An in-depth module exploring all aspects of infant development, including the application of what we learnt in the neurology and psychology core modules to babies specifically. You will also explore how our understanding of infant development impacts parenting.

This module will provide a good understanding of what it is like to be a baby and how we can understand and continue to understand them, in order to better meet their needs and have the relationships we want to with them. This module covers:

• The fourth trimester experience
• Infant states
• Infant communication
• Play and learning in the first year
• Common infant health issues

With the underpinning understanding from previous modules, we will explore how we approach having calmer relationships with our babies, and how we use our frameworks to support parents in an empowering way.

This module introduces you to the principles of CalmFamily’s nurturing practice. Nurturing is designed as a practice that meets needs to the extent of nurturing, rather than simply meeting basic needs. This involves stimulating and soothing babies with touch techniques, movement, containment and by creating the right environment. During your training days, you will use the principles you have learned to gain confidence in supporting parents to use these techniques for nurturing babies.

This module takes you through:

• • The biological science of sleep
  • Gives a historical and evolutionary perspective of our societal sleep practices
  • Provides a good understanding of normal infant sleep
  • Critically analyses common baby sleep training strategies
  • Covers infant sleep safety in depth
  • Takes you through our frameworks for supporting parents with baby sleep​

This module was co-written by Emily Wilding, Sarah Oakley IBCLC, and Gill Rapley. (PhD), and on completion with practical elements taught by Emily on the training days, provides you with certification as a CalmFamily infant feeding practitioner. This is equivalent to being a breastfeeding or mother peer supporter with other breastfeeding organisations.

For infants of 0-6 months it covers:

• The feeding guidelines
• Types of milk and milk feeding
• The science of human infant feeding
• Normal infant feeding behaviour
• Common feeding challenges
• How to support parents with milk feeding

This section was written by Sarah Oakley.

For babies of 6-12 months this module provides an in depth understanding of the process of weaning, meaning the whole process by which milk feeding is replaced by solid foods over a period of several years.

It covers:

• The guidelines on introducing solid food
• The science of weaning
• Readiness for solid foods
• The practicalities of introducing solid food
• Understanding baby food products
• Our approach to supporting infant learning of food and eating
• Our approach to supporting parents through this period 

In this module we take a quick look at some important information and options around the remaining basic practical baby care activities, including:

• Bathing
• Changing and elimination
• Swaddling
• Carrying

This slightly sadistic module makes you take a look between your fingers at the practices of mainstream baby “experts”. With no judgment at all, because I have followed their advice in the past, this can be challenging for some people. I do apologise, but as a Baby Specialist you need to know their techniques, so that you can properly support parents.

This final module, alongside your face-to-face training days, will prepare you for being a baby specialist consultant. You will gain a good understanding of the BabyCalm programme, of our principles and approach to facilitating learning for families, and you will have the chance to re-visit material covered in the face to face training.

Following completion of the modules (not including the literature review), and your training days, you will receive a certificate of training and will be bale to work as a consultant. You then have the choice as to whether you follow our mentoring pathway.