hellosailor

O2 have shut down the service in this area while they do some upgrading, it will affect different roads at different times. They quoted me 7 days with no access when I phoned to ask why I had no internet 2 days ago, but by the next day ours was up and running again.

if not farmers, I think Celebrations card shop does them, at the back of the shop with all the wrapping stuff etc

Hi Anna, have you looked on the edtots website? It lists all activities and groups by weekday so you can see at a glance what's on every morning and every afternoon. We've been enjoying soft play at The Herne on a weds - there's a morning and afternoon session, afternoon is 3-5:00 so that would still give you a chance to have an hour of play by the time you got there, and give tea afterwards if your daughter has tea about 5ish, a fee people tend to stay and do tea after. I think it's not on for the next couple of weeks due to the venue needing the space for other bookings, but Kim who runs it will post on the forum to keep people updated as to when it starts again - a couple of weeks time I believe.

Pickle makes a very good point about location, if you do nct and are in a group where everyone lives in easy walking distance then you're more likely to meet more, if you can't find a space on your local group (need to book super early!) and so end up doing a group that's less local, it may mean you don't live that close to your group.

I agree it's partly luck of the draw what group you find yourself part of - like cashew nut I'm lucky enough to have a lovely, irreverent, supportive group who still see each other a lot 17 months after the birth of our babies but I have met a couple of people recently with young babies who both told me they had barely had any contact with their groups since birth, no-one emailed, suggested meeting etc. I wonder if some people do nct much more for the labour info, and some much more for the friends, (I deffo did it for both) and if you happen to find yourself in a group with people who haven't really done it to make friends but more for the birth info, it can mean you don't end up meeting up. Or perhaps sometimes groups just don't gel that much. I think sometimes it might also depend on how far apart your babies births are spaced, just a thought, All the babies in our group were born within a fortnight-ish, so everyone went on maternity leave the same week, were at the same newborn stage at the same time, but sometimes it seems to be that my friends who are in groups where babies are spaced over 2 months or so perhaps meet less as a group as after meeting in the classes perhaps some of them were still at work for weeks before having their baby while others were getting to grips with nappies and reflux and the hurricane of having a baby, then just coming out the other side and getting out and about more when the later babies arrived, so they never quite crossed over in those early months, but then, you can never know any of this if you book classes so I guess you just have to decide whether to do it or not. I'm very glad I did but it certainly isn't essential, There are lots of other ways to meet other people as everyone has said, the meet ups on here, the NHS classes, at playgroups, through friends.

thanks of reposting that stuff from Which Rachel4, just seen it!

Not chippy in the true sense (chip on the shoulder) but the people that I reckon come across worst in interviews are Keith Allen Kristin Scott Thomas Ricky gervais (written) Mick Hucknall (google his This Much I Know interview in the guardian from 2006, I still read it now to raise a smile if I'm a bit glum, works every time! )

Hi there Crystal, 30oz sounds a huge amount for you to be supposedly aiming for, no wonder she worried you when she said that, that's a lot of pressure! I've only ever heard that babies between 6 and 12 months were supposed to have around 20oz, (dropping to 12-14oz at 12 months) that's what my HV said when mini sailor was that age and the other babies the same age were all having about the same amount so bit confused as to why you were told he should be having that much, like you say, that would be about 80z a feed, which I have never seen my daughter drink once, and she is 16 months.. When my daughter refused one boob for a long time, a couple of people gave me the same comically simple advice, which did sort of bamboozle her, but she was younger at the time, about 6 months - they said not to turn her so her head was pointing in opposite directions on either boob, but have her head pointing in the same direction on both boobs, and always start with the boob that she didn't want, and it did help, seemed to take her a while to cotton on. Can you massage the lumps in a hot shower using hot flannels, and express the back log of milk out yourself? When I got lumpy (not proper mastitis just when she was in a refusy stage) I always found this worked loads better than pumping, for some reason. The last couple of months I breastfed, my baby only fed on the refused side for a minute or two max, before taking the rest of the feed from the preferred boob, and my body did adjust so that the disliked boob didn't become engorged or get mastitis or anything. My boobs are visibly different sizes now tho it has to be said, but hey ho!

