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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