Classes

sboston06 · January 2016

Have you guys thought about which classes you'd like to take to prepare for baby? There are so many and I feel compelled to take ALL of them but I don't know what's useful and what's not. STM+ please weigh in! I've seen childbirth preparation classes, breastfeeding, newborn care, becoming a dad, babywearing, infant/child CPR and/or first aid, and cloth diapering. DH and I are taking a cloth diapering workshop this weekend to see what our options are. I know the others are a long ways off but registration is already open up until in May or June...

chanfa · January 2016

My hospital has a free Lamaze class that also includes info on how to take care of the baby for the first few weeks!

My friend took it and she said its a lot of info and they give u a workbook and etc

Weville · January 2016

My doctor's office has classes every Monday night for free so we are going to go. My doc recommended starting after 20w so we will probably start in a month

anskip · January 2016

With DD, I took the breastfeeding class, hospital tour (which featured a baby wearing expert as a guest speaker), and the infant cpr/first aid. We don't cloth diaper, so didn't need that one.

I asked lots of questions during dr apts, and lived on my bmb. As we get closer, lots of stm's will gladly share the labor process. Good thing about it in this venue, you don't just horror stories like so many people want to give.

john5111 · January 2016

I took the birthing one which included a hospital tour, breast feeding (gave some tips but honestly you learn as you do in the hospital once baby is here), a newborn care one-lots of good tips. This time around Im just doing a tour bc the birthing center is brand new and different this time around.

thebigoaktree · January 2016

I think cpr and breastfeeding will be my big ones. My dh could use a becoming a dad class just to give him some heads up about things.

MotherOfDucks · January 2016

I think everyone should take infant CPR. It's required when taking a baby home from the NICU so I've taken it twice. I signed up for a natural birthing class with my first (but it was 2 months after I gave birth) and again with my second... but I only got to go to two classes... heh. They called me the 3rd week when I missed to see if I'd had the baby early. And I had in fact had him the night before. But it was still a good experience. I think a FTM would benefit from a whole unit.

ETA: Take a breastfeeding class. I really enjoyed having the nurses around to teach me to BF my oldest. But the nurses in the NICU with my second were just awful and no help so I'm glad I already knew what I needed to know. With my third, it was my first time just going straight to it. And it hurt! If I didn't know the reward, I may have just given up. But one day I latched him on and it didn't hurt anymore. It's very different not pumping for weeks first.

thebigoaktree · January 2016

Is hypnobirthing any good?

dolewhipper · January 2016

thebigoaktree said:

Is hypnobirthing any good?

I'm curious about this as well.

ladythrice · January 2016

thebigoaktree said:

Is hypnobirthing any good?

@thebigoaktree @dolewhipper my girlfriend did Hypnobabies and she swears by it. She had both her kids med-free. I personally think this has a lot to do with her personality though. She committed to her birth plan from conception and just knew it wasn't going to go any other way.

BioTeach84 · January 2016

@thebigoaktree one of my friends did hypnobabies and loved it. She went all natural and had no issues.

I have signed up for a birthing class and a breastfeeding class through the hospital I am delivering at.

LifeofLauren2 · January 2016

I feel so behind! I haven't even thought about any of these things!

ladythrice · January 2016

DH and I took a Infant Baby Care class (my dad laughed at me when I told him we were taking it...), a Breastfeeding Class, and a Birthing Class.

Infant Care - Showed us CPR, how to change, swaddle, and bathe a baby. It also discussed how to care for the baby's umbilical cord and circumcised penises. It taught us things to watch for and report to the baby's pediatrician to catch problems early (poop/pee issues, temperature, rashes, etc). It wasn't the most amazing course I've ever attended but DH was a complete newbie when it came to babies. He's the baby in his family (while I was the eldest) and could count on one hand the number of times he held a baby. The class was really good for him.
Breastfeeding Class - It was a great introduction to breastfeeding. It wasn't an end-all be-all source of information. The best things it did were introduce you to the hospital's lactation consultants and teach you how to make sure your delivery team knew you planned on BFing. Fortunately, my hospital was very pro-BFing and despite having a C/S and being loopy from the meds after, my delivery team made sure we BF as soon as humanly possible. I was not physically capable of holding DS so my nurses held him for me for his first latch. I credit attending this course and making my wishes known for that success!
Birthing Class - Another great introductory course. It taught us our options: med-free, IV meds, local meds, and epidural. It taught us the phases of delivery (something I knew nothing about prior) and, most importantly, it taught relaxation techniques to get through labor.

