h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey Everyone,

We should get together and do some collaborative topics. As parents we might not have much time to write entries, but between us there's a lot of expertise

Anyone got any suggestions?



Anna

Probably should suggest one myself.

How about Travelling on Public Transport with a Pram?

Started off at A863084



Anna

Hi Anna,
Good topic to kick off with. Sure we have all suffered with pram rage at one time or another.

I wanted to write an entry on kids sleeping. Some children seem to sleep soundly for many hours, but others wake at the slightest disturbance, and give thier parents countless sleepless night.

Regretably I never got round to it, but I'm sure with our combined contributions we write an entry that would give any parent some good tips on how to get a good nights sleep.

I've been sketching out some stuff on breastfeeding - but I loist the first outline when the computer crashed

I woiuld lead a lot of other viewpoints - pros and cons on all aspects to make it work - time time thime where are you?

Theres loads of stuff that entries could be written on..1st time pregnancy (what to expect etc), post natal depression, early child development, sleep probs, breast feeding (theyve already been mentioned), when your child starts school,A.D.D and hyperactivity,feeding probs/getting them to eat healthy..etc etc lol
Think ive got a little too much time on my hands...

Hi again, Clociscat, breastfeeding is a very important topic, I guess. Unfortunately I have had quite a bad experience on breastfeeding - several inflammations of the breasts and not enough milk. Now I think I am an expert in treating of inflammations. So we had to give Kata (2 years) and Pavel (10 months) milk bottles (BEBA from Nestle).

It was very hard to me accepting that I am not able to feed my child (the first one, with the second one I hadn´t such problems) myself. All my friends, who also got their children now, feeded their babies until they (the babies) were at least ten months old.

What kind of info on breastfeeding are you looking for?

Breastfeeding is coming back as well as the 'natural birth', etc. It is important for the psyche and health of children and so on.

See you soon, Anna Banana

Hi Anna!

My ideas - as I've been sitting with baby fastened to breast and lots of time to think! - have covered quite a lot of breastfeeding. I don't know about your experience, but I feel that in this country women get two very contradictory pictures. The Government and the health service do a lot of marketing to support breastfeeding: while you are pregnant you are loaded down with leaflets telling you not just how important it is, but how easy it is. Then you hear friends and relatives telling you their horror stories - what are you supposed to think? The natural cynical reaction (especially with the British character) is to mistrust the official line.

Frankly, I'd like to put together a series of entries which don't just say "oh it's so easy, it's wonderful" but also don't just dwell on mastitis, cracked nipples and so on. I'd like to make it clear that it *is* going to be an effort, there will be problems, but it's worth really, really having a go.

So: lots of input from people about how they overcame problems, what made it worth carrying on, and if they didn't overcome them, what might have helped.

What do you think?

Cloviscat that sounds brilliant - I'm happy to contribute too with my own yukky horror stories!

JustMe - you've got some excellent suggestions for topics too

I was thinking about doing one on finger games - you know 'Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear' and 'Here's a church, here's a steeple, open the door and here's all the people'.



Anna

It's a nice idea Anna, but imagine all the flame wars there will be while we work out the alternative wordings for differents parts of the world!

For a start off - you're completely wrong!!! It's Here's *the* church, here's *the* steeple, open the door and here's *the* people

This could turn nasty

Hi Cloviscat, the situation you´ve described is the same as in Germany. Everybody is talking how nice the breast feeding is and then.... I had 3 inflammations while feeding the first child, being terrorised by my mother who insisted on keeping breast feeding, meanwhile I just didn´t have enough milk. Our poor daughter screamed the first three months not only because of the colics, but also because she was hungry. Finally I gave it up and she got artificial milk. From that moment she was much happier and we also. So the nr. 2 got his bottle already in the hospital. I feeded him a bit for giving some antibodies and as the first inflammation began I stopped it with some medicine.

I have some recommendations on the 'mastitis' topic: if one gets it one can try compresses of cottage cheese (?, in German = Quark), they will cool the hotbed of the inflammation, the German midwives adore the cottage cheese method. One has to put it on the breast, then to wrap it up with a plastic foil and to held for some 15 minutes.

Russian midwives recommend to warm breast with compresses of cabbage leaves or backed onion and honey paste .

Women have also to massage the inflamed breast from where the knot is towards the nipple, so that the milk can go out. If the husband is reliable one he can also do this.

If the mother decides to give up the breast feeding she should not have remorses because satisfied babies (and consequently their parents) are more important than the breast feeding, aren´t they?

Hi... Don't believe any of that 'mothermilk is more healthy' stories. It's a myth

I hope you can use this information for the entry. If you wish to know more about the 'artificial' milk I could write a bit about the modern achievements. Silly Anna Banana! There are probably different producers and products in the UK and Germany, as well as different standards etc.

All the best to the little , yours Anna Banana (not to confuse with the italic Anna)

Thank you Anmna! How interesting...

I will write a fuller reply later, but it's odd to note that I've never ever heard of the cottage cheese/Quark method (we'd use either time for thast stuff) but *everybody* talks about the cabbage leaves!

Speak soon

Dear Anna Banana,

I wish I'd known about the quark remedy when I had mastitis!

Dear Cloviscat,

If you need any help, give me a shout

Anna

Hello, Anna (not Banana) and Cloviscat, our conversation became a bit quiet. What do you think about an entry on a topic 'What babies do need and what they do not'. I´ve thought about all that first-time-parents and grandparents who buy all the rubbish like sterilisers and nappy wrappers. They just do not know that they will need money later (education) and that they just do not need most of these things.

The entry is already written, I have to add some details, but I am not sure if I should post it to PR or not. In opinion of my dear husband, Hell, it should have another form. Could you help me please? What do you think about it?

Yours Anna Banana

Hello Anna,

That's a brilliant subject for an entry. I'd be happy to take a look at it before it goes into PR. What's the A number?



Anna

I'd love to read it too.

The one thing babies need more than anything else is lots of love.
Second to that is an never ending supply of baby wipes, how did parents survive before they were invented?

Isn't that weird - I was thinking through an entry on exactly this topic just yesterday - sort of a Beginner's Guide to Buying for Baby...

I was looking at all the different bibs I have - plastic-backed, sleeved, towelling, cotton, popover and so on...

...Must say though, couldn't have managed without my steriliser - what dfon't you like about them, AB?

I think bib design still has a long way to go. With a dribbly baby it's almost impossible to stop milk trickling down under the bib.

Plastic backed work best, but it's so much hassle having to wash them all the time, and the platic falls to pieces in the tumble dryer.

I prefer the elasticated necks to the tie up ones but babies outgrow the neck sizes so quickly.

There's an answer to that Simon - it's not putting them in the tumble dryer - because we haven't got one!

I do depend on the plastic backed, although th constant rustling annoys me. However, she's had a cold these last few days, and has been so wet that she's got chafed under her chin, poor lamb. I've been using the softest cotton bibs I have, changed every hour and popped on the radiator to dry, then all in the washing machine at the end of the day...

Tie bibs are evil - never use ‘em

The Clovisdkitten *must* have a sleeved bib on when she’s eating - she’s so messy!

http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/bc/cloviscatscout/vwp?.dir=/Family&.src=ph&.dnm=Asleep+at+7+months+old.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//uk.photos.yahoo.com/bc/cloviscatscout/lst%3f%26.dir=/Family%26.src=ph%26.view=t