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!