The HUG...
an evidence-based, innovative, and family-friendly program to help the expectant and new parents you serve!
How might The HUG
benefit your hospital?
- Parent-child bonding is enhanced when parents can read their baby’s body language.
- The HUG teaches parents to notice what “Zone” their baby is in and to respond to a baby’s SOSs (Signs of Over-stimulation) which can interfere with feeding and bonding.
- Effective patient education promotes patient satisfaction.
- Satisfied patients refer friends and family to a facility.
- Satisfied patients enhance staff satisfaction.
- Satisfied staff are more effective and have greater job retention.
Ideas for incorporating The HUG into your hospital...
- Provide ONLINE continuing education training for your nurses, childbirth educators, lactation specialists, and doulas. Programs are approved for CE credit.
- Include The HUG Parent Educational DVD on your newborn channel and in your hospital store. (English and Spanish versions are available).
- Use The HUG Parent Education DVD in class for expectant and new parents.
- Put The HUG DVD in the hospital gift bags new parents receive at discharge.
- Refer patients to The HUG materials: Website, Blog, and Newsletters .
- Provide Grand Rounds presentation for your Pediatric, OB, and Family Practice physicians and residents.
- Offer a community-wide presentation, "Reading your Baby's Body: Tools to Be the Mom and Dad You Want to Be" by experienced and engaging speaker: Jan Tedder, BSN, FNP.
What professionals say about The HUG
"Using user-friendly analogies, HUG Your Baby takes us to where the
baby is coming from, and enables us to better understand and hence communicate
our love and support to our infants. Who could ask for more?" Dr. Miriam Labbok, The Carolina Global
Breastfeeding Institute, UNC School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC
“The HUG captures important elements of the
Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) and offers parents another way to
understand their baby.” Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, Brazelton Touchpoints Institute
"The
Amazing Talents of the Newborn". Together parents and professionals
discover the talents of a baby as well as how reading a baby’s body
language promotes effective breastfeeding, sleeping, comforting and
attachment." Marshall Klaus, MD and Phyllis Klaus, MFT, LMSW
“Amazing DVD and educational program! It captures the subtle ways
newborns communicate and guides parents in how to interest and soothe their
baby. The HUG is a gift for new parents.”
Dr. Barbara Howard, Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician and Assistant
Professor of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
"I wish I had known about The HUG when I was a new mom. The
information is terrific!" Anna Bess
Brown, Director of Program Services, North Carolina March of Dimes
“Dynamic, innovative program presents facts,
feelings and footholds for successful breastfeeding.” Barbara Hotelling, MSN, IBCLC,
WHNP. Former President of Lamaze International and DONA International
"After an enthusiastic response at our annual meeting, we are exploring how the innovative HUG resources can be adapted to support families and enhance breastfeeding in the developing counties we serve." Mary Decoster, IBCLC, MPH. Food and Security and Nutrition Network, Washington, DC.
“[HUG Your
Baby’s] ‘Teaching Newborn Behavior to Extend Breastfeeding Duration’ touches on
an aspect of breastfeeding that is just as important as positions: a mother
tuning into the specific needs and preferences of her unique baby. This concept
may change the way you approach breastfeeding.” ILCA (International Lactation
Consultant Association)
Research used to develop The HUG
Research confirms that the HUG Your Baby training is well received by
professionals, and that The HUG resources and education boosts parental confidence,
decreases parental stress, enhances parent knowledge of newborn behavior, and
facilitates breastfeeding.
Published descriptions of the
program:
- HUG Your Baby: Helping Expectant and New
Parents Read Their Baby’s Body Language (July
2011). CAPPA Quarterly 2(3):
21-24.
- Deciphering Nonverbal BabyTalk (2009). Carolina Parent Baby Guide. 27-29.
- Give Them The HUG: An Innovative Approach to
Helping Parents Understand the Language of their Newborn (2008). Journal of Perinatal Education 17:2,
14-20.
- The HUG: An Innovative Approach to Pediatric
Nursing Care (2007). MCN, 43(4) 210-214.
Published research on HUG Your Baby:
- Supporting Fathers in a NICU: Effects of
the HUG Your Baby Program on Fathers’ Understanding of Preterm Infant
Behavior. Journal of Perinatal Education, Spring, 2013.
- Teaching for Birth and Beyond: Online Program
Incorporated into a Birthing and Parenting Certification (July 2012). International Journal of Childbirth
Education, 27(3): 65-68.
Completed research in process of
publication:
- HUG Your Baby Decreases Parental Stress for
Fathers of Babies in the NICU.
- Teaching Professionals and Parents about Newborn
Behavior: A “HUG Your Baby” and “Parents As Teachers” Collaboration.
Research in progress:
- HUG Your Baby: Web-Based Program to Help Nursing
Students Understand and Teach Parents about Infant Behavior (UNC School of
Nursing).
- Use of The HUG’s “Roadmap to Breastfeeding
Success” to Enhance Birth Center Mothers’ Confidence and Breastfeeding
Duration (Women’s Birth and Wellness Center, Chapel Hill).
- The Impact of
The HUG on High-Risk Mothers' Self-Efficacy (University of Central Florida, Orlando).
- HUG Your Baby Workshop Enhances Care by
Community-Based Childbirth and Parenting Professionals (Beaufort, SC).
- Using HUG Your Baby Resources to Teach Family
Practice Residents (UNC Family Medicine Center).