It appears on the general section of the forum that a teenage girl was raped last night on East Dulwich Grove, just by Glengarry Rd, quite horrifying and very brave of her to report it. I know that dreadful assaults like this are rare and I'm not writing this to scaremonger, but I think it's worth putting it on this section too so that people can talk to teens (and us adults of course) about staying safe. I walked home to East Dulwich Grove late last night myself, and now would feel pretty nervy about doing it again in a hurry. When I was a teenager me and quite a few friends all had personal shriek alarms, which I'd pretty much forgotten about the existence of, but they are cheap and give off an extremely loud alarm, the latest admin work seems to have temporarily stopped the ability to attach links to posts, but you can buy 2 of the best reviewed ones on the Suzy Lamplugh Trust website.

Hmm, you can argue about particular roads but I think your assertion that 'Nunhead has much lower crime rates than East Dulwich' is categorically proved wrong by the stats bsand has just posted...

they were very sweet, I thought so too!

Soft play at the herne is not running for the next 2 or 3 weeks I believe, that's what Kim said at the last session

Hi, with respect to the hormonal side of things, don't panic if you do have a hormonal crash for a few days when you stop, potentially like very bad pmt. Lots of people don't have this but I know a lot of people, myself included, who spent a few days as a soggy mess when giving up bfing, vividly remember wandering round co-op quietly crying and wondering whether I'd gone mad! After 5 or 6 days, it was as if a could lifted, and I felt back to my old self. But those days were really rough, so good to know in advance that you can feel this crash, so that you don't worry if you do! It will pass! x

look on www.edtots.co.uk

The miracle blanket swaddle with the wings is very good indeed, we swaddled for naps only but next time I'd do it for night time too, and I'd start from day one! People normally seem to say swaddling is for the first 3 months or so, but we actually only started at 3 months and swaddled until about 5 months I think, and it really helped her sleep, when she started to want to suck her fingers, we just left an arm out.

We have some of the fabric wall stickers from Quick Brown Fox of Dulwich in our daughter's bedroom, they look fab and are much better quality than the plastic ones that break when you try and move them from wall to wall, would also highly recommend them!

thanks all, had totally forgotten about weetabix, which she has had and liked, will get some more today!

My 16 month went off porridge at breakfast ages ago and has been having toast for months, but doesn't want to eat toast at the moment (possibly related to her father having introduced her to the concept of shreddies!) I gave her shreddies this morning and have possibly never seen her so excited, but was just wondering at what age others started giving cereals and which ones? Shreddies, cheerios etc? The ones that are desirable to a toddler like shreddies are all packed with sugar and salt aren't they? But I can't imagine her greeting a bran flake with the same enthusiasm as met the shreddies!! Is 16 months a bit early for the amount of sugar in cereals? (obviously I'm not putting sugar on top!)

Cheryl you can try spacing the milk feeds and solids meals so that she can manage both if she doesn't want one straight after the other? Lots of babies and toddlers seem to be able to guzzle a bottle of milk and eat a slap up meal 5 mins later, but many, mine included, don't have that big an appetite! You could give a bottle at 7am, then breakfast at 8am, solid lunch at 12:00, bottle at 2:30, solids meal at 5:00, bottle at 7:00 etc, so that there is always a space between them?

thanks Norfolkvillas!

I can't do that thing of paying ?1 for a Which? trial to read it online, as the page keeps crashing when I try.. It's actually pretty hard to access any child car seat safety reviews online! (as opposed to consumer reviews) I have searched and searched! Have I gleaned correctly that the Kiddy car seats with the impact bar rather than the 5 point harness have come out top of safety tests in the last couple of years? Which of their seats specifically does anyone know? The infinity pro, the guardian pro etc? If there is a traditional 5 point harness seat (britax evolva etc) that tops the safety tests, I would also like to know which one too...thanks for any info

Yes I agree with Pickle, I think it must be that she has dropped her milk intake, which will still be the bulk of what is sustaining her at this stage. I think babies are supposed to have about 600ml / 20oz of milk between 6 and 12 months, which is harder to gauge if breastfeeding obviously. Is she still having a big feed - 7oz ish, at bedtime? I think for some babies that's pretty crucial in getting them through to morning even when they're eating large portions of solids later on

Oh my goodness, the young couple on tonight's episode who felt the staff should be 'juggling' to entertain them and couldn't believe they had to wait for 2 hours (v good in A&E!) to be seen for a minor injury were incredible! Were they for real? How spoilt?!

went to a 1st birthday party at goose green centre recently, they played music, and there were about 120 guests (it was a joint birthday for a lot of babies!)

count me in!