We absolutely loved our classes with Lisa! The class was informative, supportive, and incredibly…read moreempowering. The classes are extremely comprehensive without feeling overwhelming. We came into class feeling excited but very nervous about this next chapter and left feeling so much more confident and prepared for both birth and the newborn stage. We loved Lisa's thoughtful approach - blending evidence-based information with compassionate, personalized support in a way that felt holistic, reassuring, and never fear-based. 10/10 - Highly recommend to any expecting parents looking for a childbirth class that feels both realistic and deeply supportive! Thank you, Lisa!

Lisa is a gifted educator on all things childbirth and we're SO happy to have attended her 3 day…read moreintensive in-person classes a few months prior to our due date. I was immediately impressed by Lisa's care and high-touch approach when I saw her thoughtful response to my intake form at the time we registered for the program. And throughout the course, Lisa's wealth of knowledge, passion, and genuine desire to help really carried through. She's also a bright ray of sunshine and we really appreciated her warmth and hospitality in what could feel like a long three day class otherwise. We had snacks and drinks, were able to move around freely, sit on the floor, sit on the yoga ball, there are squatty potties in each bathroom, I mean she literally thought of everything in trying to make this experience as comfortable and smooth for us as possible. With each class, we felt more and more confident and well equipped to welcome our baby and of course the added bonus in this being in-person is that we also loved connecting with other couples that we will continue to stay in touch with. I would highly recommend to any couple who's expecting no matter the kind of birth experience you envision for yourseleves.

My husband and I took the Childbirth Prep class this past weekend and are so happy we did. Our…read moreinstructor Liz was amazing, she is a L&D nurse who is so passionate about what she does and educating others. The content was informative and approachable, and we feel so much more prepared!

My husband and I went to the 6 hour class by Ceridwen recently. Just some background about us,…read morewe're 39 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child, his 1st child. My son is currently 4 years old. This class not only gave me a refresher, but helped my husband and I set our expectations, and learn so many things that even I didn't know the first time around. We learned about things from fetal stations to birthing positions to self advocation to coping without pain management drugs, and more. We left the class completely confident and ready for our bundle of joy.

Momally has been a wonderful resource for me in meeting local moms and in sharing stories/seeking…read moreadvice. There are meetings organized by Andrea, Momally's creator but also more informal meetups organized by Momally members. The meetings organized by Andrea take place at her house. It is set up perfectly to host a large group of women and babies. It is a relaxed environment and I love going to meetings. Check it out if you are an expecting or new mom in Astoria!

From the owner: Andrea Scannell, founder of MOMally (pronounced MOM-ah-lee) provides private sleep consulting and…read morelactation counseling services. She also runs groups, classes and workshops for expectant and new parents.

First off I would just like to say that if you are checking out this page and CHB doesn't have a…read moreton of reviews yet it's because I liked the weekend intensive course so much that I asked Samantha to create a Yelp account for CHB. They have been around for many years (since 2011) and are very experienced. My only "negative" feedback is that when I was looking for a Childbirth Intensive class to do I wasn't able to see any reviews on Yelp for peace of mind :) That said, pregnancy is stressful business, especially for first time parents. What to expect as we get closer to the end of the pregnancy? What's up with this or that weird thing your body and baby are doing? The stressful anticipation of the big day. How are we going to do all of this together? And not to mention the overriding sense of "oh shit when this is all done it's just going to be starting".... So professional help is very welcome and NEEDED. The Childbirth Weekend Intensive with Samantha was beyond professional. It was clear that she and Melissa, who was assisting her, were doulas and educators because they are very passionate about helping women and couples have a positive and meaningful birth experience. When I originally imagined the weekend intensive course I imagined two packed and stressful days spent just jamming information into our minds, but what I experienced was the absolute opposite. The pace of the course was perfect and didn't feel overwhelming as the term "intensive" would suggest. Asking questions at any point about anything was encouraged. The other couples at the course were hugely beneficial to the overall experience since we all brought different types of questions to the table. We all learned a lot about the biology of birth, strategies for managing paying, strategies for having a good experience at the hospital, and really we received a solid foundation for coping with everything that we had ahead of us. At the end of the weekend we did not feel overwhelmed but rather empowered. I would also like to stress that I think it's unusual to interact with someone teaching a course that seems to care so much about your experience and your outcomes. Samantha's empathy and caring really stood out for me and she was also very knowledgeable and able to competently answer all of our questions (even the weird over technical ones). So THANK YOU CHB and Samantha for getting us emotionally and intellectually prepared for the big day and beyond!

