Prenatal / Antenatal /Childbirth Education Classes Available

Taiwan Parenting
1

Hi everyone,

I will be opening prenatal/ childbirth education classes next month. Location will be downtown near the Far East Hotel, every Saturday from 1:00 - 4:00 for 4 weeks.

Class One: Understanding Labor

Orientation/Introduction

What happens during labor?
How does the pelvis work?
What does labor sound like?
What does labor look like?
Learning relaxation
Needs during labor
Positive images of birth

Class Two: Labor Toolkit

Fear and tension in labor
Using breathing as a strategy
Perfect drug
Positioning for labor
Exploring options
Massage techniques

Class Three: Making Decisions

Choices - who makes them?
Cascade of Intervention
Touch relaxation
Decision making
Action Plan
Birth plans

Class Four: Breastfeeding and Parenting

Icebreaker - Traits in your child
Reasons for breastfeeding
How breastfeeding works
How do I know?
Positioning
Hygiene
Postpartum Depression
Crying Baby

Any interested parents please pm me or send me an email at angie@beautifulbeginnings.com.tw

2

Hello everyone,

I will be starting the next series of childbirth classes after Chinese New Years. I was thinking February 8th for the start date and it would be every Sunday for four weeks. Each class runs between 3-4 hours for a total of 12-14 hours of classes.

A quote from a former student;

" You need as much confidence as you can muster to be able to get through it all. And that’s the number one thing we got from your course. A good example of this is one of the tips you gave us; BRAND. For me this nugget was super useful; it made us really confident when it came time to make difficult decisions. Using that tip I felt like I was in consultation with our doctor, working together as partners. I felt like I was asking the right questions, and that boosted my confidence in myself, and also my confidence in our doctor’s answers. It made the decisions easier to make, the kinds of decisions that we weren’t prepared for, but were able to face and get through using the tips and guidance you’d passed on to us.

No amount of reading information in a book can compare to having someone, an experienced someone, to talk with, to ask questions of, and to share experiences with. Your knowledge and experience, particularly in the Taiwan situation, gave us so much of the confidence that we needed. And for us that was the key to managing our pregnancy well.

So from the bottom of our hearts we send our sincerest thanks and appreciation to you."

For more information on each class topic please refer to my website.

Pm me if you have any questions or to confirm your space in the class.

Happy Holidays

3

I wish you had had something in Changhua like this, class consisted of one day for 2 hours with no follow up, ffs there must be a market for this.

Baby’s Bliss Gripe Water > Colicky baby

4

[quote=“piwackit”]

Orientation/Introduction

What happens during labor? Woman in pain. Man gets told what an ass he is.

How does the pelvis work? I’ll give free classes to qualified applicants on this subject.

What does labor sound like? “THIS IS YOUR FAULT, YOU BASTARD!”

What does labor look like? Woman bravely taking pain. Man crying in the corner.

Learning relaxation… Isn’t that why they made the Hello Kitty ward?

Needs during labor – Epidural

Positive images of birth – aka “Man photoshopped into a picture without tears.”

Class Two: Labor Toolkit

“Fear” and “tension in labor” – are synonyms.

Using breathing as a strategy – to make the guy feel like he was able to coach you in something.

Perfect drug – Morning after pill

Positioning for labor – Making sure the doctor can look in.

Exploring options – How to harm your husband without killing him.

Massage techniques – How to turn that choke hold on the guy into a nice massage.

Class Four: Breastfeeding and Parenting

Icebreaker - Traits in your child
Reasons for breastfeeding – The man or the baby?

How breastfeeding works – I will give a free class to … well … yeah.

How do I know? – Know what?

Positioning – See “How Breastfeeding Works”

Hygiene – Required to become a “qualified applicant”

Postpartum Depression – And taking the keys away.

Crying Baby – How to avoid the mother-in-law’s advice to ignore it.

Any interested parents please pm me or send me an email at angie@beautifulbeginnings.com.tw[/quote]

Sorry. Just trying to procrastinate a little. I have a huge 150 page document due tomorrow and needed a break.

5

[quote]Postpartum Depression
Crying Baby[/quote]
Me me me me me me me me me me me me me!

6

Sigh…men! All those answers just go to show why a doula is helpful during birth! :slight_smile:

7

The entire birthing to having a child experience has been downright horrid for me. Supposedly Chinese don’t even have a word for colic, nor relief, I feel sorry for Taiwanese moms who have less inventive husbands than myself. Baby’s bliss gripe water, vibrating rocker chair and Gas X for babies are just a few of the things I have used and there are days when even that isn’t enough.

My MiL has been detrimental to my wife’s self-confidence and compared to my family support network, it would of been worth moving back to the US for 6 months just for that. When I work and my wife needs sleep/help my MiL is good for only 1 hour, 2 if she harangues FiL(he’s a champ though). I made a serious mistake thinking that the level of support offered by my family in taking care of the baby would be matched by my wife’s family. My baby looked thin till my wife stopped eating the zuoyuezi food and started eating regular food. We would of been better off if we had stayed in Taipei.

Colic has been the worst though. Thankfully we have it under control most of the time she only has one month left before it is suppose to magically disappear. :pray:

8

Oh Okami, I’m so sorry to hear you and your wife have been having such a hard time. There is no magic cure for colic as I’m sure you already know. The things you are already doing are great, You could also try carrying baby around in a sling, swaddling and checking moms diet. You could try cutting out dairy in moms diet for a week or so and see if symtoms improve. The proteins in dairy are hard for some babies to digest and a lot of asians are lactose intolerent. Time will make it better and until then you sound like you are a great support for your wife but people often forget dads need support as well. So take care of yourself.

