Considering taking a CPST course-- will having a small baby stop me?

I'm not worried about my toddler, he can hang with grandma and be fine. My three month old (will be 6 mo at the time of course) is another story. He's EBF. Four or five 8 hour days would be wayyyyy too much to leave him with Gma.
I should probably just put it off for a year? Is it remotely possible to do the course with a baby in tow?

I'm planning to do one in October with a 2-3 month old. My plan is to bring him in a sling except for one of the days. I'll bring his carrier too for the bits I have to put him down to do carseat installations.

ThreeBeans said:

I'm planning to do one in October with a 2-3 month old. My plan is to bring him in a sling except for one of the days. I'll bring his carrier too for the bits I have to put him down to do carseat installations.

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Have you already talked to the instuctor? I haven't yet. I'm afraid of how she'll react.

Hehe, we may get to become CPSTs at the same time!

Synchro246 said:

Have you already talked to the instuctor? I haven't yet. I'm afraid of how she'll react.

Hehe, we may get to become CPSTs at the same time!

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I had spoken to her briefly about pumping, but honestly I don't want to do that (she says not a problem, she has a baby and she'll be taking pumping breaks too, lol). I'm just not real big on spending days separated from my brandy new bebe.

I'll email her when the date gets closer to feel her out. I'm hoping as a nursing mother she'll be supportive.

I think it would be really hard to take the class with a baby in tow, especailly a 6 month old. I can see doing parts of it with a smaller (as in newborn-3 months) baby, but having a 5month old right now, it would be hard. He talkes, doesn't want in his carrier all the time and LOVES stealing my papers, food, and cups.

Could you maybe have someone bring him to you at lunch, then he would only need maybe 2 bottles while you are gone and you could pump.

This makes me glad I look my class when DD was 2.5 and happy to go to a friend's house.

Incidentally, Synchro, where is the class? I am guessing it's the one I got the email about. You know, there is a check on Sept 8th in Brandon. You ought to come by and say "hi."

It might depend on the type of course. Is it open and will there be many other moms? It might not work if it's a controlled course geared toward professionals certifying as part of their jobs. Also, confirm the dates. I certified in June under the new curriculum and it was Tuesday and Wednesday 8-5 with breaks then Thursday 8-2 with a check from 3-6. Three days vs 4-5 isn't a huge difference, but might make it more doable.

I have taken may classes with baby in tow, IBCLC classes, teaching classes, meetings, ect I exclusivly breastfed allie for 12 months, that was no bottles, not solids, no food for 12 months... I took my CPS class when she was 2.5 and done nursing. I was able to do thing very easily when she was young under 6 months b/c she was very happy in a sling and in one at home 60% of the day anyways... when she was about 7.5 months she started crawling and it wasn't so easy after that... also wouldn't be if the childs not use to the sling all day long, ect.
IF it was me i would wait if it's not close enough for baby to come along and OR for a mother's helper to go along so the child coudl have someone there but you still there durring feeding time ONLY, i did this one day of my IBCLC class i took my sister when allie was 9 months very mobile and didn't like sling 24/7 any more so she would just bring her in when she needed to nurse then take her out in the halls/car/walmart across the road/toy room down the hall, ect. but this woulnd't work in all class settings it depends on the class...

This is the course info
https://ssl13.cyzap.net/dzapps/dbza...tSQL&pCourseID=FL20070718722&pCoursePK=551518
Four days, 8-5 in November.
Right now the class is empty with 12 openings.

Mickey is very happy in the sling. He prefers that to almost anything else.

Ooooh Skip-that check sounds good. . . pming you.

I would email the instructor. I think classes seem to be set up differently around the country. Mine was pretty fast-paced and very much geared toward professionals and a baby simply would not have fit in. One of our days went from 8 in the morning to 8 at night. And doing the seatbelts exam and installations test would be tricky, let alone the seat check that you have to participate in at the end.

I hate to be a party pooper but I don't think I could have 100% of my attention and concentration on the course and what is being taught with a baby in tow (and I'm a slingin and wrappin mumma too). I think it would be better to wait when you can give 100% of your attention and 100% of your time to the course. JMTCW though

I'm hijacking - where can I find out about classes in my area?

SillyMommy said:

I'm hijacking - where can I find out about classes in my area?

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http://www.safekids.org/CERTIFICATION

I'm taking my classes 10/2,10/3 then again 10/9,10/10.. all of yall with little babies come to Atlanta. I will hold the wee ones to satisfy my humongous baby fever and yall can test!!!

WillnCaroline said:

I'm taking my classes 10/2,10/3 then again 10/9,10/10.. all of yall with little babies come to Atlanta. I will hold the wee ones to satisfy my humongous baby fever and yall can test!!!

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I searching for a class in Georgia, but no classes are showing up in Atlanta. How did you find out about this one? Is it open to the public?

CRS said:

I hate to be a party pooper but I don't think I could have 100% of my attention and concentration on the course and what is being taught with a baby in tow (and I'm a slingin and wrappin mumma too). I think it would be better to wait when you can give 100% of your attention and 100% of your time to the course. JMTCW though

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:thumbsup: I hate to be another bearer of bad news, but as a slinging, EBF mommy who's also a tech, if I'd already had ds3 when I was taking the class, I'd have held off. As it was, I waited over over 3.5 yrs to find a class that not only worked for my location, but for my kids and my dh and for the moon and stars to align and . . . lol.

Honestly, I think it would not go over well with even the nicest of instructors to have a baby in the class, however small and however often strapped to you in a sling/wrap. You are in that class to learn and knowing that, I know that any mama who is dedicated enough to her baby to keep him/her with her is not going to have their 100% attention on learning all there is to learn (there's a lot! even for educated moms like us ). I don't find leaving the baby w/someone else and pumping the best solution, either, because a very young baby generally nurses more often than you'll have opportunities to pump, which could be highly uncomfortable and very distracting (looking at watch - come ON - I'm dying here! come on, come on, I need to go pump! ).

I hope this doesn't seem mean, because I don't mean it to be that way. I had a newborn (and obviously then he was an older baby, too lol) when I first started looking for classes. Ultimately, like I said, he was actually 3.75 yrs old when I was finally able to take the class. Not because he was still nursing, but for there to be a class near enough where I lived and my dh was able to take that week off to stay with the kids. ((Hugs)) to you both (Threebeans and Synchro) and I hope things end up working out for you both.

(Like CRS, this is just my :twocents

Classes do go long sometimes. I would not have been able to handle a baby and take the class at the same time. My class went as follows:
Thursday: 8-5:30
Friday:8-6:45
Saturday: 8-7:30
Sunday: 8-4:45 (seat check 12:30-3:30)