Baby Ready: Newborn Care with a Registered Nurse
Baby Ready is a warm, hands-on, 3-hour newborn care class taught by a registered nurse. It is designed for expectant parents and anyone who will care for a new baby, including grandparents and nannies. Every participant practices every skill on a practice doll or infant manikin.
The first weeks with a newborn bring a hundred small questions and a few big ones. This class answers them before baby arrives, so families head home feeling calm, capable, and ready.
AT A GLANCE
| LENGTH | 3 hours, including a short break |
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| AUDIENCE | Expectant parents, new parents, grandparents, and caregivers of babies from birth to 3 months |
| TAUGHT BY | Registered nurses |
| CLASS SIZE | 6 to 12 participants per nurse |
| LOCATION | We come to you: your home, school, workplace, or community space anywhere in the DMV |
| MATERIALS | All equipment provided, including infant CPR manikins, practice dolls, diapers, and swaddle blankets |
| TAKEAWAY | Every participant leaves with a reference sheet covering safe sleep, when to call the pediatrician, and the steps for infant choking rescue and CPR |
OUR APPROACH
Every family feeds, soothes, and parents a little differently, and we support all of them. The tone is relaxed, practical, and judgment free. Our nurses focus on what matters most in the first weeks: keeping baby safe, recognizing what is normal, and knowing exactly when to get help. We also make one point repeatedly:
| There is no such thing as a silly question, and calling the pediatrician is never an overreaction. |
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WHAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO
Recognize hunger and fullness cues and know the signs a baby is getting enough to eat
Diaper, bathe, and swaddle a newborn and care for the umbilical cord
Set up a safe sleep space for every sleep, day and night
Understand normal newborn crying and use calm, safe soothing strategies
Take a newborn's temperature and know when to call the pediatrician or 911
Perform infant choking rescue and infant CPR on a practice manikin
Use a rear-facing car seat correctly and prepare the home for a new baby
Recognize postpartum mood changes and know where to find support
COURSE OUTLINE
Class opens with introductions (15 minutes), includes a 10-minute break after Safe Sleep, and closes with questions (5 minutes).
PART 1 Feeding (25 minutes)
Participants learn early, active, and late hunger cues, why crying is a late sign, and how to tell when baby is full. We cover breastfeeding and bottle-feeding basics, including latch, paced bottle feeding, safe formula preparation, burping, and normal spit up. Families learn the signs a baby is getting enough: 8 to 12 feeds a day, at least 6 wet diapers a day by about day 5, and a return to birth weight by about 2 weeks.
PART 2 Everyday Care (20 minutes)
Hands-on diapering and swaddling practice on newborn-size dolls, plus umbilical cord care, bath safety, and what normal newborn skin and stools look like. Participants learn to swaddle snug at the chest and loose at the hips, and when to stop swaddling.
PART 3 Safe Sleep (20 minutes)
The ABCs of safe sleep: baby sleeps Alone, on the Back, in a Crib. We cover room sharing without bed sharing, keeping the crib bare, why couches, inclined sleepers, and weighted sleep sacks are unsafe, and how to avoid overheating. Participants practice spotting hazards in a sleep setup.
PART 4 Crying and Soothing (20 minutes)
Participants learn about the Period of PURPLE Crying, a normal phase when crying increases and peaks around 2 months. We build a soothing toolkit and a plan for hard moments, and every caregiver hears the most important message of the day: never shake a baby, and it is always okay to put a crying baby down safely and step away.
PART 5 When to Call (20 minutes)
How to take a newborn's temperature, and why a temperature of 100.4°F or higher in a baby under 3 months means calling the pediatrician right away. We cover jaundice, dehydration, feeding and vomiting concerns, and the signs that mean calling 911. Participants practice deciding what to do with realistic scenarios:
● Watch and wait. Baby is feeding, waking, and acting like themselves.
● Call the pediatrician. Fever, poor feeding, fewer wet diapers, spreading jaundice, or anything that feels off.
● Call 911. Trouble breathing, blue or gray lips, a limp or unresponsive baby, or a seizure.
PART 6 Hands-On Rescue Skills (35 minutes)
This is the largest portion of the class, and it is entirely practice on infant manikins.
Infant choking rescue. When to let baby cough, and how to give 5 back blows and 5 chest thrusts when baby cannot cough, cry, or breathe.
Infant CPR. Calling 911, chest compressions at the correct depth and rhythm, and gentle rescue breaths.
Full scenario. Each pair practices a choking baby who becomes unresponsive, from the first back blow through CPR.
PART 7 Car Seat, Home Safety, and Caring for You (10 minutes)
Rear-facing car seat basics and the pinch test, a safe home for a new baby, and protecting baby from germs. We close with postpartum wellbeing for every parent, including the difference between the baby blues and postpartum depression and where to find support.
WHAT THIS COURSE IS AND IS NOT
Baby Ready is a hands-on education and practice course. It is not a formal CPR certification, and it does not replace individual advice from your baby's pediatrician or your own health care provider. We encourage families to pursue certified infant CPR training as well.
BEFORE BABY ARRIVES
A few things worth doing after class:
Save your pediatrician's after-hours number in your phone
Have your car seat installation checked by a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician
Keep a digital thermometer in the nursery
Share your safe sleep and soothing plan with every grandparent, nanny, and sitter
QUESTIONS
Please reach out any time. Lindsay Karr, Mindful Beginnings
lindsay@mindfulbeginnings.org | 703-987-5979 | mindfulbeginnings.org
Course content is drawn from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Association CPR guidelines, and the NIH Safe to Sleep campaign.