Natalia is a great cook. But that’s not what matters here. Her supernatural power is great contact with people and master level empathy. She’s sincere, direct and very active. Let me introduce you Natalia Bujak, the President of the Polskie Dzieci Foundation, which actively creates trends in healthy and reasonable nutrition. She has invented health-oriented school shops „Zdrowik”, places created together with parents to teach children how to eat and what to eat.

There are more and more obese children in schools.

We don’t want to generalize – we all know pretty well that the awareness of our society is increasing, but this doesn’t change the fact that Poland is among the top five European countries in terms of obesity, and here we’re not talking about adults only – children too.

Can you tell us how bad it is? What do you think about our children’s fitness today and their attitude towards food?

Kids are not to be blamed for their attitude towards food – they eat what they get from their parents. Their habits come from home and the school – so the fitness itself is not bad in my opinion, but it can always be better. It is important to appeal to parents, educators, to draw more attention to what children eat, what they bring to school. If the subject gets more publicity – a change for the better is possible;)

Natalia, are Polish parents aware of the influence they have on their children’s eating habits?

Here, at the foundation, we frequently hear that parents don’t realize that they make mistakes when it comes to feeding their children. If your child has an appetite, there’s nothing to be worried about, right? If they don’t want to eat vegetables, they get energy from a bowl of chips and it’s fine.

How often do parents reward their children with sweets?

I often hear: „when you clean up your room, you’ll get a chocolate bar”, “don’t weep anymore, I have something sweet for you”. I wonder if the child really deserves to be rewarded for good behaviour? Whether parent’s peace and quiet should depend on such behaviour. Sweets aren’t a reward. Sweets were, are and will be present and there’s no need to go to extremes – sweets can be eaten, but we ought to think about the amount of sweets given and how often they are served to children. I know parents who can choose high-quality sweets for their children. Dates are a great example here and I always recommend them as „sweets”.

And what do you think about products „designed with Your child in mind”?

Colourful water, juices labelled with a phrase that they are designed for children, for example, are a hoax. There is nothing better than clean water, water and water again. „But my child wants to drink and he doesn’t want to drink water”. If he doesn’t want to drink it now – it’s not that surprising, he’s used to sweet drinks and we can’t change it immediately. What we need is time and consistency.

Recently, I’ve explained to my daughter that vitamins in the form of jelly are not vitamins, they are jellies. My daughter persistently repeated that they’re vitamins, and I was consistently answering – no, it’s still just sweets and jellies. TV commercials don’t help parents at all….

A child seeing colourful labels on the products immediately screams loudly „Mom, mom, I want this water” – and you reach for it, because the child wants it – you don’t check the ingredients, you don’t verify it. Because the child wants it! This is a standard trick. One of the producers of breakfast cheese uses in its commercials a character that as a mascot can be given to children when you buy more cheese and the child wants this very cheese to get the toy. How to get around this? It is better to choose a high quality yoghurt and buy a mascot separately than buy yoghurt with a few teaspoons of sugar and artificial dyes.

What are the most common mistakes you encounter in feeding children?

Fries are not vegetables! Of course, potatoes are, but I urge you to think about the form in which they can be given to your child so that they are healthier than those served from deep fat baths. We recommend French fries made from sweet potatoes, their taste appeals to children and they can sprinkle them with colourful spices before placing them in the oven:) Fries made from apples served with a natural yoghurt sauce or with a raspberry ketchup are also great.

I bet that’s not all.

There are three more, strong points. For example giving up or lack of consistency. „Because Mickey doesn’t like carrots, peas and lettuce”. He tried it once and didn’t like it – maybe it’s a question of preparation. I often realize that children „eat with their eyes”. It may seem trivial, but it is worth thinking about how to serve meals to a fussy child. It is also worth thinking about why meals seem monotonous – maybe this is because parents don’t seek inspiration, don’t know that a dish other than potatoes with cutlets and salad takes much less time and at the same time can be much more nutritious and varied? The Internet is full of recipes telling us „Make a nutritious dinner in 20 minutes”. You just need to want to, take some time to look for inspiration and new flavours. It is also a common mistake to choose products that are represented by ready-made hamburgers, dumplings with a month’s expiry date, lasagne with ingredients list as long as an introduction to a good book. Chemistry at its best! The longer the composition, the more crap inside. If you select ready-made products, try to choose a good and proven gourmet food – and the selection is getting wider and wider.

And what about the sweet gifts that your child gets? Taking them away seems a little bit awkward….

What if my aunt, grandmother, uncle or friend drops by with a chocolate bar, one Kinder surprise? Of course, it’s hard to say – don’t give it to my child, I’m the one who decides what and when it should eat! I think it’s time to say STOP. I know firsthand that when given fruit which he or she has never eaten before, a child is extremely excited. Coconut, melon, mango – there’s plenty to choose from. Perhaps parents can suggest that the gift should be something that will stimulate child’s creativity? I am in favour of speaking openly about our expectations and not allowing sweet gifts. It is we who decide when our child eats sweets. It’s that simple!

