buggie

Does he take a cup for drinks already?? If he doesn't use a bottle already I'd avoid trying to introduce it now as really from 1yr up you're wanting to swap to a cup anyway. If you're still breast feeding in the day & there's regular times he feeds, maybe offer a cup of milk beforehand (might also help your boobs reduce how much their producing).

Blimey!! Agree with everything Pickle's said on this & amazed at the level of v v deep thought going on - surely encouraging breadth and enjoyment of reading is more important at pre-school/primary age? As Pickle has suggested, I too worry children could be put off reading if de-briefing/critiquing was required after every tale, I think I would hope that by reading a mix of books Bugglet would be able to form and express her own opinions (and I look forward to hearing them) and that could trigger conversation. We have the Nick Sharratt version, where Cinders only agrees to marry the prince if he'll share the household chores :-) maybe it's an age thing, but her "favourites" in books change on a week by week basis (apart from 'The Cat in the Hat' which has been read nightly for so long she can finish nearly every line!). Resisting her choice of books to read it would make a much bigger deal of it. I'm all for the un-pinkification of girls, but think if in life you demonstrate in life the values you aspire for them, then the occasional fairy tale or request to dress as a fairy won't cause the creation of a submissive & brow beaten adult. No matter their reading material, yourselves as parents will still be their number one role model.

Thank you all... It's reassuring to know there can be a big gap between dry & clean coming (think stories of withholding poo scared me a bit!). Think she's in the midst of a developmental leap (if they still occur over 2yrs) as her language (& opinions on everying!) are growing by the day - she fell asleep at 6pm yesterday!

My info came from the Lewisham immunisation programme lead when I had training on how to give BCG's last month - unfortunately I don't have the ref's to hand as I've got it at work. For reasons unknown to even the top boffins, particular population cohorts are more resistant than others, which could explain the figures on the Malawi study you found TE44.

Stocked up on primarni pants today! Got v excited earlier & accidently gave choc buttons for what turned out to be a v smelly fart on the potty (teach me to look before I reward!). Anyhoo, nursery for 3 days now so fingers crossed seeing others doing it will help (& even if it doesn't it won't be me cleaning up!!) :)

Annoyingly there's not a set time - last few days its been post lunch but she took Mr Buggie by surprise mid morning today :-( She's very good sitting on the potty, but seems to get so comfy nothing happens! Think once she does it once she'll be ok, but getting the first one in is proving a much bigger challenge than I anticipated!!

Hoping the esteemed brains of the EDF can help! Bugglet took us by surprise last w/e by suddenly deciding the time had come to potty train (She's nearly 2.5yrs & we were blocking out Easter w/e to give it a go!). On the wee front she's done fantastically - by nursery on Monday she was taking herself & by mid-week she was t having any wee-accidents (even with a few small car journeys and a short nap!). But, poo is another matter... She doesn't seem scared/hiding it, but doesn't make any effort to use the potty for it. We've read Poo goes to Pooland, have some "Ben & Holly" knickers which Princess Holly has put a spell on so they can't be opened until she does poo's in the potty, and the promise of choc buttons. Nothing seems to be making a difference :-S if its fairly solid it doesn't even seem to bother her :-( I know that the thing I need most is patience (I'm doing my best on that front!), but is there anything else anyone can suggest?! Thanks in advance!

The scar thing is a myth - it's not something which proves the effictiveness of the immunisation & shouldn't be trusted as such. The reaction varies from person to person. As an interesting aside the pus that often comes from the injection site in the months following is due to the white blood cells over reaction to the immunisation & doesn't contain any of the vaccine as its been long absorbed by the body.

Bugglet is 29 mths now & successful bedtimes come in waves... Has always been teeth, bath, pj's, stories x3 & bed, but this is being thrown out hugely by Bugglet being desperate to get extra stories, not helped by her twisting what was originally a v sweet final story snuggled in bed. We'd do "story of Bugglet" (like a 2min "this is your life" minus guests or a rundown of her day), gradually though, there have been prequals to this..."story of mummy & daddy", "story of mummy" & "story of daddy", with "Cinderella" and "3 bears" occasionally requested too. Tonight has hit a particular low with her using potty training to string bedtime out... Weeing has been a great success, pooing not hitting the mark yet (literally), so I've had 3 encores of "I need a poo" each time with nothing occurring :s ...always have nights like this when Mr Buggie's out!!

