The Three Pillars of a Childbirth Educator
What is a Childbirth Educator (CBE)?
Why would someone be certified in teaching of childbirth?
Don’t people give birth every day, all over the world?
Well, yes! People do give birth all the time, in all parts of the world.
At home, in hospitals, in birth centers, and sometimes cars, or even on planes.
So why should we be educated about it?
Because the landscape of giving birth has dramatically changed. How we once birthed before the introduction of medicine and the field of obstetrics, is vastly different than how we give birth now.
Navigating the new landscape of giving birth in hospital, in a birthing center, or at home, can be overwhelming in the thick of labour. Learning about giving birth and parenting BEFORE having a baby, best prepares pregnant people and their families.
Don’t get me wrong. Of course there are people, doctors and midwives, who are trained to deliver babies and look out for the health and safety of people giving birth.
There are also people, like surgeons and nurses, who attend birth related medical emergencies. They are responsible for the lives and health of both baby and birthing person in life and death situations.
However, people trained to attend the birth of babies, and birth related emergencies, aren’t in a position to be teaching YOU about what’s going on.
Have to heard of the term breech?
Do you know what an epidural is?
When was the last time you saw a live birth of a baby?
Can you guess what an APGAR score measures?
Not to worry if you have no clue how to answer the questions above.
This is where a Childbirth Educator comes in!
Perinatal Education
Childbirth educators (CBE) are also known as Perinatal Educators.
The term ‘perinatal’ encompasses the time period both before and after birth, not just the time of delivery.
This is why the term ‘Perinatal Educators’ is also used, as childbirth education covers much more than just the time you are delivering your baby.
Birth is an all encompassing event that includes both preparation before (pregnancy), birth (labour & delivery), and the recovery period (postpartum).
A CBE is someone who provides education about pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and early parenthood to pregnant people, their partners and/or family members. They educate by providing information via in-person classes, online sessions, private one-on-one workshops and many other forms.
CBE’s are certified in providing education to adults and young adults in a meaningful and engaging way. Meeting their client’s education goals is their top priority.
But a CBE is more than just an information provider.
Here are the three pillars of the multi-faceted roll that CBE’s uphold in perinatal education:
1. Teacher
First and foremost, a CBE takes on the roll of teacher. They provide information about physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and early parenthood.
Everything from what to expect during each trimester, to practicing coping techniques with a partner, a CBE will encourage both theory based and hands-on learning to appeal to all types of students.
Topics normally covered in childbirth or perinatal education include:
Labour & Birth
Coping strategies for labour
Informed Consent
Postpartum & Recovery
Caring for a Newborn
Feeding a Newborn
Parental Transition
Essentially, a CBE teaches coping skills for all aspects of birth and parenting. They will teach their students how to cope with labour, how to cope with caring for a newborn, and how to cope in the early days of postpartum recovery.
A CBE will also support and facilitate the understanding of perinatal education and its value to all parents.
2. Birth Leader
We sometimes associate the term ‘leader’, as someone who leads others, by example, has the ability to inspire people, and influence others.
As a birth leader a CBE will:
Lead by example
Be a reliable and predictable source of unbiased information
Effectively communicate with parents and clients
Empower expectant parents
A CBE who is a true birth leader will also understand their own strengths and weaknesses. They refer parents to subject matter experts, like lactation consultants, when their own depth of knowledge is exceeded in a certain topic.
Parents should feel they can trust their CBE to be a reliable and predictable source of information. And they should not feel threatened by asking further questions, or needing clarification on any birth or parenting related topic.
As a leader, a CBE will want all parents to feel comfortable and satisfied with their learning outcomes. They engage and effectively dialogue with parents and clients to ensure all learning objectives are met.
3. Advocate
To summarize advocacy, it is the promotion of interests, a cause of someone, or a group of people. It is also about helping people find their voice. A CBE is an advocate for birthing people, infants, and their families. This means a CBE helps people find their voices.
How do they do this?
A CBE presents accurate and complete unbiased information that helps support parents in their decision making. Helping parents make the best possible decision for themselves and their families is how a CBE advocates for their clients.
Think of your CBE as your personal advocate in your preparation for birth and parenthood.
They provide you insight from a knowledge base of non-biased information and research to help you prepare for birth and parenthood. This means there are no biased one-sized-fits-all recommendations. Only the opportunity to choose how you want to approach your birth and parenting journeys.
Birth Analogy: Climbing Mount Everest
I like to explain the importance of childbirth education as essential preparation for birth and parenthood with an analogy.
My analogy is this:
Imagine you are climbing Mount Everest. The tallest mountain on Earth. You haven’t prepared much for the climb, but you did decide to hire yourself a guide. You’ve read some books on climbing the mountain, what to expect, sort of, and packed your climbing gear. You’re all set!
When you get to the mountain, the guide tells you they’re going to teach you about the risks of climbing at high altitudes while you’re climbing your way up. They’re also going to teach you the benefits and risks of climbing with oxygen tanks.
When you get about half-way up the mountain, approaching the summit, someone in your group begins to develop altitude sickness and needs supplemental oxygen.
What do you do?
Were you listening to the guide explain the risks of climbing at high altitudes?
Did you ask questions about what you didn’t understand?
Were you prepared for someone in your group to need oxygen?
Did you make an informed decision about bringing oxygen tanks with you?
Do you feel scared?
Do you feel in control of the situation?
If you were taught the benefits and risks before you started climbing the mountain, reflected about how you feel about climbing with our without oxygen, and made decisions about what to do in certain situations in case oxygen was needed, would you not feel more in control?
Learning about labour while you’re in labour is difficult. The ability to focus on staying calm and present in your birth shouldn’t be compromised by the unknowns you could have prepared for. Education before birth is essential.
Why is childbirth education so important?
Although some people may disagree, birth education is a right. All people giving birth have a right to informed choice, and informed consent. It’s actually the law.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen all the time.
When people are coping with labour, the last thing on their mind is to try and learn something new about birth, or anything for that matter. They are solely focused on labour, their body, their contractions, and maintaining a level of comfort.
They are solely focused on climbing their Mount Everest – giving birth.
And everyone climbing that mountain should be as prepared as possible.
So to prevent being caught off guard in labour, or in early parenthood, childbirth education is a tool to best prepare yourself for what to expect and how to cope with what can happen.
Childbirth education will prepare you by developing essential life skills for birth and parenthood.
Your learning will equip you with the skills to navigate birth and parenthood as an empowered and informed individual.
For information about the topics covered in my Childbirth Education offering, Click Here.
REFERENCES:
Mayo Clinic. “Childbirth Classes: Get Ready for Labor and Delivery.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic. March 04, 2022. Web.
Lohthian, Judith. PHD, RN, LCCE, FACCE, FAAN. “Does Childbirth Education Make a Difference?” The Journal of Perinatal Education. Lamaze International. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6265608/. March 04, 2022.
International Childbirth Education Association. “Role and Scope of the Childbirth Educator.” International Childbirth Education Association. https://icea.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Role_Scope_CBE_PP.pdf. March 04, 2022.
