shaunag

It does happen that anchor shops draw people to spend their money when they previously would have gone elsewhere. The local newsagent by my office closed down within 6 months (maybe even 3) of a tesco express opening nearby, having been open for years... Also in Cambridge a few years ago the out of town shopping became so popular that the shops in town started shutting down; people browsed there, but bought out of town; of course there is a massive new centre in town there now and no longer there regularly so don't know the impact. Just saying James might not deserve the bashing; competition from supermarkets may not detract all custom from smaller grocers, but it will certainly take some; whether any loss in sales would be enough to shut a few places down who knows-but the rents are going up and a few places have gone already do there may be something in it. (Also I'm not remotely politically motivated, but I find all the james bashing would actually sway me to supporting him rather than what I imagine the desired effect is)!

Bullying takes place in every school so I wouldn't let that put you off. I work with a guy that went to a privileged school with a bursary and he is one of. The most popular and well-liked people I know. He is not remotely up himself and has loads of good school friends. I don't think kids should be blamed for their parents income-they are just kids and if I were you I would make a decision based on what you think of the school regardless of the fees. If you go there and the kids all seem like spoilt brats then maybe it's not the place for your kids, but if they seem like a nice group of kids and you are otherwise happy with what the school has to offer over other schools I would say go for it. It's up to you to keep your kids grounded; I used to babysit some incredibly wealthy kids years ago; they had no idea of how well off they were and their behaviour reflected it. Rich kids can be great kids too. Best of luck with your choice.

I'm at a wedding on 11th but will hope to do the next meet up (or could do following few weekends after that if 11 may tricky for others. Also work ft so weekends best for me too! X

We bought a really lightweight britax car seat (think it is the prince) for flying as was worried about the expensive one getting bashed around. It was less than ?50 on sale in halfords, and is really is to attach car seat belt. It was still cheaper than hiring one and means we have a spare for little friends-also not as big a deal if it gets lost as the heavy pricey one stays in our car. Might have been a bit ott to buy another seat, but was after my buggy had been broken on a flight and we were then without one for Xmas while away. Also, the cer hire place wouldnt guarantee they would have a seat for hire, which didn't leave us with much choice!

Our two year old loves it. It's handy for the long walk to the baggage reclaim when you haven't yet got the buggy-pulling her along is far easier than trying to carry her or walk at snails pace with her. I stick nappies,spare clothes,doll and sticker books in it. Not difficult to carry-it slings over my shoulder and we never fill it to very heavy-also straps go over back of buggy no problem. I think it's great, and provides some entertainment. Was a present so cost didn't really come into it for us. Airports are so boring its good to have some distractions to hand. But the majority above dont seem to have much love for them!

Also if wine is left on the tables or poured makes a difference-when poured people are more restrained, when on tables they get through it faster. We had fancy waiters at ours, but ended up asking them to leave the bottles on the tables do people could help themselves. We had a lot of family (ie not all my mates could come), so didn't get through the half bottle wine/ half bottle prosecco per person-reckon we would have if wine had been on tables to start and more of my mates had been there (we had it in Scotland so no afters).

Hi all. Just had my scan and so far so good. Baby was waving away so all feeling much more real! Number 2 and redated to 10 October. No 1 will be 2yrs 10months by then. Very happy. Would be great to meet up with others expecting at the same time as not doing nct this time around. Congrats all!

I think that warren Evans does a really low single bed you could get. We bought a very sweet girls single bed from aspace-amazing but pricey-but figured it was cheaper than going for a toddler bed plus bedding and another less expensive bed. She loves it-there is a truckle bed that you can get for underneath-I'm sleeping on that while she gets used to the single bed and she can have it for sleepovers when she gets a little bigger. Good luck with your choice whatever it is.

Car seat and buggy is fine with ba- don't know if that's all airlines- the website might say?

