A little funny for you to enjoy.....

I was taking baby Ben to the local hospital yesterday and was preparing to leave GSF to take him there. His housemother had him prepared for me and I collected him from her. He was dressed smartly in a vest, babygrow, hat and had 2 thick blankets around him. You may think that I would have gasped in horror at this poor baby being swaddled in so much clothing in 30c degree heat but this has become normal to me. When I first came here I used to be in a constant battle with the mothers who had their babies covered up in the heat here. I would unwrap them and then as soon as they would take their babies back off me they would wrap them back up again! It's cultural here to wrap babies under 3 months up and is the custom wherever you go. I have somehow got used to seeing it and and had to decide a long time ago which battles I would choose to fight here, that being one I gave up on long ago!

So, off I went to the hospital with a bundle of blankets and my tiny baby inside. I carried him in where straight away a nurse stopped me and told me off for over-covering the baby!! She said he would be too hot. I know, I thought! - I was just doing what I was told so I wouldn't be told off by the housemother. So, off came the covers and we attended the clinic to see the doctor. When finishing there we moved along to the pharmacy where I sat down to wait for the medicine. Baby Ben was asleep and comfortable in my arms when two mothers came up to me and told me that he would get cold as he wasn't covered properly and that would make him sick. They took him from my arms and swaddled him again in the blankets I had with me showing me how I need to keep his head and face covered so that the wind doesn't 'catch' him!

I was pleased to get the medicine from the pharmacy fairly quickly as it meant that I was then leaving to head home and away from the gaze of these mothers who thought I was incorrectly caring for this baby! As I was walking out of the hospital the nurse that I had seen when we first came in saw me again and for a second time began telling me off about the amount of covers on him.....poor baby Ben was once again stripped off. We took the car journey back to GSF and I handed him back to his housemother who...guess what?!!.....Yes, told me off for not having had him warm enough and covered from the chill whilst we were out on our trip!