Privacy Policy Consent

WholeHumanMama.com and GraemeSeabrook.com is owned by Graeme Seabrook (“Company”, “we”, or “us”). The term “you” refers to the user or viewer of WholeHumanMama.com and GraemeSeabrook.com (“Website”).

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, process, and distribute your information, including Personal Data (as defined below) used to access this Website. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. The use of information collected through our Sites shall be limited to the purposes under this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service to customers.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy on the Website at any time without notice. In the event of a material change, we will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Website.

Use of any personal information or contribution that you provide to us, or which is collected by us on or through our Website or its content is governed by this Privacy Policy. By using our Website or its content, you consent to this Privacy Policy, whether or not you have read it.

Information We May Collect
We collect personal information from you so that we can provide you with a positive experience when utilizing our Website or content. We will only collect the minimum amount of information necessary for us to fulfill our obligation to you. We may collect:

  • A name and an email address so we can deliver our emails to you — you would be affirmatively consenting to this by providing this to us in our contact forms.
  • Billing information including name, address, and credit card information so that we can process payment to deliver our products or services to you under our contractual obligation.
  • A name and an email address if you complete our contact form with a question. We may send you marketing emails with either your consent or if we believe we have a legitimate interest to contact you based on your contact or question.
  • Information from you from a co-branded offer. In this case, we will make clear as to who is collecting the information and whose privacy policy applies. If both / all parties are retaining the information you provide, this will also be made clear as will links to all privacy policies.

Please note that the information above (“Personal Data”) that you are giving to us is voluntarily, and by providing this information to us, you are giving consent for us to use, collect, and process this Personal Data. You are welcome to opt-out or request for us to delete your Personal Data at any point by contacting us at graeme@graemeseabrook.com

If you choose not to provide us with certain Personal Data, you may not be able to participate in certain aspects of our Website or content.

Other Information We May Collect:

Anonymous Data Collection and Use
To maintain Website quality, we may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer the Website by identifying which areas of the Website are most heavily used, and to display content according to your preferences. Your IP address is the number assigned to computers connected to the Internet. This is essentially “traffic data” which cannot personally identify you but is helpful to us for marketing purposes and for improving our services. Traffic data collection does not follow a user’s activities on any other websites in any way. Anonymous traffic data may also be shared with business partners and advertisers on an aggregate basis.

Use of “Cookies”
We may use the standard “cookies” feature of major web browsers. We do not set any personally identifiable information in cookies, nor do we employ any data-capture mechanisms on our Website other than cookies. You may choose to disable cookies through your own web browser’s settings. However, disabling this function may diminish your experience on our Website and some features may not work as intended.

What We Do With Information We Collect

Contact You

We may contact you with information that you provide to us based on these lawful grounds for processing:

  • We may contact you if you give us your clear, unambiguous, affirmative consent to contact you.
  • We will contact you under our contractual obligation to deliver goods or services you purchase from us.
  • Legitimate Interest. We may contact you if we feel you have a legitimate interest in hearing from us. For example, if you sign up for a webinar, we may send you marketing emails based on the content of that webinar.  You will always have the option to opt out of any of our emails.

Process Payments
We will use the Personal Data you give to us in order to process your payment for the purchase of goods or services under a contract. We only use third party payment processors that take the utmost care in securing data and comply with the GDPR.

Targeted Social Media Advertisements
We may use the data you provide to us to run social media advertisements and / or create look-alike audiences for advertisements.

Share with Third Parties
We may share your information with trusted third parties such as our newsletter provider in order to contact you via email, our merchant accounts to process payments, and Google / social media accounts in order to run advertisements and our affiliates.

Viewing by Others
Note that whenever you voluntarily make your Personal Data available for viewing by others online through this Website or its content, it may be seen, collected and used by others, and therefore, we cannot be responsible for any unauthorized or improper use of the information that you voluntarily share (i.e., sharing a comment on a blog post, posting in a Facebook group that we manage, sharing details on a group coaching call, etc.).

