Preggie Pals
Saving Money During Pregnancy

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[00:00:00]

[Music]

Vicki Wolfrum : Planning and saving for a new baby can be a challenge, especially when you don’t know exactly what you will need. With each new day that passes your wallet is shrinking. Hi, I am Vicki Wolfrum, a midwife who also offers pregnancy concierge and baby planning services and today we will reveal practical ways to help you save money during pregnancy. This is Preggie Pals, Episode 9.

[Theme Music/Intro]

Sunny Gault : Welcome to Preggie Pals, broadcasting from the birth education center of San Diego. I am your host Sunny Gault. We would love you to become a part of our show. Simply visit our website at https://www.preggiepals.com for more information. You can send us comments or suggestions through the contact link on our website and you can even call the Preggie Pals hotline at 619-866-4775. Preegie Pals is also looking for pregnant women to join our blogging team. Send us an email through our website if you are interested. Alright, let’s start with our introductions and Kelli, why don’t you kick things off.

Kelli Auld : Hi, I am Kelli, I am a kindergarten teacher. I am due June 23rd with our first. It’s gonna be a surprise whether it’s a boy or a girl and we are having a natural home birth.

Cherri Christiansen : I always feel like I can say ditto. [Laughs]

Kelli Auld : It’s crazy.

Cherri Christiansen : I am Cherri. I am working in Market Research and I am also due on the 23rd of June. We are expecting our first child. We don’t know whether it’s a boy or a girl and we are planning to have our baby at home.

Sunny Gault : Alright, welcome to the show ladies!

[Music]

[Featured Segment: From Our Listeners]

Sunny Gault : Here is the message from one of our listeners.

Ashley : Hi, Preggie Pals, I am Ashley from San Diego, California. I was laughing so hard when I heard your recent episode on “Baby Shower.” My husband and I want to have a co-ed Baby Shower and I love to co-ed partying where the guys have to chug at baby bottles. I was wondering if you would suggest other games for co-ed baby showers and if you know any additional resources where I can get some great ideas. Thank you so much.

Sunny Gault : Thank you so much for your message Ashley. Okay, so I did a little bit of research on this whole co-ed shower game thing. What I have learned and my husband verified is that guys usually like the types of games that are more physical. So, I did a little bit of research online and I found three games that at least has been approved by my husband, I am sure every guy is different. But here are some ideas to consider, Okay so the first game is called “Diaper tag team” and what you need for this is a cloth diaper, some safety pins, a doll or perhaps a teddy bear and of course quick fingers. And this is what you are gonna do. You can have your guest get into teams of two and each team is timed with a stop watch as they basically trying to put this diaper onto this doll. And each team member can only use one hand and then they expect the mother judges who is the winner based on the quality of the diaper job and how fast it was done. Not only this is kind of fun for the guys but “Hey, let’s face it. We are kind of training them to learn how to put on diapers so there is something in it for us, right?

Okay the next game is called “Baby’s Stroller NASCAR Race” and just the title of it kind of screams guys, doesn’t it? So, basically all you are gonna do before the shower, you are gonna stroller, you got to put the doll in the stroller, perhaps the doll from the diaper tag team, put the doll on the stroller and then you are gonna have a race. This doesn’t need to take place outside in your yard. Each guests is gonna have a turn of racing the stroller through the race course as fast as they can and you need to time each guest and then write down their time. And you are gonna add a second if they had a cone, and five seconds to their time if the baby falls out of the stroller, hopefully not. Of course, the fastest time wins and you can crown them king and queen of the NASCAR race. So, that’s kind of a fun one too and the last one could be fun for all. It’s called “How preggo can you go?” Before the baby shower you are gonna buy about two hundred medium sized balloons and then you are gonna borrow or buy 4 to 5 XXL shirts as well as XXL pants and you need to create enough clothing for about 2 to 3 teams and this is how it works. During the shower you are gonna divide your guests in 2, 4, 5 people on each team and you are gonna have each team choose who is going to be pregnant and you are gonna give each team one large pair of shirt and one large pair of pants and about 50 balloons. When you say go, the pregnant team member of each team have to put on the shirt and pants as quickly as they can while their team mates start to blow up the balloons. And when the pregnant one is dressed the team mates will begin stuffing the inflated balloons as fast as they can into the shirt and pants of the pregnant one. And after three minutes everyone will stop stuffing the balloons and the winning team is the one who has the most pregnant team member. I like this one because may be just for a few seconds the guys kind to get an idea what it’s like to be pregnant and kind of like inflated so to speak. So, these are kind of some cool ideas. If you try them out be sure to let us know how it goes and thank you so much for the question.

