To save costs, many cities in Finland only offer birth preparation classes online. The Finnish midwives' association criticises the practice, noting that the lack of courses worries many expectant mothers.
Municipalities are legally required to offer classes for pregnant women—and online classes are becoming a favourite format for meeting this requirement.
Terhi Virtanen of the Finnish midwives' association says she wants to see traditional classes reintroduced across Finland. Net courses should continue, but as an addition to live classes, according to Virtanen.
"You can't ask any questions, nor do you receive any concrete examples," says expecting mother Janna Rahunen, 21, from Nurmijärvi of birth information on the web.
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But some women say they have no problem independently accessing the information they need.
"I read up about birth and there are always TV programmes on the subject," says Riikka Kinnunen, 26, whose first child was recently born.
Today many families find it inconvenient to come to the hospital for a class, when the same information is available online, says Anne Kalvas, who heads the maternity ward at Tampere University Hospital.
"We still offer maternity ward rounds, but the actual coaching has been moved online," she says.
YLE