Yak

I?m just resurrecting this thread in case anyone is making any New Year's resolutions! My old personal trainer is having a half price sale on his bootcamp at home programme. Every morning he emails you a little you tube clip of your exercise for the day. Most last about 5 minutes but some take up to 20 minutes. He?s a lovely chap and designed this programme particularly with busy mums in mind - he?s got a very cute 5 month old baby- so you can chose when to fit it your exercise for the day around everything else. It can get a little overly motivational at times, but to be honest it?s so good I tend to just ignore the bits that get too ?inspirational?. No equipment is needed ? he shows you how to do the exercises from the comfort of his living room, sometimes with the help of his dog, Daisy. There?s also nutritional stuff and online support. I am lucky in that I naturally have a pretty fast metabolism but the programme really did do wonders for returning my tummy to pre-baby shape. It is pretty brutal though ?there were days when I literally could not lift one leg to cross it over my other leg! Link is here Edited to add: I should probably also say that I am a former client of Gavin's, and I am a member of his affiliate programme. I can't remember my affiliate link tho so I'm not earning any commission from this reccommendation! This is why I will never succeed in business.... Edited a second time to add my link here

I mostly use two parter systems, but I've found bumgenius to be a neat and slim fit. I have 6 or so v 3s in moonlight for sale - PM me if you're interested.

Yep, chick and leek pie also a good one - the yaklet picks and feeds himself the pastry crust and lumps of chick while I spoon in the sauce. Macaroni or carbonara also good with nice grabbable pasta shapes like radiatore (sp?). You can also get frozen broccoli florets which are good smeared with soft cheese, hummus, peanut butter etc. Hellosailor, great minds or fools!? Hope "pizza" works well. Someday I think my boy will actually turn into toast - he would eat it all day long if he could! X

There are some useful threads with tips and recipes around - I think it's quite a common problem! I can't do multiple searches from my phone but if you type "lunch" or "dinner" into the search box you'll find them. Here's a good one http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,770930,770930#msg-770930 My baby is younger, but my failsafe recipe is quick pizza - basically toast smeared with tom puree then flashed under the grill with cheese.

We have had a glorious Christmas, though our house was burgled while we were in Devon. Still, the burglars are probably more disappointed with their haul than we are with our losses - the joys of having a 23 year old telly:) Seriously though, it was a good reminder of the things that really matter - my amazing family, friends (inc fab forumites) and neighbours, good cheer and the basics of life. Oh, and gin. Happy Christmas forumites x

RHS gift membership if keen gardeners? Meat box from Donald Russell if foodies?

Thank God it's not just my dad. He didn't grow it very long - about half an inch - so it acted like a fruit parer. Please can someone else share some Christmas parental embarrassments?!? I'm sure there are plenty out there....

We had the same with avent, to be honest . I found it happened less if all bits were cool before assembling.

I am cringing as I type, and I don't know really why I'm sharing this on a public forum, but what the heck. My dad grows one of his thumbnails extra long in December for easy peeling of Christmas oranges and satsumas. Nutter.

Ugh how horrible for you all. If it is colic, I have a brand new unopened bottle of colief that you are welcome to. We never ended up using it ain the end but it costs about 11quid a pop and I'd hate to see it go to waste! If it does work then you can get gp to prescribe it for you. I second recommendation for lots of sling wearing. Also playing music.....it distracts both of you. Lots of you tube videos of baby massage etc etc. This too shall pass; let's hope it does so quickly! X

I think the thread is called "paracetamol - too often, too careless?" or similar - sorry Ll2b I am on my rubbish phone so can't do links. Poor little E! We are going through the same here and it is just rubbish. The pain the yaklet is in is heartbreaking. That's really interesting Saffron about doubling up. I had been alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen but at night it still has no effect. Will try tonight and see if helps.