I know that I set an example for my child. What I am buying today, she’ll be buying in 15 years’ time, and I say that I know what is good for her and I can always explain why I don’t buy her a pack of sweets and yoghurt with colourful balls.

If you&’re not a role model for your child, you won’t show him or her what is good, you won’t explain why Coca Cola is unhealthy – your child will want to drink this smoky drink. We set a main example for our child. With the time you devote to your child, you determine his or her nutritional development. Believe me, I hear more and more often that children are sharing water, because others who drink sweetened juices are still thirsty. Children who have conscious parents are able to convince their peers to change their habits. That is a fact, I believe it will get better and better.

Me too. In the end, my decision is final.

You decide whether you are a conscious parent and whether you want your child to thank you for this in a dozen or so years’ time. Following this path is not easy, but if you don’t let it go, if you believe that you can eat reasonably, you’ll set the best example for your child. You already have 🙂 The best confirmation is when we hear: „my child eats spinach”, “my child eats oat flakes with a smile”, „your power balls have become a hit in our house”. The teaching staff who regularly eat in our shops order our salad dressings for the weekend, and we prepare them on the spot because they are impossible to falsify 🙂 We are happy when we go to school at 7:30 and a parent knocks on our window and orders take-away cocktails.

And often parents shift the responsibility for a healthy meal onto their children. It’s enough to give them 5 PLN and problem disappears.

Giving your child money for lunch isn’t wrong. The mistake here is that a child doesn’t know what to buy and takes what is colourful, not necessarily healthy. Dear Parents, talk to your children about what lunch should look like, what they can buy for 5 pln. Collecting receipts is a good idea, as well as praising your child and talking about food products.

Let’s say that in my fridge there’s sweet cheese and fizzy drinks, there is white bread, and vegetables come mainly in the form of ketchup served with sausages. How do I start looking after my child’s health?

First of all, you need to realize why you have what you have in your fridge and whether it’s actually of poor quality. And then choose diversity. You see, kids have to be given an alternative – if they drink water, eat fruit, are eager to reach for vegetables from the very beginning, it will be a norm for them. But the implementation of such standards depends on parents 🙂 The school shop we’ve opened in Oleśnica can serve as an example here – the lady who runs the shop told us that graham rolls won’t sell, because kids don’t like them. And what happened? Good quality cheese, ham, real butter and fresh vegetables aesthetically served are a hit among schoolchildren.

If there is at least one lover of the Sex and the City series, perhaps you’ll recall an episode in which Charlotte learns that her vagina suffers from depression (Sex and the City, season 4, episode 2: The Real Me). Although the problem of the character leads (and will continue to lead) to bursts of uncontrollable laughter among women all over the world, it concerns a very important issue namely the feeling of being beautiful „downstairs” and translating this feeling (or lack of it) into a sense of femininity.

In the series, during a lunchtime conversation, Charlotte confesses that not only had she never looked „down there”, but she feels that „it” is ugly. Of course, not all women feel the need to know every millimetre of their bodies, but it often changes in the perspective of pregnancy and the upcoming birth. The fact that the most intimate part of the female body is supposed to be a window (or perhaps more of a door) to the world for a new human is terrifying (I respect the fact that for some people it is beautiful). Fortunately, birth pains minimize or completely eliminate thinking about how many people judge the condition of the birth canal, which was once the womb. And when we succeed, we bring this human miracle to the world using our strength (I completely don’t understand why this act is called the birth by „forces of nature”, since it happens more so by the absolutely supernatural strength of a mother-to- be, not by the unspecified natural force). And then what? Then a rough ride begins with no seatbelts whatsoever. Total psycho-physical rollercoaster – those who have survived it, know it.

In my opinion, the word „massacre” should be synonymous with the word „childbirth”. Are we the women prepared for this? Do we know how to deal with the changes that have taken place in our body, including „the place where the miracle happened”?

There are some individual opinions about what things can look like after childbirth: from the very general „nothing will be the same anymore” through „the end of sexual pleasure” to the absolutely extreme „soggy box”. But how to deal with such a state of affairs is not heard anywhere, nobody says anything, and if they do, it’s a warning.

After birth, there is little talking with women in childbed about their condition – the issue of neonatal care always prevails. Women have to cope with their own physical and mental state on their way home. The psychological sphere is gradually being discussed right now – we hear more and more frequently about baby blues or post-natal depression. According to the reports, from 2019 onwards every woman before and after childbirth will have to take Beck’s depression test, which enables early diagnosis of postnatal depression and provides basis for referral to a specialist for treatment. Such a change is of great significance, it is intended to be introduced in the Regulation of the Minister of Health of 20 September 2012 on standards of medical management and procedures during provision of perinatal health care to women during physiological pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, and neonatal care
(Journal of Laws of 2016, item 1132).

Unfortunately, the equally important issue of women’s physical condition after childbirth is not mentioned in the aforementioned regulation. There are no guidelines on the postnatal rehabilitation of mothers. We are talking to Izabela Żak, a physiotherapist specializing in the prevention and treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction, about why postpartum pelvic floor therapy should become a norm in postpartum care.

