Are Childbirthing Classes Worth It?

[leyna]

I'm under the gun to get into a child birthing class before my due date. Is there anything I'm going to dreadingly miss by not attending one of these? How helpful are they really?

Leyna

[KristaRae]

I'm under the gun to get into a child birthing class before my due date. Is there anything I'm going to dreadingly miss by not attending one of these? How helpful are they really?

Leyna

Eh. They CAN be helpful and useful, but they can also totally blow. :rolleyes:

We just did the free one offered at the hospital -- mostly because that's pretty much all that is offered around here. It was 4 sessions, one night a week. Some of it was local hospital policy, some was breastfeeding, some was relaxation/breathing techniques...It wasn't horrible but it also wasn't the greatest thing on earth.

I WILL say that I probably have learned more from PregTASTIC than I did at my childbirth class, except when it comes to policy at our particular hospital.

Are you considering a specialized class like Bradley method or just one for breastfeeding or a general class offered at your hospital/birthing center?

Good luck with your decision! I think you won't be worlds ahead if you do take a class and you won't be way behind if you don't! :)

[Pghmomof2]

I think it depends on the type of classes. The ones we took through the hospital were pretty lame - if you have any prior experience with babies. I guess if you've never really dealt with babies or had any long term experience, they can be pretty helpful. I did pick up a few tidbits.

The Lamaze class my DH and I had with our first DD I thought was helpful, until in hindsight was pretty bad. I got a lot of bad laboring advise and the baby classes were pretty redundant for me.

However, the refresher class we took with DD#2 with a different instructor and different hospital was AWESOME. I realized all of the things I did wrong the first time.

So maybe ask other support groups near you. At the least it would be a good idea to start going to your local LLL meeting. You can get alot of good advice there. I also recommend a prenatal yoga class. Breathing tips are terrific in labor. Ask other moms and instructors for recommendations for the other.

Doreen