Newly Published Article Gives Feedback about HUG Your Baby Teaching in Japan

A Japanese colleague, Yoko Shimpuku, PhD, CNM, RN, and I wrote a recently published an article describing the impact of bringing HUG Your Baby to Japan.

(2013).  HUG Your Baby: Evidence-based support tool for early child rearing.  Japanese Journal of Nursing Education 54(12): 1114-1118.

Since some of you may need to brush up on your Japanese, I want to share the content of this article in English! The article includes:

• A summary of the state of childbearing families in Japan today: 
• decreased fertility rates
• increased average age of new mothers
• isolation of young mothers due to decreased proximity of the nuclear family
• long working hours of fathers
• Academic background of HUG Your Baby: Based on the research and writings of leaders in the pediatric and child development world including: 
• Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and his colleagues, Dr. Kevin Nugent and Dr. Edward Tronick
• Drs. Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas
• Dr. Mary Ainsworth
• Drs. Marshal and Phyllis Klaus
• Components of the HUG Your Baby Program: Innovative and family-friendly language helps parents 
• observe three newborn "Zones" including the "Resting - sleeping Zones," the "Ready - 'I am ready to eat or play' - Zone," and the "Rebooting - fussing or crying Zone," and
• notice "Body SOSs" (changes in color, movement and breathing) and the "Behavioral SOSs" ("Spacing Out," "Switching Off," and "Shutting Down") in order to
• prevent and solve problems around a baby's eating, sleeping crying and parent-child interaction
• Following is the feedback from all the nurses who completed an evaluation of the HUG Your Baby workshop they attended in Japan.

"The HUG Your Baby workshop gave me useful 
skills and resources to teach and support new parents."

"The HUG Your Baby ideas and resources 

are appropriate for my culture."

Evaluation of Jan Tedder's Workshops at Int'l Lactation Consultant Assn (ILCA) 2013

I was delighted to be asked to make two presentations at the 2013 International Lactation Consultant Conference  in Melbourne, Australia. Evaluations of these workshops have just been compiled. 

#1 Extending Breastfeeding:

Understanding Newborn "Zones" and Signs of Over-Stimulation ("SOSs") 

Seventy-five experienced lactation specialists joined me in exploring how misunderstanding a baby's behavior impacts breastfeeding. 
Objectives of this presentation were:

• Identify three newborn "Zones"
• Identify three newborn "SOSs"
• Describe how misunderstanding a newborn's "SOSs" might interfere with breastfeeding

Following is the feedback from all who completed an evaluation of this workshop.

#2 Extending Breastfeeding: 

Exploring developmental events from birth to one year that impact breastfeeding

Invigorated by the reception of my first presentation, I spoke to more than 200 lactation specialists who attended my second presentation at ILCA 2013. The partition was opened to accommodate a larger-than-anticipated audience.

Objectives of this presentation were:

• Identify four predictable developmental events that impact breastfeeding during the first year of life
• Identify two ways to help mothers anticipate these developmental events

Following is the feedback from all who completed an evaluation of this workshop. 

ILCA attracts lactation leaders who have served internationally for decades, lactation researchers who bring us the latest in evidence-based care, and dedicated lactation specialists who care daily for breastfeeding women. Speaking to such a passionate, committed, experienced and discerning audience I was delighted that 94% of ILCA professionals found the HUG Your Baby presentations to be "very effective" or "effective."

Learn more about HUG's ONLINE COURSES about bringing HUG Your Baby to your lactation community.

Learning from Babies -- Malaysian and Tasmanian Style!

As you can tell from reading HUG Blogs over the past five months, HUG Your Baby has been well received in Asia Pacific. I expected to find that parents everywhere care deeply for their baby and that those who serve these parents would want to provide up-to-date, family-friendly education and resources. But, it has been a delightful surprise that professionals from Guatemala to Sri Lanka, from Japan to Australia, and from Malaysia to Brunei are wanting a bigger, longer HUG!

HUG Your Baby's leadership (Jim Henderson [husband, editor, researcher and "Dad's Got the HUG"], Gale Touger and Barbara Hotelling [HUG Trainers]) has recently considered the growing interest and greater requests coming our way and discussed what steps forward make the most sense. We're concluding that creating "The Roadmap to Breastfeeding Success" online course, and a Train-the-Trainer program, are reasonable next steps.

After presenting HUG Your Baby to over 1,500 professionals since July I've gained insight into what HUG ideas are readily understood ("Zones" and "SOSs"), what concepts need tweaking (infant self-regulation), and what additional information should be offered (a template for assessing a newborn's behavior).

