If you or someone close to you is expecting a baby, spend a few hours with this free course! You won’t regret it.
This is definitely a short course. It is definitely about breastfeeding. But Stanford? Yes, Stanford is the producer of the course and doubtless Stanford loaded the videos onto the Coursera platform, but the professional-quality videos are created by the Digital Medical Education International Collaborative in South Africa (Digital MEdIC SA). Not that this is a criticism, just a slight surprise. The lecturer named on the course page is medical doctor and Stanford lecturer Maya Adam who has brought several courses to Coursera. Dr Adam is also the faculty lead for Digital MEdIC South Africa. In this course, she has small parts speaking as a mother rather than a lecturer. Other capable presenters bring the material to life.
Time Commitment
Stanford’s Short Course on Breastfeeding is presented as a one-week course, with a recommendation of 7 hours work. I felt this was a generous time estimate. There were nine videos to watch, distributed over six sections. Each section had a few practice quiz questions and some also had a discussion topic. Participation in the discussions was recommended but not compulsory for a course grade. At the end was a twelve-question multiple choice quiz which comprised the only assessment for the course. A Certificate is available for a lower price than many other Coursera certificates.
The information was well explained for mothers and supporters. Supporters could be health workers, family members, or friends of the mother.
The nine short videos took a total of 30 minutes to watch at normal speed. Since I watch most videos at 1.5X or 2X speed, this time was even shorter, although it was pleasant to view some at the normal leisurely speed to enjoy the happy atmosphere. The educators clearly have both a commitment to breastfeeding and abundant knowledge about its value and process.
Students could spend more time reading through the discussions and composing their own posts. There was good participation in the recommended discussion topics in the run I took, although there were few other threads. Separate discussion topics were suggested for mothers and their supporters.
Plenty of Information
Although the videos only totalled 30 minutes, there was plenty of information. The basics of how lactation works, the benefits of breastfeeding, how to deal with challenges that may crop up in the early days, and tips for working mothers are all covered. Breastfeeding mothers may worry that their baby is not getting enough milk, and the signs of sufficient milk supply are described.
One video deals with the issue of bottle feeding and shows how formula companies convinced generations of mothers that their products were just as good as (or better than) the milk produced naturally for thousands of years. Even though the course encourages breastfeeding, it has a non-judgmental attitude and some useful information for those who are not able to breastfeed.
“A mother who’s doing the best she can with the resources available to her is the best possible mother in the world for her child.”
One Potential Improvement
I would have liked to see a bit more information about dealing with possible problems, or at least some mention of where to turn if problems appear. Neonatal clinics, specialist Lactation Consultants, and voluntary support groups are available in many countries.
A Final Thought
Although the body naturally produces milk after birth, the mother and baby both need to learn how to most easily breastfeed.
By Pat Bowden, published June 12, 2018.
