For nine months your baby was nurtured in the ideal sensory world of the womb. From this calm environment your baby emerged into our busy sensory world.  At birth human babies are less mature than almost any other mammal. Their little brain is not capable of any conscious decision or voluntary movement but is an advanced sensory organ. In other words the brain takes in information from the senses and over time learns to process and make sense of the new sensory input.

Meg Faure, OT and author of The Babysense Secret shows you the best ways to ease your baby into our busy world by preventing the world from over stimulating him and by mimicing the womb world:

Prevent overstimulation
In young babies, the process of filtering out unnecessary or excessive sensory input is not yet mature. So your newborn will be easily over stimulated. This can result in colic and will mean your little one won’t fall asleep easily. To prevent colic, ease your baby into the world by ensuring he does not become over stimulated. Watch for signs of overstimulation and ensure your newborn sleeps regularly.

Mimic the womb
You can mimic the womb world to ensure a smooth and calm transition into the world for your newborn by swaddling, massaging and wearing your baby.
• Swaddling (wrapping in a stretchy blanket) has been proven to calm young babies and help them sleep well.
• Baby massage is a fantastic tool for calming a baby and has all day benefits. Your baby has come from a space where skin to skin touch is the norm and he will really love your touch.
• Movement is lulling for your baby – wearing your baby in a sling or pouch mimics the womb environment he came from and will soothe him very effectively.

Bear in mind the sensory world of the womb and watch your baby’s signals of overstimulation - these are the best ways to ease your baby from womb to world.

Almost any mom will admit that she wants her baby to be one of the clever ones - a smart little chap. We know life is easier for bright and clever people. For this reason as parents we invest time and energy in ensuring that our baby develops optimally and is well stimulated.
Research is constantly looking at the key influences on intelligence. Timothy Taylor, PhD, in his book The Artificial Ape, published in July 2010, looks at the inventions that changed the course of human development. As we know, human babies are born less mature than almost any other mammal on earth and their survival depends on the mother (or father) to care for the baby 24 hours a day. In prehistoric times, only the stronger and more mature babies would survive. The intelligent but physically weaker babies would simply not survive. The invention of the baby sling over 2 million years ago changed all this. By being carried by their mothers in an ‘artificially lengthened gestation’, human babies had a significantly greater chance of survival and became brighter with more well developed brains. There are good reasons for this:

Slings mimic the womb world
In the calm world of the womb, your baby is rocked and soothed with movement all day. It is not surprising that many newborn babies fuss when they are put down in the early days. Your baby is signalling that she wishes to be held and soothed by your body’s movements. However, holding a baby can over stimulate them if they are passed from person to person or fiddled with. A better way to hold your baby is with consistent touch, such as that provided by a baby carrier. By imitating the womb world, you can expect a calmer and happier baby. If your baby is calmer more of the time, she will be more available to stimulation and will learn readily from her world.

[Read more about the womb to world effect on infant calming]

Slings enhance social awareness
Babies who are carried in slings see the world through their mom’s eyes and vice versa. The baby learns from mom’s face and her expressions and is more in touch with language – both verbal and non verbal. Likewise, by having your baby against your chest, you can read her signals and see what she is looking at. This enhances language development as well as social skills, which are a vital part of intelligence.

Vestibular stimulation
Not only does a content baby learn more from her world in the calm alert state, but in addition, the motion of your body stimulates your baby’s vestibular system, developing muscle tone and enhancing motor development.

Sleep
Our brains need a certain amount of movement to sleep well for long periods, just think how well you sleep after a good hike or exhilarating run. Babies are no different and it is known that babies who are ‘worn’ during the day sleep better and for longer stretches day and night. A well rested baby is more available to learn from stimulation and can concentrate on activities for longer.

Of course there are numerous other tools and activities we do in the first three years of life that encourage our baby to reach her potential, but a sling is such an easy way to encourage your baby’s intelligence and development! So here is to slings.

