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Hi, I am a mum to a boy that just turned 3. I began feeling something was a bit off with his development early on, say at 6 months old. Mostly small things, but collectively just seemed off balance to my elder child's development. Some examples would include fussy eater, didn't like the 'feel' or textures of food and some inanimate objects, was a little later to sit unaided, to walk and very slow speech, won't kiss me or anyone else, ignores me when I'm speaking to him, doesn't like noise. At about 9 months he started with his first tic, blinking excessively.

Now he just turned 3, he speech has come on but is still very broken with only some flow, he does receive speech therapy and hearing issues have been ruled out. He refer's to himself as 'me' instead of 'I' i.e "me watching TV" "mine car", he has a stutter and a whole host of speech issues (drops first letter of words, doesn't use sentences) and has a host of motor tic (blinking, eye rolling, eyebrow lifting/frowning, teeth grinding, shrugging, finger rubbing) and is very particular about order.

He is a fairly quiet child and likes to do quiet type activites such as drawing, playing with cars by himself, playing with figures, fiddling with zips and shoe laces etc. He still won't kiss me.

He does make eye contact as and when he wants to, he tells me he loves me and good night and is quite tactful, he doesn't hand flap, he's not aggressive or hyper.

My brother who is in his 30's was recently diagnosed with tourette's and ADHA, and I can see some similarities between my brother as a child and my son. My son's father also has a lot of motor tics but has never had them investigated.

I've spoken to health visitor several times about the possibility of my son having aspergers, since he was about 9 months old, but she always just says you never find two kids the same, or stop comparing your children.

Does anyone recognise any of these symptoms? should I be concerned? should I get a second opinion?

I have spoken with my son's crèche and they say he is fine and on target. And I also spoke to my son's speech therapist, who said she does see some signs of autism, but they may clear once he has a better grasp of speech.

He just started school and the tics seem really bad the last 3 days.

Any advice would be gratefully received :-)

Hi, I am a mum to a boy that just turned 3. I began feeling something was a bit off with his development early on, say at 6 months old. Mostly small things, but collectively just seemed off balance to my elder child's development. Some examples would include fussy eater, didn't like the 'feel' or textures of food and some inanimate objects, was a little later to sit unaided, to walk and very slow speech, won't kiss me or anyone else, ignores me when I'm speaking to him, doesn't like noise. At about 9 months he started with his first tic, blinking excessively.

Now he just turned 3, he speech has come on but is still very broken with only some flow, he does receive speech therapy and hearing issues have been ruled out. He refer's to himself as 'me' instead of 'I' i.e "me watching TV" "mine car", he has a stutter and a whole host of speech issues (drops first letter of words, doesn't use sentences) and has a host of motor tic (blinking, eye rolling, eyebrow lifting/frowning, teeth grinding, shrugging, finger rubbing) and is very particular about order.

He is a fairly quiet child and likes to do quiet type activites such as drawing, playing with cars by himself, playing with figures, fiddling with zips and shoe laces etc. He still won't kiss me.

He does make eye contact as and when he wants to, he tells me he loves me and good night and is quite tactful, he doesn't hand flap, he's not aggressive or hyper.

My brother who is in his 30's was recently diagnosed with tourette's and ADHA, and I can see some similarities between my brother as a child and my son. My son's father also has a lot of motor tics but has never had them investigated.

I've spoken to health visitor several times about the possibility of my son having aspergers, since he was about 9 months old, but she always just says you never find two kids the same, or stop comparing your children.

Does anyone recognise any of these symptoms? should I be concerned? should I get a second opinion?

I have spoken with my son's crèche and they say he is fine and on target. And I also spoke to my son's speech therapist, who said she does see some signs of autism, but they may clear once he has a better grasp of speech.

He just started school and the tics seem really bad the last 3 days.

Any advice would be gratefully received :-)

i really want o buy my 2yo a balance bike, but i'm struggling with deciding to pay out for a puky or strider or if i could save a few bob and buy a cheaper one but still get a good quality product.

