Better, and Babies

[ailbhe]

I'm a lot better today. I only woke twice in the night, and I could sort of speak when I woke this morning. It's really just my nose - the pain in my throat is almost all gone. So I went to my antenatal class.

Today was Babycare. We started with a Road Safety bit, whcih was all about carseats and seatbelts. Then we did How To Bath A Baby. Then we did Nappy Rash and Other Scary Skin Weirdnesses.

Getting a carseat is going to be a pain. Generally, one should get one which fits one's own car. They aren't generic. We don't have a car; we wanted a generic one, for taxis and Rob's parents and that kind of thing. Oops. Luckily, immediately after class one woman offered me a lift to Mothercare so I could ask them for help and advice, and there is one seat (not the cheapest) which will fit most carseats. I also discovered that fitting a carseat is something my arms won't be capable of most of the time, so I'll always need help.

Bathing a baby is more or less as simple as I thought it was, and Mum's right, one doesn't need soap, though it's helpful for washing off the meconium. One also doesn't need a baby bath, and I'm glad they told us so, because one or two people have expressed dismay that we intend to use a plastic washing-up bowl.

The Rash bit was the weirdest. I live in West Reading, where there's a pretty high proportion of non-white to white people. The pictures they showed us of skin yukkinesses were all on white babies. Weird. Also, I've had a look for pictures online of non-white babies with rashes, and I can't find any; I used to have some, but they've gone. Double weird.

I'm glad I'm getting better; it means I'll be able to enjoy tomorrow's party. And I suddenly remembered my Ebay responsibilities, and posted off a parcel and a couple of cheques. The weather continues charming.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

What a useful sounding class!

Better is good. *sends you feel-great vibes*

[ailbhe]

Oh, it's generally very useful - the skin thing is the first place they've really screwed up. Um, apart from some stuff they said about deaf babies, but I don't actually know *any* deaf people in real life so I didn't feel qualified to comment (it was basically about how deaf people are at a fundamental disadvantage and need to be brought up as close to hearing as possible, a common perception in hearing people which I believe deaf people have Other Opinions on). And to be fair, there was only one woman in the group with a non-white partner, and no non-white women at all this week. I still thought it was a bit strange. I have no idea where to find images, though, and I wish I could find a URL or two to point this woman at.

I got to admit, I'm getting better, getting better all the ti-ee-i-ime...

A.

[barakta]

You are correct about deaf babies. Of course it does depend upon the level of hearing loss, reason for hearing loss etc etc. To give you some background I am moderately-severely deaf which means I have a hearing loss of about 75 - 90dB across the board (I only just hear a phone ringing without my hearing aid). Also my mum is about to start an MA in Deaf Education specialising in deaf babies and neonatal care.

Basically the situation at present is that the earlier the babies hearing loss is identified the earlier speech therapy and all that stuff can begin, however there is now much more awareness of total communication (sign, speech, lipreading, hearing aids etc etc) as a holistic education for a deaf baby. When I was born in 1980 it was very much if you sign we will chop your hands off, especially in Manchester where I am from.

These days they can identify hearing loss very quickly and their major worry is that telling parents their baby is deaf is a problem because there is worry that some mothers/parents will reject the child rather than bond properly owever there is also balancing that with providing suitable stimulus and language education, be that speech, sign or combinations therof.

As for the Deaf Community they are just as extreme in their views as the old oralists were/are in theirs. I think things are improving thankfully and the child's needs being made a higher priority.

Anyhow, I realise that your comment was only a minor point in your post, I just wanted to confirm that you have the right idea. One woudl hope any parents of a child with disabilities would have access to information other than that from potentially biased sources.

Natalya

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

We learnt all this in postnatal classes, antenatal would have been far better.

I would have thought that a stage 0 car seat would fit most cars as you do some complicated thing with the seatbelt to attach & unattach them. Ours fitted in every car we tried, though I did find that some cars have 2 different length back seat belts, so our fitted in only 1 side in my dad's car & my friend's car. My friend had a people carrier too.

The next stage up car seat is more tricky as it's permanent & needs to fit snug so the baby doesn't risk whiplash.

Our baby bath set (£30) from Mothercare was a complete waste of money. I topped & tailed Kate for the first few weeks & then she didn't like the baby bath, so I used to get in the big bath with her & just hold her & play in the ater. Great fun for both of us :) If Andy came back from work before we'd finished, he's take Kate & sort her out while I topped up the lukewarm water with hot & then washed myself properly & had a few mins peace & quiet.

I didn't use soap or anything for ages. I only started using babywipes later on once I knew that her skin wasn't sensitive. Before that I used cotton wool & luke warm water. Wipes are far easier, but I disagree with putting products onto a newborn babys' skin. I massaged Kate in olive oil after each top & tail when her skin was dry & scaley.

Kate has never suffered badly from rashes, so I have no great Anna/Kate words of wisdom on that *g*

[clanwilliam.livejournal.com]

I've never seen a baby bath at my sister's (for varying reasons, she's the only one whose house I've been in at baby-bathing time). And a plastic washing up bowl sounds excellent - when the baby outgrows it, then a shallow bath will be just fine too - after all, the poor kid isn't going to be left alone in it.

My sister just uses an old jug to wash her baby - it's not an economy thing so much as a "why spend money on something like that" thing.

Re car seats - yes, they're worth spending money on. What are you doing pram-wise? Another sister has an excellent contraption that's basically a detachable carrying cot so that it doubles up for everything - costs a bit more than a standard pram or adapatable, but is much cheaper overall, particularly as she spends time travelling over to Ireland to visit the family.

[ailbhe]

Pram-wise: I spent a long time, early in the pregnancy (16 weeks), looking for a pushchair which I could collapse with one hand, which I could carry on a bus, and which I was physically capable of lifting. None of the 2- or 3-in-one things qualified. I've got a Maclaren Citilite (it might be citylite; it's definitely a kreative spelling) which weighs less than 6 kilos and I can manage with one hand if my hands are more or less working. We bought it a while ago because there were rumours that they were going to stop making it.

The things with detachable bits are great for people with slightly larger hallways than we have, and with functional arms. They just take more space and effort than I have available...

And then there are the multi-terrain transformer-babies-in-disguise SUV models. Those are just funny. I've only ever seen them in use inside shopping centres; I suspect that getting them anywhere else is too complicated.

A.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

The Plunket Society in NZ hires car seats for $45/year and they're pretty generic. We were able to move Weegirl's seat between cars with little effort (the toughest thing about doing so was that it was heavy). I find it odd that more generic car seats aren't (easily) available in Britain.