For nine months your baby is nurtured in the ideal world of the womb. From this calm environment your baby emerges into a busy sensory world.  The transition to the harsh world can to be made smoother by you.

Your baby’s brain acts like a sponge absorbing all the new sensory information of the world outside the womb. In the early days your baby is very susceptible to overstimulation. Becoming over simulated results in fussing and an unsettled baby, who won’t sleep. By keeping your baby’s world calm and mimicking the world of the womb your baby will be calmer and the transition from womb to world will be a smooth one.

There are seven easy tips to promote a smooth and calm transition into the world for your newborn.

Sensory environment – Develop ‘sensory eyes’ to read what may be causing your baby
to be over stimulated, such as a loud and busy room or the smell of strong perfume. Remove your baby from the stimulus or change to a more calming environment.

Self calming - Encourage your baby to self calm by giving your baby the space to
develop her own self calming tools, such as sucking her hands or clasping them together.

Swaddling – Tightly wrapping your baby in a stretchy blanket has been proven to calm
young babies significantly and help them sleep well.

Soothing touch - Baby massage is a fantastic tool for calming a baby and has all
day benefits as well as helping your baby to sleep well at night.

Sling or Pouch – Movement is lulling for your baby, mimicking womb environment it
soothes babies very effectively.

Sounds for calming – Sounds such as white noise, e.g. the sounds of waves or radio static
absorbs other sounds and is very calming for your baby. Lullabies and nature music help with calming and sleep.

Stick to one strategy for 5 minutes – The last thing an over stimulated baby needs
is a lot of quick changes and each intervention you use is a stimulus for a short time, until your baby gets used to it. So try any of the above strategies for at least 5 minutes before trying the next.

By following the Baby Sense principles for a calm baby and bearing in mind the sensory world, the early stage of mothering will be a happy one with memories of happiness and new experiences.

All the best with this precious journey – May it be filled with Happy Days and Peaceful Nights!!!

More information about the way to nurture a calm baby who sleeps well can be found in Baby Sense, Metz Press or The Babysense Secret, DK.

The process of interviewing and selecting the prefect nanny is potentially very challenging, there are many wonderful women (and men) with a passion for children looking for work as nannies. The key is to find the perfect nanny for your family and home.

When looking for a potential nanny, there are a few considerations to make before you brief placement agencies or prepare to source potential candidates in order to set up interviews.

Ask yourself the following questions, many of which are not entirely politically correct, however one needs to be honest with oneself when looking for someone to care for your baby, be in your home and share your space. It makes it much easier for the agencies to select suitable candidates if they have all the information.

• Do I have a preferred age group that I would like to have working for me?
• Would I prefer a person of specific religious or cultural background?
• Do I mind if the person is loud and energetic or would I prefer a quieter person?
• Do I want the nanny to live in or live out?
• Would I be comfortable with a man caring for my children?
• Is it essential that the candidate has training, or am I willing to train them myself?

Answering each of these questions honestly will help make your first impression a good one, allowing you to focus on the interview.

When the time comes to interview the candidates, there are many questions that need to be answered, below are some that may be helpful. There is no need to go through them all, however you may find that its worth it to get all the information you need.  Remember that an interview is stressful and even more so for someone who does not speak your language as a home language, so be patient, be kind and make the person feel safe to answer the questions to the best of their ability, There are no trick questions. The most important thing is to listen carefully to what she says and watch what she does, how she interacts with your child. Be attuned to your own emotional responses, as well: How at comfortable do you feel with her? How easy is it to communicate with her?
And whatever you do, don't dominate the conversation – let her do most of the talking. Your objective is to give her a sense of the job, but more than anything, get to know her and whether she'll fit in with your family.
Try to have your child around at some point during the interview – or even throughout – so you can observe how the candidate interacts with your child and how your child interacts with her.