From the owner: Carriage House Birth trains top notch birth and postpartum doulas world wide and provides doula…read moreservices and childbirth education to families in LA, NYC and growing with our holistic approach to pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care. We are honored to have served over 1500+ families in New York and Los Angeles since 2011.

I called to inquire about something and received the most disgusting customer service! There was a…read morelack of phone etiquette, I was rushed off the phone before I even finished asking my questions and when I called back to let them know how disheartening the experience was, the person on the other line was still nasty and rude. Find another Agency! If they're this disgusting over the phone I can only imagine how they will treat your children when you're not around.

Summary: Couldn't trust the nurse with our newborn and the…read moreagency had a poor response. She fell asleep while our baby was on her and the agency expected us to pay. The second night our baby nurse was with us, we caught her asleep with the baby on her chest. At 5am, I called out her name multiple times to initiate breastfeeding and for her to bring the baby to me. When she didn't respond, I realized she was asleep. Immediately concerned, my husband turned on all the lights in the room and yet still had to rouse her awake. We felt deeply uncomfortable finding her in a position that put our two week old baby in danger - any healthcare worker for babies would know that sleeping with the infant puts the baby at a greater risk of SIDS. When my husband told her she wasn't needed anymore and should go home, the nurse asked if she did anything wrong. She didn't know? Then she blamed me for her falling asleep with the baby. What was also upsetting was that the agency pushed us hard to still compensate the nurse. We got a lot of agency pushback, even on the secondary issues outlined below. They were more interested in siding with the nurse rather than hearing our concerns. They fed us a line mentioned by another reviewer here "we have never had any issues with this nurse before". I really did not buy that, and I found it unsettling the agency had so many lines to back their nurse even when their own promises to the client were unmet. The agency still expected us to pay the nurse, however if they felt strongly she should be compensated, then they should front the bill... not the consumer. How else are poor practices going to be corrected? Initially they were only willing to credit their agency fee, but we were adamant and eventually we reached an agreement to pay for the first night only -- which we had said from the start we were willing to do. There were also a few issues with this baby nurse at the onset - the agency asked for personality that would be a good fit and 'takes initiative' with 'provides coaching' were top of the list. Services like 'maintaining the nursery space' were not followed through on - after the first night, for example, I was cleaning poop off the wall and diaper caddy from a 'projectile' diaper change that had happened in the first half of her shift (the agency in her defense: "Had this happened on multiple occasions?"). The nurse had no issues spending her time watching videos from her phone. She also provided 'coaching' based on outdated medical practices (such as cleaning the umbilical cord site with alcohol) so my husband and I felt we were doing most of the coaching. And her assistance with breastfeeding made it clear she didn't know the basics. She also interjected to the lactation consultant I was meeting with virtually- never mind I hadn't invited her to partake in the calls. All this despite 20 years with the agency... There were also issues with the agency. We were not provided a method of communication for over the weekend in the event issues like this arise. We were just given the nurse's name, but no phone number. We received no email confirmation of the booking. We had no indication of how to pay and we were not sent a contract. The booking was made for Friday and I couldn't speak to anyone until business hours Monday. There is no email listed online and no one available outside business hours. When I called first thing Monday morning, they asked why I hadn't left a voicemail. But how would I have known to do that when their automated message says to call back during business hours? Fortunately I'd sent a message via their website's contact form detailing the issues the morning we let the nurse go. Of course the nurse had already called and had a different story. The agency was proud of their low turnover rate - I suspect there was no reprimand for this nurse. I'd never work with this agency again.

We had such a wonderful experience with this service. The HFA team was incredibly responsive and…read moreproactive in connecting us with those who may be on our night nurse team which allowed for me to chat with each one ahead of time. It was our first time working with a night nurse and the whole experience made us feel at ease and in very good hands. Our night nurse, Janette, was wonderful and made us feel so confident that our newborn was in good hands that we could get some sleep back! Definitely recommend!

I am so glad to have worked with postpartum doulas through Happy Family After. We had peace of mind…read moreworking through this agency, knowing the doulas were vetted. We worked with Janice and Sara who were wonderful! On the admin side, Devon, Sondra, and Sara were all so kind and easy to work with. I was able to use my Carrot benefits with ease.

