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I’m happy to have had my baby in Scandinavia. We read up on all sorts of literature for preparation, but it’s an ocean of disagreeing information, but because h
by moksly 7y ago
I’m happy to have had my baby in Scandinavia. We read up on all sorts of literature for preparation, but it’s an ocean of disagreeing information, but because having a child is hard, you’re assigned a nurse educated in infant well being by the government for free.
They help you with a range of things, one is to setup a sleeping setting where there is minimal risk of the baby dying. Not too warm, always sleep on their backs, have room to move stuff like that.
As usual Finland is just better at Scandinavia’ning than the rest of us. Good job Finland!
- trumbitta2 7y agoNow compare this to Italy, where my wife was denied an epidural injection for 4 hours, depleted all of her strength from enduring so much pain for so much time, finally got the epidural which an apprentice failed to perform properly resulting in my wife having her right side paralyzed for the rest of the childbirth. That led her having to stay completely laid down, and to several nurses literally hopping on top of her and pushing our baby into life using their elbows like it's 1900 again. Then, nobody helped her into start feeding our baby and while the baby was loosing more and more weight day by day, once at home we had to call a private obstetrician and I BEGGED HER ON THE PHONE to come save my baby and my wife. She came over to our house, showed us what to do and how to do it, and almost two years later my baby is now a giant just like me.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Numberwang 7y agoOur neighbors Finland are a great country for sure, but Scandinavian they are not.
- mytailorisrich 7y agoIn France hospitals usually keep the mother and new born baby for about 5 days. They use that time to teach the mother how to care for the baby and to monitor how she's coping so that they can refer her to get more social help if needed.
- TheAlchemist 7y agoWe live in France and we've just had our 3rd baby and the quality of care that we've got is simply amazing here. Hospital facilities are good, well designed and people there are very welcoming, helpful and polite. You stay 3-5 days in hospital, you can have a dedicated room and everything is taken care of. I contrast this with the country I'm born in (Eastern Europe) were the care is not bad, but very far from standards in France. Also, my mother was shocked when we went to a pharmacy to 'buy' some stuff for newborn and my partner, and we didn't pay anything at all. I think you can fully appreciate all that only if you were raised elsewhere, otherwise you just take it for granted.
- on_and_off 7y agoStupid question : where is the father supposed to learn ?
- entropy_ 7y agoI remember our first night home with our first child. It was an extremely difficult birth(long labor followed by a C-section due to complications) and so my wife needed lots of sleep(we only got 3 nights in the hospital and she was in no way recovered). I very vividly remember standing there, carrying a 3-day old baby crying while covered in poop and trying to figure out WTF I was supposed to do... The answer is: you eventually figure it out after lots of panicking :P
- lornemalvo 7y agoIn Germany (and probably most other central european countries), it has become common for the father to stay with the mother and the kid in the hospital for the first few days (if job conditions and the income situation permits this), at least for the first child. This way, the father is also able to learn from basic child handling from the nurses in the hospital right from the beginning.
- vnorilo 7y agoFor our firstborn, the (finnish) hospital provided us with a family room for 3 days. Due to the circumstances of the birth, it was me (father) who got all the instruction at that point. I actually got to teach my wife how to change nappies and bath the baby afterwards :)
- rusticpenn 7y agoIn germany, a similar feature exists. Unfortunately, these nurses are so much in demand that you have to book them when you are planning on having a child (atleast where I reside).
- smallstepforman 7y agoMy son was born in Vienna, and their system required parents to enrol infants in child care 24 months before they are born!!!! Well, they told us the waiting list is 2 years for infant care.
- rusticpenn 7y agoIts not very different here :/. We have to register kids to school as soon as they are born, else its extremely hard to get one. (There are new laws combating those, but i don't know how effective they are). Where I live, there has been a massive boost in population because of rapid expansion of industries here. Unfortunately, the other services are unable to keep up.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoIts amazing how much we've been impoverished in America by anti-socialist sentiment.
- gurkendoktor 7y agoThe problem is not necessarily high demand (although our birthrate has started to recover). Insurance premiums are killing the occupation: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2017/nov/23/why-are-germanys-midwives-feeling-squeezed-out https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2017/no... (We couldn't find one either.)
- gingabriska 7y agoDoes it have history in industrial army complex?
- rmrfchik 7y agoBut... Finland is not in Scandinavia.
