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.

Very very pleased. I'm difficult to impress, do a lot of research on my own and have very high (some would suggest too high) of expectations with very low tolerance to incompetence....i give Julia a 10/10 :D

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

Our educator Erin was an expert and was very clear in her method of teaching. All my questions were answered and the class interaction was very good. I would take another course with OCEA.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Fantastic - very engaging Clearly loves what she is doing and made the class fly by (even in a virtual setting). Felt comfortable asking questions & that we were getting very informed up to date information.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Lilly was amazing. She approached sensitive conversations (sex, positions, comfort measures, anatomy) with grace and took the awkwardness of the conversation away.

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

Brandie was great! She was non-judgemental, calm, and made it all feel informative but not scary. We weren't sure what to expect and felt that we had an instructor who valued healthy mom, healthy baby and involved partner more than anything else. That was really important to us.

Pre Natal One Day – with Brandie Lekovic

We had a great 6 weeks with Julia! We really enjoyed her facilitation of the prenatal class and topics/information presented and discussed. It was very helpful and informative. We really appreciated Julia's down-to-earth nature and very realistic views and presentation of the topics. Julia was very detailed but kept it light and realistic with no sugar coating :) - which is just what we needed!

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

It was interactive and live so we could ask questions as it went on and get instant feedback.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Very fun and informative! Lily made online learning more community like than we thought possible! It was great to experience online learning from the comfort of our own home!

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

Misty was wonderful! Very knowledgeable, approachable, encouraging, warm - we appreciate it so much, especially in the current climate of unknowns. This course was a great experience - will recommend!

Pre Natal – with Misty Pratt

Lilly is awesome. She presented information in helpful ways that felt really supportive. I went into the class kind of panicked and came away with a sense of confidence and trust in my abilities.

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

Comfort of my own home :)

Pre Natal One Day – with Brandie Lekovic

Really enjoyed this class. So informative! I would definitely recommend it to friends who are about to become new parents. Erin was an excellent instructor and did a great job presenting the information. Particularly amazing how quickly this class was adapted from in-class to online and how thorough and easy to follow it was. Our confidence as soon-to-be new parents has increased exponentially since taking this class. Thank you!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen


 
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  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    FULL
    Sat, April 26 · April 27 · May 3 & May 4, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    6 weekday evenings
    2 Registration Left
    Tue, May 6 · May 13 · May 20 · May 27 ·
    June 3 & June 10, 2025

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

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    Sat, May 10 · May 11 · May 17 & May 18, 2025
    09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    6 weekday evenings
    Mon, May 12 · May 19 · May 26 · June 2 ·
    June 9 & June 16, 2025

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

  • Online

    Bringing Baby Home
    weekend
    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
    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
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  • Online

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

  • 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