Childbirth Education classes?

[chocolatelove]

How important or useful are childbirth education or breastfeeding classes? Apparently, I waited too late and all the childbirth education and breastfeeding classes at my hospital are full.

There are some options at other hospitals that we could, at least in theory, make work with the carefully crafted Tetris game that is our schedule, but they will take some juggling, making switching custody weekends for my youngest step-daughter, or are until 9:30 pm with a 30-45 minute commute, which sounds a little bit like torture to me! DH has taken childbirth education classes when his other kids were born and feels like they are a waste of time. I still sorta want to take one because it is new to me - with or without him - but I’m wondering if it is worth it given all the obstacles I’m encountering to finding a class. In the spirit of simplifying my life, maybe this is something I can skip?

Breastfeeding classes are a little bit easier to come by but are at the hospitals that are 30-45
minute away.

[killercupcake]

I skipped the childbirth classes. I felt like they would freak me out more than help me.

I do wish I had done a breastfeeding class, though. And I might consider one for this time.

[sloan]

I think it depends on what kind of birth experience you want/are planning. If you want to do a medication free birth then I think pain management techniques would be helpful, but if you’re planning on an epidural I feel like they’re unnecessary. I had an epidural in my birth plan and skipped the classes; I did watch some YouTube videos on breathing exercises and such for before I got meds, but frankly white knuckling the bedside and focusing on that pressure was more effective for me haha.

[aprilsails]

I skipped them all for my first since by the time I looked them up at 10 weeks they were all waitlisted in my area and I didn’t want to pay for the ones through laleche league.

However, I do have a huge network of family and friends who I could ask for support and advice (including a couple of L&D nurses). I also did a lot of reading ahead of time so I would know what to expect.

[chocolatelove]

Thanks, ladies! Definitely not a med free birth for me. I think part of my interest in going was to figure out what difference I may see during labor given my heart defect, but most childbirth educators aren’t going to answer that. My mom has been an L&D nurse for 40 years and used to manage the childbirth educators. I suspect she will find me a class and insist I attend, which is why I don’t want to ask her advice, lol.

[knx9211]

Mine ended up being a waste of time. I had to be on magnesium and couldn’t get out of bed so all of the tips for moving around, etc were useless. I didn’t think it was very helpful for me personally.

I didn’t do the breastfeeding class. Breastfeeding is really hard so maybe that would have been more helpful, but I’d imagine it’s not as helpful when.. you know.. there’s no baby there yet? Ha

[pinkplasticdoll]

Mine were incredibly helpful and my husband attended all the classes with me as well, he was able to help remind me of some things we learned that I forgot. One of the classes brought in a anesthesiologist to talk about the pain relief options that were offered during labor, you were able to ask questions about the options so it was incredibly helpful.

[stellelinds25]

We took a childbirth class and it was super informative and interesting...I do plan on having an epidural, but they gave some guidelines about when to ask for one and how to manage your pain until you get one (they recommended not before 6cm). They did also cover c-sections, which I was surprised and glad for. So in theory, it was helpful...but until I give birth, I'm not sure lol. My hospital offers a breastfeeding & returning to work class that I'm going to take after baby is here and I am closer to going back to work.

[aprilsails]

Oh- my hospital has a lactation consultant drop in three days a week. You can just show up and be seen by an LC after baby is born. I went back in on day 5 to verify the latch and also because my milk was coming in that day so everything was changing and DD was cluster feeding. I also saw an LC on day 1 to check latch. I think that was more useful than a breastfeeding class, although DD was a good eater.

[robinsbff]

the first time around we took both and found it helpful. i'm a 'more info is better' person though, as is my DH so it fit our personalities/needs well. i took a lot of notes i referenced in the early days, especially on breastfeeding, and it was super helpful for DH to be in that class as well. our nurse/LC really emphasized to the dads that a successful breastfeeding relationship can depend on them as much as on the mom. she told them their job was to take care of us while our only job was to feed baby. that meant making sure we ate and drank enough, keeping people/guests away and telling people to back off when they could tell it became too much and mom or baby needed space, and even doing all the housework for awhile. as someone else said, he also remembered tips or tricks that i hadn't and was able to offer suggestions when things were rocky for a bit.

this time we are only doing the siblings class/tour to take DS so he can see things before it's actually happening. they do offer a breastfeeding the second time around i'd like to take, but the times they posted were super inconvenient and i'm not sure we will be able to swing it.

[Susie]

I skipped the BFing class with my first, and didn't really feel like I missed out.  Until you have a baby in your arms, it's hard to learn how to do it.  My hospital had LC support, and that was enough for me.  I've EBFed both of my kids (my younger one is 3 mo. now and we're going strong).

The childbirth class was helpful for me because I really wanted med free births, and more knowledge made it easier to mentally prepare for.  I did a class before baby #1.  I ended up going med free for a spontaneous labor with #1, and med free again with an induced labor with #2.  I think if I had been less set on going med free, it would have been less important.

[sunflower17]

Ehhh. I wasn’t interested in any classes and I was just fine the first time around.

[gastro]

I did a birth/breastfeeding class with my first - it was in England and recommended/required (I can’t remember now but sort of remember it not being a choice) by the midwife. It was great. They use laughing gas as the first line of defense in a medicated birth so they showed us how to use it properly. There was also lots of tips about breastfeeding. The woman who ran the breastfeeding portion was great and really helped me have an I will breastfeed whenever and wherever my baby chooses attitude.

