One-Day HUG Your Baby Workshop in New Mexico

A number of variables impact a woman's decision to discontinue breastfeeding: lack of support, breastfeeding pain, worry about milk supply, or challenges with returning to work. In addition to these problems, lactation specialists also notice that mothers add formula or give up breastfeeding when they misinterpret a baby's normal behavior as a breastfeeding problem. Does that crying two-week-old need more calories? Does the "restless" sleep of a one-month-old mean the baby needs cereal in a bottle at night? Is the distracted four-month-old trying to wean?

Elsa Quintana, the New Mexico Breastfeeding Coordinator, believed that HUG Your Baby’s information and resources offer a missing piece of the puzzle to extend breastfeeding duration in NM communities. 140 New Mexico peer counselors completed HUG's "Roadmap to Breastfeeding Success" online course. After completing this two-hour course, these professionals demonstrated increased knowledge of how child development impacts breastfeeding; they expressed a stronger intention to teach parents about normal child behavior, and they reported greater confidence to do so. [Tedder, J. & Quintana, E. (2018). Clinical Lactation, 9(3), 108-118.]

In August (2019) Elsa and NM Deputy WIC Director, Kerry Clavio, invited HUG Your Baby to bring an all-day Training to Albuquerque. HUG Trainers Camille Smith, PhD (formerly from the CDC); Gale Touger, FNP (IBCLC, and original HUG contributor), and Vonda Gates (doula/childbirth educator and former ICEA board member) joined me for a creative, inspiring day of HUGs! We reviewed all components of HUG Your Baby, taught HUG Strategies for the first time, and offered multiple interactive exercises to enhance learning.

The two one-minute Youtube videos at the link below capture the essence of this training and how NM WIC hopes to incorporate HUG Your Baby into their future work.

NM Breastfeeding Coordinator Speaks Up

Breastfeeding Peer Counselors Share their Thoughts

Here’s what participants had to say about the workshop:

98-100% of participants “Strongly Agreed” or “Agreed” with the statements:

1.    The workshop information was helpful and relevant to my work.

2.    The workshop training was easy to understand.

3.    The workshop training provided content that I can apply immediately in my work.

4.    The workshop information was evidence-based.

5.    The workshop videos helped me understand this information.

6.    The workshop table exercises helped me understand this information.

7.    I would recommend this workshop to others.

We look forward to contacting WIC organizations in other states about bringing HUG Your Baby to their professionals and the families they serve!

HUG Your Baby goes to WIC-Guildford County North Carolina

It was my great pleasure to join 40 WIC professionals in Greensboro, North Carolina, this morning. It was exciting to see that those present included lactation consultants, nutritionists, peer counselors and administrative staff. When considering how to integrate a new program into a facility, it's important to include ALL the professionals who will interact with patients. That's what happened today!

We explored HUG Your Baby's "Roadmap to Breastfeeding Success." Participants seemed especially interested in video demonstrating how to calm a fussy baby, how to differentiate a baby's deep and light sleep, and how to identify a baby's signs of over-stimulation. At the end of the workshop these professionals broke into small groups to consider what steps they might take to bring these child development and breastfeeding resources to patients. They had LOTS of good ideas!

Participants completed knowledge pre- and post-tests. They also completed a  survey on their current teaching of patients about how changes in a child's development impacts breastfeeding and on how they intend to teach after the workshop. In addition, they shared information about their confidence to teach parents and their feedback about the workshop. See results below.

Pre- and Post-Test Results

Pre-test: 31% failed; 69% passed

Post-test: 6% failed; 94% passed

Your Teaching of Parents

You teach (or give written information on) issues BEFORE workshop compared to your plans to teach (or give written information on) issues AFTER workshop

1.     Teaching about signs of over-stimulation

a.     Before Workshop: 37%

b.     Plans after Workshop: 97%

2.     Teaching about crying

a.     Before Workshop: 44%

b.     Plans after Workshop: 97%

3.     Teaching about sleep cycles

a.     Before Workshop: 25%

b.     Plans after Workshop: 97%

4.     Teaching about change in stooling at 4-6 weeks

a.     Before Workshop: 79%

b.     Plans after Workshop: 97%

5.     Teaching about 4-month-old’s distractibility

a.     Before Workshop: 37%

b.     Plans after Workshop: 97%

6.     Teaching about 9-month-old’s stranger anxiety

a.     Before Workshop: 22%

b.     Plans after Workshop: 94%

Your CONFIDENCE to teach parents

7.     I am confident that I can identify an infant’s response to OVER-STIMULATION

a.     Before Workshop: 15%

b.     After Workshop: 97%

8.     I am confident that I can comfort a CRYING baby

a.     Before Workshop: 82%

b.     After Workshop: 100%

9.     I am confident that I can identify an infant’s LIGHT AND DEEP SLEEP

a.     Before Workshop: 65%

b.     After Workshop: 100%

EVALUATION of Workshop

10.  “I think this material was evidence-based.” - 100% Strongly Agree or Agree

11.  “I would recommend this workshop to other colleagues.” -  100% Strongly Agree or Agree