Birth Partner Course Online

What you’ll learn in the Online Birth Partner Course

Everything is available immediately. You can work through the lessons at your own pace during pregnancy and come back to the practical sections whenever you need them.

1. Understand your role before labour begins

Being a birth partner starts before contractions do.

You’ll look at what useful support actually involves, what is worth discussing together during pregnancy and how preparation changes what you’re able to do once labour begins.

You’ll also understand the limits of your role. You aren’t there to make decisions for your partner or take responsibility for clinical care. You are there to know your partner, support them and help them stay involved in what is happening.

2. Know what to do as labour changes

Labour changes, and the support someone wants can change with it.

You’ll learn what you might notice as labour progresses and what those changes can mean for your role.

We cover early labour, established labour, transition and the birth itself, including what to do when your partner can’t tell you what they need.

You’ll also have a practical troubleshooting process for those moments when you’re thinking, I don’t know what to do now.

3. Learn hands-on ways to support labour

You’ll learn how to use your hands, body and breath to provide physical support without exhausting yourself.

We cover:

• helping your partner move and change position
• touch and massage
• counterpressure and hip squeezes
• stronger holds and ways to use your bodyweight
• hands-on approaches to releasing tension and creating space
• using a rebozo or scarf
• breathing alongside your partner

You’ll learn how to do these things, when they might be useful and how to respond when something that was helping suddenly isn’t wanted anymore.

4. Know what to say when labour gets difficult

Birth support isn’t about memorising encouraging phrases.

You’ll learn how to communicate when your partner has very little attention available for conversation, what can help when they’re frightened or overwhelmed, and how to respond when they say, “I can’t do this.”

We’ll also look at what happens when they can’t tell you what they need, how to avoid overwhelming them with choices and when doing less may be more useful.

And because labour can be long, you’ll learn how to look after your own basic needs without disappearing when your partner needs you.

5. Support decisions and changes to the birth plan

You may be beside your partner when recommendations are being discussed, unfamiliar information is coming quickly or the birth you prepared for begins to change.

You’ll learn how to use BRAINS to explore options, ask useful questions and help your partner stay involved in decisions about their care.

You’ll also learn what your role can look like during:

• induction and augmentation
• monitoring and other interventions
• instrumental birth
• caesarean birth
• unexpected changes and urgent situations

You won’t be making clinical decisions. You’ll understand enough to follow what is happening, help your partner get the information they need and continue supporting them as circumstances change.

6. Keep supporting after your baby is born

Your role continues after the birth.

We’ll cover the first hour or two, skin-to-skin, feeding, physical recovery and the practical support that can make the first days easier.

You’ll look at visitors, household jobs and how to create genuine opportunities for recovery rather than leaving your partner to organise the support around them.

We’ll also talk about births that don’t feel okay afterwards: how to listen without minimising what happened, how to help your partner understand events if they want to, and when further support may be useful.

And there’s a lesson about your mental health too.

Dads and other birth partners can struggle after becoming a parent, whether that’s connected to the birth itself or to everything that comes afterwards. You’ll learn what that can look like and when to ask for support.

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Practical birth partner skills you can come back to

You don’t have to complete the course once and remember everything.

Come back to the physical support lessons and practise together before labour. Revisit counterpressure. Try the positions. Work out how to use your body without exhausting your hands and back. Practise breathing together.

If induction becomes part of your plans, return to that lesson.

If you’re preparing for a caesarean, revisit the caesarean section.

If you’re approaching the due date and can’t remember what happens during transition, read it again.

You have 12 months’ access, so the course is there throughout pregnancy, birth and the early months with your baby.

Twice-monthly Birth Partner Q&A

As part of the course, you can submit your birth partner questions for my twice-monthly Birth Partner Q&A.

I answer questions in batches and add useful answers to the course, giving you somewhere to ask about the things that come up while you’re preparing.

The Q&A isn’t for individual medical advice, but it gives you direct access to ask about birth preparation, your role and the things you’re still trying to understand.