Gubodge

No, absolutely not. I love Waitrose, but it being further away means that all I ever buy from supremarkets are the bulk basics. All my meat/cheese/fruit/veg comes from local independents. But it is meat and cheese particularly that the 'aspirational' supermarkets do so much better than the bogstandard chains and I think it would be a small proportion of shoppers who would continue to support the Cheese Block or Libretto's for anything other than a special occasion shop when given the convenience of high quality produce under the same roof as the loo roll and breakfast cereal. Down with convenience!

Sounds like my husband. We have dark sheets, makes the bed look less like a crime scene. Both he and my daughter are suffering badly at the moment, mainly because of the central heating. You can buy humidifiers, which will increase the moisture content in the air but it's a lot more pleasant to just have plenty of well-watered potplants around. My granny used to have little porcelain reservoirs hung over her radiators but I coubt those exist any more. Aqueous cream is not that great for eczema sufferers as they can quite often be alergic to the cream itself and try a detergent specifically tailored for those with dermatological problems, such as Sure Care, or even better use washing balls or soap nuts. And definitely ask your GP for a referal to a specialist. The clinic in Burbage Road did wonders for my small, it's a shame my husband is too stuck in his ways and fatalistic to consider going himself.

Very good luck to all of you expecting winter babies. I have to say that having had both of mine on the hottest weekends of their respective years, there's something very appealing about the thought of snuggling up under the duvet with a newborn when there's snow and ice outside.

We usually do chocolates/smellies, but this time are making christmas tree decoratons. Because both kids are in classes with children with special needs they've got 6 teachers each. We've made three decorations so far. Eek.

We've done: - pen holders from old loo roll tubes, - bookmarks (I cut a rectangle of card, they paint or stick stickers on and thread beads onto a pipe cleaner to make a loop on the top.), - plain hankies decorated with fabric pens, - bunches of flowers (pipe cleaner stalks and either circles of tissue as petals, or egg box sections stuffed with crumpled tissue) in a loo roll tube 'vase' - lip balm (vaseline mixed with a tiny bit of lipstick and a drop of vanilla essence.) - mini soaps - biscuits - crystalised ginger dipped in plain chocolate. I have no idea at all what they are going to do this Christmas though. Possibly sweets.

My daughter was born on the 50th centile and dropped steadily down to the 2nd, where she has stayed ever since (she is now 4) She was happy and healthy but a newly qualified HV had a panic and packed us off to A&E. The paediatrician there took one look at her trying to chew the thermometer under her arm and asked why on earth we were there. We have been refered to the dieticians and paediatrician at Kings more recently as she has various food allergies, and I wondered if it was possibly an undiagnosed allergy that was causing her to stay scrawny despite her eating what I thought were vast quantities, but no. No more allergies, nothing wrong with her at all, she just eats too much fruit and not enough lard. So we've upped the fried food, cream, custard and proper puddings. She's put on a bit more weight, I've put on a lot more, and once again we're reassured that there is nothing wrong at all. As long as he is not losing weight and is growing and active I'd say that it is highly unlikely that there is anything wrong with your son, either. Certainly nothing that would make a more urgent consultation necessary.

My elder could be trusted not to do anything dangerous, but I wouldn't have seen a problem if she had decided to climb in to the cot with her sister. However I did babysit a friend's 1 and 3 year old and popped up to check on them to find the baby's cot piled high with every cuddly toy they owned. Fortunately her head was at the other end, in the small remaining toy free space. But as long as you set a few ground rules for your older one, I'd really expect a four year old not to do anything like that. But you know him/her best.

Mine were closer in age (2 years apart), but when they moved in together we would read to the little one, then I'd feed her to sleep while reading to the older one over her head. #2 could then be put into bed and #1 would get a cuddle and another book before she went to sleep. Thinking about it, that was the routine before they were sharing a room, too, just I got to do it all snuggling in our double bed rather than perched on the edge of the single. Even now they're 6 and 4 I still love to do the pre-bed routine in our room rather than theirs.

I take it as annual leave. I think it is possible to apply for special paid leave, but I would consider that more for something like hospitalisation or a serious medium term illness, rather than the odd day here or there with a tummy bug or chicken pox.

If you have a play pen you can put the tree in that. We didn't, so would put our large coffee table into the corner of the room and place the tree on that. We'd put plenty of sparkly, easily detachable decorations on the front lower branches and they were enough to keep the children occupied. I wasn't too concerned anyway. It would have been a pain if they'd brought it down on top of them, but I think a child would have to be very unlucky indeed for a falling spruce to inflict too much damage.

I think you are doing the right thing in persisting in taking her off the breast when she misbehaves on it. My feeling is that you have to separate what she is doing from the breastfeeding itself. In any other circumstances if she was repeatedly hurting you, you would put a stop to it, using whatever your usual disciplinary method is and she would probably throw a tantrum. It just wouldn't affect you so much as it wouldn't be so bound up with all the emotions that breastfeeding engenders. So, as well as taking her off the breast, I would put her on the thinking step or warn her that she'll lose her bedtime story or whatever. And above all keep in my mind that this too will pass... If you would like to reduce her feeds, you could try going out with her for her to choose a special cup and twirly straw to have her milk from at specific times of the day. Signed, A fellow peer counselor who's 2nd daughter breastfed until she was three and a half. There's more of us out here than you'd think.

