This is the first time I've seen someone else have an issue with fairy - everyone else insists it's the best option for sensitive skin. I used it for everything when my son was tiny and he had such sore eczema everywhere. It only clicked when we got to summer and I realized it was only where his clothes touched. Switched to a different detergent and it improved so quickly.

ESH

Obviously yelling at a kid to go to sleep and locking them in their room isn't a good way to get them to sleep independently. Your partner is out of order.

But you've both allowed it to get this far. A four year old should be able to get in bed and go to sleep - not be reliant on having to have mum there to do something specific and not be refusing to go or having to be bribed to get into bed. The time to sort this stuff out was years ago.

You need to sit down and come up with an actual game plan to get bedtime sorted out. Something you can both agree on. And it can't just be something only you can do because that's not sustainable.

Tbh, for babies the trick is routine - but the fact is that's also true for older kids and even adults. Stick to a bedtime. Stick to doing bedtime the same way every time. Stick to when bedtime happens the kid goes to bed and doesn't get to play or have extra cuddle time or one more book - and you'll be a long way to getting this sorted.

I'd assume something coming up on the survey.

My parents were house hunting last year and came across an amazing looking house which had just gone back on the market after the first sale 'fell through' for mysterious reasons. Offer accepted, started surveys and paperwork - survey came back with a lot of red flags about the electrics - and then solicitor raised the fact that they weren't getting back about building regs for their extension and a search showed they didn't actually have planning permission for it either (it was a big, two-storey extension so not permitted development.)

So my parents pulled out. It's on a route I drive quite often and I've been watching the board flip from 'for sale' to 'sold' over and over. It's ridiculous because the sellers know they have an unsellable house, they're just hoping some idiot is going to decide not to get a survey or competent solicitor involved.

All my scans were abdominal in my pregnancy and they all required (or at least I was told they required) a full bladder. My first was at 7 weeks and they could see the foetus fine.

Same. I had my son in January last year. Threw a party last May and had one beer and was sloshed like I'd drank 5. My tolerance wasn't bad pre-pregnancy but it was terrible postpartum. It does seem a bit better now, I don't drink often but I'm not fully drunk after one beer now

(I think for me it was a range of things. My son wasn't sleeping through at that point so I hadn't had an uninterrupted 8 hours in months, I was breastfeeding so got dehydrated super fast, and it was my very first drink in over a year.)

It's about finding the right one for you. Some people love SSRIs, some people don't get on with them. I'd advise giving them a go but keeping an eye out for side effects and potentially asking a close friend or family member to do so too.

CW: suicide

I was on a different SSRI in my early 20s and went from 'somewhat depressed' to making multiple actual suicide attempts. It was not the right one for me.

My ex tried Sertraline at one point. He went from a chill person to flying off the handle and punching walls. I had to raise the fact that the only thing that had changed was the Sertraline. When he stopped, the anger stopped. But he then was prescribed a different SSRI and that worked fine, helped a lot (not on its own but as part of a medication and therapy thing) and never caused any anger so 🤷‍♀️

Basically, they're a bit hit and miss. They make an amazing difference to some people, but not everyone. Give it a go. If it's not working for you or you get horrible side effects, go back to your GP and ask to try something else.

NK has smartphones. There are several brands and they're very popular. They're android phones (obviously they don't have iPhones)

Where in the UK have you been? I haven't been to a single large town or city that doesn't have a visible homelessness problem in years. Rural areas generally don't because it's less visible, not because there isn't also homelessness in the country.

Looking at stats - the UK does have higher rates of homelessness than other European states - 56.1 per 100k population - the next highest is France which is also high but many have much lower rates - eg. Spain and Italy are around 8 per 100k - so much lower.

We've got a little climbing frame (pikler triangle, slide, etc) which we get out every now and again for our son to play with. If we leave it up he doesn't use it after a few days, we have to store it away and then it's exciting again when we get it out.

Soft play isn't really a thing for that long - so unless you're planning on having loads of kids it'll not get a lot of use. They get bored of stuff quickly and by the time they're 3-4 soft play is done - so seems a lot of money and space for something that won't get loads of use.

You're out by 9 years, the UK got gay marriage in 2013. Section 28 was still in place until late 2003. It seems wild because I'm a millennial and consider myself to have grown up in much better times than older people in the community - but when in 2002 I was being bullied for being gay it was illegal for any of the teachers I told about it to even imply being gay was okay.

