Patsy Palmer & Baby Squad Set to Tackle the UK'S Parenting Crises in New UKTV Show

Patsy Palmer & Baby Squad Set to Tackle the UK'S Parenting Crises in New UKTV Show

LONDON, September 15/PRNewswire/ --

- ATTN: Feature Editors

Patsy Palmer knows what she's talking about when she talks about tackling real issues that parents face. 'The point about being a mum,' she says, 'is that little things can be blown up out of all proportion and then the most ordinary problem can become very large, very worrying. So your baby might be crying constantly, or may not be sleeping and eating... In those circumstances, any mum, especially a first-time one, can quickly work herself into a state - and where does she turn for help?'

The answer is simple. Child nutrition experts, Cow & Gate, operate a support helpline(1) where a full time team of advisors including mums, midwives, healthcare professionals and nutritionists, are on hand to offer a reliable source of pointers and guidance regarding a whole range of baby and toddler concerns. Now the company has given its backing to Baby Squad, a new, 10-part series which begins on UKTV Style on Monday September 19 and is presented by actress and mother of three, Patsy Palmer.

'I wish there'd been a programme like this when my three children were little,' she says. Son Charley is now 13 while Fenton and Emelia, her two children by taxi driver husband Richard Merkel, are five and four. 'I also wish I'd known about the helpline. What mums need is a support network, rather like a group of other mums sitting round your kitchen table and offering advice based on their own experiences, as seen on Baby Squad.'

The trouble, says 33-year-old Patsy, is that however much you may be told about motherhood in advance, you can't really take it in until you're holding your own baby in your arms. 'Then you feel the full weight of responsibility.' She always imagined she'd be a mum one day. 'Where I was brought up, in Bethnal Green, east London, you took it for granted you'd grow up, get married and have a baby.'

Patsy was 19 when she gave birth to her first born. 'I don't mind admitting it was a shock to the system. You can't help being frightened as a first time mum as this is something you have no experience doing. So it's hardly surprising if you keep checking that your child is breathing when they're asleep. I was relieved, working on Baby Squad to discover that all first-time mums seem to feel the same way. That was a breath of fresh air.'

Although her youngest is now old enough to attend reception classes, Patsy still picked up useful tips from her involvement in the show. 'Take sleep,' she says. 'Richard and I recently moved out of London to live near the sea. All that space and the cleaner air have been fantastic.

'We're still in a rented flat, though, until our house is ready and the whole experience has interrupted the sleeping patterns of the younger two. They were getting into the habit of waking in the night and then appearing at the side of our bed. The easiest thing in the world is to allow them to climb in and part of you wants them to. They're so warm and cuddly and gorgeous.

'But the sleep expert on Baby Squad showed me that I'd only be piling up problems for myself if I didn't break the pattern. What you have to do is establish a routine before they go to bed. So I tuck them in, read them stories, potter around a bit as they fall asleep and then go in and out of their bedroom so they have the reassurance that you're never far away.'

If they should wake in the night, says Patsy, there's only one course of action. 'Get out of bed, take them back to their room, tuck them in again and return to your own bed. I thought it would be ages before they stopped coming into our room but, to my amazement, it was only a matter of nights. In no time at all, the pattern had been broken. This method of controlled crying also came to the rescue of The Bolton family, from Braintree in Essex, on the show with equally amazing results. '

Patsy is also a great advocate of ignoring bad behaviour in her children and rewarding them when they're good. 'I was pleased to see that this was something the Baby Squad psychologist encouraged. You have to be careful, though. If you work a star system, as I do, you mustn't give your child a gold star too easily. They can become very clever at winning your approval and then feeling they qualify for whatever little treat you've promised them.'

It was also a star system that stopped The Charles family, from Hendon north London, from despairing at mealtimes. 'It had got to the stage with their little boy where he had only eaten white bread for the past two years. He'd scream the place down if his mum tried to make him eat anything else. Something had to give.'

And so a routine was introduced over a week in which the child was awarded a bonze star if he touched another piece of food; a silver star if he smelt it; and a gold star if he ate it. 'Within a surprisingly short space of time,' says Patsy, 'the child was happily eating little bits of chicken. He obviously loved what he saw as this new game. There were even photographs of him eating anything other than white bread which were pinned to the kitchen wall.'

Patsy flirts with the idea, she says, of one day having another child. 'But then I feel I might be tempting fate. I already have three healthy children and a lovely husband who shares all the little chores with me. I'm so admiring of single parents. But if you're fortunate enough to have a partner, not only can you share the nappies and so on but also the decisions.

'Richard and I are a team. We're also both really respectful of giving each other our own time. I might cycle down to the beach or read a book or have a massage. For his part, Richard's keen on kick-boxing in his spare time.'

So, life is good? 'It's great,' says Patsy. 'However much they may cause you moments of anxiety, nothing beats having kids. I'd really recommend motherhood. It's a real life-changing, grounding experience. It teaches you not to be selfish. For the first time in your life, you're putting someone else first.'

PATSY'S TOP BABY SQUAD TIPS

You can never know everything about bringing up children, says Patsy, and she's the first to admit she learned a lot just by being involved in presenting Baby Squad. Here are her golden rules to stand any mum in good stead:

- Kids need routine - and they like it, too

- Play down bad behaviour, reward the good - the Baby Squad star system gets results

- Be firm about children sleeping in their own beds - controlled crying encourages restful nights

- Involve all the family in playtime to avoid sibling rivalry and jealousy towards the newborn

- Eat as a family, babies copy what they see and this is tremendous in encouraging them to eat

Notes to Editors:

High resolution photographs are available to the media free of charge at http://www.newscast.co.uk (+44(0)20-7608-1000)

1) Baby Squad, brought to you by Cow & Gate, hits screens on UKTV Style from 19th September 2005

Cow & Gate Helpline - 08457-623-623, 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday

Source: Cow & Gate

Cow & Gate Helpline - +44(0)8457-623-623, 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday

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