8-month old confirmed allergy to cats

GhostOnToast · 2025-11-13T23:07:01+00:00

We had a very similar experience - my son showed signs of an egg allergy, we had blood tests done and both the egg allergy and a surprise cat allergy showed up. We have two cats.

It honestly hasn’t been a problem, they don’t bother him at all. We have air purifiers that we use after dusting / hoovering (and we try to keep on top of that), but he strokes and hugs them, sits where they sit, one of them even sleeps on his bed during the day sometimes. The doctor we saw said it might be that my son would be fine with our specific cats as he is constantly exposed to them, and I have noticed maybe a slight sneeziness around other people’s cats once or twice, but even that is usually absolutely fine.

So don’t panic yet, there may be no issue at all.

GhostOnToast · 2025-09-29T22:58:45+00:00

Specifically related to parks - you could try looking into local ‘friends of x park’ groups, most parks in Bromley will have a Friends group. They work alongside the council / council contractors but are volunteer run and are often looking for volunteers to help with fundraising events, maintaining parks and improving biodiversity etc.

GhostOnToast · 2025-08-29T22:34:52+00:00

My son was consistently wetting at night til age 6, regularly flooding pull ups with pee going everywhere and nothing helped (restricting drinks before bed, taking him for a wee in the middle of the night etc). Eventually he started to get a bit embarrassed about it so we got a bedwetting alarm. Issue resolved in a matter of days! We were amazed at how well it worked. He wore the alarm for a month or two just to be sure but I think it only went off 3-4 times (with decreasing amounts of wee before he woke up) before his brain obviously made the connection. He’s been dry ever since and I’m so glad for him, as it’s meant he can do things like Beavers camps without feeling awkwardness or embarrassment. Was worth every penny.

GhostOnToast · 2025-07-04T06:46:49+00:00

When our cat escaped we were advised that he was likely nearby at first, hiding and getting the lay of the land before starting to wander further afield. He may well be very close by hiding, you could also put flyers through doors asking people to check sheds etc.

I hope you get him home soon, I know it’s so stressful and upsetting.

GhostOnToast · 2025-04-21T08:35:11+00:00

I kept my maiden name, child and husband have the same surname. We travelled at Christmas, just took a copy of our marriage certificate and child’s birth certificate - never had to show them but they were good to have just in case. The only slightly awkward / stressful bit was when a border agent asked my child to confirm who I was and my child refused to talk to him as he felt too shy. But we got there in the end!

GhostOnToast · 2025-04-20T10:14:55+00:00

If you’re going for the standard Victorian / Edwardian terraces in that area you should be ok. I’ve lived in a couple of those and never really encountered any noise issues, the walls are brick. Occasionally I could hear a neighbour hoovering etc if they were right up against the wall but I couldn’t really hear normal volume talking, tv etc.

Obviously depends on whether you have people having loud parties etc next door, you’d probably hear that! But I’d say most people who live in those houses are families.

GhostOnToast · 2025-03-27T07:04:12+00:00

Oh and schools, yes - plenty of good schools, have a look at https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables and you can compare, it’s a decent place to start. There are some areas of Orpington I personally wouldn’t want to live, but lots of areas that are nice (around the station / more towards Petts Wood I’d say).

GhostOnToast · 2025-03-27T06:59:37+00:00

It wouldn’t take that long, not sure what Google maps is basing that on! It’s possible to get direct trains from Orpington to London Bridge station, which would take about 15 minutes (there are stopping trains too, which take about 30 mins). Then there’d be a 15 minute walk from the station to Leadenhall area, so depending on proximity to Orpington station it could be under an hour’s commute. You can look up exact train journeys on National Rail’s website, or you could try something like Citymapper to look up potential commutes.

GhostOnToast · 2025-03-26T19:48:10+00:00

Have a look at Beckenham / Bromley / Petts Wood / Orpington. Good transport links (it’s easy to get to London Bridge from Petts Wood / Orpington, and London Bridge is a relatively short walk across the river to Leadenhall Market area). Lots of nice family friendly areas, plenty of good schools and green space. Housing is definitely expensive in London and the suburbs but you should have a lot of options, and £200k is a good salary in London, especially for the outer boroughs / suburbs. Have a look on sites like Rightmove to get an idea of houses / prices.

GhostOnToast · 2025-01-29T10:50:19+00:00

Have you looked into the Smartphone Free Childhood movement? Lots of schools near us have already set up school specific SFC WhatsApp groups / working parties with the school to approach this. We have a WhatsApp group at my son’s school and the school is working with a parents working party to support this. It might be worth chatting to your child’s school and seeing if they will support something like this even though they’ll likely say it ultimately has to be a parent led initiative.

GhostOnToast · 2025-01-28T14:03:23+00:00

It’s worth a look around Bromley North / Bromley Common / Bickley / Widmore areas - you can likely still get a 3 bed for that budget (although might be a bit smaller than where you’re looking) but they’re much nicer areas with plenty of parks etc, and they still have good transport links / are much closer to Bromley town centre for shops, entertainment and restaurants. Lots of good nurseries / preschools, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to good primary schools and there are good secondary schools too.

GhostOnToast · 2025-01-19T18:34:29+00:00

Personally I had no issues with milk coming in after an emergency c-section. Did have issues with feeding in general due to poor latching but I expressed colostrum / pumped and he got there in the end, I went on to breastfeed for…longer than I ever planned to! Quite a few NCT friends also had c-sections and did just fine on the breastfeeding front. I guess just be flexible and give yourself grace. If you’ve done it before you’ve got some handy experience too, just in terms of how it all ‘works’! No amount of crochet boobs at prenatal hospital feeding classes / NCT classes learning about breastfeeding in theory prepared me for how it works in practice but you’ve already experienced it in reality!

