samstopit

I think they do grow out of it but if mine are anything to go by it takes years. The 4 year old now sleeps to about 6.30 if his sister doesn't wake him earlier. She is 3 and still thinks 5.30 is a cool time to start the day about 50% of the time. My coping strategies are: 1. Coffee. Lots and lots. 2. Earplugs - I can still hear them even without the monitor. 3. Crawling back to bed on Saturday mornings and sleeping until lunch time while DH does the early shift. Good luck! S

What is a queue bot? I am embarrassed to say I just thought there would be lots of Lego. Now I know it's more of a stag do experience, should I leave my 3 year old daughter at home? The four year old boy will love it but maybe I should take him with a friend instead. S

Splendid! Thanks for the great tips. I'll have to get collecting and will make sure to avoid half term. S

Hi We would love to go to Lego Land (or rather the kids would) but think we could have a family holiday in Bermuda for the cost of a trip to the Windsor one. Does anybody know if they ever have offers and if so where I can find out about this? Thanks for any tips. S

There is a SEN Green paper coming out in early March. Hopefully it will make it harder for schools to be graded outstanding if they don't offer good SEN provision.

We need 3 more people to do this course. Let me know if you're interested. Thanks S

Thanks buggie that looks ideal. If anybody fancies this please pm me and we'll see if we can get enough people together for a course. S

Very stressed, tired mummy: 'Tea's ready!' 4 year old: 'What are we having?' Mummy: 'Fish fingers and alphabetti spaghetti!' 4 year old: 'Oh mummy! I really wanted broccoli and carrots!' Aaagh!! This child would not touch a vegetable until he was 3.

Hi Could anybody recommend a first aid course that I could do locally? I did one years ago but it's faded from my addled brain. I need to know the basics, eg how to resuscitate, what to do if a child is choking etc. Thanks if you can recommend. I would travel outside ED if necessary. S

I agree with toast. What are these parents thinking of? I can't be alone as a concerned mum whose child who will be starting school in September, reading these posts and thinking that maybe I should not have put Goodrich on our application form for Southwark. Is that helpful to your situation? Surely you would be better off getting behind the school and promoting it to other families who care about their kids' education, as the goose green contingent have done so successfully over the past couple of years.

great news! glad you are having success. It will get easier from here. S x

I think you're right nunheadmum, we made sure we had some help lined up when we brought the second one home! Quite a pricey option so not for everyone. But I had no sleep deprivation in those early weeks with my second child and no baby blues at all with her. I'm sure the two are linked. I still think the 'lying in period' sounds wonderful. I must say I didn't realise paternity leave was such a recent thing.

When we brought DS home I had not slept for 3 nights in a row due to a long labour and then my need to stare at him all night once he was born to check he was breathing. DH and I had read all the books and had been to all the NCT classes and yet we still had absolutely no idea what we were doing. DS screamed for 5 hours that first night and the next night wasn't much better. I was totally bonkers with sleep deprivation by the time he was 8 days old. I've often thought that replacing the 2 weeks in hospital that my mum always describes (where midwives bring your baby to you when the baby needs feeding and let you totally recover before you go home) with the husband having 2 weeks' paternity leave was a bit of a rough deal. No offence to husbands / partners intended. My DH was a legend but didn't know the first thing about newborn babies. I would have really benefited from not being sent home the day after I gave birth.

Karvol drops on the duvet can help. Medised is also good (or calpol night) as it contains an antihistemine and mild sedative but I think these days the guidance is that these types of medicines should only be given at age two or over.

thank you! I googled it, looks great. I work full time so can't make it along but otherwise I'd be there.

Mooshie I haven't heard about it but it sounds interesting, can you tell me more? Where, when, how much? Is it the Steven Biddulph stuff?

I am actually really cross with Lauren Child for her 'I will not never ever eat a tomato' episode and the merchandise that goes with it! My two will eat most veg but they chant the 'never eat a tomato' line if I try to give them anything tomato like. Grrrr. Not even ketchup! I agree just keep offering, it worked eventually for us, mine will eat broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, sweetcorn etc. I used to offer a plate of steamed veggies with nothing else on the plate and they didn't get anything else until the veggies were eaten. In the end they get hungry and it works! I did stop short of getting into arguments over it as I think it makes it worse.

Maki, do you know how many hours' sleep (roughly) she is getting at night? If as you say she is in a light sleep for many hours in the night, waking at the slightest noise, and not having a day time sleep, then she could be really overtired. This can stop people (adults as well as kids) from sleeping well - we get so tired that we can't sleep. If I were you I would encourage her to have a sleep in the day - does she sleep in the car or buggy? That might break the pattern of overtiredness and she would drop into a less 'wired' sleep at night. I know you've probably been trying to cut back on her day time sleep but in my experience this can sometimes make the problem worse. By the way we find music in their bedrooms helps too. Hope this is some help. I know how hard it is when you're tired. S x

I think you are generally a lot more relaxed the second time around and have the confidence to know what is right for your child. Instead of being driven crackers by the dichotomy between gina / attachment we just did what felt right for our second. She fell happily into the gina routine at 12 weeks but if it hadn't have worked for her I wouldn't have pushed it. I fed her through the night if she woke - something I tried hard not to do with my first from about 4-5 months. It didn't lead to any long term problems and she slept through without a feed from 9 months. Both of mine were terrible sleepers when they were 2 but came though it when they turned 3. I think it's because they start wanting to drop their day time sleep when they are 2 (mine did anyway) which leads to overtiredness, but if they do have a daytime sleep they don't settle well. It does pass! Having said that, I am guzzling coffee as I write having had 3 hours sleep ... tummy bugs in the stopit household x

I agree pripolla. I can give details of our homeopath (she works locally) if anyone wants to PM me.

Our son has his swimming lessons on Saturday mornings and his first one for this set of lessons is this Saturday 8th. So I expect your daughter would start this Tues.

We had this problem the winter before last. Both children, then aged 2 and 1 were constantly ill from October - March. It was hell. I do feel for you and know all too well how tough it is. So tiring. In my case I decided to take them off all dairy products because I have a sensitivity and had a gut feeling this was exacerbating the problem. It has made a big difference. They still get coughs and colds but are more able to shake them off. I haven't been able to reintroduce it as they get congested straight away whenever I try. I'm not suggesting that dairy is the problem in your case. Just sharing my experience really. Hopefully it will get easier for you when winter is finally over. S

Hi We have a Jane powertwin to sell if you are interested. We were very happy with it. My kids are 14 months apart and we wanted something that made them feel equal and also prevent them from scrapping. They always loved going in it. PM me if interested - you are welcome to come and have a trial run. S

Ocado delivered to us this morning, spot on time. We were quite surprised as they had emailed to say they may not be able to deliver, and had done an emergency sainsburys run. Now we have a full freezer! Could be worse!

Thanks. My eldest starts school next year so I need to get my head round all this stuff. Good to see that Goose Green did so well.