Belle

she's hilarious that one!

YES pickle! Knew she reminded me of someone. Ah - enjoyed it, less of an emotional wringer than the usual prog but heartwarming and fascinating nonetheless. Loved when Julia admitted how much she loves Dean.

get watching, forumites! I couldn't watch the last series - too close to the bone - but v keen to see what's happened to the babies from the year before.

I love Ikea too F, for so many reasons. Love pretending the rooms are in my house. surfaces drive me mad too. Agh, kids' magazines/comics and the free bits of tat that come with them are the particular bane of my life, and my eldest always spots those in the recycling too Pippa, like your kids & their artwork. Just looking around me, random items I can see include: baby's music box on bookcase for no reason, hot water bottle on coffee table(!!), fake poo my 3 year old got in magazine proudly displayed on his little table, various dusty Wii accessories long since abandoned, my husband's powerball which is only ever used by my son (nearly killing other people's children in the process I think), empty party bag from a birthday party in January (why?!)...the kitchen is worse.

Yes, took me an hr to get from ed to kings. Closed to pedestrians also - access to kings via coldhatbour lane if coming from camberwell.

Yes I think our GP suggested two weeks but when we saw Babu he said it shd be working inside a week (in our case it hadn't hence move to omeprazole)

there's def a vicious circle at the start we found, where they get some temporary relief from feeding, and you end up feeding them really frequently, but then actually that aggravates the reflux, so once you graduate to every 3 hours that def does help.

great - are you seeing him soon? we are seeing him tomorrow at 5.30 so let me know if you end up going around then and i'll look out for you!

i also think life is so hard with a refluxy baby you need all the help you can get, and if that can extend to your partner/family members/friends giving baby a bottle so you can rest, then fantastic! Wanhope - that's so encouraging about yr little one being off meds and able to tolerate dairy and soya. And agree with everything you say re medication and being seen quickly. Midivydale, if you do see the doctor I mentioned then I think you'll find he will take you seriously and sort you out with the appropriate meds/formula straight away.

argh six week! that's rubbish - or at least in our experience. Some GPs in my experience dismiss it as wind/colic which it is not. Our consultant said 6 months or poss a year - my older son was a year before he stopped throwing up, but the pain was managed by medication from early on, and same with my younger (just needed stronger medication, and in his case Nutramigen, as is also suspected of Cows Milk Protein Intolerance). They didn't test for the latter, just drew some conclusions (was very rashy particularly after each feed), and now we're at stage of introducing solids we're due to get some advicec on how to try him on dairy slowly.

Have you seen your GP? there is a kind of sliding scale of medication which goes gaviscon- rantitidine and /or domperidone, and finally omeprazole (the last generally thought to be the most effective but hard to get as technically 'off-licence' i.e. GPs don't like to prescribe unless has been seen by a consultant, though some will). Having had two children with reflux, the youngest far more severely, I'd personally say complementary medicine prob won't cut it...and proper medication along with various practical measures will be your best bet. We are lucky to have private insurance with my husband's work, so see a doctor at the King's private wing - can PM you details if that is an option for you - but I gather the NHS referrals CAN be quick if you are fortunate to get a GP who takes you seriously and refers quickly. If you do a search on here you'll see a couple of recentish threads - one started by me, one I think by Bee74 about this problem, with babies the same age at the time as yours is now, lots of useful advice there. In the meantime just sending you much sympathy as it is SO damn hard, and having a newborn is hard enough without having one in constant pain/screaming etc. Really feel for you. It does get easier etc. But get all the help you can as soon as you can, just feeling you are doing something proactive will help. I used a sling (in upright position) a lot in the early weeks to give him some relief, lying down is just agony for them when it's bad.

Yes have same prob here and for some reason the straps are totally impossible to adjust. I think i found it easier in summer without buggy snuggle/extra layers. In the past I've delegated this task (yanking the straps down a bit) to my husband...

he is brilliant! very drole!

have friends who swear by them...but I've never been keen!

resident pram expert Snowboarder can probably help you out on this one...

I think, in the main, if you love your children and want to do your best for them - then that's good enough! Well said Curmudgeon. Think we should all drink to that!

oimissus Wrote: > > I also think a slogan more along the lines of > 'every breastfeed counts' rather than 'breast is > best' could be more encouraging? I really like this, and totally agree. My health visitor said something along those lines to me when I was mixed feeding in the early days and the breastfeeds were tailing off - something like 'each one is a bonus'. I think that is a very positive and encouraging yet realistic message - perhaps easier for new mums to deal with than setting the 'exclusive for six months' bar right at the start? I have read somewhere (maybe here?) the theory that if mums were less pressured to bf exclusively, more might continue to do it to some extent for longer along with FFs which is surely a good thing?

Me too, well put Sanne Panne. Re point on bf rates. I imagine the rates are much lower outside London? I wonder what more can be done though, it's not as though the nHS isn't massively pro bf, and it is thoroughly promoted. Though I do take the point about not enough support. It would be interesting to know (if anyone ever did a survey, not sure who would though) a) how many people want to bf but don't because they don't have access to support, b) how many people say they don't but admit to being unaware of the benefits (ie there's a case for further/better information and support in these cases) and c) how many people say they know the facts but choose not to for various reasons. In the latter case it's their prerogative surely?

I'm not sure who would be the right person to provide the advice? Even my community midwives (Brierly) encouraged 3 hourly feeding from early on - obv not strictly so, but they advised me to try to do that - perhaps partly as they were aware that I have an older child to look after too.

NB I think there may be a council run playgroup at Corams Fields, have a friend who uses it.

http://www.coramsfields.org/ Corams Fields is great and just down the road from Kings X. Some animals (including a black sheep) and various play areas to suit the ages you mention, sand pit etc. There is a small cafe but if a nice day plenty benches/grass so you could picnic, or the Brunswick Centre is v nearby with family friendly eating options (Giraffe, Carluccios). Just saw that you wanted indoor options - sorry! but worth considering still if the weather is like this. all nice and enclosed and safe.

Have to say - it may have been edited but what a rubbish quote from Oliver James! doesn't say anything really.

I agree with Pickle, you can do a routiney thing but still feed on demand. With son number 2 I started out doing more demand feeding than I'd done first time around, but actually he sort of settled into a rough schedule - of course it varies but the feeds do end up being 7ish (though could be 6 or 8), 10/11, 2ish, 5.45/6ish and 11pmish. I've done formula feeding on demand too (just to dispel the idea that ff and routines necessarily go hand in hand). With my little one though I found feeding on demand could exacerbate his reflux - since I've got the feeds a bit more spaced out, with him taking more, he seems better, but obviously I'd never withold a feed from a hungry baby.

That is interesting Fuschia...there was a story on the bbc the other day about behaviour being affected by breathing problems interrupting sleep (e.g. adenoids/snoring), and the conclusion was that that some children may be diagnosed with ADHD or other behavioural 'disorders' when in fact there is an underlying medical issue.

as well as the tiredness thing I've found hunger & thirst a factor. Easy to think 'he's had his lunch', but I find my 3 year old needs to eat little and often or he has a melt down, and if he doesn't drink enough I'm convinced that makes him more short tempered. It kind of makes sense: if they're well rested, fed & watered, they can take the challenges of the playground and play with kids of different ages much better, in my experience anyway.