4 Free Online Newborn Care Classes for First-time Parents-to-be
You are not alone if you have no clue on what to do once you bring your newborn home. There are few free online newborn care classes available, but are they right for you?
Transitioning to parenthood is exciting and you will soon realize that swaddling or soothing a crying infant isn’t something that you have inherited.
Caring for a newborn is scary!!
Sleepless nights, newborn refuses to sleep at night, struggling to keep up with breastfeeding, burping, pumping, baby choking while feeding, changing diapers on demands, and not to mention those postpartum hormones giving you tears!!
I felt like a failure when I had my first one. I thought that everybody around us cheated on us saying that babies are fun. For us, having a baby had been nothing but worry, pain, fatigue, and tears.
Of course, we passed the newborn phase with flying colors and we had another one two years ago. But I realize that a major part of the scary newborn phase is that we didn’t know what to expect in the first few days with our first one.
With our second one, we were mentally and physically prepared and knew what to expect, so it wasn’t too hard on us compared to the first time.
Nothing can better prepare you for your newborn, than getting educated about it. You are here reading this article shows that you have taken the initiative to educate yourself about newborn care. I applaud you for that!!
You came here looking for free online newborn care classes, which is good. But is it worth your time? Does it give you everything that you need to know about newborn care?
Let’s get into this.
Free Newborn Care Classes
While free online newborn care classes sound pretty good, in reality, there aren’t many free in-person or online newborn care classes.
These classes are taught by trained professionals and they do charge money for their time and knowledge.
However, it is still possible to find free newborn care classes in your area. You can search on google and see if anything is available. Or call your local hospital, they may have free newborn care classes. But keep in mind that most of the classes are very basic.
When I had my first baby, the hospital did not offer any in-person childbirth classes or newborn care classes due to budget cuts.
Wait… Have you started Baby Memory Book yet??
You may be feeling overwhelmed now with your newborn but trust me before you know it you will be celebrating the first birthday of your bundle of joy. Time flies quickly!! But one way to keep these priceless memories alive is by documenting them in this adorable, gender-neutral Baby book. I promise this 49 pages of the printable Baby journal is nothing too complicated – just fill it out once a week kind of journal with tons of space for baby’s pictures, month-to-month milestones, and birthdays.
4 Free Online Newborn Care Classes
In today’s age, many parents-to-be prefer online classes for the ease of learning at home. There are a few options available for free online newborn care classes. Let’s look at those and see whether they are worth your time.
1. Kaiser Permanemte
Kaiser Permanente is a health care company and they have video and textbases content on newborn care. They cover few topics but very basic – how to bond with your baby – how to soothe a baby – how to feed your baby. T
hey also have information about common newborn conditions and dealing with the baby blue.
Pros: Free
Cons: Information is very basic. It does not have any information on how to swaddle or diaper a baby or information on how to care for the cord.
2. Evergreen Health
Evergreen Health is a really good resource if you are only looking for only a few topics about newborn care. Evergreen healthy is the Washington state hospital system’s video library. The library has many videos to help out new moms on how to bathe a baby and soothe a crying infant.
This library also has information on how to breastfeed and offers tips on pumping and maximizing milk production. You will also find videos on how to ease postnatal pain due to gas, an incision, or at the perineum.
Pros: Free. It is good for someone who just wants to learn about a few topics related to newborn care.
Cons: Very limited information about newborn care. No systematic approach to the class. Not for the first-time mom-to-be as it does not cover a range of everyday care topics like feeding to sleeping to grooming to adjusting to new family dynamics.
3. Birth and Babies
Birth and Babies is Alberta Health service’s perinatal education program. This is a very comprehensive text-based class on newborn care. It covers topics from- getting to know your baby- to caring for babies – to common infant concerns – to feeding babies – to feeding challenges.
Topics are in detail and give you a lot of information about newborn care.
Although this class is very detailed, it is important to note that there is a lot of reading material.
This class is not for you if you are hoping to simply listen rather than reading.
Pros: Free. If you are someone who can learn from reading and visualizing then this is a great free course for you.
Cons: Lots of reading material. They do not have any information on essential baby gear. However, they do offer 30 paid courses that cover everything you need to know about newborn care.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn commission on qualified purchases at no extra cost to you.
