Gubodge

I remember thinking at 9 months that daughter #1 was so perfect it just had to be downhill from then. Suprisingly, though, it carried on getting better. Otherwise my favourite bit has been age 2. I'd far rather deal with a two year old's tantrums than a four year olds attempts at reasoned arguments.

Mich, Good tip about the fridge shelf. My parents are coming to look after my two this weekend and I know my mum will be fretting about feeding A, so I'll rearrange my shelves for them tonight. Sympathies with the milk. I too have tried every possible milk drink, including chocolate and strawberry milk, to no avail. I'm lucky enough to be breastfeeding still though, but am seeing that as a bit of a double edged sword now she's three. It's great to know that she's getting the calcium, but I can see us being the subjects of a channel 5 documentary if I carry on much longer.

My three year old was diagnosed with egg, dairy, sesame and nut allergies when she was about 9 months. As I said on the nut allergy thread, it's a big shock, but you'll soon get used to dealing with it. And having it diagnosed so young, he won't realise he's missing out. I'm afraid some of my suggestions will be no use at all to you if he does have an intolerance to soy as well, but if not (finger's crossed) you will become very familiar with: Pure margarine (Sainsburys, waitrose) - available in sunflower or soy varieties Tofutti cream cheese (SMBS) - the only remotely edible cheese substitute. Anything else has my daughter scraping her tongue to be rid of the taste) Alpro soy yoghurt (Most supermarkets) - But check the lables if you particularly want them fortified with calcium, some flavours aren't. Free-from chocolate buttons (sainsburys) Divine mini eggs (Herne Hill oxfam shop) Thorntons dark chocolate money (a life saver, her first christmas I made my own from melted 70% cocoa solid chocolate and some cleaned out milk choc money foils.) SMBS also do rice flour pasta and other allergy friendly foods. Goodie Bars are also refreshingly free of most nasties and are good for a treat. But you will get very good at studying the fine print on everything. I have an excellent cookery book. Can't remember the name, but is by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, and gives all sorts of substitutes for cooking. A lot of allergen-free cook books I looked at were a bit too american and didn't relate too well to my normal cooking style. And to end on a good note, I know several children with egg and dairy allergies who have outgrown them by the age of 5. and my daughter (three last month) ate a piece of a biscuit with milk proteins in yesterday and didn't have her normal reaction, so it looks like she might be shaking the dairy one off too. Feel free to PM me if you want anything more.

My younger daughter has multiple food allergies, including nut, although they do not sound as severe as your son's. It is an awful shock when they are first diagnosed, but I've certainly found dealing with it easier than I expected. It does require a bit of effort and pre-planning, but that just becomes the routine. Schools and nurseries are very used to dealing with allergies, and he will probably be safer there than anywhere. We ensure nursery have a supply of all the alternative foods our daughter needs, along with a selection of longlife sweets and cakes in case the other children are given treats, and when we go to birthday parties I take a selection of 'safe' party food so my daughter doesn't miss out. Fortunately she now appreciates my efforts and my homemade sausage rolls, cakes and biscuits now actually get consumed. There was about a year's worth of parties when they were scorned in favour of grapes and cucumber sticks, ungrateful little sod.

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Or breast milk :-) Well, that's different!

Soya milk and formula are not advised unless there is a medical reason for them to be needed. Goats formula in particular is not fortified, so should not be used as a breast/formula substitute and it is not allowed to be sold as baby milk, although as a supplemental drink it would be ok. As for follow-on milks, don't waste your money. They are purely a marketing ploy. It is illegal in the UK for artificial milk companies to advertise their babymilk products, so they came up with the concept of follow-on milk to allow them to get their brand onto TV. There is absolutely no nutritional reason why a child over one should have anything other than cows milk

Sympathies. It hurts like hell, doesn't it. And all that helpful advice not to react which was obviously thought up by someone who has never had teeth clamping down suddenly on a sensitive area. (And has no imagination, either) Biting usually happens at the end of a feed, either where they lose concentration and start to drop of, or because they've had enough and are starting to get a bit bored and do something more fun. Like make you scream. Keep an eye on his jaw movements through the feed. He'll start of with rapid sucks, to get the milk flowing and then he should settle down into a slower, more rythmnic gulp. When this changes to more of a fluttering movement it's time to use your finger to detach him. Hopefully that means you'll get him off before he gets bored, but you needn't worry about him not having eaten enough. The 'fluttering' indicates that he's onto really thick, creamy milk so you can sure that he's had a decent feed.

Podiatrists recommend that a child is able to walk unsupported across a room and back before they are put in shoes. It is very important that they are able to feel the ground when they are first walking. Even when they are sturdy walkers it is important that they still spend as much time as possible bare foot (not even socks) unless they have a particular problem that needs correcting. The same goes for all of us.

I had to do it in the other direction for a couple of weeks. It took around an hour, and that was on what is usually the quickest route of Alexandra Road/Gap Road/Burntwood lane/Nightingale Lane/South Circular. Most of the hold-ups were at the Clapham end though, so depending whereabouts you're aimin gfor you may be able to avoid the worst of it.

