First days - taking care of your newborn and breastfeeding

One class, a total of 3 hours. 

This course provides comprehensive information about how to take care of your newborn baby. Our goal is that you will feel more knowledgeable and confident so that you can truly enjoy the first days with your baby in your arms.

Breastfeeding is a big part of taking care of the baby in the first days. Therefore, part of the class is about the fundamentals of a positive start to breastfeeding your baby. We will cover nutrition of the breastfeeding mother, skin to skin care, when your baby is ready to breastfeed, the practicalities of how to breastfeed your baby, positioning and latching on, the role of the birth/breastfeeding supporter, hand expression and breast pumps, milk production, complications (e.g. sore nipples, engorgement and sign of problems), the health of the newborn, newborn jaundice, reflux, etc.

The aim of this class is that you:

  • have increased practical knowledge about taking care of your newborn baby

  • experience increased self-confidence about breastfeeding

  • are able to make informed decisions regarding breastfeeding your baby

  • understand what is normal newborn behavior and recognize warning signs

What is different about our class:

  • we will also provide information about the Icelandic healthcare system so that you can navigate it more easily

  • we provide opportunities for you to practice breastfeeding positions with a doll

  • the class is taught by a midwife that is a native English speaker

  • we provide postpartum home visits and lactation consultation for participants in our classes

We recommend taking the class after 34 weeks of pregnancy.

Price: 19.500 ISK for each couple. It is possible to apply for reimbursement from your union.

 Feedback from our participants:

“I really liked how open and conversational it was! I think Emma did a fantastic job of preparing us for what's to come and I feel like I'm more prepared for the first week with my baby now. Also, I think it's important how the course focused on what my partner can do to help, I found it really useful to prepare us both for the discussion about what we need to think of.”

-Participant expecting her first baby

“The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, Emma was knowledgeable and reassuring. My partner and I agree that it was a very informative and pleasant class, we are very happy we signed up.”

-Participant expecting her first baby

“My partner and I really felt like we benefitted from the class more than we expected to. We felt it was very thorough and provided insight into parts of the process we hadn’t even considered. In retrospect, now that we have our baby in our arms, I feel that my partner/“support person” was more prepared and the things he learned allowed me to have a more positive experience than I would have otherwise. He was able to help me through the process with so much confidence. The midwives really knew their stuff and were able to communicate the lessons very effectively. We left the class with such a great knowledge of not only what to expect, but how to best cope with both the negatives and positives of the entire birthing experience.”

-Participant in both Better birth and Breastfeeding classes