[00:05:21]

[Music]

Sunny Gault : Let’s face it, babies are expensive. There are many items that you will need especially if you are first time parent and while you may have to expand your overall budget you don’t have to break it. Here to help us save money through our pregnancy is Vicki Wolfrum, her company Best Baby Ever offers pregnancy concierge and baby planning services right here in San Diego. Vicki, welcome to the show.

Vicki Wolfrum : Thank you.

Sunny Gault : Nice to see you again.

Vicki Wolfrum : I am so happy to be here.

Sunny Gault : So, in your opinion do most parents typically spend more money than they need to spend during pregnancy?

Vicki Wolfrum : I believe most parents do spend more money than they need to and they often times spend it on the things that they don’t really need.

Sunny Gault : Yeah, why do we do that?

Vicki Wolfrum : Because we love to buy baby’s stuff.

Sunny Gault : That is so much fun.

Vicki Wolfrum : Yeah, it is so much fun.

Sunny Gault : Well, one of the things you do is you go out there and you look for different products and you sometimes help people purchase these products, right?

Vicki Wolfrum : That is one of the things that a baby planner does and just to start off I would like to say that I think planning ahead is a really important part especially when it comes to saving a little bit of extra money so that you can spend on the fun things. And just for example, if you are planning to get pregnant and you are not pregnant yet you know, most people will go in to their doctor and get a checkup and make sure that everything is good for them to start on their journey to get pregnant. And at that same time if you start a pregnancy Piggy bank or pregnancy jar every time you pass up a star bucks or every time you may be you know, don’t indulge on something put that extra cash in the pregnancy jar and you will start having a little savings fund that you can use to buy things during pregnancy.

Sunny Gault : Alright, well if you start this or even if you don’t start this you know, when you are trying to get pregnant some people will be like “Oh! We are pregnant.”

Vicki Wolfrum : That’s it.

Sunny Gault : You still have 9 months you know, to kind of create this budget and put some money in your little piggy bank so it can still be done at that time, right?

Vicki Wolfrum : Oh! Yes, absolutely and I think that’s really an important idea is to create a budget and to you know, to kind of approach it like you are at a wedding you have a lot of expenses like you’re going to be needing to cover over the next 2 years actually and so it’s good to have a budget for that and try to stick to it.

Sunny Gault : Yeah, what are some of the common mistakes parents make?

Vicki Wolfrum : I think that a lot of times there are some big items that are really essential and for example, your baby stroller. I think it’s something that really required some research to figure out what’s your lifestyle like? Where would you be most likely to use this stroller? How big of an investment can you make in a stroller? You really need to do a research because stroller can cost anywhere from a $100 dollars to a $1000 dollars. But if you are planning to buy one of the more expensive strollers that would be a good thing to put on your shower registry and see if you have a bunch of friends wanna go in and help you out with.

Sunny Gault : Alright, let’s jump right in to this. So what are some practical ways new parents can save money during pregnancy?

Vicki Wolfrum : Well, first of all as far as clothing goes and I will ask these ladies what they did? I mean the great thing is now you can show off your belly and you don’t have to be stuck with maternity clothes. You know, if you can borrow clothes from friends, if you can do a clothing exchange, a clothing exchange with other moms it’s a great idea because even if they are not all maternity clothes the idea to get a group of may be 10 friends to all bring clothes that they would be passing on to the goodwill or something. And then just freely exchange, no money passes out of your pants and you can even know sometimes have a friend that’s a little bit bigger than you are you can get some of her T-shirts and that will get you through the first part of pregnancy and you can do that for free.