In addition, I have spent time considering how best to teach the HUG ideas and what new materials to create. Because I teach best with stories and video, Jim and I discussed where we might videotape babies in this part of the world. We were delighted to have the opportunity to tape a number of babies in Malaysia. 

And, after inquires were sent and emails returned, Jim and I also arranged a return stay in Hobart, Tasmania, to work with the Royal Hobart Hospital's "Midwifery Group Practice" (MGP).

Kimmy Brooks, a friend and experienced MGP midwife, is our connection here, and she graciously spent some of her "annual leave" time gathering the support of MGP's leadership, the approval of the hospital, and the scheduling of interested pregnant patients due in November, when we were able to come back to town. In exchange I offered several complimentary HUG trainings to interested staff at The Royal and free DVDs to the parents whom we videotaped.

Kimmy and Jan celebrate the final day of taping in Tassie!

We've been in Tassie for three weeks now --initially staying in spectacular Woodbridge with Kimmy, her husband, Steve, and their beloved dog, Wombat -- and later back at our "home away from home" ("Werndee") in North Hobart. These weeks were spent meeting young families and collecting video footage of a variety of newborn behaviors. Though I had an extensive list of behaviors I hoped to capture on film, babies are not very responsive to requests such as, "How about 'take two' on that behavior?" I've long since learned to go with whatever behaviors a baby chooses to present.

Every time I encounter a newborn I am impressed once again by how much each baby has to teach. As I review the six babies I taped in Hobart and the seven I saw in Malaysia, I realize that I have collected video of most of the behaviors I had hoped to see. Here are a few examples of the lessons these babies taught:

Baby A: This baby demonstrates her remarkable ability to transition form one Zone to another We see her using behaviors that make a smooth transition possible: She "Spaces Out," she moves into the fencing pose, and she brings her hand to her mouth. All these self-comforting measures help her regulate her Zones. As I experience Baby A, and watch her on video, she seems predictable; I can tell where she is going. I can see (and explain) why this young mother experiences her baby as easy to care for.

Baby B: This baby's first-time parents are worried about their baby's sleepiness. Though the baby's weight gain is perfect, the father can't believe "I need to spend so much time trying to wake up my sleepy baby." Identifying for and with the parents this baby's active and deep sleep cycles, and discussing the value of active sleep for brain development, proves helpful to them.

Baby C: These dedicated first-time parents are challenged by a baby who is "hard to settle." I observe that this baby moves randomly and unpredictably between Zones, demonstrates few self-soothing behaviors, and struggles with efforts to orient (to look at a toy, or my face). Helping these parents see objectively the behaviors that are at this time challenging is helpful. In addition, hearing about each baby's unique development, and showing them techniques to help this baby with Zone regulation (such as swaddling before attempts to engage visually), is reassuring for these concerned parents.

Though I have completed initial editing of these videos in order to share them with the parents who volunteered their time, I expect to spend a number more hours watching, sorting, and watching again this precious example of the complexity of a baby's behavior, and the range of parents' experiences with a baby, as I continue to plan how best to convey the most important information to the widest range of interested professionals. This will be fun! I'm looking forward to finding time for this project both before and after our time in Thailand -- where we are going tomorrow for several weeks and a number of HUG Your Baby presentations in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Newly Certified HUG Teacher Addresses Key Concerns of New Parents

Sarah Venzara is a CAPPA certified Labor Doula (CLD) and Postpartum Doula and Parent Educator in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Though a very experienced professional, she discovers that the HUG Your Baby content enhances the care and support she can provide expectant and new parents!

I am thankful for the experience to have worked with many families while helping them adjust to a new life with their baby and with the amazing responsibility to care for their baby!  Since being a birth professional I have been able to observe the lack of guidance, support and education for newborn care.  I have heard over and over again from newly parents, “after having my baby I just didn’t know what to do, I felt so unprepared.”  Our culture today is so different from how it was.  Families are spread apart and we just don’t have the same kind of support system we need with starting a family.  Most of us are lacking the support from our family to be educated and cared for during the postpartum period.

There are three main questions that I hear as a birth professional.   The first one is how will I ever get any sleep when the baby arrives?  The second one is how do I calm and comfort my fussy/colic baby?  How am I certain my baby is getting enough milk while breastfeeding?  After taking the “Hug Your Baby Course” I feel very confident that I can address these and other questions in a way that can be remembered and applied by the new parent.   I am able to take these techniques I’ve learned from Hug Your Baby and use them in a very practical way that meets the needs of me as an educator and parents needs for guidance, support and education.  I am able to walk in the room and be even more confident in my abilities to assist this new family. 