Nanny Interview Questions

1. How long have you been a nanny?
2. What was your last job caring for children like? How old were the children? What was the family like? What were your responsibilities? What hours did you work? Why did the job end?
3. Why are you looking for a new position?
4. What would a typical day be for you with a child my child's age?
5. What kinds of activities would you plan to do?
6. Why are you a nanny? What do you enjoy most about taking care of children? What do you like least about it?
7. Are you looking for a live-in position? [If so, you may want to ask additional questions about lifestyle.] If not, where do you live and how do you plan to get back and forth to work?
8. What do you think children like best about you?
9. What do you consider to be your most important responsibility when you're taking care of children?
10. What sorts of challenges have you encountered with kids you've been taking care of and how have you handled them?
11. How do you discipline children? Can you give me some examples?
12. How do you comfort a child who is upset about something?
13. How do you deal with separation anxiety?
14. Have you ever had to handle an emergency on the job or in your home? Can you tell me what happened and how you dealt with it?
15. What would you do if my child got sick or had an accident?
16. What sorts of routines have you had to follow in your past jobs – morning routines, naptime routines – and how have you handled them?
17. How do you deal with being asked to follow rules or disciplining/comforting strategies that might be different from your own?
18. If I'm working at home, how would you keep my child happy and engaged without involving me? Have you taken care of children in a situation in which a parent has been working and around?
19. Can you cook? Can you tell me what kinds of food you can cook. If you cannot cook, would you like to learn?
20. Can you read and write?
21. Can you drive?
22. Can you swim?
23. How do you feel about performing housekeeping chores?
24. How flexible is your schedule? Are you willing to work evenings and weekends? If we need to stay at work later than expected from time to time or go out of town, would you be willing and able to accommodate that, provided we pay you for the extra hours?
25. Do you smoke?
26. Do you have any dependants? If so, how many, how old are they and where do they live. If they are school going age or younger, who cares for them during the day?
27. Where do you live and how long does it take you to get here? What transport do you use to get here and what does it cost (taxi, train etc)
28. Who do you live with?
29. What do you like to do in your spare time?
30. Do you have any child care/ nanny training?
31. Do you have child-CPR or first-aid training? When last did you do this (it is recommended that one does a refresher every 2 years)
32. Would you be interested in taking childcare, First Aid or development courses, if we paid for them?
33. What are your salary expectations?
34. When do you usually take holidays and do you go away for the holidays? If so, where do you go?
35. When would you be able to start working?
36. Would you mind if I ran a background check on you?
37. Can you give me the names and numbers of former employers I can call as references?

About Sugar and Spice Nanny Training:

Sugar & Spice Nanny Training offers childcare courses for nannies and childminders in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Our primary focus is on empowering Domestic Workers working in family homes as nannies and house keepers with all the essential knowledge, practical skills and real confidence they need to take care of children and babies from birth upwards.
Our nanny training course has been running since January 2003 and in this time we have given more than 1000 nannies the confidence and essential tools to take care of and stimulate the babies and young children they love and are responsible for - both at work and in their communities.

Contact:
Kirsten McIntosh
E: kmcintosh@telkomsa.net
M: 083 4060028
W: www.nannytraining.co.za
 

Congratulations, you are pregnant and inside of you is growing and developing a little life. Over the next 9 months, there will be so many changes for you and your baby. Each month, your baby will change so much, as he prepares to cope with our busy world. The shifts for you are also immense. This month, we look at the monthly changes that you and baby go through during this precious time.

Month 1
Baby – The sense of touch is your baby’s first sense to develop and is the most well developed sense at birth. Your baby’s touch system began to develop before you even knew you were pregnant, at only 3 weeks gestation.

You – Your body will now take care of your developing baby before it takes care of you so vitamins and minerals and a healthy diet are essential. Taking folic acid, calcium and vitamins is vital for your health and your little one’s development.

