The Newborn Behavioral Observations system (NBO) is an infant-focused, family-centered relationship building tool designed to sensitize parents to their baby’s competencies, challenges, and individuality with the goal of fostering the development of a positive parent-infant relationship from the very beginning. The NBO system consists of a set of 18 neurobehavioral observations, which describe the newborn’s capacities and behavioral adaptation from birth to the third month of life. The 18 NBO items include observations of the infant’s:
- quality of motor tone and activity level
- capacity for self-regulation (including crying and consoling)
- response to stress (indices of the infant’s threshold for stimulation)
- visual, auditory, and social-interactive capacities (degree of alertness and response to both human and non-human stimuli)
The NBO Training Program for Families in Substance Use Recovery shares the same basic curriculum, theoretical content, and certification process as standard NBO trainings, with additional content designed to deepen your understanding of infants who have experienced prenatal substance exposure and postnatal withdrawal (NAS/NOWS) and enhance your relationship-based care skills with their parents living with substance use disorder (SUD).
Importantly, the NBO is NOT an assessment but rather a structured set of shared observations designed to help the clinician and parent learn together about the infant’s behavioral capacities and identify the kind of support the infant needs for optimal growth and development. The NBO is therefore inherently interactive and family-centered, so that parents are involved as partners in the NBO session.
Course format
This course includes 11.5 hours of live online training workshops. Workshops include a combination of lectures, interactive video case-study sessions, small-group breakout discussions, and hands-on practice with dolls. Following the workshops, the Brazelton Institute offers unlimited weekly open mentoring sessions to all NBO trainees. To obtain certification in the NBO, trainees submit five NBO Recording, Narrative, and Parent Summary Forms for review and critique by their faculty.
Course dates and times
Live interactive webinars on April 12, 19 & 26, 2023; 9 am to 3 pm ET / 6 am to 12 pm PT
# of hours
NBO training is approved for 11.5 hours CME/CEU credit across many disciplines. Learn more.
Audience
Professionals who work with infants in the first months of life, including medical staff (e.g., nurses, nurse practitioners, midwives, pediatricians, neonatologists, physical/occupational/feeding therapists, lactation consultants, doulas) as well as mental health workers (e.g., psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, parenting coaches, home visitors).
Number of participants
Maximum of 23
Tuition includes:
- access to pre-training activities and all materials
- NBO kit
- Understanding Newborn Behavior and Early Relationships: The Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) System Handbook
- three partial-day interactive Zoom live online training workshops
- unlimited access to the Brazelton Institute’s weekly open mentoring sessions
- ongoing access to faculty and other participants through our online discussion forum
- faculty review and individualized feedback of certification materials
- NBO training completion certificate
- CME/CEU credit