Mother's Little Helper - My Parenting Breakthrough

Natalie’s new ‘baby’ delivers the facts.

- Amy Nelmes Bissett

When psychologist Dr Natalie Flynn became a first- time mum more than a decade ago, she couldn’t help but think there was still something missing in her life.

She had husband Michael and a beautiful, bonny baby boy in her arms – but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find a nononsense parenting book that was based on solid research rather than opinion.

Now, 13 years later, the Dunedin-born doctor and mother-of-three has written that book herself.

Modern-day mums, she says, are constantly bombarded with advice on how to parent. Conflicting information can be found on social media, in every corner of the internet and even in well-meaning but factually flawed parenting books.

It means mums and dads up and down New Zealand are sometimes making decisions that are based on in-depth research and other times – more worryingly – they’re not.