I am considering training to be a childbirth educator and doula. Since I am living here in Japan I am interested in finding out about traditional Japanese birth/labour techniques--i.e. how have women been supported in labour, what do japanese midwives/labour assistants do to help a woman give birth, and so on. Does anyone know where I can even begin to find this sort of thing out?

Any info or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Please email me at flintax[at]hotmail.com
Cheers, Melissa

hi... i'm actually pregnant of my first baby. The given name will be japanese (Aiko). To stay in the same atmosphere, we are looking for a typical japanese proverb related to kids, birth, life, etc. All ideas are apreciated at erikadv[at]yahoo.com
Thxs in advance

note from Admin: Onna wa yowashi, saredo haha wa tsuyoshi translates to "women are frail but mothers are strong"

To whom it may concern:
I wonder if you might be able to help me? I write for a British magazine called Waitrose Food Illustrated (check us out online at
www.waitrose.com/wfi) I'm writing a feature on eating during pregnancy for the March issue and I was hoping to include a few stories and anecdotes about the experiences of women in various different countries. I have a theory that elements of the advice that are given are somewhat culturally determined, and I'd like to be able to explore this.

For example, I'm 22 weeks pregnant myself, and my UK doctors have advised me (among other things) to drink minimal alcohol, and avoid soft cheeses, rare meat, raw fish, peanuts, and produce that is 'cured' (i.e. smoked or salted) rather than cooked by being subject to high temperatures. They're not that concerned about moderate
caffeine intake (which I understand - please correct me if I'm wrong - is considered a no-no by US doctors).

Do Japanese women not eat sushi?

Also, are there any foods that are particularly promoted during pregnancy in particular countries? I've heard, for example, that Japanese women eat seaweed so that their babies are born with full heads of hair (can you confirm this?).

I wonder if you, or anybody you know, might have anything to add on this subject, based on the information given in your own country? Please understand I'm not seeking to make light of a sensitive subject, nor to undermine the advice that any woman receives from her doctor. And I won't use anybody's name or quote them directly unless they'd particularly like a name-check!

Sorry this is long and rambling. thanks for any help you can provide!

best wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Liz Marcy

Liz Marcy, managing editor, Waitrose Food Illustrated
tel 020 7565 3213; fax 020 7565 3076
The New Boathouse, 136-142 Bramley Road, London W10 6SR

That's an interesting topic, Liz. At the same time I think it's a tricky subject, because it's difficult to generalise depending on the "country".

For example, when I was pregnant 11 years ago, the mother-to-be classes at our public health center told us to obtain 1 egg and 1 litter of milk per day showing us brochures made by the government. Both the center's nurse and my public hospital's nurse said that even if you are concerned about the baby's allergy, that small amount should be no problem. Well, my son turned out to have food allergy. Our pediatrician asked if I obtained eggs and milk while I was pregnant, because those were the two highest allergens in Japan in the days. I said "Just 1 egg and some milk per day." The pediatrician said, "What kind of a mother are you?" Well, she was infamous for being mean :-)

About obtaining raw meat and fish, the answer was yes and no. We were told that pregnant women should take extra care on food poisoning, and anything not cooked, especially in our humid summers were not recommended. But we weren't strictly forbidden to eat them.

As for seaweed......In modern Japan (and I assume it's the same in U.K.) doctors give orders to protect the health. But making the baby have more hair or not is not considered a health issue. However we do hear "rumours" that seaweed makes better and richer hair and some mothers wish their babies to have lovely hair, so they eat seaweed. Other than that though, seaweed is a non-calorie food which contains many minerals and nutrition and it's not only pregnant women who are encouraged to eat them every day. I know a man in his late 50s who doesn't have a single gray hair. It was natural for me to say, "Are you eating a lot of seaweed or something?" and he seriously replied, "Yeah, come to think of it I am." Plus seaweed is so commonly eaten in Japan that it's almost hard to avoid it.

Almost each doctor and each pregnancy magazine says slightly different things, and rumours and superstitions comes in between. Plus my personal experience is already 11 years old. So anyway it's tricky. But it's an interesting subject, and I hope you can get lots of info and organize it into a balanced article.

