RenF

I've started- had my first fast day today, and it was harder than I expected! Definitely not enjoying thinking about food so much. Am fasting Monday and Thursday, and have never looked forward to breakfast so much!

I was never highly successful with expressing, but my tip for supply is fennel tea. Also if you're knackered Could you try and have a really chilled weekend? Maybe spend a bit of time in bed with your baby doing skin to skin as another way to boost supply? Plenty of good food, things with oats in especially. What with working and expressing you're kind of super-mum so maybe time to take it easy on yourself!

Thanks for the wisdom folks... now, any tips on cutting finger nails and persuading a slippery mini-toddler to remain sitting down in the bath gratefully received! :)

We had almost exactly this pattern with my daughter and then on the 4th week she stopped getting upset at drop off and now loves nursery and smiles and waves at staff as we arrive. One thing I would advise is being pretty brisk at drop off time- a friend who works in child care has said the children who find it hardest to settle are those whose parents drag the good byes out (obviously because they want to reassure and make sure their child is happy before they go). Hard as it seems we have always tried to be cheery and speedy at drop off, quick kiss, love you! And out the door.... (and then a cry in the drive way!)

Have seen recommended using shower attachment to aim hot water directly at the breast too to help with this.

We've been 'brushing' my daughter's teeth since her first one popped through, and at 14 months with the grand total of 5 teeth, we're persevering with brushing morning and night. But... what is reasonable to expect at this age and what should we be aiming for? She's pretty temperamental about having her teeth brushed, occasionally refusing entirely, sometimes only letting us brush for a few seconds, and sometimes willing to chew on the brush herself for a while. I wouldn't say we get much proper brushing done at all! We've tried: brushing teeth looking in the mirror, which worked once or twice before she got bored; sitting on our lap and brushing; giving her the brush and letting her do it herself without interfering; brushing facing her whilst she is in the bath; brushing our teeth together... all with limited results (ie she's mildly diverted for a while but ultimately not fooled by our attempts to make it 'fun') Is this normal? Or should we be pinning her down and forcing her to let us brush for at least two minutes!? (Not really). What is other people's experience?

Saila I don't have any advice really, but you have my empathy. I hope you're soon on the mend. I found the kelly mom website useful on any issues to do with breastfeeding and this page on mastitis seems helpful (although I'm sure nothing you don't already know) http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/recurrent-mastitis/ I just wanted to say this is the third such experience I have heard of in the last week where pregnant women or mothers with newborns have been subjected to crappy health care. It makes me incredibly angry. Edited: rubbish spelling

Was going to recommend same, Catherine Arnold yoga- she has a Facebook page- if you 'like' it you can get a discount off your first class.

Hi, Through my work I receive various health alerts and a link to the following was sent out to me today. https://www.cas.dh.gov.uk/Home.aspx Follow the link:Infant Formula Preparation Have often seen debate about preparation methods on various forums, seems the dept of health have caught on and decided to clarify their advice.

What you're doing sounds like a pretty good breakfast I reckon! If you're after a bit of variety we have tried: French toast/eggy bread (at weekends when there's time) Little pancakes with fruit (again, weekends) Various other bread products- my daughter likes crumpets Boots do quite a nice muesli which I put warm milk on for her...

We had my daughter's birthday at The Dish and The Spoon on Cheltenham road.really excellent, flexible, everyone had a great time and the food is delish. Thoroughly recommend!

For some reason the technique you described reminded me of an article in the guardian from last year: http://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/22/oliver-james-love-bombing-children I know James is occasionally seen as controversial but though this was another interesting way of helping your child to manage their emotions.

We're considering Croatia this year. Went a few years ago (pre baby) and found it lovely and very affordable. The Dalmatian coast is beautiful.

Boots do a specific breast feeding supplement (boots own brand), and as above, the pregnancy ones can be taken during breastfeeding too usually.

Will pm you

What about the wake to sleep thing I keep hearing about? Something about waking them an hour earlier and the resettling? Maybe worth a google as I don't know much about it but have heard it works for others?

No advice here, but just wanted to say we're in a similar position. My LO definitely needs a morning nap and an afternoon nap. At home, she is clearly tired about two hours after waking up (yawning, rubbing eyes etc). At nursery they tell me that they put her down but she doesn't want to sleep, or she isn't tired. I find it difficult to believe, but understand a different environment and stimulation may mean she's different there than at home. My main problem is that if they wait to put her down after lunch then she sleeps for barely half an hour, which just isn't enough sleep (at home as a comparison she'd have between two and three hours sleep a day over her two naps). Possibly because by that point she's over tired. Its difficult, because I think the staff think I'm the crazy mum who is obsessed with sleep! When you know though that your child definitely needs something I think its important not to let it go, and work with the nursery to find a solution. Especially as in your case Eco79 you had such difficulty establishing a decent nap routine, as I did with my LO. The fear of returning to the days of nightmare naps (or no naps) is possibly what keeps us focussed on nursery maintaining the nap time routine.

The 'cold turkey' method sounds a little harsh, and if you're not sure about it then it's probably going to result in more stress for you, and maybe confused messages for your wee one? At 10 months I felt my little one could be left to cry a little- we went through a period of night wakings that before I knew it had resulted in her co sleeping with us several times a week and often being awake for hours on end... This coincided with my return to work so like you I felt I needed to tackle it in order to get some brain function back! We did a gradual withdrawal method involving initially going in, having a cuddle, shh, pat and so on then leaving the room. Next time she cried out, back in but perhaps no pick up, and just shh pat etc, next time reduced time in room and so on. Finally, we'd just shh from the door. This did gradually work but not without some tears on her part. If she genuinely wasn't settling and getting very distressed I would go back to the beginning with a cuddle and so on until she settled as I didn't want to leave her to cry it out (I should add I did leave her once after two hours of in and out of her room and she settled herself after 5 or so mins...) Hope some of this helps, and good luck for going back to work.

I'd go for something nice for mum- you'll buy loads for baby once its born, so its sometimes nice to get a bit of a treat for mum whilst she is preganent (depending on budget, a pregnancy massage- Cowshed do lovely ones, nice smellies, a pedicure-great when you can't see your feet)....

Anything orangey always works for my little one. (and for me when I was pregnant/post birth!). Big glass of Oj, or fresh fruit?

Hoping someone knows of somewhere locally I can get soft hair clips? The regular metal ones seem a bit hard for my LO's head! They're basically the same as the metal clips, just covered in material... Thanks in advance.

If you scroll down a bit there's a thread on Peckham food bank...

Thanks for this- we were planning on donating some food but will perhaps donate the cash instead.

My little one loves the 'that's not my..." series of books from Usborne (great books with bits to stroke and feel), Rye Bookson Upland Road does them, along with loads of other lovely books for very small folk. Or Early Learning centre have great small gifts such as tambourines/maracas etc which are fun. Or a shape sorter from ELC - and actually their on line sale is on at the moment? Or try great little trading company on line for nice gifts, often wooden and very pretty. Good luck!

Baby F hasn't yet discovered standing up in her cot fortunately so not sure! Personally if she is wide awake and upset when I go in I always go for a cuddle before resettling. If she's just stirring or crying but not fully awake I try not to pick her up. On the hysterical crying, we went through this too, but I just persisted. I never leave her crying for long at all but when I return I do go through the above gradually withdrawing a bit more each time and spending less time in the room. A few times after we'd gone through all that she was still crying quite a lot and I admit we decided to leave her. She did settle after 5 mins and I don't think I would have left it any longer, but that's a personal choice...