- eesmith 7y agoFWIW, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia points out: > In English usage, Scandinavia also sometimes refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, or to the broader region including Finland and Iceland, which is always known locally as the Nordic countries. See also: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scandinavia?s=t https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scandinavia?s=t "and sometimes Finland, Island, and the Faeroe Islands". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Scandinavia https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Scandinavia "Note: Some people also consider Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, and Finland to be part of Scandinavia" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1187923.History_Of_Scandinavia https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1187923.History_Of_Scand... - "History Of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, And Iceland" https://www.worldcat.org/title/live-work-in-scandinavia-denmark-finland-iceland-norway-sweden/oclc/32923376 https://www.worldcat.org/title/live-work-in-scandinavia-denm... - "Live & work in Scandinavia : Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden" https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/products/discover-scandinavia-travel-guide-1 https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/products/discover-scandinavia-... - "Discover Scandinavia" travel guide "Coverage Includes: Reykjavik, Southeastern Iceland, the Blue Lagoon and the Golden Circle, Oslo, Norway’s Fjords, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Estonia, Helsinki, Lakeland (Finland), the Far North and the Arctic Circle, and more"
- otikik 7y agoTo me (born and raised in Spain) "Scandinavia" and "The Scandinavian Peninsula" have always been synonyms. I was not aware the term had different acceptions. To me, until now, Denmark was not in Scandinavia.
- eesmith 7y agoAs another example of the cultural difference in what seems like a standard definition - English cultures generally says there are 7 continents, while Spanish cultures generally says there are 6, and that North and South America are two subcontinents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number
- tyfon 7y agoHere in Norway we my wife and I stayed in a family room in the hospital "hotel" both times, but the last time I left the next day with our older daughter and my wife joined with the youngest a day later. We both automatically get two weeks off work as a birth leave and option to have a "jordmor", what you would call a midwife in English, visit and help if needed. Then we had ten months of parental leave combined, I had four months and my wife had six. One thing foreigners freak out over is that during the day we have the babies sleep outside in the strollers in winter. They're usually wrapped in wool materials and are very warm. Is this common elsewhere in Scandinavia? They sleep very well out in the cold :)
- jonsi01 7y agoSame in Iceland. I slept outside all year round as a child and now my daughter does. And also in wool clothing.
- 2rsf 7y ago> Is this common elsewhere in Scandinavia Same in Sweden, babies are left outside while the parents sit in a coffee shop and kindergartens have a line of baby strollers outside for the young ones to sleep in.
- willyt 7y agoUsed to be common in Scotland too, not sure about England so much. Me and my brother were put out in the front garden by my granny!
- falsedan 7y agoCan confirm it's still going; our first was an autumn baby and had his daytime naps by the open tenenment window. Sash and case barely keeps the cold out anyway when they're closed!
- logfromblammo 7y agoHypothesis: this practice prevents or delays atrophy of the brown adipose tissue used for non-shivering thermogenesis.
- AlexTWithBeard 7y agoWe had a child in the US and the overall experience was pretty decent: there was a nurse who gave us some basic info (that's how you wrap it, that's how you wash it and you sleep it on the back) and a separate breastfeeding consultant. Probably depends on the hospital. As for the sleeping box, we just put our son on our bed where he slept happily for the first year.
- wil421 7y agoIn the US, we’ve had access to free birthing classes, infant CPR, and a lactation class. At the hospital we will be assigned a nurse and a lactation expert to help my wife. The infant CPR and birth class covered sleeping. All the above are free and provided by the hospital. It helps that we are going to the hospital with the most births in the US.
- objektif 7y ago“Free”!!! You will be paying 10k+ after the birth if you dont have excellent insurance. At least thats what I had to do.
- JTbane 7y ago"All the above are free" No, just no. If you have insurance, there will be copays, and they can vary from trivial to significant. If you don't have insurance, enjoy the massive debt.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- wil421 7y agoNothings free wether it’s a baby box given by a Finland hospital or an infant CPR class. It’s all paid by you either with tax or post tax depending on your country.
- Sharlin 7y agoExcept that taxation is relative to income but the services are the same for everybody, and in a single-payer system you can’t be denied insurance based on ”preexisting conditions”. Massive difference.
- wil421 7y agoBeing pregnant and other pre-existing classifications were fixed by ACA aka Obamacare in 2014. >Insurance companies can't refuse to cover treatment for your pre-existing condition or charge you more. https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/pre-existing-condition/ https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/pre-existing-condition/
- ModsCtrlideas 7y agoYou seem quote excited about ~300 dollars of services. I wonder if $300 is a lot of money in your area.
- vippy 7y ago58% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. Check your privilege, tech worker? https://finance.yahoo.com/news/58-americans-less-1-000-090000503.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/58-americans-less-1-000-09000...
- kungtotte 7y agoThe median income in Sweden is $27900 USD (give or take). So $300 would be about ~10% of your monthly income, in other words: a fair bit of money.
- ModsCtrlideas 7y agoI don't understand why that is the paradise when they make half the income of a United States household.