A Guide to Childbirth Class for the New Dad

Childbirth class? You mean to tell me I have to go to a class too? Isn’t this website enough, I’m making an effort to learn about this whole baby thing. Why do I have to give up more of my time listening to more information on babies?



Those are all very good questions and you have a valid point. While this website does an excellent job (no bias here, I promise) preparing you for fatherhood, it isn’t a bad idea to go to a few childbirth classes.

A few? I thought we were talking about one. Well…ok so maybe you have to go to more than one. Let me explain.

I need to start with a caveat. I don’t know what childbirth classes are offered all over the country. I do know what classes were offered where I live and am going to assume that they are relatively similar nationwide.

There are 21 different childbirth classes offered at the local hospital where my wife delivered. I don’t mean 21 different times for the same class, I mean 21 different classes. I’m going to tell you about 3 that I think you should consider.

So here we go.

Childbirth Class

This class is the most involved of the three. It will probably require a multi-day/night commitment from you. Our childbirth class was four 3 hour Saturday mornings. It wasn’t necessarily the most energizing class, but I did learn some things.

This class is going to be primarily couples and will walk you through the delivery and labor process. The good thing about this is that you will learn about how things work at that particular hospital.

For the most part childbirth is childbirth. I mean there are only 2 good options for delivery – vaginal and Cesarean. But each hospital is going to be different on what their procedures are, especially when a delivery is less than ideal – i.e. baby comes before the doctor can get there.

So this is good information. They will also talk about breathing techniques. I’m sure you’ve seen this on TV, it isn’t much different in real life, maybe just a bit less over the top.

You’ll also learn about pain relief options, from all natural to an epidural. You’ll get to practice the breathing stuff and probably some relaxation techniques.

All of this will culminate with you getting to watch some videos. Remember those videos you enjoyed watching in health class of women giving birth. Yep – they are the same ones. Enjoy!

There is one other thing that was part of my childbirth class but may not be a part of all and that is infant CPR. If it is a separate class for you - take it. You now have 4 classes to take.

This is one of those things that you never want to use, but when it happens you want your response to be instinctual and you want to do the right thing to help your baby.

Speaking from experience on this I’ll share a story with you. When my daughter was about a month old, we were giving her a bath. My wife had just washed her hair and was rinsing it out when she suddenly moved her head and got a mouth full of water.

As she began to choke on it, my wife picked her up and we did what we were taught to get her to spit it out. She never turned blue or anything, but it was reassuring to me that we were able to react properly in a scary situation.

Bottom line. Take the class – it’s good for you.

Breastfeeding Class

I certainly don’t have breasts – at least not ones that can produce milk, why do I need to go to the class? The simple answer – because you love your wife.

Yes – you do love her that much.

So why do you really need to go. One is for support. This may be a scary thing to her – I mean this has been your playground up until now, and now she is going to have a child latched onto them. Eventually that child will have teeth. See where I’m going with this.

The other thing is that there is a lot of good information given about the eating habits of babies. Do you know why babies eat every 2 hours? (Yes – every two hours) It’s because their stomachs are so small they can only hold so much before they are full.

Additionally while breastfeeding is a very natural thing, it doesn’t always come real easy at first. I know there were times when my wife struggled getting our baby to eat.

This was a very emotional ordeal for her. She thought of herself as this child’s only form of sustenance and she was upset with herself when she thought she wasn’t able to feed her. Fortunately we worked through it and she breastfed for 11 months.

Now you will probably use formula at some point or you may not breastfeed much at all and use formula exclusively. That’s a choice you and your wife have to make, but an important one none-the-less.

You will learn various techniques on how to get a child to latch on and eat. You’ll learn the different way to hold a baby while feeding it. My personal favorite was the football hold – so you’ll at least get to think about sports.

You’ll also learn about breast pumps. If your wife is going to work after giving birth and wants the baby to have her milk she’ll need one of these.

So in the end, do the right thing and accompany her to the class. Perhaps you can even negotiate a deal. You’ll go to the class with her, but you’re going to go to the local sports bar for dinner and have chicken wings and beer beforehand.

Truly a win-win!

Boot Camp for New Dads

Ironically enough, as I type this I am wearing the t-shirt I received from attending Boot Camp for New Dads. Anyways – I digress.

So what is this all about? I’m glad you asked.

This class is for men only. It is taught by men – a teacher as well as veteran dads. They go over the topics that are important to you – a lot like this site.

This is a class that is offered all over the nation. It isn’t just a local thing, but is available in most major hospitals.

You will get hands on experience. There will likely be 1 or 2 veteran dads who will bring their babies (3-4 months old) to the class with them. These are dads who were in your place 6 months ago. They went to the class and agreed to come back and share with you what they learned.

You’ll get the chance to hold a baby – if you’ve never done it before and to ask personal questions about what it’s really like.

It was the best class I attended. You’ll get to hear about concerns other expectant dads have – some perhaps that you had not yet thought about.

You’ll get to learn about how to handle some of the challenges you’ll encounter in the early stages of fatherhood.

The things you’ll learn don’t come from professionals – psychologists or doctors, but from real dads who have real time experience. This is good stuff.

I will also encourage you to consider "giving back" and returning as a veteran dad to share your experiences with others. I was able to do this with my daughter and was glad to be able to share what I knew - I guess it was the foundation for starting this site.

If you want more information check it out here. I feel certain that you won’t regret it!

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