A mum from Caerphilly was able to know that her infant daughter was having an allergic reaction, after the tot told her – through sign language.
Sandy Knibbs thought being a mum for second time would be easy, after all she had done it all before – how different could it be? Baby Georgia was born on November 8, 2013, and all seemed to be going fine, until Georgia started becoming ill.
Mum Sandy was breast feeding and following all the things she had done with her eldest daughter, but Georgia’s illness would not improve.
After a visit to the GP and various hospital referrals, Sandy discovered that Georgia had a number of allergies and that what Sandy was eating was being passed to Georgia through her breast milk. As soon as Sandy discovered this she completely changed her diet – no dairy products, no gluten and no nuts.
Keeping baby Georgia safe was simple – but a crawling, inquisitive baby wasn’t going to be as simple.
So Sandy realised that she needed to take action and find a way to communicate with Georgia.
After researching various websites, Sandy soon discovered TinyTalk – a class dedicated to communicating with babies through sign language.
A sceptical Sandy went along to her local class, thinking it was just another fad, but was soon communicating with her daughter.
Within a few weeks Georgia was able to sign when she wanted milk.
Weeks followed and Georgia’s signing vocabulary expanded, even to the extent that she could tell her mum she was in pain when she was suffering from an allergic reaction – meaning mum Sandy could take action.
Sandy said: “TinyTalk has really changed our lives and really helped me to get through a difficult and worrying time because I was able to understand and help Georgia despite the language barrier.
“TinyTalk also enabled me and Georgia to make lots of new friends and I know that these classes helped them too.
“Being a new mum can be a very scary time and being a second time or third time mum is just as scary as I discovered first hand, every child is different – knowing what your baby is saying really helps and babies really do have a lot to say.”
Sandy has now been inspired to become a TinyTalk teacher and has taken on a franchise for Caerphilly.