@ruth, aha, I'd forgotten calgel. We have some but so far I'd just been alternating calpol and calbruprofen. Will give it a whirl tonight and see what happens and let you know. Thanks for v kind offer tho! @nylonmeals - yep, it was frankly hideous. But better than seeing little one in windy pain for hours every night. And you can get lactose free milk so after a while I could drink tea and coffee again. I think I gradually reintroduced dairy at about 12 wks, after having been off it from 3 wks in. Fingers crossed everyone gets more sleep tonight! (Cue hollow laughter.....)

Loads of sympathy! It is utterly utterly horrific and beyond words. My baby was v v windy and we had a combination of milk imbalance, fast let down and lactose intolerance as mentioned by pickle and fuschia so check the kellymom website. I gave up dairy and did more cluster feeding on one side to access nice rich non-windy hind milk. It's not for the fainthearted - no cheese, chocolate or ice cream which are just life savers in those early months - but I noticed a real improvement on the wind front in a couple of days. On the frequency of night feeds, no real advice - maybe sorting out the wind may help with that a bit? If he's not awake / wriggling around maybe he'll use less energy and get hungry less quickly? Teething is causing mass sleep deprivation here, too. I think we just need a creche for all these teething babies and take shifts. It's just awful when their gums are even too sore to suck milk::(.

Midivydale, I was seen at kings within 2 wks of reporting probs to m/ws so worth perservering if nhs is your only option. Good luck, it is hideous to put up with it.

Yep, check with gp and make sure the bottom is competely dry - we use a hair dryer on a cold setting.

Yep, see m/w or doc and get an urgent referral for physio. It is horrible but good treatment can really help with the symptoms. Think of yourself as the most elegant lady in the world and keep your knees together when getting in / out of bed or turning over, and keep your hips higher than your knees when sitting down.

Hurrah! Glad you had a good time.

Hiya, I think I posted something on this on the spring 2011 babies thread ages ago- I'm one of the nct Camberwell tea group coordinators. There are plenty of us in SE5! Sadly I am going back to work f/t in Jan but up for any cake based meet ups before then! If you pm me your email address I'll send it on to the other coordinator. You don't have to be a member of the nct, by the way - it's open to all.

This factsheet from the boys development project is worth a read. http://www.boysdevelopmentproject.org.uk/downloads/reports/Discipline%20and%20Boys%20under%205%20booklet%20pdf.pdf Sorry, on phone so can't do clever links!

Oh and pots and pans and wooden spoons! Hours of endless fun. And that's just for me, not the yaklet...

Water!

Oops! I used those microwave sterilizer bags from lasinoh...... one bag can fit one pump plus all its associated bits.

Poor baby f! I add oats tied in a muslin cloth to the bath. Tie it tightly otherwise you'll end up bathing your baby in porridge (ahem). We also use epaderm and slather on the acqueous cream twice daily.

Even if you're not a member you can phone and buy tickets up to 6 days in advance as long as you buy 2 or more tickets. So if you can find a friend to go with you don't need to worry about queuing early. Or you can buy in person 6 days in advance. I think the Wed / Fri sessions might be quieter than the Thursday one, anyway, so even if you do have to arrive early to queue, it shouldn't be that bad. The floats and toys are great. I tend to take a towel and leave it on the bench by the side. I started going when my one was tiny so my top tips (apologies if any is old hat) are Take a pound coin for buggy park and pound coin for locker Put your swimming cozzie on at home Have a two plastic bags designated as wet bag and dry bag Have snack and drink for both of you for afterwards as it is seriously boiling and tiring! Take a spare swimming nappy just in case! Enjoy it, it is really really good fun. We used to go to Camberwell but "upgraded" to peckham cos it's just so lovely and warm.

That is really helpful advice, SW. My experience of trying to book through the NCT website was that all the courses looked pretty similar in terms of coverage, and we booked simply on the basis of availability of a class that both me and my husband could attend. Even though we booked quite early, availability was slim. If I ever did an NCT class again, I would definitely ring up and have a chat with the teacher beforehand, to get a sense of what I was getting for my (not inconsiderable amount of) money.