It's not sharing if it's a one-person toy that one person is using and then another person demands they have it right now. Would this mum like it if you took her coffee cup she was still drinking from at the play cafe because you wanted it. Nope, because that isn't sharing, is it? It's just taking.

That said, some toddlers can be a nightmare about sharing bigger toys. We went on holiday a few months back and a 3yo shoved my toddler onto the floor screaming 'mine!' because he dared stand 2ft away at a big play kitchen with room for probably 6 kids to all play at once. That is bad sharing.

I'm trying to encourage turn-taking and most parents understand that and do the same - like, hey, that boy is playing with it but if we ask nicely we can have it when he's finished. They have the attention span of gnats so it's hardly going to be hours before someone else gets a go.

Hell, yesterday my toddler was on the swing at the park and a ~7yo came over with a toddler brother and was like 'hi, can we go after you?' so a primary school child has a better grasp of things than that mum you came across.

Depends on how you consider something a success or a failure. It existed for around 600 years (from 13th to 19th century) - with public entry for bringing lion food being a thing from Elizabethan times until it closed in the 19th century. Obviously it wasn't great for the animals and animals welfare wasn't a concern the way it is today, but I'd hardly say a popular attraction that stayed open for centuries was a 'terrible failure'.

(Additional fact: The skeletons they believed to be the princes in the tower were discovered when Wren was building an extension of the zoo - it was successful enough for Wren to be employed to design additional buildings in the 17th century.)

Tantrums are normal for 2yos.

People have already mentioned natural consequences already - and it works. She may be desperate for attention with the new baby and even the negative attention she gets from biting/hitting/etc is attention.

You need to not give her attention when she does it. If she bites/kicks/etc stand up and walk away. If she throws something take it away. Telling her off is still giving her undivided attention for a moment and that's likely what she wants and just doesn't know how to get it.

So, when she's not acting out give her positive attention and make it clear you have time for her. The baby won't understand but it's a common tip for parents in your position to say to the baby 'just a minute, I'm getting your sister a snack' or whatever you're doing for the toddler - not just drop everything for the baby every time. It's a tricky transition for an older sibling and even though a baby takes a lot of time and attention, you need to make it clear you aren't forgetting about her.

It really depends on the school. When I went, there was a limited amount of mix and match. As a girl I could wear:

Summer - school dress (navy checked) or a short-sleeve blouse and navy school skirt, white socks or skin-coloured tights.

Winter - long sleeved blouse and navy skirt or trousers, blazer and either a navy jumper or navy cardigan (both available with logo) and either navy tights or navy socks

In primary I also had the option of a pinafore instead of a skirt.

Oh, and for pe we all wore the same logo t-shirt - but could wear shorts or a sports skirt in summer and either of those or joggers in the winter.

Useful to note - the uniform changed from winter to summer and back and then it was set - if it was cold in May you still had to wear your little summer dress, if it was hot in February you still had to wear your jumper and blazer.

We have the big one and it's hardly massive. Our son is 16m and can carry it about quite happily, it fits in the nappy bag in a pinch and uses the same charger as my phone so easy to charge.

We bought the Yoto as the card player for now (our son loves music and dancing and now he can turn the music on and off himself) but we wanted the clock/wake light for later too so seemed worth the price.

But as I said, it's light and fully portable - it moves around our house as needed and has been on car trips, to my parents', etc without issue. The mini seems a bit small, imo, I'd be scared we'd lose it super easily.

Routine. The secret to decent nap and bedtimes is pick a routine and then stick it religiously. It doesn't work night one but over time it makes bedtime much less stressful for everyone involved.

From what you've said, it seems like there have been major changes to bedtime every couple of months. I was desperate to get mine to sleep and would try anything - but chopping and changing everything frequently actually makes it harder.

My son is now 16m and not only does he fall asleep in his crib within 5-10 minutes but he's started doing the pre-bed routine himself (it's teeth, moisturiser, pyjamas, book, sleep sack, lullaby, bed - he'll grab his moisturiser once I've put away the toothbrush, run across to the bookshelf once I finish buttoning his pyjamas, etc.) I'm not saying this to brag, I'm saying this because once upon a time I was desperate to have him go to sleep and would spend the day dreading bedtime because it was so stressful. And I legitimately didn't believe he'd ever be a good sleeper because he was an absolute nightmare to get to sleep. But I stuck to a routine and pretty quickly everything got easier.