Sunny Gault : Have any of you guys tried anything like this? I have heard of these swaps but never actually got one.

Kelli Auld : I was really lucky when I was probably only about 3 months along I was up for the holidays around Christmas time and I had two just friends you know, they had boxes of their maternity clothes which they said “It’s all really cute” but I just cannot imagine wearing it now you know being pregnant. You know there are some things you could wear but to them it just screams pregnancy and I came back at that point I had jeans to wear, I had sweaters, I had dresses you know, tones of stuff. And then luckily I have an older sister too who gave me a tone of stuffs so, really maternity clothes were something I didn’t have to buy besides may be some bras or more specific things but it was something that there is a lot of money and it’s really uncomfortable when you are trying to make yourself still fit into your regular clothes because you don’t wanna buy it yet. So, I highly suggest that. It was something awesome. I knew they wanted to get it off their hands and they said if you aren’t buying anything when you are pregnant like put it back in the box and pass it along you know, go wear it for your second pregnancies or something.

[00:10:25]

Cherri Christiansen : Yeah, I did something similar. I got some clothes from a friend of mine but she had given all of them to a mutual friend of ours and she was just coming back to work as I was telling everyone I was pregnant it was sort of like a hand off and she gave me the whole big bag of clothes that’s 6 months previously or 7 months previously she had received. But it was great it was a little bit of a unique situation for me because I had just lost a lot of weight and so even though I knew I was about to gain a lot of weight, part of me kind of wanted me to have my own clothes so I did splurge a little bit to go and buy some stuffs. But my definition of splurging was still you know, the sale rack and the clearance rack and it was just buying something for me I just couldn’t see I know a lot of people who spent you know $250 dollars in a pair of maternity jeans and they are like “You are gonna live in them for 9 months” and then to me “You are only gonna have them for 9 months” So, I did just fine with the pair of jeans that was $30 dollars you know, that sort of thing.

Vicki Wolfrum : But you know another interesting idea that has come, come out recently is Rent maternity clothes or https://www.borrowforyourbump.com that’s the other one.

Cherri Christiansen : It’s a cute name.

Vicki Wolfrum : And if you, if you had to go to a wedding let’s say you need a fancy dress you could rent it for the week or the month. You can rent designer jeans and you know, if you grow out of them you just send them back and rent a larger pair. I can’t say that it’s more cost effective. It’s much better to get close from friends as far as cost effectiveness but it is a fun way to may be have a couple of high end things and I think for especially for women who are pregnant who have to be in this business world and have to dress up every day both the rental maternity outfit idea and also the resale stores because there is a lot of you know, more high end resales, both online and in the community of people take a look at that.

Cherri Christiansen : Yeah, that was my challenge too. My sister-in-law, even though she lives on the east coast, she was great about sending back a whole bunch of clothes for me but she worked from home during the first pregnancy and was pretty a stay at home mom for her second and her third. And so the clothes that she sent me that she lived in throughout her pregnancy which was not appropriate for me to wear to work and so that kind of pushed me to buy couple of clothes but two other things that I looked into that were great were free cycle I don’t know if anyone is familiar with free cycle but lots of people are posting things on there, it’s basically things like an exchange the people who don’t wanna send their things to the dump and they will post and say Hey, I have you know an old TV it just works great but we are getting a new one and anyone want it” And someone will come pick it up so I look there as well as EBay and Greg’s list, lots of people selling just a lot of clothes saying you know 35 pieces sized medium, mix and match take it all kind of thing. Those were the things I never did but I looked into it they looked like good ways to save money.

Sunny Gault : We have talked about maternity clothes but can the same principles be applied to baby clothes as well?

Vicki Wolfrum : Absolutely, although I think people are a little bit more likely to wanna splurge and buy new things for their baby but I think just from the perspective that you know, if you are an ecologically minded mom you know, most baby clothes get worn so little and they can certainly be washed and be perfectly fine to share from baby to baby to baby. And I think it’s also really fun within families or within friend groups if you have special outfits that your baby wore and then you get to see your sister’s baby wearing it or your friend’s baby wearing it and it brings back you know such wonderful feelings “Oh! I remember when John wore that little cute outfit.” I think it’s a wonderful thing to share clothes amongst friends and especially baby clothes people usually have bags of them.