I'm glad we took all three. This time around we'll just be doing a hospital tour. I'm delivering at a new hospital so we want to check out the goods.

noelietrex · January 2016

Required classes for first time parents at our birthing center:
• Breastfeeding Building Blocks: Part 1
• Birth Recovery and Early Newborn Care
• Natural Childbirth Preparation
• 34 Week Midwife Chat (Q&A/ open discussion- looking forward to this one!)

Optional Classes I'd like to consider. Anyone have any suggestions about which of these might be most helpful or might be ones to skip?:
• Pelvic Floor Health with N2 Physical Therapy
• New Mama Nutrition: Good Foods for Good Moods
• Infant First Aid & CPR
• Sleep Support Group
• Wills & Wellness: Estate Planning for New Parents
• Financial Empowerment for Growing Families with Lia Baggao, CFP
• Car Seat Checks by a Certified Child Passenger Safety Instructor
• Baby Wearing
• Breastfeeding Beyond Basics: Part 2
• Breastfeeding Support Group
• Secrets for Stress Free Living with a Young Child & Raising them to Be their Best Selves by Dr. Ginny Trierweiler

Especially the finance ones? Is anyone writing a will or did anyone find finance classes helpful?

Schmooie730 · January 2016

I get certified in infant/child/adult Cpr and first aid every year for my job (I work in child care). I told my husband he had to take an infant cpr class as well and he could join the one for work but he said he would go to one on his own. I think that is the most important one. You can figure out everything else, but cpr can save your child's life.

I need to look at what our hospital offers but I'd like us to take an infant care class and breastfeeding. I usually get emails about workshops at the hospital so I need to keep an eye out.

born2run911 · January 2016

I second that every single person should take an infant CPR/first aid class. You never know if/when it will come in handy. We did just a general prenatal class and my favourite/most informative day was the day spent on breastfeeding. It is also nice to be explained the stages of labour, what to watch for/when to come in. (Your OB will also go over this, but they spent more time explaining it in prenatal class).

megstervt · January 2016

Image: https://49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_loo87k71sX1qci6lqo3_250.gif

I feel like the Hermione of birthing classes. I want all the classes!

I think I've settled on a birthing class (which includes the basics, hospital policy and a hospital tour), breastfeeding and hypnobirthing (since I really want no meds). I'm hoping the birthing class will give enough info on newborn care since both DH and I need that. DH and I already know infant CPR so I feel good about avoiding that.

rakel88 · January 2016

we're signed up for Bradley classes which start in March. Besides that, I'm not sure.. I know people who have done that with the same person I'm doing it with and they learned a bunch about breastfeeding and newborn care as well. My husband and I are already certified in CPR.

ladythrice · January 2016

noelietrex said:

Required classes for first time parents at our birthing center:
• Breastfeeding Building Blocks: Part 1
• Birth Recovery and Early Newborn Care
• Natural Childbirth Preparation
• 34 Week Midwife Chat (Q&A/ open discussion- looking forward to this one!)

Optional Classes I'd like to consider. Anyone have any suggestions about which of these might be most helpful or might be ones to skip?:
• Pelvic Floor Health with N2 Physical Therapy
• New Mama Nutrition: Good Foods for Good Moods
• Infant First Aid & CPR
• Sleep Support Group
• Wills & Wellness: Estate Planning for New Parents
• Financial Empowerment for Growing Families with Lia Baggao, CFP
• Car Seat Checks by a Certified Child Passenger Safety Instructor
• Baby Wearing
• Breastfeeding Beyond Basics: Part 2
• Breastfeeding Support Group
• Secrets for Stress Free Living with a Young Child & Raising them to Be their Best Selves by Dr. Ginny Trierweiler

Especially the finance ones? Is anyone writing a will or did anyone find finance classes helpful?

@noelietrex, it depends on what things are important to you. For me, breastfeeding was something I really wanted to succeed at. If I had had the option to take additional classes on it I would have.

From my personal experience/bias, I think that if you want to breastfeed, getting educated on it early is essential. Since you are delivering at a birthing center, you are less likely to face some of the pressures and conflicting information on breastfeeding that many women encounter in hospitals. However, breastfeeding isn't always easy and doesn't always come without some work and effort. To that end, I would suggest (only if you are interested!) signing up for the classes and the support group. I attended meetings for a support group in person every other week after DS was born for months and am still a member of two support groups on Facebook (a local one and a working moms one). These groups are the #1 reason that at 13+ months we're still BFing.

whataboutscience · January 2016

STM. Just curious if other people actually took a BFing class before baby and found it helpful. Personally, I had read everything, gone to a LLL meeting, and heard it covered in my Bradley class, but until you actually do it, I still felt clueless. It was hard and the lactation consultant I saw with the baby was more helpful than anything beforehand.

ladythrice · January 2016

whataboutscience said:

STM. Just curious if other people actually took a BFing class before baby and found it helpful. Personally, I had read everything, gone to a LLL meeting, and heard it covered in my Bradley class, but until you actually do it, I still felt clueless. It was hard and the lactation consultant I saw with the baby was more helpful than anything beforehand.