Really weirdly we had a very similar experience when we were house hunting a few years ago. We went for a viewing and the estate agent had said there was lots of interest so they were doing viewings all day Saturday and we booked a slot. Rocked up about 20 minutes early and we're sat in the car and no one came in or out until a few minutes before time. But then when we went up at the time of the viewing, apparently two other families were looking around - similarly they spoke little English except to make scripted-sounding positive statements about the house ("wow, what a big and well-designed kitchen" "they had two bathrooms? So convenient")

Tbh, the house was awful so we didn't want to make an offer and I didn't think much of it beyond having a laugh on the drive to the next house (we did 4 viewings that day and bought the house we saw straight after) but weird that someone else apparently had such a similar experience.

I think your idea that Sweden has a single phenotype (I'm assuming you're imagining tall, pale, blond, etc) is pretty far from the actual reality of Sweden. 1/4 of all births, for example, are to families where neither parent was born in Sweden.

It's hard to find stats that break it down into White vs BME (different countries have different ways of defining this stuff - and obviously some of the Swedish-born parents won't be white - either because they're indigenous or because their parents/grandparents settled in Sweden - and some of the non-Swedish parents will be white.) Similarly, 27-30% of people in Sweden aren't of Swedish descent but again, none of the stats I can find say how many of those Swedes are white by our definition and how many non-Swedes are white.

Anecdotally, I work with Somali people a lot. I know dozens of Swedish nationals and none of them are white. Their kids were often born in Sweden and went to Swedish nurseries and schools - sometimes their kids are still in Sweden because they're in school there. It isn't the big blond monolith people seem to picture.

How is she at drinking from something else? If she's competent with a cup then I'd just go for a different cup (in colour, pattern, whatever) from what she uses for water. My son is 16m and happily drinks milk from a little ikea cup but has water from a water bottle and that seems to be fine - as he knows what to expect when he takes a sip.

I know a lot of people are suggesting sippy cups - but then you just have to go through another transition to cups again in a few months - and open cups are what she's going to be using for the rest of her life (and so much easier to clean too.)

Were sending ours to the school nursery from 3. It's attached to the primary school he's likely to go to and I think it'll be nice for him to be there as early as possible. I don't want him going in at 4/5 and all the other kids have already formed their friend groups at nursery.

Yes. Mine was horrific, it started on my hands and spread all up my arms and I had patches on my face too. My hands were constantly sore, red and bleeding. I ended up with steroid cream which worked to get it back under control but then it came back a few weeks later.

It went away once I weaned my son. That was my hope throughout because I was worried it would just continue forever. But it started a few weeks postpartum and my hands were back to normal a few weeks after finishing weaning - so seems pretty clear-cut hormones in my case.

It's an awkward one.

I run a rainbows group and the person who used to run it insisted on doing mother's day crafts - and there was literally always at least one little girl who got really upset because her mum was dead or she had lost custody or similar reason. I don't insist on doing mother's day now I'm in charge but we usually do a craft that could be given as a gift the week before - lots of girls say it's for their mum although many say it's for gran/dad/big sister because they've already made 5 mother's day crafts at school.

Our son doesn't have a dad - we're a two mum family - and I do wonder what he'll do once he's big enough to do father's day crafts. I assume he'll give them to my dad/his grandad - and will need to make us fight each year over his mother's day craft.

We have the IKEA one. Sheets fit fine (you just check the dimensions as you would when buying any other sheets) and not had any problems getting sheets that fit in the colours/designs we like. I like the size of the cot, it's smaller than some of the absolute monsters we've seen but it suits us and is plenty big enough for our (tall) toddler.

I didn't have a colonoscopy but when my son was around 9m (and still breastfeeding) I went into hospital for (day) surgery - and I had some similar concerns.

I'd suggest talking to the team about it. I felt awkward mentioning the fact that I was breastfeeding but the staff were really great about it and allowed me to have him with me before I went down.

If you're worried about the medications and medical stuff, there's some info about colonoscopy and breastfeeding here

In preparation for being absent for several hours and potentially longer (there was a possibility of being away overnight) I pumped a fair amount but he ended up drinking way less than I expected. By 9m he was already eating a fair bit so my partner mainly kept him going with snacks while I was gone. And he was perfectly happy and glad to see me when they let me come home.

I'd leave it a while. My body took months to settle back. My waist reappeared about 10 months postpartum, just as I'd accepted I'd be a rectangle forever - and my shoes fitted weird for at least the first 6 months but now fit fine. I didn't have any issues with my fingers swelling so can't give an estimate on how long those can take - but not all changes are permanent for everyone and it takes different people different times to recover.