Honestly though everything that helped the most was all the tips/tricks, pushing to advocate for myself from the forums on the place before this.

With number two we were back in the states and i just did the hospital tour because it was huge and I wanted to know where to go. With number three no classes.

[gastro]

Sept 11, 2019 5:44:22 GMT -5 chocolatelove said:

Thanks, ladies! Definitely not a med free birth for me. I think part of my interest in going was to figure out what difference I may see during labor given my heart defect, but most childbirth educators aren’t going to answer that. My mom has been an L&D nurse for 40 years and used to manage the childbirth educators. I suspect she will find me a class and insist I attend, which is why I don’t want to ask her advice, lol.

If you are set on an epidural my advice is not to wait to ask for it. It always takes longer to get than you think. The anesthesiologist might be backed up, whatever. The moment you think you need it ask for it ASAP.

[patches31709]

Sept 11, 2019 12:44:19 GMT -5 gastro said:

Sept 11, 2019 5:44:22 GMT -5 chocolatelove said:

Thanks, ladies! Definitely not a med free birth for me. I think part of my interest in going was to figure out what difference I may see during labor given my heart defect, but most childbirth educators aren’t going to answer that. My mom has been an L&D nurse for 40 years and used to manage the childbirth educators. I suspect she will find me a class and insist I attend, which is why I don’t want to ask her advice, lol.

If you are set on an epidural my advice is not to wait to ask for it. It always takes longer to get than you think. The anesthesiologist might be backed up, whatever. The moment you think you need it ask for it ASAP.

YES! I don't remember how far along I was when I finally asked for one, but of course when I did, that meant they first had to squeeze a full IV bag into me with a pump (I have a pretty low blood pressure to begin with and was on meds trying to prevent pre-term labor that made it even lower), and then the anesthesiologist was in with someone else. I was practically screaming for him by the time he showed up and ready to curse him out for taking so long  (and then he immediately became my best friend, lol).

[elizann]

I did childbirth class but not breastfeeding class. I wanted to attempt med free - which did successfully twice and one with Pitocin. I agree with others that I am not sure it would be useful if plan was to get epidural.

I remember asking my OB about the breastfeeding classes, and she recommended finding some short articles to have general idea of positions, tips, etc. then use LC in hospital and additional LC visits with a baby. It was really more "I think you can find something more useful to spend last few baby-free weekends on - you need a baby for this to be productive, spend the money on co-pays to see a LC when she can help with your baby." It was really good advice. When I saw LC about 10 days after delivery I was a mess, DS1 was on daily weight checks still losing weight, and we were doing this crazy SNS thing. We were at a total breaking point, and she was amazing and made all the difference. He went on to nurse 20+ months.

[pooh8402]

Sept 11, 2019 12:44:19 GMT -5 gastro said:

Sept 11, 2019 5:44:22 GMT -5 chocolatelove said:

Thanks, ladies! Definitely not a med free birth for me. I think part of my interest in going was to figure out what difference I may see during labor given my heart defect, but most childbirth educators aren’t going to answer that. My mom has been an L&D nurse for 40 years and used to manage the childbirth educators. I suspect she will find me a class and insist I attend, which is why I don’t want to ask her advice, lol.

If you are set on an epidural my advice is not to wait to ask for it. It always takes longer to get than you think. The anesthesiologist might be backed up, whatever. The moment you think you need it ask for it ASAP.

This! I usually warn my patients ahead of time if I can (the anesthesiologist will be unavailable from this time to this time for a scheduled c-section) but of course, I can't predict if there will be 3 other requests for epidurals, or a STAT c-section, etc. I tell them that a good time to get it is before they're hurting so bad they can't sit still.

[pooh8402]

And re: classes, I think they're useful to give you an idea of what may happen and quell some anxiety, but I think 80%+ of my patients do not attend prenatal classes and do just fine.

[icedcoffee]

It ended up being a waste of time for me since baby 1 was breech and baby 2 I never went into labor so I had 2 c-sections. With that saiid, they did go over some baby care stuff that was useful and some hospital policies that was helpful so not a total waste. If you have time then I’d say do it, but if it’s an inconvenience just skip it.

I also took a BFing class beforehand and my advice is the same. I would have been fine without it but if you have the time beforehand it’s not totally useless.

I don’t know...I wasn’t that busy when I was pregnant with my first so we just did them.

[UMaineTeach]

I was signed up, but ended up getting a refund when she was born before the class.

I don’t think it was needed, I’d spent enough time on here. I was hoping that it would be useful for H to hear from someone else about things. I can tell him something for weeks, but bring in a third party and he believes it.

[farfalla2011]

We took a childbirth class, but not a breastfeeding one. I think the birth class was informative, but most was not applicable since my little guy is breech so I have a scheduled c-section in a few days. The biggest takeaway I had from the class was finding out my arms would be strapped down during the procedure. I'm so thankful they mentioned it because its something I need to mentally prepare for more than the morning it's all happening.

Looking back though, I'm not sure it was worth the time/money or whether I'd do it again since I had already been reading up on med free birth since that was the ultimate direction I wanted to go.

We did get a bit of free stuff - formula samples, coupons, etc which was nice.