For Professionals

Are you passionate about evidence based care, but regularly witness hospital policies taking precedence over your client's choice? It can be frustrating to watch clients receive care that isn’t based on research and not quite knowing how to help. 

The Savvy Birth Pro Workshop (3 contact hours) was developed by Evidence Based Birth® to give professionals the skills you need to make a genuine difference and help your clients attain the best possible chance at evidence based care during pregnancy and labor. 

The 3-hour Savvy Birth Pro Workshop will succeed in preparing you to help your clients assert their right to evidence based care in a respectful way that builds bridges, not walls. We believe the inspirational knowledge you will gain from the Savvy Birth Pro Workshop will have a positive ripple effect that extends to your clients, the professionals you work with and your community! 

You’re no longer alone in the quest to help more families receive respectful, high quality maternity care!  The Savvy Birth Pro Workshop does more than provide great skills; it creates a strong community of connected professionals who together share this important mission.   

This Savvy Birth Pro Workshop is taught by Alyssa Sylvester, Evidence Based Birth Instructor®, Spinning Babies® Parent Educator, BACE Childbirth Educator and Birth Doula. 

Contact hours: By attending the workshop and completing an online evaluation, you will earn a certificate for 3 contact hours from Evidence Based Birth®, a continuing education provider for the Kentucky Board of Nursing # 7-0081. Nursing contact hours can be applied to most childbirth educator and doula certifications, as well as the Certified Professional Midwife credential. 

Learning Objectives: 

  1. Define evidence-based care and discuss statistics on the quality of birth settings in our local community

  2. Discuss the major reasons why we have an evidence-practice gap, including the power hierarchy and how it is a barrier to evidence-based, family-centered care

  3. Discuss ways that we can bridge the evidence-practice gap at the system level

  4. Discuss specific strategies we can use to help our clients obtain evidence-based care

Savvy Birth Pro

Please reach out to sign up or schedule a workshop

About the Savvy Birth Pro Workshop

Comfort Measures for Labor and Delivery Nurses

Are you  an L & D nurse who wishes you had more tools in your toolbox to help keep patients comfortable during labor?

By attending  Comfort Measures for Labor and Delivery Nurses, you will not only get hands-on practice with comfort measures skills, but you'll also learn how you can overcome barriers to providing comfort measures on your unit! 

All nurses who register at the Professional level or higher will earn 3.5 nursing contact hours, and those who register as Super Users will receive a Comfort Measures Toolkit to take back to your unit and teach to your peers. Come enjoy an afternoon of demonstrations, discussion, and networking with L & D nurses from all over Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

This Comfort Measures Workshop is taught by Alyssa Sylvester, Spinning Babies® Parent Educator, BACE Childbirth Educator and Birth Doula, and Evidence Based Birth® Instructor. We designed this workshop specifically for Labor and Delivery nurses who are looking to add to their labor support knowledge and skills. However, local doulas, midwives, and childbirth educators are also encouraged to register!

Contact hours: By attending this workshop and completing an evaluation and quiz, registrants at the Professional or Super User ticket level will earn a certificate for 3.5 nursing contact hours from Evidence Based Birth®, a continuing education provider for the Kentucky Board of Nursing #7-0081. Nursing contact hours can also be applied to most childbirth educator and doula certifications.

Learning Objectives for the Comfort Measures Workshop:

  1. Discuss the evidence on comfort measures

  2. Demonstrate a variety of comfort measures

  3. Discuss how we can overcome barriers to providing comfort measures

Registration Options:

  • Basic Ticket- audit only (no contact hours)

  • Professional Ticket-- certificate for 3.5 nursing contact hours

  • Super User Ticket-- certificate for 3.5 nursing contact hours, lanyard and flash drive loaded with the “Comfort Measures Teaching Toolkit” that includes lesson plans and handouts with permission to teach lessons to your peers, 30 day free trial to the Professional Membership at Evidence Based Birth® with access to 24 additional contact hours, and a laminated “Pocket Guide to Comfort Measures” 

Additional info about the "Super User" ticket: We are encouraging each local hospital to sponsor at least two nurses to become Comfort Measures Super Users! Your Nurse Super Users will be able to teach their peers how comfort measures can decrease the Cesarean rate, decrease patient pain levels, and increase patient satisfaction. Having at least 2 nurses trained as Super Users will make it easier for them to demonstrate to the other L & D nurses on their unit what they learned at the workshop. 

