SERIES SYNOPSIS

Our families bring their seven babies home from hospital and, with the help of their mentors, can now put the methods to the test. We see the families get started, but there's a big question running through all this which goes to the heart of the childcare debate – should a baby fit in with its parents' lives or the other way round? Our mentors have the first of their animated discussions about the rights and wrongs of a variety of babycare hot topics.

Our new parents have had a couple of days to get to grips with the methods they've chosen. But it's the next two weeks that will really show them the reality of the approaches they picked. This is the episode where the big, immediate questions of childcare are addressed, including where a baby should sleep, balancing the needs of a routine with the desire to bond with your baby, and the emotive subject of breast versus bottle. Our mentors have some strong opinions on each issue, but which approach is working best for our families so far?

The babies have reached the two week mark and this episode follows them over the course of the next month. How will our parents deal with the demands of colic? Which method is best for dads? Then there's the thorny issue of breastfeeding in public, which our mentors battle out in customary style. In this episode we'll also discover which family is the first to achieve that holy grail for new parents: a baby who sleeps through the night.

The experiment is in its final phase and the babies are ten weeks old. Our mentors debate the introduction of solid food and we discover how well the babies – and their parents – are sleeping. Which methods are allowing our families to get some balance back – whether it's in their sex lives or their social lives? As the experiment draws to a close, we recap what their experiences have been since the start, charting the highs and lows of the methods. Did our families feel that they have chosen the right approach? Which, if any, will come out on top?

Series Guide >