What is it and what does it mean if you have it? If you are pregnant in Belgium, at some point between week 24 and 28 of your pregnancy, you will be invited to come to the lab first thing in the morning. The nurse will draw some blood to measure your fasting blood...
Gabriela remembers her life with a newborn…. ‘Welcome to the chaos’, I said to my husband, as he returned home from work. Our living room was (and...
When many years ago my one-year-old son was diagnosed with severe food allergies, I was shocked, and I wanted to cry. I felt that I would not be...
What is postpartum depression? Postpartum depression is a widespread mental health problem with a prevalence of 10 to 15%. The Diagnostic and...
Whether it’s the summer holidays or time for the back-to-school routines: As we are filling our children’s calendars with activities all week long, we may be forgetting that having time to do “nothing” matters. When was it that you planned nothing for the weekend, and...
By Nina Kralj, MSc (University of Edinburgh), www.apparently-parenting.com As a mom, wife, counsellor, and head of a nonprofit in Slovenia working with abused children and their families, I’ve spent over 6,000 hours talking with kids and their parents answering their...
BCT members can rent TENS machines and Valley Cushions for pain relief during and after labour. Rosalind Lester, hire coordinator, gives the lowdown on how these aids can help relieve pain simply and naturally during and after birth. TENS machine in labour TENS...
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 a home-made card, tea or coffee in bed or an extra big hug, it’s your day to be pampered! Mother’s Day became official...
What do Einstein, Da Vinci, Picasso, Stephen Hawking, George Washington, Cher, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Caitlyn Jenner and Orlando Bloom have in common? Dyslexia - the most common learning disability which could affect up to 20% of the...
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...
No matter the season, colds, flu, Corona, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, ear infections, conjunctivitis, sinusitis, chicken pox or whatever it is, they all seem to come with a fever, and with a fever comes the uncertainty. Do I take them to A&E, or not? I can’t answer...
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...
In 2022, BCT started a series of Talks on Multilingualism. The first talk was presented by Dr Sabine Little, a German native who has been living in Sheffield and teaching language education for many years. Her bilingual son ended up offering his own relationship to...
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...
When I was pregnant with my son, I knew I wanted to breastfeed, but I had no strong views on how long I wanted to breastfeed for nor any expectation for how things might evolve once I would return to work as a lawyer at Google. While our breastfeeding journey has not...
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...
The first year of crèche is a horror. Little people catch every bug going and runny noses never seem to stop. More importantly, they have to stay at home and parents still need to show up at the job that pays for food and shelter. So how do you manage? 1. Call...
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...
Gynaecologists and midwives advise every new mum to start postnatal gymnastics about 6-8 weeks after giving birth. Why do medical experts place so much emphasis on postnatal exercises? What are the effects of back-strengthening exercises? When people still gathered...
... by BCT First Aid for Parents instructor Kate Ellwood www.lifefirstskills.com Summer is just around the corner so time to give some thought to how you are going to protect your baby from the sun and heat. This article will provide clear information to enable you to...
After our popular series of talks on multilingualism last year, we continue with the 2023 edition. Here are a few thoughts and ideas from the first talk of this year. A socio-linguistic perspective on languages: How do euro-centric biases influence our thinking about...
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...
The BCT runs birth preparation courses throughout the year, both for first-time parents and for those expecting second or subsequent children. Our Birth & Parenting courses provide in-depth preparation for childbirth. They are designed to give pregnant women and...
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,...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
