Knomester

I find the vivobarefoot wellies, although quite pricey, are much more flexible and therefore easier for littles ones to walk in. Not sure what sizes they start at though.

Much of the food at Toasted is GF, although if celiac I imagine your want to check if there's a risk of cross contamination as they do also make their own (non-GF) cake and bread. The Dish & The Spoon on Cheltenham Road often has a good range of homebaked GF cakes. There is a thread in GF offerings somewhere on the forum which I seem to recall posting on which may be useful. Perhaps take a look at Kim Mcgowan's blog www.naturallyglutenfree.wordpress.com - she is SE London based sometimes reviews local places.

GinaG3 - I asked for delayed clamping at recent elcs and no one said it was incompatible with stem cell donation (although neither did anyone specifically confirm the two could go hand in hand). However, as it happened baby had a true knot in his cord so delayed clamping wasn't possible anyway (although donation was).

JS33 - In my experience, King's are being very proactive in bringing this to peoples' attention at the moment.

Thanks so much for the offer Bluedark, but we're sorted now thank you.

I don't have personal experience of this, but I'm one of 4 children and my mum had my youngest sister and brother both after she was 40 (at 40 and just shy of 45). She hadn't had any major complications with either of her first two babies though and although labour and childbirth were no breeze (v lengthy and I was back to back so painful) she didn't find pregnancy itself hard work. Baby 3 wasn't for coming and she ended up with a fairly touch and go emergency c section, but Baby 4 was a hassle free vbac with no monitoring or pain relief (bar a bit if gas and air!). That was 20 years ago and Baby 4 (having been the smallest of us all at birth) is a strapping 6'3" and just finishing his first year at uni. Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

Hello I am unsuccessfully trying to get my hands on a secondhand Bugaboo buggy board for our Bee Plus. I don't want to waste ?60 on buying a new one if it's not going to be a practical option for our 3 year old so I just wondered if anyone has one and would have half an hour to spare it for us to test drive it in the park this weekend sometime? Our 3 year old normally walks or scoots, but he has been having dreadful growing pains which have meant my husband has had to carry him fairly long distances recently which just isn't practical given how big he is! Thanks

Thank you for your lovely long post and kind words Saffron. I am using the novogel pads (similar result to what you describe I think, with the moist open wound healing). Sadly nipple shields and expressing are even more painful and destructive for me than feeding (you could have heard me howl here from Katie Fisher's house in Croydon when we tried the nipple shields!). Thankfully, baby's tongue is fine now and latch pretty much textbook so at least no new damage is being caused. I'm also blessed with a good sleeper (for now!) which means I can rest my worst side for quite a few hours over night - although it doesn't help with the healing it gives me a break. I doubled up feeds on the (marginally) better side yesterday but worry about making that side worse and leaving myself with no room for manoeuvre if I do that too much! I took a loading dose of flucanazole yesterday for the thrush and pain from that has lessened already so I'm glad I had that in the house ready. The main thing is baby is fine and gaining weight and other than these issues we're both healthy for which I feel very lucky. And we've made it through another 24 hours to tell the tale.

Thank you all. We have taken your advice and bought another Tommee Tippee bottle with the slow flow teat and a few little bottles of ready mixed aptamil to tide us over if needs be. I'm hoping the specialist has some miracle cure for us on Monday, but I'm not holding out much hope given that we have taken things as far as we can with the lactation consultant, but I can dream! Convex - I am intrigued about self sterilising bottles!

I have a 4 week old baby who has so far been exclusively breastfed. I also breastfed my first child, so I am clueless when it comes to feeding with bottles and formula. I am hoping to continue breastfeeding, but after 4 weeks of hell (tongue tie, ductal thrush, bacterial infections and severe nipple trauma) and today being hit with full on recurrence of thrush, I need a back up in case I can't make it through the weekend to Monday when I have an appointment with a breast specialist. I just wondered if anyone could advise on what I need to buy and where I can buy it from this afternoon. I have a tomme tippee (sp?) microwave steriliser and bottle which I'd bought in case I needed it with my first son. Will this be sufficient for now just for the weekend? What sort of teat is best for a breastfed baby (preferably one which will fit the bottle I already have)? Which formula should I buy? I am utterly clueless so would be extremely grateful for any help! Thanks

Thank you all - I'll take a look at your recommendations this weekend. Bluesuperted - I have no objection to over the top, especially with dresses like you say, just need to wait until these poor boobs of mine have healed as anything like that is still too incredibly painful at the moment!

