Spanish baby clothes

There seems to be quite a big difference between what I think is appropriate for a new born baby and what’s considered normal here in Spain. Anyone who has Spanish in laws will know what I’m talking about. As I now nearing the end of my pregnancy (8 months and counting) I’m starting to receive gifts of clothes and also used clothes from my partner’s relatives.

His sister very kindly gave me a box full of used baby clothes (she has a 3 year old boy). However, I was dismayed by what I found inside. There were a lot of these intricate very pale blue jersey type things with very small openings for the neck and buttons at the back – they were also made of 100% acrylic. A definite no as far as I’m concerned. Apart from the aesthetics, the fact that they were acrylic and had buttons at the back and looked really uncomfortable means there’s no way I’m using them. There were also a couple of bodysuits but again all the poppers were at the back which somehow just seems impractical. The last time I changed a nappy was 14 years ago and the idea of trying to button everything at the back seems illogical to me. The only thing I found in the box that I thought I might use was a little short-sleeved body that looked like it had never been worn – (this is probably because it had pink pictures on it).

Then following a big family meal I was presented with some new baby clothes, I tried to smile bravely on looking at the selection. There was a bodysuit with a big plastic transfer on the front (I’ve already changed it for some plain short sleeved vests) plus one of those acrylic crocheted jumper things with big ties on the shoulders and buttons down the back and then some little wrap over vests. The only thing is the wrap over vests had long ribbon ties to fasten them. Again this seems really impractical but I’m sure I’ve also read somewhere that it’s not a good idea for safety reasons having long ties on baby clothes. So I’m going to try and change them for ones with poppers and also a larger size as they are for 0 – 1 months and look like they wouldn’t fit a doll. Needless to say everything was pale blue. However, I was a bit dismayed to find so many pale blue baby clothes in the Mothercare catalogue too.

The second antenatal class

Yesterday I went to the second antenatal class at my local healthcare centre. This time it was a bit more structured that the one last week.

There was a midwife and a nurse. Firstly the nurse showed us how to bath a newborn baby. It was quite funny as she used a rather large, old doll to demonstrate what to do. Then the midwife talked about breastfeeding which was quite informative.

She mentioned that the hospital here used to have a midwife dedicated soley to helping women get started on breastfeeding but that this is no longer the case. She mentioned how important it is to wear the correct type of bra and admitted that in Spain its very difficult to find a well fitting bra. Generally in Spain you can't buy a bra with a cup size! Something which I've always found rather bizarre. Do all Spainish women share the same cup size? I was a bit shocked when someone in the class undressed to show us her bra and then her breasts (she wanted to know whether they looked normal!). Her bra was the wrong sort as it had wire under the cup (you're not supposed to wear underwired bras when pregnant).

Following this people just asked general questions. One woman wanted to know whether she could cut her newborn baby's hair with a head shaver or whether this might damage the baby's head! She was worried she might not like how the baby looked with a lot of hair. How strange.

The the midwife talked about how our relationships with our partners would change following the birth of our babies. However, she only focussed on the difficulties and I found this rather disheartening. I am under no illusions as to how hard its going to be - one of the reasons I have left motherhood rather late (I'm almost 38 years old) but I didn't need reminding at 8 months pregnant going on nine.

I wonder what next weeks class will be about?