I've had my 2 sons in Japan and did not get any specific advice on what to eat during my pregnancy (which surprised me as it seems you get a lot of advice from your doctor in western countries). I think the doctor may have felt uncomfortable giving advice because I'm not Japanese ? I did get nutritions advice for my 2 sons when they started eating solids though.
I was given by a midwife a recipe book published by the hospital during my pregnancy, but neither the midwife nor the doctor told me about things to eat and not eat.
They did not check me for toxoplasmosis, which results can alter your diet during pregnancy. I understand this illness is very rare in Japan.
I did not get any vitamins either, which they usually give you in western countries. One thing the doctors insisted on, however, was to limit my weight gain. It seems here 10 kg is the upper limit, while in France, where I'm from, it's considered very little. I gained 13 kg for my 1st one and the doctor said I should be very careful and eat less.

I am currently 22 weeks pregnant and like Nathalie have not had any advice regarding prenatal diet. I asked my doctor about eating sushi while pregnant as my Japanese family laughed at me when I said I shouldn't be eating raw fish - his response was that the fish is the freshest in the world and unlike in the west it is rare to get food poisoning from Japanese sushi & sashimi. He did suggest only eating raw fish from reputed restaurants and to avoid fish that has been marked down at the supermarket! He didn't seem to think it needed to be avoided entirely at all.
I have also been "rapped over the knuckles" for weight gain. I have gained 4kg so far - 2.5kg was in one month and that was considered too much ... he has told me to watch my diet - hmmmm!

Thanks so much to Yuko, Nathalie and Bridget for sharing their experiences with me. I really appreciate it! I found all your perspectives really useful. Thanks again, and best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year!

Hi everone,
I've been reading these posts with interest. I am now back in New Zealand and am studying to be a midwife. Interestingly, in New Zealand, weight is no longer taken at ante/pre-natal visits, because it is basically irrelevant to anything much in pregnancy, excet for some conditions, such as gestational diabetes, and the weight gain here would be considered after a urine test which showed high levels of glucose. Most other conditions have other marked symptoms (eg pre-eclampsia - you will notice alot of bloating and an increase in certain substances tested for at each visit via a urine test. These are the more clinically reliable indicators of a problem then weight gain).

To be weighed at every prenatal visit simply makes a woman who is pregnant worry about things like body image . This is not to say that weight gain shouldn't be taken seriously, there are issues associated with obese women and pregnancy, such as premature labor and low birth weight babies, but it is important to nourish your body properly as the baby takes what it needs from your body, and you get the leftovers! So make sure the leftovers are ample!

As for the fish thing: freshest fish in world? Whoop-dee-doo I say. That doesn't make much of a difference if it isn't handled properly or comes from polluted waters. A rule of thumb for fish is that, yes, fish is good for you in pregnancy, but it should be properly cooked, and eat from the bottom end of the fish food chain(i.e. swordfish is out, but flounder is okay). I think fish about once a week is supposed to be okay.

I guess the thing to remember is that each culture holds different beliefs about pregnancy and childbirth, and these beliefs often conflict with current medical practices in thw west. For example, colostrum is considered to be 'unclean' in parts of China, so breastfeeding is not established until after the milk actually comes in - something that current research shows to be untrue-babies need colostrum for the anitbodies! Anyway, take it all with a grain of salt. Prenancy, and pregnancy in a foreign land, is a freaky enough journey as it is. Trust your insticts, know that there is a lot of conflicting information out there, and try to go to reliable sources to get information.

Remember- pregnancy and chldbirth are normal, natural events. Yes, things can go wrong, but try to let nature take its course!

Good luck,
Melissa

Hi everone,
I've been reading these posts with interest. I am now back in New Zealand and am studying to be a midwife. Interestingly, in New Zealand, weight is no longer taken at ante/pre-natal visits, because it is basically irrelevant to anything much in pregnancy, excet for some conditions, such as gestational diabetes, and the weight gain here would be considered after a urine test which showed high levels of glucose. Most other conditions have other marked symptoms (eg pre-eclampsia - you will notice alot of bloating and an increase in certain substances tested for at each visit via a urine test. These are the more clinically reliable indicators of a problem then weight gain).

