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

Mindfulness for Parents 

Newborns are amazing! And adorable! Yet newborn parenting can also be a source of frustration, exhaustion, and boredom. It is a time full of new adventure and learning, yet it can also be challenging in its simplicity and seeming lack of productivity. Mindfulness skills can be supportive no matter your experience.

Lower your stress, increase your coping and calm, decrease your reactivity, and get some quiet while in community. 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. Join us!

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.

Penn nurses teach classes at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to enhance your birth experience and help you prepare for the new addition to your family.

To register for your class, please visit our online registration page. 

We offer the following courses:

Early Pregnancy Class

Expectant parents are encouraged to take this class in the first trimester. Topics include proper nutrition, exercise, tests and screenings, fetal growth and development, and your changing body.

Preparation for Childbirth

Topics include labor and delivery, anesthesia, cesarean sections, breastfeeding, newborn and pediatric care, breathing and relaxation techniques, and tours of the labor, delivery and maternity floors. Guest speakers include obstetrical anesthesiologists and pediatricians. This course is offered as six evening sessions OR one Saturday or one Sunday and three evening sessions.

Sibling Class

Both parents and children (ages 3-10) can enjoy this special class. This class focuses on the child’s role as the new big brother or sister. Class activities include making a craft for the new baby, learning about safety around a newborn, proper hand washing techniques, and discussion around the changes that occur within a family. All children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Breastfeeding Support Group

This group is offered twice a month and is taught by a board certified Lactation Consultant. This class does not require registration. This support group is free of charge. For support group dates and time, please call our Lactation Warm Line at 215-662-2361.

Comfort with Contractions

This interactive class is designed for the expectant mother (and their support person) who have already completed the Preparation for Childbirth class. This class will focus on the mind-body connection, proper breathing and relaxation and comfort techniques. This class is taught by a certified birth Doula and Childbirth Educator. This class is hands-on, so students need to dress comfortably and bring a pillow for floor exercises.

Family and Friends CPR

This course teaches the lifesaving skills of infant CPR and relief of choking. Skills are taught in a dynamic group environment by using AHA’s research-proven practice-while-watching technique, which provides students with the most hands on CPR practice time possible.

Family and Friends CPR is designed for individuals who want to learn CPR but do not need a course completion card. This course is ideal for new parents, grandparents, babysitters and others interested in saving a life.

Safety Class

A representative from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation demonstrates and reviews infant car seat installation and provides locations where parents can get their seat inspected. In addition, topics such as home safety, poison control, medication safety and tips for childproofing your home are given by a Children’s Hospital (CHOP) educator from the Poison Control Department.

Making It Work with Breastfeeding

Our lactation team is often asked, “I’m returning to work or school and have been breastfeeding and want to continue to give my baby breastmilk, what do I do?” This class will cover feeding concerns such as how to choose a breast pump, pumping and storing milk, building a breast milk stash, and paced bottle feeding. Also how to pave the way for a smooth transition back to work, questions to discuss with management or HR, and how to partner with employers to ensure balance. Childcare options and creative solutions are discussed, as well as self-care. Partners and babies are welcome!

This class is free of charge, but you must register to attend. Please call 800-789-7366 to register.

Breastfeeding Clinic

Any mother will tell you that the first few days home with a new baby can be the most challenging. To continue the support after discharge, we’ve established a Breastfeeding Clinic every second and fourth Friday at Penn Family Care primary practice. This is a collaborative effort to provide comprehensive lactation support after being discharged.

This class is by appointment only. Please call 800-789-7366 to register.

Breastfeeding Al La Carte Class

This is a FREE class for the expectant mothers and her birth partner who would like to learn more about breastfeeding techniques. It is ideal for a new mother or as a refresher course. This class is taught by a Board Certified Lactation Consultant. If you are considering breastfeeding or have chosen to breastfed your baby, this class will provide information, encouragement, and support for successful breastfeeding.

Note that the topic and information in this class is also covered in the Preparation for Childbirth Class series.

Maternity Unit Tour

Our maternity tours offer parents an opportunity to visit the Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania Labor & Delivery Unit & Postpartum Unit. This hour long tour will provide time to answer questions regarding our policies and procedures. Tours are FREE Grandparents and siblings over 7 years of age may attend. (Note: this tour is included with the Preparation for Childbirth Class four-week and six-week series)

Preparing for Multiples Class

This class is designed for parents that are expecting multiple babies. You will receive useful information about caring for multiples and receive a tour of the Intensive Care Nursery.