4. The Baby Manual
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, our life has changed drastically. Staying at home specifically for pregnant moms is important as they are immunocompromised, making them more at risk for developing complications related to Coronavirus.
In this difficult situation, to support parents preparing to give birth during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Baby Manual is offering its virtual ‘Complete Baby Care Course for New Parents’ for free.
This award-winning online video series -taught by a medical professional and industry experts and real parents- provides everything that you need to know about caring for your baby.
This is your best bet at free online newborn care classes. This video series covers safety, nutrition, diapering, baby gear, and a range of everyday topics. From sleeping to feeding to grooming to infant basic CPR to reducing crying and a lot more in great detail.
The Baby Manual™ Complete Guide includes:
- Baby Care Class
- Breastfeeding Class
- Basic Infant CPR Class
- Infant Sleep Class
- Adjusting to Parenthood Class
This is a limited-time free offer and you have access to this online course for ONLY 1 Month after you sign up with them.
Pros: Free due to COVID-19 pandemic. (course sells for $59.99 regular)
Cons: Limited time offer. You only have access to the online courses for one month.
Sign up here: The Baby Manual Parent empowerment program
UPDATE July 5 2020: This free program has been discontinued. Still, the best course out there for fraction of the cost compared to other courses available.
When Should I Take My Newborn Classes?
You can take newborn classes anytime before you go into labor. Ideally, you should take a newborn care class around 6 or 7 months of your pregnancy. Registering earlier will give you more flexibility to go through the content or repeat it inf you need to.
Is Free Online Newborn Class right for you?
The purpose of taking an online newborn class is to equip yourself with the knowledge and confidence you need to take care of your precious little one.
The more you educate yourself about it, the more empowered you feel when you actually have a little one in your hands.
That being said, free online classes do have information that you can learn and put into practice.
Free classes are not the most comprehensive and they do have gaps. If you are on a tight budget and want to learn information in pieces, a free online Newborn care class is right for you.
But if you really want to take a structured class on newborn care, I have a great option for you. It’s not free, but super affordable with the amount of information you can walk away with.
NEWBORN BASICS 101 by Mommy Labor Nurse
It’s not free but if you are looking for online baby care classes, I can’t recommend the Newborn Basics 101 class enough.
A labor and delivery nurse, Liesel Teen has launched a new course NEWBORN BASICS 101 in addition to her high in demand online childbirth classes – Natural series and Epidural series– for first-time parents looking to gain education about what to expect when bringing baby home!
This Newborn Basics 101 class is 8 video-based lessons to get you totally ready to care for your newborn, all from the comfort of your home.
This course is very comprehensive, and includes live demonstration with newborn and covers the following topics,
- Baby Gear and Home Essentials
- Newborn Characteristics/Normalities
- Tummy Time
- Breastfeeding
- Formula Feeding
- Burps, Gas, Spit-Up, Reflux & Dairy Allergies
- Diapering
- Bathing & Skin Care
- Cord Care
- Circumcision Care
- Newborn Sleep
- Crying, Pacifiers & Colic
- Illness, Fevers & Colds
- Safety/Shaken Baby Syndrome
- Car Seat Safety
- Postpartum – Your Body Changes
- Adjusting to A New Normal – Parenthood Challenges
- Introducing Siblings
The course covers everything you need to know before bringing your baby home so you can fearlessly begin your first step into motherhood. The course was released on May 1 and already making buzz on Instagram. The course creator is offering 30 days 100% money-back guarantee, there is really no risk to purchasing at all.
If you still haven’t decided about your childbirth class, I highly recommend taking this most comprehensive and super affordable Birth It Up! Prenatal class series.
Final Thoughts
Newborns are a handful until you get accustomed to life with your newborn. There are many challenges when you bring your little bundle of joy home in the beginning. But being prepared for it is what we can do best to take care of newborns.
There is nothing wrong with taking free online newborn care classes if they are all-inclusive, but unfortunately, there are none because these courses are developed by professionals and they do charge money for their time and knowledge.
If you are willing to spend a few dollars for the most comprehensive course on newborn care, I highly recommend taking NEWBORN BASIC 101.
However, do take advantage of the free online newborn care class offered by The Baby Manual for a limited time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
How About You?
Do you know of any free online newborn classes offered anywhere? Please do let us know in a comment so our reader can take advantage of it.
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