Transcript - Parenting Your Baby From 6 to 12 Months

Video transcript for parenting your baby from 6 to 12 months.

Title: Your Child: Six Months to One Year. Episode 08 of 15.

Title: Frances & Wikeepa’s Whānau

[Shots of Frances and Wikeepa playing with their baby.]

Title: Waireti, 11 months old

Wikeepa (voice-over): It's hard to think about our life before baby. We used to do a lot of stuff, but it pales in comparison to being a father. I think it's changed me for the better.

[Interview with Frances and Wikeepa.]

Wikeepa: Kia ora. My name is Wikeepa. My family is from the Bay of Plenty – my father from Opotiki and mother from Te Kaha.

Frances: Kia ora. Ko Frances ahau. Nō Aitutaki. Nō Ngāti Maniapoto ahau.

[Shots of Frances and Wikeepa’s baby playing.]

Frances (voice-over): She's a happy, happy child.

Wikeepa (voice-over): She's pretty chill baby.

[Interview with Frances and Wikeepa.]

Frances: She's our first, maybe our only child.

[Shots of Wikeepa playing with his baby.]

Wikeepa (voice-over): She knew me back when she was six months, but now she really clings to me. It's cool to have that connection with her.

[Interview with Erika.]

Title: Erika Ware, Well Child Tamariki Ora Nurse

Erika: Kia ora. I'm Erika and I'm a Tamariki Ora (Well Child) Nurse, and one of the main things that we talk about with whānau with regards to their baby at this stage is development. Getting down on the floor with them, playing with them, singing to them, reading – all those things are really important for developing speech, developing their movement, getting around.

[Wikeepa plays with his baby.]

Wikeepa (voice-over): The kinds of things that her and I do – mainly play. Play on the ground, play with her toys, roll around on the carpet. Her and I have good fun.

[Frances prepares vegetables.]

Wikeepa (voice-over): Health-wise – a lot of natural food if we can. It's easy to eat sugar, lollies, fruit juice and drinks – that kind of thing. So we’re trying to move away from that and give her some better habits.

[Frances feeds mashed vegetables to her baby.]

Erika (voice-over): Some of the key things – quite major developmental milestones – happen from six months. Starting solids is a big thing. Adjusting to that and getting around everywhere on the floor – safety is another thing we must always keep in mind at this age.

[Wikeepa places a safety gate to prevent the baby from climbing the stairs.]

Wikeepa (voice-over): I think, safety wise, being mindful of the environment. We have stairs here. We have gates that I've cut out of wood. She's pretty quick. She can run up and down the stairs if you don't watch. We generally try and keep our eyes on her.

[Interview with Frances and Wikeepa.]

Frances: Her teeth came at 10 months, which were her bottom teeth. Now her top set is coming. Wikeepa's mum is a dental nurse, and she's always talked about how important it is to have dental hygiene. So we brush her teeth in the morning and at night.

[Interview with Erika.]

Erika: To keep our babies’ teeth healthy – hygiene has a really important role here. We can clean baby's teeth with a soft toothbrush as soon as the teeth come through, with a teeny little bit of family fluoride toothpaste.

[Frances places her baby in a baby bed.]

Wikeepa (voice-over): Sleep time – we've got a mattress we put down, because as soon as we get home, she's usually asleep. So just somewhere close that we can put her down, and then we'll take her upstairs into her cot when she's ready to go down.

[Shots of Frances and Wikeepa sharing baby responsibilities.]

Frances (voice-over): I think both of us would agree we're time poor, in the sense that we work and we share responsibilities. I think for us it's in our planning. We choose not to do things because we've got baby now, but we still live our life. I think you can still enjoy the balance of doing what you used to do. You just have to make it work.

[Interview with Frances and Wikeepa.]

Wikeepa (voice-over): Most people say being a parent is hard work. I think it's true if you're not prepared, if you don't plan ahead. You have to be quite on to it – strategic, in fact. I just think we're lucky with the baby that we got. She eats well, sleeps well. She’s not allergic to anything. She gets along with people. She's happy to play. She’s really smiley. It's probably bad advice, but make sure you get a baby like ours!

Title: Our thanks to the families and health workers who appeared in this video for the Ministry of Health.