Month 2
Baby - At just 5 weeks gestation, a nasal pit appears in your baby’s little face, dividing into two nostrils by 7 weeks. It will be some time before he starts to smell in utero (yip, babies can smell what you smell as the chemicals that create smells also enter the blood stream and cross over to your baby). Just before 8 weeks your little one starts to react to touch.

You – During the first half of pregnancy, your baby’s brain is going through enormous development and alcohol even in small quantities can wreck havoc with the brain. It is vital that you do not drink alcohol at all in pregnancy. We simply don’t know how much alcohol does damage so better to avoid it altogether.

Month 3
Baby - By the time you are getting over morning sickness (12 weeks) your baby can perceive touch on his entire body, except the top of the head – we surmise that this is so he doesn’t feel the squeeze through the birth canal. The movement (vestibular) system is present fully developed by 10- 12 weeks post conception and your baby perceives movement as he rocks and rolls in the amniotic fluid.

You – Just as movement is good for your baby, it is great for you too. It is vital that you exercise and stay fit throughout pregnancy.

Month 4
Baby - Tasting and smelling begins at 14 weeks, we know this because when a mom eats something sweet her baby swallows more and when she eats something bitter her baby stops swallowing as much. Tastes and smells that you perceive enter the bloodstream chemically and cross the placenta and are present in the amniotic fluid. Your baby then sucks in through the nose or mouth the substance and can taste and even smell whatever you do.

You – The second trimester is usually lovely period in pregnancy as all the horrid illness and bloating is over. It is time to relax and enjoy your pregnancy. Try not to get stressed; whether by family, work or life in general, as the stress hormones you produce affect your baby too.

Month 5
Baby – Your baby begins to suck his thumb at around this time. Sucking is an important skill to practice for two reasons. Sucking is obviously vital for feeding and developing that sucking reflex starts in utero. Secondly when your baby sucks in amniotic fluid and swallows it, he develops the muscles needed for breathing once out in the open.

You – The second you fall pregnant, everyone else becomes an expert on your baby. Listen politely and ignore 90% of what you hear. Choose one sensible voice to take advice from and for the rest go with your gut. Remember that you are actually the expert when it comes to your baby. 

Month 6
Baby – By 23 weeks, your baby can hear sounds inside and outside the womb. Inside the sounds are really quite loud – up to 70 decibels (the sound of a vacuum cleaner) but these sounds are not distressing - they are white noise, which is actually soothing.

You – For the next three months, your focus will begin to shift to the birth. It is time now to book an antenatal class. This is really important as it is the best way to prepare yourself for an active birth.

Month 7
Baby – During the next month, your baby will open her eyes and by 31 weeks can actually visually track a light beam on your tummy. In addition your baby will begin to move different body parts in response to different sounds of your voice, demonstrating the ability to differentiate among speech sounds.

You – Are you tired? Well if you are, take the time to sleep, while you can. You are going to be sleep deprived in the next few months and so rest right now is crucial.

Month 8 
Baby - Your baby’s brain now starts to make sense of the world. Up to now, the building blocks of the brain (neurons) were being developed.  But from now and for the next few years, your baby needs to start making connections and using his brain. To do this he begins to sprout synapses, connecting neurons. This starts around now in pregnancy.

You – Life as you know it is about to change and while a new baby can bring you closer to your partner, it also brings stress that you cannot imagine. For the last two BC (Before Children) months, spend quality time with your partner.

Month 9
Baby – The time has arrived – from 38 weeks, your baby is considered full term and will cope well if born. The exact time of delivery is actually controlled by your baby. Labour starts in reaction to a protein secreted from your little one’s lungs. (UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, 2004)

You – Embrace your last month of pregnancy and don’t ‘rush’ your baby out! And for the next 6 weeks, Keep Calm and Carry On – you will have days when you feel overwhelmed – call for support. Finally, cherish those early baby days - they go in a flash.
 

