The Nappy Lady

Ahhhh, that's such great news.

Snowboarder is worth speaking to as well - maybe PM her. Xx

I have a car seat insert you are welcome to have. It would lift his bottom & give some back & head support, we used it in a buggy when our first was little. He may be too big for it now, but worth a try. M

My hubby has a very big soft spot for that blonde girl who was in Higgle de Piggledy House (apols if that is spelt wrong)! Sarah-Jane I think? Molly

I really like Skip Hops, for an overall durability, practicality point of view. Also have a Pacapod, but it hasn't worn very well in the 15 months I've been using it, my Skip Hop has done better. I like ones that have a full handle, plus little clips you can do up around your handle when hanging it off the buggy (which both the above have). Molly

Sanne Panne, I few ideas; 1) You could just try using a wrap (the waterproof outer part of a cloth nappy system) over a disposable - it would catch and hopefully contain any leak, at least preventing baby's clothes from getting soiled. 2) As Pickle said, you could try both a cloth nappy, and wrap on top...as mentioned, you use a paper liner, and then wash the nappies at 60 degrees with non bio. My tiny newborn nappies have done about 7 children now (been loaned out) and still look like new - amazingly, the yellow poo washes out really well and does not leave stains - if I showed you them you'd be amazed. If you want to try either option you are welcome to borrow from me, plus bucket and net bag for loading into the machine. Some babies are particularly bad for 'explosive' poos, and it sounds like you've won the jackpot this time around, it will get better, but for now at least I'm not sure any disposable is going to be 100% reliable, and I'm willing to promise you the cloth nappies will perform better, so in the end they will be less work. When things improve, you can always go back to disposables, and give me the nappies back, so no money lost etc. Molly

Well I know I'm capable of drinking a cup of tea, chatting AND watching my children....isn't that what women do, multi-task? :-))))

Well said Pebbles & others. I was just thinking, other than a nanny/personal tutor I can't think of any situation where a child would have an adults sole attention - certainly not at nursery, childminders or school. It is possible I guess that someone with their first newborn is not aware of how much a toddler would object to that level of constant monitoring, not to mention that you'd never manage to get anything done, including feeding/preparing meals for said child. I don't mean this in a patronising way, I just know how little I really understood what lay ahead when I had my first.

My green bin isn't half full even with a two weekly collection. I guess it would be if I had a big spring clean/clear out but never otherwise. If people are recycling properly what on earth is filling up the green bins? All I've got left is a bit of plastic wrapping & tetra packs, which I recycle when I can but tricky as not on a regular route for me. I appreciate some have disposable nappies too, but still can't work out what is filling up the bin?

Jane, Thank you - it is really good to know you are aware of the issues and I do hope the traffic situation can be improved in due course.

Excellent Princess, I thought between us all there ought to be at least one we knew of. Lucky boy, filling in forms will be so easy (as will keeping track of how old he is - something I struggle with now and again!).

My 2 have DOB; 4/7/4 & 10/10/8 which I think is quite cool, I wanted DD2 to be born 8/10/8 to make a matching pair!

Just being curious, but what a cool DOB to have. My youngest was 2 that day and I was thinking of the Autumn babies club and wondering if any of the girls were in the throws of labour. Molly

Make sure you ask about holidays - some childminders charge less per day, but expect you to pay them when either you, or they take a holiday, whilst others charge a higher daily rate, but don't expect holiday pay. What you don't want, is one that charges full whack AND wants paying during holidays too!!! Other than that I think it really does come down to who 'feels' right, and what you can afford. I really rate the childminder environment for under 2's, consider it to be better than nursery. Agree with Mellors about the 'meet up' groups etc. would say childminders mostly behave in the same way as I would - so a bit of chatting to friends, cup of tea and time spent with the children all mixed in. Even when chatting I believe they are watching the children, as I do when I'm with mine at playgroup. Since my little one got mobile at 11 months she didn't want me constantly in her wake at playgroup because of the independence thing - so you have to give them a certain amount of space, whilst being ready to step in if they are in danger, or about to beat up another toddler of course! Good luck, hope you find someone you feel really happy with. Molly

Jamma, I just think it sounds grim, "look Mummy I'm being (a) Tellytubby/Fimble/Upsy Daisy or whatever sounds a lot nicer to me that "look at me I'm dirtgirl". All in my head I know.

Fab! Love the helmet, he looks soooo tiny in that seat. Awwwww....

Ruth, Having now looked at a photo of your bike on line I think a front seat would be out anyway because you are going to be riding leaning forward, rather than sitting upright (sit up and beg as I call it!). So, you are going down the right route with rear carriers or trailers. Hope you manage to find the perfect one eventually. Good luck, Molly x

Or maybe physics is one of the shows creators? If so I'd love to know why you chose such an odd name. I'd hate my girls to refer to themselves as 'Dirtgirl', and regardless of child psychology I don't think it's a great bit of programming. My two much prefer/preferred Fimbles, Balamory, In the Night Garden and Waybuloo all of which I consider to be much better programmed. Of course I sit around all day watching Cbeebies, with my FORTY year old head on, what else is there for a Yummy Mummy to do all day dahling?

