Los Angeles Babies
Newborn prep classes
Hi All!
I'm new to the boards, but excited to get some insight from the rest of you mommas and mommas-to-be. I'm about 15.5 weeks pregnant and have started looking into birthing and newborn care classes. I wanted to see if anyone had any recs for classes (on the Westside) that people have heard were great -- or not so great. I've literally never changed a diaper so will need all the prep help I can get. 
I've also heard you need to sign up as early as 5 months for some, although you don't attend unitl 8 months. Anyone have anu insight on that too?
Thanks!!
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Re: Newborn prep classes
I took my child birthing class at a nearby hospital because someone I knew had recently delivered there & had good things to say about that facility. I wish I had taken the childbirth class at the hospital where I will be delivering, however, because I know the L&D nurses teach the classes & you can become a bit more familiar with the facilities, etc. The class I took was an express class so it covered the basics of breathing, managing pain, and delivery pushing methods, etc. But I think if you want to do a natural birth or want more in-depth coverage, a several weeks class may be more helpful. Good luck!
I took a birthing class (2 Sundays in a row) and infant CPR at UCLA Santa Monica (signed up directly from the UCLA website). I also took baby care through the Pump Station (but even though it was taught by the Pump Station & I signed up by calling them, it was also held at UCLA Santa Monica).
Both infant CPR and the baby care class were excellent -- highly recommend! The birthing class was good and I'm glad I took it, but I didn't learn quite as much, probably because I had already read a birthing book in advance (so already knew much of the content covered).
In terms of booking in advance, I did all the classes about 4-5 weeks before my due date and signed up about 2 months in advance (and didn't have any issues with them being sold out already). I think the timing of classes is perfect - I feel like I would forget much of the content if I took them earlier than 4-5 weeks out. I'd suggest figuring out when you want to take them & then going ahead and booking right now, so you don't have to worry about them filling up...
Hope that helps, please feel free to reach out if you want more details on any of the classes I took...
We're doing ours at kaiser.
We've done breastfeeding and tonight we have baby care basics (we start lamaze in January).
The earliest class we had was an intro class that just talked about nutrition and pregnancy (not super informative but glad we went).
I'm 26 weeks
Adam & Shoshie 10-21-07: "My family is big and loud and everybody's in each other's lives and business. ... but wherever I go, they will always be there." * My Blog: Tales of a Hopeful Jewish Mom to Be *