Liz

Forum Replies Created

  • Author
    Posts
  • at #7865

    Hi! If you have N2, you could try having a look for a written guide etc. I bought the book すべてわかる妊娠と出産の本 when I was first starting, which I believe is a direct translation of the American book What To Expect When You’re Expecting. Helped a tonne with learning pregnancy/baby vocab!

    at #7821

    I used to co-sleep with my two year old, and baby twins…two double futons put together and only a mini blanket for the toddler. The twins in zip up sleep sacks, (me sleeping between the toddler and the twins) so it was quite safe, and saved me from having to going from bed to bed all night when they woke up. But my whole english family were horrified at the idea, haha.

    They twins are seven now, and have just stopped coming to my bed, which im glad for as they take up too much space! Whatever helps everyone get proper sleep goes, imo!

    at #7820

    Me and my husband have actually been thinking about moving out of Japan by the time our girls reach their teens.
    <p style=”text-align: left;”>We have three daughters who are currently all in elementary school. But when you look at gender inequality rates in Japan, and the general misogyny and  harrassment young women and girls face here…my heart tells me to take them to the UK..at least until university age. After that they can decide where they want to live.</p>

    at #7458

    My kids are all in elementary school by now, but I’ve only ever spoken English with them, and my husband has only ever spoken Japanese with them.

    It was a bit of a journey in our case, as we were transfered to Australia for three years when my kids were aged 3, 1, and 1. They quickly took on English as their main first language in that time, even with the one-parent-one-language strategy, and while attending Japanese school once a week.

    Coming back to Japan, they spoke very little Japanese at first, but became as fluent as their peers within a very short time, a few months at most. My oldest is now fully bilingual, due to getting proper school exposure overseas, but my twins speak Japanese 90% of the time, due to coming back to Japan at pre-school age. They usually speak to me in Japanese even though I only speak English to them. They do understand  100% of what I say though. We send them to English saturday school, and do movies, books, apps in English too.

    I did see some comments above worrying whether two languages will cause speech problems. I had this worry before, but was told by a very senoir pediatrician to definitely continue with bilingual exposure as much as possible. So, on we go 🙂

    at #7414

    We get a lot of crafty stuff from Daiso (or equivalent 100 store), especially origami! They fold it, cut it up, glue it to things, use it to make notes, draw pictures on it. We’ve had decorations for all seasons made from origami. Its simple enough that you can leave them to it, or you can join in practice yourself, lol. I go to Daiso occasionally and empty the 100 sheet packs off the shelf.

    at #7392

    It was better than I expected in some respects, but worse in others. All kids born in central Kansai: singleton first, twins second.

    My first daughter was born in our crumbly, old city hospital, which had policy of no pain relief (One of the elderly nurses actually said to me ‘This is Japan, we don’t do painless births here’). But the after-birth care was brilliant. A total of 5 days in hospital, which was so, so helpful in getting breastfeeding established as a first time mum. In my country (UK), women are often sent home a few hours after birth, which seems far too quick. My daughter was kept in the nursery for the whole 5 days, I had to go there every 3 hours to feed her. This arrangement suited me quite well, although it is a bit old fashioned.

    When I found out I was having more than one for my second pregnancy, I was immediately refered to a big, new university hospital, and spent the final three weeks of the pregnancy hospitalized. This extended hospitalization is standard practice for twin pregnancies in Japan apparently, regardless of complications. In my case, I was given the drug ritodrine 3 times a day for 3 weeks during this time, to prevent premature labor. This drug is considered dangerous in other countries, due to its side-affects (it causes your heart to race, and limbs to shake for two hours after each dose), so watch out for that if you are recommended to take it!

    The twins were born at 37 weeks by c-section, my doctor/surgeon was wonderful, as were most of the nurses. My husband wasn’t allowed into theater, but to be honest, I doubt I’d have noticed him even if he was there! We spent a week in hospital, and this time I noticed a dramatic increase in the quality of the food after I had given birth (almost double the amount, delicious, and extra snacks throughout the day). The twins were put with me from the start this time, but there were nurses available to call 24/7 for help with breastfeeding etc.

    Generally, I would say Japan has got the after-birth care right, but some of the other birth practices may need a bit of updating.