Nope, and I had three. She was 3 weeks late. So I didn't bother with #2 who was two weeks over. IMO the only way you can hurry a baby who isn't yet ready is induction or section.

Dulwich_Park_Fairy is right, if it's your closest community school then you'd be foolish not to put it as your top choice, unless you are considering a faith school. Apart from that, I have one child in KS1 and another in the nursery, due to start reception soon. I know there are problems with the school, but I am very happy with it. Both my kids adore the school and their teachers, and the elder one in particular has blossomed and her confidence has grown hugely since starting. Visit the school, talk to pupils, work out what it is you want from a primary school and see if you think it's right for your child. And then put it down as your first choice anyway, if you don't want to be making the round trip to New Cross twice a day!

I think the September birthday can make a difference. I know a couple of people who have summer born children who were in January intakes at school. The parents feel that the children who went to the pre-school nurseries caught up quicker with their September intake peers. My daughter is at Goodrich nursery and will being starting reception in January. She knows all the Jolly Phonics songs and will be started on the very early stages of a reading scheme after half term, so when she goes up to reception she will only be half a term 'behind'. It's all done in a very relaxed manner, and if you asked my daughter if she was being taught anything she would look at me blankly, which is as it should be, but it is all very good preparation for real school. Obviously this will not apply to your son, as he will be one of the eldest in the year, but it might be useful to anyone else in a similar situation.

Last year was fantastic, with it being on a Saturday. Hundreds of kids out, grown ups really getting in the spirit of things with a lot of hard work having gone into amazing effects at some houses. I think I'll have to start talking it down for my two this year, it's bound to be a bit quieter. But it does allow for a halloween party on the saturday and Trick or treating on the Sunday, so double the fun! (My excuse is having spent some of my childhood in the US, so I've always gone overboard for it. It's nice not to be just one of a few, these days.)

The new scheme is working very well for us so far. Family of four, we produce approx two blue boxes of recycling, and 1 or 2 caddies full of food waste a week. Any vegetable matter has always gone on the compost heap anyway, and it's wonderful to not have to stick all the bones and small peoples leftovers in with the normal rubbish. I'm very much enjoying not having to sort the recycling and our 'normal' waste is down from not much to even less, around 2/3rds of a bin bag for the fortnight. When my youngest was in disposable nappies we would put them into a lined, tighly lidded bin next to the changing table, and when that was full the bag would be tied and added to the kitchen bin bag to go out in the wheely. So every nappy was double bagged and there was little discernable smell, even in the hottest weeks of summer.

We bought a Burley trailer that London Recumbents were getting rid of. We used it from when our youngest was around 9 months, as although able to sit up fine she was still too small for a seat. She loved it, although I suppose she may have been less keen if she hadn't had her big sister in beside her. We've had both Hamax and Co-pilot rear seats as well, both of which I'd recommend, but not so useful when trying to get two small children and the shopping home from sainsburys. I would admit though that if money were no object I'd have got a bakefiets.

HRP means that as long as a non-working parent is claiming child benefit, they are (in effect) getting credited with national insurance contributions towards their pension. (Although not other benefits.)

new mother Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you have two > children and earn an ok as opposed to > stratospheric salary, school fees leave very very > little after other necessities come off. If you can afford to send two children to private school then you are on a hell of a lot more than an 'ok' salary. And if you sent them to state schools then you'd be saving the extra money you must be spending on childcare during the extended holidays. It's a win all round. We will not be affected by this, and unlikely to be for a quite some time, given the 2 year pay freeze we're both subjected to as civil servants. That said, we could, with a bit of belt tightening, manage on ?80 less a month with no significant impact on our lifestyle. I do not agree with universal benefits and see no other way of cutting this one without it either costing a huge amount to administer, or it affecting the poorest families. My concern is that no thought (Ha! There's a surprise.) has been given to Home Responsibilites Protection. Will stay-at-home partners of higher rate tax payers still have a way of claiming this, even if they no longer qualify for Chb. Mr Barber?

Answer her questions as simply, straighforwardly and truthfully as you can. The likelyhood is that, as with Helenat's daughter, that will satisfy her for now, or it may spark off another question, such as how did the baby get there, in which case answer that as well. Far better to let it be a gradual learning process when she is too young to feel squeamish or embarrassed about it than your having to sit her down for 'The Chat' when she's older and more uncomfortable about it. And there's always extra kudos for the kid in the playground who actually knows how it works!

We heard that flying over, too. I think it must have got lost.

Shame I've only just seen this, I could have shared the massive number I bought for our own small's birthday party. For future reference, Just Williams do them. The Lordship Lane branch had a very poor selection, but Herne Hill has a decent choice.

If you use a muslin then make sure you slather them in suncream, too. You need a tightly woven or knitted fabric to stop the UV rays.

You'll be fine breastfeeding him, (Well, you'll feel like rubbish, but he'll be fine.) and I don't know how old he is but if you've been breastfeeding for months and months then your supply will be well enough established to be able to take the odd slow day. Feed him as soon as he gets home and his usual evening/night feeds and he'll be fine on formula for when he's not with you. I know lots of people who have gone back to work at 4/5/6 months. They manage to swtich fine between formula duing the day on workdays and then full time breastmilk at the weekends.

I think that they can hasten the start of labour if everything is ready, but if the baby's is not ready to come then a sweep won't shift it. I had three, none of which worked. Fortunately I didn't find them painful. Uncomfortable, yes, but it didn't actually hurt.