What Training and Certification Courses Does Childbirth International Offer?

Updated

Childbirth International (CBI) offers four core certification tracks—Birth Doula, Lactation Counselor, Postpartum Doula, and Childbirth Educator—plus a Professional Development category for continuing education. All are online courses you complete at your own pace, with trainer support and assignment feedback. If you are choosing a direction to enter the birth and lactation field, the four certifications map to distinct roles, so the right pick depends on which families and which stage of the perinatal period you want to support.

The four certification tracks

Course Role it prepares you for Who you support
Birth Doula Training Birth doula Families during pregnancy, labor, and birth
Lactation Counselor Training Lactation counselor Parents working through infant feeding and breastfeeding
Childbirth Educator Training Childbirth educator Groups or individuals preparing for birth
Postpartum Doula Training Postpartum doula Families in the weeks after birth

Each course page carries the detailed content for that direction, so compare them side by side before committing.

How to choose between them

  • Choose Birth Doula if you want to be present through labor and birth itself.
  • Choose Postpartum Doula if your interest is the recovery period—newborn care, parent rest, and household adjustment after birth.
  • Choose Lactation Counselor if feeding support is the part of the work you find most compelling.
  • Choose Childbirth Educator if you would rather teach preparation and decision-making than attend births one-to-one.

These are not mutually exclusive over a career; many professionals add a second certification later. But for a first credential, pick the role you can picture yourself doing weekly.

Professional Development

Beyond the four certifications, CBI lists a Professional Development category. This is for existing professionals adding skills rather than entering the field for the first time. If you already hold a certification and want targeted further training, start here rather than with a full certification course.

How the training is delivered

  • Fully online and self-paced. CBI states you can study from anywhere at a time that works for you, including via a mobile app, and take as long as you need.
  • Trainer support throughout. You have access to a trainer for the duration, not just at the end.
  • Assignment format flexibility. You can submit assignments in a variety of formats.
  • Personalized feedback. CBI describes a hands-on approach with personalized feedback; one birth doula student, Chantelle, noted that this feedback and the provided resources eased her anxiety about entering a new field.
  • No recertification or membership fees. CBI states course costs are all-inclusive and that you will never be asked to recertify or pay for membership.

Cost and payment

CBI's site indicates you can pay in one payment or spread it across a five-month payment plan, with dedicated pages for Payments & Payment Plans and Payment Plan Terms. Check those pages for current figures and the conditions attached to the plan—the site does not state amounts in the material available here, so confirm before enrolling.

Scale and track record

CBI reports 11,000+ students, learners in 142 countries, and 27 years of online training experience. These figures are useful mainly as a signal that the online format is well established rather than new.

What to do next

  1. Read the four course pages and note which role matches your goals.
  2. Review the payment plan terms if you intend to spread the cost.
  3. Confirm the time commitment and assignment requirements for your chosen track before enrolling, since CBI allows you to take as long as you need but you will still be working through graded assignments.

If you are still deciding whether CBI is the right provider at all, the four-track structure and the no-recertification, no-membership model are the two features most worth weighing against other programs.