Knomester

KatDew - Thank you. I'd already checked at Next and have just double checked - they do have one but only starting from age 3 upwards which will be too big! Ruth - No joy at Gap sadly, but I haven't tried H&M. Not sure I'll have chance to make it up to town before we leave though - I should have thought of that before...

I have searched high and low for a simple, knitted plain navy blue cardigan for my son but alas everything seems to be stripes, tracksuit tops, hoodies or emblazened with logos..! I'm just looking for a basic plain navy button up cardigan (wool or cotton - I don't mind) to fit a tall toddler (age 2-3 in most shops) as an extra layer to go with several outfits before we leave for our holidays at the beginning of next week. (It needs to be plain because we've already gone a bit mad with stripy shorts and t-shirts). If anyone has seen such a thing I would be eternally grateful to know where! Thank you.

I had the same and, as others have said, it did not affect feeding (I continued until 18 months). Around the 5 month mark I did also notice more hunger and a significant interest in other food, so we started with some solids around 5 1/2 months. If you do feel like you'd like to try and boost your supply, I can recommend the Contented Calf Cookbook which you can buy at The Dish & The Spoon cafe in Nunhead and probably also in Rye Books (as well as online). It's a book of recipes for breastfeeding mothers which have been developed to incorporate lactogenic foods.

Salia, I'm so sorry to hear what a traumatic experience you had at King's during your labour and afterwards. Your concerns for your next labour and birth are completely understandable. There is lots of wonderful advice here which I hope will help you have a better experience next time. I just wanted to pick up on one point which may be important for you (because you say that you would like to have a midwife or someone else qualified to be with you throughout labour), which is that being with a midwife team attached to a GP practice (Lanes, Brierly, Oakwood) will not necessarily guarantee that one of those midwives will be able to accompany you to hospital and throughout your labour. I was with Oakwood midwives who were excellent, however, when I had to be induced at 42 +5, it was a bank holiday weekend, some of the Oakwood midwives were on holiday and it was an exceptionally busy time for labours and births. As a result, none of the midwives from Oakwood were able to be with me at King's. I don't think that this made a huge difference to my care during labour (my husband was with me and very proactive), although I would have appreciated the support my midwife could have offered, but it did mean that I didn't have my midwife with me as other posters have suggested to be the case (I don't know how common my situation is). I just wanted to make sure you are aware of this in case you choose to register with one of the practices and rely on them being there for you (when they may not be able to be). For after care (once I was home), I don't know where I'd have been without Oakwood.

I used the chocolate cake recipe for the monkey cake I made for my son for his first birthday last year and just doubled the quantities. It worked really well. Incredibly rich, but then it was mostly adults at the party anyway! I'll try to dig out a photo and post it later...

Thank you both. Molly - I would love to take you up on your offer to pop over and look at both. No urgency, but maybe sometime towards the end of June when we're back from our hols would be great. I'll be in touch!

As our toddlers are approaching 2, I've been chatting to some friends about buying them scooters (as bithday presents from doting grandparents...). The mini micro scooter seems to be very popular for this age group, but a friend mentioned that for taller toddlers, it might be better to go for the maxi micro scooter with the t-bar at its lowest setting (which would mean the scooter would last a lot longer). I've not yet had chance to look at either to measure them up or give Baby Knomester a go, but I just wondered if any parents have chosen the maxi over the mini (or vice versa) and what your thoughts are?

Some wonderful ideas for days out! On houseoflego's recommendation above, we went to the London Transport Museum on Saturday. Train from PR to LB and then another train from LB to Charing Cross and walked to Covent Garden from there. Our toddler loved the trip on the train and adored the museum - very toddler friendly. Now we have tickets that are valid for 12 months I'm sure we'll be going again very soon (?13 for adults / free for under 16s). Another recommendation for a more local activity (which we did on Sunday) would be for a walk / explore around Nunhead Cemetery followed by coffee and cakes in the wonderful new family friendly cafe - The Dish & The Spoon - on Cheltenham Road (http://www.thedishandthespoon.co.uk/).

It looks like someone teaches in Shooters Hill, but it's Tues and Wed which wouldn't work for you. There's a list of teachers here: http://www.colourstrings.co.uk/CSTeachers.htm I'd love there to be a local class on a Friday morning which I could take my 20 month old to but Roehampton is too far to drive on a regular basis. I see there's a schools project at Dulwich College - perhaps the teacher could be persuaded to hold other classes in Dulwich / East Dulwich?

We have a Beco Gemini which we bought when Baby Knomester got to big for the Babybjorn. He's 20 months now and we only use it occasionally as he's tall and heavy, but he still fits in it perfectly fine. Like other slings people have mentioned, it works for front and back carrying and also facing forwards when carrying on the front (which he used to prefer so was crucial for us). We bought from Slumber-roo who are great with advice.

