Kathleen,

My classes are necessarily short, because they are given in the context
of our clients' WIC appointments.  But I could go on forever ;-) so for
what it's worth - to you or anyone else on Lactnet - I have some
thoughts and questions to consider more than an outline:

1) Who are you teaching? Put another way: who is your audience? You may
not know, obviously, until you see who shows up but this always
determines a lot, for me. Pregnant moms, new moms or both? WIC moms,
your basic yuppie....who? By this I do NOT mean that you should classify
or categorize them. I just mean: get to know them - their breastfeeding
issues. At WIC in Miami our clinics are spread out all over the county,
and from one end to the other my classes can change, because my audience
has changed.  We have a diverse population and what some moms need to
hear in a class is not the same as others. For example, some pregnant
moms need to hear the benefits of breastfeeding & risks of AIM explained
to them. To others, this is a well-known fact that puts them to sleep
and what holds them back from breastfeeding is the local storytelling
about it - it hurts, it's impossible, it's a pain in the a**, the kid'll
never let you put him down...etc. So the point of question #1 is to help
you answer:

2)What do they need to hear?  Usually I take the first few classes at a
new unit as a lesson for me, a time for me to listen, and to learn about
who it is that I'm teaching. A new class evolves until I comprehend what
my client's issues are, then from that point forward I just focus my
limited teaching time (which is not a problem for you with a nice long
class, I realize that) on those subjects, on what *they* need to hear
about breastfeeding.  As I sit here brainstorming the thought occurs to
me for you to ask them - either by having them each write down their one
or two biggest questions about breastfeeding, or having them go around
the room and out loud state what their biggest concern is, or why
they're here/what they want from the class, etc.

3) Point #3 is a suggestion: be as real as possible, and be sure to
point out the large white elephant in the room.  What large white
elephant? Well, that's up to you to figure out - at the unit where I am
teaching today I have come to learn that the large white elephant
stomping all over breastfeeding is: ***the reason he woke up after you
nursed him is BECAUSE YOU PUT HIM DOWN.  That's it. Not because you
don't have enough milk. Not because your milk isn't good enough. For no
other reason than simply this: you put him down. Once he realized he was
no longer in physical contact with you, he woke up.***

The vigorous bobbing of heads and exclamations of, "YES! I thought
that's what it was! He wants to be in my arms all day!" is invariably
the highlight of the class for these moms. It feels good just to have
their own reading of their baby affirmed.  And I have come to believe
that:

4) We can't fix any problem that has not been correctly identified.
Example: if the reason she thinks she doesn't have enough milk is
because every time she lays him down, he wakes up, then telling her to
count diapers will not penetrate. It's not her issue, and the perceived
milk insufficiency is just a symptom of "He needs me more than I
anticipated and I don't know how to make that work while breastfeeding."

So putting that all together if I were you and had all of that lovely
time to teach the first thing I might do is as I suggested above - ask
them to tell YOU what they want to be taught about breastfeeding. Heck,
(here's an idea that just popped into my head) create the outline with
them at the start of the class. Come prepared, of course, to cover the
entire gamut of topics. But elicit from them what they want to learn
today, lay out some possible topics you could/can cover, and have them
vote or whatever. They will have a vested interest in the class.

One last observation: in my neck of the woods the best combination is
for me to be **an expert** **who has done this before**.  Not just an
expert. And not just a former breastfeeding mom.  BOTH simultaneously.
That I know what I'm talking about needs to be patently obvious, but so
does the fact that I've lived this before. That gives me some sort of
unspoken right to tell them that yes, they can do this too.

Hope that helps....good luck!
 

Regina M. Roig-Romero, BS IBCLC 
Senior Lactation Consultant 
Miami-Dade County Health Dept WIC/Nutrition 
Breastfeeding Program 
7785 NW 48 ST, Suite 300 
Miami FL 33166 

(786) 336-1333 x162 
(786) 336-1345 fax 
(786) 336-1336 Breastfeeding Helpline 

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