@whataboutscience I agree 100000% with you. I found it necessary as an introduction but it by no means prepared me for everything we experienced in our breastfeeding journey. Unfortunately for me, my success with breastfeeding came only with much blood, sweat, tears, and lots and lots of seeking help.

juliagulia38 · January 2016

I took a birthing class when I was pregnant with DS. Don't remember what it was called. It covered birth, cpr, how to deal with labor, diaper changes and I think that's it. When I had DD before you were discharged from the hospital you had to attend a breastfeeding class. Which sucked for me because I was pumping and a STM. I want to take DS and DD to a sibling class but DS is already a big brother and DD is only 2. The birthing class was really helpful. Defiantly recommend taking a class.

elenabrent · January 2016

We're signed up for a Bradley method class starting next week. Because we're doing a home birth (with a Certified Nurse Midwife, a birth assistant, and a doula), I've heard that Bradley is a great method for empowering your husband/partner to be a birth coach.

I'm CPR/First Aid trained because I teach, but my husband is going to take a CPR/First Aid class that covers infants this summer at my school before the baby is born.

DominiqueU · January 2016

FYI, Babies R Us has a bunch of free classes. Has anyone gone to any of them? I know they offer a lot of the same ones my hospital offers, but the hospital charges around $50 per couple for each class. I figured I'd try the free ones and then go to the hospital if the Babies R Us classes are crap.

sboston06 · January 2016

I am a nurse so I'm already CPR certified but DH would need to take that class for sure. I'm interested in the infant/child first aid since caring for a child is SO different then caring for adults.

I also just found out there is a daily breastfeeding class at the hospital after I deliver. I know those first few days will be totally overwhelming but I also agree with PP that it's a difficult thing to grasp until you actually have to do it.

When I add up the cost of everything I want to take its like $300 or more...seems so excessive! I hope insurance reimburses some of it!

whataboutscience · January 2016

I briefly mentioned it earlier, but we did a Bradley Method course last pregnancy that really helped us feel prepared for natural labor. It is expensive because it is a long series of classes, but we definitely felt it was worth it.

givemepenguinss · January 2016

I waited until I actually had the baby for breastfeeding classes. My hospital had them in the maternity ward for the few days we were there after the birth. It was great! I think if I took them before, I would be like, "okay, great, got this" but it was better to have the actual baby there when getting instruction. Because it's HARD.

MDmomma1217 · January 2016

With DD, DH and I took a financial planning class, breastfeeding class, prepared childbirth class, and tour of the hospital. I still have the book from our prepared childbirth class, and as long as I keep talking to my midwife I don't feel like it is necessary to do it again. Not doing another breastfeeding class. I feel like I learned a lot in the year that I did breastfeed/pump and the lactation consultants at DD's pediatrician's office were amazing. We will do the hospital tour again as it has been remodeled since DD was born 6 years ago.

jenkeale · January 2016

We did a childbirth class but not the series, the shortened version. It was still really helpful. We will both get re certified in infant cpr. And I did some hypno birthing on my own. The classes in my area were way too steep for our budget. I had a med free birth and nursed for 17 months. The lactation consultant at the hospital was really helpful and called to check on me a couple weeks later.

I'm going the birth center route this time and they offer a lot, but I think we might just take another short childbirth class as a refresher.

PhoebeJune1984 · January 2016

None. I didn't with the first, and wont with this one. If I did take a class, it would be the CPR and first aid one. But my sister is a paramedic, so she just gives me a refresher every other year so I don't have to pay for a class. ETA: One of the main reasons that I didn't take any classes the first time, was because all of the classes that the hospital offered, didn't work with my schedule. They were all in the middle of the day, started at 4pm, or started at 5pm. Well, I don't get off work until 6pm....so my only option was weekends, and those ones always booked up super fast (which I didn't know at the time, and had waited until my 3rd Tri before going to sign up). But I had been a nanny for so long, I wasn't worried about taking care of a baby, and I knew all of the medical terms, etc....so at that point, I found it useless. We did do a tour of the hospital, but that is about it.

lolomommy1 · January 2016

I did hypnobirthing and I definitely recommend it. I never took any classes for it, not sure if they even offer them, but I got the book online that comes with a CD and I used that the last couple months of being pregnant. The techniques I learned in the book and from the CD helped me through my natural birth and was so calming and teaches you to relax through contractions witch is KEY to pain management with natural birth.

