A lot can change in a generation.
That is what some grandparents and grandparents-to-be learned Sunday during an informational fair held for them by the New Life Center of Condell Medical Center at its Gurnee satellite office.
Along with seeing instructional videos and hearing talks on topics such as infant CPR, bathing techniques and breast-feeding, grandparents chatted with doctors and nurses about any questions they had regarding the coming arrival of their grandchildren.
“It’s been a while” since she dealt with an infant, acknowledged Rita Tweed of Bloomingdale. She was accompanied by her daughter Nancy Thulin of Gurnee, who is scheduled to give birth in six weeks. Thulin’s mother-in-law, Lorraine Thulin of Libertyville, also attended the medical center’s first educational fair designed with grandparents in mind.
Among the changes Thulin and Tweed remarked upon were new theories that say infants should sleep on their backs instead of their stomachs and should wear hats to keep heat from escaping from their bodies.
“Our babies didn’t wear hats,” Tweed said.
Maureen Oglesby of McHenry is already a grandmother of two, but she still found some new information on Sunday.
“The part about car safety was really interesting to me,” Oglesby said.
She knows from experiences with her children and grandchildren that teachings on child care have undergone some transformations.
“This helps some grandparents learn what’s going on currently with babies,” she said.
The medical center used to provide a class for expectant grandparents along with classes for parents-to-be, but it switched to the format of an informational fair to provide a more relaxed setting for the grandparents to ask questions about baby care, said Pat Hansen, an educator at the medical center.
Hansen said the medical center staff plans to offer a second informational fair for grandparents in September.
Two doctors, an obstetrician and a pediatrician, were on hand Sunday to talk with those attending the fair.
Many visitors were drawn to the video of an ultrasound that was marked to show the various body parts of a developing fetus.
“It’s just something that wasn’t here when they gave birth,” said Dr. Richard Allen, an obstetrician.
Taking an interest in infant care is really a safety issue now that many grandparents provide care for their children’s children during the work week, said Robin Matteo a nurse and childbirth instructor.
Pediatrician Tim Samelson agreed.
“I have a number of cases where the grandparents are the primary care-givers,” to their grandchildren, he said.
Among the displays set up in a circle in the medical center’s community room was one that showed how dangerous an ordinary purse could be to youngsters.
The contents included a nail file, vials of medicine and a cigarette lighter. All items that grandmothers “shouldn’t have in their purse, or at least if they have it, make sure the purse goes up out of reach,” of children, said Jacque Fisher, a nurse who teaches child birth classes.