I'm not sure I can help with any specific advice on how to decrease the number of bottles, but you asked what others are doing so thought I'd respond in case it helps. Baby Komester is coming up for 20 months. He dropped to 2 BF per day (morning and night) around 10-11 months before I went back to work. Then sometime after Christmas when he was 16-17 months old we dropped his evening BF and replaced it with a small amount of full fat milk in a sippy cup because I couldn't always guarantee to be home at bedtime. He didn't drink much at all at first and sometimes none at all, but stopped asking for a BF after just a few days I think. Then around 18 months he began to be less interested in BF at his morning feed and gradually self weaned (with a little persuasion when he tried to come back to it after a few days!). We never replaced that BF with anything - he just has a drink of water if he wants one and then his breakfast. He now just has milk at bedtime (and is more enthusiastic about it!). I seem to recall that in the early months when we were weaning him off exclusive BFing and onto solids we would just gradually increase solids and decrease milk, but I guess it would be different with a bottle? I guess from our (limited) experience, it doesn't take them long to adjust to a new feeding routine if you can bear to go cold turkey (if you are working towards reducing the number of bottles).

Some good advice for you here from pebbles Bee74. I just wondered whether you are breastfeeding? I have not been a great sleeper for a long time, but one of the worst times for me was when I was breastfeeding my (now 19 month old) son. Like you describe, I would wake at the slightest sound (if I'd managed to go to sleep) and would lie awake for hours in the middle of the night when my husband was doing the 'night shift'. I know it doesn't help right now, as your little one is waking still during the night, but a while after my son started sleeping through the night my sleep started to improve too. I still have good and bad nights / weeks but I no longer lie awake every night. Out of pebbles' list above, I find that a regular bedtime is one of the most important for me - making sure I'm not going to bed too late otherwise my body is over tired and I can't sleep. Caffeine and booze contribute to some of my worst nights but I only have myself to blame for that! Best of luck to you.

Sounds awful midivydale. I would go back to the doctor to make sure you have had the right diagnosis. As Saffron says there could be another bacterial infection on the skin which needs to be treated too. In terms of getting rid of thrush itself (if the problem is definitely just thrush), it can be a long process. It took us around 10/11 weeks to get rid of it completely after Baby Knomester was born. It seems different to our case though as Baby Knomester didn't have it on his skin - just mouth and nappy area. When we both had it these were the things we tried to get rid of it based on advice from the Breastfeeding Network (www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk), King's and Clare Kedves): - treat both mum and baby simultaneously (or you?ll pass it between you) - apply daktarin cream (micanazole 2%) to nipples after each feed - apply daktarin gel (micanazole) to baby?s mouth after each feed - mum to take flucanazole ? loading dose of 150mg-300mg on day 1 and then 100mg twice a day for 10 days - sterilise muslins, dummies, teats, towels, bras, etc in Milton and wash at 60C - wash baby?s hands regularly - wash your hands after feeding or touching your breasts or baby?s mouth with anti-bacterial handwash - keep doing this for at least 7 days after symptoms disappear

We've just sent our newest family arrival in NZ, and friend's new baby in Oz, baby hats ready for their impending winter. It can be so tricky to find nice hats for little ones. We ordered them from a little company an old friend of mine has set up: Hats my Baby.

I took a card and a large tin of homemade brownies to my midwives as a thank you.

We have some CDs too, but also some with French and Spanish songs to break things up a bit and in fact the singing voices are much nicer on those! We also do a LOT of singing... If all else fails, usually a rousing rendition of Old MacDonald by Mum and Dad works a treat (to cries of 'more' from the back every time we pause for breath). We also have a separate bag of toys / things gathered from around the house which we only use for car journeys and when we're go out to eat. There's a mini book about rules for wives (!), an old wallet with lots of old cards, a wind up torch, silicone fairy cake cases, a robot, 3D glasses - you get the idea. These tend to keep Baby Knomester occupied for quite a while. We also try to plan journeys around usual nap times if we can, so we often driave up north to visit family leaving at around 12 noon with a 'car picnic' lunch (goes everywhere but keeps him occupied for a fair whilst) and then sometimes (not always) he'll eventually nod off for an hour or more (always less than he'd sleep at home, but some is better than none!). I often resort to turning round and playing peepo with Bob the doll or random things I can rustle up in the front of the car. Quite tricky because i get dreadfully car sick!

I do hope it all works out for you and your baby midivydale. I'm glad you've managed to get appointments sorted because the sooner it's sorted the better. Hopefully with regular feeds your milk supply will increase so try not to worry about that. Someone mentioned massaging under baby's tongue after the snip - it's really important that you do this because the tie can grown back very quickly. I just wanted to say hang on in there. We had a similar situation with our baby - posterior tongue tie, thrush, etc - but eventually it all worked itself out and I managed to carry on breastfeeding him until last week when he was just over 18 months old.

It seems Baby Knomester was quite early in dropping his morning nap - around 10 months. His wake up time was getting a little earlier and around the same time he just stopped sleeping in the morning. I seem to recall that before he stopped napping in the morning his lunchtime sleep had become a bit disrupted too - some days he napped others he didn't (depending on whether he had managed a mornign nap or not, which by that point was fairly short anyway - 30-40 mins). We carried on putting him down for that morning nap for 2 weeks. He would lie quetly for around 20 minutes and then shout to get up. So after 2 weeks we just stopped putting him down for the morning nap at all. The transition period after that lasted a good 2 weeks or more, during which time he would be tired and grumpy in the mornings but still had no intention of sleeping (he has always been headstrong...). He started sleeping in later in the mornings (to around 7am instead of earlier) and kept his long lunchtime nap. I'd have loved for him to keep that nap up for longer but he clearly had other ideas... Have you tried putting your little one down for an early lunchtime nap and shifting lunch to after the nap? You could try her with a snack / milk late morning and then 'proper' lunch after the nap. That way she could sleep from 12pm say so that she doesn't get so tired.

