Pinky McKay -

After two little boys who had been fairly easy to teach about using the toilet - boys can have so much fun peeing on rocks and trees in the garden as they learn how their bodies function - my daughter simply didn't give a damn about peeing in the toilet. Until today.

“Help! I’m ‘home-schooling’, how did you do it?” asked my son’s friend whose kids’ school has been shut down due to the current health crisis. I home-schooled for ten years, four kids at home together ...

How often have you been told, just give your breastfed baby a bottle of formula at bedtime to make him sleep? Although this advice is almost some kind of ‘folk-lore’ among the believers, there are some health professionals who may advise you to do this, even with a newborn. Some will tell you that giving a bottle is a great way for fathers to…

I asked, “have you fed her? Do you have a bottle with you?” She answered ‘no’ to both questions. I told her, “I don’t own any bottles but I can breastfeed her if you are ok with that – she’s hungry!” There started a discussion. My friend knew how breast milk would help her tiny baby thrive, but she hadn’t dared to raise the issue.

It can be so difficult as a parent to sift through a minefield of conflicting advice, can’t it? Who do you trust? Which advice is ‘right’? Where is this advice coming from? Almost as soon as you baby bump begins to show, it seems that everyone is an expert about YOUR baby! Whenever you hear advice that doesn’t feel quite right to you or if you…

Congratulations on your new baby. Taking care of your newborn is a learning curve for you and your partner. The thing is, supporting your lady can be almost as challenging as working out what your baby needs. If you are feeling as though you are opening your mouth and putting your great big foot in it, here is a quick lesson of things to avoid…

It’s perfectly normal to have feelings of grief and self doubt when weaning from breastfeeding happens earlier than you have planned. But there can be other, strong emotions, including vicious mood swings that can be related to weaning, whatever the age of your child or if this was a ‘natural’ weaning decided by your baby or a gradual ‘mother –led’…

Managing feeding times can be especially difficult when you have a newborn and toddler because it takes so much time in the early days, so here are Pinky's tips to make it easier:

Not so long ago, you promised each other solemnly, “a baby won’t change OUR relationship.” The truth is, once a baby enters your life, your relationship with your partner will never be the same again. Ever. And there are things about losing those loving feelings that even your closest friends will probably never tell you (you probably wouldn’t…

Although breastfeeding a toddler isn’t everybody’s cup of tea (or drink of milk), if you choose to nurse beyond babyhood (whatever that means is relative to the culture we live in, the world average age of weaning is somewhere between four and seven years) you can expect some strong reactions.