After my last review, Jada, the founder of Birth Day Presence, reached out to me for an honest and…read moreopen conversation about what she could do to improve not only my experience but classes there in general. Being a yoga teacher with pre/post natal experience I went into their classes already very knowledgeable so they weren't as informative as I would have liked but I think they are probably life saving for people who don't care to/don't have the time to do their own learning and research. Birth day presence and boober provide not only child birth and newborn care classes, but match clients with (and train) doulas, lactation consultants etc Most importantly though, and I got this sense from the beginning but really felt it after talking to Jada, they genuinely care about providing quality information and services to new families. They also understand that the birthing industry (because it is an industry) is far from perfect and they want to empower families and help them navigate it. I feel very grateful to Jada and Birth Day Presence and although I originally walked away feeling there was more to be desired I now feel like I couldn't recommend them more to anyone seeking childbirth/childcare education or training. Oh, and all their classes are conveniently online now due to covid.

My husband and I purchased weekend intensive childbirth education classes and we attended when I…read morewas 27 weeks pregnant with our first child at Birth Day Presence. We came here with an open mind and hoping to learn the important basics of childbirth. Needless to say, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We didn't feel prepared and we were hoping this class would make us feel more comfortable of what's to come. The classes we chose were on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am until 3:30 pm. Jen Buice was our instructor and she was very informative and knew her stuff. We also got to mingle with other couples who were due at around the same time as us. We got to share our experiences with each other, which I think my husband and I wouldn't have gotten a chance to do otherwise if it wasn't for this class. We watched some childbirth videos, learned about different stages of labor, pain management, labor exercises with and without the ball, a little about lactation, etc. We also went around the room and did some activities so it could be more interactive and social. Bring some snacks because the classes might seem a little long at times! We did get a short lunch break. One slight complaint I have is that I got a little antsy and didn't feel that comfortable with their seating arrangements. I felt a little claustrophobic. Overall, I think we feel better and a little bit more prepared about being parents. I would recommend this class if you have a chance to take it. It's located in a beautiful part of Park Slope in a beautiful brownstone. Price is a little steep at $395 but I think it's worth it. You can't put a price on your future bundle of joy.

My husband and I signed up for both the Birth Ed class as well as the Newborn care/Breastfeeding…read moreclasses with Hilary Baxendale. We are soooo glad we did! She is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to babies and parenting. We crammed in so much helpful information in just two days! She provided handouts and was open to all questions and topic discussions. Hilary is absolutely incredible. To be quite honest, she was my first experience with a doula. I always had a misconception that doulas were against any sort of medication during the birthing process and always naively pictured home births in a bath tub ;) I was so wrong! Hilary is supportive of all kinds of birth plans. The great thing about her is she has experience in all of them and never passes judgement. We highly recommend taking these classes with her... whether you're novices like my husband and me, or pros like some of the other couples who also took the classes with us and equally found it incredibly helpful. Now that we feel super prepared, we just need to safely get this baby out :) We are now hoping to use Hilary as our birth doula if she is available, as she was very calming for an anxious person like me, and seems like she would be assertive as the baby's advocate if need be. Thank you again, Hilary, for such great classes and all of the support you have provided during a very challenging and anxiously exciting time for us :)

We had an excellent birthing class with Hilary. Due to COVID19, it was moved to online but still…read morewent wonderfully. She covered a lot of topics that we hadn't even thought to ask about, was thoroughly prepared, and the best part was being able to do it while we lounged on our couch (and cast the computer screen to our big screen)! Hilary also catered to all our birthing plan ideas, without judgement or trying to push participants one way or another. Highly recommend.

I've now worked with Nicole from Latchsmith for both lactation consulting and potty learning…read more Nicole is so kind, patient, and supportive. When I had issues nursing, Nicole was with me every step of the way. She helped me with techniques to get through it. Now my son is 3 and we came back to Nicole for potty training assistance. She was incredible helping us put together a plan. She was also on call via text the whole weekend. I was so nervous to potty train, but knowing I had Nicole's support was so comforting. Three days later, our kiddo was full potty trained!

Nicole really listened to me and validated my feelings. I had such an easy time breast feeding with…read moremy first child 5 years ago, but my second child has been a challenge, due to reflux. She provided me with tips and tricks that have turned things around in our Brest feeding journey. She also reminded me of things I'd forgotten about pumping and corrected misinformation that I'd received in the past. I feel so much less anxious and more confident, as we continue along.