Share your antenatal class experiences with me?

[Middiemummy]

Hi ❤️

I'm a registered, practising midwife. I am deeply saddened by the amount of women I care for who don't have access to adequate antenatal education/birth and new baby preparation. Often cost is the issue however I also know that the few classes available in my area are very oversubscribed and "generic". With all of this in mind, I am planning on developing my own private business of delivering these classes at a much more affordable price and providing a more personalised service to smaller groups. I am passionate about empowering women to feel informed and make holistic decisions that are pertinent to them. I plan to include a ten minute relaxation (I am a trained hypnobirthing teacher so planning on adapting this) at the end of each session. So... my plan is to have a "gathering" all couples and me around a table with a loose structure and having a fluid interaction around set topics. One week will be Labour / birth and one week will be postnatal / new baby and each session approx 2.5 hours. Tell me your thoughts?? What information is essential? What weren't you aware of? What was missing? The goods and the bads??? There will, of course, be lots of cake and biscuits along the way.... midwifery is NOT good for the waistline 😂....Hope everyone enjoying their pregnancy or new baby xxx feel free to inbox me if you don't wish to post... every experience is invaluable ❤️

I was a bit sceptical about the value of antenatal classes (had read pretty much every book and blog by that time), but signed up to an NCT class. The main reason was the social aspect (don't have any friends with young babies), but thought there might be some useful info as well.

I did consider private classes as an alternative to NCT, but they were either inconveniently located or at times that didn't fit wit a full-time job.

I did really enjoy the class, and my DH got quite a bit out of it as well. The most valuable bits were probably as following:

• talking through the whole labour. I'd read a lot about individual stages, methods of pain relief etc, but considering it in its entirety made it much easier to visualise what would happen. It also helped me see birth as a potentially positive experience - before the class I'd seen it more as something I had to endure.
• talking through potential interventions and complications. I laboured in water, but ended up needing an epidural. Knowing what I was signing up to made me much more calm and confident. (The teacher actually strapped us into training equipment to demonstrate how many tubes and wires were involved)
• talking through all options for labour and delivery in a non- judgemental way. I had already planned on a water labour/birth, but it was good to see what else was out there. The media tends to only show women labouring on their backs in bed.
• learning infant cpr and choking techniques. This was only possible because one of the participants was a trained first responder (not usually part of the course). I found it massively reassuring

What I wished had been different:

• the breastfeeding session never touched on any of the difficult bits, such as baby not latching on while in hospital, frequent feeding etc. While it's good to learn the proper technique, the most difficult bit for anyone I've spoken to was the incredible self-doubt that sets in when things don't go to plan.
• I wished they'd avoided advice that is not backed by any evidence, or at least pointing out that there wasn't any evidence that it works. For example taking certain herbal supplements or spicy food to induce labor.

Definitely bring cake though - that was the best bit . Good luck OP

Sorry about the lack of paragraphs - the app ate them

Thank you so much for sharing doublehelix79..... some interesting points here and definitely agree with the BF hurdles.... SO important to have a meaningful understanding of what can be normal but challenging in them initial hours and days.... did my dissertation on a similar topic to consider BF sustainability. Agree also about giving information that is evidence based.... such important issues that I will definitely account for in my classes xx

I loved my NCT classes - the whole part of it including all bits on labour (knowing I'd need an elective caesarean).

Things to include:

• pain relief inc pros and cons
• delivery inc assisted deliveries / caesarean
• breastfeeding inc benefits to mum and baby
• expressing
• bottle feeding - types of formula (inc pros / cons alongside breastfeeding)
• nappy changes and top / tailing
• how to bath a baby
• typical day in life of new mum
• sleep in newborns
• winding / colic
• what you need to buy and what are a waste of money
• sids guidance

Obviously some of these only need a five minute discussion while others may need a few hours.

Thank you.... definitely need to give unbiased information regarding feeding options and pain relief. Think I will be including a practical session about caring for your newborn and keeping it very realistic. Thank you so much for your input 🙂 X