Surviving antenatal classes!
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6 out of every 10 expectant dads/partners now attend antenatal / perinatal education courses.
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Your both in this instruction-less boat together! The more you know the better the journey will be. The more you know the better the journey will be. Attending together will give your relationship a whole new dynamic that'll last long after the birth has happened for years to come.
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Long gone are the days when fathers or birth partners were introduced to their baby after the 'event' and long gone are the days when pregnant women went into a mysterious giggly secret cliche with each other for nine months, kept it all to themselves and came home from the hospital with something that looked suspiciously like a baby!
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Things have changed- hooray! We all want to be involved with our kids. You'll probably want to find out what's going on and be supportive from the start and most women are going to want you to be involved all the way through. Yet let's be honest for many new dads and partners, signing up to weeks of ante/perinatal courses can feel very awkward and you might think rather pointless. After all what on earth can you really do to really help and how are you going to cope with listening to pregnancy and birth chatter, and more to the point how is it really going to turn you into anything remotely useful when mother nature is in charge anyway?
Playing sport at professional level is a matter of instinct right? Training is completely pointless right? And it's never worth reading the appliance manual before trying to install it, right? Unlikely!
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So what really goes on?
It's not about awkward practical swinging hips sessions, sitting on the floor humming, or bizarre group comparisons of what name to give your baby, and no-one is going to give you odd looks. Actually, you'll meet lots of blokes and partners in the same instruction-less boat who might become good friends, who you'll share children of the same age with which means you'll have their life events and behaviours in common!
In short, these courses are packed full of solid practical stuff that mean you actually can make a difference right from the moment your partner's bump becomes your baby.
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You'll also meet lots of partners who are in the same instruction-less boat together: Many will become good friends which means that you will gain a ready made support network to navigate early parenting times together, and your children will share life events and behaviours that you have in common!
From the point of view of a birth-partner, our courses will give you a valuable understanding of:
Health
The impact of carrying a baby and birth puts huge strain on your partner's body and the better
shape she's in the easier it will be for her. Your stamina will be tested too.
What's happening during birth itself -
If you are going to be there, it's best if you can be a force of reassurance and calm, be useful and
avoid feeling like a spare part. If you understand what is actually happening it will be better for
both of you.
Pain Relief -
You'll learn the range of different types and what is good for when, when not to, what the effects
are and so on. When she's in the throws of (literally) she's not going to be thinking particularly
rationally so it is really useful to know what the options are and that you agree together what she wants and doesn't want.
Birth and how you can help
There is lots of evidence that women get through birth more easily if her birth partner is there. You'll learn about what you can do , how you can help her and how to work with the hospital staff to both of your advantage.
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Baby Feeding
Those first weeks are going to test both of you, physically and emotionally. They are even tougher for your baby. Knowing how feeding works and what your options are means you'll be in a much better position to help with difficulties that might arise.
Baby's home
Early days and weeks can be really exciting and scary at the same time. Your baby will feel no different too. But if your partner has to cope on her own it's going to be much harder for her and baby than it needs to be. There is lots of evidence that women coping on their own have higher risk of postnatal depression and babys in stressful environments suffer too.
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Still not convinced?
There's no shame in being true to yourself, but if your partner wants to join the course maybe help them pick someone to share the journey with and try to sit down together after each week to talk through the key points. That way you'll get a good view of the 'basic manual', you'll be involved and you'll be prepared.
We have a links page that takes you to various resources that can help you with understanding pregnancy, birth and parenting past those initial weeks (weaning days, toddler days, baby massage, baby and paediatric first aid), whether you choose to join our classes or not.
Our classes
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Preparing you for supporting the birth journey ahead through informed choice and balanced,
realistic and pragmatic education. This course aims to provide fathers and birth partners with
skills and confidence that truly support and add value to the birth experience and early parenting™.
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Our classes and workshops are ideal for birth partners and fathers who find the thought of
attending a antenatal or perinatal education course unattractive but still want to support
their partner. NEO’s founder Jude has first-hand experience of this and so promises this will
be useFUL and painLESS!
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Our Bump To Baby And Beyond, Bump To Baby and Babe In Arms courses are all available as
one off Fathers 2B courses but please bare in mind the full content value of these courses
has been significantly abridged to squeeze them into one day one off workshops. We are
unable to involve expert led sessions on infant feeding, baby massage, pregnancy yoga and
mindfulness, and beauty treatments in one day workshops simply because time doesn’t allow.
If these are important to you, you might prefer our Bump To Baby And Beyond, Bump To
Baby, or Babe In Arms full courses where these sessions are included as standard.
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