canadianlisa

Hi everyone, I will be returning to work in mid October on a part-time basis and thought that I would start the search early for childcare. I am doing a job share so it is likely to be 2 days one week and 3 the next. I have had little success with finding a suitable nursery so am now looking into childminding or nanny share. My little girl will be one by the time I return to work. I am happy for her to be in childcare 3 days a week, each week. I live in Forest Hill at the Horniman end. I would ideally like to find something close by us as I will be bringing my daughter to the childcare by foot or maybe cycle (if I'm brave!) In the case of a nanny share I am happy to host or go to another home. We have a spacious ground floor, garden flat. I am happy to travel to Forest Hill, East Dulwich or Honor Oak. If you are or know of a suitable childminder or think that this may work for you in terms of nanny share please get in touch. Many thanks. Lisa

Hi Joella- I am by no means an expert as I have a similar problem to you with my 6 month old daughter. However we have recently had some succcess with using the colourful MAM bottles. They have a flatter, dummy-like teat. I only have one so can't lend it out but I bought it at the chemist in Dulwich Village. They have a few unusual bottles. Also I have found making the milk very warm helps as well as giving it to her in public when she is distracted helps. I think that perserverance also helps. I also haven't had luck as of yet with the sippy cups. I wonder if babies who are already used to the bottle may take to them more easily. I can't imagine that a 5-6 month old baby would be able to take enough of a feed from a cup in any case. Good luck. I have lots of bottles and sippy cups if you are looking to borrow anything as well. Lisa

Stock up on way more maternity pads / night time pads than you can ever imagine needing. I bought 2 packs which was totally inadequate. Squirty drinks bottle for drinking from in labour and later using to rinse your sore bits. Again a bit grim... I didn't like the disposable knickers but really liked the cheap, stretchy fat pants from Primark. I think they are meant to be seamless or something like that. Good luck!

Hi everyone- I was wondering if you could help me with this uncomfortable problem. My little girl is now 6 months- she seems to be teething- lots of drool, rosy checks, biting everything she can get in her mouth etc. She is exclusively breast fed with a very occasional bottle of formula (she is very reluctant to take a bottle for the most part). Since her teething has begun in earnest when she is feeding she braces her little hands against my breast, grips the nipple very hard between her lips and pulls back craning her neck. I have tried snuggling her in and holding her head a bit closer but she fights this. She is also quite fussy at the breast and comes on and off constantly. I have tried taking her off but the same thing happens again. Any ideas- saying 'No' seems to have little impact. I am keen to carry on feeding hermfor a few more months but it is making it very uncomfortable as well as making me reluctant to do it publically. Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated. Also as an aside- I have given her a dose of calpol at bedtime over the last few nights as she was distressed and unsettled. It seemed to help quite a bit - should I carry on doing this? For how long? I don't want her to become a mini Calpol addict!! She seems to love it and laps it up :) Thanks for your help Lisa

I just changed mine and my daughter is almost 6 months. However- word of warning- if you are used to putting a bag on the handle- you cannot safely do that anymore once it is facing forward as it tips. I learned this on the bus... luckily my daughter just carried on napping. I am a bit of wimp though and I missed looking at her too much so I changed it back. I also found the basket not as handy in the front facing position and I use mine a lot for shopping. I suspect I will need to put her back soon enough though.

I read this last time you posted it Fuschia and it really resontated with me- 'the days are long but the years are short' has been my mantra in the middle of night when I am up for the 3rd time. My little girl is not a bad sleeper but also not great and has a one or two shocking nights a week- usually if she is ill or something changes. She needs a lot of help to get to sleep and sometimes I do wonder if I am making her dependent on rocking / nursing etc but overall I am happy with the routine. She is usually in bed by 7, sometimes has a little whinge if she loses the dummy, asleep by 7:30 and then up once between 2 - 4 a.m. for milk and then back to sleep until 7 or even 8 a.m. She does occasionally sleep through but when she does she wakes at 5:30 ready to start the day. I would rather get up in the night and feed her than be waking up at that hour. Not an answer to your question Leanne but I just to add that I was told the same by the health visitor and I think that it says the same advice in the no cry sleep solution book- 5 hours counts as a night. When I spoke to the Health Visitor after a particularly bad night she said that many, many children under the age of 1 do not sleep through and that when people speak about when their children did sleep through (retrospectively) they often exagerrate- in that sometimes they woke, sometimes they were teething etc, etc. She also said that many older children do not sleep through all of the time. If it's not bothering you and it is working for your family I would say that it is normal for her and that is what's important. I think that there is going to be variations in days for children- one day they may need more comfort / food etc than the next and what is normal now will change again in a few months.

