supergolden88

my hubby snores as well - when he is tired or had alcohol or is flat on his back. The anti snore strips are hit and miss (and expensive). The anti snore spray I got in Boots was good but have not been able to find it since. Boots had their own version and there was a another brand too. If anyone sees it anywhere get me a caseload!

I agree if you dont mind several night wakings and nursing on demand through the night then your baby doesn't have a "sleep problem". However if the frequent night wakings are making mummy (and daddy) a complete zombie, irritable and unable to cope then you DO have a problem. I chose to do something about it. My son is 6 months. We are still working throught it and dealing with MAJOR teething (two teeth out in four weeks expecting a few more soon!) but at least I feel proactive about it. With my daughter I continued nursing through the night until she was over a year old and she woke between 2-5 times every night. By the time she was 13 months I was well past breaking point. I did controlled crying/spaced soothing and she slept through the night after. I wish I had done something sooner. I am not suggesting controlled crying is a magic solution, nor is it for everyone (and I am sure there are other methods that work) but in my case a couple of hours of crying (both me and baby) replaced my crying nightly for months. I refuse to believe that because I chose to stop nursing at night I chose not to be nurturing! And as Saila said we are/were all better off for it. That article makes me slightly mad.

My baby boy started grabbing food and putting it in his mouth at around 5 months (an apple I was eating, a banana his sister was having next to him). Even with the apple which was very tart he was super enthusiastic and upset when I took it away from him. So I started weaning him at 5 months (I was going to wait until 6) and to my complete surprise he seemed to like trying different fruit/veg - completely unlike his sister who could not have been less impressed four years ago. He turns 6 months in a few days and I was thinking it is probably time to introduce some protein. To all of you 'early' weaners when did you start with protein? Any advice what to try first? I was thinking chicken mixed with veg. Also he seems to really like mouthing raw peeled apples and carrots etc. but has a very sensitive gag reflex and he throws up easily. I would like to give him some finger foods along the mushed up stuff but worried about him throwing up all food/milk. Should I try anyway? He has two (very sharp) bottom teeth and is probably getting a third as he is teething like a maniac!

There is definitely a gap in the market. I too am freelance and the only way I have managed to get work done is by having a nanny help out about four hours a day as and when I need her. I also have another nanny who does full days but is only available twice a week. There are quite a few nannies who have work only a few days a week and have some availability. It can be expensive but as I they only come when the workload is very bad it balances out. I wish there was a drop in creche/nursery option.

Was wondering if anyone is taking their children to the holiday scheme at Ivydale. Do you know what to expect where to go etc? My daughter is going but it has occured to me I know next to nothing about it except for the packed lunch. Bad mummy!

I do it makes no difference. Always leaks out the side. Perhaps a different brand of nappies may be the answer

I may have to go do a major shop and try different nappies. He has also now discovered how to pull the tabs off and open the nappy - oh the fun we are having with that!

My son almost always gets a leaky nappy around 4/5am even though he is changed between 11/12. He also frequently leaks during the day when the changes are much more frequent. We switched to Huggies Extra Dry when this happened first but now those nappies are useless. He is possibly between a size 3 and a size 4 (the 4 ones are way too big) and my husband thinks it's a boy thing since my daughter never had this problem. Any other nappies I should be trying? I can't be the only one with this problem! The 4/5am change in particular is very bad news as he thinks he is up for the day and impossible to put down again unless he comes into our bed.

me too. Every time I shower handfuls come away. It's awful.

Am bathing in it later

Peppa you made me laugh. Quite a feat. I wanted to add that any other naps last exactly 30 minutes unless out in pushchair (but even then only about 45 minutes). It is driving me round the bend. I picked him up and tried to breastfeed back to sleep to break the cycle and he was comatose on the boob. Minute he was in cot, wide awake. Tried shushing and patting for 20 minutes before giving up. Now want to scream

My son (who is definitely well on his way to outdo his big sister) has been refusing to go down for a morning nap. He used to nap for about 45 minutes at around 9am (then down to 30 and recently 10 or nothing at all). He usually gets up between 6 and 6.30 and is out of bed and active by 7am. Yet he fights having a nap tooth and nail and frequently wont sleep till 11/12 or much later. I think 5 months is too early to drop this nap. How on earth do I get him to sleep? Barring going for a walk and that doesn't even work half the time.

