Summary:
Birth preparation class was very informative but a bit expensive. 4 stars.
Prenatal breastfeeding class was not a good use of time or money, and the teacher called me a "Dairy Queen" in front of the class instead of answering my question. 2 stars.
The birth preparation class with Robin Douthit was comprehensive and made us feel more confident going into the labor experience. Robin had a great deal of experience and shared both her own experiences, and experiences as a doula with us to understand the range of experiences that we could have. The class was taught from the Lamaze perspective, using the 6 Lamaze principles, such as that labor should start on its own and to stay out of the hospital as long as possible.
The class didn't take a definitive stance on the question of pain relief. I did get the message that women who don't end up being able to breast feed probably did something wrong, which seems to be an unfair message for a couple of women I know who tried everything and still had to use formula.
A class full of first-time parents-to-be would seem like a natural setting for people to bond, but the participants didn't seem interested in getting to know each other. During the class's 10-15 minute dinner break, people would just talk with their spouses.
The class cost $300, which was almost double the cost of birth preparation classes at the hospital in Park Slope. As good as it was, it is hard to say that it was worth so much. We learned some NYU-specific information on the session dedicated to the "virtual tour", but I think that I could have gotten that information from just going to their "virtual tour" alone.
The lactation class was somewhat informative, but it was not worth $40 and 3 hours of time. The teacher covered breastfeeding very superficially, and spent lots of time showing us the materials in a stapled packet for us to read later, and also told us to buy some books about breastfeeding, 3 of which I already owned after seeing them recommended elsewhere. She spent about 30-45 minutes at the beginning going around the room asking people for their concerns about breast-feeding, and telling us why we shouldn't worry. That seemed like a huge waste of time, and something she could have addressed in the class itself.
She spent lots of time telling us the benefits of breastfeeding, which I would assume that most of the class already knew, because why else would we spend $40 to learn how to do it? She was pretty even-handed about the fact that sometimes women aren't able to breast-feed, and it's not their fault, but she also seemed surprised to hear that even women who breastfeed might end up getting osteoporosis.
She would not answer questions about pumping. She said pumping questions were best addressed 3 weeks before we went back to work. She promised to send us an email with extra information so that we could contact her with questions about issues like pumping, but never sent that email.
She has a real beef with drinking milk. She said that we do not need to alter our diets in most ways (coffee and wine are fine in moderation), but we should consider drinking less milk because our babies may end up being allergic to milk. Cheese is fine, for some reason. She showed us a slide of bloody diapers from milk-allergic babies. I raised my hand and asked whether there was a maximum amount of milk that we should drink. Oddly, she didn't answer my question, but she asked me if I was a "Dairy Queen", and then straight-out called me a "Dairy Queen." That was just inappropriate. She mentioned several times that we're the only species that drinks milk from other animals. We're also the only species that farms and, for that matter, has hospitals and lactation consultants. read more