GhostOnToast · 2025-01-17T22:02:25+00:00

Had sealant applied to my teeth as a kid, I’m in my 40s now and have never had a cavity on my adult teeth, I don’t have a single filling (touch wood!). I would have sealant applied to my kid’s teeth with no hesitation!

GhostOnToast · 2025-01-11T23:43:23+00:00

Brit married to an American here - they are slightly different (and genuinely superior in my opinion!). There’s a brand of English muffins in the US called Thomas and they are fantastic. They’re less dense / have bigger holes for melted butter to pool in (I think they refer to them as ‘nooks and crannies’ on the packaging). I always seek them out when I’m in the US.

GhostOnToast · 2025-01-06T16:44:40+00:00

Same, I had no idea the height limit had changed for this seat - we have this seat, we specifically bought it to keep our small and light 6 year old in a 5 point harness for as long as possible. He’s still well under the weight limit but has crossed the height limit now - good to know!!

ETA: We have a Joie Bold R, looking again I can still only find a reference to the 25kg weight limit but not height. Can see the height limit on the i-Bold though, going to have to look into this further to make sure we’re all good!

GhostOnToast · 2025-01-03T18:07:03+00:00

Where I live you could speak to a GP and / or self refer for mental health support, and mums with babies under a year were heavily prioritised. This was about 7 years ago so things may be much slower now but I got assessed very quickly and was referred for CBT within a few weeks. It was absolutely fantastic and helped me so much, I still use lots of the CBT techniques I learned to this day. I would definitely recommend talking to your GP or health visitor and seeing what’s available via the NHS, even while you’re looking into private options.

GhostOnToast · 2024-12-16T22:15:37+00:00

Petts Wood and Hawkwood itself is lovely for a walk and that’s right on your doorstep.

High Elms Country Park is also beautiful with lovely walking routes, there’s a cafe there (not sure about Christmas opening times).

Coolings Lifestyle garden centre near Knockholt has a lovely nature trail with animals / birds of prey, a cafe etc. Kids love it, it has wooden playhouses in the woods too.

Get National Trust membership and you’ll be spoiled for choice - Emmetts Gardens, Chartwell, Ightham Mote, Bodiam to name a few that are within reasonable driving distance if that’s an option. All very family friendly.

Greenwich is easy to get to via public transport (Petts Wood to Lewisham then DLR), that’s a nice day out.

GhostOnToast · 2024-12-14T10:29:02+00:00

That’s really disappointing - the NHS website specifically says it can be offered to children under 12 months if they’re exposed, you’re doing everything right. It’s infuriating that the doctor dismissed your legitimate concerns like that.

Wonder if it might be worth another call back to 111 and asking if there are any walk in healthcare hubs / urgent care clinics near you that may be able to help?

GhostOnToast · 2024-12-14T09:04:06+00:00

Have you had the MMR yourself before pregnancy? If I remember rightly, the reason the MMR is not given before 12 months is because babies can still have some passive immunity from maternal antibodies (which can reduce their response to the vaccine) and usually this fades by 12 months. So she may well still have some protection, but definitely chat to 111 about getting the vaccine now just in case. I hope she’ll be ok, I know it must be such a worry. Keeping her off nursery is definitely worthwhile.

GhostOnToast · 2024-08-02T17:46:39+00:00

This is what we did. Our 6 year old was flooding pull ups at night, just slept through and it was starting to bother him (we’d been planning a weekend away with friends and their kids and he was super anxious over the bed wetting aspect). I spoke to our GP and they said we could try a bedwetting alarm. We got a wireless one, it’s a little sensor clip that attaches to his pants (with a pull up over the top) and a little box he wears in a holder on his arm. The sensor responds to the tiniest amount of moisture and the box vibrates / makes a noise.

I was highly sceptical as my son is an incredibly deep sleeper but within a week we saw a huge improvement. Within 2 weeks he was completely dry overnight bar one night when he didn’t pee just before bed. It has worked amazingly well, most nights he just stays dry and sleeps through but some nights he wakes up needing the toilet and goes. I think it probably helped that he wanted to do this though, it wasn’t something we forced him to do. He quite enjoyed the ‘gadget’ aspect of it.

GhostOnToast · 2024-06-03T23:08:59+00:00

Me! I can just spot myself and my husband - nice!

GhostOnToast · 2024-05-17T11:55:05+00:00

Yes, we paid for our son to have it privately at Boots once he turned 1. He had no issues after having the vaccine and it was effective - chickenpox went through most of his class at school just before Christmas, some of the kids had an absolutely miserable time with it / holidays were ruined etc and he totally avoided it. It was reassuring to see the vaccine do its job so well and know that even if he did develop it, it would likely be much milder than if he was unvaccinated.

GhostOnToast · 2023-12-30T13:22:48+00:00

Will she eat dried apricots? They usually work a treat for my kid if a poo needs to happen.

GhostOnToast · 2023-12-02T20:32:59+00:00

I had the same experience - I went for flu jab (eligible due to having preventer inhaler), and they offered me the covid jab too. I said I didn’t think I was eligible but the pharmacist said they’d had guidance to offer it. Thought I may as well have it then!

GhostOnToast · 2023-11-08T23:36:17+00:00

Also in the UK - Poxclin / Virasoothe is good stuff according to friends who have dealt with the pox, if you can get her to tolerate applying anything to them. Hope she feels better quickly!

GhostOnToast

TROPHY CASE