fapl

Hi, hope it is ok I am advertising this here, I am a semi regular poster. I am helping to organise the next NCT nearly new sale for Lewisham. The sale is held at St Laurence church in Catford, on Bromley Road just off the south circular so it is easy to get to from East Dulwich. You do not need to be a member to either buy or sell, it is a service for all local parents that also raises funds for the NCT :) Registrations are open for sellers for our next sale on October 13th. If you are interested in selling please email [email protected] for more information. Please Like our new Facebook page and share with your friends, so you will always know when our sales are on http://www.fb.com/LewishamNearlyNewSales Here http://www.nct.org.uk/sites/default/files/related_documents/NNS%20new%20A4%20flyer%20oct%202012-1.pdf is a copy of the flyer for our sale, if you are able to print it and put it up in local cafes, nurseries, libraries etc that would be amazing :-)

Bewl Water, lovely spot for a picnic, playground, sand pit etc.

As the title says really...except the real name of it is Sacrilege. I went when it was in Greenwich and it was good fun. http://festival.london2012.com/events/9000963231

Take up alieh's offer and try the amby hammock. Your baby sounds exactly like my oldest son and the hammock, while not a cure, made a massive difference. The baby is cocooned and it is on a spring so when they move they are bounced around. My gut instinct goes against the advice of putting babies to sleep on their backs. I think there are a lot of babies that don't like it. There is some research, though not scientifically certified, by the late Dr Brian Palmer that one of the best ways of avoiding SIDS is by breastfeeding your baby.

I don't know anything about the school but if it is close by put it down on your list of six, even if in 6th place. Being allocated a rubbish school near your house would be so much better than being allocated a rubbish school 6 miles away. BTW as I said I don't know anything about Rye Oak, I am not saying it is rubbish :) I just know of enough parents that did not get any of their 6 preferences for reception this year, an awful situation to be in (Lewisham borough btw).

I went to the Lewisham hospital classes. If you have been to Lewisham hospital for an ante natal appointment or scan, that downstairs waiting area was full, as an estimate at least 30 couples perhaps? I saw some people trying to make friends, but it would have been a serious effort, you may start to talk to someone and the next week turn up and the seats next to those people if you want to talk again are taken. It is funny, NHS ante natal classes are one of those postcode lottery things. I have friends in other areas where they have just small groups of 8 couples in their antenatal classes, in that instance you could more understand that people think the NCT classes are not worth it. Someone from my NCT class lives in Catford, which is Lewisham borough and they had small ante natal classes at her local GP surgery. I don't know if this is because it is seen as a more deprived area or something as where I live in Lewisham I was only offered the hospital classes. If it is Lewisham hospital classes versus NCT, NCT wins hands down, on both potential to make friends and course content. If you can't afford it, you could loan lots of books from the library to prepare for birth and meet people through other means e.g. the forum and baby groups. As to which location, definitely go with your closest, you will all see each other more if you can walk to each others houses or local parks etc. Just because you go to New Cross more now, when you are at home with a baby will you really go to New Cross as much?

Putting the social aspect aside, the NCT classes I attended really helped me prepare mentally for labour and gave me confidence in the decisions I made. Also, as most women these days do, I wanted my partner with me during labour, but I wanted to know he knew what to expect. I bought him a couple of books which he didn't look at, but he did learn things in the NCT classes. The day you give birth to your first child you will never forget, the NCT ante natal classes I attended helped me prepare for that day, I do not regret spending the money. But as others have said you can meet local mums through other means, you can also prepare for labour in other ways, but NCT classes are a convenient way to do both :)

I have linked to it before, this book shows you how to make all the numbers out of regular cake tins.

If they are still in nappies keep them off bran. My 2 year old loves bran, we have had to ban the bran! If he is lucky we will sprinkle a few flakes on top of another cereal to keep him happy. All the bran passes through their system undigested and sticks to their bum when you try and wipe it, really difficult to clean. I always thought regular plain crispies, cornflakes and weetabix were all ok. Full size weetabix is ok, the milk makes it soggy and they can break it up, I think the mini ones aimed at children are loaded with sugar. Made that mistake with some mini weetabix once, they were ridiculously sweet.

The only thing I would say is you can get vinyl wall decals which look similar, they are probably cheaper and also easy to remove when you change your mind. Sorry to put a downer on it, there may be people that will pay extra for something done by hand, but for something like this I wouldn't myself.

I have a vibe. At 4 months don't waste your money getting a cocoon, they grow out of it at about 4 months. My 5 month old always looks really comfy in the underneath seat, it has a zip in it down the side so it reclines slightly (nowhere near flat though), and he happily sleeps in it. nearly 3 year old happily jumps on and off the front. The vibe is about 2 inches wider than the more standard Phil and Teds models, I think the extra width is in the wheels. It is pretty annoying, but I have not had another P&T to compare it to. You can fold it with the 2nd seat on (in all positions except 1) which you can't do with some of the other models. It is really bulky folded up, but maybe they all are. Also, there are some known manufacturers faults with the original Vibe (if you are buying second hand), which I think were rectified with vibe 2. P&T will do some repairs for free on the original vibe because of the known manufacturers faults.

Did anybody else come on here expecting something different after reading the 2 children or 3 thread? :))

I thought CF was one of the diseases that they tested for in the newborn screening tests when they take spots of blood from the baby's heel.

I would personally avoid chains like Halfords and Mothercare. A lot of the staff are not trained properly to fit car seats. You can see the results of a Which survey here which shows that independent stores on the whole are better at fitting car seats than the big chains.

I am one of 5. I am not sure which one of us my parents would have given up for more or better holidays.

If you can make the trek to the in car safety centre in Rayleigh in Essex, you will come away with piece of mind. They do not sell car seats, they have about 90 seats that are currently available for sale in the UK market and will see which best fits your model of car.

Some people here may even appreciate a cafe that isn't baby friendly in a couple of years when you have a morning all to yourself. I would love to be able to sit in a quiet cafe with newspaper, but I know I won't be able to for a couple of years yet :)

As this is so sensitive, I would like to warn people that there is an image of a baby that was forcibly aborted in China at 7 months gestation.

Right on the Thames...Greenwich Yacht Club.

The woman, Gill, that did scans for me at Apeekaboo is really nice. It is at a business park in Erith, but not too difficult to get to if you have a car. It was one of the cheapest places when I was looking for a viability scan (couldn't wait 12 weeks to let everybody know I was pregnant :) )

really nice picnic rug

I live in Lewisham borough. In Lewisham for nursery you apply to schools directly, and most schools have now already offered nursery places for September 2012 (the 2 schools I applied to for my son have). You have no right to a nursery place and no right to appeal, as it is not compulsory school age, if you miss out too bad really, it is different to reception applications.

TBH I didn't think much of it, a lot of the interactive bits where you pushed buttons and things seemed to be broken, but then again we had not long been to Singapore zoo which is amazing :)

Nice to think of it as a little room :)

What you need is a copy of the Australian Women's Weekly Kids Birthday Cake Book It shows you how to make all the numbers with regular cake tins. It is the updated version of this which I poured over as a kid. It has things in it that kids today wouldn't recognise such as CRT televisions and typewriters. I bought this original version off ebay for nostalgia reasons and my son loves reading it as much as I did :))