If you have been feeling low or know of someone who is finding her new role as parent more of a challenge than a joy, you need to know more about PND – postnatal depression or distress. Linda Lewis, research psychologist and author of “When Blessings don’t count”, looks at this issue with great empathy.

I think, or should I say, I hope, that when you embarked on the journey of motherhood, at some stage during your pregnancy or after childbirth, you heard about a condition called Postnatal Distress.  For many women it may seem like a foreign concept – “How could I feel anything but joy and gratitude for my beautiful baby”. Yet for others, and I’m talking about up to 3 out of 10 moms, it can feel very different from this and more like – “I know I should be feeling joy and gratitude for my baby, and I wish I was, but being a mom is so different to what I expected.”

For mothers who feel the latter, I want to reassure you that I know that YOU know that you ARE blessed to have your baby and I know that you feel terribly guilty for how you are feeling but when it comes to postnatal distress, your blessings don’t count. What I mean is that you may have all the blessings in the world: a healthy baby, a supportive partner, a lovely family, great support, food on the table and so on but that does not change how you are feeling. And what you may be feeling is:

• Anxious or panicky for no good reason
• Tearful, weepy
• Unable to sleep even when your baby is sleeping
• Like your emotions are on a roller coaster
• Overwhelmed with the “foreverness” of this responsibility
• Scared of being alone with your baby
• Disappointed that you are not the mother you’d always thought you’d be
• Will I ever be ME again?

If  you identify with some of those statements then you need to know that you are not alone. What you are feeling is familiar to so many moms and yet so few speak about it. This leaves you feeling alone and so bad about yourself. There’s a few things you need to know:

• You are not alone
• When you get the right support this is going to pass
• You are not to blame – there is a biochemical component in your body which may be causing this
• Other moms may feel the same as you and yet look at YOU and think you look so happy and content – women are masters of faking it
• Moms feel ashamed of their difficult feelings and tend to keep them to themselves for fear of being seen as incompetent or ungrateful

Why is it so vital to recognise and acknowledge that you are feeling distressed?

• You have a baby to take care of
• PND affects the whole family
• A well mother makes for a well family
• We cannot deny that PND affects our children on an emotional and developmental level and so we are obligated to do something about it even if it’s just for your child’s sake.
• The longer you leave it

o The more chance of your  feelings and symptoms exacerbating

o The more your relationship with your partner will be compromised

o The more removed you will become from the life you used to enjoy

Now, the important question is: What can I do about it and there are many steps that you can take (which I talk about in my book) but I will mention the 7 most important ones here:

1. The most important thing is to DO something about what you are feeling. Don’t normalise it and minimise it and think that it’s just going to go away if you try harder .You need to take action NOW
2. Talk to a professional who understands PND (look at contacts below)
3. Join a support group (not a mom’s coffee morning)
4. Consult a doctor (preferably a Psychiatrist) about medication (most of which are safe while breastfeeding)
5. Have your thyroid checked
6. Rally in as much support as you can both emotionally and practically
7. Take care of yourself – you are the most important person right now and your wellness takes priority over everything else

Linda Lewis
Author of “When your Blessings Don’t Count: A Guide to Recognising and Overcoming Postnatal Distress”

Contacts
If you are in the Cape Town area you may call me, Linda Lewis,  on 021-6856172 about individual and group support.
The National helpline number for the Postnatal Depression Support Association (PNDSA) is 082-8820072.

QUESTION
I have a 4.5month old baby who is a terrible sleeper! She wakes sometimes up to 6 times a night. She doesn’t have good day sleeps, she will sleep for about 20 min 3 times a day! She is at crèche so for her to be in a set routine during the morning (I fetch her at 1pm) is a bit impossible! I started her on rice cereal last week, which she has 3 times a day. When it comes to her bottle feeds she won’t finish a full bottle most of the time – when she wakes up at night I give her some milk and she settles quickly and will sleep until she wakes up again! I am not sure if I should be giving her milk every time she wakes up as maybe this has just become a bad habit! She is 7.2kgs and all her milestones have been reached, she had a full check up with the paed last week and everything is on track, except for this bad sleeping pattern.

