Claire.Hobbs

Looking for some advice from the Forum re my pram dilemma. I've currently got a Bugaboo bee which I love, and so does my 2-year-old. We also have a maclaren that lives in the car, not in love with it but it's very handy for short trips, holidays etc. We're very reluctant to get rid of the Bee and had been planning to try and get by with a sling and wheely board for the first few months, and one pram each for longer trips with both parents. However I wonder if we will end up needing a double pram eventually anyway? I'm thinking a Phil & Ted's in that case as long as it will fit into our tiny car boot. Looking at the dimensions of the Phil & Ted's however, it's so much wider than the bee and I worry it won't fit into our shared hallway unless I fold it up which seems very impractical with a toddler and newborn in tow. What combination have others found most useful for this age gap (just over 2 years)? I suspect my toddler would get very jealous of the baby in 'her' pram but equally, she may be really happy walking and riding on the wheeled board - impossible to know until the baby is here I suppose. Some of my friends have all three but we simply don't have the space for this in our house.

I don't think it would be an issue as long as you've lived in it for two years - just a case of negotiating the price.

What the title says. Considering buying a leasehold house but would like to know if anyone has had experience in buying the freehold from the Dulwich Estate, and if so give me an idea of costs involved? All I know about the lease is that it's around 100 years left. We've been stung before when extending the lease of a flat...

The Herne has a function room at the back with a decking area, and there is the climbing frame outside. I think it's about ?70 for a sat or sun.

In their case it did, they had a large deposit so were still able to get a mortgage, but they weren't offered the best interest rates as the loan-to-value was altered.

Properties selling for well above the previous sale prices of similar properties in the neighbouring area are likely to be knocked down by surveyors when it comes to arranging the mortgage, and apparently they often knock it down below what it should/could have been. This happened recently to a friend of mine selling in Camberwell and by all accounts it's not that unusual. We recently put our 2-bed flat on the market and were advised by several agents to put it on for an outrageous ?40-?50K more than the expected sale price. Similar properties in the area have been achieving high sale prices recently, presumably due to the lack of properties on the market currently compared to demand.

Whether a piece of research is funded or not does matter, as the financiers can/may decide not to publish the result...so who knows if the results would have been made public if the opposite was found? After all, nobody proofits financially from breastfed babies.

I'm so glad i'm not alone :) Didn't our mums usually have their parents and other family around to help with childcare though? We haven't got anybody to take our little one for a few hours while we get on top of things but I'm sure it would make a huge difference if we did. We're toying with the idea to move closer to family just to get some help!

Dummy clips? Or a Sleepytot I haven't tried them myself as the dummy clip works well for us but it looks cute.

She may want to try Nanny Goat Milk formula.

Riverford organic do veg, milk and lots more. Only deliver once a week although their produce is great.

Have you tried Seldoc?

I once had a fab cleaner...or so I thought until I came home one day to find the cleaning cloth I used in the kitchen in my bathroom. Eeek! I haven't had a cleaner since but could seriously do with some help now we have a baby. Just not sure I could trust them to do a good job and not to spread germs through my house!

I would recommend going to see a cranial osteopath as we had same problems, it cleared up almost immediately after one visit.

We like the nature babycare but now in size 3 they have started to leak all over the place. Tried pampers which immediately gave her nappy rash so next stop sainsbury's for the Eco brand me thinks!

Sorry about the ill informed comment re bump size/gd - it was the comment I had at king's I did not look into it further. I did have a tiny bump but large baby as it happens.

Those of you who have had problems with daytime sleep but night time ok...do you have blackout blinds? Not sure if worth investing in this as our daytime naps are getting increasingly difficult at 5 months. It takes ages now to get her to sleep and can't seem todrift off without boob following a few days of extra nursing due to teething. Cc does not work as she doesn't actually cry - she just talks to herself and can go onfor hours!

This happened to me too - it turned out to be absolutely fine. I triedto explain to my mw that I had been in a rush the morning of the test and grabbed an energy bar on the way to the mw! They still insisted on me having the gtt, which in itself is fairly unpleasant as you have to fast and the drink sickly sweet drink and still no food for hours. Take a sandwich with you to eat as soon as you are out of there is my advice! Oh, and when I turned up for my gtt the person giving me the drink took one look at me and said 'your bump is small, you don't have gd as if you do the baby is big and you tend to have abnormally large bump'. In the meantime, keep carbs down at least the White bread and sugary foodsincluding fruits, (fresh, juices and dried) ty to have small frequent meals and include protein at each meal/ snack ie hommous with oatcakes or carrots, pot of yoghurt, handful of nuts with berries etc. Gentle exercise such as walking, yoga or swimming also helps decrease insulin resistance. Try not to worry as if you did have gd it's not harmful to the foetus unless it isn't caught in time. I hope it turns out to be false alarm.

Yep, I agree re seeing friends. Especially in the evenings, and have long coherent conversations (not about babies)! Go out together as a couple in the evenings, cinema, dinner, theatre, gigs etc. Cook extra batches of food and pop in the freezer. Get your hair done. Errr..have sex. Doesn't have to stop once bub arrives but you might find you don't have the time you used to...

I've breastfed in most cafes in ED with no problems at all. The Herne is very family oriented if you're after a pub. If you're uncomfortable, why not seat yourself with your back to the room/crowd and facing your friends and wall behind them - no one will be able to tell you're breastfeeding that way.

My baby did thid too around the 6-week mark (after going every day like clockwork) - apparently this is normal behaviour as their digestive system matures or something around this time. I went home and had half a bag or prunes and hey presto! Prunes or prune juice seems to help every time (I have this - not baby) Citrus is a big no-no for the first 12 months of life in my opinion as highly allergenic.