Submission, Storage, Sharing and Transferring of Personal Data
Personal Data that you provide to us is stored internally or through a data management system. Your Personal Data will only be accessed by those who help to obtain, manage, or store that information, or who have a legitimate need to know such Personal Data (i.e., our hosting provider, newsletter provider, payment processors, or team members).

It is important to note that we may transfer data internationally. For users in the European Union, please be aware that we transfer Personal Data outside of the European Union. By using our Website and providing us with your Personal Data, you consent to these transfers in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Data Retention
We retain your Personal Data for the minimum amount of time necessary to provide you with the information and / or services that you requested from us. We may include certain Personal Data for longer periods of time if necessary for legal, contractual, and accounting obligations.

Confidentiality
We aim to keep the Personal Data that you share with us confidential. Please note that we may disclose such information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that: (1) such action is necessary to protect and defend our rights or property or those of our users or licensees, (2) to act as immediately necessary in order to protect the personal safety or rights of our users or the public, or (3) to investigate or respond to any real or perceived violation of this Privacy Policy or of our Disclaimer, Terms and Conditions, or any other terms of use or agreement with us.

Passwords
To use certain features of the Website or its content, you may need a username and password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the username and password, and you are responsible for all activities, whether by you or by others, that occur under your username or password and within your account. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your username, password, or account information. If you share your username or password with others, they may be able to obtain access to your Personal Data at your own risk.

You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized or improper use of your username or password or any other breach of security. To help protect against unauthorized or improper use, make sure that you log out at the end of each session requiring your username and password.

We will use our best efforts to keep your username and password(s) private and will not otherwise share your password(s) without your consent, except as necessary when the law requires it or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary, particularly when disclosure is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to others or interfering with our rights or property.

How You Can Access, Update, or Delete Your Personal Data

You have the right to:

  • Request information about how your Personal Data is being used and request a copy of what Personal Data we use.
  • Restrict processing if you think the Personal Data is not accurate, unlawful, or no longer needed.
  • Rectify or erase Personal Data and receive confirmation of the rectification or erasure. (You have the “right to be forgotten.”)
  • Withdraw your consent at any time to the processing of your Personal Data.
  • Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you feel we are using your Personal Data unlawfully.
  • Receive Personal Data portability and transference to another controller without our hindrance.
  • Object to our use of your Personal Data.
  • Not be subject to an automated decision based solely on automatic processing, including profiling, which legally or significantly affects you.

You may unsubscribe from our emails or updates at any time through the unsubscribe link at the footer of all email communications. If you have questions or are experiencing problems unsubscribing, please contact us at graeme@graemeseabrook.com

Security
We take commercially reasonable steps to protect the Personal Data you provide to us from misuse, disclosure, or unauthorized access. We only share your Personal Data with trusted third parties who use the same level of care in processing your Personal Data. That being said, we cannot guarantee that your Personal Data will always be secure due to technology or security breaches. Should there be a data breach of which we are aware, we will inform you immediately.

Anti-Spam Policy
We have a no spam policy and provide you with the ability to opt-out of our communications by selecting the unsubscribe link at the footer of all emails. We have taken the necessary steps to ensure that we are compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 by never sending out misleading information. We will not sell, rent, or share your email address.

Third Party Websites
We may link to other websites on our Website. We have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of any other individual, company, or entity whose website or materials may be linked to our Website or its content, and thus we cannot be held liable for the privacy of the information on their website or that you voluntarily share with their website. Please review their privacy policies for guidelines as to how they respectively store, use, and protect the privacy of your Personal Data.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance
We do not collect any information from anyone under 18 years of age in compliance with COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) and the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation of the EU). Our Website and its content is directed to individuals who are at least 18 years old or older.

