buggie

went for first time with our 7.5mth old on Sunday. Had one of the little baby wetsuit thingies as we've been going for baby swimming pools in a hydrotherapy pool so knew it would be colder - however, the bugglet didn't seem bothered/notice it was cold or 10 times bigger than the regular pool!! Found changing facilities ok (we'd got there for the very end of the jelly babies session), not too hot/cold. Didn't use the showers there though so can't comment on that. Swimming related revelation to me in recent weeks is that Boots do their own swimming nappies - and they are a smaller size than the huggies ones... v useful for smaller/younger babies!

I got a beco gemini about 8wks ago and have barely used my buggie since! Got it through a website called slumber roo and actually started off by hiring one from them to check I liked it, and then got a discount when I bought it. My thanks have to go to bluesuperted for putting me on the right track!

Wondering if you could be putting your little one down for a nap too soon - can understand not wanting to let them get overtired, but, beginning to look out for signs of them being tired are useful for weeks/months to come when trying to understand when they want to sleep/if there is some sort of pattern. Always planned to demand feed Bugglet, but when she was born at only 2.1kg that went out the window and I was feeding her every 3hrs (bit of formula for 2 days and breast fed/EBM until breast feeding was fully established). Found the baby whisperer v useful for signs of tiredness and found following her EASY plan worked well for us both - now at 7.5mths old we don't really do EASY anymore and can cope with daytrips/family events where "typical" naptimes are out the window without stress (prob also due to Bugglet's nosiness with any new situation/people!). Remember 3wks in being really difficult and without the baby whisperer I might have ended up a dribbly/messy heap on the floor!

no, just wednesday's, but think there's a toddler/pre-schooler thing on a Thursday morning at about the same time.

Hadn't heard the ibuprofen thing - glimpsing at your link (and not having chance to plow through the research paper), I think it might be relating to the anti-inflammatory affect it has - ??could affect the bodies natural anti-inflammatory response, have never seen this be a problem though, and some reseach papers actually work backwards from cases of complications and try to find a commonality between them rather than looking at a sample of people with chickenpox who've used ibuprofen and then looked at rates of necrotising soft tissue infection. Personally (and put v simply), paracetamol = first line for feverish illness & jabs, ibuprofen = first line for injuries & teething, but always with the other there as second line if nil improvement.

Just to comment on your A&E experience, I v much doubt the nurses (I'm guessing that's the "they" in your post) deliberately kept you waiting to see the Dr. Wasn't until I was in there with the Bugglet as a patient, I realised how little clue parents have of how busy the Paeds let alone the whole A&E dept is. It isn't always possible to keep every family fully informed, so if wondering why the wait is so long then ask - promise the nurse's will likely have already been trying to get the dr's down/find out how long they'll be, but, in the middle of the night there are less Dr's in the hospital, so if there is a sick child in resus/on the ward they will be detained. If you leave without seeing a Dr then all that can be advised is how to manage the fever as the baby hasn't been fully examined and thus diagnosed with anything to give specific/tailored advice about. Fingers crossed SG junior's condition improves without you needing to consider A&E. Would always look first at how the child is and temp afterwards - children with fever get much hotter than adults with fever due to the imaturity of the hypothalamus, so their general appearance is far more important than temp alone.

Bugglet and I go up to London Bridge to do the Little Dippers classes (after seeing them recommended on here) and are really enjoying them - isn't too much of a trek by train (infact, is good as she sleeps on the homeward stretch!).

just to add to above advice (which is all v good), make sure your giving the full doses you can of paracetamol/ibuprofen going by SG junior's weight - this post explains ml per kg for paracetamol (120mg/5ml) and ibuprofen (100mg/5ml).

...meant to add in original post - anecdotally, I've always thought there's a big link between teething and fever/increased illness, however, with the experience being a mum is bringing me, I can't help but notice it's also come when babies are more mobile/able to get more "interesting" things into their mouths (Bugglet chose to ignore her yummy lunch and start sucking the corner of the table in a pub the other day!). Most feverish illnesses are fairly innocuous (although it takes a fair bit to worry me!), however, always trust your mummy-instinct and if it feels like something isn't right/don't feel 100% happy with advice/how your baby or child are after seeing a GP/A&E, seek further help!