My little girl loved the swaddle- she is now just coming out of it at almost 6 months!! I think that the kiddopotomus swaddle is worth it- they are expensive but are comfy for the baby and again make night time changing easy. They stay nice and snuggly warm in the swaddle as well and we found that it was one of the only thing that helped calm her down when she was collicky and stressed. In the winter I used the swaddle which is a stretchy t-shirt material with a small blanket over top. I used in both the Moses basket and later in the crib . However, not all babies like swaddling so may be worth seeing if yours does before buying this. I would lend you mine but it is the large size. I dressed her in a vest and thin sleepsuit and she seemed fine. Our flat is not overly warm though. I was confused as well. I didn't know initially about the 2 layers of vests. I think stocking up on vests (short sleeve bodysuits) and long sleeve sleepsuits is the main thing as this is mainly what they wear. Little tiny babies look very sweet but are generally uncomfortable in clothes. There are lots of nice cheap ones at Sainsburys and Tescos and you can get a few fancier ones for 'best' from somewhere posher. You will probably get lots of little outfits as presents as well. I also got quite a few blankets as presents which I did not expect. Also get lots of flannels- another thing I did not think about. They need washing each time they are used. And more muslins than you think you will need. It is also nice to have a nice warm blanket to wrap them in after they are washed or come out of the bath. I got a fleecy one as a present and we are still using it. Good luck Lisa

My daughter was also not interested in lying down as she always liked to have good look around. It would be great to have sling try out as I also think that different slings probably suit certain body types better or worse. Due to my somewhat large boobs my daughters face always looked like it was kind of smothering and all she could see was a breast mountain in the type of slings that I tried which tie on.

How is the 'oh snap' so far? I was looking at that one as it looks like it has no annoying knots. The camo print is cool as well. Bjorn is giving me mid-back ache

I am also really interested in this. I use a bog standard baby bjorn with my 5 month old daughter. She really likes it but I find it hurts my back after about 45 minutes maximum. I also never got on with the huggabub. I haven't had much success with ones which need to be tied on as I am pretty unco-ordinated and they seem to squish my daughter into me too much for her liking. I like the buckles on the baby bbjorn but more support would be good. Any suggestions?

Sorry have now posted in the classified section

Thanks will look into that. Have now posted in the classified section. L

Hi there I am looking to buy one of these. I am not sure if there is a similar product. My little girl has now learned how to tip over her mothercare bouncy chair ::o so we are looking for something to replace this. She likes being part of the action so prefers chairs which are higher than a bumbo. Thanks Lisa

Hi - I am looking for a babydan or similar playpen as well as good quality cot bumpers. I would also be interested in some sorting / stacking toys if anyone has them around. Thanks Lisa

I can come on Thursday as well- see you then. Lisa

I had my first baby wiTH Lanes at home and it was a great experience- happy to meet up with everyone for tea and share my experience. Sounds like a nice idea.

We also really like our Bee and we also bought our from Ebay. Our little girl is only 4 months old so I am not sure how it will work when she is bigger but for now it is great- it is tiny, buy a smooth ride and is great on the bus etc. The one that we got from ebay arrived good as new and we ended up saving over ?200 when you factor in the accessories. Good luck with the bidding- I found it (perhaps a bit sadly) exciting.

I second on the bee- it is also fairly easy to fold once you get the hang of it. We got ours in perfect condition from Ebay. It is also very light so if you need to carry it up and down stairs it is possible on your own.

