The birth of a parent
Advice - take it or leave it?
With the birth of a new baby, comes the birth of a new parent (or the extension of an existing parenting role), and yet another steep learning curve in life - 'early parenting'. For some parents, their role will be much as they envisaged, possibly ranging from enjoyable and wonderful, to challenging, and even difficult. For others the parenting experience (and their baby's behaviour) will be totally unexpected, even if this is not your first child!
It may be that you end up being surprised at how easy parenting is, or disappointed because it is so hard. Parents having their second or subsequent baby may find their new baby behaves differently (when compared to an older sibling), and they need to significantly change their coping strategies and parenting approach.
Many parents find it helpful to approach their early parenting in the same way as they approached labour. Treating it as an unknown process, with many different phases, stages and possible variations, often needing to readjust to any unexpected outcomes. It can usually help if you can 'go with the flow' so to speak, approaching parenting as a dynamic experience that can often bring with it a variety of challenges, a vast array of decisions and a full range of emotions!
Parenting can encompass a mixture of feelings, ranging from excitement and immense joy, to feeling anxious, exhausted and frustrated. Being parents ourselves, we know (and appreciate), how overwhelming, exciting, joyous, scary, guilt-ridden and confusing the first few weeks with a new baby can be.
As parenting is usually learnt 'on the job', this class will aim to assist you with the 'day to day' care of your newborn baby, as well as some common feeding and sleeping patterns they can demonstrate.