charlottep

i had my second baby 10 wks ago and the brierley midwives told me not to do a full swaddle too. it was news to me and i can't see any point in using a half swaddle so moved straight to a sleeping bag. i hate that bloody moro reflex and wish they hadn't told me not to swaddle but i have felt uneasy about it since knowing.

Nelly's is opening a third branch in sept. Could be a long shot bit it might be worth calling them?

ooh, i like that, two bottles sounds like just the thing i need after a day with my two year old and my nine week old. i'm sure that i read that it takes 2 hours to 'process' one glass and that something like only 2% of the alcohol consumed passes into your breast milk. I felt quite guilty about enjoying a glass of wine in the first couple of weeks after my daughter was born, but I got over that pretty quickly and now like to share a glass or two with my husband once the little ones are in bed - life is too short and the weather is too nice. I notice no change in her (i.e. she's not more gassy, she doesn't sleep any more or any less, etc). Everything in moderation is my view.

i used muffins sliced down the middle today for mini pizzas, and they work really well too. I added a bit of pesto to the tomato sauce to make it really tasty. For some reason my little boy hums when he eats something he really likes and he was humming at full force. Just a bit disappointed that there weren't any leftovers for me to finish.

Supergolden I was exactly the same in my first pregnancy. Absolutely had my heart set on a boy so I decided that we should find out the sex of the baby at the 20 wk scan, so that I could 'come to terms' with it in the event that the baby was a girl. I remember my husband being quite concerned by my attitude at the time, but I just couldn't help it. Fortunately, it was a boy and he is a very loving little boy with a wonderful personality. However, my second child is a little girl and I fell in love with her immediately. I think we have the best of both worlds, being able to experience having a son and a daughter, and I think it's a wonderful dynamic being a brother and a sister. Don't feel bad, it will all come good!

Fuschia - how do you prepare the pizza bases?

Hi Helen, I can't make it today. Can you let me know when you meet next as I would like to join you if poss. Thanks

i've been in ED all day and can't make any calls on my iphone, coverage with orange has been dodgy for a couple of weeks and now i'm getting nothing at all. really annoying. Sally81 pls let me know if you have any enjoy with orange. Thx

Thanks for the advice ladies. Typically i think the nursery has a much more involved settling in process. It's just that they are doing me a favour as I don't currently have any childcare in place so they brought his start date forward. As I have a seven week old who is doing everything on demand, i'm keen to get him going ASAP and that's why they have suggested this streamlined settling in. I think what i'll do is play it by ear. See how he does at the first two sessions and then make a decision from there. He's generally a confident little boy who at playgroups etc rarely looks back for mummy, but at the moment he's a little put out by his baby sister and it's all a lot of change for him to deal with. As you say Kirstymac, I'm sure i'll fair worse than he - it's hard bloody work being a mum!

He will be doing three full days a week (he was doing four full days as part of nannyshare until recently so he's used to being away from mummy and daddy). We're not paying for the settling in period - at least not the 2 one hour sessions they have suggested, although i have no probs in paying for something more involved if need be. I will talk to them about extending it if necessary, although I'm keen that he settles in as quickly as possible as he doesn't like to see me feed his little sister and it's putting pressure on all of us as a result. I'm just conscious that I musn't rush him though, hence my interest in other people's thoughts on what works in terms of settling in. We are delighted with the nursery itself, i have a very positive feeling about it and i know that he will love it once he has settled in, it's just that he's not quite his usual confident self at the moment...

My just turned two year old is starting nursery in a couple of weeks. He has recently experienced a far degree of change with the very recent arrival of a little sister and is, I think, feeling a little vulnerable. I would like to ensure that he's settled in at his new nursery in the best way possible and would really appreciate views on what has worked well in terms of settling in children into nursery. The nursery we are attending is suggesting 2 one hour sessions for me and my son before he starts. Is this sufficient? I guess I was expecting something a little more involved and perhaps I am worrying too much? Any advice / reassurance would be great. Thanks!

prdarling could you tell me what time the session is at JAGs and from what age children can join pls? My 2 year old would love to do something like that. Thanks!

Congrats Emily! I'll try and make it tomorrow with number 2 who is almost 7 wks. Number 1 is spending the day with grandparents (hurrah!) Charlotte

i hired mine from kings for the birth of 2nd daughter 6 weeks ago. I got it from the antenatal clinic area. There's one MW (jackie i think) who is in charge of renting them out and it was only by chance that i caught her when I went to hire it originally. When I took it back she wasn't there and so although i handed it back they were unable to give me my deposit of ?15 back. Not very convenient as there's not a lot of time to travel back and forth from king's with a newborn in tow! Definitely worth calling in advance to save a wasted trip as the other MWs were unable to help. Probably better still to buy one of the forum. It's certainly worth having it as an option, I thought it was really effective in my labour. Good luck with the birth!

