tarafitness

Welcome to the area! I'd also check out your copy of the SE Magazine local to you, as they have details of lots of groups, plus the Southwark website for info on the sessions available at the various children's centres. The local libraries do baby and toddler sessions too.

Can you paste the text from the article? I don't have an FT membership

Couldn't recommend the Vila Vita Parc Resort & Spa in Portugal enough. We booked through Kuoni who were very impressive. Everything was taken care of and we were treated wonderfully well. The resort is just stunning. It's like a self-contained village with a private beach and multiple pools and restaurants. They have on site creche and children's club facilities, including a very nice playground :)

Thank you all. The petition is well over 100,000 now and increasing still at a dramatic rate. It's had an amazing response. Faye's brave battle has obviously touched many hearts x

my 2 year old is thankfully coming to the end of his infection and his spots are fading fast. They were really horrible though, all over him from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and they didn't itch, just hurt! :'-( I really wish I hadn't dithered about and just got the bloody vaccine from the Health Hub when I had the chance! Hope your daughter doesn't suffer too much with it. Tara

Hello everyone A woman I know whose daughter was born around the same time as my 2 year old, has just lost her to Meningitis. You can read about how Faye bravely battled this disease for almost 2 weeks here. But please note that the photograph of her in hospital is very distressing Had Faye been born 18 months later, she would have been included in the new vaccination schedule, and her parents would not be grieving the loss of their beautiful only child to a disease that could have been prevented. Valentine's Day will forever be marked for the most heartbreaking of reasons. Please please sign this petition to encourage the Government to initiate a catch-up programme for the children who have missed out on this life-saving vaccine. Also please familiarise yourselves with the symptoms of Meningitis. If you're under any doubt, seek medical help immediately. Faye's symptoms initially manifested as a rash on her forehead. I was lucky enough to be able to afford the Meningitis B vaccine, but it is horrendously prohibitively expensive, and 3 doses are required to ensure immunity. Faye's parents, Jenny and Neil, have given permission for her story to be told, in the hope that no other child in the UK will needlessly die from this horrific disease. If you could sign the petition and share it with as many people as you can (and my post too if you wish) - family, friends, businesses, MPs, etc, you will help enormously. The numbers have grown from 300 a week ago to 15,429 when I just checked now. You could make a difference! Thank you Tara

yeah, that was my rationale behind buying the sipper cup. If he wakes for a drink of water, he's not going to be conscientious enough to think to replace it on the shelf afterwards.. it just ends up on its side in bed with him! We also have an OXO Tot twist top water bottle which is absolutely leakproof when closed (so comes with us when we're out and about), but if it's left un-twisted and rolls over it goes everywhere :-(

I go via Victoria as I can usually get a single ticket for ?8, and it only takes about 50 minutes by train.

Tommee Tippee do excellent leakproof beakers. There's the Explora Active which is quite a large cup, and the Insulated Sipper Cup which my son has in bed with him for water as I was fed up with getting damp sheets!

I don't have direct experience of this myself because there's a 17.5 year age gap between my two, but I'm worried about the same thing myself because my toddler (22 months) is still quite a high needs child and I'm not sure how he'd cope with sharing me with another child! We're still breastfeeding with the aim to let him self wean, which I can't see happening any time soon. This in itself isn't a problem, but I can't see us having any success with tandem feeding! When I go and pick him up at nursery, if there's ever another child who even attempts to come near me, he'll push them away angrily (it's quite embarrassing!). A friend of mine had children quite close together, and the older girl would exhibit the behaviour you describe. Her mum was terrified to leave them together. However, there came a distinct power shift when he started walking and becoming more able to fight back. They now get on tremendously well, and have done so for a while (she'll be 3 beginning of next year, he's just turned 2). They share a room, keep each other really well entertained and play beautifully together. It's such a transformation, which will no doubt happen for you :-) I really like the Aha! Parenting site, and they have a good comprehensive section regarding siblings. Tara

Hi all, just wanted to update this thread My son (20 months) has now had both doses of the Meningitis B vaccine through the Health Hub at Herne Hill. The first dose produced no marked side effects, but the second was a completely different story. He had the vaccination on Saturday morning, and woke up after his midday nap very distressed. He couldn't put any weight on the leg he had the injection in, and spent the rest of the day on my lap (very unlike him as he generally can't sit still for more than 30 seconds!). He also threw up at about 6pm and was asleep half an hour later for the night... although he did wake up at 1am and then spent the rest of the night latched on. He didn't really have much of a temperature, he was just really miserable and out of sorts. Sunday he seemed a lot better and was running around again.. but he was still a bit clingy and feeding much more than usual. So just be warned that if you're going to have the vaccine, maybe pick a day or two when you have no plans to go anywhere! I've asked around, and apparently the pronounced reaction to the 2nd dose is a known thing. I had to keep reminding myself on Saturday exactly *why* I was putting my son through this, and how much worse it would be if he contracted the actual disease and his body wasn't equipped to successfully fight it off. Also, be aware that HH have raised their prices. Because we paid ?100 for the first dose, we were able to get the same price for the 2nd, but it is now ?150 for Men B. I'm not sure about Varicella, but I imagine they've put the price of that up too. The receptionist said there were places in Lewisham and Bromley offering the vaccines for less and that it's worth shopping around. Cheers Tara