Sunny Gault : And then you don’t want to do that after you know, if you are not gonna have any more kids well you know, it’s just like, “What am I gonna do with all those clothes?”

Vicki Wolfrum : And then it’s always good if you have them always out there in circulation in case if you have a little surprise down the line and you can ask for these clothes back. I have had a few clients that have had that happened too. I mean they were like “Oh! Just gave away everything you know.”

Sunny Gault : Yeah, and it’s important to realize it’s not all or nothing it’s like you know, you can buy new baby clothes but also get some handy downs too so may be that way you are not spending much money.

[00:14:47]

Vicki Wolfrum : Alright, alright I think one area to think about is the diaper issue both from the ecological perspective and also from the money saving perspective and I know a lot of people are very vary about using cloth diapers but I would imagine these ladies would be open to that but the most economical is to buy your own diapers and cover and to wash them yourself. And you know, doing that you can definitely save at least $300 dollars a year if not more than that. So, it could be very economical but even if you use half and half or you use you know paper diapers when the baby has to go to grandma’s house and cloth diapers when you are at home but the grandma should be more used to cloth diapers.

Sunny Gault : That applies to anyone, right?

Vicki Wolfrum : Yeah.

Cherri Christiansen : I have a good question about the cloth diapers, I am very interested in it and it’s just something way, way down on the long list of things that I have to figure out how to do in the next 4 weeks. But it has been recommended to me that if I really was interested in doing it that I consider a service just because people say it takes so much time, so much work and you don’t really know what you are getting yourself in to. And I kind of saw that part of the reason I was doing it is from the green aspect and part of it from the money saving aspect. So, to be paying someone else to be providing the service to me it kind of seemed to defeat that point a little bit but I haven’t actually looked into it that much I was just wondering what your perspective on that was?

Vicki Wolfrum : Well, actually the diaper service is probably the least economical. I won’t say it’s not a great idea and it may be especially for a working mom. It may be the most economical because you have to figure out what your time worth because you know, your time is very valuable and it’s worth lot more than you know, you would imagine if you put number on it. As I said the least expensive is to buy your own diapers and I think this came from Julie Scott at the midlife blog. She figured out you know she did all the calculations if you mark the different size of the diaper covers and the diaper liners and all those things. Doing your own she came up with a cost of $584 for the first year and doing disposables $800 and there was someone who calculated it out for 3 years and for 3 years it was $1400 dollars Vs. $2600 dollars. So, the savings can really be quiet significant. Diaper service can vary in different community and in our community it’s somewhere between $20 and $25 dollars per month. And then you still need to buy your own diaper covers so that’s a cause the factors in there and then you have to wash your own diaper cover. But even at $20 dollars a week which would you know, probably be available in other communities as well you would end up spending about a $1000 dollars for the first year vs. $800 dollars with the disposables and $580 dollars with the wash around. So, they are definitely is a cost advantage to the wash around but again as I said if you are very busy, if you have other children and if you have a job your time might be so much more valuable that it would easily that $200 dollars would easily be worth it to pay the extra amount have somebody else do it for you and it’s, I mean, I had diaper service with my last two children and it was absolutely wonderful you know fresh, clean diapers. Just leave it in your front door and you just throw them all in the bin, they take them away it was wonderful I have to say.

Sunny Gault : So, if we are gonna buy products that are new what recommendations do you have? Are there ways to save money if we know that listen, if we are go to a store and get this how can we save money that way?

