The UK Hospital Services has set up a program that brings Grandparents up to speed on what has been happening in the baby world since they had kids.
The refresher classes in modern parenting are being run in response to the growing burden being placed on grandparents by busy working parents.
About two thirds of families with babies and half of those with toddlers use grandparent care.
This makes it the most common form of childcare, especially for lone, younger and first-time mothers.
The courses have been started by community midwife Carol Murray.
She said: “I used to work in an ante-natal clinic so I was always doing classes for new mums and dads and occasionally I got the odd comment, ‘you should send my mum along’ so it was a wee idea that I thought about and thought about and eventually I was given the opportunity to be able to run the classes.”
“I always start the classes off saying I’m not here to tell them how to raise their grandchildren but just to bring them up to speed with what’s happening,” she said.
“A lot of the things we do are showing them how babies go down to sleep, prevention of cot death and how we wrap babies and lay them down, because that’s the biggest change over the last few years.”
She added: “Grannies had a tendency a few years ago to swaddle babies, wrap them up tightly in shawls and prop them up on their side and lots of blankets.
“We’ve found it’s safer if babies lie on their back with their feet at the bottom of the cot, and not too many layers depending on the temperature.”
I LOVE this idea! More communities should provide these classes. Grandparents want to provide good care for their grand babies, they just need to be brought up to speed on the changes that have occured in the last 10 -15 years.
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