Antenatal Education - What’s it all about?

Lots of people ask us "what is included in LushTums Antenatal Education courses?”so they can work if this is a good option for them. So we thought we would create this blog post with our answer.

The science in our course is very similar to what you would find in NCT or many other antenatal education courses in terms of physiology, facts, protocols and the overall process of labour and birth, what can happen at different times and what your options are. Like these others, what we offer is a comprehensive Antenatal Education programme, fully accredited by FEDANT (the UK’s awarding body for this). 

With LushTums you also benefit from learning practical techniques inspired from traditional yogic and hypno-birthing practices to teach you specifically how best to breathe, move and relax for labour & birth - all key to help you on the day to stay calm and give your mind and your body the space it needs to give birth.

We teach you how to do particular breath practices so you can cope with contractions; another breath to help you rest in between; and a third to help when the baby is coming out or if you find you do need to help them along with some active pushing. These have been tried and tested for many years and by many women - we have taught over 50,000 ladies in the last 5 years! - so much so the midwives supporting them often feedback to us that they can spot a LushTums mama when she is giving birth and she usually has much more stamina and focus.

We also cover the science about your nervous system, hormones and fear response, so you really understand what is going on with your body and mind and how it all works for labour and birth and why staying calm and breathing properly can really help.

We also teach some key positions to use and birth partner tips and massage techniques, so they feel really informed on what their role includes and are more able to support you and your decisions - especially if things go ‘off plan’. 

We help you prepare for other circumstances that may arise, such as making informed decisions around induction, assisted birth (forceps or ventouse), pain relief options and explain various scenarios when these choices can be really helpful, and also caesarean, what happens during and how it the recovery going to be.

Our course also includes two further sessions, one on ‘surviving the 4th trimester’ which is all about life with a newborn; how you might feel in those first few months and how to manage. We go through baby care (eating, sleeping, winding, changing, etc) to mother’s care post birth and safe return to exercise. And the last session is the essential Baby First Aid. 

You also get invited to 2 or 3 local brunch meet ups where you can meet the others from your group and the previous months group, to build your local network and make friends with people in the same boat.

It is best to read what we include in our course on our website. You can compare it with what others include and make your own informed decision on which is best for you. Some people do lots of different courses to prepare, as you have that second or even third opportunity to go through the content in a different way and as there is so much info, that can be quite a good thing.

We recommend you would attend a course to help you prepare for birth and life with a newborn after 24 weeks, giving you lots of time before your due date to take on board what you have learnt and help you as you prepare, however, it is best to book your place around 12 weeks so you know you have you place saved on our popular courses. Plus you can have a chance to regularly practice all the key moves, breath work and relaxation techniques in weekly Pregnancy Yoga & Birth Prep Classes, so when you need it on the big day, its all really ingrained into your mind and muscles memory. Find out more today or sign up for you place on our next Antenatal Education Course.

Courses run in Brighton, Haywards Heath, Worthing, Ipswich, Chepstow, Cheshire.