Vicki Wolfrum : Well, there is three great ways to save money. The first one is on big purchases is really to big purchase is to do your research, figure out what you think you want and then do comparison shopping online because I found huge differences. And a lot of times we think of the big stores like Target, Baby Zaras, Walmart, Bye Bye Baby etc. is having the best prices. But, I know one of the things I looked at was a dooly revolution stroller and the lowest price online was $499 and I think at Target was you know $659 and Bye Bye Baby it was $679 and you know other stores it went up from there because the other retail prices were about $825. So, from $825 down to $ 499 it’s pretty big difference. You are saving a lot of money you are saving more on those diapers and how you can do some of those comparison shopping? There is one really great site it’s called https://www.lela.com and they have baby products and electronic so far. I’m sure they are planning to expand. It’s a fairly new site and you go on there and you know, you put in what stroller you might be interested and looking at it they will tell you the cheapest price and you know, and it takes you right to the sight of the company that has the cheapest price. And so that it just makes it very, very easy for you so if you kind of scroll through all the strollers and you found one that you had been thinking about buying you just click on it and it pops up and it says you know the cheapest price $499 at https://www.amazon.com and you click on amazon it takes you right there and you can do one quick shopping that’s not the way to save money by the way the one quick shopping.

[00:20:19]

Sunny Gault : Well, you know, one thing I wanna bring up too is if you find a good deal online sometimes if you back to the store and you say I found this online I can either purchase this online or if you want a price match I can purchase it through you, sometimes that works.

Vicki Wolfrum : I think that is true and it really does depend on the store and how much of a discount they are offering. But I would always ask for a discount and or ask for a price comparison because a lot, especially big stores will do it.

Sunny Gault : Right.

Vicki Wolfrum : I think the other thing is to be a coupon shopper. I never realized how much it could save but you know using coupons and the great thing now is that you don’t have to you know look through the Sunday paper and pick out like you know 20 cents of box of craftier or something. You know anything you want pretty much you can go online and type in the name and with coupon and you know a lot of times that will be a coupon either for the product itself or for the store and many times you can get you know quite a significant discount by……

Kelli Auld : And lot of the stores will accept competitor’s coupons,

Vicki Wolfrum : Exactly.

Kelli Auld : So, that you can take that coupon and get 20% discount at the store and they will give it to you in another one.

Sunny Gault : Or they may not I mean don’t let the expiration date fool you because at times they accept past the expiration date as well.

Vicki Wolfrum : Yeah, I think that’s part of you know negotiate even with services while you are pregnant a lot of you know new moms are looking for lactation consultant, for doulas for you know, baby sign language classes things like that. And a lot of times you can ask for a discount, ask for a military discount, ask for you know triplet discount you know people they do want provide services and a lot of time if that what it takes they are willing to give you a little something off, every little bit helps.

Sunny Gault : Oh, and I was going to say, if all else fails use the pregnancy pity card and you know just say “Oh! I am pregnant. Is there any discount you can give me?”

Vicki Wolfrum : Pregnant discount, exactly.

Sunny Gault : Okay, we want to talk more about discounts out there and how we can save money and we will be right back!

[Music]

Sunny Gault : Alright, welcome back. We are talking about how we can save money during pregnancy and Vicki there are a couple of things that I want to talk to you about. When it comes to the providers you know a medical providers that we have there are some ways to save money in that area too simply by watching our insurance and making sure that we are choosing providers within our insurance plans, right?

Vicki Wolfrum : That’s correct and I think that’s very important before you get pregnant or when you are very first pregnant to go on the website for your insurance plan, find out who are the doctors that are covered and see the preferred providers or in network providers. And you know try to visit a couple of those and make your decision between those if it’s possible. If there is a doctor and a hospital that is a preferred provider for your plan that’s the most economical because you are gonna get the most benefit from your insurance coverage. But I would also suggest that if you don’t find a provider or you decide that you wanna have at birth center or home birth you know, don’t automatically assume then it’s not covered because it may be covered or there may be some coverage. And it’s really the most important as to decide what’s the best birth for you, the healthiest birth for you and choose that not based on money but on what your vision of your birth is?

Sunny Gault : So, we have two women here who are planning home birth so I have to ask you guys. What, what led to that decision? I mean did you consider that the finances involved with this?

