Multi-Disciplinary Cooperative Training Session in Koriyama-shi, Fukushima Prefecture (Fukushima Prefecture Midwife’s Association)

OBGYNs, nurses, midwives, nutritionists, dentists… From giving birth to raising children, families are supported by numerous professionals from different fields. If those professionals were to give out completely different advice on the same topic, how would the parents react? There would be lots of confusion and it may potentially lead to parents losing their confidence in raising children and increase stress levels ovrall.

              For example, studies on the methods for increasing parent`s confidence in child rearing and creating healthy child-parent attachment tendencies have been conducted from the field of clinical research specifically on breastfeeding and baby food, but professionals that are heavily involved in child birth and child rearing do not always have up-to-date information on new breastfeeding and baby food research findings. There also may be cases where professionals work based around outdated information from tens of years ago, which is often proven to be false and potentially detrimental to the mother and child.

              In order to combat this phenomenon, the Fukushima Prefecture Midwife’s Association, with the support of JEN, hosted the Multi-Disciplinary Cooperative Training Session in both Minamisouma-shi and Koriyama-shi this month.

              During this Training Session, two topics, Dietary Education for Mothers of Infants, and Nutrition for Infants During Times of Emergency, were covered. Some of the specific content covered during the session included:

1. Understanding the possibility of misinterpreting the statement, “breast milk has no preventive properties regarding allergies” as “breast milk has no benefits to the immune system”


2. Handling liquid milk for infants- keeping it at room temperature is okay, only if the temperature is between 15-25˚C and all the leftovers are discarded

Image from the Multi-Disciplinary Cooperative Training Session in Koriyama-shi, Fukushima Prefecture 1 (March 16^th, 2019)

Image from the Multi-Disciplinary Cooperative Training Session in Koriyama-shi, Fukushima Prefecture 2 (March 16^th, 2019)

Fukushima Prefecture Midwife’s Association`s official YouTube channel is now open!

Find videos on breastfeeding, carrying your baby on your back, and more here:

https://bit.ly/2I36b3O

From 2016, as a partner of the General Incorporated Association, Fukushima Prefecture Midwife’s Association, JEN has been supporting the “Child-rearing by Midwives and Postpartum Mother and Child Support” efforts. The Fukushima Prefecture Midwife`s Association focuses on supporting parents of infants by removing the risk of isolation through interactions with professionals and other members of the community, and overall, raising their confidence in child rearing.