Lochie - my son started doing this when he was 5 months and i was freaked out by it as my brother had died of cot death in the 70s before the back to sleep campaign. I actually ended up calling FSID, the cot death charity, to seek reassurance and they told me that once a baby can rollover over properly (back and forth) the risk is no longer significant and i should leave him to find his own comfortable sleep position. As your boy is 8 months you shouldn't worry about it. Re the snuffling, I agree with Linzkg, my daughter had a blocked tear duct and we tried numerous things to clear it. I took her to see cranial osteopath and after one session it was totally clear. Maybe a coincidence but the osteopath did spend some time working on it so i have faith that she did the trick. I used Elaine who works in the therapy rooms above health matters on lordship lane.

Works for me!

Hi - i had number 2 three weeks ago (more of a late spring baby than a summer baby, but i'd love to gatecrash the summer babies club if possible). My first has just turned 2 years old so a daytime meet is easier for me too - i can make the dates bishberro has suggested. thanks! C

Great thread - the advice is very relevant to me as my number 2 is almost 4 weeks old. she still seems too little to go in the bath with her nutcase brother who has just turned two - although it would make life a lot easier if they bathed together. Mellor/Gwod/Happydulwich/Rydalema - did you do joint baths right from the newborn phase or did you wait a few weeks until baby 2 was a little more robust?? Also, from when did you settle number 2 in their room following bath time? I still have number 2 downstairs with us after her evening bath and my husband and i find ourselves sitting in the dark and whispering to eachother otherwise she gets disturbed and we wake her!! Not sure whether it's still too early to settle her at 7ish upstairs in our room before we go to bed. Smiler - sorry, i don't mean to hijack your thread with my questions. I should just add in answer to your original post, i read the other thread about the first three months with a tear in my eye. I found my first three months with number 1 very difficult and had a huge amount of anxiety. The first few weeks with number 2 has been, in comparison, absolutely lovely. It may be early days for us but the transition to 2 has been very smooth. As my husband said a couple of nights ago, what's left to lose? We gave up practically every shred of our independent lives for number 1!

In my experience, when nannies look after 2 children the hourly rate is normally a little higher - closer to ?9-11 (depending on experience) net per hour so with tax it's probably still more expensive than a childminder - but not significantly so. For the extras you get, i.e. nursery duties (food cooked, ironing, washing, home environment, no drop off/pick up, etc) I think it's worth that little bit extra, plus you're not sharing care between more than your two children, which is a very nice ratio IMO. In terms of additional costs, there's managing the payroll (that costs me about ?100 a year using a local accountant), potentially ofsted registration (if you want to use vouchers) and there's also the 'kitty' that needs to be kept topped up (on average i find that's about ?40 quid a week for food/nappies/playgroups, etc). There is also some start up costs which probably won't apply to you as it's a share between siblings, i'm thinking of double buggies, two high chairs, an additional cot, etc. My son has been in a nannyshare for well over a year and I am 100% happy with the arrangement. Childcare is so expensive and i think in relative terms nannysharing offers good value for money - I can't think of any negatives as my son still gets plenty of socialisation through his daily attendance at the various playgroups, etc. C C

if you switch from the swaddle to a sleeping bag at some point the advice from Grobag is: Nursery Temp: 16oC - 2.5 tog bag & long sleeved bodysuit and sleepsuit 18oC - 2.5 tog bag & long sleeved bodysuit and pyjama top 20oC - 2.5 tog bag & long sleeved bodysuit or 1.0 tog bag & short sleeved bodysuit and pyjama top 22oC - 1.0 tog bag & long sleeved bodysuit 24oC - 1.0 tog bag & short sleeved bodysuit Hope this helps clarify.

Hi - I'm with the Brierley midwives too - they're fantastic btw. They booked me in for my scan at 12 weeks on the dot. I'm pretty sure that they did this before I actually met them at my booking-in appt at 10 weeks, they're very well organised in my experience. Most importantly they are really accessible, so don't worry about giving them a buzz with any questions you have before your official booking-in. If you call in the mornings you're bound to get to speak to one of the midwives. C

I think the problem is wider than that to be honest. Merck (the only manufacturer of a single mumps vaccine with a proven safety record) has stopped producing the mumps jab for sometime now. As far as i've read, it has no intention of re-commencing production of MUMPSVAX. It wants to focus on the production of the combined MMR vaccine instead as this is where global demand is. I hear that no clinics have access to a single mumps vaccine and so I don't think there's an alternative to the MMR jab if you want to immunise against mumps. See link below: http://www.breakspearmedical.com/files/mumps_shortage.html

I found the Dr Brown bottles helped my very windy baby, the reservoir thingy in the bottle really did the trick. Cranial Osteopathy also seemed to help a lot, after 3 sessions he was burping like a trooper, although maybe that was just coincidental timing.

Hi Helen, I have the toro model and have had no problems taking it on the bus. Charlotte

Hi Helen, I have the toro model and have had no problems taking it on the bus. Charlotte