TLC Class

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

We are officially experts on all things baby and parenting! haha...well at least we should be after the completion of allll these classes we've taken!

After a long drive back from Gatlinburg (Zach keeps saying we went to North Carolina...random) we had to get ready and go to the TLC class the same night! I was one of the only two pregnant women who attended the class. Our largest class was the epidural one and the smallest was the one on actually caring for the baby! Kinda ironic!

While we didn't enjoy the postpartum class so much this one was MUCH more beneficial and I'm glad it was the last class as it covered more of the fun aspects of parenting instead of so much gross-ness.

Things we learned in this class included:

The bulb syringe needs to be pushed in before placing it in the baby's cheeks and nose then release it to get the gunk out.
We need to sterlize the syringe every 24 hours by putting it in boiling water.
There shouldn't be any blankets or stuffed animals in Clover's crib until she/he reaches one years old (SIDS)
The umbilical cord won't fall off for two-three weeks! We can't give a full bath until then (sponge only), need to fold down the diaper so it won't touch the stub, and need to wipe around it each diaper change with a rubbing alcohol covered cotton ball.
It takes 7 days or so for a circumcised penis to heal and if we see yellow junk on the end of it we need to leave it on there because it is part of the healing process but we need to put vasciline on the tip at each diaper changing.
If Clover has a temperature over 100 degrees then we need to wait 30 minutes, take the temp again, then call the dr and tell them the temperature and the thermometer type we used (rectal is best...grrrross)
We are supposed to use diaper rash cream at every changing...and it goes around the privates! Zach and I totally thought you'd put it along where the diaper would rub (like around the legs) not on the privates! How is it a diaper rash then?
We are supposed to put the diaper on as tight as possible to prevent leaks.

Only needs a bath two to three times per week and Clover's face and neck need to be washed more often than that.
Until the cord falls off we do a sponge bath and that's where we leave a towel on Clover, only expose the area being washed, wash hair, then face (with a cotton ball no soap) and leave the diaper on the whole time until we wash the privates. And if Clover is a girl we need to always wash and wipe front to back!
A trick to diaper changing is to lay down the clean one first then put the baby over the clean diaper before taking off the dirty one so if they go during the changing the new diaper catches it!
They showed a thirty minute video that was almost sexual about giving babies massages! So random! The benefits of the massaging is that it helps minimize congestion, helps sleep, and helps reduce colic. While we'll do it for sure, we won't be doing some hour long session each night! I mean if ANYONE deserves an hour long massage it's Mommy or Daddy...not baby!!!
It's best to feed the baby before she/he cries so hunger signs to look for include: mouthing of fist, sucking noises, and hands on face
Finally she gave us some tips of how to help Clover sleep: always use similar types of clothing for bedtime so she/he associates those types of clothes with sleeping, put her/him in the crib while still slightly awake so she/he learns to go to sleep on her/his own, keep the room dark at bedtime even if it's light outside, and pick one song to sing every night before bed to get her/him into a routine

While it's nice to have the classes finished, it's kind of scary too! Now it's up to US to handle things and we've supposedly learned all we can! Of course I'm still reading multiple books but I do feel like at this point we're pretty ready for what is going to be coming here shortly! Most of the stuff I read now is repetitive of what I already know and that is a pretty good sign!!! Hopefully we can retain what we've learned and the natural parenting instinct will kick in for the stuff we didn't learn!