Sanne Panne

Congratulations on the wedding and maybe even the birth already but if not, good luck!

My experience is a bit like Fuschia's. The hypnobirthing book (and to an extent cd although I wasn't too crazy about the voices on any of the CDs which made it harder to get "into" it) was one of the various things that helped me feel very confident about being able to have a natural birth. Before reading the book or listening to the CDs I thought I wanted to have a proper hypnobirth but after feeling so-so about a few things in the book and not getting into hypnosis during a session with a local hypnotherapist I decided to just use the method for general relaxation and confidence purposes. I had a great homebirth, mainly using one of the breathing techniques and one of the birthing positions learned during pregnancy yoga (all the other techniques we learned at yoga were great during class and during mid to late pregnancy but I ended up using just one of each for birth - good enough for me!) and again, the confidence built up during the chats we had with the teacher in and after class was the most important bit. Another thought that helped me loads was "everyone in Holland does it naturally, my mum did, my sister did, my friends did so I can do it too" (I grew up in Holland where epidurals are only available for medical emergencies. I don't agree with this policy - you should be able to choose - but it did provide me with a large pool of evidence of successful natural births). With two weeks to go you're probably a bit late to go for a full immersion or conversion to the hypnobirthing method, but I'm sure that it'll help you get focus and rest. Just my opinion and experience of course!

Thanks, we went and it was all fairy tale white and not slippery.

Can't do 13th, can do 6th, 20th, 27th. Will obviously not take offence if you pick the 13th.

Crystal Palace Road looked ok yesterday. Not completely clear but definitely not the ice rink some of the narrower streets are.

Thinking of going for a walk in the park later - are the footpaths very icy? We're not going jogging but if we have to watch every single step we take it may not be much fun.

Lovely to meet you and your little ones too Pickle! Was good to get out of the house without having to venture too far in the snow...

I believe the post office shop next door is going to go all organic in order to compete.

I haven't decided whether or not to give it to my 17 month old yet. Am slightly reluctant but not against it in principle. Is Forest Hill road practice offering it yet?

Very interesting, sb. I didn't know about fluoride being recommended (again). My daughter loves my toothpaste so she would be ok switching. I do wonder why it is that all those "all natural" and baby toothpastes don't have fluoride. Is there some controversy over it being swallowed? Will do a bit of research and will switch if favourable. I remember being given tiny fluoride chewing tablets as a child. Delicious they were. As for the dried fruit... I knew it but I'm still guilty! My daughter loves dried apricots (Sains organic has them partially rehydrated, so very easy to eat) and I often give them as a snack. Am going to try to be good from now on, "one day she'll be grateful" (ahahah).

Have never been but planning on going tomorrow, hope it's open. Is anyone else going? Going alone with my 17 month old daughter, wouldn't mind meeting some of you!

helena handbasket Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "Once they're old enough to reason"...... when > exactly is THAT? :)) Yeah maybe I'm being optimistic here

Best birth story ever Ryedalema! Congratulations!

What a great idea Lizzie. We're at the "bed only" stage with our 17 month old and that's working out fine. We make sure the dummy is out of reach whenever she's not in bed (she used to walk up to her cot and stick her arms through the bars trying to reach it) but the change of scene idea is great for getting rid of it at night. At the same time I'm thinking that they may want/need it more when they're not sleeping at home but once they're old enough to reason with them it may actually work!

What I don't get is how governments or medical bodies can't gather and publish more data on medicines that pregnant women decide to use during their pregnancy and combine these with the outcome of their pregnancies. I guess that type of data doens't meet the guidelines of what you can call a proper test. I have used the same anti-allergic nasal spray for 20 years and it's another one of those "only if the benefits outweigh the risks" medicines. I believe it had recently been upgraded from C to B in the US FDA coding system (meaning animal tests have been favourable but no human tests have been done). My GP couldn't tell me more than "only if the benefits outweigh the risks"... uuummm what are the risks? No idea. So how can I tell whether the benefits outweigh the risks? So I searched and searched and ended up paying for a medical article I found online and got my answer: a Swedish study that recorded medicine usage and pregnancy outcome and if the number of users was big enough it would mention whether there was a statistically relevant correlation. I kept using my spray without having to stress. To make a long story short: would be nice to have more of this type of data. Not as an official recommendation but as a guideline to help pregnant women make their own decisions!

I can do the 6th, 20th and 27th. Any day really except the 13th, but again, if that date works for everybody else don't worry about me.