Cherri Christiansen : I did but for me, I kind of felt like this is was a once in a lifetime thing. I spent a lot of hopefully more than once in a lifetime but I could count how many times in one hand I was gonna do this. And I spent way more money on these things on my wedding and so this was something that I knew before I go pregnant that I wanted to have a home birth. And I what I didn’t realize was because initially when I was pregnant I went to go and see an OB before I started seeing my midwife and they explained to me that the first time I would be there I would have a $30 coupon and then from then every appointment on I won’t have any coupon. And that was kind of a moment I was like. “Wow! Do I really wanna go spend a few thousand dollars on this home birth?” And then you know, that $30 dollar coupon, that one time coupon well, what I didn’t think about was “Yeah, that’s for my care. That doesn’t count when I get to the hospital” and then I have to get charges from labor and delivery and from the Pediatrician and from the nurse and from every time they come by you know give me a tissue whatever they are charging me for. And so, I really evaluated all of it and worked out that it was gonna be at least the same if not less for me to have the home birth and it was something that I had been saving for and talked about starting a savings fund you know, pretty much the day we got married we started saving to have a baby even though we had no clue when that was gonna be.

[00:25:16]

Sunny Gault : Oh! You are so prepared. I’m so impressed.

Cherri Christiansen : I am not that really that organized in my life this is just one thing that..

Vicki Wolfrum : Wonderful.

Cherri Christiansen : I just thought it would be a good thing to start saving for so…

Sunny Gault : Alright, what about you Kelli?

Kelli Auld : Our decision for the home birth kind of came through a huge need of a splurge of having to do IVF to get pregnant. That was obviously a huge amount of cost and sort of savings and kind of taking money out of house fund in order for that. But I said what is the house if we don’t have a baby to put it in. So we kind of got to the point and so having home birth was a little bit of a decision that came from such an unnatural process to get pregnant and so medically involved. And thank god for science that we are able to get pregnant using that but it was regaining a little bit of what was natural and what was supposed to be in what you know, my body was supposed to do and kind of simplifying. So, when we looked at the cost of obviously IVF, anything is cheaper, everything is cheaper.

Sunny Gault : Yeah.

Kelli Auld : Exactly, but it was the same thing that Cherri said that it was worth it to us and when we looked at lot of the factors that actually seemed more cost effective and to be able to we are having our home birth through an OB. So, he is you know I have a PPO so he is through that and so there is a lot of that, that will be covered by insurance. But you know I think it’s just a give and take when it comes to bringing your baby into the world. I think anybody is willing to kind of court of a splurge on that to get exactly to get the experience that you want and may be that means you have a cheaper stroller, you have a cheaper diaper you know less clothes but that particular moment was worth it to us in the long run so give and take.

Cherri Christiansen : And one thing that helped us that not everyone may have access to those but if you have an employer that gives you the option of having some sort of health spending account or flexible spending account you know we knew we are gonna probably try and have a baby and you know that I had to make that decision I put in a large amount of money in that and it came out pretax. So, if you had a 20% or 25% or 30% tax bracket that’s a 30% discount that you are not giving yourself to, to use towards medical expenses and it covered all sorts of things like my Hypno Birthing clauses and anything that was pretty much medically necessary, every ultra sound that sort of thing.

Vicki Wolfrum : And the other thing I think people don’t realize is that there are ancillary services and are now be covered by insurances. So for example, you can have a lactation consultant come to your home after the birth of the baby or even prenatally and do a private prenatal breast feeding clause if you have some special you know issues you are having twins you might have a premature baby things like that. And most insurance now do cover that and at least cover in part they might covered as an outside network charge but at least they will pay something and also there is a lot more insurances now that they are starting to cover baby doulas and postpartum doulas. And so, people often times they don’t even look into this because they just assume this is not covered by their insurance but more and more it is being covered by insurances.

Sunny Gault : So, we have to check our policy, right?

Vicki Wolfrum : Yeah.

Kelly Auld : I actually had a girl friend to tell me to look into her insurance covering her breast pump. She was able to have the doctor she was going back to work so the need to pump you know was considered necessary. And so you know I am not sure with the doctor specifically did wrote a note and she got her breast pumped through her insurance company. So, something I’m having the need to do for in the next five weeks.

