Belle

poor, poor little guy - as if he hadn't already been through enough, but as you say thank god he didn't notice the busybody! How can anyone be so insensitive - not asking how he is or anything but saying he should cover his head. unbelievable.

all my non East dulwich friends know and tease me about the forum because i reference it quite a lot...have also met some lovely people through it and it's definitely helped me feel at home in ED in a way I didn't in other places I've lived.

hmm they're never that messy to be honest...just frequent! as i mentioned he is skinny, but normal weight etc and seems well in every other respect. To top off a normal 7 poo day today he seems to have caught the ED baby vomiting bug and puked his breakfast and lunch all over himself and buggy in the middle of Primark in Peckham...interesting trying to clean it up!

Yes, he eats loads, fresh stuff plus smoothie pouches and raisins etc too.

yep will do - 4 before 9am not much fun!

Sorry to start a thread on such an unpalatable subject...but I just thought it was time I checked if anyone else has a champion dirty nappy-maker like mine. Since he was weaned onto solids at 6 months(now 13 months) he's had 6-7 dirty nappies a day (peaked at 11 when he was just weaning). The fewest he'll do is about 2-3. I've never worried as it's all normal (sorry tmi!) and not the runs or anything, and he does eat loads (but is quite skinny and super energetic, burns it all off I think). have mentioned in passing to the GP who didn't seem worried. Just wondering if anyone else has had a baby like this as am starting to think I should check back with the doctor. Even if it is all healthy it's exhausting just keeping him clean!

ah ok. am curious too about training as one (sorry for hijack) but have always wondered how I'd help people with feeding given I couldn't master it myself! But am interested in the practical and emotional support stuff as def think there's a big need for that.

What sort of things does a postnatal doula do? I mean is it domestic stuff or do th ey help with feeding etc?

Yup the Dec one was at the Plough, Pickle booked a table and got there first to hold it I think. Am sure we'd be able to do the same at the Mag. 16th fine for me.

Fuschia - i like the idea of the shower - how does it work logistically, I mean do you have to get in there with them or do you do it with shower attachment?

we never had this problem but never heated bottles at all and moved onto faster flow teats quite quickly - might be worth trying these if your baby is comfortable with them, as i guess that might be a factor? Also we used the ready-made formula (lazy I know) so never had the frothy bottle thing!

Keef - i really want to see the film of WTWTA - the trailer was amazing I thought. Agree it's an all-time classic, my brother's called Max so we especially loved it in our house.

we did it quite early i think but soon switched to oilatum which is all we use as it cleans as well as moisturises. Molly - think I was poss 'naughty' in that i just gave water from teh tap as soon as he was drinking from a beaker/weaning - so six months ish. i also didn't sterilise the beakers/weaning stuff, and stopped sterilising bottles after 9 months (figured we do dishwash it all and as he'd crawled early, at 7/8 months, he was putting all sorts in his mouth by that point anyway.)

Molly - is that the same giles andrea who was interviewed on the david cameron programme with trevor mcdonald last night?! how random if so!

ruth and sb - what a great mothers day present (apart from the puke ruth!). my OH hasn't remembered yet...but did bring me cupcakes yesterday...so can't complain!

I'm up for it - maybe somewhere like Green & Blue where you can get bar snacks or Liquorish does smaller dishes too?

I did put other! I put 'full-time mum' with an exclamation mark...

Just did the digital neighbourhoods survey and noticed (not with great annoyance, more amusement) that under the occupation question, the closest thing to what I do (full-time mum) was described as 'looking after the home'. Made me chuckle as in reality that's the LAST thing I'm doing when looking after small demonic 13 month old! I know it was traditionally described as housewife, but really - looking after the home! Thought councils had to be v right on!

thought leoni and her mum obviously had a lovely relationship but just goes to show it's such a personal thing - if anyone had started praying in my delivery room I think I may have had a few choice words...

he was mature too - compae him to the dad locking his wife in the loo for a laugh! I mean for instance when he kept saying 'not in your throat -in your bum' - how many 17 yr olds could do that without sniggering?

totally agree - really hadn't appreciated the point about herd immunity when pregnant but now am very much for! And though my son had a nasty reaction to mmr jab I'd still rather that than he get any of those three illnesses properly.

Wow - was so impressed with Abbie, thought she did really well and agree her boyfriend and mum were amazing - at times i thought it was the midwife talking to her as her mum was talking so much sense and giving really good encouragement. She should retrain! There is no way I'd have handled that half as well as Abbie did at 17, v impressed. Also loved the twist in the tail re leoni's story! (don't want to ruin for people who haven't seen it yet) - the snapshot at the end!

Ruth - if you want to PM me re PND and medication (i took a v effective anti-depressant for mine, quite low doseage and no scary side-effects!) plus other treatment please do. no wonder you're finding this hard - I found sleep deprivation made the depression a million times worse, it's impossible to see the bigger picture when you're that tired, so def rope in help where you can. It's so true that it does all get better because here I am 13 months on and gearing up to thinking about another! Now that's something i SWORE would never happen.

Aw thanks sw and everyone else. Feel a bit silly now as was all set to take him to gp and then a and e if nec yesterday but it totally faded away in hours - weird. Seems fine. Sorry if I seemed like a drama queen, it's just been a bad few weeks!

To be honest these days the thing that really is a deal-breaker for me with private education is the cost. There's no way I can ever imagine being able to afford it - or if we ever can, then it's goodbye to a LOT of other things. not sure I'd feel happy about sending my son to school where everyone goes on foreign holidays and he can't afford to etc.