Will I ever get any sleep when the baby arrives?  The answer is yes, but not in the way you’re used to now.  With the knowledge, support and guidance from a Certified HUG Teacher you will be able to maximize the amount of sleep possible with your new baby after learning a few things about infant’s needs and abilities. With the HUG program, learning more about baby sleep patterns has allowed me to more effectively share with parents how to guide and support their baby when to sleep.  I’ve noticed the parents catching on to this technique and having a boosted confidence.

How do I calm and comfort my fussy/colic baby?  The first strategy “start here not there” has really allowed me to make a big impact on allowing parents to feel heard and deliver the necessary information to them to help calm their fussy baby.  I love seeing the parents relax after spending some time with them and their babies and knowing that I have truly helped them with something that will stick with them and continue to be useful and helpful.

How am I certain my baby is getting enough milk while breastfeeding?  I have found it very effective to discuss Zones with the mother and explain that calming her baby will help her know what her baby is trying to communicate.   This way the mother can feel that she knows her baby is satisfied with her milk.  Mothers want to know that they are able to understand their baby’s needs and support them in those needs.  I find that after the mother knows how to recognize what Zone her baby is in and listen to his/her needs that the mother feels much more connected and helpful to her infant.  Understanding what SOS is and how to decrease stimulation and increase support has also been a very important technique in helping breastfeeding mothers feel like they are bonding and breastfeeding is going well. 

Brunei and HUG Your Baby

Brunei is a small Muslim country with a population of about half a million. (CLICK HERE to watch two-minute  of "Sights and Sounds of HUG Your Baby in Brunei".) With a total of 365 maternal-child nurses nationally, and a commitment to make all their hospitals Baby-Friendly, Brunei is now becoming HUG Your Baby proficient! During a busy five days in Brunei, I wrote a number of short Facebook posts, which (I hope) conveyed the flavor of my wonderful time here. This blog includes these posts, with a bit more information.

L-R Dr. Elizabeth Chong,
Maskaton Samsuddin, and Jan

October 18, 2013 . . .  Jim and I just arrived in Brunei, where we were met by Dr. Elizabeth Chong (Brunei's only neonatologist) and her colleague, Maskaton Samsuddin, BSN (nurse manager), who graciously welcomed us to her home for several days. I will be presenting at their upcoming Perinatal Conference, meeting nurses who work with mothers and babies, and role-playing some breastfeeding techniques with those promoting the Baby-Friendly movement here in Brunei. Today, as I often am in our travels, I am deeply grateful to spend time with professionals who are dedicated to supporting new parents. 

Ninth National Perinatal Symposium 

October 20, 2013 . . . I am honored to join 300 professionals today as the keynote speaker at Brunei's 9th National Perinatal Symposium (which received national press). It is a joy (and a relief!) that both of my HUG presentations are well received. One amazing thing about gatherings in a small country is that the decision makers and stakeholders can all be represented. So today the medical and nursing community of BRUNEI learned about HUG Your Baby. 

National coverage of Symposium

I am honored to be welcomed by (and to have lunch with) Dr. HJH Rahmah Hi, MD, Deputy Secretary of Health, the Ministry of Health, Brunei. She and I discussed their national health initiatives (decrease obesity with exercise, and make the kingdom “smoke-free”) as well as their commitment to breastfeeding support and to the WHO’s Baby-Friendly Initiative. The morning symposium was followed by an afternoon workshop to develop national Baby-Friendly SOPs (standard operating procedures). (Jim had risen to the occasional when some AV help was needed at the conference.) Tonight Dr. Roselina Yaakub took me and the hard working Dr. Chong and Maskuton to dinner to celebrate a successful conference. 

Meeting babies in Ripas Hospital
postpartum ward

One of my favorite moments of this visit was my tour of Ripas Hospital's pediatric and post-partum wards and maternity suite. Of course, I felt mostly overwhelmed amid the tiny babies in Dr. Chong's NICU, where the care is gentle and modern. Though having only a 20% c-section rate at Ripas, Dr. Roselina, the OB/GYN faculty, described the recent childbirth education provided by an exquisite teacher, Debra Pascali-Bonaro (LINK). Hospital staff now want to provide a labor support workshop for the nurses as a step toward meeting their Baby-Friendly goals. 

