These ATL Moms & Nurses Are On-Call for Parenting Advice

As pediatric nurses in a busy Atlanta practice, Jennifer Walker, LPN, and Laura Hunter, RN, BSN, repeatedly heard the same parenting questions. They bundled answers into a purple folder, launched Moms on Call, and began making house calls. Today, their trusted brand includes best-selling books, video courses, apps, and consultants, helping over a million families with sleep, feeding, and routines. Jennifer and Laura — moms on a mission — bring clarity and calm to new parents everywhere.

Get to know this week’s FACES of the South: Jennifer Walker and Laura Hunter of Moms on Call.

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When you were on-call nurses, what were some of the common concerns you heard from parents?

Laura: You get the injury calls and calls about vomiting, illness, fever, and cough. But interwoven into those calls after hours, in the dead of night, was a mom who was crying because she didn’t know how to soothe this newborn that she had just brought home, and nobody gave her a manual when she left the hospital.

Once, I had a dad call saying, “They’re supposed to poop after every feeding, but my baby hasn’t pooped in six hours! What do we need to do?” One of the funniest calls was from a dad who said, “There are these little clear balls throughout the diaper. Are my baby’s kidneys failing? Do I need to call 911?” The diaper got too full and busted, and he was seeing the inside of the diaper. I said, “We’re good. Let’s just change the diaper.”

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Moms on Call started as house calls with printed notes in a folder. How did it evolve into what it is today?

Laura: I did a consult for Kenny Rogers and his twins. When I got ready to leave his house, he said, “Laura, you’ve got something here. Send this folder to a self-publishing company and throw up a website. You can’t hit a bull’s eye if you don’t throw a few darts.” So that’s what we did. We self-published books and stuck how-to DVDs in the back of the books because how else do you show clipping nails and putting a diaper on? This was before YouTube. And it just exploded from that point. We have sold well over a million copies. Now, we have three books, and we have children’s books coming out.

We have online courses. We have apps. We have consulting services with consultants from across the country that also partner with families in the day-to-day. We just celebrated our 20th year of Moms on Call. We have seen technology change like crazy in those 20 years, and it has helped us reach parts of this world that we would not have been able to before. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like 20 years from now.

What advice or words of encouragement would you offer new parents?

Laura: That they’re enough and they’ve got this. As parents, we’re going to have really, really good days, and we’re going to have some really bad days. That’s normal. The thing is, we’re going to get through it. One of the biggest things I think parents need to know is that they’re the best parents for this baby they’ve brought home. If we can build that confidence up, they will make the right decisions.

Jennifer: We parents, especially moms, have this ideal that we’re always comparing ourselves to. The biggest thing is that not only is your child specifically designed for this relationship with you, but they’re not comparing you to anyone else. They are yours, and you are theirs. We need to get this message out to every parent — their kids are strong, adaptable, and resilient, and so are they.

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What impact has technology had on your work?

Jennifer: There are good and bad parts. When we started, you didn’t have somebody online to answer questions; you called your pediatrician’s office. There wasn’t this huge library of everybody’s opinions and there were only a few books.

So, the good part is information is more accessible. But now, there’s so much information that parents are paralyzed. The voice of clarity they require is someone to help direct their path — someone to join them and pull out the really great parent that’s in there. Because a lot of what they’re listening to — so much information — is making them really doubt themselves. It’s stealing some of the joy of parenting.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

Laura: I love to read, and I love playing with the dogs outside. We throw the ball all day, every day. And I really love just being present with friends. When Jennifer and I were in the middle of raising eight kids between us, and we were on-call 90 hours a week and then starting a business, there wasn’t a lot of time for those deep friendship connections. So, what I’m enjoying in this season of life is just being able to be still. That might be sitting at a winery, drinking a glass of wine and having conversations.

Jennifer: I love to write. I love to laugh and invest in relationships. I think one of the most beautiful things now is that we have all grown children. Watching them navigate the world and their lives and getting to be a part of that — there’s nothing like it.

LIGHTNING ROUND!

Three things you can’t live without:

Laura: Margaritas, guacamole, and chips with salsa.

Jennifer: Fresh sheets, good-smelling lotion, and my hair and beauty products.

Favorite recent read:

Jennifer: The Green Mile by Stephen King

Laura: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Top bucket list travel destination:

Jennifer: Sweden for the Nobel Prize events. You can’t go to the actual ceremony unless you’re invited, but they have symposiums, and the symphony, and themed dinners.

Laura: I want to eat my way through Italy.

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Meet more interesting and inspiring Southern women over at our FACES archives!