Sanne Panne

Check whether it converts to a toddler chair they can climb into and out of themselves (although we just use a booster seat now). We had very limited space when our first was born so we got a booster seat type highchair that you can strap onto a kitchen chair. GREAT in terms of space saving but the fact that it doesn't have a wide base/footprint means that the child could theoretically push its feet against the edge of the table and tilt the chair backwards (once our daughter's legs were long enough to do this we always kept the highchair far away enough from the table to prevent this). Here's what we got. Great for those with very limited space. Not particularly pretty but quite practical... http://www.fisher-price.com/img/product_shots/J5933_b_1.jpg

ClareC Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Saffron Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > A dermatologist told me to always keep the site > > covered. Use a hydrocolloid dressing (not a > > sticking plaster), and change regularly. > > Hydrocolloids can also be used after the wound > > heals, to reduce scarring. > > :-) > > What exactly is a hydrocolloid dressing? ... and do they basically wear it for the whole year during which the scar-or-not forms?

NOT a yes/no discussion... just one about ideal timing. With my first daughter there was a waiting list for the BCG injection and she got hers at 8 months old. Now at nearly 2 years old it looks like it's going to be a nice ole scar. No big deal, but the less scarring the better of course. My friend had her baby vaccinated right after birth and he doesn't have a scar. Now with baby 2 we've been given an appointment for next week when she's 2 weeks old. Am wondering if earlier vaccination means she's less likely to get a (big) scar? She won't be exposed to many people during her first year (no childcare, no big trips etc) so the risk of her catching TB is extremely low (as it is anyway, but again, not the topic of this discussion) so I'm basically looking for ideal timing from the scarring point of view. If there is a correlation between age and scarring. What's your experience been? And of people around you?

I never bothered doing anything until baby 1 was about 13 months old - was stuck at 8 kilos above pre-pregnancy weight at the time and suddenly felt completely fed up. Once I decided it was time to make the effort I signed up with WW online (just for tracking food/exercise and weight loss and to feel accountable) and started watching what I ate and did stupid exercises on the Wii fit (hula hoop anyone?). I did lose the weight in under 3 months time from the day I finally started. Right now I'm only a week post partum so not the right time to diet but I'm planning not to wait until baby 2 is a year old either! In fact I've already cut out the excessive late pregnancy treats (a third of a tub of Haagen Dazs, a Twix, a bunch of biscuits and a slice of cheesecake pretty much every day) as well as avoiding eating 4+ Digestives during every single breastfeeding session including the nighttime ones (this was my habit with baby 1) but am not restricting the amount of food I consume. Bananas, avocados, fine. Not counting calories. Just no sweets. Not eating high sugar foods helps me regulate my appetite. Must do powerpramming too... must do it... am too lazy... must do it... must do it... in fact I may do it because it sounds like fun :)

True for me too (both straightforward home births): First baby: 2 hours from established labour (regular painful contractions) to birth. Of these 2 hours, 45 minutes were spent pushing (deliberately slowly). There were 3 hours from the first painful (but irregular, spaced out) contractions to birth. My waters broke 12 hours before the birth. This was the first sign that labour was coming (no prior contractions). Second baby: 1 hour from established labour to birth (first painful contraction was also start of established labour with this birth). Of this 1 hour, 4 minutes were spent pushing (holy crap it went FAST!). My waters broke 3 hours before the birth. This was the first sign that labour was coming (no prior contractions). Edited to add that my kids are 23 months apart so it may have something to do with the closeness in age.

Hilarious, Kalamiphile! Fortunately (?) it's just latex gloves and a lot of KY jelly ;)

Think it would be great for short term (e.g. on a monthly basis) rental of expensive bulky items that kids get tired of quickly (kitchens etc) as well as overpriced "responsible" wooden toys (Steiner/Waldorf style) - good idea to stress the clean and almost new idea.

Hope your daughter's sweep is ok. It depends more on the situation "in there" than on your pain threshold I think. I had two and both were uncomfortable but completely painless and I would say my pain threshold is quite average. I guess things weren't as tight/stuck/pressurised or whatever it is that makes one sweep less nasty than the other one. Or maybe my midwife was gentler... don't know if there are "sweeps and sweeps". My first sweep brought on some mild contractions and a bloody show the same afternoon but no labour. After the second sweep I went into labour the morning after but I was also 40+4 so my body may have gone into labour by itself anyway.

I've been alternating a plain sleepsuit (and letting her sleep on her side with an improvised sleep positioner) and a loose swaddle (and letting her sleep on her back obviously) over the past couple of nights and didn't get substantially longer stretches with the swaddle. It does seem to help her feel more comfortable being put in bed while still half awake, although that's already getting better without the swaddle too! Guess I'll be using a sleepsuit whenever she's tired enough and a loose swaddle if she's really restless. I also borrowed an Angelcare monitor which has a movement sensor under the mattress (the ultimate freaked out parent device, never used it with first daughter) to feel more comfortable letting her sleep in these "controversial" ways.

Thanks for the feedback and the congrats! I don't really like seeing a baby swaddled either but it did seem to give our first daughter longer stretches of sleep (and almost more importantly: she would fall asleep more easily and not mind as much being transferred from breast/lap to her bed) and the same seems to hold for our newborn. We stopped swaddling our first at 6 weeks, it just feels a bit odd to me to "restrain" a baby (totally my own hangup) but I can imagine it makes them feel safe during the very early days.

Had baby 2 last Monday (great quick home birth as hoped!). The midwife was just here and I mentioned that I swaddle her at night and for her lunchtime nap. She advised me to not swaddle the arms because recent research has shown that the Moro reflex and the general movement of the arms help remind the baby to breathe should she get into too much of a deep sleep. She didn't mention the term deep sleep, I don't remember how she put it but the bottom line was that sleeping babies can get into a state where they don't breathe well and arm movement and the startling reflex will get them back "to the surface". It makes SOME sense to me but isn't the whole point of swaddling to have the arms snugly attached to the body and keep the baby from waking up due to the very Moro reflex that the midwife says helps them breathe? I'm glad she told me and I wish she never told me at the same time. She said a full swaddle is good to soothe babies who have a crying fit, but not for sleeping. Will look up the research but irrespective of what the numbers say the logic behind her reasoning has me a bit worried about swaddling now... (I don't freak out over every piece of research but am just not too sure what to think about this one...) What do you all think?

Definitely does help to know we're not the only ones! Her canines are coming through and she does salivate a lot but she never ever complains of pain so it's easy to forget it could "simply" be the gums themselves.

Our daughter (23 months old) has occasionally had drops of blood on her pillow over the past few months, clearly mixed with saliva so it must come from her mouth. She doesn't hit her face/mouth against the sides of the bed or anything like that, she's bruise free, and I've seen a little wound on the inside of her cheek so it seems to come from a small internal injury. Has anyone heard of sleeping toddlers sucking on their cheeks so hard that they bleed? She never seems to suck on her cheeks when awake (and her poo isn't dark so I doubt she swallows any blood while awake). Or would she be chewing on her cheeks with her super sharp toddler molars (again, never noticed her doing this while awake)? Or is this blood from teething (i.e. from the gums)? The latter would surprise me as it's happened more often than teeth have actually come through. Does anyone have experience with this? She never seems in pain, doesn't cry at night but the blood on her pillow looks a bit spooky.

Hmmm still would rather have my child dislocate her arm than hit her head on the stone pavement downstairs... although you never know how they fall... yikes don't even want to think about it!!!

Our experience with Lindam (two fixed ones for the stairs (no issue with curvy banister/wall), one pressure gate for a room entrance) has been good so far. I think the better pressure gates aren't pushed over easily. I'd rather worry about how easy it is to open the gate once your son gets a bit bigger and has seen you open the gate lots of times. Make sure to read loads of reviews and focus on things like two sided opening, ease of handling for parent/toddler etc (Kiddicare has plenty of customer reviews, check them out even if you end up buying the stairgate somewhere else). One thing to keep in mind with pressure gates is that they have a bar at the bottom that you can fall over (holding a baby in your arms while getting onto the stairs). So they're ok in between level rooms and at the bottom of the stairs but they may be a trip hazard at the top of the stairs.

Thanks Molly, sounds very interesting...

We actually used (large) cotton wool pads and warm water until we moved to a new home a month ago. Three pads would do the trick. In the new house we don't have the same conveniences (no warm water very close to where we change nappies) so we changed to wipes which we had only used for pee and out&about so far. Nice not to have to dry the bum after cleaning it with the cotton wool but goodness you need so many of those wipes!

