Thrive Guide for Parents of Premature Babies
What you'll learn
- Understand the techniques to breastfeed, provide expressed milk or provide Kangaroo Care for a premature baby
- Make informed diet decisions for lactating mothers to improve the quality of the breast milk premature babies receive
- Understand alternative feeding options for babies that are unable to receive breast milk from their mother
- Locate resources for additional support with breastfeeding, expressing breast milk, providing Kangaroo Care or identifying alternative feeding options for premature babies
Requirements
- No prior knowledge required
Description
Do you have a premature baby less than six months old (adjusted age)? Do you want to learn how to provide the best nutrition for your preemie to help your baby thrive?
The Pebbles of Hope Thrive Guide for Parents of Premature Babies is an interactive course with expert information, parent testimonials, graphics and video to provide parents and other caregivers of premature infants with the information they need to provide their babies with the best care. This is the first module of the Thrive Guide, focusing on nutrition for the first six months (adjusted age), and covers topics such as breastfeeding, expressing breast milk and Kangaroo Care as a means to stimulate milk production.
Topics covered in this module include:
- Challenges preemies face
- Ways to feed your baby
- Methods to provide breast milk for preemies, techniques to stimulate milk production and how to store milk
- Guidance for successful breastfeeding and bottlefeeding
- Nutrition tips for mothers providing breast milk
- Techniques for performing Kangaroo Care
This module takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete, and additional materials, such as a lactation log, sample meal plans for lactating mothers, and a checklist for breast milk storage, are also made available for download throughout the course. Additional materials have also been provided by La Leche League USA. All content has been reviewed and approved by our expert advisory panel of neonatologists, perinatologists, neonatal nurses, pediatricians, pediatric nutritionists and occupational therapists prior to inclusion within the course.
Who this course is for:
- Parents of premature babies aged 6 months (adjusted) or younger
- Women experiencing high-risk pregnancy with high likelihood to deliver pre-term
- Parents with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)
- Grandparents of premature babies aged 6 months (adjusted) or younger who will be involved in the baby's care
- Caregivers of premature babies aged 6 months (adjusted) or younger, including home nurses, nannies and babysitters
Instructor
Pebbles of Hope is a United States-based 501c3 nonprofit committed to helping premature babies around the world survive and thrive. By leveraging the power of media, technology and community to provide education, training and resources to parents, birth attendants and community health workers, we are working to give premature babies born in underserved areas an increased chance at survival and the opportunity to lead a healthy life.
Pebbles of Hope programs focus on three areas— digital training, mentoring, and mass media campaigns—with the purpose of equipping parents and caregivers with the information they need to care for the smallest babies in regions with limited medical facilities.
Our Mission
Our mission is to leverage the power of media, technology and community to help babies born prematurely in low-resource settings survive and thrive.