Pickles, Pebbles nd SB- am in total agreement re the walk. I have just today been out for a good walk after the bad weather has finally cleared up. So the routine is out the window but I am happy and baby Canuck had 2 good sleeps in the fresh air in her pram. But to be honest it has been a much better day than the last few spent at home. Plimsoul- I don't think that it is about not trusting our insticts or reading our babies- I feel that I am relatively competent in doing that and certainly it is important. As lots of other posters have stated I am far away from my family and although my Mum is a wealth of information over the phone she is not here. I am also the only one at home during the day to try to enforce naps, hold the baby, keep the house in some kind of order etc etc. By the time my partner gets home it is time for the last feed and bed for the baby so he is only able to help in a limited way. In addition, babies are funny little creatures and what works one day, often does not work the next, and therefor my insticts are not enough. Reading a lot of books, internet info helps me to consider different views and as far as I am concerned is valuable research. Although I have only used this forum a little bit so far, I have found it very useful and reassuring. Maybe you don't need this reassurance but I am a new Mum and am still learning.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to perservere with the scheduled nap times and see how we go. One of the difficulties I have is not so much that little canuck won't sleep- she is good at sleeping- but mainly if it is on either me or her dad. So I am worried that if I pick her up then it is just reinforcing this. As I type she is in her usual evening place- sleeping on her Daddy (which is really cute). We did try to put her down and she got in a state so we picked her up again rather than have a screaming fit all night, which was the case last night which then disrupted the 10 p.m feed as she was too sleepy. I had a look at the bit at the back and I think if I've read it right (which I may not have due to tiredness) it says to do the 10 minute, reassurance thing and if this doesn't work then, for naptime, try to get them to sleep for the alloted 2 hours by whatever means necessary- going for a walk, picking them up etc. I think the idea is that they will then realise it's naptime and that eventually you will be able to put them down. Or if it fails, then to add another nap. God it all feels a bit complicated but I am sure it will come together. Just out of curiousity- did everyone ensure that their baby's room had none of the dreaded 'chinks of light' coming in. Did it make a difference? x

Really interesting debate.. I am currently reading the CLB in the hope of getting into a little routine with my 12 week old baby. As most people have stated, I have found some of the information useful. That being said I looked the book during the first 8 weeks and I had to hide it as it made me so angry. However now that I feel a bit more sorted and confident I figured it was worth another look. We are doing well on the nighttime sleep after the late night feed, but struggling a bit with naps and she still spends most of the evening with us in the lounge (sleeping on us) which is lovely in a way but also it would be good to change as baby Canuck is becoming more sensitive to noise and we are therefore now tiptoeing around. What I can't figure out from the book is what you do when things go wrong and they are crying during nap / night time? Let them cry for 10 minutes- reassure them without picking them up. But- what if they carry on crying? Even with the reassurance as my baby does? If you are just going in and seeing them and it is not working then isn't it just controlled crying? I have tried researching this via the GF website but it is ?60 to subscribe which I am not keen on. I am pretty soft when she cries and not sure I can manage to listen to it without cuddling her for 10 minutes, let alone an hour. I am sampling a few books and waiting for the Baby Whisperer book to arrive so I am not sure that I will go with GF but am interested in other people's experiences. Thanks

Haha- I feel reassured that it is just her little way of communicating. She is also a big time farter and sometimes lifts her leg and lets one go while eating- classy lady!! The weird thing as I said is that it completely stops when she is my bed, maybe as she is in a deeper sleep. Just one of those things I guess. Thanks for the replies everyone.

do you hsve details for the osteopeth- might be worth a try.

Hi, Just looking for some advice. Our lovely 6 week old baby girl spends a lot of her time in the day and almost all night grunting. She grunts, snorts and snuffles all night long! I think it is possibly her way of trying to pass wind as well as a a kind of 'pre-cry' communication. I am worried that she is not sleeping properly. She is also sleeping in our room and is making it impossible for the adults to sleep with her (even with ear plugs in!) I am thinking of evicting her to her own room very soon as I cannot take another night of no sleep in between 3 hourly feedings. She is exclusively breast fed. We have tried infacol and it seemed to help for a while with the wind but recently did not seem to be doing anything other than making her fart loads. If I put her in our bed she is much quieter but this is not something that I want to do long term. She sleeps in a moses basket snd I am wondering if she would prefer a cot as she could look out. Has anyone else had experience of a grunty baby? Has anyone had any success with homeopathic remedies for wind? Thanks Lisa

Hi At my initial scan I was told that one of my hormone levels was low (never told which one) and that this could lead to interuterine growth restriction later in the pregnancy. As a result I was asked to come in for a few extra scans- one at 28 weeks and one at 32 weeks. This was in addition, to a very early scan and the routine ones as 13 and 22 weeks. At both the 22 and 28 week scan they told us that baby canuck's growth appeared to be fine. I queried why we needed to come in for the scan at 32 weeks and they said that they would only discharge you once you had 2 scans in a row that were normal, not including the regular scans. Overall I think that they are just a bit overly cautious at Kings which ultimately is a good thing. Now am 35 weeks and all seems to be fine. The baby certainly feels big enough but will know for sure pretty soon! I also had the cervix scan to determine the risk of premature labour. Hope all goes well for everyone. Lisa