mong17

Thanks. Have they not found a new venue? Such a shame its gone. The few baby groups in this area are massively busy and I keep getting turned away if a few mins late!

Hi does anyone know what is happening at the scout hut on Green dale where there used to be a daily baby group called Cheeky C's and also bubblybees on a tuesday.

I'm another routine advocate here. My 8 week old now does 3 predictable sleeps a day and goes down at 7pm. Yes there has been 5-10 mins of crying here and there to get this established but we'll worth it. At first I did all the naps in the buggy so she learnt to be tired at certain times. I still often do the long lunch sleep in the buggy but parked in the kitchen. This gives flexibility in case I want to go out. Essentially try to encourage a nap 2 hours after your baby has been awake or maybe a little less. I do 45 mins in morning, 2-3 hours from 12pm and then another nap around 430 on the school run. Hope that helps.

Anyone got a baby and could recommend groups or wants to meet for Coffee or pub lunch. My daughter is 2, months and I also have a 4 yr old whose at nursery most days. Kate

Hi I have a 2 month old and want to meet other mums. Can anyone recommend some groups or let me know if you'd be interested in meeting up for a Coffee or pub lunch! Kate

Hi I have a 2 week old and 3 year old. Would like to meet other mums. How do I join and should we share phone numbers to try and meet up? I live north dulwich. Kate

Hi thanks for reply. I have kids so weekend is not ideal but may get back to you.

Looking for cleaners to spend day at our 3 bed house in north dulwich doing a thorough clean including under furniture, tiles, paintwork, inside cupboards etc. Thanks kate

Are you still offering this service?

Is there any more meetings planned?

I am due end july with second. Live north dulwich. Please let us know on the thread if meet ups arranged. Kate e.

Can anyone reccomend a company who do driveways? thanks

Can anyone reccomend someone to repair gutters on roof and do outdoor window painting. Thanks

Yes my disaster was at St Thomas's not kings but tbh and I don't think it was the hospitals fault. Its the policy of not letting women in until the contractions are 3 mins apart. That is torture. I waited for 2 days and nights in agony and finally when they let me in I was nearly fully dilated but by then too exhausted to push. All the interventions followed on. I think this policy is common to all London hospitals but not outside London.

I agree with the last poster that these are emotive subjects which go way past the advice I was originally seeking with starting this post! There are very polarised views and I am probably at one end and some of the posters above are at other ends and we can agree to disagree. I wont get into the evidence or research into these things either. I am a lawyer who has read plenty of both and also worked in medical negligence for years so dont get me started. What I will say to Saffron is that I never accused Kings of being negligent. I have never been treated in Kings before that was the whole point of this post. I want to know what its like. If you mean I am accusing the NCT of being negligent then no, I am simply speaking about my experience of the NCT classes and those of friends and family around me. It sounds like other posters have had much better experiences than me and my fellow classmates/friends and thats great. Women are really vulnerable when they have just given birth and any person or orgaisaiton who makes them feel guilty for anything that is out of their control is aborrent in my opinion. Or makes them feel guilty for choices they make in terms of feeding etc if the baby is not harmed by it. Women always feel guilty about something - far more than men! and its usually caused by fellow women. Anyway, if the NCT has changed, or alot of classes provide better information I am very pleased about that. Perhaps I was just unlucky.

