The light grey dawn of every weekday morning finds Mary Wambui preparing breakfast for her two children and husband. Once the family is fed, she packs her children’s favourite snacks, which include mandazi, sausages, and queencakes along with ready-to- drink artificial fruit juice and sends them to school. At school, the teachers are concerned that Mary’s…

In the previous edition of Pregnant, we discussed why some babies refuse to be fed by their mothers, sometimes preferring auntie’s (nanny’s) feeding. We now focus on babies who refuse to eat irrespective of who feeds them. There are foods which we, as adults, loathe to taste, let alone eat, irrespective of where they are…

Children sometimes daydream in class, may forget to do their homework or even fidget at the dinner table, behaviour which is considered normal. On the other hand, there are children who can’t sit still, who hardly listen and keep blurting out inappropriate comments. Most of the time, they are labelled as trouble- makers and are…

My daughter seems so angry I have a 4 month old daughter who gets so angry whenever she doesn’t get what she wants. She constantly grabs for toys and when she can’t reach them, she almost growls and refuses to smile with anyone. She also has serious stranger anxiety and will not go anywhere with…

Almost every baby wants a toy to play with. However, choosing the right toy can be a daunting task for a parent. You might recall the stir that some ‘bad’ toys from China caused recently in the USA. It was said that some toys contained harmful materials! In August 2007, a Chinese manufacturer recalled about…

Knowing dinner is served at approximately the same time every night and that the entire family will be sitting down together is comforting and enhances appetite. Poor nutrition among toddlers and young children is an increasingly common problem with serious physical and medical consequences. According to a recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on child health, 70 per…

It has been months of endless smiles, me clicking away and dozens of Zuri’s photographs. I intend to capture every precious moment of my niece Zuri. Only recently, baby Zuri learnt to smile, such a beautiful smile that always brightens up our days – she is such a blessing. And guess what, she can now…

An eerie pink crayon sketch of Winnie dangles among her teddy bears in her crib. Her parents haven’t seen the 5 year-old since that fateful Sunday morning when she wondered off—or so they think, from Sunday school in the vast Embakasi Estate of Nairobi. As evening approached, the horrific realization sunk in: Their daughter, the…