Bumpkin

I know in an ideal world you're meant to make the baby go to sleep without any props e.g. feeding, rocking etc, but we did get a Tomy star which plays a lullaby and projects pictures of teddies onto the ceiling. Not for use in the first few weeks as too much for a real newbie, but it distracted baby B enough to get out of the room without too many tears and turns itself off after 10 mins. We still use it 2.5 years later...

I remember thinking about this as a good idea, but there is a really good toy library at one of the nurseries in West Dulwich which is ?15 per year for all loans. We used it a few times.

I don't think it's that painful when they are small. We went to Townley road and they had a toy Baby B hadn't seen before and he was so busy looking at it he didn't even notice the jab. It does swell up and leak pus for ages but again, didn't seem to bother him at all.

I second that; they always answer the phone promptly in person and appear to remember who I am (probably don't really, but it sounds good).

There's a bus from Victoria station which takes you very close - can't remember which one, but something like 310? If you go out to the road running to the left of the station (from looking out at the taxi rank), you'll find it.

You're right, I shouldn't have said 'push for one' obviously and yes I wasn't very well after the birth as I had quite bad pre-eclampsia; however I don't think I would have got a single room if my Brierly midwife hadn't stepped in and asked for it. I was in no state to ask for anything and wouldn't have asked anyway as I would never have thought of it. I would never advocate just making a fuss for the sake of it, but I do think it's worth asking for things if you really think you need them e.g. baby B wouldn't sleep at all at night in the separate cot provided, but I had one that clipped to the side of the bed when I was in the high dependancy unit and asked for one on the main ward which I duly got, but again wouldn't have been offered. The hospital can easily say no to polite requests, but if you don't ask...

I totally agree with Sanne Panne re the labour talk - to be honest, if you want a hospital birth, I'd almost be tempted not to go. I arranged a home birth but went dutifully to the labour ward tour as was being keen and was totally freaked out along with a lot of the other mums. If I'd been booked in for a hospital birth at that point, I would have been really upset and worried for the rest of the pregnancy. In the end the home birth turned into a hospital one with a 1 week complimentary stay afterwards and they were fantastic - couldn't praise them higher and would have a hospital birth there again any time. There are single rooms on the main labour ward - I had one for a week but they don't tell you about them and only put you in if you really need it and you ask a midwife to push to get one.

I exclusively breast fed baby B during the day for the first year except for bottle of formla at 10pm ish until around 6 months. After a while I did move roughly on to Gina Fords timings (very roughly) which worked really well with us and I remember distinctly that she said from 9 months you could drop the afternoon feed and just breast feed first thing in the morning and at bedtime. By 9 months with a very large baby, I was starting to feel uncomfortable feeding him out and didn't want to be confined to the house in the afternoon for feeds any more, so I stopped the afternoon one on day 1 of 9 months with no fuss at all from Baby B, no substitution for formula and carried on for quite a while with just morning and before bedtime which was easy to do with working. Everytime I dropped a feed, it took about 3 days for my body to adjust. Congrats on the job!

One of the best bits of advice I was given before having baby B was not to bother with a cot as they don't last long and to get a cot bed instead. I did have a particularly large boy who is now on the 98th percentile for height, but I'm so pleased I got a cot bed as it's great to be able to keep the sides up as long as you want as I've heard various horror stories of happily sleeping babies not sleeping at all when in a big bed for quite some time.

Hi James Regarding the extra ?5m - does this have to be spent this financial year? I'm slightly concerned about this being spent on buldge classes only as this will only solve the problem for one intake of children as there will have to be the same extra space for the bulge class until these children move on to secondary school. Will this then adversely affect children the following years as I can't imagine much funding will be forthcoming in future years given we had so much this year? Pleased to see some of it being used for permanent expansion of at least one school though. Thanks

I saw some in Sainsburys the other day in the first aisle with the garden stuff

Hello - I'd love to come if space - can make 8pm no probs.