Please advise me if you have bought a toddler a balance bike

cheap and cheerful Vs quality

i really want o buy my 2yo a balance bike, but i'm struggling with deciding to pay out for a puky or strider or if i could save a few bob and buy a cheaper one but still get a good quality product.

Please advise me if you have bought a toddler a balance bike

cheap and cheerful Vs quality

I'm a stay at home mum, i talk to him all day long, i try to use repetitive words and to make talking about things interesting for him.

He can understand everything i say. If we read a book and i ask him to point at the dog, the man, the car etc he can. If i ask him to get me something or to go somewhere he understands.

I don't talk to him in any baby language, just normal adult speach.

The only things he can ALMOST say is 'ar' or 'ar-c c' for car, and he;s only added the c at the end because i'm always trying to get him to sound it out, i say car, c, car so now he has started to copy by saying ar-c. he says ssss for juice but thats it.

he babbles all day long raising the tones of his voice as if he is really having a conversation, but no real words.

I am really begining to worry.

Any advice? Health visitor says she will send him for speach therapy after his 2nd b'day

I'm 5 days late for my period, not on any birth control and have no pregnancy symptoms and no PMT or pre menstrual symptoms.

I am confused!

I thought i was pregnant but thought i would wait until i had passed the due date of my period before testing.By the time that day arrived, i stopped 'feeling' pregnant but did the test anyway as i'd bought it.

It came back neg. I tested again 1 day after missed period, neg. And tested again today (5 days passed) and still neg.

The only thing that feels 'odd' is that i have a real bloated type feeling.

Any ideas whats going on?

Have you had NO pregnancy symptoms at all, but still been pregnant?

My period was due on the 29th Feb, i did a home preg test on 25th as i felt sick for a few days, i did another on the 1st march, and another today (4th march) all have come back negative. The 1st one i know was way too early but i had a very early result in my last pregnancy so thought i'd just try.

I oiginonally thought i may have been preg before i did 1st test and before i'd missed period, but now i have no signs of period and no pregnancy signs either.

I'm not on any birth control, im not stressed, im neither under weight nor over weight.

Any ideas as to why i am so late?

My eldest is way too old for time out now and my youngest is not quite old enough, but just out of curiosity, what age was your child when you started to use time out as a discipline?

I think my eldest was about 2 or 3 but i cant really remember that far back accurately now

I have 2 sons, my youngest will be 16 months in about a week. He cant say any real words. He converses a lot through bable and tones etc and he also points to items he wants. He can understand all simple requests like can mammy have a kiss, go get a nappy, and he will go stand by the highchair if i say im bringing breakfast etc. But the only word he regularly uses is "ta" for thank you.

I've been to see the health visitor, she said i'm expecting way too much, i've also spoken to the nursery nurses at the creche my son attends once a week and they also say he is coming along fine.

But, i know my eldest son was talking fairly well by this stage, he could say loads of single words like mammy, daddy, drink, up, down, and even sometimes 2 words together like new shoes or my shoes etc.

Im getting worried.

Can your 16 month old use any words (even if it is only you that understands them)?

Hi have a major dilema... i recently made my son a 2 tier madera cake for his 1st birthday. I just had a whim and did the best i could (i NEVER ever bake!!!)

Problem is, someone has now asked me to make one for their childs 1st birthday. Ive said yes, but i dont really know how to decorate cakes or the first thing about baking. Please can someone give me advice on...

1) if i make the bottom tier a 10" cake, should the top tier then be an 8" or 6"?

2) do i put both cakes on individual cake boards and then put the whole thing on a bigger board? say like a 12" or a 14"?

Many thanks, i'm having a mini panic attack at the thought of messing it up for someone else :-s

would anyone care to tell me how much their quality of life increased after they started a gluten free diet?

I am dreading it if the results say i have it because changing my diet that extremly seems like heck of a lot of hard work.

If i do need to change my diet, the biggest incentive will be if i see real benefits in my energy levels (ive lived with these tummy pains and unpredictable bowel activity for sooo long, i think ive just accepted it and got used to it.

But i really have very low energy levels which affects every aspect of my life, especially as a mother!

Did any celiac suffers feel a massive boost in energy once you got started on your new diet???