In paeds A&E we don't worry about a temp until it's 38C+, however, if fussing/unhappy and this is causing reduced appetite would suggest calpol/brufen (brufen esp good as anti-inflammatory. Bugglet still hasn't got visible teeth, but every week will have a couple of days where her cheeks suddenly flush, she knaws at anything and gets v grumpy - as a first response I reach for the Nelsons teething sachet's and find these seem to calm the symptoms... cause, with no teeth having burst through yet we could still be in the honeymoon stage of teething!!

same here - ideal pyjama tv!! (just what's needed after trip to seaside yesterday became slight traffic/satnav nightmare!)

how local?? My friend Janet does portrait photography, is based down in Tonbridge, but travels (?75 plus travel (which wouldn't be much) with a free 7x5 print included). The baby on her home page is v cute (but I could be bias ;-))

...would be pretty unforgettable, which could be seen as unforgivable!

Was saying to Hubbie other day about Harper being a lovely name (think a girl was called it in the Guardian on Saturday), unfortunately our surname rules it out completely!

Am sure there was an article in the guardian about a place (?in Wandsworth) that does this, might be worth a google

Saffron - All HV's are trained nurses, but majority are (I believe) adult trained. Know when I did my training we were advised to do Adult branch rather than Chikd branch which seemed strange but i believe things have now changed. My comment on training/team days was based on experience in my own area - if you're short staffed the pressure is on to cover you so you're unable to do them - in A&E we can't close for a couple of hours for staff training/meetings and can imagine similar pressure in the community.

I am not sure Buggie that making comments like "HVs are generally rubbish" is very constructive, especially from someone who is a nurse and works in the NHS, we are all up against it in the current NHS climate where there is no funding and posts are being cut on a daily basis. I agree that that one part of my post wasn't constructive, but can you pick fault with the rest of the sentence or post?? I went on to talk about the lack of funding/shortages in staffing in your profession and advised continued support of them/gentle lobbying via PALS when service hasn't met expectation. However, the issues are split like a fork, down one prong there is the shortage of HV's and subsequent long waits in baby clinic, the HV's being unable to give a more personalised service which comes as a shock especially if a mum has been with one of the community midwifery teams. Would take a guess that the shortages in staff/funding also lead to a shortage of team days/training updates that would help ensure correct/up to date advice. On the other fork is the inconsistent/incorrect/inappropriate advice given - before I had my baby I'd have parents attending A&E who (while often not attending due to) would ask for advice/report concerns on what their HV had told them/had got them worried about things that would turn out to be fine. Ironically, one of the big things causing concern would often be related to weight, and I had issues myself with this. Bugglet was nearly ref up to out pt's as she was below the 0.4th centile - she was tiny at birth and had consistently put weight on but was shadowing the 0.4th centile (actually staying on a consistent line) and I was told that she needed to be ref'd to out pts - thus bringing back to the surface worries and insecurities I'd had about how well she was feeding and at the same time feeling that I couldn't put my foot down and say I didn't want her ref'd as I thought it could label me as "difficult" (and as a fellow health professional I didn't want to be obstructive). Luckily, it turned out the referral would need to come from a GP and having had them rush us in to see the GP, he agreed that there wasn't a problem and that while tiny, she was hitting milestones on the button and showed no signs of being unwell. I then had the HV tell me her daughter had been "just like mine, and just tiny, and grown up and v well now" I wanted to ask her how she'd have felt had someone put her through what she'd put me through about her daughter's growth. All the Mum's I know have had experiences with HV's that have been far from ideal - both on the forum and in real life. Looking on Mumsnet as well shows it's by no means only a local issue, the real question should be, what can be done/what can we do to try and improve provision and service?/is proper research needed to establish what is needed to support the area?

that's ok x

There were 2 threads started about this accident... think you've read about the same accident twice.

