Belle

I def wouldn't want to be in that position - feeling like i had to get back to work just weeks after and in the full public glare at that. I guess it's just odd sometimes realising what a completely different experience it must be for them - no wonder they can gush about how great it all is when they're probably getting 9 hrs sleep a night thanks to the help!

A frivolous thread I'm afraid... Just watching the chat show on Channel 4, with Mel Sykes and denise Van outen. Suddenly realised DVO was preggers not so long ago - turns out she had the baby 8 weeks ago. Not surprisingly she looks, in a celeb obligatory post baby way, amazing, but also am just struck that she is doing a fairly gruelling tv job this soon. I know she has a host of helpers etc etc but god,does make me look back at what I was doing when little one was 8 weeks and if I'm honest, feel slightly inadequate. Couldn't be a more different scenario! Think celebs are the new 'how the other half live'!

also - not ED but close by, Bellenden is a nice seeming school I think. Lots of nice streets around it.

glad you're ok - sympathy for the stressful trip to hospital though, know they're no fun.

oh no - really hope everything is ok, good luck.

Good post Moi23. Agree about the massive shock! Ultimately, I just don't understand why people get into a bother about how someone else feeds their baby - surely what matters to us is how we feed our own babies, why should we care about others to the extent we sometimes do? I don't get it. I suppose it's part of the whole issue of how much we should interfere in how others bring up their kids. We're never all going to agree on everything, and thank goodness for that. Also Molly - lots of celebs have publicly said they breastfeed (usually claiming that's how they got down to size zero again so fast ;-) - a good example is Myleene Klass who actually hadn't planned to at all but said it just happened. Actually her story is a bit annoying in that she bangs on about how it just spontaneously happened really easily! I know Tess Daly said she did too, Billie Piper, Davina McCall too, lots of others - I actually think not many celebs would admit to NOT breast feeding.

GinaG3 Wrote: > > Of course, every mother has the right to chose how > they feed their child, I don't believe bottle > feeding makes a parent any worse than > breastfeeding. I never hear people debating this > issue, ever. I've found people do debate this issue. I try to avoid seeing it as it sets me off a bit but online there is much debate or even diatribe on this. There are extremists on both sides who pop up on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere generally. Of course there are also plenty of people who are balanced - I've seen posts by 'lactivists' who are very fair and unjudgemental about bottle feeding and vice versa.

keef - quite a few varying views on that thread now - don't think it's a case of nobody agreeing with you.

off-topic but the case study in that mail article - i can't understand her saying she had a rubbish figure beforehand - boyish figure with "conservative" c-cup?! I'd settle for that! Interesting article given Bel Mooney points out she formula fed so not axe-grinding - although I think her saying she was a 'miserable failure' at breast feeding slightly undermines her statement th at she doesn't feel guilty. Think language such as 'failure' is so sad in this context - don't think it's failing at all.

Must say I think the Royal College of Midwives response that the Sun carries is really good and well balanced - I'd have thought it would be much more taking one side which only inflames the debate. Good on them.

Thanks Crystal7! Those starts must be horrendous on work days, I really find them a killer. We're hovering between 2 and 1 naps (2 naps on days where he wakes really early as 5am-1pm is a long stretch to be awake for) - and I totally found the same thing: cutting down/out morning nap seems to have an effect on early waking. I did read that in Gina Ford a while back but couldn't get my head around why and your friend's explanation makes total sense. I was/am quite in two minds about the change in naps - there's def no doubt that the classic 1-3 nap seems to sort out a lot of our problems but it also ties us down, have found though that sometimes you do just make do with a shorter one in the buggy to enable a trip out and about, then earlier bedtime or whatever. Sorry - waffling, have been offline all weekend so now have forum motormouth!

hiya, meant to post in reply to you but our laptop died - just to say I had exactly the same thing with my little boy the last week or two (started a thread about it and people had some good ideas). Like you I went for the additional black out blind as light was still getting in around the sides of our pull down black out blind and curtains - and it has helped the last 3 nights, though this morning he woke up a bit earlier again (6ish though which is a vast improvement on 4.30). Good luck! Also I definitely did banshee thing a few times after the 4.30 starts - we're only human!

Hi, totally sympathise with him - I get it too, only since I was an adult, and hate it. Saw a nutritionist recently about other stuff and the pollen allergies came up in some allergy tests she ran - she referred me to this website: http://www.allergyuk.org/fs_rhinitis.aspx - which has some tips. Annoyingly the tips relating to hayfever are particularly hard to implement with small children as I've learnt myself this summer: avoiding opening windows, avoiding too much outdoors time etc. But some stuff might help - eg getting an ioniser/air purifier thing, changing clothes when getting in from the outside, putting vaseline around the nose. I know the real answer is better medicine but maybe these wee things might help a bit too. x ps I think I read on there or elsewhere that hanging clothes to dry outside is a bad thing for hayfever sufferers - must admit have ignored this as v sadly love hanging my washing up outside!