ANSWER

You are having a tough time. What you describe is not usual for babies of this age at all. I have a strong sense that she has gastro-esophageal reflux, in other words reflux that has created a sensitive patch on the esophagus. This may be accompanied by spitting up milk curds or she may not posset at all. The reason I think this may be the cause is:
• She does not finish her feeds
• She wakes after 20 minutes in the day
• She wakes 6 times at night

Bearing in mind that you started solids, and her weight, she should not need so many feeds at night.

So I would go back to the doctor and ask him to recheck for reflux.

If that is ruled out then you may be dealing with a sensory sensitive little one and need to see an Occupational Therapist who deals with these problems.

Finally, I would stop offering milk every time she wakes at night. Her feeds should be 4 milk feeds a day and at most two at night. You can start to stretch her between night feeds with water. This may make her more comfortable (especially if she does have reflux) and will build an appetite so she takes her bottles more easily.

At the start of each new year, many of us make resolutions; promises or intentions to do something better or to stop something that we feel holds us back. Being a parent adds a new slant to our annual resolutions and for many of us our resolutions are intentions for the year ahead to be a better parent. This year Meg Faure took the Top 10 Resolutions on our Facebook site and wrote a simple ‘how to’ for each one.

1. Establish a routine for my baby. Routines are something many of us long for, to create a little order and predictability in our days. You can start a sleep routine based on Awake Times that are age appropriate for your baby from the first week of life.

Don’t be rigid but follow the guidelines in Baby Sense for when to settle your little one to sleep each day.

2. Listen to my intuition. In an age of too much information, it becomes hard to listen to your intuition. The best way to do so is to choose only two voices and one book or website to consider. Make sure your source of advice has similar values and ideals as you do so that when you hear advice it makes sense to you.

3. To have more patience and stay calm. Every parent has those days when they just loose their cool and shout or yell. While there is nothing wrong with feeling stressed, if you don’t stay calm things usually get worse - when you are stressed, your baby will become more winey or clingy or demanding which does no one any good at all. If you are feeling at the end of your tether: put your little one in a safe space with a safe toy, go outside and take a deep breath or three. If you don’t feel better, call a neighbor or someone who can support you and go for a jog or at least have some time alone. And whatever you do don’t feel guilty. We’ve all been there.

4. Spend more time outdoors. As soon as you see you have a sunny day coming up, plan an outdoor activity. A great idea is to get a large plastic sandpit and fill it will different things every few weeks – in summer, water play is great and in cooler weather, a sandpit or ball pond makes great outdoor activity. Just be sure to put up an umbrella over the play area to prevent sunburn.

5. To create firmer boundaries, especially around bedtime. There is a simple three step approach to creating boundaries:
A – Acknowledge what your little one wants “I know you want to …”
B – Boundaries need to be firm and consistent “…but we can’t….”
C – Choices are presented that are on your terms: “…. instead you can have X or we can rather do Y.”
Once this is laid out, be consistent and always follow through.

6. To remember I am a woman and have some ‘me time’ and get my body into shape. Almost every mum forgets herself in the process of becoming a mother. If you have a nanny or some help, go to gym or for a run twice a week. If like most mums you have to do this with your baby, schedule a walking group (or partner) three times a week. Pop your baby in a pram (stroller) or sling and go for a power walk. Not only will you feel better with a little ‘me time’ but you will get fit too!

7. To read to my baby every night and only allow 30 minutes of TV a day. Use TV as an emergency baby-sitter – for instance if you have a toddler and a new baby and need to feed and settle the new baby, there is nothing wrong with putting your toddler in front of the TV for a short time. Try not to sit your toddler in front of TV for hours on end. Rather create a sensory basket – a container with household objects each with a different sensory texture that your baby can explore. This will keep him occupied and grow his brain!

