ICEA childbirth educator information?

[IHeartPeds87]

I am on the website for the ICEA childbirth educator certification, and I have many questions.

Approximately how long does it take to become a childbirth educator? I know it varies, but on average?

Do you recommend ICEA childbirth educator classles? How do these vary from the Lamaze classes?

The website says that in order to get certified, you need to attend atleast 1-2 births. How do you go about setting that up?

Can prenursing students do this?

Would this be beneficial for an aspiring LDRP nurse?

Thanks for any and all information you might have!!!!

[Amparo Pagan Titmus, MSN, RN]

you're double dipping :)

Most childbirth educators are already nurses. Duration of training can vary on what program you select and how aggressively you pursue it. Most of your questions can be answered by the prospective programs. It's sort of like shopping for a nursing school. Look around and see which one suits you. Meaning your goals, your own views and philosophy.

[PfB teri]

I am more familiar with Lamaze steps to certification. It seems that most hospital id for either Lamaze or ICEA certification, as they have been around for awhile and are established.

For Lamaze if you are brand new (never taught childbirth classes) the easiest way is to attend a seminar and then set up a practice teaching session and purchase/work through the study guide and take the exam. Takes most people 7 - 8 months.

I run one of the programs and am happy to answer any questions!

Teri

PS I know our seminar awards 20 nursing contact hours if that would be helpful

[Noelani]

When I was considering certification last year, I decided to take both ICEA and Lamaze childbirth educator seminars. At the time, I wasn't sure what the differences were between the two and considered getting certified for both. After attending both seminars, I decided to just get certified with Lamaze. They are both WONDERFUL groups with admirable goals, but I found that Lamaze suited me a bit more than ICEA.

If you want to teach in a hospital setting, you should call around to the hospitals in your area to see if they have a required certifying organization. Most of the ones in my area require you to have Lamaze, but some will accept either Lamaze or ICEA. If you want to teach in the community, you can teach any method you like, and browsing the organizations' websites can help you find one that fits with your beliefs. They are all a little different. Here's a few links of some of the ones I've heard of:

http://www.lamaze.org/

http://icea.org/

http://www.bradleybirth.com/

http://www.hypnobirthing.com/

http://www.cappa.net/

http://www.birthworks.org/site/

For Lamaze, I had to attend a Lamaze childbirth educator seminar, document practice teaching experience, and take the certification exam. There are seminars all over the country, some even outside the country. How long it takes just depends on how quickly you can get practice teaching experience and work through the study guide. I was in nursing school at the time and took a little longer, but most of the people from my seminar took the exam about 7 months after taking the seminar.

And although most of the hospital childbirth educators are probably already nurses, and some hospitals require you to also be a nurse to be a childbirth educator, most of the educators I've met that teach privately are not nurses. Good luck!