Mrs_Glennie

Hello! I'm starting a new job working 2 or 3 days from home in a couple of weeks and am worried I will miss being in a big office. Would love to do a working from home lunch or coffee one day. Mrs G

I've just had my whole flat repainted by a great couple, who are in fact neighbours of mine and I wanted to recommend their work to others who might be looking for decorators. Monika and Kuba did a fantastic job painting all our walls, ceilings, doors, skirting and windows for an extremely competitive price and were really lovely and accommodating in doing it at times that worked for our family, and often under the watchful eye of a very curious toddler!! They can be contacted on [email protected] and are based in Denmark Hill Fell free to PM me if you want any more information.

Angelo flooring are currently doing my wooden floors, carpets and bathroom flooring at the moment and couldn't be more helpful and accommodating. They have sourced alternatives for flooring we liked but couldn't stretch our budget to and gave us numerous samples for free to make our choice and were very patient while we were choosing! http://angeloflooring.co.uk/

We have used Richard Coates at London and Country twice now and he's been great. [email protected] or 01225 343108

Morning all, the psat two weekend my OH and I have been fighting a loosing battle with our 22 month old fighting her normal afternoon nap and getting - at best - 20 mins of rest. She still sleep for and hour or more at nursery, where she is 4 days a week, and I know she is tired with us at the weekend but when we put er in her cot as we have done for her whole life pretty much she will sit and play and sing and chat rather than settle to sleep. I fairly certain she couldn't cope with dropping her nap as she is always shattered by about 6pm, rubbing her eyes and unsteady on her feet and she asks for milk and stories! yesterday I could tell she was tired at about 11.45am while we were playing, so I asked her if she would like her lunch and to go to bed and she said yes! We did quick lunch and put her down to sleep before 12.30 and had chatting and mucking about for nearly an hour, then a tiny nap, then awake having done a poo! I've tried putting her down later - closer to 1/1.30pm, which is the time she sleeps at nursery but if you factor in the faffing about then she doesn't end up going to sleep until after 2 which seem to late to be napping at her age. She has been SUCH a good sleeper all her life and is still settling fine at night, we read a couple fo stories, I tuck her up and she says 'bye bye mummy' and rolls onto her tummy (I do not expect this to last though!) I don't know how to help her setlle during the day in the ways she always sued too. I tire her out, remove toys from the cot, her room is the right temp and dark. At nursery they pat/rub them but she's never needed that at home before and I'm reluctant to start. Any advice? Thanks.

Evening all, I'm changing jobs in September and will have a couple off weeks off in between the two and since we're not able to go away on holiday but I will have childcare I thought it might be a good opportunity to FINALLY learn to drive having not had any lessons since I was 18! I'd like to do a one-week intensive course - learning on an automatic - to immerse myself and then top up with some lessons after that. Can anyone recommend a local instructor? Thanks.

Thanks everyone for your replies and for those who PM'd me. I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to your son Salia, I'm glad he's on the mend now. Her cough *seems* to be getting better and we've had no more vomiting so it must be a leathal combiantion fo the two together. I'm hoping that when (if) the weather gets warmer that will make a difference too. Your tips are all really useful Saffron, thank you. We have to drive from London to Bristol next week and then from Bristol to Cambridge a few days after that so I am steeling myself for vomit... Thanks again everyone. Mrs G

Afternoon EDF, My 18 month old is on her umpteenth cold since starting nursery last September and has had a lingering cough for about 6 weeks now. She's pretty much fine during the day and goes to sleep at bedtime as normal but at various points throughout the night - I'm guessing when she enters lighter sleep - she had prolonged coughing fits that sound like she's choking. I go in to her and hgold her upright and she coughs while still asleep and I'm able to pop her back down but this happens 2-3 times a night and I'm worried about it being somehting more serious than the GP telling us 'it's just a cold' last GP vist was on monday and her chest and throat are clear but she just sounds so awful poor thinga nd really phlegmy hacking cough :( The icing on the cake is also that the last two times she has been in a car in the last 6 weeks(we don't have one) she's had coughing fits and then proceeded to choke and projectile vomit everywhere! Prior to that she's been absolutely fine in cars on teh occasions we drove and was in fact getting happier to spot things out of the window and sing and play games. I'm concerned she might have carsickness or is it just this cough that seems to be triggering the vomiting. Any tips on how to end the night time coughing or advice on whether the cough and the car sickness are linked or just a coincidence? Thanks, MrsG

My 16 month old is in desperate need of a fringe trim! I don't want to give a full hair cut but I also don't trust myself to cut it at home. Is there anywhere in East Dulwich/Dulwich Village I could just get a fringe trim for her? Thanks.

I would love to come, both dates work for me!