8. Not to stress about things that are out of my control. If you find yourself stressing about small things, ask these three questions:
a. Will my baby be injured by this decision or this action?
b. Can I change this situation? 
c. Can I just accept this situation for the next 15 minutes
These questions will give you time to measure the situation and will diffuse the feelings of stress.

9. To forgive myself for my shortcomings. Every day, forgive your self for the things your did or didn’t you. You are not perfect and being an imperfect but ‘good-enough’ mum is way better for your baby than a perfect parent (which really doesn’t exist). Research has shown that small failings help babies to adjust well to life and to become more secure in their interactions and relationships.

10. To tell my baby I love her everyday. Simply say the words – its really not that hard: I love you!

I am regularly asked "When is the right time to introduce cows milk straight from the fridge?" Must we continue with formula milks into the toddler years or can regular cows milk suffice? The answer is complicated and does depend on your individual baby. The main points to look at are:

1. Does my baby have allergies? If so continue on the formula he is on.

2. Is my toddler a good eater? If you have a poor eater, you may need a specially formulated toddler milk for fussy eaters.

3. Is my toddler on breast milk? Breast milk still offers wonderful nutrients into the toddler years. 

If your baby is on cows milk formula and is a good eater on only two milk bottles a day (as he should be at this age) using cows milk is a good option. I was interviewed on this earlier this year. Have a look at this video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ng370590Ag&feature=youtu.be

By: Meg Faure, OTR.

A few years ago, my husband and I embarked on a three-month trip with a two and four year old. We have camped with our little ones from the time they were 9 months old and taken all three of them on flights from as little as 6 weeks old. I am a big fan of routines and an even bigger fan of sleep so how did we do all this travelling, many have asked. Well the key to travelling with ease and making sure that sleep is not too disrupted is to be prepared. Herewith my top 10 tips:

1. Keep one day-sleep in a consistent sleep space, as soon as you arrive in your new place. This will quickly mean that your little one settles back into his day routine.
2. Keep the ‘Awake times’ between 6am and 6pm correct for your little one’s age, regardless of time zone changes.

The Babysense Secret 2011

3. When flying with your baby or toddler, have something to suck on (Under six months of age – breast or formula milk or water and older babies a sippy cup or bottle of dilute juice). Always keep a bottle of clean water on hand.
4. If you are driving, leave extra time for stops. Do not breastfeed while driving; so leave time to stop for feeds and nappy changes and potty stops. A good idea is to leave either at 3am so your little one will fall asleep for the first 3 hours of the trip or leave just before dusk so you do some driving while he is asleep that night.
5. If you are flying overnight, ask for a bulk head seat with a crib and choose the flight for around bedtime (7pm if possible) and as soon as possible settle him to sleep – its harder to settle your little one on a flight if he gets overtired.
6. Pack an entertainment kit – I love those plastic suitcases and pack one object per sense and one cognitive activity. Here is an example of a kit I would pack for a toddler:
         TOUCH = Playdough
         VISUAL = Book or DVD or IPAD with games
          IMAGINARY = Car or dolly
         AUDITORY = Music on ipod
         TASTE = Biltong or dried mango
         COGNITIVE = Simple puzzle
7. Pack two changes of clothes per trip and double the nappies you think you will need – I promise you will need them!
8. Keep bedtime routine the same every night, even if you are going out – your baby will fall asleep in the pram or car on the way out and you will be more likely to have a relaxed dinner.
9. Bear in mind your baby’s sensory personality – Settled babies will be easy on holiday; Sensitive babies will be as difficult as they are at home; Social butterflies and Slow to warm up babies will be better if the routine is kept the same and you don’t go out after dark. Read Your Sensory Baby (The Babysense Secret DK, 2011) for more tips according to the personality.
10. And finally Keep Calm and Carry On – in any trip, there will be moments of chaos and tears but the funny thing is that when you look back you will only remember the good times!