TMM: What ailments do women experience after childbirth? Are these problems specific only to women after a natural birth?

All women after childbirth suffer from various disorders – some of them will recede spontaneously, yet many problems will remain and the untreated ones will increase over time. These are a result of pelvic floor muscle injury that occurs during childbirth. From the point of view of physiotherapist, the black list includes above all: stress incontinence (unintentional leakage of urine during coughing, sneezing, lifting, climbing the stairs, dancing), urine accumulation in the bladder, feeling of insufficient emptying of the bladder, frequent inflammatory states of the bladder, urinary urgency, lowering of the vaginal walls (which may lead to aesthetic changes), pain and leakage of urine during intercourse, lumbar spine and hips ache, lack of sexual satisfaction, and intestinal dysfunction. According to studies, the type of delivery has no significant impact on the risk of these ailments – pelvic floor muscles work in contraction with deep abdominal and dorsal muscles, so damage to the abdomen during C- section will also affect the bladder and reproductive function in the future. Studies have shown that 5 years after childbirth, women’s complaints are similar – regardless of whether they gave birth naturally or by Caesarean section.

Are women aware of potential perinatal injuries and how to address them?

I think that the women who give birth for the first time don’t have this awareness. Their thoughts naturally focus on the child. However, each mother should also think about herself in order to feel comfortable in her new role also from a physical point of view. The knowledge that your body needs assistance to get back to the state before pregnancy is of great value. It is worth remembering, however, that our body needs as much time to recover as it required during pregnancy to change. I’m deeply saddened by the pictures of celebrities, which show perfectly slim figures one week after the delivery. I find the approach pathological. The woman’s body simply does not work like this. However, unfortunately, many women are trying to follow their example. Of course, in the event of any postnatal ailments, you should talk to a gynaecologist who will arrange for a proper diagnosis, or to a
physiotherapist who will determine the appropriate conservative treatment.

Who can women turn to for information? Is the provision of information to women on potential birth-related injuries a standard postpartum medical procedure in Poland?

Many of my patients complain that no one was able to tell them what they could do and who they could go to. They often heard „get accustomed to it, it’s just like that after the delivery”. Of course, there are doctors who recommend rehabilitation and let them be praised for it, but the patient is unable to find a therapist who works on the matter – even so the time is running away, the ailments are escalating and the only solution is surgery.

Is there postnatal rehabilitation in Poland?

Something slowly begins to change, but it is a drop in the sea. I’ve had very unpleasant experiences – a few months ago I visited more than 20 Chambers of Midwives in Poland with a proposal to organise lectures on postnatal rehabilitation, which could be conducted by professional midwives. The interest in the subject was huge, midwives were very keen to learn, but the Chambers claimed that they would not be able to finance the training even in part, although the costs were relatively low. It seems that these issues should be regulated at a different level than that of local authorities.

And what is the situation in other European countries? Where is postnatal rehabilitation in the current world?

It’s a completely different story. Civilised countries look after their mothers. Women who have given birth, e. g. in France, have a refundable pelvic floor muscles re-education after each delivery, in Australia in turn, if there is a risk factor for the occurrence of perinatal trauma (i.e. high weight of the baby, incontinence during pregnancy, narrow pelvis, claws, a ventouse delivery, prolonged phase II of the delivery) – they are provided with perinatal care until the muscles return to form, sometimes even several months.

Can we prepare ourselves for labour so as to avoid or minimise the negative effects of childbirth?

It is important to give birth in a decent setting. You should also talk to your doctor or midwife about oxytocin, perineal incision and caesarean section beforehand. If possible, give birth with natural forces and treat the Caesarean section as a medically justifiable last resort. Learn to tighten the pelvic floor properly during pregnancy, cough and lift it up so that it is natural and simple after birth.

What do women gain from pelvic floor exercises?

Proper functioning of the urinary bladder, reproductive organs, healthy back and hips, and also POWER. In my opinion, the awareness of pelvic floor muscles gives women a sense of female value and femininity as an inner strength. In the past, the women passed on the mysterious art of special exercises from generation to generation, and now, by relaxing intergenerational ties, we have lost these opportunities, so we think that we are weak and look for confirmation of our own femininity in the eyes of others. A strong pelvis means a woman’s inner strength, this has an incredible effect on other spheres of functioning – in a relationship, at work, in all human relations. This is a completely different, higher dimension of the woman’s well-being, and her physical health only coincides with that.

Pelvic floor training is the absolute prerequisite for getting things right after childbirth. Moreover, it turns out that by taking care of our physical sphere, we can find the strength that we often lack in our everyday life. Unfortunately, for the time being, we cannot count on any advice from the hospital staff after giving birth. We need to make sure that our self-consciousness is consolidated and communicated further.

Let us not remain silent about how we look and feel after childbirth. If your vagina has depression and it is simply wrong – which will translate directly into your sense of femininity – look after it, heal it – because you can. And then „Keep calm and watch Sex and the City”.

illustration / Adam Dachis / flickr