39W 2D 出産前母乳育児ワークショップ Antenatal breastfeeding workshop

カーシートもゲットし、準備はほぼ万端。今日は出産前母乳育児ワークショップ行った。

英国では母乳が日本ほど社会的に認められていず、母乳をあげているお母さんをあまり見かけない。今年の7月には、ナショナルギャラリーで母乳をあげていたお母さんが職員に注意されて話題になった。（ナショナルギャラリーは後に謝罪した。）スコットランドでは、2歳以下に公共の場で授乳することを「やめるさせることはできない」という法律が通ったばかり。母乳育児のよさが見直されているが、まだまだその数は少ないのが現実だろう。

今日の一番の収穫は、正しく授乳できれば、我慢できないほど乳首が痛くならないということ。正しい姿勢で赤ちゃんを抱き、乳首の位置に赤ちゃんの鼻を持ってくる。赤ちゃんが少し頭を引いて口を「大きく」開いたら、まず下唇と顎が胸に触るように引き寄せる。乳首の先だけを含ませると痛いが、こうして全体を赤ちゃんが吸えば痛くない・・・らしい。

母乳育児の資料もいろいろゲット。その中で興味深かったのは搾乳の仕方について。赤ちゃんを近くに置くか、赤ちゃんの写真やおもちゃなどを見ながらやると、たくさん出るらしい。なんだか、精子バンクに寄付するために男性がすることと似てない？

ワークショップに出て迷いが消えた私は、積極的に母乳でいく気になり、その足でMarks & Spencersに行き授乳用ブラ購入。胸の部分に少し余裕を持たせたサイズを勧められたので36DDだ。

その他のメモ：

初めの24時間は2,3回の授乳のみ。（6-8時間赤ちゃんが起きない場合、母乳をつけた指を赤ちゃんの口に近づけ誘導。）母乳は消化がよく、フォームラミルクより授乳回数が増える。6ヶ月までの母乳が望ましい。母乳で育った赤ちゃんは血糖値が安定し、将来的に糖尿病になる確率が下がる、アトピーの確率が下がる。お母さんの乳がん、卵巣がん、骨粗しょう症の確率が減る。赤ちゃんの泣き声で反射的に母乳がでてしまう人もいる。混合授乳の予定でも、母乳授乳が完成するまでは始めない。

We've now got a baby car seat. Almost everything is ready for the new arrival. I went to Antenatal Breastfeeding workshop this afternoon.

Breastfeeding in public in the U.K. is not as socially accepted as it is in Japan. We don't see many women breastfeeding in public. In July, a woman breastfeeding in the National Gallery was asked to leave, which became big news. (National Gallery later apologised for that.) In Scotland, the Breastfeeding bill was just passed and from next year, it will be an offence for bars, restaurants or shopping centres to deliberately prevent children under two from being fed breast or bottled milk. It's started to be re-recognised the pros of breastfeeding recently, but the number of the mothers breastfeed may still be small.

The best I learnt today was if your baby latches on to the breast properly, not only just to nipple but much deeper, you won't have terribly sore nipples. Sit or lie down properly, hold the baby and position his nose opposite your nipple, wait till the baby opens his mouth really wide, then quickly move his head onto your breast first his chin touching the breast.

We got a couple of handouts. One of them is about expressing breastmilk and there is an interesting bit. To help breastmilk flow, 'have your baby close, or look at a photo or toy to remind you of your baby.' Isn't it similar to the things men do when they so donation to sperm bank???

After the workshop, I got so determined to breastfeed my baby. I went straight to Marks & Spencers to get nursing bras. It's 36DD because a slightly bigger cup size was recommended.

Other memo:

In the first 24 hours, breastfeed only 2 or 3 times. If the baby does not wake up for 6-8 hours, stimulate the baby by putting a finger around his mouth with some breastmilk. Breastmilk is very digestive and need to be fed more often than formula milk. Recommended to keep breastfeed at least for 6 months. Avoid using bottles or dummies while the baby is learning to breastfeed as it will confuse the baby. Some women have reflection to the baby's cry and start to flow milk! The baby being breastfed has stable blood sugar level and studies show less risk to be diabetes in the later life, less eczema. Mothers breastfeeding babies have less risk of breast/ovarian cancers and have stronger bones in the later life.