I'm using so many wipes when I change my toddler's poo nappy and still sometimes get my hands dirty :'( There's a Dutch brand that sells extra large wipes that are also a bit more textured, ideal for bigger kids' poo basically. Is there anything like this in the UK or should I ask my mum to load a Stena Line with Dutch wipes and strike it rich in ED while also keeping my hands clean and saving wipes at home? Are potty training wipes any good for poo nappies? Are they larger? I bet they're too thin since they're meant to be flushable... (although I keep hearing they block drains anyway - but I'm not looking for flushable wipes, just bigger wipes). Thanks!

I know a married couple who do it together - it offers great fun and balance for the kids. Not exactly the answer you were looking for I guess but just wanted to add that men can be great childminders.

Bravado have great tops with pretty wide straps that are still quite elegant. They have built in bras which are fine for when you're at home (or even out if your cup isn't too big). You can also wear a bra under them. I believe they are technically nursing tops but they have quite a lot of space in the belly area. I'm nearly 38 weeks and only the very lowest bit of my bump is showing.

Moos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > We converted our son's cot into a cot bed recently > - was dreading the constant popping-out of bed > that we thought would follow, but so far, not > once! I'm sure it will come one day but he > adjusted very well and still seems to expect us to > come and get him when he's not happy. Moos, how old is your son?

If you can fit bed guards (or are they called side guards?) to ALL cot beds (doesn't seem too clear from websites like Kiddicare etc) I think I may go for the cotbed option and just see how she reacts to having one of the sides removed. Don't want to have to choose between high bars or nothing at all, definitely want a guard to keep her from rolling out. What I like about junior beds is that they have those little guards by the pillow which converted cot beds don't (unless you go for the ?367 option). Decisions, decisions... edited for typo

Sounds like a great bath-bedtime ritual Mellors! My toddler also happily plays in the bath for 30 minutes or longer if we let her so I think I'll do the same when baby 2 arrives in June. Sucks we have such a small bathroom but it'll work!

Need some advice please! Have seen the "cot to cot bed" thread but wondering what to do in our situation. We have a 22 month old daughter and a new baby girl on the way (due in June when our toddler is 23 months old). We'll need the toddler's cot in our bedroom for the new baby from day 1 so we need a new bed for the toddler asap. Should we get her a cotbed or a junior bed? She's already used to duvet and pyjamas and sleeps through the night but does happily spend 30 minutes or more chatting to the stuffed animals in her cot before falling asleep at night (50% of the time followed by 5 minutes of angry crying after which we go in to soothe her and then she'll usually go to sleep). She also easily plays in her cot for 30 minutes after waking up in the morning. Does this "cot play time" (followed by the "help me fall asleep" crying at night) habit mean she'll never stay put in a junior bed? Or is she ready for the freedom? Second question... will a 26 month old toddler (in a junior bed) bother a baby if we move this baby into her room (in a cot) when she's 3 months old? When we were still sharing a room with the toddler (until a few weeks ago - we just moved out of our one bed flat) she would just shout until we'd get up in the morning. Now that she's in her own room she just plays. Does this mean she's going to bother her baby sister as soon as she wakes up? Shake the cot bars and throw toys into the cot etc? I know it all depends on the toddler but what's your experience/instinct/opinion? Thanks!

Very interesting discussion, don't have any insights to add to all this wisdom, just my preference since you wanted to have an idea of what people would do in case of a breech baby... After one great (head down, anterior, no issues) home birth I'm keen to have #2 at home as well (due in 3-5 weeks) but if she were breech I'd want a c-section. The thought of forceps (etc) and extended baby distress just freaks me out. In spite of the fact that c-sections are far from ideal for various reasons I'd rather have the birth over with quickly (either at home without intervention or in hospital with a c-section) without worrying about heart rates dropping and mums getting 3rd degree tears). That said, I'm a convenience home birther rather than a "naturalist" - I just hate the thought of getting in the car while in labour and being in a busy messy hospital if there is any way I can just have my baby in the living room followed by a shower in my own bathroom and then lots of cosy cuddling in my own bed... If anything would look even remotely risky before or during labour I'd be off to King's in a second though. It's a very personal choice, I can't judge what's safest, this is just what would feel right to me.