It is a great joy to find our way to Brisbane and our final Australian
HUG Your Baby training. The Brisbane River, twisting its way through the city,
accessible transportation, and a diverse population (both in people and animals!)
contributes to Brisbane being identified as one of the most “livable” cities in
the world. All they seem to need is a big HUG!
CLICK HERE to watch a YouTube from these participants!
A large crowd of nurses, midwives, lactation consultants—and
even a nanny who fosters newborns—join us to learn tools and resources that
give parents the ability to see and understand their babies’ body language.
Among other issues, we review the rising incidence of anxiety
and depression in today’s parents and how those parents often misread what a
baby is communicating. Participants agree that HUG’s family-friendly language (such
as a newborn’s “Resting, Ready and Rebooting Zones” and how a baby “Sends out
an SOS—Sign of Over-Stimulation”) will increase parents’ confidence and enhance
attachment to their babies.
Because “sleep training” of infants and babies has become
popular (and controversial) in Australia, HUG trainees were relieved to
consider how The HUG’s information on Active/Light and Still/Deep sleep, and on
normal sleep patterns, might help decrease the need for more aggressive parent
training.
Our red TicTacs were popular once again as a simple tool to
demonstrate a baby’s capacity to engage visually. Participants were reminded
that many infants have a normal hesitation in the movement of their eyes as they
begin to orient. Specific techniques were shown to equip HUG trainees to help
all babies be a star as they demonstrate how ready and able they are to engage with
their parents, and the world!
I was especially happy to meet Ann Thistleton, who had taken
HUG Your Baby online courses to become Brisbane’s first Certified HUG Teacher. She
shared with the group her experience using HUG Your Baby with Australian parents
and expressed delight in the ideas that were offered in this one-day
workshop.
Jim and I LOVE Brisbane, and we hope to return here in the
future, when we expect to find even more Certified HUG Teachers working with fortunate
families in Queensland!
