melbourne groover

Yup, the calm approach does seem to be best, however does not always come naturally...

I am finding my son a much more enthusiastic "chucker" than my daughter ever was. It seems to be his main method of saying he has had enough, food, plates, cups anything he can get his mitts on, am developing olympic style reflexes. Although is now into throwing things into the shower when I am in it, not ideal. I am finding he is definately reacting more to my big NO's and just laughing and throwing more enthusiastically. Hmmm, kitchen floor not exactly pristine....am sure Annabel Karmel doesn't have this...

Recently we went to a friends house and her method was giving a small bowl of plain yoghurt with veges to dip in. Has worked a treat with my 4 year old. I think eating is the one thing that truly reduced me to tears first time around, when my daughter was a baby she pretty much survived on jarred porridge (gurk, how revolting, what was I thinking...). No time to be quite so freaked out by it (me this is) this time. All the above is really good advice. Deep breath, they don't starve themselves, in times of desperation perhaps have a small glass of wine (if at tea that is, not recommended for stressful breakfast;-)) Also try and eat with other enthusiastic eating children, this really does help, if only so you have some other adults around.... Am also liking dinner motto at above friend's house "You get what you get and you don't get upset", it is heard reverberating around ours reguarly now... Also, my very fussy non-eating baby is now a robust healthy 4 1/2yr old, who will eat loads of stuff, though of course we still have our moments. Good luck (and remember the wine...)

I think it depends on how much walking you do. If you are walking any kind of distance regularly then I would recommend a buggy with air-filled tyres, but do bear in mind that you will probably end up with a Maclaren (type buggy) also for car/plane/shopping etc. We have both and use both reguarly every week. Get a Maclaren xt to start maybe and see if you need a 3 wheeler. Don't think you would regret the Maclaren. Totally agree with the shoe analogy, I don't think I could find 1 pram to do the lot for me.

My advice is, if you think you will give it to your child later then give it now. I moved to Southwark from Camden, where they do not offer it and so my daughter had it at around 2 1/2. She was really upset by it and much more conscious of it. Also v grim experience for me! My son had it at 9 months and didn't even notice it being done, no tears, nothing... Also the scar has healed a lot quicker once the pus went.

We have the pressure ones (think Lindam but it was a long time ago..) and you can get cups that screw into the banister end poles to allow these to work. Have worked well for us. Most toddlers can't open them as they don't have the strength or co-ordination in their hands, but there are varying degree's of difficulty if you try them out.

Try passiflora tincture. It is not drowsy making as you can take morning and night but just calms your thought process so if you wake up thinking of things you seem to be able to just drift off again. You just take a few drops in water before bed. Can get it from health matters. Also I have recently been counting backwards in 3's from 300 i.e. 297 294 291 etc(read this in a mag) and never get past about 250. Was dubious about this but am finding it brilliant!

I went for the wool covered one for no.1 and she was v happy with it. In a fit of cost saving I went for the next level down for no.2 and wish I hadn't. It is significantly less padded and I have ended up putting a sheepskin on top of it (this is a pain as it is not the full cot size). This obviously hasn't meant I have bought a new one again for no.2 and he does sleep fine... ;-)

Shot by the Sheriff in ED warehouse are really good. We have had UK and NZ ones done no probs.

Thanks for letting us know!

Oh god, please let this be true.... ;-) Fingers crossed.

I do it also with no issues (so far ;-) Have you googled it?

He will probably cope a lot better with heat this year. Once they can walk/paddle/etc they get on with the heat better. Have a look at simply travel, sometimes they have some good deals? Often though the really creche places get booked up early.

The baby group at St Johns church on a thurs morning is always really friendly.

I also highly recommend seeing a dermatologist, I was back and forth from the docs to absolutely no avail. They just kept saying to moisturise him - by the last appointment I was smothering him in shea butter at least 4 times a day to try and keep it in check but it was still getting worse (although was v impressed with the shea butter). One visit to the dermatologist and he is completely ezcema free. We had insurance so went through a private dermatologist at Gt Ormond st, pm if you would like her details. I have taken both my kids to her and she has sorted out problems really quickly.

The dermatologist we were seeing for my son gave virtually the same advise as above. Use the highest spf you can as generally you don't apply as thickly as the spf testing standards but (in the english sun) don't go overboard reapplying constantly as it is important that they do get some (moderate) exposure to sunlight, although be careful in the height of the day. Bizarrely she said there have been cases appearing of rickets in NZ and Oz due to the over zealous protection. So littleEDfamily you are spot on I think!

There is a really nice organic sunscreen from Healthmatters that I used last year. My son reacted to the supersonic Aussie one that is high spf (my preferred choice) but was fine with that one (sorry cannot remember name). He did have ezcema and that was the one that irritated him least. It had a blue lid I think. Used to use it for me also so was dual purpose ;-).

I have a Swift now too and am loving it. Suddenly I can get easily into all sorts of places! Am loving the narrowness. Having had a Phil and teds and a ABC (genius for two kids but unnecessarily large for just one) this is my favourite so far. Basket smaller though so have had to re-adjust my shopping storage... Both my husband and I are tall and the handle and stride depth are great so no probs there. Beware of Bambino direct though, they completely mucked me around - nightmare! Have a look for the 2009 model, there is still a few knocking about at really reduced prices and still NZ made (think 2010 are made in China - not sure if this makes any difference though).

We used Shot by the Sherriff (in the ED warehouse), they were great. Also got some free photos done with Nousha (we were not alone in "winning" the runner up prize though ;-). Really lovely photos but eeek, prohibitively expensive - so much so that we only took our small freebie even though we did really like some of the others.

There are some really good reworkings of classic fairy stories, i.e Cinderella, Princess and the pea etc for when the dreaded princess phase hits for girls and you (or this may be just me) physically cannot bear to re-read anymore ladybird princess classics.... ;-) Lauren Child, who does Charlie and Lola redid Princess and the Pea in brilliant style - she and a dollshouse person built a set for each page. Really cool, and a bit of light relief for the reader... Ella's big chance is a good rework of Cinderella, although also have a cool Art Deco inspired one. I also really still like the Mr Men/Little Miss books, perfect for a book treat without breaking the bank.

I am really into the shea butter from the lady down Northcross on a Saturday. I am using it for the whole family now! I just keep it in little tupperware containers. Is brilliant as a hand creme and has worked miracles on my son's eczema.

I am a fan of the secret vege pasta sauce - can of tomatoes then whatever else in the fridge vege-wise. Mix with pasta top with parmasean. Use pesto in extreme circs to disguise (when in poor eating cycle...), although hardly ever have to do that now. Also grate then chop courgette etc into Macaroni cheese.

Put a buggy sheepskin into a bouncy chair (I recommend the fisher price vibrating number). Blocks drafts from below, not too bulky, they can snooze happily, also can be moved about as necessary!

You can get them wrapped at the airport in plastic.

I second the Outlook shade a babe, have found it brilliant. Also good for low winter sun (more relevant for me sadly...)