Parenting 101: 4 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 trust and room temperatures, among other things. 

* If you have a nanny helping you with raising your children remember that this relationship revolves around respect and trust. Honesty creates trust and so when setting up the initial contract with each other put this in as one of the conditions. It means that if you’re unhappy with something you can express yourself, and likewise your nanny will not feel afraid to tell you how your child fell and grazed his knee for example.

* Managing the February heat with a newborn baby can be tricky. If you like to swaddle your baby use a muslin blanket, which can also be used as a light covering on very hot days. Keep aircon cool but not freezing. Fans are fine -- there is no problem with a ceiling fan but if using a portable one direct the draught away from baby. If you don’t have air-conditioning or a fan then dressing baby in just a vest and nappy is fine.  

* Supporting a local farmers' market is a wonderful way to ‘go green’. Talk to your kids about the importance of eating healthy foods and how that gives us more energy to play and have fun. Encourage your child to enjoy the samples and try some new fruits and veggies.

* The guideline with most car seats is that you can change to a forward facing seat when your baby reaches 9 kg in weight. The average age when this happens is around 8 months. Some babies may weigh this long before and some babies don’t weigh 9 kgs at even 15 months old so use this weight  as a guideline. I often find that from about 9 months some children may weigh less but are simply too tall to still be facing backwards.

* Party food for little ones can be fun if you do it the old fashioned way. For 2 years up make jelly oranges/ boudoir biscuit cars/ and do-it-yourself decorated Marie biscuits. Hand-held frozen yoghurts are delicious in the summer months. Go to jennisays.com for ‘how to’ guidelines.

* 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.