Hi everyone I know thread has been done to death but would appreciate some ideas and recommendations. Up till now we have had all of my daughter's birthday parties at our house. I love to bake so cake and so on are not a problem and there's quite a bit of space so they can run around. The house gets trashed of course. Anyway she will be 5 in June and having started school has lots of new friends to invite. I would like to host her party somewhere that provides suitable entertainment for 4-6 year olds. Catering would also be a good thing although I would like to provide the cake and possibly party bags and so on. I know Gambados is a good option but any other ideas? She turns 5 in June so hopefully the weather will be nice. I would imagine a minimum of 15 guests.

I think you are right I may have to give up on this for a while - certainly dont want her feeling bad about it or that she has to hide it. However she woke me up at 6am today saying very loudly "remember mummy we made a deal if I stop sucking my thumb!" I suppose I have only myself to blame!

Oh dear. Bit of background. My daughter started sucking her thumb as a baby when she was around 3 months. Very quickly it became the way she would comfort herself. The minute she was a bit tired in went the thumb. She also used to play with her ear at the same time. It was very cute. This went on and on until when she was nearly three we tried to convince her that she was now too old to be sucking her thumb. We gave her incentives and soon she completely stopped doing it in the daytime but would still do it when she went to bed. After a while we thought she had stopped at night as well. We used to read to her till she fell asleep and we could see she was not sucking her thumb. But reading could take half and hour or more till she dropped off and if she woke and found us gone she would cry and want more stories. Anyway. She started school this January (at 4 1/2) and we also had a second baby in November. So big changes, lots of stress for her and we finally started to leave her while still awake (because in our sleep deprived state due to baby we would fall asleep long before she did). Tonight I read to her (normally it's her dad as I am putting baby to bed at same time). Said goodnight and told her not to suck her thumb more out of habit than anything. 5 minutes later I heard crying. I went upstairs and she was in FLOODS of tears with the big confession that when we leave the room she still sucks her thumb and has been hiding it from us. She sobbed "I dont know how to fall asleep by myself!". I feel terrible for her. I read her another story and reassured her loads and promised her a present when she finally stops (a presend was the incentive ages ago when she stopped first time around). But I am not sure that this will work unless we again read to her until she is completely deeply asleep. Any thoughts? Tips? Should I just leave it and hope she stops of her own accord when she is ready? She is 5 in June and soon will start having wobbly teeth and so on. She has a gap between her two top front teeth which I suspect has something to do with thumb sucking although that is not necessarily the case. It is such a deeply ingrained habit with her that I am sure it is very hard to stop. She never does it in the day but I have cought her chewing her fingers/playing with her mouth like a nervous habit sometimes.

I said earlier I would definitely go for a run tonight. Nope. I am so tired I felt like going to bed same time as the baby. Tomorrow is another day! As for eating healthy I have pulled out my diet books (used to work for big publisher so have tons of books. Mostly baking to undo all the dieting). Some good ideas in there. May leaf through them and do a big grocery order online of just healthy stuff. Trouble is when I am so tired I crave chocolate and not salads!

I like the look of the easy blinds - good reviews on Amazon as well. Think may order those. THanks everyone

I think we need to move our baby boy to a different room. He turns five months in a few days so I think he is ready for the move. I know I am as I am getting very little sleep with the cot right next to me. Only room available is the spare room which is at the back of the house and gets all the morning sun. There is a curtain with blackout lining on the window but it is letting a lot of light through the top and sides. Are there any blackout blinds or curtains or anything like that locally? I saw a product on the JoJo website that looks promising but seems expensive. Has anyone used it? magic blinds

I was going to post a thread about suggestions for healthy lunches that take no time to prepare but haven't had the time! I would love to lose weight and eat sensibly but I have tons of work on so either I dont have lunch or I have leftovers or snack on bread etc. I need to diet but am still breastfeeding

Still haven't had time to have this facial! Having the busiest work week of my life and hating every minute of it. But once things quiet down I am off to Willis B, glamorous nails and Dr Boo I think!