Probably the complete opposite of what you're looking for (and if mock junior is with you might be tricky), but we went for Sunday brunch at the Blue Note Jazz Club (here) and loved it - corned beef hash, followed by live jazz (with an amazing Japanese jazz singer - lots of fans in the audience were walking up and giving her flowers mid way through songs!). Probably appreciated it more as the weather had been appalling so being somewhere warm and dry was good!

I'm with FHR and have also had fun with the HV's (there's only so much that my professional experience can help with). Had them try to ref bugglet to out pts as having been born below the 0.4th centile, she remained still below the 0.4th centile (despite br/feeding well). She's now well into weaning and at last weigh in was above 0.4th centile - am v happy, but when I got home and looked in red book it said "now feeding well" grrr... even when giving top-up's, she still fed well, just not to their standard! Luckily the out pt ref was put on ice after being seen by Dr Greaves - as she had 2 arms, 2 legs and was breathing he wasn't worried! Needless to say the Oakwood MW's were fantastic (hello if any are having a peak ;-)) and hoping that when/if we have No 2 I'm still in their catchment.

Think it's more than fair enough for you to be feeling like that! Hope writing it all down has helped get it out your system, otherwise, if you decide to have a full on tantrum could I come and watch? ;-) Hope all works out soon and best of luck for mini C! x

... wonder if number of developmental checks done has an effect on budget/bidding for services from the Primary Care Trust?? Know HV's are generally rubbish, but for the sake of the few good ones/the amount of child protection issues that are picked up/monitored by the HV team, for the sake of a few hours it could be worth attending to try and break the vicious cycle. Also, always worth complaining after poor service in baby clinics. I wrote a huge complaint about the baby clinic I use (to Southwark PCT PALS - googled them and wrote the email on my phone while stuck in a v long wait to get the bugglet weighed!), asked for it to be formally investigated and as well as getting a long letter addressing my complaints within 4wks (the PCT has to both acknowledge and respond in a set time frame), there have been changes to the running of the baby clinic - while not perfect it's a huge improvement. Health service managers wear big blinkers and often don't take on board what their being told by front line staff, but if a member of the public complains then it prompts them to respond. Know if everyone on here who has had HV issues/problems wrote to PALS in one go they'd be snowed under, but think it could be the sort of kick up the a**e they need ;-)

Am sure I'm about to state the obvious (and something that you're already doing), but I'd suggest a duel approach - as well as looking into and hopefully having an HBAC, preparing/trying to feel more relaxed about the possibility of being in hospital and how to make that as positive as you can - am sure relaxation techniques are v difficult to practice with gorgeous S running around, but this might help. Especially if you're having a history of high BP, the last thing you need is to be labouring at home, having BP or something else occur meaning you have to go into hospital and the stress that causes lead to more probs for yourself and Baby Baldock. Know you've had problems with your MW's, but if there is one or someone else you could talk to about the panic attack/discuss what might have triggered it and maybe help to reduce your anxiety (Fuschia makes a v good suggestion above). Am sure no one is wanting you to have a difficult birth or anything that will be upsetting to you, their wanting the best and safest for you and BB. I can empathise with hospital anxiety - have supported countless parent's in A&E who don't like hospital, often due to past experience and have often found that giving time to talk through their past experiences and ensuring clear communication has helped them cope better. Fingers crossed you get the birth you want (and deserve :) ), wishing you the best xx

Best chance of an uncontaminated sample is as ClareC describes. Cotton wool in nappy is likely to be contaminated after contact around the anus, and similar happens with the urine bags (although as a last resort these are better than cotton wool so worth requesting from GP). Is also worth asking GP if they do the urine pots that come with a funnel as they make it slightly easier. Know it is annoying as it does take time, ?if she's unwell will she sit on your lap and watch cebeebies or a favourite dvd = strip her off from the waist down and sit her on your lap (towel on your lap so you don't get soggy) and keep the pot between her legs (don't have it on the side as you won't have time to grab it when she starts weeing!). Know it's difficult but is easier (and less stressful) to do it at home rather than in A&E!