I just assisted my first mom who had taken "Preparation for Parenting."  It
was interesting.  They provided her with an 800 number so that she could
call at any time after giving birth to get help from a PP counselor.
Fortunately,  she also had my telephone number,  too,  since she had come
to me for a prenatal consult,  and when she had difficulties,  she called
me first.   There were times when I was talking to her about infant needs
and feeding patterns that she got a "closed" look on her face and would
tell me that this was NOT what she had learned in her PP class.  It really
irks me that they are passing themselves off as breastfeeding experts.

Her first baby did not do well at breast, gained poorly, and was
subsequently weaned to ABM.  She had been following her pediatrician's
advice of "the baby will let you know when he wants to eat."
Unfortunately,  she had a lot of drugs in her labor and a gorked baby who
only let her know he wanted to eat about five times a day.  Hence the slow
weight gain.  She really liked her PP classes because they stressed the
importance (she said) of feeding every three hours for the first month.
This apparently made her feel that frequent nursing was okay and desireable
in the early weeks.  (And her baby is doing quite well,  averaging 8 oz.
gains each week.)  What will happen with this mom and baby down the road is
another question.  She was taught in the PP class that the baby should
sleep for long periods at night after four weeks.  I am hoping that after a
good first month,  she will trust her instincts more than the class!

Loyann Waber