Even if you don't use hypnobirthing I definitely recommend learning how to breathe and meditate and practicing it for at least a month before labor(even if you just watch youtube videos). With my first I did not educate myself at all and with my second I did the hypnobirthing and it made a HUGE difference.

MrsRo731 · January 2016

I guess I'm in the minority; I took a birthing class and didn't find it useful at all. Waste of money and time. There are so many free resources that you can learn from without having to sit in a classroom and spend $100.

Also, as far as BF, I read up on it a ton but nothing really prepared me. The best thing I did in relation to BF was having a lactation consultant come to me the day after we got home. She saved me; I wouldn't have made it as long as I did if I hadn't had her help.

HoosierTerp · January 2016

Besides cpr and hospital tour I found the rest pointless. Especially the infant care one.

fleurdelakeview · January 2016

I haven't even started thinking about classes yet! I'm hoping to find some online because it is unlikely that my husband will ever be able to go to live classes because of his schedule. Also I'd rather watch from home in my PJs. (Okay, maybe that's the exhaustion talking)

Taymiller · January 2016

I did no classes

pourmeanothermocktail · January 2016

My birth center requires a group of 6 classes. I know they cover: breastfeeding (yay), infant care (good for DH for sure! - and we get to go home after only 4-6 hours so it's not a terrible idea even though I'm comfortable with little ones), infant CPR/first aid, and natural labor techniques/breathing. I don't remember what the 6th one is, but one more won't hurt. The whole package is $175, so not TOO bad.

betheliz · January 2016

whataboutscience said:

STM. Just curious if other people actually took a BFing class before baby and found it helpful. Personally, I had read everything, gone to a LLL meeting, and heard it covered in my Bradley class, but until you actually do it, I still felt clueless. It was hard and the lactation consultant I saw with the baby was more helpful than anything beforehand.

I completely agree too. For me the BF class was a disaster--the instructor made it sound like i would never be able to BF if I gave the baby a bottle and offered all kinds of BF hacks that were supposed to work if you couldn't get a good latch right away. When none of these hacks worked for me and my son--who just didn't have a well-developed sucking reflex--and he lost too much weight, I felt like such a complete failure. Just the implication that you could learn to BF in a classroom with a doll misrepresents how difficult it can be for some people. The LCs at the hospital and at my pediatrician's office were so much more helpful than the class.

DH and I did take a baby care class, which was awesome. Neither of us had changed more than a couple diapers in a our entire lives. Even if the info was mostly stuff I had gleaned from the bump or baby books, it was reassuring to hear it all again and take copious notes, like the nerd I am.

mamafox14 · January 2016

Maybe I am just a huge nerd and miss being in school but I am trying to take ALL THE CLASSES. My insurance covers a bunch which is nice because free is my favorite price.

Nikko Blue · January 2016

My husband and I took 2 classes about 2 months before my son's due date. One was a childbirth class and the other was an infant care class. I don't feel like I got all that much out of them, but my husband learned a lot about what to expect. So I felt it was worth it. We won't be doing any classes this time.

jen11797 · January 2016

My husband and I took the breastfeeding class together as well as a one-hour class on the administrative stuff (birth certificate, social security for baby, etc.) immediately followed by a hospital tour.
The admin class was helpful, and allowed us to fill out the majority of the paperwork before DS was born. It was awesome to not have that to worry about. The hospital tour was great as well, though I highly recommend not waiting until you are 36/37 weeks pregnant like I was. It was exhausting, packed, and I felt awful.
The breastfeeding class was helpful with knowing basics, theoretical problems/solutions, and the science behind what is actually happening as you breastfeed. I will say that I think the teacher misrepresented the pain level. She communicated that if latching hurt at all, we were doing it wrong. I almost gave up breastfeeding because I was so defeated and emotional about not getting a good latch with DS, and he was frustrated because I kept breaking his latch and trying again because "that's what the teacher said". Before I left the hospital, a lactation consultant came by, and to my shock, explained that he was latching perfectly, and that pain for the first bit was absolutely normal. A lot of tears could have been avoided if I had just known that ahead of time. Still, I think the other things I gained from the class made it worthwhile.
I did not attend a birthing class because I knew it would increase my anxiety levels by a lot. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I knew I didn't want to go through that class, and I don't regret it for a second. I had an awesome birth experience, and my nurse and midwife were amazing and walked me through the entire process seamlessly.
The only class I want to take this time is infant CPR.

ETA: Having your husband/SO take the breastfeeding class with you is extremely helpful. He was such a huge help, and we really worked through the challenges together. The class helped him to understand what was going on with my body and how much work breastfeeding really is.

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