I actually managed to get a private room on the main post natal ward for a whole week due to looking truly dreadful after emergency c-section and a day in the high dependency unit. I'm sure if you're going for a planned section, you won't end up like that, but if you're really not coping, it's worth knowing they are there and getting a friendly midwife to push for it (I bribed mine with chocolates - really good tip from a friend). I also managed to get hold of a plastic cot that clipped onto the side of my bed and was open at the bed side so the baby was next to me at night as he refused to sleep in the separate cots and I couldn't really lift him out at first. Only downside of the private room was it was really cold, so an extra blanket would have been nice, but was quiet which was much appreciated. Kings were fantastic - I had quite bad pre-eclapmsia which came on at the very last minute and they were so amazing at looking after me & the baby, would definitely go there again without any hesitation.

Goosemum - I think that's a very important point as from what I can see at work, being able to socialise / network is just as important if not more than your academic skills in getting ahead if that's what you want from life. Let alone the benefit of having good friends that live close by. I went to a local primary and was very happy with loads of friends within close walking distance. I then went to a private secondary that undoubtably provided a good education, but there was a strong focus on spending all hours outside school doing loads of homework and the friends I made there all lived driving distance away. Looking back, I'm not sure that spending less time on academic things and more time nurturing friendships outside of school wouldn't have been a better thing all round.

A friend of mine has a whole load of lovely baby clothes she would like to donate to mums that are on a very low budget. Does anyone know how best to do this round here?

Fantastic, thanks for that, think it's a trip to Brixton tomorrow - always happy for an excuse to wander over to Morleys and the market. Will check out the diggerland website now.. x

It's my day off with the tot tomorrow and I asked him what he would like to do in the morning, more as general chat than really expecting much of a reply from a just 2 year old. However I was told most firmly 'find digger'. So am wondering if anyone has noticed any digging going on in the local area!

Thanks for all your replies - still to decide, but all very helpful. Ours is also a big fattie and had very mild eczema which to my shame got significantly better when I started a more vigourous washing routine (behind the ears mostly). Not that I'm suggesting you don't wash your child linzkg! more that baby B's prob wasn't that serious.

Mr B works freelance and has time off in May. We would both love to go back to Thailand as love the place and have local friends there, but I'm not sure if it would just be too hot for a 2 yr old at that time? My instinct would be to leave it to next November when it's a bit cooler and the tot is a bit older, but can never guarantee us both being able to take holiday at the same time..

I got one for a Quest off Ebay for ?5 inc postage.

Hi, Sorry Barry, I only just checked this again - I am at London Bridge tomorrow and Wednesday morning at around 8.30 am if that helps?

Hi Barry, not sure if this is totally on topic and if you can help, but am very frustrated with myself as just bought an annual season ticket at London Bridge and accidentally bought at rail ticket office rather than underground as meant to get Oyster card update. So I only have a paper ticket which I have now had to get replaced 4 times in 2 weeks as the magnetic strip stops working almost immediately. I've spoken to about 5 different people at TFL / South Eastern etc about getting this transferred to an Oyster card and they all say it should be done but London Bridge can't and if I apply for a refund I lose the 2 months free... not sure where to go next, but wondered if you had any bright ideas! Thanks

I totally agree LittleED family on the controlled crying. I hated the idea of controlled crying when baby B was younger but after putting up with 2 months of being woken up 2/3 times in the night and at 5am when Mr B was working away from home during the week (and baby B was a reasonable age and had slept through before), my friend said - face it, you have to try it. So at 5am I put him back in cot (rather than bringing into bed where he didn't go back to sleep at all...); let him cry for 10 mins, went back and reassured him, he cried for 2 mins and then slept til 8am!! For several weeks after he slept straignt through to 7am and I felt stupid for not trying it before... Have used it several times since at any sign of not wanting to go to bed etc and have found that 10 mins max of crying usually sorts us out for the next few months (haven't had to do this for so long, "several" is prob an exageration)- surely better for a baby to have decent sleep than worry about a very short period of crying?

Fantastic - congratultions! Glad Elsa held out for the wedding :-)

Belle - I understand what you're saying about Nick Clegg and I do feel sympathy for him struggling with a new baby as I definitely did. However, whilst I would have much sympathy with an average person in the street privately stating the same as Nick Clegg; he's a very senior politician who wants to run our country and publicly made statements that could damage someone's livelihood. So I judge him differently. Anyway, off topic - sorry.