Top parenting tips from the experts

The Johnson’s Baby Sense Seminars are taking place at The Vineyard Hotel on Saturday, 13 September.

There is a great line-up of baby and parenting experts who will be sharing essential advice and survival tips - Meg Faure (Baby Sense co-author), Dr Claudia Gray (paediatrician), Sr Ann Richardson (Toddler Sense author) and Tina Otte (midwife and special editor of Your Pregnancy magazine).

The morning Baby Seminar will cover simulating your baby and toddler (Meg Faure), your baby’s health (Dr Claudia Gray) and sleep solutions (Sr Ann Richardson).

The afternoon Birth & Newborn Seminar explores calming and connecting with your newborn (Meg Faure), birth with sense (Tina Otte), newborn basics (Sr Ann Richardson).

Meg Faure shared the following tips ahead of the seminars:

• Stimulate your baby’s capacities broadly – physical, cognitive and language but also emotional and social areas.
• Do not over use baby seating devices. Make sure your baby has good periods of tummy time on the floor.
• Talk to your baby a lot – tell them what you are doing all the time, this encourages language development which is linked to school readiness.
• Colic is a normal period for many babies – it starts at 10 days, peaks at six weeks and abates by 12 weeks.
• To sooth your little one, re-enact the womb world – carry, swaddle and white noise.
• Bonding doesn’t necessarily happen at first sight. For many parents it is a process of falling in love that takes time.

Sr Ann Richardson’s nuggets of advice for healthy sleep:

• Separate calories from comfort from the word go!
• Watch your baby’s awake time in between naps to prevent overstimulation which can lead to fussy behaviour and the inability to sleep easily.
• Have age appropriate expectations around sleep so do accept that it might be four to six months before your baby can sleep for 10 to 12 hours at night undisturbed.
• Once your baby has learned the art of self soothing (at around three months of age) – begin to let her fall asleep by herself by putting her to sleep whilst she is still awake (but drowsy).

And some of the newborn basics she’ll be sharing include:

• Allow your partner to be the gatekeeper of well meaning visitors for the first few weeks – you will need every bit of rest to recover from the birth and establish feeding.
• Breastfeeding may take a few weeks to become truly established, so do be patient.
• Separate calories from comfort from the word go, so use your common sense and try to avoid offering feeds when only comfort is required.
• Expect the unexpected and learn to take events in your stride (such as a huge poo nappy as you are leaving home!)
• Find yourself a trusted health care provider who empowers you to be the great parent you are and who does not judge or disempower you in any way.

Tina Otte’s talk is birth with sense. She has the following pre birth and post partum advice:

Pre birth:

• Enjoy your pregnancy – it’s only 266 days where you get to help God make a miracle.
• Talk to, sing to, and read to your unborn baby – s/he is listening and knows that they are precious, wanted and above all LOVED.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff.
• ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR OWN INSTINCTS – THEY ARE NEVER WRONG!!!

Post-partum:

• Keep your baby close to you all the time. They are grown and gone before you know it.
• Look after yourself as a new mom first – even in an aeroplane you are told to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others!
• A relaxed mom – means a relaxed baby – really, don’t sweat the small stuff!

Part of Dr Claudia Gray’s talk on your baby’s health will cover allergy prevention strategies. She’ll address the 5 commonly asked allergy questions:

1. Are allergies on the increase and if so why?
2. Can I do anything to protect my newborn child against allergies?
3. My baby is colicky and uncomfortable – could it be a cow’s milk allergy?
4. Can my young baby be tested for allergies?
5. My baby is always snotty – is this an allergy?

Join the experts at the Johnson’s Baby Sense Seminars on 13 September and prepare yourself fully for those first few challenging weeks and month of parenthood. For bookings and all seminar details visit www.babysense.com/talks-and-workshops or call (021) 671 3245.

• About
• Latest Posts

Contributor

Latest posts by Contributor (see all)

• On breastfeeding and being human - September 11, 2014
• Let’s talk about lice: Infestation and treatment - September 11, 2014
• How to deal with your toddler’s lying - September 11, 2014