Update: Jordanne's 4-week review

Brought J for her review yesterday. I'd arranged for her records to be transferred from Heathdale to Sr Rita Douglas to coincide with Beth's kinder days, and yesterday was her first appointment with Chris, the nurse at SRD.

Chris is the most amazing nurse I've met. She speaks in this slow, dramatic fashion (which makes me think she must consciously invest a lot of energy doing it all day long), smiles a lot, and really pays attention to you (a skill of the highest order) for the whole 30 mins of your appointment.

We discussed b/feeding ("She certainly looks like she's being well fed, Mummy!"), J's weight ("She's 5.02 kg. She's put on more than a kilo since your last checkup! Maybe you could give classes to other mums!"), the funny rattling sound she makes in her throat after a feed ("That's cos milk is more viscuous than water"), my emotional state (much better than with Beth, I assured her), whether J needs a baby-specific sunscreen (told Chris we were using Hamilton's and she said that was fine, as it's created for persons with skin cancer and will certainly suit babies).

After the review, I sat outside nursing while Chris got Beth to help her set up the room for her next appointment: a class for first-time moms ("Sorry, that means you can't take part," she said apologetically). She was going to lecture on what represented good nutrition for little ones. Besides the usual fruits & veg, she also laid out commercial baby foods and "healthy" snacks (yoghurt sticks, Farley's Rusks). She explained that in the neighbourhood around SRD, there are a lot of families who have little understanding of good nutrition, who struggle to identify broccoli, who have never experienced sitting down as a family at the table, and whose idea of a meal is Mac's.

I asked if it was a cultural issue (the western suburbs are known to have a fairly large immigrant/refugee population).

"No, it's a poverty issue. People who are poor tend to also not be highly educated, are less conscious of healthy choices and therefore eat poorly."

So the MCHC does its part by holding regular classes to educate mums on how to feed and raise their kids.

Chris also shared that because these mums tended to go back to what they're most comfortable with, there is very little the MCHC can do to change their mindsets.

"We can only try."