Breastfeeding Classes: Babies R Us vs. Summerlin Hospital

Last week I finally got educated on breastfeeding. It’s about time too, because Lizzy and her appetite will be arriving shortly. I signed up for two different classes and read all the literature I could get my hands on. After attending the classes I’ve come to two conclusions: women’s bodies are absolutely amazing and “breast is best.”

The first class I attended was at Babies R Us on a Saturday afternoon. It was sponsored by Medela so I was a little apprehensive to go because I thought it might turn into a big long product-pushing advertisement. I was delighted to be wrong. The class was conducted at the back of the store where the gliders are displayed and that’s exactly where me and several other pregnant women made ourselves comfortable.

A petite bubbly lactation consultant from the St. Rose Dominican Hospital was our teacher. She began by introducing herself and then she asked us to do the same. Turns out, everyone in attendance was having a baby girl!!! I think that there must be something in our Vegas water and I’m going to keep drinking it just like my doctor ordered.

Our teacher ran through all the benefits of breastfeeding and listed the local resources available. She suggested stopping by the Barbara Greenspun WomensCare Center if we ran into any problems and that the center provides a walk-in baby weigh-station that could come in handy. We watched a video that depicted the different types of breastfeeding positions and then she went over all the products that would increase our breastfeeding success. Before the class concluded we participated in a “Q and A” which I felt was very helpful. I wanted to know when is a good time to introduce the bottle, if binkies are “blacklisted” and how to tackle breastfeeding in public. She throughly answered all of my questions and also provided me with her business card just in case. I would suggest a Babies R Us class to anyone interested in breastfeeding.

The following Monday I attended another breastfeeding class with my prego buddy Linnea at the Summerlin Hospital. I had extremely high expectations for this one because it was $30 and it was being held at a hospital with a nurse teaching. We were the first to arrive, but the classroom filled quickly. There was easily over 30 people in attendance. The chairs were much less comfortable then the gliders provided at Babies R Us and the video the nurse planned to show was unavailable due to “technical difficulties.” Both of us were disappointed when we left. The class definitely wasn’t worth $30 and it didn’t even last entire scheduled time. More importantly, the information conveyed was no more valuable or thorough than the information from Babies R Us.

However, I’m happy I attended two breast feeding classes because I had a ton of new questions that popped into my head after attending the first one. But I still feel the $30 would have been much better spent on a pre-labor pedicure.

Anyone who is planning on breastfeeding should check out Bebe au Lait. They currently have %20 off promotion on all of their nursing covers and they’re super cute!