September 2013 Moms

Prenatal Classes (Clicky Poll and Advice)

Mobile- Prenatal Classes (Clicky Poll and Advice)

 

We are trying to decide whether or not to take childbirth, newborn, and/or breast feeding classes. Please share your experiences! I tried to put in as many options as I could think of, but it'd be helpful to see explanations below if my choices aren't really what you experienced. TIA!

[Poll]
May Siggy Challenge: Labor Memes



Me:31 DH:32 Married 11/06/10
DD: Born 8/23/13 (clomid+ovidrel+IUI)
BFP 9/9/16 EDD 5/19/17


Re: Prenatal Classes (Clicky Poll and Advice)

  • We took childbirth, breastfeeding, and infant/child CPR in preparing for our first and found them all to be helpful. Depends on who your instructor is though, had some issues with the BFing teacher - she was an hour late and could definitely have been better, but did give her cell number which I used once after DD was born.

    ETA - we will not be taking any classes this time since DD was fairly recent and are having a RCS so feel pretty comfortable with everything else :)

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  • My experience was different at different hospitals. My FTM childbirth prep class was somewhat beneficial, but they didn't quite teach enough about true labor signs. Never took BF class separate from the child birth class can 't help there except to say I learned a lot more with baby 4 when I attended a LLL group afterwards. You can actually join one before you deliver! Dudn't know tgat beford baby 4! They were the most helpful to me for BF. Babies 2,3,and 4 were in a different hospital than baby 1, and the childbirth prep class was mandatory for anyone who hadn't delivered there before. It was a much better class than my first one. Now we just go for the refresher course so we can file our preregistration paperwork which saves a lot of time and energy when labor begins. I would vote for going to the Childbirth prep class.

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  • I loved taking a childbirth class, it prepared DH and I well to know what to expect of labor.

    I didn't take a breastfeeding class, but I did read about breastfeeding a newborn and an infant before my first baby came, and I refreshed before my second was born.  I plan to refresh again before this one comes. I recommend the book The Nursing Mother's Companion as a great guide to breastfeeding. I might have taken a class if I didn't have a good resource in a book or know where to go for help (ie www.kellymom.com to name one awesome online resource)

    I didn't take a newborn class, I felt prepared to care for a baby with my experience in babysitting over the years, friend's kids, etc as I was 30 was my first child was born. I don't regret not taking one of those, but I *did* refer to a book or two especially with my first. 

  • Just remember that even if you are feeling prepared your partner will likely still benefit from a childbirth class. 
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  • We took a very condensed version of all three classes crammed into one weekend, and I kind of wish I'd gone to the longer (6 week) version. There wasn't enough time to really get into each subject like I would have preferred, and sitting there for so long at 8 1/2 months pregnant was not fun either. But I'm glad we did it, it did provide some helpful info and we got to tour labor and delivery. I feel like it benefited DH more than me, because I had read and researched a lot of what was covered, but he had not.
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  • We took all of the classes but really only took away anything from the breastfeeding class. DH and I have been around kids of all ages and were (and obviously still are) confident in how to take care of one. As far as the birthing class, I found more helpful information (pros and cons, when to ask/administer) online.
  • We took all the classes which were beneficial and at least made us feel more comfortable with everything. The best one was the infant CPR. Our DD stopped breathing in the middle of the night at 1 month and DH jumped right in and got her back to breathing from purples skin tone. Which was great because the ambulance couldn't find us for over 10 minutes. We're actually going to take it again for a refresher.
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  • We did the birthing class and breast feeding class and they definitely benefited DH more than myself, which was whi I wanted to take them in the first place :) 
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  • I only took a Baby Basics class last time. Some stuff was useful, some stuff wasn't. I didn't take childbirth class and I'm glad. I wish I would have taken a course to help with med-free birth but that can be different from a childbirth class. Example: a lot of my friends had every intention of getting an epi yet they still took a class that just talked about what your body does during labor and birth. Seems like a waste to me - if you aren't going to feel an ounce of any of it, why bother with the class? Just MO though.

    This time I'm doing Hypnobabies at home but I'm still not taking a BFing class. I have two LC at my disposal this time and plan to fully utilize their expertise. 



     

      
  • We will be taking all 3, and they are spread out over this month.  I hope they are useful because DH has very few nights off, and I will be upset if we use his nights off to do these classes and they are useless! 

    I know I've heard people say the childbirth class is not useful... but I'd rather go and see if I learn something.  I think about it as a teacher...we do fire drills, tornado drills, etc, for the instances in which we might need them, so we have the knowledge in the backs of our minds.  I know that everyone's labor is different, but maybe they'll tell me something that we'll try and will help alleviate pain, etc.

    I'm pretty sure I could probably teach the Baby Basics/Child Care class due to the amounts of young children in my family, but I think it's important for DH and I to go and just hear the information together.

    I am most interested in the breastfeeding class, since I am FTM.  I asked DH to come with me, although I know he would probably rather do 1000 other things...but I know he'll be my support at 3am and I'm sleep deprived and the baby won't latch, and maybe he'll remember something that I won't.  

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  • We did the birthing and newborn classes. I haven't really spent much time with newborns so the newborn class was pretty helpful and definitely helped DH feel more comfortable.

     We took the newborn class today and it was definitely helpful. She was able to explain a lot of the medical stuff and  I would recommend it. 

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