hugs Archives - City Dads Group

Hugs: The Powerful Science Behind How They Do a Body, Brain Good

Lance Somerfeld — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 14:21:32 +0000

City Dads Group co-founders Lance Somerfeld and Matt Schneider at Huggies Parents Council in Chicago. (Contributed photo)

DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by Huggies^®.

Hugging my children has such a positive impact on my life. It makes me feel better during my worst moments and most challenging days. It comforts me in the morning when I send my kids off to school. It warms my heart in the afternoon when they return home.

These emotional and physiological outcomes are all wonderful, but I’ve never tried to understand the science and culture of why that is so.

Fortunately, I learned someone else has.

The Huggies Parents Council, a diverse group of moms and dads from around the nation who care deeply about their families, recently met in Chicago where the Huggies brand team helped us understand what it means when Huggies says it believes in the power of hugs — especially a parent’s hugs — to help our little ones thrive.

Parenting expert, author and pediatrician Dr. William Sears and behavioral and brain scientist Dr. Olivier Oullier presented us with data that shows the many measurable benefits of hugging for baby and parents alike. These include lowering blood pressure, reducing stress and boosting the immune system just to name a few.

For children, parental hugs assist in their emotional and physiological development. Hugs make them happier and more resilient, less prone to illness, and create stronger family connections and bonds. A recent Huggies study titled “The Power of Human Touch for Babies,” shows skin-to-skin hugs not only calm a cry or soothe away stress, they also:

can help keep a baby’s heart beating at a normal rate
improve sleep
support healthy weight gain

In addition, MRI and PET scans have revealed hugs stimulate the release of dopamine, body’s own feel-good medicine. I witnessed this explosion of the body’s positive information flow firsthand . I participated in a neuroscience experiment using a revolutionary neuroheadset scanner that monitored my brain activity to show the profound difference before and immediately after a hug:

Before a hug

Everything’s quiet in my brain before someone hugs me.

Right after a hug:

BOOM! Brainwave tidal wave!

To further demonstrate my “brain on hugs,” I’d like to share with you a highlight reel with five of my most memorable hugs as a parent.

Lance bonding with his son at four days old.

1. Becoming a father and hugging my son for the first time. “Holy cow! I can’t believe I’m a dad.” I couldn’t believe the surge of immediate responsibility I felt as a father when I first held my son. I showered him with love, affection and hugs in those first few moments even though everything seemed like a blur. Our son spent most of his early days sleeping, but I was on a quest to make sure I became competent at holding, feeding, changing and cuddling with him.

Behold, a daughter joins the family.

2. Hugging my daughter for the first time. After losing my mother to cancer, we named our daughter after her. This created an instant, loving bond the moment we welcomed her to the world. I held and hugged her in the delivery room and spent what felt like hours studying every precious wrinkle and nook of her face as she lay sleeping in my arms.

My 90-year-old grandmother hugs my daughter.

3. Watching my 90-year-old grandmother hug my daughter. Do you really want to understand the power of a hug? I wasn’t even involved in this loving squeeze between my grandmother and my daughter, but the powerful effect as a parent/observer still blew me away and hit all the feels.

Hugging my kids extra tight before I go.

4. Hugging my children when preparing to leave on a business trip. We strive to be successful in both our careers and as parents. It’s such a tender moment for me when I give my children an extra long, tight hug before a business trip knowing that I won’t be around that night to tuck them in, read a bedtime story or kiss them goodnight.

Providing a comfortable place for napping when your kid is sick.

5. Hugging my children when they were sick. I feel a combination of love, empathy and helplessness when my children are sick. At just a few months old, my daughter contracted a nasty stomach virus where it was a constant flood coming out of all ends. I felt so frustrated because it was completely out of my control. On the plus side, the hours that she wanted to be held and hugged made us both feel a little better.

I’m fortunate to be present in my children’s lives for daily hugs, monumental hugs and those necessary hugs when my kids are in the dumps. These years with young children are fleeting, but I’m still looking forward to an abundance of hugs in the days and years ahead.

Do you have a favorite or memorable hugging moment with your children? Please share it in the comments.

