sunbob

At some point in my pregnancy I realised that I was not going to be offered a seat (bump hidden under big winter coat, people not looking up etc) so I made up my mind to always ask. As Vik said, it does depend on your personality, but if you are shy take heart, you can do it, I did! I would stand at the bus stop taking deep calm breaths and psyching myself up, then stand by the front seats and project loudly something like "Please may I sit down, I'm pregnant". It was always a trial for me, as I am easily embarassed, but I always got a seat. There was only once when I got a dirty look, as I had accidentally looked straight at one particular person instead of no one in particular as usual. She still got up anyway though and it didn't really matter in the long run. Good luck shy ladies, the cringe factor will definately be worth it in the end!

Does anyone know if the playgroups have started up again after the summer? Southwark don't seem to have published online the new term's timetable yet. (At the beginning of last term I spent far too much time walking around to local children's centres in search of an up to date timetable, none of them had one).

Hello, Please can anyone offer advice? We have a birth-3 or 4 years car seat for our daughter. It has been great throughout and is still a lovely comfortable size for her. However, now she is getting taller (not particularly big 19 months) it is becoming impossible to get her into the seat without strange contortions to avoid hitting her head on the car ceiling. Our car is quite big, Volvo 850. Are we doing something obvious wrong? Any tips on how to get child in to seat more comfortably? An alternative could be to go onto a new 9 month-11 years high back booster. The worry I have about that is would it be a waste of money - it seems that by 4 years a child could just sit on a booster cushion, and I certainly don't think that a 9 year old would want to go into a full seat when they could just have a discreet cushion. Any ideas gratefully received, thanks.

No they are not. Have a look at the notice boards at each entrance to the park which show the rules/bye laws for the park.

I think that it's a lot about trial and error. It depends on your individual baby (as well as the parents). Some babies are what's called 'sleepy feeders'. If your little one is at the digestive stage of being hungry every 2 hours and an 8 minute feed takes 45 minutes because they fall asleep every 2 minutes when on the breast, then there just isn't enough time in the day when they are full, awake and relaxed enough to fulfil the 'ideal' and go into the cot awake. We went through this for several months and it did mean she didn't like going into her cot, but little one gradually matured and we found ways of helping her through and by one year she slept through regularly and was very happy to go into her cot. So don't worry too much about trying to acheive the ideal.

They are definately all individuals! My daughter had no day time naps for the first year, unless crashed out on top of me after a feed. I always tried to put her down but she never managed to sleep in the cot and was too excited by any trip outside to drop off in the buggy (very tiring). She then got more confident in the cot during the day and by about 13 months I was able to put her in her cot awake at 11am after a drink of milk and she would calmly go off to sleep for an hour. After settling in at nursery she became very flexible, can have her 1 hour nap at 11 as at home or after an early lunch as at nursery. The latest development is that she seems to be moving on to needing even less sleep, 1 time in 4 I will hear her on the monitor wide awake and singing in her cot instead of going to sleep and a couple of times at the nursery lately they told me that she didn't manage to get to sleep until 4pm or some ridiculous hour. Oh dear!

I took my baby to the free Sure Start baby massage at the Children's Centre in Asylum Rd. It was friendly and she enjoyed it although rather liked wriggling around to look at other babies whenever possible. The room could get very full, but I didn't ever see anyone turned away. The description from last term is below, a lot of the sessions stay at the same time/day each term so may still be the same when restarts in September. They do the massage part of the session then have a break where you can have a drink and fruit, then someone interesting comes in and does a short presentation. Last year they included a talk on oral health (including free baby beaker), a demonstration of real nappies (given by Molly who posts here I think). "Wednesday: Post natal support and baby massage Meet new parents and learn how to soothe and relax your baby with massage. Asylum Road centre 113-115 Asylum Road, SE15 2LB Tel: 020 7635 2200 Time: 1.30pm to 3pm. No admission after 1.40pm Age: Six weeks to five months"

Thanks Molly. Our daughter is 18 months and we were wondering about introducing a potty just casually, for instance during her bare-bottom time each day. She is getting more aware of when she does a poo, telling us her nappy needs changing etc. Also when she has a bare-bottom she sometimes does a wee and I tell her 'yes, that's what Mummy does on the toilet' then wipe her bottom with toilet roll and get her to wash her hands. I wouldn't think of potty training for a year or so, but am definately thinking of starting a gentle introduction.

Hello Cecilia1975 Here's a different idea which may or may not be any use. 63 bus: Can you get to the beginning of the 63 route (by Camberwell Old Cemetery on Forest Hill Rd). It's not too packed at 7am and this is the start of the route so more chance of a buggy space. Get off at the top of Old Kent Road (Bricklayers Arms) and London Bridge is about a 15 minute walk down the back streets (Tower Br Rd, Bermondsey St, Leathermarket St, Weston St, Snowsfield, Great Maze Pond). Coming home at 6 is less ideal, but if you can manage a bit of an extra walk down to Tesco Old Kent Road (back same way as far as Bermondsey St then take Grange Road, then Dunton Rd) a lot of people get off the bus there so shouldn't have to wait too long for 63 or 363 (same route as far as F Hill Rd).

