Small Talk articles

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!

YES! You deserve to be honoured!  Whether it’s with your portrait (at least, you think it’s you…) drawn by your child, a poem scribbled lovingly on...

The ‘feminising’ of place names in Brussels

The ‘feminising’ of place names in Brussels

To mark International Women’s Day in 2020 and 2021, the Brussels intercommunal transport company (STIB/MIVB) published interesting information about important women in Belgium’s history, who have been remembered in the capital (stibstories.be). You may be familiar...

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Hormones – Friend or Foe?

Hormones – Friend or Foe?

Hormones tend to get the blame for a lot of things, sulky teenagers, spotty skin and bad-tempered women. But that is only half the story. There are good things that hormones do too, leading to love, happiness, creating new life, bringing a baby into the world and the...

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An Introduction to BCT Local Groups

An Introduction to BCT Local Groups

Where’s the BCT? While the Brussels Childbirth Trust has a headquarters with the lovely light and bright Clubhouse in Ixelles full of toys and coffee mugs, it’s also has a network of valuable local groups. There are 10 local groups across the city and just outside...

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The ever-changing life cycle of a local group

The ever-changing life cycle of a local group

Around 21 years ago I just happened to see a small advert in the then BCT Newsletter asking if any BCT member lived near Gent and would like to meet up. As a new mum with a 6 week-old baby, no family around and a husband who was travelling for work the majority of...

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Where to spend Halloween in Belgium

Where to spend Halloween in Belgium

Ghosts in the Grottes de Han, Weird Witches in Bellewaerde, Pumpkins in Plopsaland and Scary Pairi Daiza … Plans are underway at the activity parks in Belgium to continue offering families plenty of freaky fun this Halloween. This summer Walibi was recruiting 300...

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BCT Pregnant and New Mums’ Drop-in

BCT Pregnant and New Mums’ Drop-in

From the outset, the BCT Pregnant and New Mums’ Drop In has endeavoured to be a safe, friendly place to make new friends and share experiences of being a new mum - the good, the bad and the ugly! By Kate Ellwood | BCT First Aid and Hypnobirthing Teacher My baby won't...

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A different start

A different start

BCT member Abbi shares her very personal story of how her family coped with the neonatal birth of little Chloe. Chloe was born on the 18th March 2019. 11 and a half months after her big sister Mila was born and one month early. It was different this time. With Mila,...

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An Introduction to ‘Kind en Gezin’

An Introduction to ‘Kind en Gezin’

Kind en Gezin (translates as ‘Child & Family’), together with its partners, aim to create as many opportunities as possible for all young children and their families who live in Flanders and Brussels. Kind en Gezin focuses on the preventive treatment and guidance...

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Hypnobirthing

Hypnobirthing

Our birth culture has often encouraged anxiety, with horror stories passed down from generations of women, strangers, friends and colleagues. The media shows ‘warts and all’ documentaries following women having difficult, painful and frightening birth experiences,...

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Designing the Clubhouse for our members

Designing the Clubhouse for our members

Finding the perfect new venue for the BCT at Chaussee de Waterloo in Ixelles - with two large rooms, a window display area and a very long, walled garden, just for us to use, it is such a great space! – was only part of the story. Now we needed to design the interior...

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Explaining death to children

Explaining death to children

Parenthood brings with it so many things – immense love, comedy moments, sleepless nights…and plenty of questions from your children that leave you wondering “How shall I answer that?” At some point, one of the big issues every child grapples with is death, whether...

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Raising Multilingual Children

Raising Multilingual Children

Raising children with several languages is a chance and challenge for parents. Our world has become multilingual, and we are ourselves global citizens used to working and socialising in several languages. Letting our children learn languages at an early age is a...

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Coping with colic

Coping with colic

A friend of mine once told me that when she had her first baby she’d put in an order for one with “no nappy rash and no colic”. If only it was that simple! She was lucky enough to get a baby with neither of these things. Most of us aren’t so lucky. “My baby started...

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Get started with potty training

Get started with potty training

Potty training takes time, effort and patience. It can be stressful but be full of joy and delight. When your little toddler manages to wee in the potty for the first time the happiness is complete – both for you and for your toddler. The excitement and the proud look...

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Our story of stillbirth

Our story of stillbirth

It was mid-February 2009, when nine months into my first pregnancy I woke up one morning and realised that, for the first time in several nights, I hadn’t been woken up by the usual jabbering of limbs in my abdomen. I went for an orange juice, something that always...

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Good dental habits from an early age

Good dental habits from an early age

Little by little, I am trying to instil the routine of brushing teeth into my three-year-old son. What was at first a fun activity to do together is now becoming a challenging task. Although used to brushing his teeth since his second birthday, my son now does not...

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Choices, choices

Choices, choices

We are blessed to live in a country with one of the best healthcare systems in Europe, but, navigating the system is not without its challenges, and I don’t mean the bureaucracy! The main challenge that taxes me, the couples I see attending the BCT Pregnancy in...

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Will we ever have sex again?

Will we ever have sex again?

An honest guide for new parents Sex is such a very small word for an activity that holds such an important place in our lives and relationships; an activity loaded with huge meaning and emotion. And we do it for many and varied reasons. Sex can be the cement that...

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Home alone

Home alone

A while ago, I asked the members of the BCT Facebook group their opinion on the ‘right’ age to leave a child home alone. Even though I knew the answers would be diverse, the interest in the topic was higher than I had anticipated. As I expected, there is no ‘right’...

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All you need to know about bedwetting

All you need to know about bedwetting

Ask a parent at what age children should be dry at night and they’ll probably say three or four years old. Ask an expert and they’re more likely to say six or seven. Bedwetting is the most common childhood urological complaint. It is also one of the most common...

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Feed me! Fussy eaters

Feed me! Fussy eaters

‘I can’t eat that! The daily dinner table battle cry from children who won’t try meat, pasta, potatoes, carrot or food with ‘bits’ in. Dealing with fussy eaters is a universal parental challenge and in fact nearly two thirds of parents describe at least one problem...

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