Childbirth International (CBI)

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Childbirth International (CBI)

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Childbirth International provides comprehensive online training for today's informed birth and lactation professional CBI was born in 1998.

We wanted to provide birth and lactation professionals with the tools they needed to help clients define their own path. We wanted to provide training that was consistent, comprehensive, and culturally respectful. The first courses we launched were Birth Doula and Childbirth Educator. We began teaching these face to face in 1998 (as Parentlink, Singapore), and then started providing distance training from 1999. In 2008 we launched the Postpartum Doula and Lactation Counselor courses. In 2009 we launched the Business of Birth course. The past year has seen us seen us significantly increasing our focus on social media and launching our new website. We have been updating all of our course materials with the most recent research and responding to our student requests to include more topics. We gave the Business of Birth module a facelift and included it in all our training and certification programs. We have added the option to purchase gift cards so your loved ones can give the gift of training (in full or part) to you. We also added the Business of Birth module as a standalone course option for those who are not CBI students but would like to develop their business. Students can now choose business mentoring to guide you through the Business of Birth module, and can have private mentoring of up to four hours to guide you through challenging problems. We continue to work on our Advanced Birth Doula course which will be available later in the year. Our philosophy has remained consistent. We now provide training for birth and postpartum doulas, childbirth educators and lactation counselors. We remain true to the belief that training should be flexible, without time limits, or rules telling you who you can and cannot work with, or what you should charge.

12/10/2026

Do you love learning, connecting with your community, and meeting new people? Birth work might be for you! Madelaine, a recent Birth Doula graduate shared how the combination of different presentations in our learning materials helped her to really absorb the information and help it sink in.

“I really loved the combination of the textbook reading, videos, message boards, and assignments. It felt like I was able to have enough variety to allow the information to sink in.” Madelaine W. Birth Doula

10/10/2026

What can the menstrual cycle tell us about mental health?

A recent study looked at the relationship between the menstrual cycle and suicidality and self-harm ideation, finding that there is a cyclical increase in these factors among people who experience premenstrual disorders (PMDs). The overall research sample is still rather limited, though. Severity was found to peak in the late luteal phase, improve once their period started, and return around the time of ovulation. The researchers also found that factors including social support, life stressors, childhood adversity, psychiatric comorbidities, and baseline su***de risk influenced these patterns.

So, what does this mean for birth & lactation professionals?

This study can serve as a reminder to stay curious rather than making assumptions about what our clients are experiencing. Mental health experiences can be complex, change over time, and be shaped by biology and social context.

For postpartum families, another important consideration is that the menstrual cycle may not return immediately after birth, particularly while lactation is ongoing. So this research should not be interpreted as evidence that postpartum mental health symptoms follow the same pattern.

Instead, let it prompt us to keep asking better questions:

What is this person experiencing?
What patterns are they noticing?
What support do they have?
And what might they need from us — or from another member of their care team?

Article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2026.107949

06/10/2026

Research matters, but evidence-informed care is bigger than a research paper. It includes the best available evidence and clinical expertise, individual circumstances, values, preferences, and goals.

CBI's approach to evidence-informed care reflects this distinction: research is an essential part of professional knowledge, but it needs to be communicated in a way that supports individual decision-making. It is important in pregnancy, birth, and lactation, but especially so when the evidence is uncertain.

A 2025 review of interventions intended to reduce psychological birth trauma, for example, found research involving antenatal education, psychological interventions, CBT, and continuous supportive care — but only 11 studies involving 871 women met the review's inclusion criteria, with no clear definition of which interventions were most effective in reducing psychological birth trauma.

Sometimes the most honest evidence-informed answer is “We don't know yet.” And that's okay.

We don't need to have all the answers! Instead, we can focus on building the skills we need to find trustworthy evidence, communicate uncertainty, recognize the boundaries and limitations of our role, and support our clients in making informed choices.

Find the study here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2025.104473

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2025.104473

02/10/2026

As we move into a month of heavier topics, at a time when demands on our time, emotional bandwidth, and nervous system tend to increase, it’s worth pausing to check in with ourselves, too.

Save this for a day when you need a reminder.

