Breast Feeding Work shop

[charlyandco]

Hi There

I'm a first time mum to be in November and was wondering what peoples thoughts were on the four hr breast feeding workshop they offer at East Dulwich hospital?

I've heard mixed reviews..?

[Giacomelli]

Depends who is teaching it... I found it more helpful than my nct session on it. Lots of time for questions.

[Mathilda]

The one I went to a couple of years ago was quite militant - breast feeding was promoted as important above all else and something that you should battle on with through any illness or feeding problems. That's not really my view so would have preferred it to be more balanced! They also showed a strange anti pain relief in labour video at the end.

That said the workshop did include loads of useful info & tips so was def worth attending.

[etta166]

When I did it 5 years ago it was great. Loads of advice, practice with dolls, real mums with real babies to watch and talk to. But it sounds like it may have changed.

Could you go along to a breastfeeding cafe like Milk Spots instead? I realise that they are intended for after you've had a baby, but I'm sure you could get pre-emptive advice as well.

[Convex]

I did the workshop 2 years ago and found it helpful, like what etta describes.

It can't hurt, if you have the time!

[monniemae]

I did it in August with Claire Kedves teaching it. I found it really useful although it's a long old session discussing something that doesn't really make sense yet!

I would definitely do it. There was great advice on where to find support etc. Without having done it I think I would have struggled a bit.

[Pickle]

Interesting to hear different views on this. I did it nearly 7 years ago now, and found it offered quite an unrealistic view of what breast feeding was all about, despite it being run by Clare who went on to provide me with support after my son was born.

I remember a very sepia toned, soft focus European film, lots of positioning with dolls etc. All good in theory, and probably quite useful if you end up with an easy to feed baby, but in my case (tongue tied baby) I found the reality very different, and didn't feel the workshop prepared me for things going wrong... if that makes sense?

[vez]

I did it 3.5 years ago. I seem to remember that it was a very long session with the main takeaway (for me) to convince people of the benefits of breastfeeding - they were preaching to the converted in me! The thing is when you are still pregnant the practicalities are difficult to teach as it is all really theoretical and hard to relate to without your own baby in arms.

I would still recommend to go though, you probably do pick up the odd thing.

My main recommendation is to have numbers of really good breast feeding councillors handy for after birth just in case you have difficulties breast feeding. Unfortunately I did not get much practical help by the Kings midwives and after a difficult week of trying to feed I called an excellent NCT councillor who helped us so much by finding the correct positioning with my son that we carried on breastfeeding until he was nearly 17 months!

[monniemae]

Oh in our session Clare went on and on about tongue tie. In fact I'm embarrassed I didn't heed her advice and it's taken two weeks to discover my baby has it. She also talked us through mastitis etc. And I didnt feel the benefits were overblown (as they often are), and in fact she was q pragmatic about stuff and for eg said not to worry too much about drugs in labour and that she'd had everything going...

Maybe they improved it based on earlier feedback. We all had to fill out feedback forms.

The nhs antenatal classes at the same location, however, were shocking - totally partisan, factually incorrect, etc... wish I'd complained.

[charlyandco]

Thank you all so much ladies! You've been a great help