To be weighed at every prenatal visit simply makes a woman who is pregnant worry about things like body image . This is not to say that weight gain shouldn't be taken seriously, there are issues associated with obese women and pregnancy, such as premature labor and low birth weight babies, but it is important to nourish your body properly as the baby takes what it needs from your body, and you get the leftovers! So make sure the leftovers are ample!

As for the fish thing: freshest fish in world? Whoop-dee-doo I say. That doesn't make much of a difference if it isn't handled properly or comes from polluted waters. A rule of thumb for fish is that, yes, fish is good for you in pregnancy, but it should be properly cooked, and eat from the bottom end of the fish food chain(i.e. swordfish is out, but flounder is okay). I think fish about once a week is supposed to be okay.

I guess the thing to remember is that each culture holds different beliefs about pregnancy and childbirth, and these beliefs often conflict with current medical practices in thw west. For example, colostrum is considered to be 'unclean' in parts of China, so breastfeeding is not established until after the milk actually comes in - something that current research shows to be untrue-babies need colostrum for the anitbodies! Anyway, take it all with a grain of salt. Prenancy, and pregnancy in a foreign land, is a freaky enough journey as it is. Trust your insticts, know that there is a lot of conflicting information out there, and try to go to reliable sources to get information.

Remember- pregnancy and chldbirth are normal, natural events. Yes, things can go wrong, but try to let nature take its course!

Good luck,
Melissa

Thank you for a great post Melissa. Good luck with your mid wife studies - with a such positive attitude like yours, you should go far!

Hi Everyone! I'm so excited to see this message board. I am half-Japanese and half-Irish American. I grew up in Japan from the time I was 2 & 1/2 years old until I turned 20. I just love Japanese food. It is my soul food! I am now 17 weeks pregnant. I don't want to eat anything EXCEPT Japanese food. I don't have an appetite, except when I know that I'm eating Japanese food. (Most Japanese restaurants in the U.S. are horrible, but I go to Little Tokyo and the Sawtelle area of LA to get somewhat decent Japanese food). Living in the U.S., I am getting a lot of advice from doctors to avoid this and avoid that (e.g. soft cheeses, raw fish, predator fish, etc). I just started thinking about my aunts and cousins in Japan-- I can't recall what did they do and eat during their pregnancies? I know that they were pampered a lot and fed the best, most vitamin-rich foods!

The one thing that concerns me is that Japanese foods contain so much sodium and MSG! (I am buying most of my Japanese food at Japanese markets in the U.S. When I look at incredients, there is almost always MSG listed!) The good thing is I'm not allergic to MSG at all! However, it does concern me (taking in so much MSG).

Is it safe to eat natto? I love natto. What does a typical pregnant Japanese woman eat (or recommended to eat)???

And yes, the fish, the seaweed, milk, cheese, chocolate, rice, fast food, EVERYTHING just tastes so much better in Japan. The older I get, the more I have such appreciation for the Japanese culture and lifestyle. I never appreciated Japan, the people, the country, and the culture when I was growing up there. NOW, I am very grateful for the rich ctulrual experiences and influences I've had in my life.

Thanks for all of the great information and insight!

Teresa WL

Hi!
I have lived in Japan for 7 yrs. My two youngest were born in Japan and my oldest in Europe. My sons were born in a private clinic since birth in hospitals do not normally occur down here in Southern Japan. Our doctor was great and we found it to be the best care we'd had even with our first. My husband was encouraged to be there and participate in the birth and cut the cord. Although men are not culturally part of the birth process in Japan. I think if you look for a private ob clinic you might have more success.
I have to agree with Teresa, the food is awesome when you are pregnant and even when you are not.
We found a lot of japanese or asian food that contained no msg that was made by kikoman and other companies if you are concerned. I have to admit that I missed sending my husband out for fast food and certain yummies that would normally be available in America. It did keep the weight off but I still dreamed about banana splits and Olive Garden!

Good Luck to all you expecting mothers! I wish you fortune and health.....
Although it is difficult to do this in a different country and not always with family present it still does not diminsh the ultimate feeling of birth.