Oh dear, my own top tip was going to be 'Ignore all the advice about not feeding them to sleep.' Just do whatever it takes, they're not still going to be needing it when they're 14. See also co-sleeping. Don't expect them to sleep through until they are at least 5. A lot of children don't and I wouldn't like you to get your hopes up. You will survive. You won't know how but you will. If you happen to get a marvellous sleeper like my eldest then be thankful, but don't think it's anything to do with you or anything you've done or not done. It's just luck. Get a sling. If you find one you can breastfeed in then you only ever have to take them out for nappy changes. If you want to breastfeed and you are having problems then get yourself to a breast feeding counsellor as soon as possible. It's hard, but it doesn't have to be painful and 99% of women can successfully feed if given the right support. It also becomes very, very much easier after a couple of months. Don't go to the Babyshow, or if you do, don't take your wallet. You'll only buy a heap of completely unneccesary crap. Do force yourself to go to some kind of baby group or NCT tea, even if you are terminally antisocial. You may not meet anyone you get on with, but you could find people who will provide support, babysitting and friendship for years to come. And they will be the only ones to truly know what you are going through. When you are in that first newborn fug, even someone who has a four month old will find it hard to recall just what it can be like. And you will look at their proto-toddler and wonder that your teeny tiny little bundle could even be the same species. Above all, ignore all advice and trust your instincts. Nod politely when your mum tells you what she did when you were a new born and vow to ignore any of her tips. Burn your baby books. Don't listen to any of us. You are the only expert when it comes to your baby.

I'd rather keep Iceland than have an M&S/Waitrose. I'd like those locals who are less well off to have some alternative to the more expensive shops. Anyone who would regularly shop in M&S/W are unlikely not to have plenty of other options, be it WR and Moxons, Ocado or shops in town.

I love Waitrose, but although their meat is without doubt the best of all the supermarkets, it is still far inferior to that sold by WR, Kim Libretto and Sparks. Given the ease of on-line shopping with ocado, it would be a terrible shame if having a real life bricks and mortar waitrose close by led to the death of any of those businesses. I wonder if Waitrose are looking in the locality because Ocado now runs in competition with them. Ocado get an awful lot of business in ED.

Molly, L adored the robot zoo and has been pestering to go back ever since. The poor old fish and music room don't get a look in now.

I may well join you too. I have girls, nearly 3 and nearly 5.

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Chalk can hardly be good for fish Don't tell that to anyone spending ?150 on a single day's fishing on the Test or Itchen.

I'd be confident about cycling if it wasn't for some of the drivers I've seen. There are people driving far too fast for the conditions and without the passenger side of the windscreen properly cleared. Any cyclist would be right in their blindspot.

Why of course!

Sue said "If they can't handle cycling on the road they shouldn't be cycling, full stop." Does this apply to my four year old, too? Cycling on pavements is illegal. Fortunately the CPS tend to take a more sensible view than many people, and will only prosecute if the cyclist has been reckless. I would not dream of pavement cycling on my commute, but when acccompanying my daughter on her bike, with my other child in the bike seat, I do. BUT...I have taught the 4 yr old that if there is a pedestrian coming towards her she must stop and let them past, and she must not over take one going in the same direction unless they have seen her and stood aside. On busy stretches she and I both get off and push. As an (apart from that) law abiding cyclist, I think the PCSO's couldn't have picked a better place to stake out. It drives me bonkers when coming down the side of the Rye to see half the cyclists in front of me jumping on to the pavement purely to get past the queue of traffic to the front of the lights. If there is no safe way to overtake on the road, Stop in the f*&$ing queue and wait your turn like all the other road users! Twunts.

I wouldn't let my child run barefoot in any pub garden. There's no way you can guarantee there being no broken glass about.

I have been to the Herne several times, sometimes booking sometimes not (but turning up as the doors open at midday when I haven't) and love the garden and think the food is great; and have never had any problems with the loos. But, every time I have been I have had a long wait for that food, unreasonably long on a couple of occasions. For a place that specifically targets families, they really should be aware that young children don't tend to have the same flexibility about mealtimes that adults have. I haven't returned since a visit a couple of months ago, when the interminable delay necessitated buying crisps to console starving kids (who of course then didn't eat most of their meal when it finally turned up.) This would have been enough alone to put me off, but what was even more offputting was the stench of the filthy sofa in the conservatory. I will keep an ear out and see whether people think the service gets any quicker, but I won't be returning until I hear that the sofa is on a skip. It a shame, I'd like to give more custom to my local but last time I went out for a meal we went to the Palmerston, which was perfect. Perhaps a bit of staff shadowing could be arranged so the Herne can see how it should be done?

I'm afraid I always tend to head over to Herne Hill for childrens books. Neverending Story had such a tiny selection, I could rarely find what I was after.

The only class I currently take my two to is Tin Pan Annie, and if you're after 'real' music then it might be for you (and they do do a free taster class so you can check it out for yourself. It's led by guitar, there is lots of dancing round, playing instuments and learning about rhythm. Mine love it.

Oil is fine, the problem is replacing the egg. You need something to replace its binding properties as well as to make the cake rise. Different recipes use different methods, some just replace the egg with apple or apricot puree or I have one lovely moist chocolate cake that uses vinegar and oil (try googling wacky cake) I keep meaning to try some of the recipes on here: http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/index.php . I'm not vegan, but have a diary and egg allergic child, which amounts to the same thing when baking. Oh, and if you're after vegan chocolate, green and blacks dark or maya gold is milk-free.

I can recommend the german breakfast: croissant, baguette, ham, cheese, oj and coffee. I needn't have ordered anything else for me and my two smalls this morning. But I did, as I'm piggy. The finnish looked lovely too. (The breakfast. Although I'm sure if I were that way inclined I'd say the same about the staff.)

I went in there only needing a tiny amount of fabric, so asked where he kept the remnants. He was incredibly stroppy and sarky with me, as if it was a stupid question to ask. I'd assumed it was an off day until I was chatting to a group of friends and found that everyone of us who had been in there had had some kind of bad experience with him. He obviously doesn't need the money, so I'm going to keep my trade for the tiny little warren of a place just by Peckham Rye Station.