catgirl

Does anybody know if Myatt's fields has got any toilets yet? I found it really inconvenient last summer that there was nowhere to use the loo! I'm happy to take the children behind a bush but not really that keen on doing that myself.....

I've also had an elective c section at Kings and it was fine. I thought all the staff were great, very helpful and friendly and there was always someone around to help when I needed it. The only downside was the noise at night from all the babies crying at different times - my best tip is to get as much sleep as you can during the day when your visitors can take your baby off for a walk around the ward or just sit and cuddle them while you take a nap. Also for C section recovery - was all very quick and amazing how I went from feeling very sore and delicate in the first 24 huors (once spinal has worn off) to pretty fine within another 24 hours. As some of the others have said - definitely need pants that come right up way past where your scar is. I also took arnica tablets to help with the healing. Other top tip is to take some lactulose or senokot. You do not want to end up constipated (as I did after my first, emergency c section)as you will be unable to push! Good luck and I hope your experience is as positive as mine was - I'm sure you'll be fine.

I found it much easier when distracted - if I was sitting watching the pump I used to get next to nothing but if happily watching tv then I'd look down and realise the bottle was almost full. And as the others have said, if you do at the same time each day then your supply adjusts and it gets easier and easier. With my first baby I fed her in the morning and then put her on the mat to kick about in front of me while I watched the news on TV and expressed. Just try and find a routine that works for you but don't stress if it doesnt' work for you. I have several friends who breastfed but couldn't express - they gave their babies the odd bottle of formula instead of expressed milk which worked fine. Try not to worry about it too much. I know it seems like the be all and end all now but you're honestly not going to be looking back on his GCSE results thinking 'if only I'd given him expressed milk every day he might have got an A for maths instead of a B'. Good luck with it all!

shredded wheat bitesized are a good 'finger food' cereal. My 1 year old often has a bowl with some mashed wheetabix and then a few shredded wheat bitesized and does a mixture of messy spoonfeeding and eating with his fingers.

Definitely Hornimans. Both Dulwich and Peckham parks are great - Dulwich park has the far better playground though, esp for older children. Both parks have good cafes too. South Bank is good if you want to go a bit further afield - lots to see and do, often free events in the RFH foyer, can nip over to see big ben or covent garden and lots of places to eat. Can even get a boat down the river a few stops. Greenwich also a good day out for all ages and again you can get a river boat from there.

I have a reception age daughter and this sounds great. She loves singing and music and I've not been able to find anything for her, there seems to be a real gap between toddler music groups and then choirs etc which usually have a minimun age of 7.

Yes, us stay at home mums and general benefit scroungers have a great time every day racing around to use all the park facilities and laughing loudly at the thought of the hapless workers all toiling away in stuffy offices to pay for it all. Unless you work 7 days a week, presumably you are still able to use the park on days off? And lots of people work full time but shifts or part time so are still able to enjoy the park. But back to the point, it's obviously not feasible to have the park open when it's dark but I do think it should be open before 8am. This late opening seems particularly ridiculous in the summer when it is light by about 5am.

I thought it had always opened at 8am?

There are also some children who cannot be vaccinated due to chronic medical conditions or babies pre-vaccination who rely on the herd immunity to keep them safe. By not vaccinating your children you are putting these at risk too.

My daughter is 4 and still goes to bed at 7.30 as she has since she was tiny, certianly at 2 he should still be tired by then. maybe the culprit is the lunchtime nap? Is he still having one? Maybe it is too late or too long. From about age 2 my daughter only had about an hour and she dropped it completely about 2.5. Otherwise just take him outside a lot in the afternoons for as much running about as possible!

If you're planning on breastfeeding then bear access to said breasts in mind when you choose your bed attire. I had some breastfeeding nightshirts from mothercare that button down the front and found them ideal as meant I didn't have to expose my delightful tummy to all and sundry when feeding the baby. I also found the heating / dry atmosphere made me really thirsty - they provide lots of water but was good to have a few little cartons of juice. and lots of jelly babies, yum.

I believe there's a group called slingmeet or something like that which has a south london group. They meet up regularly and I think are very happy for new people to go along and have a look at the different slings people use and try a few out. Should come up if you google it.

This place is great but books up very quickly: http://www.pagel-france.com/page%200.htm

Please do report it to the police

I found it really useful, both mine slept in the moses basket on the bed next to me for the first few weeks so they were really close but I didn't worry about rolling over onto them. Was also great during the day in the early weeks when they sleep such a lot so you can just pop them down in the basket wherever you are. I got one second hand for ?10, I'm sure there must be a decent market in second hand ones as they're used for such a short time, even if you have a few children they won't be worn out! If you do decide to get one, why not ask on here to see if anyone has one to sell on.

OBviously too late now but there's on in earslfield, near the station, can't remember what it's called though.

My daughter dropped hers about this age and moved to just a lunchtime nap although that could then last up to 2.5 hours if that's any consolation! My 14 month old son is also just starting to be able to last the morning too, I think it's pretty standard about this age. I tend to give him an early lunch at the moment and then put him down about 12 - 12.30 for 2 - 2.5 hours. It obviously varies from child to child but I know a lot of friends have found their children moved to just the one lunchtime sleep at around 1yr.

red apple newsagents at the top of ll (opposite library) used to do fairly extensive delivery rounds so give them a try? Otherwise, try contacting the paper that you want directly and see what they can do / reccomend

Any so called journalist who spells 'lets' with an apostrophe (let's) obviously hasn't got a f****** clue and needs to go back to prep school herself.

I assumed something was said to him as there seems to be a lot less dog poo around that area these days

Many thanks for all the recommendations, will have a look. It's just taken me ages to find this thread - thought I was going mad and then did a search and found it here in the lounge - spooky as I posted it in wanted, recommendations section! Thanks again

Thanks. Anyone got any other gems to recommend?

Can anyone recommend a hotel in Paris for a weekend away without the children. Don't want to be spending a fortune but would like somewhere that felt a bit special. Much appreciated.

good for you rubyroo. I will also contact them with a general complaint about dog poo on Goodrich road.

Seriously Bryan, if you know who the culprit is and can give descrption, address, times he's usually around then let southwark council know - I believe that they have teams who will come out and try to catch them in the act and issue fines etc. It's such a disgusting thing to do anyway (leaving dog poo around, not calling the council) but I think whoever keeps doing it in goodrich road is particularly low as there's a school there so it's always full of children and parents walking up and down.