With my first son I always opted for the vest under a normal top option for feeding when out and about (so as not to expose too much post-pregnancy belly!). This time the weather is a bit warmer and the tops I have that fit aren't really long enough to cover the top of the maternity jeans I'm still wearing post-c section. I saw a woman wearing a lovely simple breastfeeding top at a breastfeeding a cafe this week but didn't have chance to ask where she bought it from, so I just wondered if anyone has any recommendations for where I should look for reasonably priced breastfeeding tops? Either locally or preferably online. Thank you.

I have always thought that I'm fairly organised, but I am completely in awe of you all! I love the idea of photographing everything. I can see that our current stick it on the fridge with a magnet method won't hack it for much longer...

Thank you Pippa. That's very kind of you. I've now got some sort of agonising bacterial infection added into the mix, so strong antibiotics which will do wonders for the thrush! I may be taking fluclanazole forever...

Thanks simonethebeaver. I'm not quite ready to leave the house, but hopefully soon ;)

Thank you all. We had the procedure done by Katie yesterday at her home and my husband held our baby. As with my first born, there has been no noticeable difference yet, but I imagine that much of that is down to the constant pain of the thrush in my milk ducts and existing tissue damage. Time will tell.

Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond. I had been taking super strength probiotics for the past couple of months in the hope of avoiding thrush again! Alas, it wasn't to be. I tried the nipple shields with Katie but that only made matters worse for me sadly (as did expressing with my first son). Having been through all this before I'd been dreading it happening again. It's a million times worse than my c section recovery, even with the added complication of being readmitted to hospital!

Just over three and a half years after horrid breastfeeding problems with my first son I find myself with a 9 day old baby, a posterior tongue tie, thrush and severe nipple trauma. We saw Katie Fisher privately last week (Clare Kedves is apparently on holiday). We're on the full thrush medication regime, but I was in too much pain and too distraught after a difficult week post-birth to make a decision about the tongue tie snip at the consultation. We can't carry on as we are, so I need to decide what to do. I've read all the threads about Katie and Mr Patel (who did my first son's procedure), but just wondered if anyone who has had a tongue tie snipped by Katie at home or her home in Croydon could reassure me as to the procedure? My concerns being that we wouldn't be in a sterile environment, like the hospital, and my husband would have to hold the baby for the procedure. Thanks so much.

Thanks Pantalaimon - negative as useful as positive when making (expensive) decisions!

PS You just need to say Oakwood6 when you call the pager if that is the team you're allocated to.

I'll PM you now. Good luck :-)

Thank you all - very helpful. I could definitely do with having a push of a Bee and a friend of mine has one so I'll pop over once I'm on mat leave and give that a go. Mathilda I'll take a look at the mattress you suggest thank you. I've seen other foam versions online (similar to the one we had for the crib we used when baby 1 was small) but it's difficult to know the quality of something when you can't look at it!

Hello. Baby number 2 is due in a few weeks and I just wondered if anyone can help me. I've bought a BabyBay bedside crib this time around, for the early months. I bought it from Germany to save money and there wasn't the option of buying a mattress at the same time. Looking online most places seem to sell the Little Green Sheep mattress which is ?65-?70. I'm not looking to spend that much and just wondered if anyone has any advice on a suitable mattress which fits the Babybay around the ?20-?25 mark? I'm also considering a Bugaboo Bee. I love the pram we have already (which we had for my now 3.5yo) but it's not practical for public transport and completely fills the boot of the car, so I can imagine using it locally for the first few weeks and then wanting something smaller and lighter longer term to supplement my slings (I have back problems so can't always rely on the sling). (We have an old Maclaren but I'm thinking of something I can use from around the 6 week mark that is parent facing and will then go on to last for a couple of years). I just wondered how long people find the cocoon lasts for and whether the fact the bee is so low has posed problems for anyone who has it (I'm nearly 5'8")? Thanks

We usually have ours cleaned when we get the carpets cleaned (once a blue moon), but have just gad it cleaned by Washboard dry cleaners in Nunhead and it looks like new.

ClareC - My friend studied law and went on to be a solicitor, then left a year after qualification to retrain as a doctor (about 10 years ago). She is just taking a break from her GP training as she had her first child last year. She has never once regretted it (law just wasn't for her, despite her being brilliant at it), but she is only just now starting to get where she wants to be.