We have been through a lot of antibiotics and lo pretty damn impressive at swallowing terrible stuff now. She is a good bit older now at 26 months but have always explained in a sympathetic voice that i know it is gross and wish she didn't need to take it, but that she needed to as it was the only way to make x better. I have always had a drink of juice or other drink of her choosing to wash it down with after to help take the taste away-and let her choose the drink before and hand it to her immediately after. At times when compliance was bad I would pick her up, cradling her, take one arm under my arm so she couldn't push me away and keep the other arm T bay with my elbow. Then try to distract with claiming there was a cat or something out the window, then go for it pretty sharpish with the syringe and hold her mouth closed until she swallowed. Horrific, but we dealt with recurrent pneumonia so better than ending up in hospital. If she still spat it out I would explain we would have to start all over again and the process would repeat. She soon learnt mummy means business and spitting it out just means more. I am really proud of her medicine taking now-she just gets on with it, but I sympathise- it's horrible. Can't wait till she's big enough for tablets! Good luck!

Not concerned at all. Don't think that article is fair. Cinderella is kind to everyone and her goodness is why she succeeds and even has a fairy godmother. It teaches kindness. It teaches that it is ok to be timid good things can still happen to you. There are lots of timid little girls that get pushed around, and the story suggests that an end will come to being pushed around. I don't think everyone has to be balshy and brave, it's ok to be shy too. It is also just a fairy tale. If you are worried about story content to that extent you might end up with no stories left, no cartoons, no make believe heroes that do thinks at certain times of the year. It's just make believe that adds a bit of magic. There are plenty of other heroines that are strong and brave. I think balance is fine. Understand that you are feeling protective though. If they are enjoying their princess phase let them enjoy it while they are so young. Reality can come later.

My 26 month old is a joker too - starting around 7:30 bath, stories, teeth eventually sleep, between 9&10pm for past 2 months. Going to be fun when the clock change makes this even later. We have no bottle as she is dairy & soya free. Reassuring that there are plenty of other little monkeys out there. We have just got her a big girl bed which will be assembled tomorrow- hoping this helps things as she doesn't like the cot...

There is a new place on northcross rd called duck egg with a little play area at the back for little people. Have been in but lo was sleeping so yet to try it out!

Having had a child and gone back to work I've found it really hard to accept that despite my up upbringing to the contrary, it really is still a mans world. At least where I work, if you have had kids, you just aren't taken as seriously as a career oriented person. That said, my mums advice has always been to strive to be equal career wise and in a position to be able to walk away should I need to so as never to feel trapped. I have always thought this very good advice and will pass the same on to my daughter-whatever she does and if she ends up marrying a man I want her always to be able to be in situations through choice. I'm not convinced the world will ever be available to women that have kids unless the whole structure of what is expected changes. The insane hours and expectation to drop everything for work makes it impossible (unless you are fortunate enough to have a mammoth support team, which most of us don't). There will always be women who do not respect women as equals from their own lack of self belief which doesn't really help the cause!

Personally wouldn't want to live next to 24 hour local supermarket, and wouldn't want my local corner shop to go 24/7 either. I'm constantly picking up rubbish from my doorstep from people dropping it, and its always worse on the weekend when people dump eg takeaway containers after a night out. Street cleaning probably better on lordship lane but the surrounding streets will see more rubbish from drunken munchies packets being discarded in gardens. Maybe wouldnt irritate most, but every day I'm picking up some lazy sods rubbish and it drives me crazy!

We have the Braun one too, but I know there is a new infra red thermometer that you don't even need to touch babies skin with. No idea how much they cost, but worth looking into as means avoiding struggle if sore ears, waking if asleep to take temp etc (and let us know if u do find it/ get one!)

