Bay Area hospital's lullaby program improving birthing outcomes, bonding moms and babies
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An innovative program in the East Bay supports expectant moms and delivers healthier babies, all starting with a song.
Inside Wilma Chan Highland Hospital, below the ER and past the cafeteria, there is a special kind of care being administered.
ABC7 was allowed to join a group of expectant moms in their first session of the Lullaby Project, where they make lullabies for an audience of one.
Diana Gameros, the lead teaching artist for the project, takes the group of native Spanish speakers on a journey to connect with their babies and each other.
"Seeing the fruits of the labor of the work with the moms and seeing the incredible impact that music brings to their lives and to their journey... it means so much," said Gameros.
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The Lullaby Project is going on four years strong. It's offered at hospitals across Alameda Health System for qualifying patients.
Devi Cohen Roisman, the Alameda Health System Centering Clinical Lead, brought the program to the hospital.
"Centering is midwife-led, evidence-based, prenatal, and postpartum care that's been shown to significantly reduce both babies being born too soon and too small," said Cohen Roisman.
In the session ABC7 visited, there was a bit of a VIP guest: Brenda Garcia, a graduate of the last cohort of the Lullaby Project.
"I didn't think I could write a lullaby. But it was a beautiful experience," Garcia told us in Spanish.
But on that day, the class learned from Garcia firsthand about the impact of this kind of care.
Eva Goodfriend-Reano, Highland Hospital midwifery clinical chief, follows the women throughout the intensive program. She supports them with everything from belly checks to helpful nudges when coming up with lyrics for their lullabies.
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Goodfriend-Reano says this work is life-changing for the mothers, and for her.
"That care and that connection I think is just enhanced because there's this deeper element of culture and celebration and joy and love that is really transmitted through music," she said.
It's a connection that Garcia has seen firsthand. She says she wishes she were a part of this program when she was pregnant with her first two children, as she sang to us the lullaby she made for her youngest.
"You are the most beautiful blessing in the world," she sang in Spanish. "I thank God, because with you, little girl, days of joy are coming."
Garcia says she can feel the bond with her daughter as she sings the lullaby; it always seems to calm her down.
Just about all who are involved in the Lullaby Project sing its praises.
"I've been a musician for over 15 years, and this is definitely the most meaningful project because of that impact I can see that music have," said Gameros.
Impact that goes beyond mother and baby. It also helps the new mothers find community and heal after giving birth.
"There's also the evidence that centering can help with depression and breastfeeding rates specifically," said Cohen Roisman. "So all of these things are about having healthier babies."
Healthier babies, supported mothers, and bonds that will last a lifetime.
A beautiful note with a growing chorus.
To learn more about the Lullaby Project, visit the Alameda Health System website here.
