linzkg

Unfortunately you only seem to be taken seriously once you're 3 months plus gone .. guess that makes the pregnancy viable .. but for the first time mother those are the most important 3 months and all you want is some support and reassurance that you're doing everything right and what happens next .. You do have to just sit tight and wait - you generally get your 2 scans and your appointments get more frequent as the time gets closer but you will eventually start to feel like you're in control .. and all the midwives seem to be really good but they're just super busy Another idea is to maybe gather local pregnant ladies so you can support each other? I made friends with local ladies and we used to meet once a week for a coffee and chat about pretty much anything to do with being pregnancy, including the latest midwife appointments. Keep badgering your midwives though - I was with Brierley (they're amazing) and I certainly kept on at them - good luck with it all ;-)

Try Brierley midwives - they were fantastic throughout my pregnancy and labour!

Forgot to add this to my previous post ..! We add Camomile tea bags to the bath to sooth our little one and it also really seems to reduce the redness. My aunt, who is now in her 80s so she's tried everything, swears by Rooibos/Redbush tea - she leaves a bowl of it with a sponge by her kitchen sink and every so often puts it on her arms, especially after washing dishes

Forgot to add this to my previous post ..! We add Camomile tea bags to the bath to sooth our little one and it also really seems to reduce the redness. My aunt, who is now in her 80s so she's tried everything, swears by Rooibos/Redbush tea - she leaves a bowl of it with a sponge by her kitchen sink and every so often puts it on her arms, especially after washing dishes

My son suffers badly from eczema - he often manages to break the skin by scratching and sometimes it gets to a stage when it weeps - sounds strange for dry skin but he's got a fat neck. We have taken the opposite route with regards to the bathing though and I dip my son twice a day now but we do have a sock with oatmeal in it to soften the water (and apparently its nourishing) and I add a tiny drop of Lavender and Tee Tree oil. I immediately put Aveeno cream on him afterwards - its a fab cream and seems to really work for him.

Looks great - and just what we need - thanks! :-)

thanks - this seems a good option too actually! pity its 10kgs though .. but thanks very much I will investigate!

Perfect - thanks very much - that's what I wanted to hear! So its to do with development and front facing etc - thought there had to be something in it.

Me again! We are away travelling for 3 weeks soon and I need a bed for my little chap - anyone recommend a travel cot? Light weight would be good as it needs to go on a plane with us and then fit in the car .. along with all our luggage and the buggy etc ..! Thanks,

My son is almost 5 months but because he's a large fella I'm looking to invest in the next size up. I have seen that everyone is very supportive of the maxi cosi priori XP seat. On looking at reviews it says this seat is for about 9 month + babies. Is this just because of average size and weight do you think? I currently have a maxi cosi that has the extra padding and head protection thing but had to remove it. He just looks so uncomfortable in it - I think the seat is far too deep for him to sit in, as in it's at a full 90 degrees where as the extra piece had padding for the bum and lower back .. he just looks so uncomfortable. So can I go with the next size up? Any advice would be great!

We spent our money at Mamas and Papas - the floor staff were very helpful!

I also think that in today's society GPs and the rest are so scared of their own shadows (and by that i mean law suits) that they are super cautious with what advice they give you and play it very safe .. so I say definitely listen to what they have to say and then leave the rest up to "a mother's intuition"?

My son is almost 5 months and he sleeps on his tummy - I felt very bad for ages and questioned myself the entire time - but bottom line is that he and I both needed sleep and he sleeps better on his tummy (this is part of the problem I've been told - that they sleep deeply so they wouldn't be able to wake themselves if something was to go wrong ..?!?!) Of a class of 6 NCT babies 2 of us have babies that sleep on their tummies. I will also add (before people raise their eyebrows at me ;-) that I did try what I could do to settle him on his back but due to chest problems his breathing became noisy and restricted, he also had a squashed head when he was born (it looked like an egg!) so he was uncomfortable I found so actually I had no choice .. but its been a blessing as my son sleeps really well and so do I. I also thought about one of those pad things .. but I've already got a baby monitor and I decided to stop there otherwise I think I would have consumed myself in things to make my baby safe and probably never stopped worrying .. Did anyone see the recent discussion on BBC regarding cot death? I'd still like to know of those unfortunate babies - how many were sleeping in a well circulated room with a good mattress and a smoke free home. Many of them seemed to be from co sleeping on a couch where alcohol was present too weren't they? (But don't quote me on that as I'm not 100% I just wasn't listening properly.)

