Education

Becoming a parent often happens with little or no preparation, but in almost every other aspect of our life we train, educate, learn HOW to do something before we do it. I like learning, and despite my experience with babies and kids (I have A LOT) I wanted to learn as much as I could about pregnancy, childbirth and taking care of a newborn. Below are some resources we used to prepare for little bear's arrival!

1. Pregnancy/Birth: My favorite books were the Birth Partner and the First Forty Days. We also took a childbirth education class with Penny Simkin (so lucky to live near so many amazing childbirth resources!)
2. CPR: We took an infant CPR class at our local hospital.
3. Sleep: Taking Cara Babies is the woman whose class we took to learn all about how babies sleep and how to lay a strong foundation for good sleep (and we have a good sleeper!)
4. Potty: We decided to do Elimination Communication (where you essentially potty train from birth.) And used the Go Diaper Free class and book to learn how. (if you sign up for the class you get a discount on the book)
5. Breastfeeding: I had a one on one class with a lactation educator and met with a lactation consultant in the hospital. No amount of reading or training could have prepared me for that first week and a half trying to figure out how to breastfeed. It was TOUGH.

sleeping on a very hot day at the farm

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