Notification of Changes
We may use your Personal Data, such as your contact information, to inform you of changes to the Website or its content, or, if requested, to send you additional information about us. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, or otherwise alter our Website, its content, and this Privacy Policy at any time. Such changes and/or modifications shall become effective immediately upon posting our updated Privacy Policy. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically. Continued use of any of information obtained through or on the Website or its content following the posting of changes and/or modifications constituted acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. Should there be a material change to our Privacy Policy, we will contact you via email or by a prominent note on our Website.

Data Controller and Processors
We are the data controllers as we are collecting and using your Personal Data. We use trusted third parties as our data processors for technical and organizational purposes, including for payments and email marketing. We use reasonable efforts to make sure our data processors are GDPR-compliant.If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at graeme@graemeseabrook.com

Last Updated: January 2025

Baby-Friendly Hospitals

What about moms?
January 16, 2025

This was originally published on my old blog between 2012 and 2020.

Whoever came up with the term baby-friendly hospitals is very, very good at their job. It sounds good. Why wouldn't we want a hospital to be baby-friendly? What could possibly go wrong?

As we have seen in the years since this initiative came to the US — many, many things could go wrong, and most of them are to the detriment of the mother.

BABY-FRIENDLY HOSPITALS

Here are the ten steps listed in the World Health Organization Baby Friendly Initiative:

  1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
  2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
  3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
  4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth.
  5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they should be separated from their infants.
  6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated.
  7. Practice rooming-in - allow mothers and infants to remain together - 24 hours a day.
  8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
  9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.
  10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.

IMPLEMENTATION:

I asked some birth professionals and moms about how the initiative is actually being implemented and got very impassioned responses from mamas across the country.

The World Health Organization made steps ONE and TWO — creating a policy on breastfeeding that the ENTIRE staff knows and regularly reviews and that the entire health care staff CAN TEACH to new moms. And yet, the steps most commonly implemented first are: get rid of the nursery and throw out the pacifiers. Steps SEVEN and TEN. Moms have screaming, hungry babies; staff isn't properly trained to help them feed their babies from the breast. Yes, they can give their babies formula. No, they cannot rest alone, because there is no nursery. The bond that is supposed to be forming between mother and baby, strengthened by rooming in, is now weakened by rooming in. The more stressed they become, the more difficult it is to initiate feeding. But the nurses continue to arrive, every two hours, to stare at the new mom and her new baby, as they try again. I knew, when I left the hospital, that I would go to a practice devoted entirely to breastfeeding, and I knew that its staff was devoted to helping my baby and me stay calm and keep perspective. We would not be evaluated in ounces or time charts. — Anne-Marie Lindsey, HBCE
I left the hospital feeling completely unsupported. There were no nightly checks on us (me or her). None of my concerns were addressed. My well-being was ignored. My mental health was ignored. I was asked five or six times what my birth control plan was and if I wanted pain medicine but nothing regarding how I was really doing. I asked for a lactation consultant that never came. Cracked and bleeding nipples after less than 24 hours of nursing were dismissed with no ideas on how to heal them or to keep it from happening again. When I asked for help, I got brief assistance and then was completely left alone — no follow-up.  — Ashley, mom
My experience is actually more a statement on my local hospital NOT following baby-friendly protocol, even though it's a designated "baby-friendly hospital." My second kiddo hit the magic number of losing 10% of her birth weight, and the night nurse (at 2 frickin' AM!) started talking to me about supplementing with formula. When I voiced my opposition to this, she and baby's pediatrician came in later that morning and basically made me feel like a horrible person for not agreeing with them. I was so glad when my day nurse came back on shift and suggested they find me a pump! My kiddo will be 4 in November, and I still feel angry at them and at myself for giving any formula to her. — Katherine, mom
My experience at a baby friendly hospital left me and my husband feeling very angry and isolated as we let staff know of our preferences and received little support. I had chosen not to breastfeed long before delivery and was confident in my decision. I let my nurses know as soon as I could that I wanted formula and didn't want to discuss breastfeeding — my mind was set. After my son's birth we had to wait close to half an hour for formula to be brought. This trend continued at every feeding; I'd be left waiting — ringing the call button for formula as I'd been told to. Eventually, a nurse would quickly bring me formula and move onto the next room. At every shift change the topic of my decision not to breastfeed came up. Nurses would ask "can you tell me why?" Or "what influenced your decision?" I even had one nurse tell me "well we expect that in second time moms, but most first time moms at least want to try". — Shannon, mom 
The communication is the key, I feel, because I don't believe nurses want to PUSH anything. I think sometimes their attempts to educate are misinterpreted, or lacking in some way. Nurses don't get bonus points for convincing a mom to breastfeed. But, they are required to ask, and make sure mom has the info. All they NEED to say is "do you plan to breastfeed?... Has anyone talked to you about the benefits?" If mom says "yes." Then, "ok. That's great." If mom says "No..." they can offer some info. Moms should NOT feel pressured, but it's difficult, because with all the "Mommy wars" stuff, we almost always feel like we are being judged for our choices (or non-choices) even if we're not. — Sarah, mom

