If I'm due in September, can I wait 'til August to take birthing and baby care classes?
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Anonymous
| Didn't take any classes and my husband had also never been around babies. He read the birth partner, we watched some videos on YouTube about both childbirth and newborn care, and mostly he just learned along the way from me, from the nurses, from our parents, etc. |
Anonymous
This. No classes with either and all is well. Saved some much needed money too. |
Anonymous
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OP here - I'm totally down with watching YouTube videos. But the other reason we wanted to do the classes is that we don't know anyone with a baby and we thought it would help us make some new friends.
Where else could we meet people with babies? |
Anonymous
Doubt you'll really make friends in a childbirth or newborn care class but look into joining a new parent group after baby is born. Most hospitals have one. Then there are other parent groups like moms club, pace, lots of others. I met practically all my parent friends this way since not many people I know had babies when I did. |
Anonymous
| We did the "express" class at VHC after 36 weeks. I was happy to have the information fresh in my mind. I will say, it was not helpful in terms of delivery BUT I learned a lot about induction. I hadn't learned much about it on my own because I thought, "that won't be me" and then I was induced at 39 weeks for low fluid. I was very glad I had some knowledge of the process and my options so that I could be somewhat in control of my medicine and the delivery. |
Anonymous
I think the best thing you can do is give him time/space to parent his child. I think that with a parent who is hesitant and scared the instinct is for the more confident parent is to swoop in and fix a problem but that creates a dynamic of learned helplessness. If you have to leave the room or even leave the house for a little while just do it so he can feel comfortable being a caregiver. If he's really struggling and wants help you can say " I find it helps if I do ...x" |
Anonymous
| We took breastfeeding, baby care and CPR classes in the 3rd trimester. I thought they were useful. I generally don't agree folks who say they're a waste - unless they have a lot of experience taking care of kids. You just don't know what you don't know - so I'm not sure why people are so confident they know everything about newborns. |
Anonymous
| We waited until the end and finished all our classes around 36 weeks. It was great to have everything so fresh in our minds! However, I got really uncomfortable sitting for long stretches so the last week or so of class was hard in that sense. |
Anonymous
You figure it out quickly when the baby is here. 
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Anonymous
| I was due the first week of May. We took the class in Feb because we were planning a vacation in late March or early April. We loved the. lass. It would have been very helpful, except LO came in February via C-Section. Nothing applied to us, except the tricks for identifying real labor vs. false labor. That class was the reason I turned the car around on the way to work the day she was born. |
Anonymous
| my infant care class was useless. My partner had never changed a diaper, but the nurse at the hospital showed him as soon as DS was born. I took CPR and a birthing class at 32 weeks. |
Anonymous
| Where is a good place to take infant CPR? I haven't seen it advertised on the list of Sibley classes (that's where we'll deliver). |
Anonymous
| Take it early. I went in to labor unexpectedly at 32 weeks, and we had just taken the class. Turned out to be kind of useless, since I had a C-section and a lot of the class was focused on birthing! But, the CPR was very helpful. |
MDLady
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We found the classes helpful. We were both first time parents and didn't have much exposure to infants in our lives so it was good to get the basics. We took the class a couple of months before my due date. Everyone in the class had big bellies at that point
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MDLady
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We took the Infant CPR class at the Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. But that was a couple of years ago so check their website for information. We delivered in Sibley also. |