Ellen Gray: ABC's 'Supernanny' Jo Frost has written a book on bringing up baby

SUPERNANNY. 9 p.m. Wednesday, Channel 6.

JO FROST'S CONFIDENT BABY CARE. Hyperion paperback. $15.95.

WHEN JO FROST pulls up to someone's house in her black London taxicab, there's usually trouble waiting.

Obstreperous children, hapless parents - they're the lifeblood of ABC's "Supernanny," in which Frost, a 38-year-old Briton who's been caring for other people's children since age 17, sorts out a different family every week, using everything from chore charts and "naughty steps" to a deep and determined tone of voice to get families working and playing together in something a bit closer to harmony than havoc.

She's written two best-sellers on her methods - "Supernanny: How to Tame Your Kids and Transform Your Life" and "Ask Supernanny" - and this month ABC's publishing sibling, Hyperion, brought out a third: "Jo Frost's Confident Baby Care."

Babies? Babies don't have homework to skip, can't yet grasp the remote control. And when they cry, they usually have a good reason.

So where does a new-baby book fit in with the discipline of "Supernanny"?

"It doesn't," said Frost in a phone interview last week.

Baby care, though, is "what I've always done as a nanny [beginning] two decades ago. So, organically, it felt kind of right for me to start from the beginning and to really bring an abundance of confidence to parents as soon as they come home with their newborns," she said.

Her book "really helps parents recognize the decisions that they're going to make and how they keep communicating with one another," Frost said.

"I'm not just talking about the things that are in the book, like the different developmental stages. . . . It's really about supporting the parents throughout the first 12 months, and the emotional journey that they'll go through. It's holding their hands and reassuring them and giving them good guidance and direction."

Fans may be surprised to see her focusing on feelings along with babyproofing and feeding schedules, but "I don't think America has truly ever been able to put me in one box or another, really," said Frost, noting that babies are in "a different stage. It's not about [parents] feeling like they are in control. A baby is very demanding . . . because they're solely dependent on you."

And the Supernanny's fine with that: "There are no naughty spots in this book. Certainly not."

Which doesn't mean she doesn't see infancy as an opportunity to lay some groundwork.

"Certainly putting things right, a flexible routine that allows you to have a healthy feeding pattern, sleeping pattern, so that your newborn" is getting the proper food and sleep, "allows our children, you know, to grow and develop as they should, so those things are very much a discipline that can be put in place that allow you to really lay down that great foundation, so when they are toddlers, you're just really continuing into the toddler years," Frost said.

One thing that frosts Frost is hearing too many discouraging words for new parents - whom her book advises to "think positively."

"Studies show," she writes, "that if you expect your baby will keep you up all night, she does.

"This book is not about saying, 'This is how you're going to cope,' " she said. "I mean, if we're talking about coping, then we're already in a place where we're feeling helpless."

That wouldn't seem to be a place where Frost spends much time.

Asked if she'd ever recommended another expert's baby book before writing her own, she said she hadn't.

"I'd heard, obviously, of Dr. Spock, I'd heard of Christopher Green, I'd heard of Gina Ford, Tracy Hogg, Penelope Leach, I mean, you know, I've heard of these ladies and men in the same arena," she said, but added that she isn't "hugely familiar with any of their techniques."

As for her own, "I'm very intuitive. I can honestly say that I have never done a technique on the show that was a trial and error - I just knew it would work," she said.

"I count that as my blessing, and know that in being able to really use that in a very large way that makes a big impact on parents, they're able to find harmony. And others are able to find a measure of where they're at in their parenting from watching the show," Frost said.

"I count my blessings every day, and am grateful for my own gifts, and what I'm able to give back." *

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