Finally, we toured the postpartum ward, where I felt quite at home. With a small cohort of nurses trailing behind, I was invited to go from baby to baby and "give a HUG"--my idea of a REALLY GOOD time! 

Tour of Ripas Hospital Pediatric and Maternity Units

October 21, 2013 . . . Before our day was over were asked to drop by and meet the hospital's CEO. Expecting a quick handshake, Jim and I were surprised to walk into the ample Board room and have an extensive conversation with the hospital's CEO, medical director (an ER physician with a Harvard MBA), head nurses, and other hospital administrators and visionaries. "What do you think of our care here?" and "What can we do to improve our services?" I was asked. Fortunately, Dr. Roselina Yaakub and I had discussed many of these issues just the night before.

Role-playing at HUG training

October 21, 2013 . . . Sometimes a teaching session comes together perfectly! And, this one did just that today, when I had a HUG Your Baby demonstration with nurses at Ripas hospital and later at a community maternity center. We discussed the HUG concept of “Broadcasting” a baby’s behavior, a technique to help mothers feel “listened to” and thereby to become more open to what nurses have to teach.

"Model HUG Your baby Super Star"
10 days old

A midwife volunteered to play a disgruntled patient, “fed up with being told, all the time, to breastfeed.” I loved how this role-play unfolded as we used HUG Strategies and techniques to connect with this “mother and her husband.” Then, a lovely REAL mother shared her one-week-old baby and recent breastfeeding struggles. Her story reminded the nurses that babies born at 37 weeks may be medically stable but still need help to breastfeed. Massaging the baby’s tongue to enhance sucking, adjusting the breastfeeding position, helping the baby get to the “Ready Zone,” and watching for “SOSs – Signs of Over-Stimulation” made all the difference for this wonderful baby and attentive, young mother.

That evening, we joined the Ripas Symposium committee for a huge, celebratory Chinese dinner. Having a lot more fun than the tasty red snapper in the photo(!), we chatted about the enthusiasm generated by the Symposium, the hospital's efforts and dreams to create a family- and Baby-Friendly environment, the new hospital block for maternal-child care that is under construction, and the needs they currently have. Enjoying our "thank you" ice cream cake, we were happy to hear Dr. Roselina ask, "When are you coming back?  We need The HUG in all of Brunei!"

A beautiful ice cream cake finished the feast! 

Celebrating Brunei's Ninth National Perinatal Symposium:
A job well done!

Australian Midwife Incorporates The HUG into Her Practice

Sandra Morgan-Young, newly Certified HUG Teacher, is a pediatric nurse, midwife and IBCLC  in Parkdale, Victoria, Australia. She now serves young families as a Maternal and Child Health Nurse. With her many years of experience, Sandra is delighted to find that HUG Your Baby training gives her new ways to support the parents she meets. Let's hear what she learned by completing the Certified HUG Teacher training.

Sandra and baby, Owen

It was exciting to realize during my HUG training that I did not need to try and teach parents everything I thought they needed to know all at one time. Though I was concerned I would not have time to include HUG techniques in my already busy consultations, I'm finding that I now spend less time talking generally and more time concentrating on the particular infant I'm with. As a result, I feel an increased connection to parents, who love discussing their infants' personalities and are so proud of their infants achievements. Consultations have become less one-sided (me talking at parents) and more interactive. And, I notice that parents are not getting that "glazed over" look so much.  

My philosophy has always been that l want to help families enjoy their parenting, to see how capable their infant is, and to increase their confidence. Parents really want practical techniques, and l found The HUG easy for me to teach and for parents to understand. Most parents already instinctively use swaddling and swaying and whispering to their infants as means to calm their child. The HUG helps me reassure them that they are on the right track, and then add some additional ideas and techniques.  

I was already aware of some of the HUG material discussed, but this online HUG training gave me a great framework to present the material for increased impact. The handouts are useful too. I find The HUG ideas are catchy and memorable and fit easily with other frameworks. They appear to be culturally acceptable, which is so important.

What is great about The HUG is that it is relevant in all the areas that l am passionate about: sleeping, settling, teen parenting, breastfeeding, infant massage, premature infants, depressed parents, and bonding. And, dads love the "Rebooting" idea. Some grandmas have learned ways to be supportive without giving a bottle or food.

l love exploring "goodness of fit" with temperaments of children and their parents. I also like to put a positive spin on individual attributes. For example, I told one sleep-deprived couple that their baby was very mature (since he was born at 43 weeks), and they glowed as they described his ability to play under his gym and on Mum's tummy. 