25/09/2026

Perimenopause is something more and more women are becoming aware of as they reach their late thirties and early forties. It is the period of about 2-8 years before menopause, where hormones are shifting, bodies are changing, and women are often in the middle of their parenting journey and hitting the height of their careers. There’s often little time left for the recommended weekly 150+ minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise, which is where this recent study comes in. It evaluated the impact of High-Impact Interval Training as an avenue of pursuing and maintaining physical activity for the busy perimenopausal person. While more studies are needed, there is room for scalability with at-home bodyweight exercises being an option, and many videos available online to see if it appeals before seeking a specific program or trainer to continue one’s fitness journey.

What’s your favorite way to promote activity and movement in your day?

Read the article here: https://doi.org/10.1515/teb-2026-0010

21/09/2026

Your birth work doesn't have to look like anyone else's. You can build a business around the way you want to work, the communities you want to serve, and the life you want to create.

That might mean full-time doula work. Or it might mean teaching alongside another career, working with a small number of families, building a team, working independently, offering sliding-scale services, or creating a community-based model.

The goal is sustainability - physically, financially, and emotionally sustainable work you can do as long as it meets your needs. Sustainable doesn't have to mean “bigger.” It means creating something that works for you and the people you serve. Your values belong in your business plan.

What is one value you want your birth business to reflect?

18/09/2026

Birth is one day. Postpartum is a transition. And yet, so much of our preparation focuses on the hours leading up to birth rather than the weeks and months that follow.

New parents may be navigating feeding, sleep deprivation, physical recovery, changing relationships, identity shifts, unexpected emotions, and the enormous learning curve of caring for a new baby.

Postpartum support isn't about telling someone how to parent. It's about listening. Offering practical support. Sharing evidence-informed information. Recognizing when someone needs more help. Respecting culture, values, choices, and boundaries. How we communicate with our clients and families is as important as how we show up for them in their time of need.

Sometimes the most valuable thing we can say is simply: “You don't have to do this alone.”

What kind of postpartum support made a difference to you, or what support do you wish you'd had?

15/09/2026

Learning to support families should be possible wherever you are.

For more than 20 years, Childbirth International has been training birth professionals through online education, making high-quality learning accessible to students around the world.

Online learning offers something valuable for birth professionals: flexibility.

You can study around work, family, caregiving, and the realities of your own life. You can revisit lessons, take time to reflect, connect with a global community of fellow students, and build your knowledge without putting everything else on hold.

Online learning isn't simply about convenience. At CBI, education is about developing the knowledge, critical thinking, communication skills, and confidence to support families with respect and care. It's about learning to engage with evidence, question assumptions, understand different perspectives, and continue growing throughout your career. Whether you're beginning your journey into birth work or looking to deepen your existing knowledge, your education can be the foundation for meaningful, sustainable work with families.

Ready to learn with us? Explore Childbirth International and discover where your learning journey could take you.

12/09/2026

“I enjoyed how comprehensive and informative the training was. I especially appreciated learning practical ways to support birthing people physically and emotionally throughout pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum. I feel much more confident and prepared to support families as a birth doula. I enjoyed every aspect of learning through CBI, I truly believe it was the best decision that I could have made when choosing a path to becoming a labor doula.” from Tatum P., a recent Birth Doula graduate!

09/09/2026

“Trust in clinical guidelines should also be informed by information on who developed them, how they were developed, and what types of studies and evidence are referenced. Solid clinical decision-making weighs the potential benefits against the potential harms of inaction, draws on evidence from peer-reviewed literature, clinical experience, informed patient consent, and other contextual factors. This ensures that evidence is not merely read, but assessed and interpreted, allowing practitioners to apply evidence responsibly while acknowledging inherent limitations.”

How can we better understand lactation research and how studies are designed when we’re assessing resources to share with our clients, colleagues, peers, and community? A recent article by the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) describes different elements of study design, including primary versus secondary research, observational versus experimental study designs, and what the evidence pyramid is for breastfeeding and human lactation research. Each level of the pyramid is then broken down and outlined for the value it can add to conversations about breast/chestfeeding and lactation, and what some of the downsides are for each level.

You can read more about editorials, case reports, case-control studies, cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and clinical practice guidelines here: https://doi.org/10.1177/08903344251406587

Address

19e Blake Street, Ponsonby
Auckland
1011

Website

http://www.childbirthinternational.com/

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