Dear Lactnet Friends: I don't know of any follow-up research that identifies which strategies are most effective in breastfeeding classes. There's a master's thesis that needs doing! I like simple. In one hour, 3 or 4 messages for her to take home. Remember that 97% of her brain cells are thinking "How will I know I am labor?" You have access to 3 or 4 of her brain cells for learning anything else. Show a s2s baby self-attachment video. That gets lots of discussion going on; turn the lights down low and leave them low after the video is over, so folks feel safer to talk about things. Make sure every mother has a list of phone numbers and websites to contact after she comes home with her baby. Suggest she go to a nursing mothers group and see lots of mothers nursing babies of all ages; she will learn more from that watching than from the class. Peter Hartmann calls this "learning by osmosis". For getting a class engaged, ask the group, "What have you heard about breastfeeding that you didn't like?" Then write down all their responses verbatim on the board. You will have created a class agenda. Talking about the benefits of breastfeeding is useless, because everybody already knows 'breast is best', and it is a slogan on the cans of our competitors' products. Ask who she knows in her family or network that breastfed and liked it. Encourage keeping this person close as a resource. See if the mothers need doulas, as having a spontaneous, undisturbed, unmedicated labor and delivery is the best start to breastfeeding. These are ideas based on experience; while I have certainly had fun and felt that I did a good job after a breastfeeding class, I really don't know if anything I said was useful. warmly, Nikki Lee RN, BSN, Mother of 2, MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI, ANLC, CKC Author:* Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Breastfeeding Therapy* www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com https://www.facebook.com/nikkileehealth *Get my FREE webinar series * *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome