Queen
Sirikit National Institute of Child Health (Bangkok)
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| Dr. Siraporn Sawasdivorn |
I was
referred to Dr. Siraporn Sawasdivorn by Dr. Miriam Labbok, a colleague and
Director of the Carolina Gloable Breastfeeding Insittute. Dr. Sawasdivorn is Director of the Queen Sirikit National
Institute of Child Health (Bangkok) and Deputy Chair of the Thai Breastfeeding
Center. She arranged for a HUG presentation to nurses, physicians and
lactation specialists at her institution.
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Nurses, doctors and Lactations Consultants
attend HUG Presentation at
Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health |
About 60
professionals sit before me in a lovely room at the Queen Sirikit National
Institute of Child Health (Bangkok). I've been invited by its director and
Deputy Chair of the Thai Breastfeeding Center, Dr. Siraporn Sawasdivorn, to
introduce HUG Your Baby's contribution to breastfeeding support. Having just
completed the Thai translation of The HUG DVD the night before, I feel a bit
more able to share the ways that understanding a baby's behavior is critical to
extending breastfeeding duration.
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95% of mothers who give up breastfeeding
do so due to misconceptions (of child's
behavior) or mismanagement of problems. |
Though many mothers stop breastfeeding due to
fear they have inadequate milk supply, 95% have, instead, either INADEQUATE
UNDERSTANDING of normal newborn behavior or mismanaged breastfeeding.
"Teaching a parent about an SOS (Sign of Over-Stimulation), predictable
changes in normal crying patterns, active vs deep sleep, and a baby's
interactive ability is critical to boosting a mother understanding of her baby
as well as keeping her on the road to breastfeeding success." I hope this
translated DVD will be useful to Thai mothers and those who serve them.
Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital (Bangkok)
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Hospital staff practice (and enjoy)
describing a baby's "Zones and SOSs". |
The favorite part of our last day of teaching in Bangkok was
"'broadcasting' a baby's behavior." Today Jim and I joined Meena
Sobsamai, a midwife and lactation consultant at Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital,
for an all-day HUG training. This class had been offered to professionals for
the day and to expectant and new parents for the morning.
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"Broadcasting" this baby's active sleep cycle and her use of
"Spacing Out" to manage this over-stimulating environment. |
Since four pregnant
women, and eight parents and babies, participated off and on during the day, I
took the opportunity to "See and Share" a baby's behavior with this
group of HUG learners. Because some of the babies were older (up to 8 months),
I was able to go from baby to baby and "Broadcast" fine motor
changes, evidence of attachment (when the baby"references her parent" - glances back at parent for assurance),
the developing sense of object permanence, and subtle indications of early
stranger anxiety.
One would imagine that a family would feel on the spot and anxious about their baby's "performance" in a public setting like this. However, I find that the "Broadcasting" of a child's behavior not only puts a parent at ease, but delights them as they rejoice in the shared capabilities of their newborn.
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These babies sitting side by side are 8 and 10 months old
and do an awesome job demonstrating the
emergence of object permanence. |
The way parents sparkled when I would "Broadcast"
their baby's behavior made the point: using this HUG Strategy is an effective
short cut to a trusting relationship with parents. And once that relationship
is established, real teaching and support can occur. I think this message got
through, even in the translation from English to Thai and back!
Here is online training on HUG Strategies and another HUG Strategy story not to miss!
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| New Thai HUG Your Baby DVD! |
