Beginning with Baby Class

We just took our one and only baby class last night. I have to say that we were quite disappointed. It surprises me that they offer 10 hours worth of childbirth class to teach about labor and delivery (a completely natural process that would happen with or without medical assistance), and the baby class is only two and a half hours of information. Taking care of a newborn is probably at least a little terrifying. There's a ton of stuff to know... from how to change a diaper to comforting a crying baby. I'm not sure that all the necessary information can be covered adequately in such a short time. Our instructor covered a lot of information, but it seemed as though she just barely skimmed the surface. She didn't really provide in depth coverage or answers to questions as I expected she would. I think if anything, many people may have left with more questions than what they came with.

Our instructor seemed a little scatter-brained, and the pediatrician that was supposed to be there, called in sick. The class was a little unorganized, with the instructor jumping quickly from topic to topic, without any transitions between them. She did show some really interesting film segments, and I wish we could have seen more of them. The films were the most interesting part of the class! I guess I thought that the class would be more hands-on, less lecture. Will was really looking forward to learning about baby care in this class, and he was really disappointed with the content.

One thing that really stuck out to us was the lack of emphasis she placed on topics such as smoking, SIDS, and shaken baby syndrome. She made it known that those topics were important to the physician, but then barely spent any time talking about them. I was thinking that he would not have approved of her presentation of the issues.

Overall, we weren't impressed. I don't know if it was the instructor, the time frame, or the fact that Will and I came to the class with medical knowledge that made the class so disappointing. That class didn't compare to the quality of the childbirth class we attended earlier this week. I hope our future breast feeding class is more like the childbirth class and less like the baby class, or that will be a waste of time, too. I guess that when Maya comes, we'll just wing it! Wish us luck!