SPECIAL OFFER: Huggies diapers and wipes are inspired by parents’ hugs that nurture and care at every moment. Visit Huggies.com to get $2 off a pack of Huggies Little Snugglers Diapers, so you can nurture and care for your little one.

About our sponsor

Huggies believes deeply in the Power of Hugs, which is why every diaper and wipe is inspired by a parent’s embrace. The Huggies No Baby Unhugged program helps ensure all babies get the hugs they need to thrive by supporting hugging programs in hospitals and donating diapers across the country. Learn how you can help at Huggies.com. #HuggiesCouncil #ad

Huggies Volunteer “Huggers” Give Care, Love to Pre-term Babies

Chad R. MacDonald — Mon, 29 May 2017 13:49:50 +0000

DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by Huggies.^®

Huggies No Baby Unhugged-supported programs in select U.S. hospitals bring in volunteer “huggers” who hold, cuddle and help care for pre-term babies in neonatal intensive care units. (Contributed photo)

Could you leave a baby unhugged?

Donna can’t. That’s why the mother of five volunteers in the Huggies No Baby Unhugged-supported neonatal intensive care unit at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, spending 12 hours a month visiting the born-before-term babies to make sure they get the love, care and hugs they need.

Once a week, Donna (who asked that we only use her first name) takes an unpaid shift in the NICU, often staying longer than the 3-hour commitment requires, to hold and cuddle these special infants who are receiving the extra health care they need to survive. The program follows the crux of a recent Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres study that found human touch helps babies sleep better, helps prevent against infant illness, and encourages weight gain and growth.

“It’s a gift. I love to love, and to see how this benefits the babies and their families makes me so very happy,” says Donna, whose passion shines through her voice, breaking with emotion. “It’s personally enriching.”

“It’s a gift. I love to love, and to see how this benefits the babies and their families makes me so very happy,” says Donna, a volunteer “hugger” in the neonatal intensive care unit at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. (Contributed photo)

Huggies is awarding $10,000 grants throughout this year to launch new volunteer hugging programs or expand support for existing programs at up to 25 hospitals nationwide. In addition, the company has donated more than 200 million clean diapers to young families in need and helped to establish the National Diaper Bank Network, helping to grow it from just 20 diaper banks nation-wide at its start to 320 today.

Donna and her colleagues at Lurie Children’s Hospital went through intensive training to become volunteer huggers. They learned not just their responsibilities, but about how hospitals work, the medical jargon they’d hear, and even technical knowledge about the various machines and equipment in the wards.

These volunteers also ease the burden on overworked doctors, nurses and medical staff. Their presence in the wards also helps ease the minds of the families of the children in the NICU. Few people can quit a job to stay in the hospital with a sick child, after all, and knowing that someone is there to at least hug their baby and let them know they’re not alone is a source of great comfort to moms, dads and other family members.

I know on a personal level how important it is to show hospital patients how much they’re cared for. Long story short, I once ended up in the hospital for two months. That was not an easy time. But what got me through it were daily visits from friends and family, letting me know that I was cared for.

Care. Care is what everything is all about. You’re in a hospital to receive care. We do things in life, we have families, children, friends, because we care about them. It is the most basic of human needs. And we enter this life needing someone else to care for us.

So people like Donna provide an enormous service to a great number of people, without charge and with only love. To say that her attitude blew me away is the understatement of the year. In the words of my friend and colleague Lance Somerfeld, when he wrote about the No Baby Unhugged program in 2016, “I know I’m a fortunate parent.”

Other parents are not as fortunate. And if we are to truly be good people, if we are to truly care about the children of this nation, then we should help them receive all the care they need.

Help Leave No Baby Unhugged

Would you like to learn more about how you can get involved? Or, if you have Huggies Rewards points, would you like to donate them to the No Baby Unhugged Program? Then go to this link.

City Dads Group co-founders Lance Somerfeld and Matt Schneider learn about the Huggies No Baby Unhugged program at a Huggies Parents Council meeting last year. (Contributed photo)

About our sponsor

Huggies believes deeply in the Power of Hugs, which is why every diaper and wipe is designed to emulate a parent’s embrace. The Huggies No Baby Unhugged program helps ensure all babies get the hugs they need to thrive by supporting hugging programs in hospitals and donating diapers across the country. Learn how you can help at Huggies.com #HuggiesCouncil #ad

Let’s Give All Babies the Hugs They Deserve

Lance Somerfeld — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 19:00:23 +0000

DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by Huggies^®diapers and wipes as part of our partnership in their “No Baby Unhugged” campaign.