I haven't seen it/heard of it before, but understand it can happen - more likely apparently if they had chickenpox under a year or the varicella vaccine - am unsure even of the stats of If it is it'll follow along a nerve route which would mean the rash was only in a particular part & side of the body & not widely or evenly distributed across the body. Would have a low threshold for getting him checked again if it didn't seem typical to this. Poor lamb though, hope he feels better soon.

You're right Saffron, it wouldn't be the first result if googling "Shingles Epidemic" as that is a broader term not looking specifically at a link to varicella immunisation (as I was) I found it interesting as it gave me context on the numbers of cases of chickenpox/cases of complications from prior to the jabs introduction - important for when weighing up the risks of the virus. It is down to each individual what they would want to do, but tire of what feels like scaremongering whenever the subject of chickenpox comes up. I'm afraid I haven't had chance to look into every piece of research on every aspect of the varicella immunisation, (funnily enough it doesn't seem to be something my colleagues have been commonly asked about) but have been seeing & advising parents in RL on caring for children with CP for 14yrs to be sure the statistics suggesting rates of complication are v v low are accurate. Although things shouldn't come down to money, the nhs is forced into a corner financially by the government and if clear proof of the cost of the immunisation wouldn't lead to a greater saving on GP/A&E/hospital care (which I doubt it would) I don't think it will be adopted.

No way! Saw the park car park filled with fab film unit & signs with MM on them but the only thing I could think of was Midsomer Murders!!

Think it's going to be difficult to find much evidence on is either way as its a relatively short amount of time (since 1995) that the vaccine has been licensed. But this: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/02/chicken-pox-vaccine-creates-shingles-epidemic.aspx Would indicate that there is a growing problem with shingles, as well as highlighting that it has been entirely in the drug companies interest to over-emphasis how much of a problem varicella viruses caused and that the increased cases of shingles could give them a ready made market for further medications. Would be curious to see Ben Goldacre's take on varicella immunisations, but think he's busy taking on the big pharmaceutical companies!

Have I missed the East Dulwich specific twist to this story?!

Saffron & I have differing (but respectful of each other) views on this. This is a post I made previously when the subject came up previously: (http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1009595,1010063#msg-1010063 - on iPad again so can't do links :( ) The majority of cases are fine though and not on par with measles/meningitis C/B. In 13yrs working in acute paediatrics I can still count on one hand the number of cases of CP related pneumonia I've seen (all of which needed admission to ward not to intensive care & each made a full recovery), no cases of CP related encephalitis. From the same abstract [saffron linked to on the prev thread] rates of complications leading to death related to CP are 1 in 40,000 cases whilst for measles that is 1 in 15 notified cases (cases of measles have to be reported to the local public health department). (http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/immvax/measles.aspx - can't link on iPad!).

Have voted too, thanks BST for sorting the link :)

Be careful with swaddling too tightly round the legs, I found out the other week that tight swaddling has been seen to increase cases of hip dysplasia (dislocation): http://www.hipdysplasia.org/developmental-dysplasia-of-the-hip/hip-healthy-swaddling/ Having had hip dysplasia myself (weirdly now only noticeable when I do breast stoke!) was surprised I wasn't aware of this already.

The link doesn't work :(

Should think it'd be worth calling to check (you don't say how old your daughter is) but would guess that unless she's a little babe in arms you'd have to pay :( As I said earlier in the thread, my daughter (then 18mths old) & I went last year & I think it's fantastic value (there's a free meet & greet afterwards!)

M&S seem pretty small too - not that we're using them yet & hoping Bugglet fills out a little more before their a regular fixture!

Whoops! Hadn't realised the thread had gone lighthearted - was bit heavy!

Unsure where they said they were from, but on Adys Road this lunchtime encountered a guy trying to sell teak benches after an exhibition in Mayfair... Remembered this thread & had to stop myself from saying "Isn't this a scam?" out loud!

...just to add, their pretty full on so do hold the attention v well - did start to wonder when they were drawing breath! Which I think helped on the attention front too.

It's 2x 45 min half's IIRC. Bugglet was only just 18mths old when we went, but she loved it & was able to concentrate on it even post interval but I know this is unusual for such a young child - she seems to have inherited my love of theatre!!

She did mention that Catford was her "local" date & that she had her family in! Otta - see you there again?!