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

[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