Infant care course, part 2 of 3

[pne]

Last night, Stella and I went to the second evening of the infant care course.

This evening was all about nursing your child: breastfeeding, how to do it, what to do if things don't go quite right, what's available if you can't breastfeed at all or not as much as the child needs.

We each got to try a little cup with maltodextrin which is what they give babies (in consultation with the mother) if they aren't getting enough fluids from nursing. She called it "glucose solution" but it isn't, really; part of the reason she gave it to us to taste is to show that it isn't "sugar water" what they're feeding the children.

We also watched a film made in Norway about breastfeeding. Lots of shots of women's nipples :p and children nursing, or attaching. Also expressing milk by hand or with a pump. And lots of encouragement.

And an interesting point: one reason why my mother's or grandmother's generation didn't breastfeed as much as is currently popular is not fashion but the way hospitals were organised: if you are only brought your child on a strict schedule, every four hours, regardless of whether it cries beforehand or not, you may not produce enough milk since you don't get as constant a stimulation as if you had the child with you all the time. Apparently, sometimes women weren't even allowed to touch their own children when the nurse brought them in! How weird is that.

Anyway, both of us are pro-nursing but we'll have to see how things turn out. Hopefully full nursing for at least six months and then keep nursing for some meals until, um, we stop. Which will depend on how things turn out.

Next Wednesday: medical checkups and similar bumph. Which reminds me, I need to look into getting forms sorted out for benefits and the like. Money stuff. Not sure exactly where I have to go since there are about three different kinds of money that you get for different things and you have to apply in three different places.

Comments

[pne.livejournal.com]

I didn't find anything which sounded like it on http://www.lalecheliga.de/shop/index.html?target=dept_12.html, the "books" section of the LLL.de shop, so if you could find out the German title or get me the book, that may be helpful.

We do have the first book on that page, though, which was recommended to us by the midwife who did our birth preparation course. (Something like "Breastfeeding - how to provide for your baby in an all-around good way", by two nursing and lactation consultants IBCLC.)

The hospital also has a "nursing café" twice a month where pregnant and nursing women (or anyone who's interested) can come and talk and share experiences, and apparently you can also make an appointment for a personal consultation -- and I've seen that LLL.de has two addresses in Hamburg south of the Elbe, one of them even in ZIP code 21075 which is Marmstorf (IIRC), not far from us (21077).

I don't think Stella would be willing to try out newsgroups just now even if there were one in German, but perhaps I could.

Thank you for your recommendation and for letting me use you as a reference, though!

And I hope everything goes well.

[jpallan.livejournal.com]

Das Handbuch Für Die Stillende Mutter

1997 edition of
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding translated in German. Published by La Leche Liga Schweiz, 2001. Softcover, 393 pages No. 613-29, $20.00

That's how it's listed in the La Leche League catalogue. Let me know if you can't find it under that title, and I'll order it in for you from the States.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Ah, found it, thanks, both on the LLL.de book list (second from the bottom) and on amazon.de (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/3906675025/) (though they don't sell it themselves, they offer to act as intermediary for a couple of copies that others are selling).

I'll look into it; thanks for the recommendation. The amazon.de review is also very positive.

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

[pne.livejournal.com]

Stella wasn't too enamoured about buying another book on breastfeeding when we already have one, but I found it in the local library and have checked it out for now.

Thanks again for the German title and the ISBN.

Re: The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

[pne.livejournal.com]

Oops, no ISBN; I suppose I got that from Amazon.de, then. But thanks for telling me the German title, without which I may not have been able to find it.