The need for prenatal classes for safe motherhood

Pregnancy and childbirth are things we take for granted. We assume that when a woman conceives, she will easily learn everything needed from her peers. This might have been the case in the past when the joint family was the norm. But in today's reality of the unitary family, getting help from one's peers is difficult. 

Apart from peer support, health professionals cannot help much because of the low doctor-to-patient ratio, socio-cultural settings, and other issues. The only option left for a mother is to learn what is needed as the pregnancy progresses.

Let us first acknowledge that pregnancy is entirely a different chapter in a woman's life. Conceiving a human baby within one's body, nourishing it, and bringing a healthy child into the world is not a small feat. A mother needs to prepare for this even before the child is in the womb. 

When a woman gets pregnant, her head explodes with thousands of questions. Why is my body changing the way it does now? What should I eat? Why am I going through such frequent mood swings? What exercises should I do? How do I prepare for labour? Should I go for a caesarean section or natural delivery? How do I care for my newborn? How do I feed the baby? 

These are only some of the questions that a mother faces during her 40-week journey. Getting answers to these questions is crucial for the mother because they will enable her to make informed decisions and give her confidence to bring her child into the world and raise them in the right way. 

Developed countries have a setup called prenatal classes to educate and prepare mothers with these answers. These classes are not medical in nature. Rather, they are conducted by trained childbirth educators who teach and guide a mother about the essentials of a healthy pregnancy, labour, caring for a newborn, and more. 

While peer support in the Bangladeshi context is more experience-driven, these prenatal classes are a mix of traditional knowledge and scientific evidence. 

Preparing for pregnancy, balancing nutrition and exercise during pregnancy, knowing the signs of labour, knowing when to seek medical help and how to face labour, knowing how things progress during birth, knowing about birthing positions, relaxation techniques, postpartum care, caring for a newborn, etc are some of the topics taught in prenatal classes. Ideally, there would be multiple classes to cover these topics and a group of pregnant and to-be-pregnant mothers would join the class.

Some may think that prenatal classes are only for pregnant women, but this is not the case. Rather, a person who is planning for a baby (be it a husband, a friend, mother-in-law, or sister of a pregnant woman) can also join the classes to gain better insight. 

Every pregnancy is different. Even a mother who has already given birth knows this to be true. So knowing about this 40-weeks-long journey is essential for a successful birth. A person who knows is confident about her decisions. A positive birth story is something a mother cherishes for a long time and knowing all about the pregnancy journey is the first step to making the it memorable.

Afifa Raihana is a trained childbirth educator from Amani Birth and co-founder of Matritto.com.

Ishrat Jahan is a teacher, head of the Finance department at Birshreshtha Noor Mohammad Public College, and founder of Matritto.com, a social business solving problems around pregnancy, parenting, and motherhood.