It is interesting to reflect on "sticky spots" with parents (which I can relate to the literature on 'ghosts in the nursery') and how to respond to and unravel them. The HUG's "Roadmap to Breastfeeding Success" really resonates with me and dovetails well with a recent presentation I made on a similar subject.

The "Just tell me what T. O. Do" tool for helping a crying baby (talk, observe, do or act) has proved to be a useful teaching tool as well as learning that the 6-week peak crying period is based on a baby's gestational age.

The thing I found most challenging is practicing "Broadcasting" a child's behavior. Sometimes I struggle with "Starting Here, not There," as my natural inclination is to take a more "prescriptive" approach to teaching. 

I have been teaching parents for over 35 years and am always looking for better ways to support new families. The HUG is giving me those new tools and techniques. I look forward to consolidating my HUG skills and to convincing colleagues to join me in this exciting, new approach to parent teaching.

Malaysian Mothers, Fathers and Babies Get Their HUG!

HUG Your Baby Workshop for Malaysian Parents

Today I meet with expectant couples--and mothers and fathers with their young babies--in a packed education room at KPJ Hospital, Klang, Malaysia. All are eager to learn how to become the good parents they want to be.

I review the key components of HUG Your Baby: recognizing what "Zone" a baby is in and when a "baby sends out an SOS-Sign of Over-Stimulation". Parents hear about the "Resting, Ready and Rebooting Zones" and learn to recognize when a baby sends out body SOSs (with changes in baby's movement, breathing, and color) or behavioral SOSs: "Spacing Off" (looking into space), "Switching Off" (looking away from parents), and "Shutting Down" (getting more drowsy).

The most exciting time of the day for me is a "hands-on" HUG for babies in the audience. Parents stand in line to allow their baby to be a "Super Star and Model Baby"! (See certificate below.) One baby demonstrates a remarkable example of Deep Sleep, while another baby demonstrates the transition from Deep Sleep to Active/Light Sleep.

Transitioning from the Rebooting to the Ready Zone

One baby enters the Rebooting Zone, only then to show us how he can begin to calm down by hearing my sing-song voice.

A two-week-old baby demonstrates her ability to to turn her head toward my voice before "Switching Off" (by turning away from my talking face).

One father witnesses the "Deep Sleep" Zone while hearing about the special skills babies can learn from an engaged father.

A baby who is two months old demonstrates his developing motor skills as he tucks in his chin so that he can hold his head midline and gaze at me.

"Babies can be our greatest teachers," I say, as I once again discuss the remarkable capabilities of a newborn. Parents in Klang Malaysia, today not only enjoy the satisfaction of sharing their adorable babies with an appreciative audience. They also see how ready babies are to communicate with their loving and attentive families.

HUG Your Baby Reaches Malaysia!

Malay style eating - push food
with the fork and eat with the spoon!

Saying goodbye to my old friend Elizabeth (who headed back to Princeton), our new friend/teacher/driver, Ida, and leaving Bali was not easy. But Malaysia is our next stop and promises another set of memorable and moving experiences.

Though eating is not ALL we do in Malaysia, we can't help but start every conversation with a description of what we JUST ate! The multicultural heritage of Malaysia is evident the moment we step into the airport, at restaurants where Malay, Chinese and Indian food cohabit, and on the bus where we continue to hear the "One Malaysia" song celebrating what people of diverse
backgrounds share as a nation.

"Blue Mosque, Shah Alam
largest Mosque in Malaysia

We love hearing the Muslim call to prayer as we drive past a colorful Hindu temple, a sparkling gold Buddha, or a subdued Catholic church. It's all awe-inspiring.

Toddler learns to greets another
with a kiss of the hand

We learn to order dishes like dim sum, bak-kut-teh, or asam laksa; to dodge fast cars and motorbikes on well-paved roads; and to shake hands followed by a touch to the heart (Malay style). Today a young toddler reaches out to grasp my hand bringing it to his mouth for a kiss. Mother explains that this is how young children are taught to meet and greet. I loved this, of course!

Norjinah receives the sweet carved
baby I bring her from Bali.

I am finally able to meet Sita Norjinah Moin who has been my Skype buddy for 6 months. She founded the Malaysian Breastfeeding Association and has worked tirelessly for decades to make EVERY public hospital in Malaysia Baby-Friendly in 1998. She set up two HUG Your Baby trainings is Shah Alam (outside of Kuala Lumpur) and helped me confirm a keynote presentation at The 9th Perinatal Symposium in Brunei next week. Norjinah makes things happen!