For 'picky' food you could try making up batches of fritters (eg sweetcorn), cheese scones, cheese or cheese & marmite straws, pancakes (to spread with cream cheese or dal), polenta fingers, savoury muffins, fish fingers, mini quiches, etc and freezing them. They defrost in no time (or in about 10-20 seconds in the microwave). Other quick snacks / teas we have are scrambled eggs, houmous & crudites / pitta, pitta pockets with peanut butter or cheese, banana smoothies, soups (again I tend these in batches and freeze).

I like beetroot in salads at this time of year. Tonight we're having a warm beetroot, potato and mackerel salad with lots of parsley, capers and gherkins. I also often make a salad with beetroot and puy lentils (you can reduce the oil in the dressing in this recipe if you want to lower the fat content). Probably more summery, but a salad of broad beans, artichokes and preserved lemon with some gentle spices is lovely. Cannellini beans work really well with tuna (fresh or tinned), tomatoes, parsley, a little onion and a lemony dressing. I could eat that every day in the summer! Chickpeas get thrown into most things in our house. They're good mixed with squash roasted with garlic and chilli and a little cooked bulgur wheat (I know you said no carbs, but does that mean absolultely no carbs? For pulses to become complete proteins you need to combine them with wholegrains). Or in a lighter salad with watercress and grapefruit. You can make fat free houmous at home if you have a food processor too.

That's a good point about banana cake srisky. My usual recipe (for quite a large cake) has 85g soft brown sugar, but I normally reduce that to 50g or less, even without adding sultanas (I usually add pecans or walnuts, but not suitable for a little one).

I agree wholeheartedly with womanofdulwich - a little slice or two of a homemade cake will be far healthier than anything you can buy! I have to admit that if I'm baking I don't tend to worry about what might be 'healthy', I just let baby knomester have a small amount straight after his meal. Are you thinking healthy in terms of recipes with less sugar in them? I find jam tarts are quite good for this - a simple shortcrust pastry (no added sugar) filled with a small amount of one of the low sugar jams, or a spoonful of homemade fruit compote. Or scones always go down well - there's only a tablespoon (1oz) of sugar in the recipe I use and I sometimes reduce that when I'm adding dried fruit like sultanas or figs which are naturally sweet to the mixture.

We have a weekly vegetable bag from Local Greens which we collect from Green & Blue every Thursday (about ?50 per month). We supplement that with extra veg and fruit which at the moment we buy from Brockley Market, SMBS, the Turkish shop on Forest Hill Road and occasionally Coop or anywhere I pass on my way to / from work. We tend to bulk buy tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, dried pulses, couscous, bulgur, etc from the Turkish shop or Kahns in Peckham (less so now that I'm back at work as we don't have the time). Tinned tomatoes are 3 for ?1 and chickpeas 3 for ?1.20 which is much cheaper than elsewhere and they're good quality. We generally go to Moxons once a week for fish. For most other things (nappies, wipes, storecupboard items, booze, etc) we either do an online shop from Ocado or Mr Knomester goes to Sainsburys every 2-3 weeks or so depending on need. In between times, if we need anything 'householdy' we tend to pick it up at Farmers and if we're out shopping and see offers on nappies, etc we stock up. For a nice bottle of wine as a weekend treat we go to Green & Blue! There are 3 of us - 2 adults and a toddler. We eat all homecooked meals (I bring soups and salads for lunches). We probably eat vegan / veggie 5 times a week and fish once or twice (apart from Baby Knomester who has his stock of food in the freezer that I bulk cook so probably eats meat a little more often when he isn't eating with us) and Mr will cook meat for himself and to stock up the freezer if ever I'm out. We tend to only buy meat once every couple of months from Sparkes or Brockley Market / Maltby Street. I don't know exactly what we spend because it's often a little here and a little there.

We have some French books and bilingual books (the bilingual bear stories from Barefoot Books are great), French songs on CDs and a DVD for my 18 month old son, but I never feel like I'm doing enough to impart my (hard learned!) language skills. We'd love to join a French playgroup type session or a group of French speaking parents and toddlers. I work Mon-Thurs and so haven't been able to find anything suitable. I'd love to expose him to more French!

I would certainly be interested in classical concrete which are toddler friendly. I have attended the Classics with my Baby concerts since they began in Dulwich, but I find them less suitable the older my son gets. He is an inquisitive, active toddler who would benefit from more interactive concerts. I appreciate that such a concert would most probably be more difficult to organise and run, but incredibly rewarding - I feel bad having to stop my son from joining in and playing the piano for example! Friday mornings or weekends work for us.