Parenting 101: 1 February 2013
Jenni Johnson, our resident ‘Baby Whisperer’, has been a practicing child-care practitioner for 15 years, and owns a busy ante and post natal clinic in Durban. This week she talks about using the telephone and maternity leave, among other things.
* By the age of 4 your child should know how to use a telephone correctly, that is to call you in case of an emergency and to answer the telephone in an appropriate way.
* Teach your caregiver to sing nursery rhymes with actions to your baby, this can be done from 6 months of age and should be part of a daily routine. If you’ve forgotten your nursery rhymes please email me on [email protected] and I’ll send some to you.
* Children are creatures of habit so before you hand over your cellphone or car keys with remote to your baby as a distraction, think twice, they will not forget what fun it was to drool all over them possibly rendering them useless!
* Colostrum is your first milk and your baby needs very little to thrive in those first few days of birth, in fact 15 mls of colostrum is equal to 65mls of formula and your babys tummy is not much bigger than a marble when first born so do lots of breastfeeding with this miracle milk.
* I teach my mums that whilst on maternity leave they should try and not waste their precious time at home on worrying about going back to work and when they do go back I ask them to not negotiate anything with their bosses for the first month, nor resign and not to fight with their partners. Give it time.
* Catch Jenni on-air every day just after 10am with her tip of the day.
At Jenni’s ante and post natal clinic in Durban, parents are taught a system that gives them structure and routine to the baby and childhood years. Jenni has a nursing background. She’s a registered nurse, midwife, psychiatric nurse and private nurse practitioner.
Jenni’s online clinic, can be accessed online via www.jennisays.com. For appointments, e-mail [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter via @JenniSays or on Facebook by 'liking' The Berea Baby Clinic.