Kraamzorg Postnatal Service, Netherlands
The nurse shows parents how to care for their newborn baby, e.g. how to breastfeed properly, and how to bathe the baby. In the case of a home birth she will also be there after the birth to help clean up. The National Guidelines for Postnatal Care categorise kraamzorg in three levels: At the basic level support covers:
- care for mother and baby,
- regular health checks (e.g. that stitches are clean and healing, the uterus is shrinking),
- advice and instruction (hygiene, feeding etc),
- ensuring hygiene levels are high
- basic household chores which directly relate to the care of mother and baby (such as cleaning of the bathroom, the nursery and the mother’s room and taking care of meals for the mother).
- support to integrate the newborn into the family
Picture a cross between the Fairy Godmother and Mary Poppins and the result might just be a kraamzorg, a trained health care professional that helps new mothers in the Netherlands in the first few days after a birth.
For more needy families – e.g. with large numbers of children, mental illness or communication barriers, an unstable family situation, birth of twins or problems with (breast)feeding a more comprehensive level of support is provided. In this case care may extend to looking after other members of the household (e.g. other children) and additional household tasks not directly associated with the mother and newborn.While the maternity nurse is looking after the mother she keeps a special diary called a kraamdossier to make notes about the health and progress of the mother and baby. This book is used for reference by the doctor, district midwife, health clinic etc.
When the nurse is due to leave she informs the district nurse at the health clinic, who will then be responsible for ongoing help, support and guidance in looking after the baby. The health clinic is responsible for providing routine healthcare and checking the development of children from birth until they start primary school at the age of 4.
