Kay Miller (Claycomo, MO) is nurse and CAPPA doula AND a remarkable woman. Her work with new parents is broad and wide and has expanded as her children (age 14, and 11) become a bit older. She does private doula work, works at a birth center, and works at a crisis pregnancy center. At this center Kay has the opportunity to have 1-4 weekly visits a month with women during their pregnancy and up until the baby is one year old. Just imagine how many HUGS she gets to give! Congratulations on her recent HUG Teacher Certification.
Here is her story:
"I recently served as a doula for a wonderful mom. Not long after the birth, Mom emailed me to let me know that baby wasn't sleeping well. He reportedly was only sleeping for about an hour at a time, then would get fussy. Mom would pick him up and attempt to breastfeed. She was getting little sleep, was frustrated, and had sore nipples. I told her that I had just the thing to help her, and that we would discuss it at our postpartum visit the following day.
When I visited the mom and baby, I brought my HUG DVD with me. I let mom talk about what had been going on, and observed baby’s actions. I then discussed the different actions that I noted, such as baby squirming, turning head from side to side, self comforting measures, sucking, etc. I pointed out these actions and shared with mom how the actions were normal, and that she could learn to recognize his cues and respond accordingly.
Mom handed baby over to me so I could have some time with him. He had been fussy and seemed a little agitated with mom. He spaced out for a few seconds and I just gave him some time to adjust. Then I softly called his name and began to talk with him. Mom was amazed when he calmed down, and absolutely delighted when he turned on his charm for me.
Baby soon decided it was time to eat, so mom brought him to the breast. I pointed out how well she did bringing him skin to skin, positioning him, waiting for baby to open his mouth wide to get a good latch. We also discussed different positions she could use during breastfeeding.
Not long after his feeding, baby decided that it was time to sleep. This brought up the perfect opportunity for us to watch the HUG DVD and to discuss it further. I really hit on the active/light sleep and still/deep sleep patterns since mom was concerned with baby’s sleeping. While I was there, baby came to the active/light sleep, which provided the opportunity for me to point out his movements and noises, and explain to mom that this was normal and expected behavior. We watched him for a few minutes, leaving him undisturbed, and he eventually fell back in to his still/deep sleep. Mom breathed a sigh of relief. I gave her the HUG website and some other resources to check in to, and soon ended the visit.
I contacted mom a few days later to check on her and the baby. She told me that baby was doing much better. She felt that she was able to recognize his zones and SOSs. She said that he was sleeping better and eating well. She said that she was able to get a long stretch of sleep every night, because she was able to recognize when he was in active/light sleep and when he was really awake. She thanked me again for sharing information and techniques with her to help her and baby, and for helping her get a good night’s sleep!"
© HUG Your Baby 2010