Cherri Christiansen : My insurance company actually does cover it does have to be medically necessary so they said convenience does not count as a reason but if there was a medical reason they would cover it. It just had to be purchased after the baby was born because obviously how can you say this is a medical reason when you bought at 34 weeks. And there is you know special programs through work were moms don’t have any fund can rent a breast pump for free and so there is always like if you do have a medical necessity you need a breast pump and you don’t have insurance or you don’t have the financial resources to pay for it you know, that’s available.

Sunny Gault : Okay, Vicki thank you so much for joining us today and for talking about all this. I think there is some really good information, there is some good take aways for our audience.

Vicki Wolfrum : Thank you so much and I hope that all the pregnant moms out there will save their pennies and do something nice for themselves.

Sunny Gault : I know we all need to do better job than that I think so.

Cherri Christiansen : Ever since you mentioned this foregoing this star bucks all I had in my brain is all I want is Latte.

Sunny Gault : Maybe that’s because I have this Starbucks cup over here. Alright, if you want to know more Vicki, her services and her company you can visit our episodes page in our website and look for today’s topic which is saving money during pregnancy.
[00:30:04]

[Music]
[Featured Segment: Preparing to Breastfeed]

Sunny Gault : Before we wrap today’s show here is some tips to help you prepare for breast feeding.

Robin Kaplan : Hi, Preggie Pals listeners. I am Robin Kaplan an international board certified lactation consultant, owner of the San Diego breast feeding center and the host and producer of Preggie Pals sister show the Boob group. I am here to offer some advice on what you can do during pregnancy to prepare for a positive breast feeding experience such as, take a prenatal breast feeding class. As many of us prepare for our first child we take child birth classes and spend hours on the internet researching the best car seats and strollers we can find. One thing that often falls by the way side is taking a breast feeding class. We figure that breast feeding is something that just should come naturally so we would just learn on job. For some new moms that works out just fine. The baby is born, he latched beautifully, the mom’s milk supply comes in and everybody is happy. However from most of us not taking a breast feeding class can actually be a real determinant to this breast feeding process.

Unfortunately, many of the new moms are given incorrect information about how milk supply is established, how often a new born should breast feed and what science to look for if something isn’t not going quite right. We also hear tones of horror stories about sore nipples and the milk supply so how can we expect to succeed if we don’t know what normal breast feeding looks like. A fantastic breast feeding class should cover all of this like, what to expect in those first few weeks of breast feeding, positioning and latch, which signs indicate that your baby is getting enough and also common breast feeding concerns. And since breast feeding is not something you can practice before your baby arrives, your breast feeding should also go over local resources you might need for breast feeding support after your baby is born. I also highly recommend bringing your partner with you to this breast feeding class. First of all it is important for your partner to be aware of what you will be working on to establish a positive breast feeding experience.

Secondly your partner will be able to assist you more easily if he or she actually knows what it looks for. And thirdly your partner will hopefully be a cheer leader during this process of getting breast feeding off to a great start. So, the goal is for him or her to come away with some tangible ways to help you during this process. So, my advice is to Google which breast feeding classes are being offered in your area and plan to attend when during your 7th or 8th month of pregnancy. I promise you it will be a worth of time. For more great information about what you can do during pregnancy to prepare for a positive breast feeding experience check out my blog at https://www.sandiegobreastfeedingcenter.com/blog and be sure to listen to Preggie Pals and the Boob Group for fantastic conversations about breast feeding and breast feeding support.

[Theme Music]

Sunny Gault : That wraps up our show for today. If you have a pregnancy topic you would like to suggest we love to hear it. You can visit our website which is https://www.PreggiePals.com and send us an email through the contact link. If you have any questions about today’s show or the topics we have discussed, call our Preggie Pals hotline at 619-866-4775 and we will answer your questions on an upcoming episode. For those of you who already passed your due dates next week’s episode is just for you we are gonna discuss some ways you can help speed up the process and induce your labor naturally. Thanks for listening to Preggie Pals “your pregnancy your way.”

[Disclaimer]

This is been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Suggestions and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. For such information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical or advisory care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating house care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please receive assistance from a qualified health care provider.

[00:34:10] End of Audio