City Dads Group co-founder Lance Somerfeld and Matt Schneider, center, prepare to enter the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to see Huggies “No Baby Unhugged” program in action.

Welcoming a daughter into the world 18 months ago was a game-changing experience that helped me discover a different side of myself as a father — more empathetic, tender and affectionate. I don’t love her more than my son, just differently. As an at-home dad, I’m present and spend quality time with my daughter each day from showering her with loads of hugs and kisses, preparing meals, changing diapers, reading books and carving out ample time to play.

I know I’m a fortunate parent.

I’m fortunate to be in a situation where our family can afford our Huggies diapers and wipes, and all of the other necessary stuff that goes along with raising a child.

I’m fortunate to be present when my daughter takes a tumble and needs me to kiss her boo-boos, desperately needs a hug after she has a meltdown, and to give a sweet hug and kiss for naps and bedtime.

I’m fortunate.

However, many parents don’t have the same luxury of time and money.

‘No Baby Unhugged’ helps families, infants in need

I recently took part in a Chicago meeting of the Huggies Parents Council – a diverse group of parents from around the nation that care deeply about our families – to learn more about the brand’s unique and groundbreaking “No Baby Unhugged” program.

No Baby Unhugged is Huggies vision to ensure all babies get the hugs they need by:

helping parents understand and embrace the power of hugs through the brand’s diapers and wipes,
bringing its unique Hugging Programs to Hospitals, and
product donations to the National Diaper Bank Network.

During my visit in Chicago, I toured the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to see Huggies No Baby Unhugged work in action. I was immersed into an emotional journey that provides a beautiful light to the 380,000 pre-term infants born in the United States each year. These underweight babies are admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit then hooked to a myriad of wires, monitors and machines. In most NICUs, these infants usually lie naked on their little beds because normal diapers are too large to fit them. These babies start on a path where they aren’t able to wear those cute onesies or clothing like most babies.

Members of the Huggies Parents Council at their recent meeting in Chicago.

Diapers, hugs for preemies

This is why Huggies, in partnership with NICU nurses, designed special diapers and wipes to help pre-term infants get the hugs they need. These amazing diapers are all inspected and packed by hand! One of the highlights during my Huggies Parents Council trip was replicating the tireless work that the Huggies team goes through during their detailed inspection process of their micro preemie diapers so these babies have a cuddly diaper that hugs them from day one.

Most parents are able to bring their baby home soon after they’re born. However, for those parents whose baby needs to stay in the NICU for an extended period, they are not always able to be present due to work or other commitments. Huggies is working with hospitals like Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to offer Hugging Programs where volunteers provide the physical contact that is so important for these babies to develop a sense of love, warmth and security in their new world.

During our heart-wrenching tour, we observed numerous, adorable babies in the NICU hooked up to monitors and machines. I found comfort in knowing Huggies has selected Lurie Children’s for grant funding to start a volunteer training program that recruits nurturing souls to cuddle and provide lengthy hugs when their parents aren’t present. We interviewed one of these volunteer huggers and I was mesmerized by her passion, dedication and love. In fact, I couldn’t wait to rush home after the Parents Council trip to give my children an extra tight embrace and tell them how much I love them.

How you can help

Huggies will continue to invest in more hugging programs in U.S. hospitals, and you can help them. For every person who becomes a Huggies Member, Huggies will donate $5 to support volunteer hugging program grants for hospitals. If you’re interested, go to Huggies.com and click on “Sign in or join Huggies” to get started.

About our sponsor

Huggies® believes deeply in the Power of Hugs. The simple, loving act is proven to support babies’ emotional and physiological well-being. Huggies® diapers and wipes are inspired by a parent’s hug, – to nurture baby with care, cradle baby in comfort and surround baby in protection. Learn more at Huggies.com. #HuggiesCouncil