TAMBA classes

[Rowan1204]

Hi,
I just wondered if anyone has attended any of the Tamba ante natal classes? Im going to a seminar tomorrow which is only two hours but i see they also do a course for expectant twin parents for £139 per couple. Just after some feedback really too see if its worth the money before i part with it!
I have one child ready so would probably go on the 'second timers' course they run.

Hi there
Congratulations!

We went on one of the full day courses as first timers. To be honest I don't think you'd get that much from it other than meeting a few twin parents-to-be - which for us was great because the course ran really near where we live and I met 3 couples who I still see now (18 months on)

The only stuff I really remember was that they warned you that twins are usually early, and pretty likely that one or both will spend some time in SCBU. That was useful to me in thinking about what I would want DH to do (sit with me or go with babies). They also talked about c sections.

There was little or nothing about tandem feeding, breast feeding in general etc and I felt that a normal NCT course was more useful.

No we didn't, it might be worth while speaking to your local hospital as some do a more in depth hospital tour for expectant twin parents, ours did a tour of Scbu and we chatted to some of the neo natal staff. We had a session with a breast feeding nurse and watched a few videos about tandem feeding.

Tbh I completely forgot all of it by the time I had them

Good luck with everything, how far gone are you ?

Thanks Both, Im 23 weeks with ID twins and being delivered at 34 weeks.

I went to a short tamba seminar this morning locally, which was good in the sense that I met some other twin-mums-to-be, but it didn't really inform me of anything I hadn't already read up about etc!

I will definitely look into the hospital tour thingy though. Thank you!

In terms of information, it was pretty light. I wanted answers to practical questions like how do you pick both up at once, what do you do if they are both crying, what are the best options for the birth. But we only got answers like "don't worry, you'll find a way. You'll find a routine". Our class wasn't in our area so we didn't meet any other parents locally. There was another course which was a talk by Dr Carol Cooper which was an evening seminar and which I found loads more helpful. At the end there were two sets of twin parents who had just survived the first year and they spoke about how it was for them and what their strategies were. I do think it is worth becoming a tamba member, not only for the discounts, but for the info online as well.

I went to a tamba day and it was quite good, although they tried to cram a bit too much in and it didn't cover much about breast feeding - I guess because lots of people do nct which is quite big on bf.
I think it was worth it, but definitely would second pestering your hospital for a peek into delivery theatre and visit to scbu too. Also phone your hospital and request to see their protocol for multiple deliveries, which will give you and idea of what hey would like to do, and is quite empowering to be able to tell the midwives 'I know your protocol is X, I would prefer Y if possible.'
I think the one main bit of advice with multiple deliveries though is to be flexible, mine was a county mile away from what would have been my ideal but because I had no set plan and the staff were great I still view it quite positively.

We did both the expectant parent day and the breast feeding course (4hours I think) and both were excellent. We're also doing NCT (PFB, can you tell) and I think it's totally down to the person delivering the course.

In spite of having done lots and lots of reading and research, we found both very valuable. Particularly DH.

One of the best tips i hot was to go along to the local Twin Club in advance - went last week - gots lots of differnet opinions, advice and ideas re routine, buggy, feeding etc.

HTH. However, I caveat this with the fact I haven't had mine yet so might change my mind post birth!

I deal with the administration regarding the bookings for the Tamba Ante-Natal courses and 82% of course attendees rate the course as a 9 or a 10 out of 10. The quality of the courses is important to us and we are always open to any direct feedback about how the courses can be improved. If you have any thoughts please do e-mail Tamba

I was booked to go on one at 30 weeks, my back gave up though and I just couldn't travel to it, it was over an hour's drive away so my advice w9ould be to get on one early if you can!