Birth and Parenting Prep: Part 2

Read Birth and Parenting Prep: Part 1 here.

Like many new FTMs (first-time mom--abbreviation borrowed from the mommy message boards. I highly recommend a visit to the mommy message board universe for both information and entertainment. If you do not find mommy message boards funny, you might not be the right audience for this blog.), I contributed financially to the lucrative parenting prep industry. Most of the books and classes I used to learn about the unknown universes of pregnancy, birth and child rearing had some value. During pregnancy, I knew what not to eat and why. I had a pretty good sense of what to expect with labor and birth especially given the fact that you can't expect anything. As for the actual baby, well, most of that has been learned on the job with advice from the pediatrician, others moms and The Baby Center sprinkled in.

Here goes Part 2 of my birth and parenting prep reviews beginning with the biggest waste of time and money of all my prep. For my very sophisticated rating scale, check out Part 1.

Class: NYU Langone Medial Center Prenatal Breastfeeding Class
While pregnant, I heard from several new breastfeeding moms that they wished they had taken a breastfeeding class while pregnant. NYU's Parent Education Program gives anyone who signs up for a parenting prep class a discount on the breastfeeding class, so it seemed like a no-brainer. At almost 38 weeks pregnant, I rushed out of work to make to make the 6 pm class only to arrive to an overly crowded room with 20 to 30 women and a few men. I was a few minutes late, but I had not missed a thing as the instructor, a lactation consultant and nurse about whom my birth class instructor raved, spent about an hour an a half telling us why to breastfeed. I had not dragged my exhausted self to midtown to pay someone to tell me about the benefits of breastfeeding and terrors of formula. When the instructor finally began to instruct, she prefaced her lesson with the fact that there is very little she can actually show us without an actual nursing baby present (I hear this, but then why offer the course?). She talked about latching and showed us a few photos, which was somewhat helpful, but when a woman asked about pumping, she said that topic would not be covered in this class and that we shouldn't even consider the pump for at least a month. There was no discussion of mastitis, sore nipples (because apparently if your baby latches correctly, your nipples will never be sore), hospital grade pumps, supplementing or what to do when ones' milk comes in. She left us with the number for the NYU breastfeeding support line and then proceeded to take questions long past the class' two and a half hour scheduled time allotment. (I did call the NYU breastfeeding support line, and it took 12 hours for a lactation consultant to return my call. In newborn baby land, 12 hours is an eternity.) I did struggle with breastfeeding, which I am sure increases my resentment towards this class and its instructor (yes, this is a rant), but immediately after the class, more than two weeks before I gave birth, I complained to my husband, colleagues and my OBGYN's office about how worthless the class was. Mostly because it was a waste of time and money during a period when I could use the extra time and money the most. I have a lot of good things to say about NYU (the the hospital and university), but the Violets/Bobcats really let me down this time.
Verdict: Skip it (perhaps other hospitals and organizations offer better classes?)

Class: North Shore-LIJ Friends and Family Infant CPR
My husband and  didn't make it to an infant CPR class until after our daughter was born, but I am glad we found time for this class. (Before she was born, we watched a few online videos about how to administer infant CPR.) The most helpful part of the class was being able to practice giving CPR to an infant-sized dummy. Other than that, the rest of the class was very similar to the online videos we watched with the exception of being able to ask questions of the instructors. The class took place in a too-small room (what is it with these classes and their too-small spaces), where the instructors walked us through CPR and choking by showing an instructional video on a maybe 15 inch laptop screen. I would have preferred the instructors actually teaching the class, but at the very least, North Shore-LIJ could have arranged for a larger screen. Oy! That said, the class allowed be to practice a life-saving skill that I never want to use. And for that, the class was 100% worthwhile.
Verdict: A Must. The dummy makes all of the difference.

Book: The Sleepeasy Solution: The Exhausted Parent's Guide to Getting Your Child to Sleep from Birth to Age by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack
I read this book before it could be of much help, so I don't feel I can review its technique just yet. I finished the book when my daughter was a week or two shy of three months, and the authors advised using its techniques on babies who are at least four months old and 15 pounds. I am a proponent of parents getting as much sleep as possible, which requires babies getting as much sleep as possible. The Sleepeasy Solution advocated for gentle sleep training. There will be some tears but also comforting. The book offered helpful information about how many hours my child should be sleeping, when to begin scheduling naps and ideas for a bedtime routine. The authors are a bit redundant and a little too sweet (suggesting a pint of ice cream to make it through the cries. I hear you, but no need to mention the ice cream more than once. It was cute the first time). We still aren't ready to sleep train, but if we do, perhaps I will write about it. In the meantime, I will keep this book on-hand as a resource.
Verdict: A Must. Maybe just wait until three and a half months or you are ready to sleep train to read it.

We also bought The Happiest Baby on the Block by Havey Karp. I only read a few pages (about the fourth trimester theory--fascinating), but my husband read it and found it helpful. We definitely buy into his five-S's--our daughter is still swaddled, uses a pacifier and we are all about the shhh's and Sleep Sheep.

The best prep for  my labor and birth was our doula, who I will write about in a future post. She was awesome!