Do you know how to measure the amount of breast-milk?

Akari is almost breast-feeding.
But, M  worried whether her breast-milk was enough or not.
So I took her to the hospital to measure the amount of he beat-milk.

Do you know the way?
To tell the result, though 25 years passed since M was born, the way doesn't change.

A midwife of the hospital said "Come here with Akari before one and half hours  you want to give  you breast-milk to he".

And ---
First the midwife measured the weight of Akari.
Then M gave her breast-milk to Akari.
And as she finished doing it, the midwife measured the weight of Akari again.

What a --primitive or simple way it was!!!!

Anyway the amount of her breast-milk is enough. So she can almost breast-feed, though sometimes she bottle-feeds her. (And Yuki, I, or M's husband sometimes can do it.)

Now Akari is almost one-month old.
She can hold up her head little by little.

So when she is in a good mood, we try to read books.

As soon as we start to read, she starts to yawn.

And when we move on to the next book, she falls asleep.

OBON

This week many people have one-week vacation, or 3-day vacation in Japan, it is OBON.
Yuki got one-week vacation. And M's husband got also one-week vacation. And our elder daughter T got 3-day vacation.
So during OBON in my house  there were 5 adults and one baby for three days.

 

Yuki got a good excuse to drink some kinds of alcohol. He usually drinks SHOUCYU to save household costs. Our elder daughter T drinks red wine a little. Our younger daughter is allowed to drink white wine a little. (I don't know who allowed he to drink alcohol.) Our son-in-law loves whiskey. And Yuki believes beer is necessary to welcome men. So Yuki was allowed to buy various alcohol, and drinks all of them.

 

When our mothers come to stay with us, we usually have dinner outside, but this time we don't go out.

So I cooked meat on a big pan (we call it HOTPLATE), and another day I was allowed by myself to buy some things at a restaurant and take out to our house. Most of the dishes in the photo are made by a popular French restaurant in Utsunomiya.(I made some of them.)

 

It's fun to eat with many people. We had a good OBON vacation.

 

Now Akari is sleeping on my lap. Our daughter and our grand child are staying with us for a while.

a day of Grandmother

Since Akari was born, two weeks passed. She is getting a "baby", it means she has lots of things to do.
I got up 6 o'clock, and cooked breakfast quickly, took out the garbage and so on, while doing the laundry (though I just tuned on the washing machine.)
Yuki got up about about 7o'clok, and we had breakfast. Unfortunately M had to give breast-milk to AKARI. After we finished breakfast, M started having breakfast. At that time I held AKARI and burped her. She is not so good at burping, so we need to burp her often. Though she burps as soon as she drinks milk, it's not enough. After 30 or 40 minutes she starts crying to be difficulty in her breathing.  So we need to burp her again.
And when she seemed to settle down, suddenly we heard a big sound. She pooped. So M changed her diaper.
While M was taking care of her, I started doing the dishes, cleaning the rooms. Watering the garden  was Yuki's job before he went to work.

When Akari finally settled down and went into sleep, M and I made some dishes.

Well, well, Akari got up, so M was busy again. I? --- I opened this computer and did some paperwork.
Around 12, we had lunch together.
Today M's friend came to see Akarai, so I went to gym for my workout.(This week someone comes to see her in the afternoon.When my friend comes, I talk with her and M took a nap.)

 

Around 3 o'clock , it is the time for Akari's bating.

And She drank milk, was burped, pooped and went to sleep.

M took a nap, I started to prepare dinner.

Around 6 o'clock, we had dinner.

And it's time for Akari, again. When M was taking care of AKARI, I was doing the dishes. Then I was holding Akari when M was taking a bath.

 

My grandmother's job was done.

This week I don't have lessons at night, so I seem to have enough time to do something at night, but I'm too tired to do something. I go to bed earlier than usual.

 

See you tomorrow.

 

 

Akari's bathing

In Japan, after babies appears, until they become about 2 or three months, they take a bath in a baby bath. Then they take a bath in a usual bathtub with an adult.

 

Usually they don't take a shower.



I have a question. When do babies start to take a shower in your country?

Akari is fine and active. She drinks mother's milk and bottle milk very well, sometimes cries, and often poops. (While I'm writing this blog, I heard poot. I have to change her diaper.  I did it.)

She wants milk about each 2 or 2 and half hours. After that it takes 30 or 40 minutes to belch after drinking. And after 30 minutes she poops and she wants some milk again.
After that she sleeps well for a while.

We are not so busy, but we feel rushed.

Akari's case -2-

M, and Akari sleep on the second floor at night, and in the daytime they spend in the living room on  the first floor. In this case Akari sleeps in this cradle. I know it's called bouncer & cradle. In my time we didn't have one.

 

 "  Is it Japanese tradition for the new mother and baby to stay that long before and after the birth?  And, they want to know why?  Here, unless there are other small children already in the family that require care or there is surgery or other complications (such as compulsory bed rest before the delivery), it would be very rare to stay for that length of time...and usually the mother or mother-in-law would be at their home."

 

 Here in Japan, mothers stay in the hospital usually for from four days to one week.

And after that they go back  ---- it depends on the situation, to their home or their mother's home or their mother-in-law's home.

 

Anyway not so many husband take days-off to take care their babies. so mothers need someone to help themselves.

When they go back their home, usually their mother or their-mother-in-law stay for two weeks.

It is said it takes at least two weeks for mother's bodies to recover.

When they go back their mother's house or their mother-in-law house, and they had birth at a different hospital from a hospital they had gone to health check during their babies had been in their bellies, they stay there at least for one month. Because they have to go to the hospital where they had birth in one month after they had birth.

So my daughter will stay with us at least during August.

 

" Second question was about you paying for the delivery.  Is that also a Japanese tradition?"

It depends on the family. Most of cost (it costs from 5000$ to 7000$) is covered by maternity allowance. So the couple needs to pay at least 1000$ more.

Anyway most parents give celebration money  to them.

There is a tradition which is dieing out. If mothers stay at their mother's house, their husbbands' parents give some money to their-daughter-in-law's parents.

(Well, in my case, it didn't. And M's husband wanted to give some money because we take care "our daughter", but we didn't accept it.)

 

 

I've noticed that the decline in the number of children happens in not all developed countries. Why in Japan we have such a serious problem? (though we have the aging population problem in all  developed countries.)

Do all women want to pursue improving their carrier?

I don't think so.  We have a problem in the way to work.