About Us
Welcome to the babywearing school where
respect for physiology meets simplicity
Mission
- Pass on the art of babywearing by training skin-to-skin advisors and babywearing instructors in Quebec, French-speaking Canada and abroad.
Vision
- Draw inspiration from the universality and simplicity of traditional practices to support baby's physiology, and limit the number of options available to gradually recreate a babywearing culture.
Philosophy
- We honor the wisdom of indigenous peoples who have kept alive the essential practice of babywearing. Thank you for showing us the way and inspiring us so well.
- We define babywearing as an invaluable postnatal tool, as it promotes family harmony by bringing well-being and joy, simplifying daily life and supporting the child's overall development.
- We consider it essential to keep babywearing simple and accessible.
- We recognize that parents are their child's true experts.
- We encourage safe babywearing practices, taking into account scientific studies and incident reports, and focusing on education to better understand baby's physiology.
- In our teaching, we value the autonomy and critical thinking skills of babywearing instructors and advisors, as well as of parents.
- We see the role of a babywearing instructor as facilitating access to the practice of babywearing, while maintaining the primary objective of supporting the developing parent-child relationship .
Team
Director and Trainer
Janie Vachon-Robillard
Trainer, author, lecturer and perinatal coach, I’ve been passing on the art of babywearing for over 20 years. My childhood travels in South America brought back this inner certainty that a baby had to be carried, the day I became a mother.
People would stop me on the bus and on the street to ask me to share the know-how I’d reappropriated as best I could. I couldn’t imagine that one day it would lead to a school…
For me, skin-to-skin and babywearing are invaluable tools forempowering parents and optimizing child development.
Making babywearing simple and accessible for everyone is the hope and priority of my approach, which led to the creation of the École Porter la Vie and its partner organization, the Institut national du portage des enfants (INPE).
My Child-Carrying and Skin-To-Skin Specialization
My university studies and internships in perinatal care (BAC midwifery, UQTR, 2003-2007) reinforced my convictions about the fundamental benefits of babywearing for both children and parents.
In 2007, I took part in the first babywearing course given in Quebec by the International Peau à Peau Association (from France and Belgium).
When I agreed in 2009 to offer my first professional training course in response to a request from Quebec City’s perinatal care providers, I had no idea of what lay ahead: hours, days and weeks of research. A real passion grew out of the need to know what I was teaching inside out, and to have serious sources and references to back it up. I’m continuing to develop this training for groups who ask me for it, based on their feedback.
2016, I attended the Canadian Babywearing School, became a member of the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance and attended the international babywearing conference in New York called: Bond.
In 2017, I traveled around France to visit three babywearing schools, where I took two other instructor training courses, with the Association française pour le portage des bébés and the Porter en toute simplicité school.
2018, I’m invited as a guest speaker in Italy at the Primo Convegno italiano sul babywearing , where I enrich my approach with several French, Belgian, German and Italian babywearing schools. Become a skin-to-skin consultant following the Kangaroo Care Certification Course with the United States Institute for Kangaroo Care.
That same year, with a group of instructors, I set up the Institut national du portage des enfants (INPE), which I chaired for two years before taking over as CEO until 2022. In 2019, I’m introducing the Accès portage program.
I’m then overseeing its roll-out across Quebec in 2020, thanks to an emergency government program to support new parents during the pandemic, with free baby slings and the accompaniment of a babywearing instructor.
In 2021, I’m writing thePetit manuel du portageto be published by INPE.
My Parallel Mission at The Heart of Being
As a proponent of an urgent planetary paradigm shift, I am deeply involved in embodying the changes I wish to see in this world.
My work in perinatal care leads me to explore how the conditions present at the very beginning of life can contribute to laying the foundations for a more harmonious human experience, one that is attentive to and respectful of oneself, others and our environment.
At the heart of their being, I accompany future and new parents who wish to prepare themselves intimately and spiritually for the arrival of the child they are welcoming. Recognize and contact the soul already present and conscious in the prenatal period, prepare for a birth in consciousness as well as an education based on true listening in the present moment.
Transforming our world by living change within ourselves is the surest way to avoid feelings of powerlessness, discouragement and eco-anxiety.
I also accompany people who are ready to give birth again.
Trainer
Amélie Longpré Boisvert
Amélie has always wanted to understand the babies around her. Once a godmother, then a mother, it became clear that keeping babies close helps forge a loving, balanced attachment.
A babywearing instructor since 2016 and a trainer for the Porter la Vie School since 2019, her motivation is above all to teach with pleasure. Enabling parents to achieve the fun factor with their child is the objective she reaffirms throughout her training courses.
A real geek when it comes to porting tools, she’s quick to spot their peculiarities in both design and use.
Her ultimate goal: to bring the love of babywearing to parents and future parents along the way, while teaching future enthusiasts!
Trainer
Stéphanie Beaubien
Stéphanie has been a babywearing instructor since 2020, popularizing the concepts of babywearing and skin-to-skin to spread the knowledge because she sincerely believes that babywearing is part of our DNA asHomo sapiens, and that it makes a big difference in the lives of babies and moms.
She draws on her long-standing experience in group facilitation when accompanying a training cohort. An excellent popularizer of science, she likes to dissect the fundamentals of attachment and our behavior as parents. Her background is in museology, with a specialization in the sciences.
Her current motto: that all babies start life with a full tank of oxytocin!
Administrative Support
Audrey Blais
Audrey is the guardian angel for the whole team and all the students. At the helm of the secretariat e-mail, she guides, orients, takes note of students’ particular situations and answers all questions.
A mother of two and passionate babywearing instructor since 2015, she has the Porter la Vie School and its mission tattooed on her heart. She has been involved in perinatal care ever since, having worked in birthing centers and breastfeeding support. In 2018, she also completed the United State Institute of Kangaroo Care’s consultant training. She knows the needs of students, instructors and new parents.
Our Regional Staff and Branches
Baie-Comeau Family Centre
Training partner on the Côte-Nord, Baie-Comeau and Manicouagan regions.
Claudia Martel and Stéphanie Thibault, who have been babywearing instructors since 2020, lead and accompany students during the practical days of our Level 1 and 2 face-to-face training in Baie-Comeau.
Their program offers free instructor training to caregivers and childcare workers in the Manicouagan region.
Naissance-Renaissance Outaouais
Training partner in the Outaouais region.
Student Testimonials
“Janie, you’re the figurehead of babywearing in Quebec and, increasingly, a proud promoter of skin-to-skin contact. We’re privileged to benefit from your expertise and experience.
Thank you so much for this training and for helping to pass on the art of babywearing!
I also really appreciated Amélie’s dynamism, enthusiasm, sense of humor, great competence and openness. I felt she really cared about the success of her babywearing students and made herself available to offer support when needed. Thank you so much for everything! “.
“I believe that skin-to-skin and babywearing are such important elements in promoting the physical health of the newborn, and that of the adult who practices it, as well as in the development of attachment and a secure parent-child relationship.
However, it is essential that everything be done safely, which is well emphasized, described and explained in Janie’s teachings. The latter is based as much on existing scientific studies as on the in-depth experience of people who have always practiced babywearing and skin-to-skin contact all around the world.
I’ve been able to apply the tools I’ve developed with my daughter since she was 6 months old (she’s 18 months now) and I believe it has helped me build an even stronger and more trusting attachment relationship with her. What’s more, it’s given me greater autonomy and freedom to get around and do household chores!
Honestly, I was blown away by the knowledge I gained from this training program. I would recommend the Porter la Vie training courses to anyone. I hope that eventually this knowledge will become commonplace and more widely integrated into our society.”
