Introducing our new groups!

We’re pleased to announce two more science gangs – Big Birthas (BB PSG) and Mealtime Hostage (MH PSG).

Big Birthas – we’ve teamed up with Amber Marshall of bigbirthas.co.ukto ask the questions bigger mums want the answers to. You can read our Q&A with Amber here.

If you are a plus-size mum, mum-to-be or trying to get pregnant and want to find out what research is out there, and help plan an experiment that will support mums with a higher BMI, you can join the BB PSG Facebook group here. Let’s help make sure the right research is being done!

Mealtime Hostage – Mealtime Hostage provides support for parents of children who struggle with eating, or diagnosed with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).  See our blog post to find out how to join MSH PSG.

PSG on the road

Over the next few weeks we’re taking PSG on the road with Parenting Science Gangstival! It’s a chance for our PSGers to meet up with each other and some of the PSG team, find out more about the project, learn a bit of interesting science, meet a local scientist, have fun and eat cake! Quite a lot to pack into 3 hours.

PSG will be visiting London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Let us know if you want to join in!

The experiments

Our first four groups have entered the experiment phase.

117 mums came to Charing Cross Hospital in London on Wednesday 21st February to express milk for the UK Breastfeeding and Parenting Support (UKBAPS) PSG and Breastfeeding Older Babies and Beyond (BOBAB) PSG breastmilk constituents experiment.

Designed by these PSG groups, in collaboration with Dr Natalie Shenker and Dr Simon Cameron, the study is to looking at how the composition of breast milk changes as children get older. We look forward to sharing the results with you soon. In the meantime, you can read more about the day and the experiment on our website.

Our Science-Aware Natural Parenting (SANP) PSG experiment investigating the effects of babywearing on temperature got underway at Dr Davide Filingeri’s lab last month. So far, 3 mother-baby dyads have taken part, with more due into the lab soon. We can’t wait to find out what the data shows, but for now you can read more about the experiment here.

Responses to Dumfries and Galloway Bumps Babies & Beyond (DGBBB) PSG’s initial Freedom of Information requests about flexi-schooling in each Local Authority in Scotland have started to come in. In addition, the group are about to submit an ethics application to cover a survey for parents of flexischooling families and semi-structured interviews with teachers of flexischooling kids. If approved, the survey will be distributed to about 20 parents and around 5 teachers will be interviewed.

Asking the experts

You can read all our expert Q&As on our website. Most recently, we’ve had some fascinating chats with:

• Dr Tara Jones on research methods in education
• Prof Carrie Paecther on how children learn about and understand gender
• Dr Sally Dowling on breastfeeding experiences
• Professor Gina Rippon on what neuroscience tells us about sex and gender
• Members of the GP Infant Feeding Network on what GPs know about breastfeeding

Calling all experts!

Want to get involved?

We’ve got over 2000 parents who are full of questions for experts in all aspects of parenting and childhood. Would you like to get involved?

We are particularly interested to hear from black and ethnic miniority experts as, so far, their voices are under-represented in our expert Q&As.

To tell us what you do and find out more, please contact us at newsletter@parentingsciencegang.org.uk

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