What would you teach if you could?

[tlcdoula]

I have an excellent opportunity through my hospital job and I would love everyone's opinion. The hospital I work for is geting a satellite location and my boss sent me an e-mail today asking me what classes I would like to see planned there. The location is very small, but she said she would keep that in mind when planning the classes and she told me I should think out of the box.

So, I am asking all of you - if you could teach a class that relates to pregnancy, parenting, etc what would be your "ideal" out of the box type class.

I know right now we are going to be teaching fitness/exercise classes, happiest baby on the block and grandparents, but what else can you come up with? Please remember this is sponsored by the hospital so homebirthing stuff is out.

[wumanh]

Belly dance for birth
Attachment parenting
Natural childbirth preparation, of course
Listen and love your body
Breastfeeding how-to and mentoring program
Parenting support group
Exploration of alternative therapies for pregnancy and birth and pp- herbs, homeopathy, acupuncture, etc.
That's just for a start! What a great opportunity you have!

[tlcdoula]

Originally Posted by wumanh

Belly dance for birth
Attachment parenting
Natural childbirth preparation, of course
Listen and love your body
Breastfeeding how-to and mentoring program
Parenting support group
Exploration of alternative therapies for pregnancy and birth and pp- herbs, homeopathy, acupuncture, etc.
That's just for a start! What a great opportunity you have!

Thank you so much for the response!!!!! All are GREAT ideas!!! I know I cannot teach natural childbirth prep and breastfeeding because the hospital already offers those, so I have to have stuff they do not have

I love the idea of exploring alternative therapies - what a great opportunity to get others in my community to come in and speak. That would also help to promote their businesses.

[Eli's_mommy]

Birthing from Within

I want to go through their training soon and begin teaching. I think the book is amazing.

[CEG]

I like the idea of the alternative therapies too. As a nurse I think a good way to present it to the hospital would be "how to safely use alternative therapies with western medicine" or something like that. The hospital may hesitate to promote therapies that in fact take patients away from their providers but if you present it as a safety thing to be used WITH mainstream medicine they may be more likely to go for it. Good luck!

[yarngoddess]

Hypnobabies type of hypnobirthing. I feel that if that was more readily avalible then the nurses, dr's, and mom's could use it more.

[tlcdoula]

Originally Posted by yarngoddess

Hypnobabies type of hypnobirthing. I feel that if that was more readily avalible then the nurses, dr's, and mom's could use it more.

Unfortunately I do not think they will allow me to teach hypnosis for birth because we have an ob/gyn who teaches a class like that at the hospital (within our system and she wants something "new" and "different"). I did ask though so we will see if she lets it go through (although I wonder if it will work in this venue since it is a room that is within a store - it might be too noisy).

[tlcdoula]

Originally Posted by CEG

I like the idea of the alternative therapies too. As a nurse I think a good way to present it to the hospital would be "how to safely use alternative therapies with western medicine" or something like that. The hospital may hesitate to promote therapies that in fact take patients away from their providers but if you present it as a safety thing to be used WITH mainstream medicine they may be more likely to go for it. Good luck!

I like this idea, but I think they would have to find someone else to teach something like that because I don't feel knowledgeable enough on this topic

[ldsapmom]

I like the idea of rotating, drop-in childbirth education, more like LLL meetings, with rotating topics, and parents just start when they can and finish when they're done. Less formal, more fun.

Hi, btw . I have lots of ideas about this, so email me or pm me if you want more info.

Stacie

[CEG]

Originally Posted by ldsapmom

I like the idea of rotating, drop-in childbirth education, more like LLL meetings, with rotating topics, and parents just start when they can and finish when they're done. Less formal, more fun.

Hi, btw . I have lots of ideas about this, so email me or pm me if you want more info.

Stacie

Maybe you could do something similar to this and call it "Parent Support Group" or something. You could rotate topics like breastfeeding, starting solids, helping baby sleep, etc and then also have some social time. One of the hospitals I worked at has a breastfeeding teen mothers support group that is extremely well-attended with a similar setup. They actually offer "babyholders" during the meeting so the mommies get a chance to relax as well.

Good luck with this, I love doing patient education. This is a great opportunity.

[Charmie981]

Fertility Awareness
Baby Signs
Infant Massage
How to use your birth ball in pregnancy, labor and postpartum

[KestrelDream]

Cesarean awareness/prevention

VBAC

Preventing & treating PIH (or a prenatal nutrition class that stresses these areas)

[courtenay_e]

Originally Posted by tlcdoula

Unfortunately I do not think they will allow me to teach hypnosis for birth because we have an ob/gyn who teaches a class like that at the hospital (within our system and she wants something "new" and "different"). I did ask though so we will see if she lets it go through (although I wonder if it will work in this venue since it is a room that is within a store - it might be too noisy).

I always TELL my clients who plan to birth in the hospital to PRACTICE in places that will be full of confusion/noisy/bright BECAUSE that's how it is likely to BE when the staff is moving around the way THEY want in the hospital! They almost always thank me after the birth, because they would only have practiced in a dim, quiet room...many triage rooms in the hospitals around here are anything BUT!...and once a client says they're ready to push in MANY of the hospitals around me, the staff converges, flips on lights, starts talking across the room to one another, etc.

[courtenay_e]

Oh, I second the cesarean prevention class...may not be a huge winner with the staff...but the way I teach it is simply including healthy living such as at least the equivalent of a full class (but I usually break the info up into bite sized bits for each class)on basic nutrition for pregnancy(with info on how to quickly and easily cook whole foods; how free range meats, poultry, and eggs are more nutritious; how to find and purchase organics and free range foods in your area for a fair price; possibly even benefitting the local economy by buying from local farmers, but that's just one of my soapboxes, not really a pregnancy issue...what are leafy greens outside of the usual romaine or iceburg lettuces and how they benefit the pregnant mother and her baby; what is a whole grain, and what are options outside whole wheat, what benefits they provide; healthy oils outside of canola, how to use them, etc), exercise(I like them to read "Expecting Fitness" by Birgitta Gallow, as she includes exercises for even bed ridden expectant mothers), choosing a provider ( within the system of course!) who has a low cesarean and intervention rate, how to educate and ways to take responsibility and advocate for themselves and their child within the health system (making physical and eye contact and staying at an equal height during discussions, etc) and, of course, how to surround themselves with supportive help--like a doula, and where to find them--before and after birth. There's more, but that's what I can grab out of my outline off of the top of my head. I think it's an extremely valuable class.

I would also teach baby wearing, specifically as a link to helping mothers breastfeed more successfully.

Cloth diapering.

toddler nutrition: whole foods nutrition made fun, how to make it accessable and make sure they're getting enough in healthy snacks to supplement for the fact that they just don't eat as much as the parents are accustomed to in general

[courtenay_e]

Oh, and post partum survival.

So, how to meal plan, how to set boundries so that people who come to visit either bring a meal or do a load of laundry when they come (no exceptions!), how to prepare ahead of time so that the baby-moon is a peaceful one, little tricks like the bathrobe over the clothes to remind guests that you're "recouperating", and staying in your jammies until you've gotten the "normal" amount of rest that your body needs to feel human, etc.