How to Recertify
Educators and Birth Professionals

How to Recertify


As an LCCE educator, you are required to show you are up-to-date on the latest evidence by submitting 25 contact hours of continuing education every three years.

Are you ready to recertify? Click each step below to prepare your recertification application:

STEP 1: Earn 25 Continuing Education Credits

Only activities completed within the last three years count towards recertification. TIP: If you are due to recertify in December 2023, your credits should have dates in 2021, 2022, or 2023.

All activities must relate to at least one of the Lamaze Competencies

Both Standard Credits and Alternate Credits count toward your 25 hours.

  • Standard Credit: A class, seminar, webinar, workshop, conference, etc. that you completed with Lamaze or one of our approved providers (maternal health organizations that offer formal education).
     
  • If you took a course with an organization not on the approved provider list that you think is relevant, as a general rule, as long as your credits relate to one of the Core Competencies, they will be accepted as credit. Still unsure? Please email the course details to certification@lamaze.org and we would be happy to review the course in question.

lamaze seal.jpg


TIP!
Look at the certificate from the course you took – a seal of approval from the organization providing the hours is likely on there! (For example, see Lamaze’s seal here.)
 

  • Alternate Credit: You can have up to 10 of these! Alternate credit is an experience, or a combination of experiences, that helps you grow your skills as a childbirth educator, but isn’t necessarily an educational course. You can earn alternate credit from a single category of activities or a combination of multiple categories.

Need to earn additional credits? We have options for you!

STEP 2: Complete and Submit Your Application

Are you receiving an Application Error within the Certification Center?
This error is most commonly caused by an incomplete address in your Lamaze.org Member Center profile. Please ensure all of your information is up-to-date and filled in completely to include State/Province and Zip Code. If you still experience this error, please contact the Certification Team via certification@lamaze.org.

Additional Recertification Information

As an LCCE educator, you are required to show you are up-to-date on the latest evidence by submitting 25 contact hours of continuing education every three years. Click through the topics below for additional information on recertifying your LCCE credential!

Additional Information for Alternate Credit Types (Click here to view)

Continuous Presence During Labor and Birth
Earn one hour of alternate credit for each hour of a labor and birth that you are continuously present during. A completed birth observation form must be kept in your records and presented upon request.

Class Observation
Earn one hour of alternate credit by observing another childbirth educator in a class setting.

Education or Certification Committee Service
Earn alternate credit by serving on a Lamaze council or committee (e.g. Education Council). The Lamaze Administrative office will verify service hours.

Publication
Earn up to 10 hours of alternate credit for the first-time publication of a book, book chapter or an article directly related to childbirth education. 
Earn up to five hours for considerably editing or rewriting a publication.

Lecture/Presentation
Earn one hour of alternate credit for each hour of a lecture or presentation that you give at the undergraduate or graduate level. You can also give a presentation at a conference or within a university. All lectures or presentations must be childbirth education-related, and alternate credit will only be awarded for first-time presentations. An outline of the lecture or presentation must be submitted with the alternate credit form.

Following the Competencies (Click here to view)

Credits submitted must be related to the Lamaze Competencies:

  1. Promotes the childbearing experience as a normal, natural, and healthy process which profoundly affects women and their families.
  2. Assists women and their families to discover and to use strategies to facilitate normal, natural, and healthy pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and early parenting.
  3. Helps women and their families to understand how complications and interventions influence the normal course of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and early postpartum.
  4. Provides information and support that encourages attachment between babies and their families. 
  5. Assists women and their families to make informed decisions for childbearing.
  6. Acts as an advocate to promote, support, and protect natural, safe and healthy birth.
  7. Designs, teaches, and evaluates a course in Lamaze preparation that increases a woman’s confidence and ability to give birth.

Continuing Education Topics (Click here to view)

Acceptable Continuing Education Topics

  • Pregnancy, Labor and the Postpartum Period
  • Increasing Women’s Confidence in Labor
  • Promoting Healthy Birth for Optimal Outcomes
  • Promoting, Supporting and Protecting Breastfeeding
  • Teaching Adult Learners

Unacceptable Continuing Education Topics

  • Neonatal Resuscitation
  • Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring
  • Menopause
  • Breast Cancer
  • Health issues NOT directly applicable to pregnancy, labor or the postpartum period

Providing Documentation

Recertification applications now require all credits entered to include supporting documentation. Lamaze randomly audits 10 percent of recertification applications submitted. If you’re audited, you may be asked to provide additional information for each continuing education program listed on your application. We recommend that you save both a digital and hard copy of your documents for your own records. In the event that there is not sufficient evidence to support the completion of the required continuing education, you will be asked to provide additional credits or the application will be denied and the credential revoked.

Recertification by Exam

In addition to recertifying with continuing education contact hours, you have the option of renewing your certification by retaking and successfully passing the Lamaze Certification Exam, offered annually every spring and fall. The fee for recertification by exam is $300 (or $340 if you are lapsed). Please email certification@lamaze.org to request an exam application within the Certification Center.

FAQs (Click here to view)

Q: I’ve submitted my application, now what?

The certification team will review your application within three to four weeks. If more than four weeks have passed, we may have tried to reach out to you with a question. Please email certification@lamaze.org to check the status.

TIP: 75% of LCCE educators wait until December to recertify and that high volume can mean a longer review period. Get ahead by submitting yours earlier in the year!

Q: How do I access my updated certification card?

Navigate to the Certification Center in your Member Center Dashboard to see your current certification date and print your updated card. Once in the Certification Center, click “My Account” in the top right corner. TIP: You must enable pop-ups within your browser to allow the certificate to download.

Q: HELP! I’ve already lapsed!

Don’t worry, all LCCE educators are granted a grace period of 12 months in which to complete the process above and restore their credential by submitting 30 total credit hours and a $40 additional late fee.

Have More Questions or Need Assistance?

Additional frequently asked questions are answered here. Email our Certification Team via certification@lamaze.org or call +1 (202) 367-1128.

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