9

Okami,

If your wife or yourself has time to take an Infant Massage course (total 5 hours, usually about 400-500 per one-hour class), I would really recommend that. I took my youngest one to the class, and the instructors are so supportive, and can teach you techniques to give your baby relief from things like colic, constipation, or general discomfort. The website (Chinese) is http://www.tw.iaim.net. They have classes around Taiwan.

10

Thanks, We tried most of the stuff you said, but as you know or have read, there is no magic solution for colic. They don’t sell soy milk here, but we did try some non-lactose based milk for a couple days. It didn’t really do anything and I’m still not fully convinced my wife gave up breastfeeding at that time to try it. She feels breastfeeding is something she must do come hell or high water. It’s cheaper, but impossible to explain to her that breast milk only gives you 3 hours between feeding instead of 4.

We got the book, Loving Hands, but it says not to start massage till the baby is 6 months old and ours is only 2 months old. I will try to turn her onto the website, but she is so damn stubborn about some things.

11

Goodness, I would never suggest giving up breastfeeding. I meant your wife, if she is breastfeeding, not consume dairy products for a week to see if it helps. Breastfeeding is best on so many levels that three hour feedings instead of four is hardly a consideration.

Another month or so and baby will hopefully grow out of this phase. Until then she can feed baby, pass her off to another adult and have a good two hour nap in the day.

Colic is tough and the days may be a blur of sleeplessness now but remember it will pass.

Take care.

12

[quote=“Okami”]
We got the book, Loving Hands, but it says not to start massage till the baby is 6 months old and ours is only 2 months old. I will try to turn her onto the website, but she is so damn stubborn about some things.[/quote]

I am not a child specialist or anything…I have massaged both my children from birth onwards and it is really soothing for them. Once the kids are 6mo and begin to get wriggly and sit up…they don’t allow you to massage them anymore.I am sure you are aware of all the sensory pleasures and bonding both bay and parent experience not to mention the photo ops you get out of a well oiled baby!! :slight_smile:

13

Ours (10 weeks) vomited spectacularly all over a friend on Saturday evening after a feed. Then again last night at 5am, all over our bed, so that we had to bathe him, change our own bedding, clean the floor, etc.
Is that normal? He didn’t seem to be in any discomfort prior and was pretty damn gleeful right afterwards. Unlike his dad.

14

Vomiting is common in infants. It’s usually not a concern if there is no fever, irritability and does not happen too frequently.

For some babies GERD is a concern, also known as infant reflux.

Some symtoms

constant or sudden crying or colic like symptoms
irritability and pain
poor sleep habits typically with frequent waking
arching their necks and back during or after eating
spitting-up or vomiting
wet burp or frequent hiccups
frequent ear infections or sinus congestion

infantrefluxdisease.com/

15

Oh mother of god! :s

At least he doesn’t display any of the symptoms you list above, although he does spend 5 or 10 minutes doing “pushups” if we put him down to sleep on his stomach. Pretty funny to watch.

16

I am not, nor ever been against breastfeeding. My point was to see if my daughter couldn’t take it like my nephew. He was a terror for 2 weeks and became an angel 20 minutes after his first bottle of soy milk. You’ll try anything if your kid has colic.

My daughter is alway happy after her 1 or 2 poos she drops a day. She farts louder than I do and would give Almas John a serious run for his money. She grunts like a weightlifter.

She basically has GERD. We’ve tried most of the relief methods, though my wife is real lazy about some of them. My kid without gripe water is a terror and I’m hoping my wife uses the Baby Gas-X. I’ve tried reasoning and talking to her sternly, but she just can’t get it in her thick head. She’ll hold our daughter for 1 hour as she is fussy and crying. I’ll say honey, put her in her rocker, turn on the vibrating chair and rock her to sleep, after about 30-45 minutes of my wife not doing that I grab our daughter put her in the rocker and have her asleep in 10-20 minutes every damn time, short of hunger or a dirty diaper. And to avoid an inevitable mommy attack, if she doesn’t want to sleep I don’t make her, we do have daddy time or sometime she babbles to her dog on her rocker.

I ask her why she doesn’t do that. She says our daughter doesn’t like sleeping in the rocker :loco: or she wants to put her into the crib. I’m of the opinion that at this stage whatever gets her to sleep the fastest, short of whiskey, is a good idea as that means we can sleep. While my wife has to be up with her more, I have to work. She can also get her one hour of help from her mom a day if she is lucky. :unamused:

17

Oh mother of god! :s

At least he doesn’t display any of the symptoms you list above, although he does spend 5 or 10 minutes doing “pushups” if we put him down to sleep on his stomach. Pretty funny to watch.[/quote]

If I may ask a question here, I’ve heard in my classes I had to take back in the states about early childhood (we had to take a certain amount per year if we were a teacher) that it’s still not recommended to put a child to sleep on the stomach because of SIDS. Is this still the general consensus?

18

Oh mother of god! :s

At least he doesn’t display any of the symptoms you list above, although he does spend 5 or 10 minutes doing “pushups” if we put him down to sleep on his stomach. Pretty funny to watch.[/quote]

If I may ask a question here, I’ve heard in my classes I had to take back in the states about early childhood (we had to take a certain amount per year if we were a teacher) that it’s still not recommended to put a child to sleep on the stomach because of SIDS. Is this still the general consensus?[/quote]
Dunno. I’ll ask the wife.

19

Yes. Putting a baby to sleep on it’s belly increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Since the start of the Back to Sleep Campagin ,when parents were first told to put infants to sleep on their backs only, the number of infants dying from SIDs has been reduced by almost half.

Other ways to help lower the risk of SIDS

Place baby to sleep on a new, firm mattress
Remove all bedding
Give baby a pacifier at night
Smoke free enviroment
Don’t let baby overheat
Keep a fan blowing to let air circulate

20

Hmmm. Seems they’re pretty much in agreement over this back to sleep thing.