Thanks so much everyone. We have a great A level babysitter we use for the occasional night out - but she only comes at night once my daughter is in bed.I am going to get in touch with her but fear she'll be off and on her way to school at the time we'd need her. What I need is a university student who doesn't start lectures until after 9am! Work *seem* to be ok at the moment with me coming in a bit late and then doing work from home at night so I'm hoping that will be good enough for the next week or so and then we can review the sitaution. If anyone has a babysitter they have used and trust who you think might be able to do these hours though, please do PM me. Thanks again. Mrs G

So sorry Slai, it's such a horrible thing to go through. Can you express while you're on the high dose anti-b's to keep your supply going?

I second that. I must have seen 4 different GP's none at my surgey with suspected mastitis and none of them gave me any antibios! It wasn't until I got so bad in the middle of the night with fever, cold sweats etc that my husband called SELDOC who were amazing and sorted me right out. Such a brilliant service. I hope you get more antibiotics soon and start getting better, it's such a horrible condition and doesn't help the general overwhelming feeling of having a tiny newborn and the stress of breastfeeding. Take care.

Afternoon all, Last weekend my husband broke two ribs after slipping on an icy pavement/ He was put on bedrest and has been off work ever since. He has since deteriorated and doctors are worried about his lungs as he is breathing too shallowly as he is in so much pain. he is on a second lot of very strong painkillers and told to rest absolutely. This alone would be worrying enough, but he and I have a 15 month old daughter and we split her daily childcare pretty much 50/50. I normally leave for work at 7 am to be in for 8 and he does dressing/breakfast/nursery drop off at 9. Since last week I've done drop off and pick up but I fear that my work will only tolerate me being 2 hours late for work for a limited time and my husband will need around 6 weeks to fully recover. My question is whether there is any kind of emergancy childcare that might cover coming in very early and getting a baby ready dressed and ready for the day and then off to nursery - a maximum of 2 hours each day I would have thought? Does such a person exist? Yours in shredded nerves, Mrs G

Eggy bread definitely a winner for us, as well as American style pancakes with blueberries in them, mini crossiants as a treat, eggy crumpets or crumpets with cream cheese? Latest winner is hot porridge with frozen blueberries stirred into it which cools it down and makes it purple!

Myla and Davis in Herne Hill are great, both Ben and Sue have cut my hair and I've been really pleased. On Mondays they do a mum and baby day where they will watch your child/give them toys and a play mat while you have your hair cut.

Hello, The past few days my 14 month old has ended each day with slightly gummy eyes. they don't seem to be bothering her, not rubbing them except when tired and they're not watery. This morning when she woke up they were much worse, so bad in fact they both eyes were gummed shut and it took me and my husband about 10 minutes to clear then using cotton wool and water so she could finally open them again, poor thing. She seems very happy in herself and went off to nursery clear but I'm concerned that it might some kind of infection and this close to christmas whether she should be seen by a GP or whtehr I should try over the counter drops first? I don't think its conjunctivitus as there is no redness or watering and I'm sligfhtly wary of a trip to my GP's walk in clinic when noro is rife... Mrs G

Another vote for the Manduca, I tried it at a sling library is it's great for both me and my husband. I use the front and hip carry for my 14 month old and she often goes on my husband's back when we're out. I liked the fact that it can be used from birth without any additional inserts.

My plan was to make some gingerbread (although cheating and using the blocks of dough from sainsburys rolled out and cut into xmas shapes!) and then put in a glass jar tie with ribbon to make it look festive! My daughter have a lovely key worker but also has a great relatioship with the head of the baby room, and the out-of-hours staff too so I want to be able to thank them all!

I'm a big fan of the copper coil, had one for 5 years before trying to get pregagnt and was pregant within 2 months after having it taken out! I had another fitted 6 months after having my daughter under local anesthetic and although my periods are still painful I am very happy with it. I too have had terrible experiences with hormonal forms of contraception and this has been by far the best way for me.

Oh Strawbs, it's horrid, poor little man. Mini G had it over the summer at 10 months and antihistamine really helped her to not itch so much and helped her sleep. We also took her to SELDOC and had an anti-viral med which stops the stops the spots developing anymore, this meant she wasn't covered as much as she might have been. Not sure if it's too late for that but worth a try?

I'm having the same problems with my 13 month old! I'm going to try a snowsuit/coat with fold-over sleeves - like the newborn babygros have.

Do you have friedns from an NCT/ante natal group? Or any friends with similar age babies? I've done swaps with school friends who live locally who have small babies too. It's good as I know and trust them, they know my daughter, they have experience of small babies and they're FREE!

Thanks for posting this Fuschia, very interesting. Although for some reason neither of the 1st Place nurseries are on there? My Daughter goes to the Cambridge House site and we love it, and I think they have/will soon have vacancies in the Babyroom! Just thought I'd give them a shout out!

My daughter (13 months) always goes totally off her food when she has a bad cold. I found that yoghurt was always a winner and small bits of fruit she could feed herself or little chunks of cheese. As long as she was drinking her normal amounts of milk I didn't try and get her to eat too much until she was visibly better. I have had to really train myself to do this however as I was always very concerned if she wasn't eating solids, as we had a bit of slow start to weaning. Hope she feels better soon. x