First HUG Training in Malaysia--a packed house of professionals!

The KPJ Hospital in Klang hosts HUG Your Baby's first Malaysian trainings. Well prepared for the 50 registered professionals, workshop event planners Danny, Bell and Janet move with lightening speed to set up extra chairs and print out more handouts and certificates for the crowd of 80 nurses, breastfeeding consultants and peer counselors, physicians and childbirth educators who arrive!

"Launching" the HUG Your Baby Workshop in Malaysia
with Norjinah Moin and clebrity, Betty Nanafe

Feeling quite welcomed by hospital leadership (Dr. Sivamohan, Medical Director, Jaliah Mat Jani, Chief Nursing Officer, and Zaharah Osman, RN, General Manager) and a local (pregnant) "Reality Show" celebrity, Betty Nanafe, I am surprised and delighted by the ceremonial "launching" of the workshop with the drop-down "release" of a HUG Your Baby banner and an explosion of festive confetti.  I am fired up and ready to roll!

I am usually struck by what is similar about most international HUG trainings: a desire to help parents better understand their babies and the surprise that HUG concepts are so relevant and easily explained to expectant and new parents. 

Because this training focuses closely on how HUG strategies and techniques support breastfeeding, I am especially delighted to have extended conversations with local lactation specialists. (CLICK HERE to watch a two-minute interview with them). Though excited by The HUG, they, like some other lactation professionals, worry that my teaching about infant sleep cycles might cause mothers to inadequately breastfeed their infants because of confusion about "early feeding cues" versus "active sleep." We share our varied points of view and promise to stay in touch as they think through how to give parents accurate information to meet the sleep needs of young mothers AND the nutritional needs of their babies.

Tomorrow we host a community-wide workshop and prepare to welcome expectant and new parents who want to give their baby a HUG! But first, we need to EAT AGAIN!

Event planners Janet, Danny and Bell sharing the "FAMOUS"
Klang dish, Bak Kut Teh ("Pork, Ribs, Tea") 

Newly Certified HUG Teacher Shares Her Thoughts about this Training

Amy Leung is a registered nurse with a degree in psychology and sociology.  She is currently seeking certification as a CAPPA Postpartum Doula on Ontario Canada. Here she share her thoughts about the value of the HUG Your Baby training.

Many of us have heard of the benefits of secure attachment.  When we build a strong bond and attachment with our babies, they feel more competent, learn to give and receive love, have the confidence to explore the world and develop social, emotional and cognitive skills. However, the concepts of  “baby-led” or “child-centered” are unheard of in some cultures.  In these situations, children are supposed to listen to parents, do what parents say because the parents “know best”.  What does it mean to say “parents need to pick up on baby’s cues?”  Shouldn’t babies pick up parents’ cues instead?

And, what if a baby cries all the times? How can a mother “bond” with this little person when she is physically exhausted, perhaps has discomfort from an episiotomy or a cesarean section incision? And, what about a single parent who lacks social support leaving them more susceptible to postpartum depression?  Feeling inadequate, guilty, incompetent and overwhelmed all inhibit the parent-child relationship, bonding and attachment.

The HUG Your Baby training sheds light on these stressful situations by providing hands-on, accessible, practical strategies to help a parent better understand her baby.   HUG stands for “Help., Understanding, and Guidance," and shows us that babies communicate from the start. Though babies don’t come with a manual, they do “speak” with their bodies--no matter which cultural background the baby comes from.  Their gestures seem to be universal.

The HUG teaches parents about different “Zones”– “The Resting, Ready and Rebooting Zones”, about “SOSs” - Signs of Over-Stimulation, and what “T.O. DO” to calm a fussy baby.  Once parents learn this “language”, they will identify the “Ready Zone” when a baby is ready to play or feed or will learn how to calm a crying baby in the “Rebooting Zone.” These skills will help parents choose the right time to feed their baby, to help a baby sleep longer and to help parents get to know their baby’s personality. 

When a parent knows how to read their baby’s cues, it is easier to build that positive parent-child relationship, to create mutual trust in the parent-child dyad and to build confidence and competence in the parents. Babies with secure attachment will be less fussy, whiny and clingy. 

I encourage a parent to “listen to your baby and your baby will listen to you in return. Start by learning her secret language and enjoy your bundle of joy for years to come!”