sillywoman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mong17 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > What the NCT and other proponents of active > birth don't make clear enough in my opinion is > that it is no guarantee > the birth will go faster or smoothly. The > concurrent rise in women going to NCT classes and > ending up with emergency cs makes this pretty > clear! > > Mong17, as a local NCT teacher I am alarmed to see > this posted on an open forum. Please can you > supply me with a link the research to back up your > claim that emergency caesarean is concurrent with > attending `NCT classes? I have never come across > any studies that suggest such a link, and my > personal course statistics do not bear out your > comments. I have a feeling that this statement may > just be your personal opinion and not evidence > based at all, if so please could you make this > clear? > > Thankyou. Yes I will respond to this. My comment did not in any way suggest that NCT classes cause difficult births. This was not my intention. My point is that the principles of active birthing will not prevent difficult births is many cases. I have a strong opinion derived from personal experience, the experiences of my fellow 7 NCT class members, and other friends and family to support this view. I will be totally up front in saying the NCT class content concerns me. It does not paint a realistic picture of what birth could be like (not for everyone but for many), or the exhausting and lonely experience that new motherhood can be like. Of my NCT group, 4 ended up with ecs after lengthy and traumatic births. Personally I had to have counselling following the birth trauma and ended up with severe pnd. These aspects of motherhood were not covered in much detail in the classes I attended. I can't of course comment on your classes. I do remember feeling like a total failure for many many months (hence the counselling) for not giving birth actively as the NCT classes (and books recomended in the class) led me to believe was a reaslistic and likely goal. The only thing that saved my sanity in the end was following a routine (Gina ford/baby whisperer) which was very frowned upon in my nct classes. Breast feeding on demand day and night was the key messasge i took away. Again, in my class, 5 of us followed routines and we had babies who all slept through by 6 months. One girl who followed the demand feeding/baby led mantra is still getting up several times a night with her 3 year old and has to sleep next to his bed to get him to settle at night. I notice a thread on this forum about night nurses and sleep specialists to deal with these problems. I am not saying demand feeding and attachment parenting causes sleep problems but anecdotally in my experience the two I are linked. So does the NCT have evidence to back up its messages to women in these classes? Can it present a more balanced picture which explains the possible birth outcomes and makes clear that sometimes it makes no difference what women do - they might have a long difficult medically assisted birth. And, that there are different ways to feed and raise babies and none are right or wrong?

Thanks that's v helpful. Its not actually the birth part that scares me but the possibility of hours of pre labour at home without any pain relief. Once I got into hospital last time I was OK but by then was exhausted after 3 nights of no sleep. Perhaps I need to go in when the pain starts and refuse to leave!!

In contrast to that last post I did everything according to the 'active birth' philosophy last time. I did yoga all through the pg, was fit and walked for hours during early labour. I used a ball and squatted over it and the bed until I was fully dilated with no pain relief. However, 48 hours later my baby still was not born and hence emergency forceps in theatre, post partum haemerrage and retained placenta. What the NCT and other proponents of active birth don't make clear enough in my opinion is that it is no guarantee the birth will go faster or smoothly. The concurrent rise in women going to NCT classes and ending up with emergency cs makes this pretty clear!

I imagine you could change your mind but you may need a good reason. Not sure. Its such a difficult decision and I would not be choosing a cs unless I had such a bad experience last time. A lot of women do manage natural births without any major issue. I am quite small and I don't think that helped. My mum also had 4 terrible births so I had an inkling I would too. Good luck whatever you choose. Speak to the midwives and hospital asap if you definitely want to change your mind.

Thanks to all those posters. That has convinced me an ecs is the right choice. Just got to convince the medical establishment!

Hi I am due end July and still feeling rough with sickness. I am also a keen runner and hoping to join exercise class in next 4 weeks or so. Kellie when do the next set of classes start as 10 Jan too early for me. Thanks

Hello I am due in July and probably going to ask for elective cs after awful birth last time. Anyone got recent birth experiences at kings especially c sections? But interested generally in care there so any recent birth stories welcome! If you have name of good surgeon there or at St Thomas's even better. Thanks

Hi did you get any recomendations? I am also looking for a nanny or childminder for my one year old. I am jobseeking at the moment so would probably need someone from Nov/Dec. Only for Monday, Thurs afternoon and poss Friday. I live by North Dul station. Please pass on any recomendations! and if you live nearby we could think about a nanny share although as I say i only need 1-2 days as the mother in law has agreed to do 3 days. kate