Recently attended another free baby seminar. Yea, I’m too cheapskate to pay to attend seminars, but since there are quite a few free ones out there, why not? My hubby attends these seminars with me and overall, they have been pretty good sources of information for him.

This one was held on 15 August 2015 at Mount Elizabeth Novena. It was organised by the hospital and supported by StemCord. Compared to the previous one I attended, this baby seminar was on a much smaller scale.

Image credit: StemCord

I missed half of the programme as I had to attend a family friend’s wedding, but here’s my comments on the other half:

Preparing for The Arrival of Your Newborn
Caught the last bit of this talk which was a list of items to buy in preparation of your newborn and what to pack in your bag when you’re due. These two lists are discussed quite a lot in the mummy Facebook groups and forums. I think the bottomline for the former is to really think through what you’ll need based on your environment and habits. There are must-buy lists of in-things for baby out there and I’m sure other mummies will be more than happy to share their buying lists with you, but do you really need everything on the list? Here’s an example: Some mummies say a steriliser is a necessity, but I think it’s more of a convenience item. Remember the days when a steriliser didn’t exist? What did mummies do then? Boil hot water and pour it over the items to be sterilised.

Ms Eileen Tiang did mention that a breast pump is also not necessary at the beginning, especially if you intend to let your little one directly latch on. Do what they call “demand feeding”. Your body will then know how to regulate and produce enough milk for baby. If you do both, your body may think that you need to produce more milk and you end up with painful engorged breasts due to over production of milk.

What about the bag for your hospital stay?  I say, ask the experienced mummies who have given birth at the hospital of your choice. You really don’t need too many things if the hospital is going to provide most of the necessities. BUT, a hair tie was strongly recommended to be packed in if you have long hair. You’re going to get all hot and sweaty from the pushing, and the last you want is hair sticking to your face.

ABC’s of Newborn Care
I thought this talk was pretty informative. Skin conditions of newborns (e.g. jaundice, heat rash, pimples/acne, diaper rash) and reasons for your newborn’s crying was covered. These two topics are again, discussed extensively in the groups and forums. I knew most of what was covered from my constant hanging out in the groups, but it was a real eye-opener for my hubby. I don’t want to go too much into each topic as I’ll probably discuss those in future entries.

Important point to note: Baby will not cry for nothing. You need to figure out what baby is trying to communicate through his/her cries. Don’t worry though, you’ll soon be a pro at figuring out your own baby’s cries. (Just like how my sister and I know our cat has different meows for different things.)

Early Psychotrauma and Its Effect on Parents and Children
The topic itself is rather unique. The main message is that whatever unhappy or stressful episodes you’ve been through as a child, will somehow be unknowingly transferred to your child (unborn or born) if you’re not careful. It is best to work these issues out (where you find peace and acceptance within yourself). Also, you may not realise it but children can sense unhappiness around the house even if nothing is spoken. And they will blame themselves for being the root cause of the unhappiness whether it is true or not. So, the best gift you can give your child is a happy and healthy relationship with your spouse.

Children are sensitive and fragile creatures like that. They may not be able to verbalise certain emotions so as parents, you must watch out for the signs. I’ll relate my own true story to illustrate what that means. My parents were both working and I used to be looked after by a nanny. There was a period of time where instead of walking me and my sister up to our nanny’s flat, my parents would hand us over to my nanny’s daughter at the car park. It made sense since it saved time and my nanny’s daughter was also going up to the same place to drop off her own kids anyway. For that period of time, I would refuse to go up the school bus or I would cry and say I had a stomach ache when the school bus was nearing the kindergarten. Many a time, my dad had to come down to the kindergarten to console me. Thinking back now, I don’t think I ever really had a stomach ache. I just don’t know why I did that all the time and to this day, I’m still puzzled by my own behaviour then. It was my dad who explained the cause of it. Maybe, but I really don’t know.

And of course, there was a goodie bag given out to all participants.

There were some pamphlets, lots of different sample-sized lotions for mummy and baby, diaper samples and a set of picture cards for baby. I was particularly thrilled at receiving the diaper sample. Yes! They are in newborn size! So far, I’ve been receiving either S or M sized diaper samples which will only be useful when baby grows bigger. What I want is newborn sized diapers so I can try them out the minute baby is out.