Interesting to read all your experiences... if our daughter is still happy in her cot by the time we need her current cot for the new baby (our daughter will be 22-23 months old then) we'll probably go for a cotbed (assuming that by cotbed we mean a larger cot from which the bars can be removed later on, right?) . If however she's interested in a real bed and/or tries to climb out of her cot by that time, a real bed she'll get... with a stairgate at her door (she'll finally have a door then - she currently sleeps in our bedroom as we still live in a 1 bed flat! Must move soon! Two under-twos in our flat cannot be fun)

> toddler!!! What especially annoys me about the > move out of sleeping bags is that they kick their > blanket/ duvet off at night and then come in > search of warmth. Aaarrrgggghhhh! Thanks for the advice about the cot beds! Regarding sleeping bags and blankets: there's a third option, a warm sleepsuit. The Baby Sleep Shop has 1.2 tog polar fleece (but cotton lined) footed sleepsuits which allow the toddler to walk around (not as freely as in normal clothes but it's pretty good) and stay warm without being constrained to a sleeping bag. We've always only had our daughter sleep in footed sleepsuits - in summer a plain vest with a cotton sleepsuit on top and in winter these fleece ones. There are cheaper fleece sleepsuits available too (I believe Next have them) but the ones we use are really, really good and warm without being too warm... ?21 though. http://www.babysleepshop.com/acatalog/Fleecy_Sleepsuits.html

Smallpox is a virus too - the difference with flu is that new influenza strains show up each year so it's impossible to prevent (or cure) flu as a whole. Regarding the vaccination: I agree that just "fear of the new" needn't be a reason not to get vaccinated - it should be a reason to do more research. And indeed, modern vaccinations are pretty much always safe but since there have been medical blunders in the past (with pregnancy related blunders being a highly sensitive topic), it is sometimes hard to believe that "now in 2009/2010, medical scientists really do always know what they're doing". They're doing their very best but we're not at the very maximum of knowledge yet so we can't be sure about everything. We do have to trust national advice generally, but sometimes it's scary, especially when you're in a more vulnerable position because you're pregnant. Of course the swine flu vaccine is nearly identical to other flu vaccines (which are indeed pretty much proven safe) and just adding a different strain to the flu shot is nothing that isn't already done every year anyway - but the fears are about thiomersal (inherited from the MMR controversy which has already been contradicted many times but once there's a controversy it's hard to let go...). I'm personally not worried about thiomersal but I am still a bit uncomfortable with squalene, the adjuvant that's not been studied much yet and that is probably safe but there isn't much safety data available yet (that I know of). The adjuvant is banned in Canada and not used on pregnant women in the US, probably more because of inconclusive data than because of genuine safety concerns... but still! And I think it's that "but still" feeling that makes so many people (including me) postpone their decision. Edited to add that squalene is not used in the regular seasonal flu vaccine.

What on earth is wrong with the French all the time? I really don't see it. Is it some form of suppressed jealousy? Maybe worth another thread. And no I'm not French... Back on topic - I think people generally drink more in crappy places with crappy climates. Chemical oblivion my husband calls it (as he opens his second bottle of wine).

Not sure about this specific topic (whether to keep the stump dry or wash it) but if you do end up deciding to clean it, baking soda (diluted in water) is a lot milder than table salt and does a great job cleaning and healing.

My daughter is a great sleeper too (she does stand up in the cot when she's ready for the day but is way too lazy to make any attempt to climb out) and I don't want to mess with that either, especially thinking back about how awful her sleep was and how desperately tired I was until she finally started sleeping through at 6-7 months old. Think I'll get her a cot bed (one size up from her cot but still with bars all around) that can be converted to a junior bed later. Saves buying one cot...

My 17 month old sleeps in a cot, isn't the type that wants to climb out and still fits in there fairly well so we're in no rush to move her to a bigger bed yet - but baby 2 will be here in June and we'll want to let him/her move into our daughter's cot fairly soon (initially by placing the moses basket in there) so our daughter will probably be out of her cot around the time she turns 2. Is she likely to still need a bed with high bars all around (e.g. a convertible cot bed) or can a 2 year old usually move into a bed with low bars along the sides to keep her from falling out but that lets her climb out at the foot end (or however these toddler beds work) when she wants to? Is this a very individual thing or is there a rough age at which they are usually ready for this? Thanks!

Vangough Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Best tip is slowly restrict the dummy to bedtime > only (a 2 yr old will understand this) ours > actually liked to be 'grown-up' and only have it > at night time. We dreaded the day when we'd get > rid of it altogether though. We made a big deal of > her getting a 'big girl's bed' instead of her cot > when we were switching over sleeping arrangements > and that would mean no dummy in the proper bed. > She totally bought it. Never asked for it again ! How old was she when you switched her to the big girl's bed?

sillywoman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I will never forget the anxiety of > 'what if we run out of formula' on that flight. It > was so unlikely as I had formula milk in every > pocket of every flightbag we possessed, but the > stress!! What if we get delayed? What if, what if > etc.etc. Very true and the what-ifs can happen. I once flew back to Gatwick from Amsterdam (normally about 35-40 minutes in air) with my not yet weaned, by then no longer breastfeeding 5 month old and we had a THREE HOUR emergency stopover at Manston airport in Kent (having to stay on the plane) because there was a spillage on the only runway at Gatwick and we couldn't land there. Like sillywoman I had been quite obsessive about bringing enough formula - if I had been more laid back the stopover would have been a disaster. Instead, I could give her an extra feed and then walk her to sleep in the baby bjorn while chatting with the pilot who was a sweetheart and very concerned about our well being (all other passengers were adults). It's worth taking extra food with you, if only for peace of mind. Never mind the look on the face of the security guy. That only lasts a minute whereas your flight is a lot longer!