THE CASE FOR WELL BABY NURSERIES

The hospital where I delivered my first kiddo wasn't designated "baby friendly," but here's my experience regarding nurseries: I never once thought I would be the kind of parent who would send their newborn to the nursery. Then I went into labor in the evening (so my husband and I had already been awake all day), and baby wasn't born for another 34 hours — which includes 6 hours of pushing and then a cesarean. I was beyond the point of exhaustion and had very little interest in my baby. The moment they wheeled me into my room, I asked them to take her to the nursery so my husband and I could rest. An hour or so later, he had to drive home in a blizzard because my brother-in-law had the wrong key and couldn't get into our house to feed our cats — definitely something he wouldn't have been able to do had baby not gone to nursery, and I definitely would not have been able to take of baby on my own during that time without a rest first either. — Katherine, mom
While I was pregnant with my first baby, a friend of mine who is a nurse gave me some advice. She said to find the oldest nurse on my floor, watch everything she does, and take all of her advice. For me that was Ann. She wasn't my nurse, she was the baby's nurse — but she was the first person who asked how I was feeling and not just what my pain level was. She is the one who told me that I could ask them to take him to the nursery at night and bring him in only to feed. I had no idea that was an option. After a traumatic birth, including an emergency C-section, I had mounting anxiety. I also had a lot of family in the room all day long. Night was the only time I could rest, but I spent all night the first two nights staring at him to be sure he was still breathing. Ann saw a woman recovering from major abdominal surgery who hadn't slept in days. She offered me support. When I looked at her with tears in my eyes and said, " You can do that? Really?" She told me something that I would hold on to for years — "If you are okay, then he will be okay. So let's get you better." — Graeme, mom

What now?

Hospitals across the country are closing down their well baby nurseries. In the meantime, the rates of C-section are holding steady. Single mothers, women with partners who work nights, women with partners who need to stay home to take care of other children, SO MANY WOMEN are being put in a position where the only time they will have to be cared for and supported while they make this serious transition is being stripped away.

Even implemented in the most gentle way possible, those guidelines require an exhausted woman who needs help and support to be questioned and lectured to. How 'baby friendly' is a traumatized mother?

There's also some debate over whether any of this is truly necessary. The WHOBFI is a global initiative and it seems to be working well in many countries. It is saving the lives of babies around the world and that is an amazing thing. Here in the US it seems to have been corrupted by rules and marketing and money — and it may not actually scientifically sound. There's even some evidence that it actually may not be so baby-friendly after all.

I had a radical idea. What if instead of focusing on checklists and grant money and percentages — we focused on creating holistic plans, training and supporting nurses so that they can educate and support moms, and respecting the choices of mothers. This simply isn't working for a lot of mothers. We must do better.

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