BellendenBear

Andy, I can't find it! Can you explain exactly where I should be looking? Thanks.

Maclaren Quest. Reclines, light, easy to fold and carry with one hand. Counting the days until our new baby is big enough to go in ours.

See you there.

No rain forecast for tomorrow. Could meet at Electrical cafe and then head to the Rye or just meet outside the park cafe? I won't have toddler. Anyone else coming? If it's just going to be SE5/SE15 people, we could always meet nearer here.

As Fuschia says. We went away with my 1st daughter at 5 moths and I remember it as being a really easy time. By then she was napping much more predictably, BFing at predictable times and sleeping well. And not on solids when everything gets more complicated again. We plan to go away when new baby is 5 m too. I wouldn't put too much thought into travel cots other than cheap and light.

The cheese man on Peckham farmer's market sells it. Today 9-1 in front of the library.

Wednesday afternoon next week is good for us too. In general we are free anytime apart from Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings.

I had SPD in my recent pregnancy and can highly recommend seeing Russell at Dulwich Physio (above DMC on Crystal Palace Road). Several others on here recommended him to me. Cost ?45 but was well worth it, and I only needed one session. I painfully hobbled in and half an hour later walked out almost pain free. The treatment involved massage and demonstrating exercises. I also got an NHS referral via my midwife and was seen very quickly. They gave a very thorough assessment to confirm that it was SPD and provided leaflets showing exercises and dos and don'ts but didn't actually do anything to relieve the symptoms there and then in the way that the private physio did. Conversely to what Molly suggests, they told me to avoid sleeping with a pillow between the legs. I hope it gets better soon. It is really painful and frustrating not to be able to be as active as you would like while pregnant.

Is there a plan for today or should we just delay till next week and be a bit more organised? We're still free today if anyone else can definitely make it.

Thanks SB, that would be great!

We're free. The electrical cafe is good because there is lots of space. Not all that friendly though. But if this weather continues it's probably a good option.

Is there anywhere locally that sells these (the little rubbery things that hold cloth nappies in place)? Thanks!

Thanks apenn, that video seems to demonstrate it quite well. The DVD that came with the Ergo only shows the old style insert. It was how to position her legs that I couldn't get the hang of. The youtube demos were the ones I had already seen and mention in my original post - fine if you have a tiny immobile doll but not much use for a real baby! I'll give it another go. Thanks everyone.

Yes, I have the one with the cushion.

I know there are a lot of Ergo enthusiasts out there, and I would be grateful for some advice about the newborn insert. I just don't seem to be able to get the hang of it! I have the new style (I think) insert which is the 'heart2heart' type rather than the cradle position one. My daughter is almost 8 weeks old. I can't find any good demonstrations on the internet showing how to position her in the insert, apart from one using a small non-wriggly doll. Should I be trying to bend her legs up like a frog at her size or should her legs be more apart and around me? If I try and bend her legs so that her feet are together at the front she can then push her way up until her head it sticking right out at the top and there is no neck support. But it doesn't feel right to be trying to open her legs either. I suspect that maybe the Ergo just isn't that great for little babies and really comes into its own in a couple of months time. I can see that it will be great when she is bigger. But if anyone can explain or even show me how to use it at this stage and save me from the Bjorn then I would be very grateful.

I am a big fan of the dream feed. With first daughter we did it from very early on as she quickly fell into an evening routine so I knew she would be ready to feed again at 10-11pm. Baby 2 has been much more difficult to settle in the early evenings, colic I think, but that seems to be improving. We introduced the DF with her a couple of weeks ago. I wake her fully and BF. It only takes 30-40 mins from waking to her being back in bed asleep. At first it didn't make much difference to when she woke for the next feed - maybe an hour later than if I had left her. But after a few days she seemed to adjust so that the post-DF became her longest stretch of sleep. She has been waking progressively later for the last few days and this morning only woke for a quick feed at 5am. Hopefully I can gradually bring the DF to nearer 10pm so I can go to bed earlier. As Pickle says, after a while you can be confident that they won't wake before the DF so can easily go out for dinner. After a while I think it gets easier to do without waking them even if BFing. With 1st daughter we continued the DF until she was established on solids - maybe 7-8 months? Gradually reduced it although probably could have stopped earlier and quicker but was too scared to rock the boat. We never had problem of her continuing to wake expecting a feed at that time.

I don't have any advice about co-sleeping but just wanted to say that I think the 5am unsettled period is quite common in very small babies. Their immature guts seem to give them grief at that time of day. My daughter was the same, sleeping well for the first part of the night but then waking at 5 regardless of what time her last feed was and being generally unsettled from then on. She is now 7 weeks old and for the last few days (really hope I'm not speaking too soon) has been much better. Maybe this phase will end soon for you too - don't know if others have found the same thing? So if you're co-sleeping out of necessity rather than desire hopefully it won't be for much longer and you can avoid buying a new crib.

We flew with 2 year old so had to get her her own seat. We took Maclaren which didn't need to be checked in on-line and we took it right to the bottom of the aeroplane steps. We paid for priority boarding and to take car seat. We got full hand luggage allowance for her because she had own seat but for under 2s sharing your seat I don't think you do, unlike the bigger airlines.

I have been trying to tackle this too. It's impossible to spend time settling a baby with a toddler in the house who constantly runs into the room shouting 'she's asleep now!'. So poor baby has to learn early to go it alone. At the risk of speaking too soon, we have had some success with the swaddle + white noise strategy. I have put her down awake for a daytime nap for the last 3 days and put her down awake this evening. She is swaddled in a really big muslin with background white noise (well oscillating pink noise actually) courtesy of simplynoise.com. We even achieved the ultimate unthinkable goal of toddler and baby both asleep at the same time this afternoon, hooray!

If you have a laptop and Google 'white noise' you can find free websites which play continuous white noise.

It's near the bottom of Barry Rd, where The Gardens meets Peckham Rye.

So shall we start with the Electrical cafe tomorrow at 10.30? Pretty sure it will be open then. Could always have P Rye park cafe as back up if it's closed.

I think it was the sweeps that worked for me. 10 days overdue with 2nd baby having being nearly 3 weeks early with 1st. According to my midwife the most recent research shows that sweeps on 3 consecutive days is the most effective way. I went in to labour on the 3rd night as did another woman having sweeps on the same days. Raspberry leaf tea doesn't bring on labour, but it is supposed to make labour easier when it occurs. And according to baby centre you have to eat something like 7 pineapples to bring on a contraction! Clary sage oil made me have really strong braxton-hicks, so much so that I thought I was in labour 3 times before the event, even shipping toddler off to stay at relatives for the night 3 weeks before the actual birth. I wonder if it did make labour easier though by preparing things in some way. If all else fails, there's always castor oil...

Not sure that having your t*ts out or sick on your shoulder will be particularly distinguishing features, Mellors! Look forward to seeing/meeting everyone tomorrow.

So, are all the Spring Babies here? Shall we do something this week? How about Tuesday morning - I think some people have toddlers in childcare then so might make things easier.