So Much For Mother Knows Best... Belgium Knows Best?

I'm angry, I'm sad, and I'm confused all at the same time. We had the intake appointment at the imburgering office today. They do not make any exceptions for breastfeeding mothers. In other words, I will have to put my child in day care and stop breastfeeding in order to go and sit in classes in which I will learn mostly ignorant things that anyone from a modernized country would know.

We were given a list of two creches (large daycare centers) here in Landen and the office that organizes the local onthaalmoeders (smaller home based daycares), and we must report to each of the three locations and inquire about daycare. If they have no slots available, they can fill out a form stating that and indicating when a position may become available. If there are no positions available at any of the three, we will get a six month extension to continue searching for childcare. HOWEVER, if there IS a position available, even if we find the creche or onthaalmoeder not to our liking for some reason, we MUST take it and I must start classes immediately.

Which would mean I will have to wean Luna. Even if we purchase another breast pump (mine broke, and the one I borrowed from my friend won't work for me - breast pumps clearly hate me), we have no freezer, so there is no way I could pump and store up enough milk to be away from her 8 hours a day. We tried her on formula this week (I'll explain later) and she was so disgusted that she gagged until she vomited and did not swallow a drop. So what exactly is she supposed to eat??? Geert was so astonished by the insanity of this law that he actually said, "You're telling me these classes are more important than the health of our baby?" Our intake counselors response was, "That's Belgium for you." He then started mumbling about lawyers, but we of course cannot afford to fight this. If we do not comply with the law, we'll be fined, possibly repeatedly, until I comply.

I am excited to learn Dutch. Those classes I actually look forward to, or I would if I could attend them without harming Luna. But the "social orientation" classes will likely be an insult to my intelligence. A big clue about what I am in for came when we used the bathrooms at the imburgering office. I did not have my camera with me, but the sign was similar to this one. Apparently the office caters to people who have to be told not to squat on the toilet seat. No wonder they feel these classes are so damned important!


I'll post an update once we find out about the availability of childcare.

In other news, Luna isn't gaining weight as fast as the doctor would like. This is unsurprising, as the vomiting from her acid reflux has gotten really bad in the past month to six weeks. She still nurses well, she just vomits a lot of it back up. Her solid food usually stays down, but not always. The doctor suggested we start giving her one bottle of a special thick formula they make for babies with reflux at night before bed. The idea being that it will give her some extra calories, and might help her to sleep through the night better. We bought the formula, which was ridiculously expensive (about a third more than the cost of standard formula), and Luna will not eat it. She was simply horrified, the looks on her face were hysterical, and she gagged and gagged and gagged until she eventually threw up. I tried it from a bottle and from a spoon, both times she gagged as soon as it touched her lips - before she could have felt the texture, so it must have been the taste. I tried two nights in a row to no avail. We've been in touch with the doctor, and she's arranged for some samples of another kind of formula that we can go and pick up. But I don't have high hopes. I've read, and the doctor confirmed, that solely breast fed babies frequently refuse formula. In the meantime, I have increased her nursing sessions almost two fold and I have started adding a little avocado to her fruits each day for the extra fats. I squeezed in an extra nursing session between her evening solids and her bedtime feed and she has been sleeping for much longer stretches the last several nights. She is not LOSING weight, mind you, but her rate of gain has leveled off. Hopefully it will pick up again.

I've been having some weird pain in my abdomen in the area around the C-Section. Our family doctor thought it was a hernia, but none could be found on ultrasound. He did not order any further tests, so I have just been living with it. We made an appt. with a new gynecologist, but its not until next month. The pain isn't debilitating or anything, but as is always the case with chronic pain, its exhausting. I've been way tireder than normal. Just one more thing to deal with I guess.

I haven't gotten around to cleaning out my Photobucket page and posting new pics, but will try to do so soon. She's getting big - she is sitting up on her own now and she eats in a high chair! Our little girl is growing so fast!