My son had a god awful cold for the past 10 days or so. It started mild enough then progressed to fever, cough, throwing up (because of cough), completely blocked nose etc. He had a couple of nights where he slept maybe 20 minutes here and there. Needless to say we are all exhausted and desperate to get back to some kind of routine now that he finally seems better. While he was sick he was either breastfeeding all the time (when the nose was clear) or co-sleeping. All naps where either on my chest or in pushchair (constantly moving). Unfortunately this coincided with me having lots of work on so when I had nanny help they took him out for long walks (=naps). I want to be able to go back to him having naps *even short ones!* in his cot. I am putting him down awake with his mobile on but he does scream the place down even when tired. If I breastfeed him to sleep then the 10 minutes or so he drops off while feeding counts as a full nap (he will not sleep after). He clearly wants to sleep but has not found a way to soothe himself. If I go and offer him a finger to suck on that quiets him down. His nightime sleeping is HORRIBLE. Last night he was up for ages feeding/fussing. I think he makes up for lost meals in the day by feeding a lot at night. But when I offered him a bottle he refused repeatedly - only breast will do - which leads me to believe he is comfort feeding himself to sleep. Wont take a dummy BTW and has not found his hand/thumb. I am desperate for him to suck his thumb but no... I am *this close* to calling in an expert but thought I would ask for some advice here first. I am not adverse to controlled crying (only thing that worked for my daughter after a year of sleepless hell).

My daughter started reception in January. She also attends breakfast and afterschool clubs and is very happy at Ivydale. She has made lots of friends and is excited to go to school every day. In that respect the school is a great success. One thing I wish they would improve is communicating with the parents. There have been a couple of phonics workshops and there's a little homework book in which the teacher and parents put in comments but apart from that I have no idea what my daughter does in class (and asking her is pointless). I know some other schools have email/text updates and invite parents to sit in at some classes etc.

love this thread. my fashion mojo is dormant under many layers of flab and sadly wont see the light of day for at least a few years at this rate. I cant fit into 80% of my wardrobe. Typing one handed with sick baby on boob so here are a couple of links anthropologie very cool shop stateside that opened branches here last year I think. Cool, slightly quirky clothes, very pretty dresses etc. Generally expensive but register for their sale as mostly everything gets discounted eventually discount brand sales sites are big these days. I like Cocosa but there's also Brand Alley cocosa Brand Alley Asos has some great stuff and there's also Asos Marketplace for original upcoming designer items. These websites have cute stuff aspire Fever Finally I like vintage although it is getting harder to source

Best most used items a humidifier - constantly in use in winter/whenever they have colds a white noise app Socksuit (best sleepsuits ever) socksuit Grow bag sleeping bags (or other non branded ones) Stokke tripp trapp chair Baby bjorn sling Changing table (or any table that can be used as one - we used a Habitat kitchen unit with first baby) lambskin liner for pushchair (also using a large one under bedsheets this time round) baby bouncy chair (the more basic the better) Breast pump (Medela are good) if you want to breastfeed least used Fancy high chair that takes up half the room (chicco or similar). Had to sell it baby hated it and I hated cleaning it. Bumbo - both of my babies hated it and would lock their legs and launch themselves off it! Used for limited time only Room thermometer - useless. First baby born in middle of heatwave. Second when it was freezing. Just use common sense. about 10 different types of bottles bought because baby would not accept the bottle. In the end it's not the bottle or teat shape but how much you persist (and if they want to they will keep on refusing it till they decide to take it)

ED had them some time ago (bought them for a friend). In the baby gift section which is pretty small Gap does the best socks I think - they stay on for one thing. Also this is genius for babies and young toddlers as they dont outgrow it so quickly (socks give outfit some stretch) Best sleepsuit by a long mile socksuit