Webinar: Creating Strong Bonds: A Doula’s Perspective on Newborn Bonding With Parents

It’s a popular misconception: giving a baby too much attention can lead to spoiling them. Research debunks this myth, and shows that creating a strong bond between a baby and primary caregivers is dependent on the time they spend with each other.

A strong bond between parent and child is important for a variety of reasons, with one of the most important being the vital role it plays in a child’s growth and development.

In a webinar LA Best Babies Network recently hosted on May 22, 2024, for Welcome Baby Registered Nurses and other staff in the Family Strengthening Network, Kathrin Auger — a Ret. NICU RN, CD/PCD/PDT (DONA) — discusses this and more. In this presentation, she:

• Explores the key physical and emotional needs of newborns and how parents can meet them to foster a strong bond
• Discusses techniques and practices that encourage healthy attachment between newborns and parents, emphasizing the RN’s role in guiding this process
• Outlines how parents’ emotional states and stress levels can affect newborn bonding
• Offers guidance on involving partners and siblings in the bonding process to help promote a unified family approach

About the presenter:

Kathrin Auger, a retired NICU RN, CD/PCD/PDT (DONA), started her training as a pediatric registered nurse in Switzerland in 1993, where she worked in the NICU at one of the leading university hospitals for several years. During her years in the NICU, she expanded her training in infant massage, baby wearing, reflexology, kinesthesia (conscious handling of the newborn), lactation, homeopathy, and flower essences, which broadened her expertise in the maternity field. Her work also included the supervision of pediatric nurses and midwife interns.

Kathrin’s years of conventional medical training fed her desire to step outside the typical medical model and go deeper into more personal care during the perinatal period. After her move to Los Angeles in 2002, she became a certified birth and postpartum doula, as well as a postpartum doula trainer.

Apart from holding many certifications, Kathrin is recognized as an expert in the postpartum field. Her passion for all things pregnancy, birth, and postpartum knows no bounds, and she strongly believes in a culture where birth is just, inclusive, and free of fear, and where postpartum families get the support they need to thrive in the ever-changing landscape of the postpartum period.

She lives with her husband and their two teenage sons in Los Angeles.

Watch the webinar recording here, and don’t miss the links to related resources below. (Note: Two videos that the presenter showed in this webinar are removed from the recording due to copyright restrictions. Here are links to these videos: Carrying your baby skin-to-skin and Continuous skin-to-skin care.)

Resources:

• Webinar presentation slides
• Carrying Your Baby Skin-to-Skin (Global Health Media)
• Benefits of Kangaroo Care for You & Your Baby (Sunnybrook Hospital)
• How to Kangaroo Care With Your Baby (Nationwide Childrens)
• Postpartum Support International
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American College of OB/GYN
• Kid’s Health
• Los Angeles Doula