If you decide you want a surprise, then I think you need to make sure you tell each member of staff who comes in what you 'don't want to know'. We felt like certain things were taken for granted and we needed to keep repeating ourselves to be sure. I also have a friend who was told the sex by someone just not thinking, she was very upset but stoically kept it to herself (even from her hubby, who wasn't able to be at that scan).

And she won't go back to sleep once she wakes as she's sitting up in her cot, playing, by the time I get there. Hi Emski If you have a monitor then make the most of her being relaxed enough to sit on her own and play. When I hear my little one wake up this chilled out I leave her to it and do an extra 10 minutes or so of whatever chores or relaxing need doing, whilst listening in to make sure she doesn't get distressed.

I started work 2 weeks ago and have been expressing once a day. It's a busy office and rooms are in short supply, so the first thing I did when I got back was to go through my outlook diary and book a meeting room at 11am (or similar) every Thurs and Fri for the next month.

I had a similar experience with my company not getting back to me for 6 weeks. I wrote an email to the person responsible for responding, copying in his boss and the CEO, 'reminding' him that government guidelines require them to reply within 28 days. I felt very annoyed, stressed and uncomfortable having to write a snotty email, but it did do the job. The statutory timeline is just as ED Newbie's staff handbook describes and can be found on direct.gov.uk.

If you have cooked some meat (eg roast chicken, Sunday joint) you can pour some of the juices over a few portions of starch (rice, mash, pasta etc) and freeze for later. It's tasty and absolutely packed with calories.

I did yoga with Sitaram and it really stood me in good stead for the birth, in particular the controlled breathing and pelvic floor exercises. My husband and I also splashed out on a yoga birth rehearsal and it definately payed off, as we used some of the positions and breathing techniques learnt just a few days later whilst in labour. That said, I found out the other day that Southwark offers free ante and post natal pilates http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/10096/healthy_living/885/ante_and_post_natal_progressive_exercise/1 Next time with altered priorities for my cash (want to spend it on baby) I would definately try to get to a free class.

When my little one first bit me feeding I screamed so loudly that it made her cry and she's almost never done it again. Not quite sure how that can help you, just thought I'd share.

Hello Connorsc The Queen's Hotel in Crystal Palace is nice and cheap (around ?30 per room per night). It's basic but ok if you just want somewhere to stay that's not expensive. When we got married we booked out the whole of the Uplands pub B&B (corner North Cross Rd and Uplands Rd) this costs more (60 or 70 per room) but made for a nice fun atmosphere and the landlady was very helpful, providing lots of sandwiches on the morning of the big day (or so I hear, I was the bride, so in glorious seclusion!)

If you are looking for a nursery for going back to work and if money could be an issue, bear in mind that nurseries might be cheaper in the area where you work than they are here in ED. We opted for one near work, the downside is taking a one year old on the bus, but the huge difference in price was the difference between actually turning a profit and it not paying to go back at all.

My OH was very taken with the 'gadgetyness' of the CityMini's amazing one hand fold! One year on and it's fixed handle seems a fine height for him (6') and a really good height for me (a tad over 5'). It's really light to pull up stairs and the OH loves being silly running round and swerving its swivel wheels in the park!)

If there are any tests or information which you do Not want then make sure you make this clear each time you go for a scan. We felt like they presumed everyone would just have everything and that we really needed to remind each member of staff what we Didn't want to know every time.

A couple of my baby's growth spurts lasted almost a week. At the time I thought why was it going on so long, but when they did end I could really feel my baby feeding/the milk coming out more efficiently.

Hello Nikki73 Our little one has a little excema round her face and neck, so we were really pleased to find that you can get Aveeno (cream prescribed to keep excema away) with sun protection included. We bought this abroad, but hopefully you can get it on Amazon or something. Also, I don't know if there are mosquitos where you're off to, but we found that Jungle Formula Family Lotion was really gentle on the skin and definately effective (we got eaten alive as usual, whilst little one only got 1 bite). Clippasafe extra large buggy mosquito net fitted completely over our citimini even when layed flat and only cost ?5. (Sorry if this is completely off topic!)

My little one sleeps very well now (1 year old) and is also good at getting herself back to sleep if she wakes up or is feeling poorly. I'm sure this is mostly luck (as others have said) but I do think it may be partly because we were always there for her, picking her up, jiggling her about, standing on one leg at 3 in the morning etc, for the first 5 or so months when she absolutely refused to go to sleep any other way! I think she feels secure now that she won't be left in the cot in the dark indefinately. At about 6 or 7 months my husband left her to cry a couple of times, but only very briefly as she actually stopped almost immediately on us leaving the room; I think that she was just ready to be in the cot on her own at that point and that that point is different for each baby and will eventually come.

Re only getting a little milk when expressing It could still be worth doing. I only get about 1 and a half ounces each time, but doing it regularly and freezing it adds up to enough for me to go out and do a hobby one evening a week whilst the other half gives a 5 or 6 ounce evening feed.

re:Why won't they sleep- My little one has never (in 11 months) gone into her cot for a day time snooze - until 5 days ago!!! She has allowed me to put her in at 11am for the last 5 days in a row for an hour and I am on cloud nine! This morning I actually had time to do all the basic housework and then sit and drink a cup of tea!!!! Hopefully they all turn little corners gradually as they grow up.