At Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Parenting University provides classes lead by specially qualified educators to help you learn what you need to know about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and newborn care. All classes are held on the campus of Pennsylvania Hospital at Solutions for Women, our newly renovated education space and boutique.
Solutions for Women
700 Spruce Street
Garfield Duncan Building, Suite B3
Philadelphia, 19107
To register for your class, please visit our online registration page.
Online Options
Can’t make a class? Pennsylvania Hospital’s Penn Parenting University now offers an interactive online option! Perfect for those with unpredictable schedules and those who are deployed, traveling, or otherwise unable to attend. We also offer a hybrid solution that combines the online course with our two-hour Labor Lab. For more information, call Penn Parenting University at 215-829-5020 or send an email to PennParentingU@uphs.upenn.edu.
Prenatal Classes
Free Expectant Parents Orientation
Pennsylvania Hospital is pleased to offer an Expectant Parents Orientation. This free session will include a virtual tour of our Labor and Delivery and Birthing Suites, as well as an opportunity to ask all the questions you have about giving birth at Pennsylvania Hospital. We will introduce you to our Baby-Friendly hospital practices and let you know how we will help you to meet your infant feeding goals. We will also cover the nitty gritty details about where to park, what entrance to use, etc.
Expectant Parents Orientation is offered twice each month, and registration is required.
Labor Lab
Perfect to refresh your relaxation skills for a second or third birth or enhance your childbirth education class for baby number one. This “lab” class focuses exclusively on comfort measures for labor. Taught by certified childbirth educators and birth doulas, this will be time well spent for expectant women and their partners. Two hours of class time and homework that you will love!
Fee: $40 per expectant woman and one support person.
Childbirth Prep 101
Expectant parents will learn the value of working as a team during the childbirth process. Class covers breathing and relaxation techniques, stages of labor, medication options, and cesarean birth. You will also tour the labor and delivery units, space permitting. One-day Saturday or Sunday class options are offered.
Fee: $150 per couple, including parking
Prepared Childbirth PLUS
For those considering a low-intervention birth, this three-class series focuses on tuning in to the maternal body and emphasizes non-pharmacologic relaxation techniques, birthing imagery and physiologic positions for labor. The class series encourages optimal communication among expectant parents and their health care providers.
Fee: $160 per couple
The Mind in Labor
The transitional time of pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood can be intense on many levels: physically, emotionally, socially. This three-class workshop will introduce you to Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP), a childbirth curriculum that incorporates the cultivation of awareness and mindfulness practice in the midst of this transition. Entitled The Mind in Labor, this workshop is designed to explore how working with mindful awareness, mindful movement and mindful communication can alleviate the fears surrounding pain and uncertainty, as well as how mindfulness can help you experience the joys that are present during this special time. Mindfulness-based Childbirth and Parenting is birth education that supports you for birth, parenting and life!
Fee: $275 per couple
How to Have a Safe and Active Pregnancy
How to Have a Safe and Active Pregnancy educates pregnant women and new moms on exercise and fitness during and after pregnancy. This monthly program offers guidelines for exercise during pregnancy, including specific exercises and ways to move to avoid injury. This course highlights activities to avoid and warning signs to stop exercise, as well as postural changes and their effect on your overall well-being.
Instructors also discuss common discomforts during pregnancy and how exercise can help. They demonstrate proper positioning during breastfeeding, proper lifting and carrying techniques and general stretching and strengthening exercises important during and after pregnancy.
How to Have a Safe and Active Pregnancy takes place on the first Tuesday of each month from 5:30 -7:00p.m. at Penn Therapy and Fitness PAH, 330 South 9th Street, first floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Cost of the class is $10.
Register and pay the $10 class registration fee online
Baby Care Basics
Boost your confidence as a new parent by learning safe and comfortable ways to care for, swaddle, diaper and bathe your baby. We will also discuss normal newborn appearance and characteristics.
Fee: $40 per couple
Infant/Child Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
This CPR class is taught by instructors certified by the American Heart Association. This “friends and family” non-certifying course focuses on rescue procedures for infants and children up to eight years of age. Instruction covers emergencies such as choking, respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest. Parents, grandparents, and child care providers are encouraged to attend.
Fee: $55 per person
Pediatric First Aid
This class is taught by an American Heart Association certified instructor who will help expectant and new parents learn how to handle many emergencies that can occur with babies and young children. There is a focus on child safety and prevention, as well as specific action plans for when mishaps do happen and how to stock a first-aid kit.
Fee: $55 per person
Beginning Breastfeeding
Taught by an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), this class will help get you off to a good start with breastfeeding. Partners and your support team are welcome to come at no additional cost.
Fee: $35
Becoming Grand
This one evening course helps grandparents-to-be and new grands tap into the wisdom they have acquired through experience while learning ways to help and support the new parents. Come learn what’s new and evidence-based in the world of infant safety and parenting and share with other grands.
Fee: $25 per person/$40 per couple
Baby Whisperer Workshop
This 90-minute workshop is packed with magic. Learn to understand your baby’s behavior and strategies to soothe your little one. Perfect for partners wanting pointers just for them!
Fee: $40 per couple
Junior College: Just for Siblings
Geared for soon-to-be big brothers and sisters between 2 1/2 and 5 years of age, this 75 minute session includes age appropriate discussion about baby behavior including crying, feelings, becoming a “big”, and how to “help”. A parent will attend with the child.
Fee: $20 per child and parent, $30 for a second child in the same family
Postpartum Classes
Breastfeeding and Returning to Work
You’ve got the basics down and even feel like a pro…but now it’s time to start planning for your return to work. What are your options? How can you make work work? Taught by an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), you need this 90 minute class. BYOB: Bring Your Own Baby.
Fee: $30
Mindful Parenting
Newborns are amazing! And cute! And exciting! But they can also be a source of frustration, exhaustion and boredom too. The early days, weeks and months of parenting are unlike anything else you can experience throughout your life. This time is full of new adventures and learnings, but is also challenging in its simplicity and seeming lack of productivity.
Take your stress level down a notch and join us for a month-long course in mindfulness for new parents. Becoming more aware of the present moment can lead to lower stress levels, increased coping skills, less emotional reactivity and an overall sense of calm. Mindfulness practice invites us to slow down and sink into each moment of our lives – the enjoyable ones and the not so enjoyable ones, too.
Fee: $150 for the 5-class series
Stronger After Pregnancy
Your body has been through a lot and you may feel overwhelmed with questions about your recovery, your weak core, and how to begin an exercise program. This interactive workshop, taught by mom and an exercise physiologist Ashley Reid of Active Mom Fitness, provides a supportive space for you and other moms to address your concerns about recovery, abdominal separation, safely caring for your baby and your first steps toward fitness.
The format of the workshop is mostly discussion-based, but attendees are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing that's appropriate for light movement. All fitness levels are welcome.
Fee: $30, and babies younger than six months are welcome to attend.
Free Support Group for Breastfeeding Mothers
Mondays from 12:30 to 2 pm. Come share questions, trials, and triumphs with other parents. This is mother-to-mother support facilitated by an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). Every Monday except for holidays at Solutions for Women.