A walk with Simone

Simone slept peacefully in her pram while Jack, Marianna, Liana, Frieda and I visited the monthly Sunday outdoor market in their neighbourhood.
S is looking good now: the traces of jaundice have faded away, and she's much more settled with breastfeeding.  She is putting on weight, albeit not as quickly as we'd all like. The midwives are still monitoring carefully, as S lost more weight in her first week than the average newborn does. 
Marianna talked to me a bit about her conversations with the midwives. One, trying to be reassuring I think, had said to her:
"Your job now is just to rest in bed, feed the baby and let everyone else look after you."
M pointed out that after 10 days in hospital pre-birth, and then another 10 days without leaving the house, she might soon be climbing the walls. We laughed and agreed that the "everyone else looking after you" part was fine, but that this needed to be balanced with a bit of variety too.
Midwives have a tough brief: the public health message is that breastfeeding is best, and on pure health grounds I agree with that. But working out how best to support and encourage each different mother, in her own circumstances, is another matter.