canela

you poor things! rice is usually recommended for upset stomachs as it has a calming effect - so perhaps rice cakes as a finger food? i'd go for the cooked apple too, and also slices of pear and banana. or grated apple can be a finger food too. or healthy fruit ice lollies? just keep it as gentle as possible for her. hope you are all better soon!

why not eat while she sleeps and enjoy a nice, long, boozy lunch as opposed to one over in about 15 minutes as it would be with your toddler there....

completely agree! also think we i.e. society in general and parents in particular - need to be careful about how we judge people and especially children. not for one moment saying that anyone posting here is guilty of this!!! just that it makes me think. my own child is pretty much bottom of the class in everything academic, but his teacher says he is really happy at school, he is making progress, enjoys learning, and is good at lots of other things that aren't reading or writing based. of course i want to make sure that he is skilled up to deal with the world, but i don't want to fall into looking at only that side of things. which i have to admit is sometimes a wee bit difficult as concerned grandparents etc always point out how advanced other grandchildren are for their age.... he is only 6 and as far as i'm concerned i want him to be able to develop his own particular strengths...

more recycling and rubbish collections

I was scared the first time round which made me put all my decisions in the hands of the hospital staff.....ended up with forceps. it wasn't in the uk and i think people here would be shocked.....no private rooms for most of the birth - just a line of beds separated by curtains. whilst i wasn't deeply traumatised the experience made me fight my corner and get a home birth the next time round. it wasn't available on the nhs and i had to pay a LOT of money for it, but i just really wanted to have a good birth experience and knew i couldn't do this in a hospital. no fault of the staff necessarily - just a result of the way it is all set up. i was more scared of the hospital than of the birth. it was so worth it. i think it's so sad how difficult it is for women to get a birth experience that is right for them. the effects of a traumatic birth can be deep and scaring - surely worth making the effort to give women that bit more support.

ditto mucas

do you want to live and bring up kids in london or have you always thought you would leave one day? either is fine.

to be brutally honest, my question would be how to get husband to look at me like a (apologies for cheesiness) WOMAN rather than a mummy.....

i had 2 boob addicts - one still going at 3. tips are to offer your child food and snacks they really really love - for mine was yoghurt and juice - at regular intervals. and then offer a bottle. lots of kids will take a bottle but you may well find he becomes a bottle addict instead. that's fine - just don't expect him to want to give up suckling altogether - boob, bottle or dummy.

i remember my mum was in a babysitting circle for years. you just use "credits" rather than real money. i'd certainly be up for one in ED.

i second that! most nights it ends up all 4 of us plus the cat!

we don't get a lot but just this year we've started to make the break....the little one is 3 now. we do swaps with my sis over who gets all 4 kids for 24 hours, and also just started leaving them with my mum for 24 hours at a time. this is only now and again and takes a LOT of effort and logistics as neither my mum or sis live in London....but it is so worth it to be able to go out and sleep in the next morning....

mmmmm....I agree that this affects so many couples. how could it not? i think you have to find out what works for you. personally if i sat down with my partner and agreed a timetable he'd run a mile..... totally agree with finding time to just connect. i think sometimes we don't realise how little quality time we spend together, how little physical contact we have, where have the massages gone etc? also how we tend to see each other in slob-around-the-house kind of clothes. i think spend time sorting out those things first and then sex will follow.....it worked for me after a veeeeery long "dry patch". i think sometimes you also have to be honest and think about what else is getting in the way. it's a rare couple that doesn't also find they argue more after kids and there is often some resentment or anger shifting around in the sub-conscious.

I think the real issue is lack of support for those who want to breastfeed but find it difficult. i respect any woman's choice not to breastfeed - as a previous post said we are just lucky to live somewhere we know our children will be fed one way or another - but i do think it is sad when a woman wants to but has little help and encouragement. After 3 days of searing pain i was about to abandon ship when by chance hubby saw a leaflet for breastfeeding support group, i went to the lady's house that night and got the advice and care i needed. which meant i got to enjoy what for me was something i really wanted to do. and whilst the "breast is best" might have got a bit extreme here, it is just as horrible the other way around in some places. a friend of mine at the breastfeeding group i ended up at in spain once was made to leave a plane and catch the next one because passengers complained she was breastfeeding her baby!

i breastfed until i got pregnant with second. then handed over bedtimes to hubby for a week. changed breast to bottle. t

this thread is why myself and the vast majority of my mum friends just never go to cafes or pubs with kids! I am not going to take my kids somewhere they will be bored and tutted at. Plus you have to remortgage your home to go out for a meal for four these days. personally i don't know who all these socialising parents are....most people take sandwiches and a thermos. we are the undercover mums....beware the day we rise from our picnic blanket (and yes you can have a picnic in the winter)!

I had both my kids in Spain and lived there until eldest was 5 and it was so much easier. I never once got a stare or bad word or was made to feel bad if my little ones were being "challenging" i.e. hideous. but then we only went to family places. maybe the difference was that the family places were just normal places that everyone accepted would be full of kids at the weekend, and served really good food anyway - rather than cafes and bars selling themselves as "family friendly" when that just means they have a high chair. I think it the owners genuinely want to run a family venue that will be noted in the whole atmosphere. tho i sometimes think it's maybe just that kids don't get noticed so much in Spain because all the adults are shouting and making lots of noise too! used to give my poor Mum a headache when she came to visit but it was fun...