Our Classes

We are proud to offer

Bringing Baby Home

The OCEA Bringing Baby Home class was developed in 2004, by Erin Shaheen, to fill an information gap for expectant families on the transition to parenting after birth.  With a strong background in mental health counselling, post-partum Doula support and a variety of additional certifications (CPR, Car seat Installation, Breastfeeding counsellor, Infant Sleep Educator, Circle of Security Training, Self-Reg with Stuart Shanker), Erin brought all of this information into a full two day or six evening class.

As our other classes have shifted back to in-person or online, the BBH class remains exclusively online. This has allowed us to present resources, websites and videos, in ways not possible in person. We acknowledge that this also increases inclusivity for those who have barriers to in-person attendance due to transportation limitations, for participants outside the City of Ottawa and for those who may either be on bed rest or are immune compromised.

This is NOT your regular online class! Erin has a Master's in Education specializing in course development and has tailored the content delivery to an online, small-group format. We look forward to having you join the BBH class!

This class welcomes all families including families giving birth to babies, or having babies join through adoption or surrogacy.

We ask that all participants keep their video on throughout the small online class. Like an in-person class, this creates a sense of community and safety. If you prefer not to be seen, we recommend a private one-on-one session with one of our instructors.  Online classes are accessible to anyone across Canada and run over four weekend mornings from 9 am-12 pm or online over six evenings.

Our Bringing Baby Home class is a hands-on parenting class for expectant parents including
  • Choosing daycare and managing the wait list
  • Building your after-birth support system, including filling in service gaps when you do not have a Family Doctor
  • How to decide what items to purchase for life with a baby
  • Basic baby care including bathing, swaddling, and holding the baby
  • The difference between cloth diapers, disposable diapers and diaper service and the diaper loaner program
  • Benefits of babywearing and how to pick baby carriers for ergonomics
  • Infant Feeding and introducing solids
  • What you need to know when purchasing a car seat for your baby
  • Learn how to properly and safely install your car seat
  • How to properly restrain newborns in car seats
  • How to deal with choking
  • Babyproofing: how to make your home safer for your baby
  • Learn the most common cause of injuries and how they can be prevented
  • Where to purchase home safety products

The cost of the class is $200 (CAD) (per couple). 
*A couple is defined as a pregnant person and one support person (which can be a spouse, partner, friend or family member)

Refund Policy: When cancelling a prenatal class after it has been booked there is a $25 (CAD) administration fee. If the cancellation occurs less than 14 days before the class there is a 50% cancellation fee. If it is less than 7 days there is no refund.  Requests for changes within 7 days of class will reflect a $75 fee.  Please remember this when booking classes and plan to finish your session by 35 weeks.

People who took our class had this to say:


We dearly want to support the health of expectant families.

Great class! Would definitely recommend it!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

OCEA’s prenatal course is a wonderful tool to help new parents-to-be feel empowered and prepared for labour and the immediate postpartum period. Michelle is an amazing instructor - she was able to pack so much useful information into 2 days in a way that was digestible and non-judgemental. My partner and I left the class feeling more prepared and ready for this adventure! We highly, highly recommend it!

Pre Natal – with Michelle Morra

Erin was absolutely phenomenal as a course facilitator and her knowledge of all subjects relating to the course was outstanding! She has a casual approach to many baby topics that would otherwise cause great (unnecessary) stress for parents-to-be. The combined experience of having her own family and working with new parents over the years adds an amazing wisdom that was so refreshing to see. It was too bad the course was online as I'm sure it would've been more engaging in person, overall I give it an A+.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

We liked being able to following the course from our home. We also appreciated how flexible and understanding Erin was throughout.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Julia was wonderful. Her voice is both lively and soothing to listen to. She’s also really hilarious. I loved the added bits of humour. She gave many opportunities to ask questions throughout the course. If she isn’t sure about something, she accesses her own resources/network and gets back to you with an answer. As COVID protocols are constantly changing within the healthcare domain (hospitals, birth centres, home births), I thought she was very knowledgeable about the current situation within each place. She was very knowledgeable about the birth process and the postpartum period for the family unit. There were many resources that we could access to facilitate some of the topics within the class that could need more attention either in the prenatal period or postpartum period (I.e infant feeding) which was great!

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

Great class despite changed format

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

It was easy to share questions verbally or in writing, or that you had the opportunity to ask them more privately, before or after the class via text with Julia. It was a nice option that made me feel more at ease.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

The Pre Natal course with Misty was phenomenal, she is beyond knowledgeable and research-based which made the learning unbiased and to the point. She answered every question and I feel much more prepared for birth than I thought was possible. Amazing experience!!!

Pre Natal – with Misty Pratt

We really enjoyed Erin's class! Her style of teaching was really engaging and a nice departure from presentation-heavy classes. We also loved the interactive parts to try on our own baby wearing items, learning to swaddle, and getting to know the carseat. Great class!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

We thought Lilly was wonderful!! She kept the course engaging and shared a lot of useful information. She was also funny!! We would highly recommend her course to friends.

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

It was useful to understand the real benefit of breastfeeding compared to formula, as opposed to all the judgemental information that is out there.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

The course exceeded expectations-Lilly was organized and took time to answer all questions. She presented information in a way that made myself (first time mom) and my husband feel prepared and less overwhelmed than if we tried to research all the material on our own.

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi


 
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  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    FULL
    Sat, June 14 · June 15 · June 21 & June 22, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    6 weekday evenings
    FULL
    Mon, June 30 · July 2 · July 7 · July 9 ·
    July 14 & July 16, 2025

    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    Sat, July 5 · July 6 · July 12 & July 13, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    Sat, July 5 · July 6 · July 12 & July 13, 2025
    01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    6 weekday evenings
    Tue, Aug. 5 · Aug. 7 · Aug. 12 · Aug. 14 ·
    Aug. 19 & Aug. 21, 2025

    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    2 Registration Left
    Sat, Aug. 9 · Aug. 10 · Aug. 16 & Aug. 17, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    6 weekday evenings
    Thu, Sept. 4 · Sept. 11 · Sept. 18 · Sept. 25 ·
    Oct. 2 & Oct. 9, 2025

    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    6 weekday evenings
    Tue, Sept. 16 · Sept. 23 · Sept. 30 · Oct. 7 ·
    Oct. 14 & Oct. 21, 2025

    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    Sat, Oct. 18 · Oct. 19 · Oct. 25 & Oct. 26, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    Sat, Nov. 1 · Nov. 2 · Nov. 8 & Nov. 9, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
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  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    Sat, Nov. 15 · Nov. 16 · Nov. 22 & Nov. 23, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    Sat, Dec. 6 · Dec. 7 · Dec. 13 & Dec. 14, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now