Summary

Birth - 6 Months

The Parent Directed Feeding (PDF) concept outlined has enough structure to bring security and order to your baby’s world, yet enough flexibility to give Mum freedom to respond to any need at any time. It teaches parents how to lovingly guide their baby’s day rather than be enslaved to the infant’s unknown needs.

Authored by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo this program is loaded with success. Comprehensive breast-feeding follow-up surveys spanning three countries using the PDF method verify that as a result of the PDF concepts, 88% of mothers breast-feed, compared to the national average of only 54% (from the National Centre for Health Statistics, USA).

Find out for yourself why a world of parents and pediatricians utilise the concepts found in Preparation for Parenting.

Session 1: The Home Environment

If you desire to achieve excellence in parenting, you must protect your marriage. A strong marriage acts as the stabilising factor against the shocks of life. As you maintain your priority relationship as a couple, you are simultaneously hedging against child-centred parenting. From the very beginning, children are to be welcome members of your family but not the centre of it.

Session 2: The Ripple Effect Principle

A parent-directed strategy brings out the best in both parent and baby because it is child-oriented, not child-centred or mother-centred. With this common sense approach, a mother cooperates with her baby’s needs, and her baby in return learns to cooperate with mother’s guidance. The result is true connectedness. With Parent Directed Feeding (PDF), a mother feeds her baby when it is hungry, but takes advantage of the first few weeks to guide the baby’s hunger patterns by a basic routine. A baby settled into this routine will then learn to sleep through the night. So this session we discuss the idea of feeding and sleeping, and how the results of this have their effect on the family.

Session 3: The First Ten Days

Cuddles, kisses, and consistency. To baby, these are a few of his favourite things. Add in proper nutrition, & you are on the path to parenting success. Whether the nourishment comes from a bottle or breast, only you can choose. Both are discussed here for your knowledge and heartfelt deliberation.

No matter what your choice, know that successful lactation alone will not deliver perfection in parenting. Milk production, positions for feeding and how to know when your baby is getting enough nourishment for healthy growth are discussed. Feeding your baby is perhaps the most basic task of managing your child.

We also discuss the general care of baby and mum and the issues that can occur after birth.

Session 4: The First Month

Infants thrive on routine and predictability. Stable sleep patterns are based on stable feed/wake patterns. At the heart of this plan lie three basic activities: baby is feeding; baby is awake; baby sleeps. We will discuss what these three activities involve and how you can learn to recognise your baby’s different cries, and then confidently respond to your baby.

Session 5: Eight Weeks and Beyond

Most of us have many expectations and beliefs about parenting and how we will parent our child. This session we will discuss how as parents we need to expect the unexpected, yet use wisdom to manage the unexpected. A range of topics will be discussed, ranging from equipment needed, grandparents, premature births to teething.