old has had a blocked and snuffly nose for the past three weeks, thanks I am sure to his 2yo brother. It is affecting his sleeping and feeding and getting us all down. We saw the GP for his six week check who says it is viral and not much we can do but wait, but I was wondering if anyone had any top tips for making him a little more comfortable. We have tried saline drops, a steamy bathroom, and are currently sleeping upright (with him on my chest, not much fun for me!) I know there isn't a magic cure but was just wondering if anyone had any other suggestions!

Hi, Does anyone know of any local places that are showing the All-Ireland hurling final tomorrow? Thanks.

I have recently had a little girl and was wondering when thinking of names for her why there hasn't been a revival of 1950's and 60's names!! Maybe it's time to start one ............... Gloria Beverly Pamela Susan Sandra Christine Shirley

hi, i carried my heavy toddler in our ergo on the front until i was at least 28 weeks pregnant, she sat on my bump until it got too large! i had no problems at all with this and it was perfectly comfy.

We just got insurance for a house that was underpinned because of 'subsidence' which the surveyor thought was bomb damage! After following some advice from previous threads on here we got it sorted in the end. As the previous insurence on our house was a rental insurance we couldn't just follow on from the previous owner. It took a bit of hassle and stress but in the end we got a good few reasonable offers. You need to avoid the "retail" and internet only insurers as they don't have the business model to handle any complications. Phone the bigger specialist insurers such as Aviva (there were loads of others of house-hold names but for some reason I can't remember them at the moment) and any brokerage (Adrian Flux, Towergate, Horner Blakey). Basically any firm that uses the Lloyds market. I know that sounds complicated but its not, it just isn't the log on and answer a handful of questions to get insurance that I had become used to. Funnily enough, a few of the companies we phoned could describe the house and even prompted us on subsidence as they said this part of south London has loads of historic movement from WW2 and from the clay soil as people have mentioned, so where not phased at all. Actually the biggest issue, once we knew who we to talk to, was that a few companies turned us down because they were overloaded in this area and they have limits in how many houses they will take in one area at a time (in case of a disaster, they explained). That and the fact that our house needs new guttering. The gutter was a bigger issue for them than subsidence! Good luck.

We've recently got back from a holiday in Turkey with our 22 month old. We have had quite a few holidays with her but the most recent was by far the best as with trial and error we have discoverd that what works best for us is 1) Being self catering, or at least having 2 rooms, nothing worse than having to tiptoe around / hide on the balcony with the light off etc. 2) Keeping her on UK time, so she was waking about 9, having lunch at 2ish and then a long nap from 3-5 with bed about 9.30/10. This ment we could take her out for dinner and tbh by 10/11 after she had gone to bed we were ready to sleep too. It does mean that the day starts later but....... 3) Have realistic expectations about what you're going to manage each day especially when it is hot, we found having a pool a godsend and that was bsaically all we did (sunsuit, hat and plenty of SPF 50 and we avoided burning all together) All those warm southern european countries love little ones and in Turkey everyone made such a fuss of our daughter so eating out was easy as there were plenty of people to give her attention! Also toddlers are much more flexible than we give them credit for and despite a loosening of routine on holiday we always find she gets back into the 'normal' swing of things quickly when home. Enjoy!