One day I visited a mom at home who had faithfully attended all my classes. Her pregnancy finished two months earlier than expected and hoped for. After the birth of her premature baby, the baby is transferred to the children’s hospital, after a couple of days the mom is discharged home. She goes home without...
Author: Petra de Ruiter
Breastfeeding Support and Training. Why?
As I wrote in my last blog: I sometimes wonder if there is any point in my doing this lactation work: teaching the mothers, the staff and helping the breastfeeding mothers. Apart from seeing the mothers on the ward, I do a lot of teaching in different hospitals, both in the city as well as...
Premature Babies in Our Chinese Hospital
The hospital I work at is the largest in the county. All mothers from surrounding towns and villages are encouraged to have their babies in this hospital. Having said this, very high risk pregnancies and babies are referred to the main hospitals in the nearby city, Taiyuan. During my breastfeeding rounds, I have seen several...
Tongue-Tie
I got a call from an American lady, living in Xian (over 600 km from where we live). She had encountered quite a few breastfeeding problems and had no one in her vicinity to turn to. After taking a detailed history and listening to her story, I gave her advice to make sure that the...
The Earlier I see a Mom the Better, or Perhaps not Always?
I used to think: “The earlier I see the mother, the better, because then I can clear some misunderstandings and help her get off to a good start with breastfeeding.” So, my first focus is: teach the women and their family during pregnancy and then try to see them as soon after the delivery as...
What’s Wrong with a Bottle?
One of the biggest misunderstandings in China is that women believe that they don’t have milk in the early days after birth and thus start with bottle feeding. This can lead to several problems. Incorrect bottle-feeding practices. When helping moms, who started out bottle-feeding, but want to breastfeed, my main goal is to help with latch...
“Expressing Left-over Milk”
A person who is often called upon when a woman has breastfeeding problems in China is the 催乳师, which literally means “push milk worker”. These ladies have had a short course on how to massage the breasts and they learn a bit about what they can recommend as far as food and herbs to stimulate...
“Thee Early, One Late”
Chinese Medical Professionals Promote “三早一晚： Three Early, One Late” after the birth of the baby. “Three Early” stand for: early contact, early sucking, early “opening the milk”. “One Late” stands for: delayed cord clamping. Well, sounds good, doesn’t it? Seems to be in line with step 4 of the WHO’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding:...
Breast Only? “No Way! Too Risky”
In my last blog, I already explained that one of the most common misunderstandings in China is that one believes that the newly delivered mom doesn’t have any milk in those first few days post partum. Not only the newly delivered mother and her family have misconceptions about breastfeeding, the medical staff isn’t always helpful...
No Milk First Days After Birth?
When I first worked in the villages, I noticed that many mothers didn’t start breastfeeding until after the milk came in. Surprisingly enough somehow a lot of moms in the countryside still succeed to breastfeed their baby, but not always. The good thing is that all mothers I meet want to breastfeed their baby (China...