Aw, great news pr darling. Sounded horribly stressful - glad it's worked out. Hope for future years too!

will def try dinner later and play around with bedtime times. Annoyingly he won't go back to sleep even if waking that early, not even after an hour and a half - so we have to give up. BUT good tip re blackout blind - we have one that's not great but also have the baa baa blind for holidays etc so stuck that up and he slept till 6.50! which could also be because had slightly less daytime sleep yest...who knows! it's endless speculation really isn't it?!

Don't think so - he's not mad for milk at the best of times - and when I offer him the cup (admittedly with water bu the doesn't realise that) - he slaps it away! He sounds very very distressed - but no temp, no illness that I can discern (fine during day) - can't be nightmares so repeatedly I don't think plus the fact he doesn't go back to sleep (normally would if wakes with bad dream in middle of night). argh.

Slightly related to a recent thread by another forumite - am having a nightmare with sleep & my 16.5 mth old at the moment. Having got over a bout of random night wakings he now sleeps through-ish but is waking earlier and earlier. Like most babies he does go through phases of this but this morning was 4.30am, that really is NOT morning! He wakes up crying - is clearly not ready to get up as such - but it's just that after trying everything to get him back to sleep (calpol/nurofen for potential teething pain, drink of water, cuddles, lullaby, leaving him to cry for a bit) he generally does the opposite and is fully awake after half an hour or so. It's killing me - am terrible with no sleep. Am sure we're in some kind of vicious circle as it does then have a knock on effect on naps etc - but have tried every which combination of naps (lenght/time of etc) and nothing seems to make any difference. I know it's light out but we're just back from Scotland where we had much longer light and he slept longer there... Not really asking for ideas as know it's prob one of those things - but anyone else in this particular hell at the moment? If so how do you cope?!

After the first - and yep, had the second - no reaction this time. The reaction to the first the gp said was unusually severe. Gd news re the smoothies!

mine is in long sleeved/legged p-js and a light blanket. don't worry - think she'll def let you know if too hot. I usually take a beaker up to bed when I go on hot nights so that if my little boy wakes in the night I can pop in and give him a few sips. That should help with the heat rash too.

oh yes - def nice to hear that point of view from a professional.

who's the local child psychologist? didn't realise we had one in our midst.

hi ck, we had exactly the same thing ater mmr jab - i found mine drank water by the gallon when give the opportunity which seemed to help both temperature and rash, certainly cooled him down. We also used aveeno cream on him (which we use for eczema anyway) - which is nice and cooling - you can get it at the chemist, it's in a green/beige tube. in terms of food, my son also went right off his - think we did a lot of those ella's smoothies (the little fruit pouches, not the veg purees which he also off), yoghurt and bananas/soft fruit.

Started reading it yesterday and must say that based on the intro I didn't get that he was quite as anti-working mums /pro stay at home mums as people might infer. But that is based on v little read so far! I did also read something v interesting/helpful to me about preterm/low birth weight babies which totally applied to us and made me feel a bit better about some things. I'm also quite suprised to find some bits about the Organiser typology fitting me which I'd not have predicted.

just to say we're having the same thing this week with a 16.5mth old so I feel your pain! this morning he woke at 4.40 screaming and wouldn't go back to sleep - though was clearly knackered so needed a nap by 7. Am sure it's teeth in our case. Off to check out Nicole's thread for tips though!

hey - what kind of comms? PM me if you like - that was my area before I gave it all up for a life of drudgery ;-) - just thinking it's always good to get ideas from others in the same field if you're looking to move, and if I hear of anything that might suit you I could let you know. Not saying you need to go to those lengths but am a firm believer in looking around even when you're not looking if that makes sense. I'm about to start doing a bit of freelance so will be back in touch with various people and can keep ear to the ground if helpful. I have to say (without knowing the formal HR rules) I think your manager sounds like she's breaking various protocols and also just shooting herself in the foot a bit by making you so wary of going back. My understanding has always been that complaints about conduct must be specific and timely (so 'you said XX to YY on such and such a date and it was considered to be inappropriate' or whatever) so she's really not handling it well. Perhaps it would be worth a chat ahead of going back where you ask some pretty direct questions to see how far she's planning to go? Could it be that she is just trying to keep you on your toes (completely unreasonable but just guessing as know some types could do this?). Massive sympathies whatever the case, so not what you need ahead of going back which I imagine has its own inherent stresses anyway.