My son is almost 5 months and he sleeps on his tummy - I felt very bad for ages and questioned myself the entire time - but bottom line is that he and I both needed sleep and he sleeps better on his tummy (this is part of the problem I've been told - that they sleep deeply so they wouldn't be able to wake themselves if something was to go wrong ..?!?!) Of a class of 6 NCT babies 2 of us have babies that sleep on their tummies. I will also add (before people raise their eyebrows at me ;-) that I did try what I could do to settle him on his back but due to chest problems his breathing became noisy and restricted, he also had a squashed head when he was born (it looked like an egg!) so he was uncomfortable I found so actually I had no choice .. but its been a blessing as my son sleeps really well and so do I. I also thought about one of those pad things .. but I've already got a baby monitor and I decided to stop there otherwise I think I would have consumed myself in things to make my baby safe and probably never stopped worrying .. Did anyone see the recent discussion on BBC regarding cot death? I'd still like to know of those unfortunate babies - how many were sleeping in a well circulated room with a good mattress and a smoke free home. Many of them seemed to be from co sleeping on a couch where alcohol was present too weren't they? (But don't quote me on that as I'm not 100% I just wasn't listening properly.)

ok, well we did state we wanted the evening course and we did state that dulwich was our first choice .. i must say initially they put us on a wait list in west dulwich but confirmed us in catford .. i continued to push for dulwich and at the last minute there was a cancellation on a dulwich course. we booked very late (we weren't aware how busy it got) but were very lucky to get a space so sianandtony i'd definitely hurry up if i were you! good luck and enjoy it

I'm a little confused .. don't you have to register with NCT and from there they allocate you a place on a course that's available? We registered with NCT and were very lucky to get on an evening course where we had a fab teacher and met some great people.

Helena, you're quite right, mortality rates are very high aren't they, so there goes that theory that childbirth should be in its natural form as such .. there's a time and place for medical backing

I simply looked them up after finding out I was pregnant and asked after local midwife teams .. I can't even remember if they told me they'd only support home delivery but I was interested in home delivery any way so I guess it was never an issue at the time .. You're probably right, if I had to take action against the doctor at the hospital it would probably mean bringing in the midwives in one way or another but my issue is specifically with a doctor who's care I was under.

ps, i was with brierley and found them to be great .. if anyone's still looking for a midwife

home birth vs hospital births are a tricky one and always will be i guess .. in the "old days" ladies were giving birth to babies in bushes and it quite scary to think that nowadays, with all the medical intervention and support, babies are still lost. i recently gave birth to my son - at home, in water. when he was born there was no heart beat and he wasn't breathing, so still born, but because my midwives had been constantly monitoring his heart rate with that funny little machine the whole time they knew it wasn't long that he'd been without air so they cut the umbilical cord immediately and begun bagging him, 2 mins later called an ambulance, 2 minutes later our front room had 10 paramedics in it and 5 ambulances outside! needless to say he received the medical support he required and after being rushed to hospital has survived after some time on life support and in ICU. but then i've since heard of stories (i have been fishing as we are definitely considering our own legal case against the hospital for various reasons) but of ladies recently who have actually been in hospital to give birth and the baby has got into trouble but yet they were not able to get to the baby in time and the baby has not survived, or have had long term damage. so was i completely lucky or is there something to be said for being at home and completely relaxed and everyone remaining calm and in control (as much as we all could of coz!) and having 911 on call with ambulances to drop everything to get to us? due to the way my midwives conducted themselves and how quickly they responded we have our gorgeous son with us today .. as much as i am furious i was left at home to go through what we did i often wonder what would have been so different in a crowded hospital? i think as long as midwives are left to guide us through pregnancy they will encourage home births won't they? i guess a solution would be to have a obstetrician / or doc that would favour a hospital birth at your disposal to have these discussions with so that you're more educated ..

This must be true - the rents are probably really high (hence you're finding Dulwich based nurseries moving to areas like Nunhead I guess ..) I would also like to consider a city based nursery, or at least operating like one - I worked in the financial sector in the city and childcare was always so stressful for my colleagues - so I'd like to work around city office hours. This could get tricky as I'm guessing working with extended hours could get messy .. but definitely something I'm considering.

Thanks again - I may go knocking!

Goodness - thanks for all this information .. now I must chase it all up! A scary path to go down - looking after other people's kids and babies but with the right staff and support it can only be great hey. Looking forward to the challenges. Thanks again everyone!

Thanks for that, that is definitely an option as its already set up as you say - its so sad that there's such high waiting lists for something so important as childcare - it should be a given and there should be no stress around it. I was made redundant 5 weeks before I was due and I now have a 3 month old baby and thought with my (pitiful) redundancy package that maybe I should investment into childcare in the local area (I can't think of anything worse then returning to the big city away from my little one .. and my other first time mother friends have also said they're not looking forward to leaving their babies .. so maybe I can somehow make it work.) That's me talking from a completely unknown and I've not taken any of the red tape and beaurocracy into consideration but we do have good friends who have a very successful business that are willing to support us. ;-) And can I just add that by successful I mean they are personable and good people and the kids are well looked after and very happy - I'm not talking about the balance sheets.

I think your comments are completely unnecessary and if you have nothing nice to say then don't bother - there is absolutely no need for you to pass judgement like that is there? Honestly, read your comment back to yourself - what a silly thing to say - how you've come to that conclusion I have no idea - it was a simple question!