How Childbirth International's Online Training Format Works

Childbirth International (CBI) delivers all of its birth and lactation training fully online, with no fixed deadlines and no required login times. You work through course material at your own pace, from anywhere, and keep access to a trainer for support for as long as you need it. That format suits people who are fitting study around a job, family, or shift work — and it is a poor fit if you want live classes, a cohort schedule, or in-person skills practice.

What "fully online" actually means here

CBI describes its model as "training without boundaries." In practice, that means:

• No fixed schedule. There are no set class times and no completion deadline. You decide when and how fast to move through the material.
• Any location. Study from home, a café, or in transit. CBI states you can use its mobile app to study on a commute.
• Continuous trainer support. You have access to a trainer throughout your study period, not just during a fixed term.
• Flexible assignment formats. You choose how you submit assignments from a range of accepted formats, rather than being locked into one submission type.

The site reports 11,000+ students, learners in 142 countries, and 27 years of online training experience — useful context for judging whether a distance-only model has held up over time.

The courses this format applies to

The same online structure covers all four certification tracks:

CBI also lists Professional Development courses alongside these four certification tracks.

Cost structure and payment

Two details matter for planning:

• All-inclusive course costs. CBI states course costs are all-inclusive and that you will never be asked to recertify or pay for membership. If avoiding recurring fees matters to you, that is a concrete difference from programs that charge renewal or membership dues.
• Two payment routes. You can pay in one payment or spread it across a five-month payment plan. CBI publishes separate pages for Payments & Payment Plans and Payment Plan Terms — read the terms page before committing, since plan conditions are set out there rather than in the general course description.

The site does not publish specific prices in the material available here, so check the payment pages for current figures.

How to judge whether it fits you

It likely fits if you:

• Need to study around irregular hours or a full-time job
• Want to start immediately rather than wait for a term to begin
• Prefer written and self-directed learning over live video sessions
• Want to avoid recertification or membership fees

It likely does not fit if you:

• Learn best in live, scheduled classes with peers
• Want in-person, hands-on practice as part of certification
• Need a hard deadline to stay motivated — the open-ended timeline that helps some learners can stall others

A realistic way to test the format before buying

Pick one week and block out the times you would actually study — for example, 30 minutes on two commutes plus one hour on a weekend morning. Then check two things on CBI's site: whether the assignment formats accepted for your chosen course match how you prefer to work, and what the payment plan terms require of you month to month. If those two answers line up with the week you just sketched, the self-paced model is likely workable for you.