Please share your experiences as i have no real knowledge of this condition yet :-s

I am trying to buy a case/cover and am not exactly sure which generation ipod it is.

And how do i know which one i have?

could someone please explain exactly what each is and the pros and cons of each?

i am ideally looking for something to help with posture and core muscle strength after back/neck/shoulder injuries and c-sections

any ideas?

i seem to remember from having my eldest child that babies can not drink unboiled tap water until they are 12 months old.

Is this correct?

It seems reallt silly to me that on my baby's 1st birthday i will all of a sudden stop sterilizing bottles and feeding equipment, stop formular milk and introduce him to unboiled water.

Wouldnt it make more sense to do these introductions slowly, over a few weeks or months?

i had a baby almost 10 months ago and have been through a horrendous few years.

Obvs i have heard of post natal depression, and although i do feel a bit depressed and detatched, i keep getting panic attacks for really stupid things and worrying about minor things to huge extent.

Is there such a thing as post natal anxiety??? :-s

if so, what do i do about it? and i how do i stop myself panicing over pathetic things?

Hey, I'm trying to find a book on puberty for my son who is 10yo. He already knows most things about puberty, sex and growing up as it's something ive always discussed with him on some level (age dependant).

The thing is, i've always spoken to him in a biological/science and love/relationship kind of way. Never in a 'we are mates' kind of way. The books i have found on Amazon are SOOOO NOT what i was expecting from a pre-teen book. Casually talking about 'stiffy's' and stuff. I see this maybe humerous for a 15 yo lad. But not quite what i am looking for for my 10yo.

Any mums or dads already bought these kinds of books. Could you let me know of any that follow the way i have already started explaining things to my son. Based more on biology.

I'm not prude with my son, but i do not want to overwhelm him.

He reads independently, so i'd like the book to be the kind of thing he could read with me or use as teenage guide and pick up and leaf through at his leisure alone.

Thanks for sharing experiences

i split up from my baby's dad while i was still pregnant because he was violent/aggressive whilst i was carrying his child. I did reconcile briefly the day baby was born, but 5 weeks later he attacked me again (post c-section).

I have been allowing him contact under my supervision since april. This last month i allowed him to take the baby away for the weekend unsupervised and again this weekend (in the hope that he now knows how to look after/comfort baby).

The first visit went OK, but i ended up spending the days with them as he invited me along to reassure me baby was ok. This weekend i left them alone completely. On the fri night he text to say baby was unsettled and upset. I asked him to bring baby home. He said no. So i text him saying baby was too young to be away for over night visits as he is only 7 months old and hardly knows his father.He phones me being abusive and i knew he had been drinking. He refused to tell me where he was staying. On sat night (midnight) he text to say he was leaving the hotel and heading to his friends. He lateradmittedd drinking. By now, i knew the name of the hotel so called them and explained. They said he was still in his room. They had seen him with the baby earlier and all seemed well.

Today is sunday, baby has come home. He has slight nappy rash, but seemed VERY withdrawn and ? unhappy ? not his normally bubbly noisy self, and just laid his head on my shoulder.

This is completely out of character for my baby.

His dad was chewing gum and shaking. He admited "having a few beers". I'm sure he took my baby on a drinking session, but can not prove it.

I have turned my phone off and want no more to do with him. I dont think he is interested with the baby, just with me as all the calls and texts that ive had this weekend have been abusive towards me and accusing me of being a sl*g etc.

I plan to keep my phone off indefinitely, and wait to see if i receive a solicitors letter for contact. (He does know my address).

Do you think i am being moral? and legal? He is named on birth cert, but has no court order for access.

My baby is 7 months old, only seen his dad aprox 8 times since april and 2 occasions alone away from me and baby's home.

I have no knowledge on baking, but would like to start trying some new things. Could you please explain to me the different types of icing and what they are traditionally used for.

I've heard of royal icing and butter icing but i only know butter icing goes in the middle of a cake lol.

Could you please only answer in English/British lingo as i don't want to get even more confused between 'sugar frosting' etc

Thank you for your help :-)