Supporting Your Transition to Parenthood From Pregnancy to Six Months Postpartum.

Optimizing Outcomes. Birth, Breastfeeding and the early weeks of Parenting your Newborn.

Your path to success starts with our unique Optimizing Outcomes perinatal education pathway.

Pregnant woman holding flowers and ultrasound photos in a serene outdoor setting.

Pregnant? Start Here – FREE

Wherever you are in your pregnancy – if you have just found us – start here. This session will provide important information and resources – FREE for everyone,

A close-up of a pregnant woman adjusting her pants, highlighting her belly in a sunlit room.

Optimizing Outcomes: Prenatal 13-24 weeks

Our unique cohorted program ensures you know what you need – when you need it – with ample time to ask your questions live, online every week. Every session will discuss your babies development, ways to optimize your health and theirs and build your knowledge and confidence over the whole course of your pregnancy.. (Don’t worry you can catch up if you are already further along on your pregnancy)

A tender moment of a mother breastfeeding her baby while sitting outside on a sunny day.

Optimizing Outcomes: Prenatal Breastfeeding Information Session

Learn the important steps to success BEFORE your baby arrives. Come while you are pregnant 24-36 weeks is perfect.

High angle of smiling adult pregnant female touching tummy while resting on bed with netbook and dogs

Optimizing Outcomes: Prenatal 24- 33 weeks

Our sessions are designed to work together; with each one building on the next so you feel informed, ready and confident when your baby arrives. (Don’t worry you can catch up if you are already further along on your pregnancy)

baby, newborn, father, fatherhood, man, newborn baby, newborn child, male, infant, offspring, cradle, cradling, people, black and white, monochrome, fathers day, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, newborn, father, father, father, people, fathers day

Optimizing Outcomes: Partners Only Session

This session will explore the changes to come from the partners perspective and provide tools and tips and a safe supportive place to ask your questions. Your partner or support person can attend between 24-36 weeks

Pregnant woman in casual attire gently holding her belly, symbolizing motherhood.

Optimizing Outcomes: Prenatal 33 Weeks or More

This is the part everyone gets excited about – The Birth. Join us to discuss informed consent, comfort measures, common interventions, and how to set yourself up for success. There will be lots of time for questions and answers.

Tender moment of a newborn baby wrapped in a blue blanket, gazing lovingly at a parent.

Optimizing Outcomes: Last Few Weeks of Pregnancy / First few weeks with your Newborn

This session supports families through the last few weeks of pregnancy and the first few weeks with a newborn. A time when questions often become more immediate and the stakes can feel higher. We talk about getting physically uncomfortable, what to do when waiting feels hard, and how to understand induction risk, timing, and options if induction is offered or recommended. We also explore what happens if a cesarean birth becomes part of your story, including how to prepare, what questions to ask, and how to protect recovery, bonding, and infant feeding wherever possible. From there, we shift into the early postpartum window: Making sure you are recovering well, knowing which warning signs should never be ignored, addressing the common things that can derail breastfeeding, understanding normal newborn behaviour, and setting up support so the first weeks of parenting feel less overwhelming and more manageable.

A tender moment of a mother breastfeeding her baby, symbolizing love and connection.

Ongoing – Live Weekly Q and A with an LC

Come to a live, limited capacity, weekly session and have all of your breastfeeding questions answered. Come when you are pregnant and learn from those who have delivered, and come after you have birthed to have your breastfeeding journey supported in real time.

Charming baby in white overalls smiling joyfully while seated outdoors.

Ongoing – Live Weekly Parent Support Sessions

These weekly parent sessions cover the core topics that parents ask about the most: sleep, crying, safety, and attachment/ bonding. Every session includes lots of time for live questions so you can come as many times as you like and ask new questions as your baby moves through the developmental phases of infancy. To make the most out of these sessions – come for the content while you are pregnant and then come again after your baby arrives to refresh your memory, tune in to ask your questions and get ongoing support through this miraculous period of infant brain growth. (you can just come for the Q and A if you have seen the material a few times, the questions you ask can be about any aspect of your journey, not only the topic of the day.)

A woman in stress with eyes closed, leaning against a concrete wall indoors.

Managing Anxiety for New and Expectant Parents

Pregnancy and the early weeks of parenting can be a time of mixed emotions and increased anxiety. This 4 part session will explore some of the reasons for this change and offer concrete tools to support your mental health.

Close-up of woman on a video call using a laptop in a modern workspace.

One on One Consultations

Sometime you need a little more. We offer private consultations for Prenatal Hand Expression of colostrum, Birth Story Debrief (for parents and also for birth professionals), Breastfeeding Support, Early Parent Support.

We Have More

Our Optimizing Outcomes Program is the core pathway for parents to build confidence, knowledge and support and improve birth, breastfeeding and responsive parenting outcomes. But we offer so much more. For a full list of our offerings click on View All Services button below.

feeling, love, heart, donation, donate, gratitude, thank you, donation, donation, donation, donation, donation, donate, donate, donate, donate

We Wish We Could Do It All For Free- Can You Help Us?

Sadly there is not enough funding to make this program universally accessible. If you believe it should be – please consider a donation. 100% of your direct donations go to subsidizing sessions for participants in need (no tax receipt). Want a tax receipt? We partner with local charitable organizations which support pregnant women. When you donate this way 40% of your donation stays with the charity, 60% comes back to IPEA to subsidize sessions for participants and you get a receipt for the full amount. Click the Donate Button to learn more.

View All Services

A smiling pregnant woman holds an ultrasound photo outdoors, symbolizing joy and anticipation.

Pregnancy does not pause between appointments – but support often does. Even at the best of times care can be fragmented, or unavailable, right when families need continuity the most. The Optimizing Outcomes program was built to fill the gaps. A constant, trusted, evidence-based relationship that stays with you from the moment you know you are pregnant until 6 months postpartum.

Gillian Szollos

Chief Executive Officer

What Clients Are Saying

“I wish I had known about IPEA earlier in my pregnancy and accessed the resources! I haven’t found any resources as supportive and helpful as this particular group. The content is engaging and easy to follow, and the opportunity to ask questions left me feeling empowered and confident in the decisions I was making as a parent. For my next pregnancy, I intend to access this program from the beginning.”

Janet

“The individual session I had came a few days after our baby was born and my husband and I were struggling with sleep deprivation. Gillian provided almost immediate contact, talked us through a few key options for both my husband and myself, observed my hand expression technique and made an important adjustment that allowed me to maximize colostrum output. Within 24hrs we saw a large improvement with our sleep and are so grateful to Gillian for helping us through.”

Julia

“Learning about how, when and where to access community resources and supports in advance of needing them – learning about postnatal resources before birth.
Also knowing what to expect re: crying, breastfeeding, bonding etc made me feel much more prepared for difficulties that would arise in the first 2 weeks of parenting.”

Bianca

“I experienced so much anxiety throughout my pregnancy and leading up to my birth. Because getting pregnant was so difficult, I assumed I would struggle as much with everything after too. It turned out to be the opposite.
IPEA prepared me so well for what to expect and how to navigate challenges.
I ended up having an incredibly smooth first 2 weeks postpartum. I am endlessly grateful to the IPEA team for helping me to have such a positive and smooth transition into motherhood.”

Olivia