Yes, that's true, same type of bracket as you put on front post for the front seat. But tricky to have baby behind you & carry a rucksack as it is virtually in baby's face - not very nice for them. With a rack you can just about get panniers on but tricky with rear seat in place too. I gues it depend whether you are likely to travel with a lot of luggage plus baby. I agree the trailers wseem better for older children (also I hear tricky to store when not in use & wide to get in & out of the house.

Hi Ruth, (iPhone post - Apols for typos Brandt is bracket & Hamas is Hamax) I don't know about trailers, but have experience of the up front seats. Why do you think they will not work on your bike? Is it the size of the 'stem' up to the handlebars? I would try to investigate a bit more if you can. Someone lent me a wee-ride to use on my bike initially & I have now picked up a kinder sulky via this forum. It took a bit of fiddling & the help of BC Bikes to get the sulky sorted - I had to buy 2 different lengths of bolt from the DIY store as the ones which came with it were too short, next lot too long, final ones almost perfect but BC just shortened them slightly for me' & made sure the Brandt was on really tight. The advantage of the kinder seat is it fixes by 1 bracket on the stem & can easily be removed when baby isn't with you. Hamas do something similar - saw one go on eBay for ?7 the other day. I love the front seat - so does baby C. We can talk to each other as we go along, she gets to ding the bell & I feel she is more secure as I have my arms around her. Will be sad when we have to upgrade to a rear seat before too long due to size & weight. Hope this helps.

Great story sillywoman. Well done, I'd have been tearful too.

Brillant news. :-)

Blimey....I don't know, I'm just doing what the leaflet told me to; Keep existing brown garden waste bin, apply for kitchen caddy if you want one, put food waste in the bags Southwark are providing and then into the big brown bin with the garden waste. All other recycling into blue boxes/bags. Anything that's left after that - into the original green bin. No idea why you can't put food into the paper bags with garden waste, but then I never use those bags...sorry. I'm keeping it simple, and now have my fingers in my ears going "la, la, la not listening, not listening".....:))

New Mother, 2nd time is usually easier because your body has already stretched once, so muscles less tight etc. However, it does depend on what happened first time around. If you ended up having a VB, despite a long labour then 2nd time as your body has done it before your cervix should open much more easily, so full dilation should happen sooner etc. If you ended up having a CS, then depending how far baby got down the birth canal (if at all) you can still have a long labour, very similar to a first birth, because your body may never have stretched before so you are effectively doing it for the first time. Equally, if baby got part way down first time around, but then you had a CS I know that can mean 2nd labour can be very fast, but has to be managed very well because otherwise you can tear badly, as when baby crowns, that part of you hasn't stretched before and speed of descent through the birth canal can mean too much pressure too fast at that point if that makes sense.....I know of a couple of Mum's this happened to and they were both told this was the reason why. All interesting stuff. After my first birth was 5hrs 20mins I was always told the next one would be very fast...and it was at 1.5 hours. Glad I'm not planning on having a 3rd, hubby might have needed a baseball glove!

LOL - yep, they're not really as upset as they make out you know...it's just that they have suddenly learnt how to MOVE and they don't want to be still, even for a minute, or at least, only when they want to be still, not when you want them to be. It's amazing how quickly these compliant little babies become rampaging toddlers...brace yourselves, I always think of the escapee nappy changes as the turning point.... Poppy is right also about being able to distract them quite easily once in that position - I used to pretend it was a tickle game and had my little one laughing her head off as often as crying. Honestly though, first time around I struggled with the best of them, didn't know about the leg thing, used to get really upset (as you are all describing), then another Nappy Lady told me about how to do this and it changed my life. With my 2nd I did it from the minute she started playing up and in less than a week I was hardly ever having to do it at all (I would just threaten her with it!) - only when she was in a really non-cooperative mood - stroppy/overtired etc. etc. did I actually have to resort to it. I reckon the sooner you tackle it, and make it clear that you're not going to put up with any nonsense, the sooner they will get with the programme...babies are so much smarter than I ever used to give them credit for. The more I've seen over the years the more they amaze me. I think most of us are probably much 'softer' on our first children, simply because we don't have the experience, and of course they are our so precious to us, we probably don't adjust to the concept of our tiny newborn being so calculating and willful just a few months after they arrived in the world. By the time you have your second you are so much wiser and aware of the tantrums etc. to come. There was a thread the other day about tantrums and almost all of us were saying that 2nd time around they have been much easier to deal with (i.e. ignore!!). Hang in there ladies, brace yourselves for a few nappy changes where baby may appear very cross with you for a few minutes max, and hold that thought re the happy, giggling baby you'll have back in a few minutes, and without the entire changing area looking like a small nuclear device has detonated in it! Oh - and really pleased that it has been working well for some of you too :)) xxxx