The GentleBirth certification requirements include a book review. This will be submitted at the end of your training and will be on the new GentleBirth book. There is no requirement to submit your review to Amazon.

Download your copy today.

Being a key part of our approach regular use of the GentleBirth app is required. Instructors will demo use of the App in your classes. Please be prepared to share evidence of your ongoing mindfulness practice as part of your final certification paperwork.

Lesson Summary

The GentleBirth certification requires reading the new GentleBirth book and submitting a book review by the end of training (no need to submit to Amazon). The book, authored by midwife Tracy Donegan, focuses on empowering parents for a positive birth and employs brain science-based techniques across pregnancy, labor, and parenting for emotional resilience and confidence.

Key topics covered include:

• Mindset and Mental Preparation: Shifting from fear-based expectations to a growth mindset using mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and hypnosis training. Emphasis is on positive visualization, managing negative thoughts ("birth bullies"), and stress transformation (challenge response vs. fight/flight).
• Brain Function in Pregnancy and Birth: Describes brain plasticity in pregnancy, the role of oxytocin and endorphins, and how emotional states affect labor pain and outcomes. Explains mental focus training, the "mental meerkat" (amygdala), and managing the balance between upstairs (rational) and downstairs (emotional) brain functions.
• Meditation & Mindfulness: Benefits for emotional regulation, stress reduction, and improved physical outcomes. Introduces practices like STOP technique and loving kindness meditation to cultivate compassion and resilience.
• Physical Preparation: Pelvic floor health and exercises for better labor and postpartum recovery. Perineal massage and labor positioning advice to minimize trauma and optimize baby’s position for birth.
• Labor and Birth: Detailed guidance on labor signs, the flow of labor, timing for hospital transfer (recommended around 4cm dilation), breathing techniques, coping strategies with and without medication, and managing unexpected situations like emergency or roadside births.
• Birth Planning and Informed Decision Making: Emphasizes birth preferences and priorities, preparing for variations (VBAC, induction, cesarean), and advocates for mother-centered care and active involvement in decision-making using tools like the BRAIN method.
• Postpartum, Baby, and Breastfeeding: Mindset’s impact on breastfeeding success, tips for mindful mothering, calming techniques for newborns (The 5 Ss and Cuddle Cure), adjustment to parenthood, managing postpartum depression, and support for paternal postpartum depression.
• GentleBirth Training for Professionals: A comprehensive childbirth education program focusing on emotional resilience for parents and birth professionals through brain training, CBT, mindfulness, sports psychology, and hypnosis to create calm, confident births and parenting experiences.

Additional features and resources:

• The GentleBirth App offers daily, personalized brain training throughout pregnancy and postpartum with meditations, affirmations, hypnosis, and mindfulness exercises.
• Research backing emphasizes reduced cesarean rates, epidural use, shorter labor, and positive birth outcomes through brain-based birth preparation.
• GentleBirth Instructor training includes certification exams, ongoing support and aims to equip professionals to teach innovative childbirth education.

Overall, GentleBirth empowers parents to rethink birth and parenting through neuroscience, mindfulness, and positive psychology to foster calm, confidence, and control throughout the perinatal journey and beyond.