Should I Attend A Prenatal Breastfeeding Class?

As you pre­pare for the arrival of your new baby, there are prob­a­bly many items on your to-do list. You might be tak­ing time to dec­o­rate their nurs­ery, stock up on dia­pers, or learn about sleep safe­ty.

You may be con­stant­ly aware of how your baby is grow­ing (and kick­ing!), but one thing that you might not have giv­en as much thought to is tak­ing a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class. 

While it might seem like just anoth­er thing to add to your already long list, pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class­es tak­en before the birth of your baby can be incred­i­bly help­ful for when your baby does arrive. Led by board-cer­ti­fied lac­ta­tion con­sul­tants, these class­es offered at Duly Health and Care can help you pre­pare for what to expect, com­mon chal­lenges, and what to do if you find your­self strug­gling with breastfeeding. 

To shine some light on pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class­es, three lac­ta­tion con­sul­tants at Duly answer some of your ques­tions about what to expect:

• Car­ol Cham­blin, DNP, APN, RN, IBCLC — Doc­tor Of Nurs­ing Prac­tice and Lac­ta­tion Consultant
• Miena M. Hall, MD, IBCLC — Breast­feed­ing & Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine Physi­cian and Lac­ta­tion Consultant
• Karen Man­ning, APN, CPNP, IBCLC — Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er and Lac­ta­tion Consultant

Here are the answers to 7 com­mon ques­tions about pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing classes.

1. Who should attend a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class? 

Karen Man­ning, APN, IBCLC: I think any­one that may even be con­sid­er­ing breast­feed­ing should attend a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class. We can answer many com­mon ques­tions new par­ents may have about breast­feed­ing, like: 

• What holds are appro­pri­ate for the begin­ning of breastfeeding?
• How often and for how long should I nurse? 
• How do I know my milk is in? 
• Can I sleep through the night and let some­one else feed the baby? 

2. What about some­one who doesn’t have any inten­tion of breast­feed­ing — should they still attend a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class or are there any oth­er pre­na­tal class­es at Duly they should con­sid­er attending? 

Miena Meek Hall, MD, IBCLC: Even if a par­ent would pre­fer not to breast­feed, giv­en the cur­rent nation­al for­mu­la short­age where we remain months away from a res­o­lu­tion, even par­tial breast­feed­ing or expressed breast­milk feed­ing can reduce their family’s reliance on for­mu­la. There are instances where either infant, par­ent, or both will be unable to breast­feed or expressed breast­milk feed, but in the major­i­ty of cas­es, this will not be known until after the birth of the child.

3. What are some things I will learn in a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class?

• How breast­milk is produced 
• What ​“nor­mal” breast­feed­ing looks like
• How to pre­vent engorge­ment and treat sore nipples
• Latch­ing and posi­tion­ing techniques 
• How to pump and store breastmilk
• Where to go for help
• How to be a sup­port­ive breast­feed­ing spouse/​partner

4. What are your top tips for par­ents who are plan­ning on breastfeeding?

Car­ol Cham­blin DNP, APN, IBCLC: My first piece of advice is to take my pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing vir­tu­al class. In addi­tion, some of my top breast­feed­ing tips are:

If your nip­ples are sore despite assis­tance with latch­ing tech­nique, this is not nor­mal, and sched­ul­ing ongo­ing lac­ta­tion-relat­ed appoint­ments with a Duly lac­ta­tion con­sul­tant is necessary.

If expe­ri­enc­ing any risk fac­tors, or hav­ing latch­ing prob­lems, start to pump using a hos­pi­tal-grade pump with­in 6 hours of delivery.

If start­ing to use a hos­pi­tal-grade breast pump is deemed need­ed, then a per­son­al pump is not appro­pri­ate for ini­ti­at­ing a milk sup­ply at hos­pi­tal dis­charge. You should rent the hos­pi­tal-grade pump for its con­tin­u­ing use until you can be seen by a Duly lac­ta­tion consultant.

5. Why might some­one be hes­i­tant to attend a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class — and what would you say to encour­age them to do so?

Karen Man­ning, APN, IBCLC: Par­ents can be hes­i­tant to attend a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class due to time con­straints — or maybe they pre­fer one-on-one dis­cus­sion. I would encour­age them to go to a class because the infor­ma­tion can help them get off to a good start with breast­feed­ing. Our class­es pro­vide par­ents with a base knowl­edge, so they can be more con­fi­dent when start­ing to nurse. Class­es also pro­vide fam­i­lies with real­is­tic expec­ta­tions for how breast­feed­ing may go — and some­times oth­er peo­ple will ask ques­tions you may not be think­ing of.

6. How do Duly pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class­es help new par­ents reach their breast­feed­ing goals?

Car­ol Cham­blin DNP, APN, IBCLC: Mis­in­for­ma­tion online is very com­mon. The infor­ma­tion shared may be from oth­er moms who have breast­fed. While sup­port, reas­sur­ance, and encour­age­ment are impor­tant, con­flict­ing infor­ma­tion is not. By teach­ing evi­dence-based infor­ma­tion in our pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class­es, par­ents can make informed deci­sions regard­ing the ini­ti­a­tion and main­te­nance of breast­feed­ing effectively.

7. What sup­port is avail­able to some­one if they learn they are not able to breastfeed?

Miena Meek Hall, MD, IBCLC: If some­one learns they are unable to breast­feed, Duly offers sup­port in the form of:

• Inter­na­tion­al Board Cer­ti­fied Lac­ta­tion Con­sul­tants and Breast­feed­ing Med­i­cine Physi­cians who can help par­ents devel­op a wean­ing plan and pre­scribe med­ica­tions to induce lac­ta­tion cessation.
• A Behav­ioral and Men­tal Health Team who can help sup­port par­ents through the process.
• OB/GYN, Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine, and Pedi­atric physi­cians who can help sup­port the par­ent and child before, dur­ing, and after the wean­ing process.

To learn more about breast­feed­ing and get­ting ready for par­ent­hood, reg­is­ter for a pre­na­tal breast­feed­ing class today.