Super Users will receive a Comfort Measures Toolkit on a flash drive, which will be loaded with:

  • Lesson plans on:

    • Sending patients home in early labor

    • Hydrotherapy for pain relief during labor

    • Positive language that decreases patient pain perception

    • Upright positions during labor for improving birth outcomes

  • Full-length printer-friendly PDFs with the Evidence on Fetal Monitoring, Birthing Positions, Eating and Drinking during Labor, and Protecting the Perineum

  • One-page handouts to share with patients covering: Birthing Affirmations, Birthing Positions, Comfort Measures in Early Labor, Eating and Drinking during Labor, Fetal Monitoring, and Nitrous Oxide

Please reach out to sign up or schedule a workshop

For Parents

The Savvy Birth Workshop for parents

Are you looking forward to having a baby, but worried about all the unknowns… like how do I know if my wishes will be respected? Will my birth plan be followed? Can I avoid a traumatic birth experience, if I had one before? 

The Savvy Birth Workshop for parents was developed by Evidence Based Birth® to give you and your partner the confidence and know-how you need to have a more positive, empowering experience in the birthing room. 

At the Savvy Birth Workshop, you’ll learn ways to communicate effectively with your doctor, midwife, and nurse.  You will discover strategies for asking questions without seeming disrespectful and you’ll get the inside scoop on how to stack the odds in your favor of having a positive birth.  

Unlike other childbirth classes, we will help you avoid the typical assembly-line care with six virtual “tickets!”  These “tickets” are your secret advantage to coping with the unknowns of birth!  At the workshop you’ll find out how you can use these tickets in the hospital or wherever you intend to give birth!

We are excited to offer the Savvy Birth Workshop to parents in the MA and NH communities. We believe that the knowledge you will gain from the Savvy Birth Workshop will leave you and your partner inspired, hopeful, and excited about the upcoming birth of your baby… ready to approach the big day with a savvy swing in your step!

This Savvy Birth Workshop is taught by Alyssa Sylvester, Evidence Based Birth Instructor®, Spinning Babies® Parent Educator, BACE Childbirth Educator and Birth Doula. 

Learning Objective covered in the Workshop: 

  1. Define evidence-based care 

  2. Discuss the availability and pros/cons of local birth options

  3. Practice respectful ways to talk with your provider

  4. Discuss how partners, doulas, and nurses can work together to provide labor support

  5. Describe the benefits and limitations of birth plans

  6. Discuss the human and legal rights of birthing persons

Please reach out to sign up or schedule a workshop

About The Savvy Birth Workshop for parents

Savvy Birth 101

Are you looking forward to having a baby, but worried about what it’s like to be a “patient” in the hospital system? Never fear, Savvy Birth 101 is here!  The 1-hour Savvy Birth 101 class was developed by Evidence Based Birth® to give you the inside scoop on how to form the ultimate birth team, so when the time comes to bring your baby into the world you can find yourself at the center of respectful, evidence-based care.

Savvy Birth 101 is taught by Alyssa Sylvester, Evidence Based Birth Instructor®, Spinning Babies® Parent Educator, BACE Childbirth Educator and Birth Doula.

Learning Objectives covered in Savvy Birth 101 

  1. Define evidence-based care and discuss the difference between evidence-based care and routine care

  2. Describe how the power system works in most hospital labor and delivery units

  3. Discuss ways to create a team-based atmosphere in the birthing room, so that you and your partner can get evidence-based, family-centered care

Please reach out to sign up or schedule a 1 hour Savvy Birth 101 Session

About Savvy Birth 101