Masechaba Moshoeshoe
Sowetan baby steps introduces its first celebrity mom insert with well known actress and radio personality Masechaba Moshoeshoe. Better known for her role in Scandal as Mmadika Molefe, Moshoeshoe shares with us her experience as a first time mom.
Q.What daily challenges are you faced with as a celebrity mom?
- They are challenges that every working mother faces. How to make quality time for the kids and partner, leaving the kids when they are sick, ensuring discipline even when you are not around and trusting that someone else you pay has your children’s best interests at heart.
Q. Was there a specific gap you set in between the conception of each child and why?
- Gave birth to my 1st child at the age of 35 because I wanted to be ready for motherhood. (discovered it’s true, you can never be 100% ready). But I’m glad I took my time as am in a perfect place to be a mother at this stage in my life.
Q. How did you control and maintain your cravings?
- I’m so grateful because I never had any cravings. No morning sickness. But it wasn’t an easy pregnancy.
Q. Do you think it is wise to know your babies gender during pregnancy?
- I think it’s a personal thing. I didn’t want to know but my baby decided to let me know at the 4D scan.
Q. Knowing that you intended to have more than one child did you give away your older children’s baby clothes and started buying afresh for each child?
- I was so blessed with gifts so I try share that blessing by giving away my daughter’s clothes to family, friends etc when she outgrows them. I believe when I need them again, they will come back to me.
Masechaba’s winter tip for your little one!
I keep a cough mixture and decongestant in the medicine cabinet. I find I give her once or twice when they start coughing or sniffling and it does the trick.
Solid ‘finger food’ may help babies avoid obesity
Infants outgrowing a liquid diet who give themselves finger food rather than being spoon-fed puree are likelier to eat healthily and avoid getting fat during weaning, a study reported.
Researchers found that the technique, known as “baby-led weaning,” led to a child expressing a clear preference for pasta, rice and other carbohydrates over sweets, thus helping to cement a foundation for eating the right foods.
Experts and parents alike have long debated over when and how to help an infant make the transition from mother’s milk or the bottle to a solid-food regimen.
Many studies have already concluded that self-feeding with finger food is fine for most infants.
But what impact this approach might have on longer-term taste preferences and a child’s overall health has until now been less clear.
Ellen Townsend and Nicola Pitchford of the University of Nottingham designed a study that looked at the eating habits of 155 children during weaning, a period that ranged from 20 months to six and a half years old.
Sixty percent of the kids had been allowed to feed themselves finger foods such as strips of toast and pieces of fruit, while the remaining 40 percent had been spoon-fed pureed foods throughout the weaning process.
The research, published in the British Medical Journal (NMJ), was based on a questionnaire answered by parents in the region.
Despite the fact that infants in the spoon-fed group were offered more carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables and proteins, they wound up liking sweets more than the self-fed children.
The kids allowed to eat finger food, moreover, were more likely to be in their correct weight bracket and less likely to be obese at the end of weaning, a process which for some children can take months, but for others years.
Being overweight in infancy is an early risk factor for obesity in later life.
“Our results suggest that baby-led weaning promotes healthy food preferences in early childhood that could protect against obesity,” the study concludes.
“This has implications for combating the well-documented rise of obesity in contemporary societies.”
Finger food works because it accustomises children to the textures of what they will be eating later, the researchers speculated.
The researchers noted, however, that there were a few more underweight babies in the baby-led group, and suggested that further studies with a larger cohort were needed to confirm the results.- Sapa-AFP
Baby advice…
In this category, you’ll have more tips than a lucky waiter. 
All you need to know about kids and more….
- HOW TO DEAL WITH TANTRUMS
Develop a strategy – Have a clear plan for how you will handle a tantrum for a range of situations; that is, at home, out shopping and playing at friends’ houses. If a tantrum then occurs, remember to focus on your plan rather than the tantrum. This will help to keep you calm and in control; Click here for more>> - IMPORTANCE OF BEING A FATHER
FATHERS. Love them or hate them, they are an important part of a child’s life and one cannot deny that the presence or absence of a father in a child’s life has a profound effect on society. A real man would rather succeed as a father than as a businessman. So, what determines a father’s success? Click here for more>>
- TEACH KIDS TO SHARE AND CARE
THE ability to share is an important part of socialising and making friends, hence the importance of teaching children to share. Sharing is an important social skill that children need to make friends and succeed in school. Parents can help by teaching them to share from an early age… Click here for more>>
- FIRST STEP IN LIFE’S JOURNEY – BABY CHRISTENING
A baby’s christening or baptism is a very special occasion, especially for practising Christians. It is an important event for both friends and family. Click here for more>> - HOW DO I?
Babies do come with instructions. How to control your baby’s temperature and more>>>
Everything you could possibly know
From pregnancy to infancy, click here for tips online>>
Dress little babies for easy comfort
By: Zenoyise Madikwa
SO YOU’RE expecting a bundle of joy? Choosing clothes for your new baby is not a walk in the park . If you’re a new parent, buying baby clothes necessitates some insight into the world of infants. According to mom Zanele Sokana the predicament of buying baby’s clothes starts before your baby arrives. Click here for more>>
Baby pain relief medicines
Useful information on baby medicines available to provide pain and fever relief in babies, to help lower temperature and soothe teething gums.
If you’re a father..
Okay, this is funny. If you are a daddy, here’s some ‘tips’ for you.
