A keynote speaker at a Rhinelander gathering says one goal is to help parents understand how babies develop and behave in order to improve the parent-caregiver interactions.
Jennifer Banuelos spoke before the 10th annual Northwoods Breastfeeding Coalition Tuesday in Rhinelander. Banuelos is part of the Human Lactation Center at University of California at Davis.
She says she was there to present options for parents ...
"....we feel a lot of times parents don't know what to do with their babies. A lot of times it can be confusing because the babies don't sleep like adults do and they don't communicate like adults do so it can be confusing and lead to some bad feeding practices is to feed their babies when they're crying or waking up...."
Banuelos says they focus on the development and biology of baby. She acknowledges that crying is hard on the parents, so they focus on ways for parents to cope and to get a break, but she says the whole interaction is normal...
"....we focus on that crying is kind of a super power for babies. Yes, it's stressful for parents, and we know that. We help parents with tools for coping with the ways to get a break and to deal with the stress but to know it's normal and perfectly OK...."
Banuelos says breastfeeding is still the best way to feed a baby, having the nutrition the child needs and has a protective quality for the baby's health. The Northwoods Breastfeeding Coalition is involved in Oneida, Forest, Vilas and Price counties.
More information is at the county public health department.