Hi Laura I gave ours away to a nappy lending library. If you PM me your email, I can put you in touch with the woman who runs it. Cheers Tara

we bought our quooker from Benchmarx when we purchased our kitchen. As we saved quite a bit on the kitchen units, we splashed out on a boiling water tap and a drinks fridge. I can't remember how much it was exactly, but definitely more in the region of ?500 than ?1500! We could obviously function without it, but it's really handy to have boiling water instantly for cooking and tea. It's a luxury item, and shouldn't be seen as anything else. Although, it does save a fair of space on the worktop (which, ironically, is taken up by a coffee machine... priorities)

Benchmarx. Absolutely brilliant. Top quality units, but quite affordable. Great service too.

We have one. Absolutely love it. Just a simple one though, so not much more than ?500. I didn't want to get the integrated taps combo as I wanted a fancy pants professional hose tap setup ;-)

I hope it does come on in half an hour... My baby monitor video unit doesn't work without power.

We've been told it's due to water getting into underground cabling. Power return ETA 21:30... Great!

Lucky you... We're still out :-(

We're on Worlingham Rd near Goose Green... I'm assuming it's affecting more roads because of the house alarms I can hear going off. Does anyone have any info? It didn't last as long last time...

My son worked there for a bit and just took the London Overground from Denmark Hill all the way to Kensal Rise. He was working at the top end of Ladbroke Grove though... But you could get a bus from the station

Good afternoon Does anyone perhaps know where I can go (that's relatively local) to get the meningitis B and chicken pox vaccines for my 11 month old? I'd quite like to get them done before his MMR next year. Many thanks Tara

Thank you, kemurf, that's hugely helpful, and thanks again everyone else for your comments and suggestions.

Thank you for your responses :-) Yes, I totally appreciate that I'm not going to find the 'perfect' childminder, mainly because everyone's perception of perfection differs! Re nurseries, I was under the impression that a child would have one key worker who in turn looked after a couple of other children - so I'd have thought the ratio of child to caregiver would be similar to that of childminder? I was very impressed by Little Jungle nursery in this respect, particularly as the key worker stays with the child throughout the whole of their time at the nursery, rather like my older son's tutor did for the entire time he was at secondary school. I also like Little Jungle's attitude to nap times, in that they'll stay with the child if they're finding it difficult to fall asleep, and pat them until they do. If that doesn't work, they bring them back out into the play room for a bit and try again after 20 minutes. My older son had a lovely time at his nursery, and started at the same age that DS2 will be - 13 months - and for the same number of days, which is why it was my first thought when it came to childcare. I think if I was going back to work before he was one, I'd have hired a nanny/childminder from the off though. Regarding nannies, they look after your child at your home, right? I think I'd prefer my son to go to someone with a nice big outside area and be able to have fun in a different environment to the one at home... more variation to his week :-) Also, aren't childminders subject to more stringent safety/security and quality checks than nannies? In a similar way to nurseries? In any of this, please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks Tara

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of it like that. Do you know how many children a childminder would have in her care? A friend of mine knows a childminder who leaves all the children upstairs to cry it out, while she stays downstairs and takes her 1 hour break. The parents are okay with it, but it's not something I am comfortable with.

I was wondering if anyone could offer any help please? In January I will be returning to work for 3 (possibly 4) days, and leaving my 13 month son in the care of someone else who will effectively become 'mum' for the time that I'm away. As this is a job that I take very seriously, I'm keen to get it right when it comes to finding that person who will be sharing my role. Due to the colossal waiting lists at local nurseries, we will be looking to employ a childminder to look after our precious son. I took it as a given that childcare professionals wouldn't employ methods like CC/CIO with children in their care, but from talking to other mums it seems that this isn't always the case, and that I shouldn't assume that my son wouldn't be left alone, and/or to cry himself to sleep at nap times. Although entirely inappropriate at his current age, I'm also thinking ahead to discipline. I'd be keen for my son to not be subject to harsh punishments including things like naughty steps, or really anything that puts him in isolation from other children and his caregiver, especially given studies into how things like Time Outs can damage a developing brain. So if anyone has any advice on how I can go about finding a childminder who is gentle, patient, nurturing and kind, then please can you share. Should I advertise on here with a list of requirements, is that how it works? Or should I approach childminders and ask them about their approaches to situations in order to gain an honest response? I want to be sure that I'm employing someone who shares in my parenting principles, and I therefore don't think a strict disciplinarian would be appropriate... but I'm wondering how you would know? Do people observe childminders with other children before employing them? Similarly, if you know anyone who you think would be appropriate from your own experiences, or word of mouth, I'd love to hear by PM. Sorry for rambling post, my (much) older son went to a local nursery when he was just over a year, so I'm inexperienced in things like childminders and nannies, and any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance Tara