WorkingMummy

Me too. Very interested.

The winter fair at The Villa School, noon until 3 today. Sorry it's a bit late. Face painting etc. school on Lyndhurst grove

findababysitter.com. Have found a great nanny and a lovely au pair on there.

What I miss about life before our little bunnies came along is brunch, showering without a team of infant spectators, an unbroken nights sleep, weekends in Italy, the theatre. I'd settle for one of those and be very happy without any nookie.

Lily, I really feel for you. While she is anxious, it is such an awful, guilty time for you. Her anxiety may be connected to the recent change in her routine, but it may be unrelated too: they do go through bouts of separation anxiety off and on until they are about three. It is a normal healthy part of their development and it really could be a coincidence that is happening now. She just needs heaps and heaps of reassurance and patience until she re-finds her security that you do come back every time you leave the room. It will pass and it will all be ok. WM x

Just after I went back to work after no 3 (with my breast pump) I had the most awful cough and naughtily took a Beechams cold and flu drink to get some relief. It had the unwanted side-effect of drying up my milk. I expresed at lunchtime and got 1oz instead of usual 4-6. I googled it and read that decongestants reduce milk volume greatly. In the states midwives recommend it when women stop nursing. It may help with the engorgement. As for how you do it, I had to force weaning onto my first at 22 months. I did cold turkey. I thought dragging it out and reducing the number of feeds per day gradually would be too complicated and not really reduce the amount of upset and outrage my LO would immediately feel. Cold turkey worked very well. But I did get myself ready with a lot of things to distract her with right after I said "no" for about the first week. And I called in all the favours I could to get her out and about without me for they period. I also sent her to my sisters for the first night to break the habit of feeding off to sleep. Good luck.

Hi Pebbles. Your story resonates. I'm really glad to have read it. I first had sleeplessness forced upon me by work and by the needs of my children. But over the years, I seem to have developed my own relationship with insomnia, which now has a life if its own. I know very well the whirlpool of decreasing circles, where my exhaustion is so severe, I am too tired to feel tired and I do not recognise my need to go to bed. I have no advice at all, but am very greatful for your blog. It's comforting and reassuring and has given me a lot to think about.

I was not that Mummy. But I'll add my voice to the chorus of praise.

We all love Haba dolls in our house. Boy and girl figures, blank and white, very well made...

My husband is one of three sons. When his mother was expecting his younger brother, she did exactly what you are considering. She bought him a baby doll, and showed him all the things you do for babies using the dolly, encouraging him to join in the play and talking about the baby who was due. She even weaves in breast feeding, which apparantly my husband liked to copy, holding the doll to his chest. I think it is really clever idea. Of course, his dolly phase passed, and probably a little quicker than it would for a girl.

Yes I agree. I thought DKH felt like a very happy place and I liked all the Spanish everywhere. Does anyone have a child at DKH? The downside to being shown around by (very engaging, enthusiastic) pupils was that we could not ask much about teaching standards.

My nanny is Swedish. Where were you guys hiding this whole time. You explain the enormous pile if Swedish brand meatballs in the Dog Kennel Hill Sainsbury's (which my nanny and hence children live on).

Edited to remove accidental duplicate. Sorry.

I have been following the primary school threads with interest as my first starts school next year. Considering all options, state and private. Does anyone know/is anyone looking at schools in Camberwell? Specifically, what views have we on DKH v Lyndhurst? I have toured the first, not the second. I am in between the two geographically. WMx

I'm not sure how helpful this is but I breastfed my eldest to sleep until she was about 20 months old, at which point I went cold turkey on her because I was about to have my second and felt a bit funny about having two on the go at once. Plus I needed to make our bedtime "routine" a lot shorter than me just feeding her until she was really deeply asleep. So I sleep trained and weaned her simultaneously. We broke our bedtime habits by sending her to visit her favourite auntie without me overnight, which went very well, and then after that by me simply saying no when she asked to nurse (whether at bedtime or not) and cuddling her or distracting her with a song or game instead. For bedtimes, I invented a slightly slushy love song featuring her name, exclusively to be used at bedtime (and preferably out of hearing of any other adult, to save my pride.) It was not a great piece of music/lyric, but it took her mind off wanting the breast and soon that was her new bedtime routine. In less than a week she was going down no problem. About one week later, I tackled the issue of leaving the room while she was still awake (but after the song). That took a full on controlled crying technique. It was not pleasant but only took 4 nights. My experience is the older they are when you stop them from using the breast as a pacifier, the EASIER it is to get them down without it. They are "readier". But that is not the conventional wisdom. (The times I used to hear "rod for your own back" from friends and nannies!) I was however very firm and did not lapse into nursing even once after I made the break. What is the problem at the moment - or rather, what do you need to change?

Thank you. Will by in some yoghurt and ice cream tomorrow. hope our little outbreak does not spread to my 5 month old, who is only now finally getting over whooping cough and has had quite enough discomfort for such a little one.

That is very helpful, thank you. As I say, I was very impressed by the standard of the children's work.

My LO has it and the poor thing is really uncomfortable. It is self resolving, so not looking for medical advice. Any tips how to relieve mouth pain and skin lesions?

All very good, excellent organisation, superb standard of work, abundance of excellent staff, clear objective to bring everyone to successful 7plus (which I guess is what the parents want/children need). Any child starting to slip behind would no doubt have great safety net from all the learning support. But, I could not put my finger on why, the head seemed very nice and everything she said made sense to me...it felt a tiny bit tense. I was worried it could be a little like a pressure cooker.

German Kindergarten is fantastic. You don't have to be German - we are not. V loving and lots of outside activities.

I think there is an epidemic of sorts. I have never heard of it before and suddenly it's a feature. Over here in Camberwell I have been door stepped with a sponsorship form and in fact the same boy just stopped me in the street with another boy, both about 14, on my way home from my child's nursery. When I stopped him short to say "no thanks" his friend became quite pushy, asking me why not. I did not like it. It's odd. I don't know what school they were from but it is strange that it's started happening everywhere at the same time.

I'm an avid breastie. Been doing it solidly now for about 4 years for my three in turn. But, I do believe that a lot of the research published only proves an association between breat feeding and improved health/development. I do not believe it proves that one causes the other. There may be something else (social/economic maybe) causing both the tendency to breast feed and the improved outcome together. And anyway, statistics reflect a population, not what is best for your kids, which truly, you and you alone will know. A lot depends on what is best for you. When your kids are that tiny, their interests are so bound up with yours, you should not feel bad about asking yourself what you want. Your happiness is worth the world to your children.

Had a tour of Herne Hill School yesterday. Obviously, v good school with excellent staff. But got a very particular impression. I don't know any families that attend there. Could anyone give me some honest feedback about what it is like for the kids? A small thing I did not like was the idea of reception kids eating their packed lunches at their desks at lunchtimes.

I can v highly recommend the German Kindergarten on Red Post Hill. It is bilingual. It is used my some Germsn expats but mostly my English families who like the idea of early introduction to a foreign language. It is small, friendly , very loving, well organised and has a great garden. And after 3 or 4 terms, your child may well be bilingual.

Thank you all!