RenF

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.

Gary was really helpful and friendly today- even though he wasn't actually working. Found his number on the EDF in a panic after our fuses blew and we couldn't get anything working again. Feared a whole fridge full of food would go to waste! Thanks very much Gary- highly recommended.

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...

Hello, Thought I'd just share my experience. My LO (now 1) was sleeping through from 5 mths to about 9 months. Then, a house move coupled with (I think) some developmental leaps meant she suddenly started night waking. For about two months she would wake every night at different times, but once awake would be awake for two hours, getting increasingly distressed at our attempts to settle her. What we eventually tried was to initially go in, give her a cuddle say shh and then settle her back down. After this we would decrease the amount of time we spent in her room, gradually progressing through not picking her up, just gently shushing her whilst standing next to the bed and then shushing from the door. This gradually started to decrease the amount of time she was awake for and slowly she has resumed sleeping through. This may of course be nothing to do with my 'technique' and just due to her being ready to sleep through again, but it felt like a not too stressful way to let her settle herself when a couple of weeks of being in her room for hours just felt it was making things worse! Hope that helps a bit. Good luck.

You could do it in a bit of olive oil I suppose, but I use a tiny nut of unsalted butter- bit tastier I think! You're really only cooking to soften it up, as raw apple is a bit challenging I think without all your teeth!

Saila that really concerns me- I'm psyched up for a bit of a discussion with them tomorrow now... That is absolutely not on if it is the case.

Thank you all for the replies- The point about fruit is a very good one- they have a mid morning snack where they eat as much as they like pretty much, so I wonder if that might be part of the issue? Nappy lady, when I said strict routine I meant they get changed regularly regardless and also when they need changing (ie very wet or poo). I would be horrified if she was being left for a couple of hours with a soiled nappy, so whilst I really don't think that's happening I will definitely raise it... We supply our own wipes etc so I don't think that is the issue.

My little girl has been at nursery now for about a month. Quite soon after she started, staff commented to me that she seemed to be getting a nappy rash. This was a real surprise to me, as we have been very lucky and she's never suffered with this. The rash (well, it's more redness really than a rash) has come and gone but has never been a problem when she's at home on the day I don't work/weekends. However, LO and behold today she came home (after three days at home) very red, and clearly quite tender as she was upset getting in the bath/having nappy changed. It's quite upsetting really, and obviously we're going to speak to the nursery but I really can't imagine why she's getting a rash unless her nappy isn't being changed frequently (which I'm fairly sure it is as they do it on a strict routine). The only thing my husband noticed was that her nappy wasn't on very snugly this evening ie; could the urine be sitting on her skin rather than being taken in straight away and therefore causing a rash? Does that seem likely? Anyone with any experience of this? Thank you!

If you're worrying about toast disintegrating then try cutting soldiers up and bake in the oven on a low heat. Makes them really hard, which sounds counter intuitive but they can then suck on them and they slowly melt rather than breaking off in hard to swallow chunks. Second cooked apple- I cut into wedges and then fry in the pan with a little unsalted butter and cinnamon. My LO loves them. Also steamed/roasted veg fingers? Steamed fish which they can break chunks off and eat? Ummm... Some good inspiration on this website too: http://www.babyledweaning.com/recipes/ Hope everyone is well again soon.

Ha ha Chillaxed- our monitor has the voice thing too, and my hubby once used it to say hello to our little girl through- absolutely terrified her! It's not something we use as a result, but might be useful when she's a bit older "go to SLEEP!"

We have a BT one- it's been great. Good range, temperature monitor etc. Just a personal opinion but can't help thinking the video monitor might have made me super paranoid! I'd have spent the whole evening watching it!

Thanks all- will look into.

I just phoned Peckham Pulse to find out about swimming lessons for my daughter who is nearly one. Bit disappointed that they only have lessons during the day on weekdays- nothing at weekends (not for her age range anyway)... thats us working parents out then! I'm going to have google for swimming lessons elsewhere on Saturdays/Sundays, but if anybody knows of any offhand I'd love to hear about them... thanks!

Fuschia and Sillywoman, you're right of course (and I wish I'd said as much in my post)... But I can definitely identify with the feeling of 'failure' even when the rational part of your brain tells you that you and baby are both healthy and that nothing you did was 'wrong'. I've pretty much reconciled myself with what happened during my labour, but a year on I admit to still having the odd pang of something (not sure what, sadness?) that things didn't quite work out as I'd hoped. Dev, as you're realising it doesn't really matter in the end, and in a few more months time all this will seem a distant memory! All the best

Devsdev, your experience sounds so similar to mine (birth plan fail, nipple pain, supy issues and all!). Well done for persevering... It's ridiculously hard to begin with but am here to say it gets easier. I bf my daughter for 10mths- and she was also combi fed throughout that time. I haven't much other advice to offer but just to say there is such a thing as posterior tongue tie - which is much harder to spot than normal tongue tie. I know that the midwives who run the bf cafe at Peckham library are trained to spot tongue tie (they rule it out in my little one). Also, for supply I found fennel tea really helped. Good luck!

Hello, Have you heard of the "no cry sleep solution"? Not something I've used but heard from others it's quite a gentle way of encouraging sleep without 'props' ie bottles/dummies/boob. Have a google for Elizabeth Pantley and a technique called the Pantley pull-off (ridiculous slightly dodgy name I know!)... A friend used this to help her daughter settle without a dummy, and it can be used for bf to sleep too. I haven't used the baby whisperer myself but have a friend who swears by it! Good luck

Thanks so much for the replies and ideas- as ever it's nice to know that others experience similar issues. To be honest, I think the logistical issues of the nursery run are by far the most stressful bit of returning to work! Baby F is 11months and seems definitely to want something else to eat when we get in before bath, bed and bottle. One idea I had was making a batch of mini muffins with grated veg (courgette, butternut squash have gone down well in the past). Baby F loves these and it's a cheeky way of getting a bit of extra veg in there...

Just looking for a bit of inspiration really if anyone wants to share! Baby F has started nursery and I generally pick her up between 5.30 and 6 pm. Nursery gives them a cooked lunch then she has a bottle about 2.30 and 'tea' at 4 ish (generally something like sandwiches or soup). I don't think 'tea' is enough for dinner, and it's too early besides (don't want her waking up hungry in the night), but it seems too much to give her a full meal when we get home... Wondering what others have done in this situation? Any great ideas for healthy filling snacks? Thanks!