"Caring for your Newborn" class necessary?

sycheh · May 2012

Hi ladies,

I'm sneaking on to your board for a second because I need the opinion of new mothers. I just found out that the only day I could possibly take the "Caring for your Newborn" class at my hospital is early July - but I'm not due until the beginning of October. On the other available dates for the class, I'm just not free. I feel like this is extremely early (and it kind of messes up the budget I've planned).

I have heard from a few of my friends that this particular class isn't the most helpful, because they're going over things that you have probably already read/researched about, or things you will learn in the hospital when you deliver. I've been reading up and researching like crazy so I'm not going into this totally blind (although I realize that as a FTM you never know exactly what you're getting into).

So what do you guys think? Cough up the money and take the class 3 months before I'm due? Or skip this one and just enjoy all the other classes I've already registered for (pediatric CPR, childbirth preparation weekend, breastfeeding)?

Thanks in advance!

starswinger · May 2012

I did not take a single class because many told me they were not worth the money. ( except CPR which I am taking soon) I never regretting not taking classes because the nurses taught us everything at the hospital.

Lesleyjking · May 2012

We took ours so early in our preg that we forgot a lot of it. I found books to be the most helpful, such as what to expect the first year, baby 411, etc...

aldavis78 · May 2012

lurchbaby:
I found that the classes I took were really only helpful to ease my mind while I was pregnant. They made me less nervous. But I didn't really 'learn' anything until LO was actually here. The nurses will show you everything you need to know.

This exactly. It eased our minds but we learned a lot through reading and our delivery nurses.

kipikookoo · May 2012

I took a newborn class but honestly everything kinda came naturally to me. Before I had my son I had never even held a baby before but I still knew what to do. Youtube is also a great resource!!

eav2c · May 2012

I don't think newborn classes are necessary. They teach you alot at the hospital and TB has been pretty helpful too along with a little bit of mothers intuition thrown in.

EmilyXLC · June 2012

Nope.

I literally had 0 experience with infants until having my own. Most of it comes naturally & with common sense. I did quite a bit of reading & still am constantly reading up on things... But no, the classes aren't necessary.

jeffsjayme · June 2012

I found it helpful for my husband, but not really for me.

lvrunningirlie · June 2012

There were maybe one or two things that I picked up that were helpful... but I probably could have learned those things from the nurses on duty at the hospital

k8edgerton · June 2012

We took a birthing class which had some caring for newborn stuff at the end. The entire class was a waste (in my opinion) -- However, there were people at the class that definitely needed to be there. They hadn't done any research or reading and had a bunch of questions that made me want to say have you ever used Google? I say, if you are an educated individual and can read and use the internet you can do all the research yourself. If you have a mom or friends with kids to ask questions too then you are good to go. Plus, before you leave the hospital they give you a few baby basics as well as a book (at least mine did) -- I grilled those nurses with every question that popped into my head while I was there. They take care of babies and see everything. To me they were a great resource of information.

stemms8810 · June 2012

jeffsjayme:
I found it helpful for my husband, but not really for me.

I found this to be true for myself as well. It really eased his anxiety about caring for a baby. I already have a DD from a previous relationship so I knew most things.

However, I didn't take one with my first but I caught on quick on how to care for her. Your motherly instincts kick in. It wouldn't hurt to take it though.

Irishsapphire · June 2012

We took the class for our son--actually we were going to take a childbirth class, but my son was born at 31 weeks before that class--so we took the caring for your newborn class. I am glad we took it. It just gets you excited about your baby.