Done. Still 3rd on 28%

I would think important for baby to stay hydrated, but maybe give nhs direct a call to get a steer? Poor tot, hope it passes soon. X

I went cold turkey night weaning with mine at 23 months. After about a week she stopped wakin at all looking for it. She now sleeps like a log- literally nothing wakes her. We all get more sleep and are happier for it. But, I hated having to do the weaning, I wasn't ready to give up, but there were lots of reasons why I needed to. If 24 months is the magic no, then you only need to struggle through another 5 months. If you are feeling like you can't cope with the tiredness, maybe worth a re-think on what you want vs what you need. Good luck. X

I think dealing with biting/scratching etc is a really tough one for nurseries. About 6 months ago my lo was regularly coming home with scratches on her face, and I overheard a parent having a go that it shouldn't be happening to their child as they were also coming home with scratches on a regular basis. It settled down after about a month, but, the Los can get the claws out/bite so fast that it's impossible to stop it happening if the kids are together all day. I wouldn't want to come across my lo being excluded like that, but, provided its not a regular "punishment", it might be a way of getting through to the lo if explaining that its not nice to bite isn't working, and they are getting grief from other parents about their kids being bitten. They should really have explained to you that is how they deal with things in advance though, especially if your son has a history of it and they knew it might happen. I would talk to the nursery and explain if you aren't comfortable with him being excluded without you being told - I guess it feels a little bit like a betrayal of trust as "punishment" is really a parents domain, and any techniques other than explaining things to the child should really be run past you first. Like I said, it's a tricky one and I can see both sides of it, but, a little communication with you in the first place probably would have avoided the upset.

Don't want to confuse things but our lo is dairy and soy allergic. She is 2 now, but it took until she was 3 months old for the dairy allergy to be diagnosed. While they are testing the stool ask them to check for calprotectin which is a protein they might find an abundance of if your baby has a gut allergy to something you are eating and baby is getting through the milk. Have heard green poo indicative of too much fore milk, but the mucous raises alarm bells with me as this is what happens when my lo has accidentally had some soy. There is a bug going around but that should clear up in 10 days or so.gps are not that hot on gut allergies, so if it persists this is something I would raise with gp and ask to see a paeds gastroenterologist at kings. I was told straining for several hours on end (mine would strain for up to four) is a symptom of gut allergy. Hope it's just a bug but wouldnt want u to struggle for as long as I did. X

My lo had a horrendous time settling in - it took months (probably a little over 2 if Im honest), and there were lots of tears. But, I had to go back to work, and nursery was the best fit in terms of her specific needs. Now, she absolutely loves it and I cant imagine taking her out. It is an enormous change for them to go from having their "uberslave" (as I refer to myself as occasionally), to not being number 1 and having to wait their turn, be patient, etc. However, she has got a load of pals that she shrieks with glee to see, and has the biggest smile on her face when I pick her up - its clear she has had a ball all day long. It is you job to feel guilty and constantly question the choices you make as regards your lo - it is part of being a parent. Husband does drop off most days, and when I have to do it, she still whinges a bit occasionally, and then I can hear her laughing before the door closes behind me...Chin up, stay strong, she will settle, but it does take time. My nursery let me call every day for the first 6 weeks - which I did, every day, for reassurance that she was ok - maybe this is something the nursery would agree to if you are feeling worried about it?

Thanks for this information, and for the pms - hopefully there are enough options for something to have availability so our little Billy Elliot can get dancing!

My sister is flying over on her own with 3 kids and all the associated baggage, and wants to hire a car. She would prefer not to have to schlep out to some remote car park with all of them in tow with the bags (Im not even sure she could), so wanted to check if anyone has any experience of a car rental company she could use that would make the process a bit more bearable (i.e. is there a company that will meet you in arrivals with the car parked in ST parking for instance?)! Thanks in advance.

Hi Saila. You need to unblock the duct. I never had one that size but had tremendously swollen breast when lo was 5 days old from engorgement (with mastitis). What worked for me was a bath as hot as I could bear. Get breasts under the water for 5 mins- they will soften and you can then massage from extremity of breast all the way into the duct. Start right in your armpit for outer sides of breast as the ducts go all the way back. The milk should start flowing. Baby is great at helping as they have a strong suck but you have to get the milk behind the blockage to push the blockage clear. This takes a while in the bath, so if you can be someone to watch the little ones while you sort it out. This worked for me 3 times out of 4 so hope it works for you. Best of luck. Xx