Continental Who's Who

Dr. Barbara Morrison

PhD, RN, CNM, Janice M. Riordan Distinguished Professorship, in Maternal & Child Health

“My fascination with newborns’ abilities began while I was working at Frontier Nursing Service in Hyden, KY. Because Mary Breckinridge Hospital is very small and only did 6-8 deliveries a week I had the time to learn newborn assessments such as the Dubowitz and Ballard Scales for gestation age.”

This  expertise  led  to  certification  as  an  Inpatient  Obstetrical Nurse and later reliability certification for Brazelton’s Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale,  another  assessment  of  newborns  neurological  and  behavioral abilities. The more I learned of newborns’ abilities the  more  fascinated  I  became.  So back  to school I went for a masters in nursing and certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner.” The fascination and exploration of newborns’ abilities continued as I started teaching maternal-newborn nursing and served on the board of directors for Baby TALK, an organization coming alongside new families to provide support and education about newborns, young children and parenting. 

My  growing  interest  in  newborn  and  new  family  development was during the 1990s, the decade of the brain. The research community was sharing so much about  brain  function  and  language,  cognitive  and  emotional  development.  We  were  also  starting  to  recognize the costs of separating infants from their mothers or primary caregivers. As well, during this time I gained personal experience in infant and child development  as  I  adopted  two  girls  from  China.  Nurturing my daughters to overcome developmental and  psychosocial  delays  through  holding,  loving,  co-sleeping, and lots of patience and understanding, strengthened  my  resolve  to  facilitate  the  early  and healthy development of new families. Formal education and research, post-masters certificate in nurse-midwifery, certification  as  a  Baby  TALK  teacher,  Touchpoint  Faculty training with Dr. T. Barry Brazelton, and completing a PhD in Midwifery and Maternal-Child Health further expanded my knowledge and abilities. In my dissertation research I compared prenatal care practices among private, public and home birth midwives in the context of the philosophy of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Together, the multiple experiences of the 1990s solidified my belief in the role of normal physiological birth, breastfeeding and care for the whole person and family during transitions to parenthood in optimizing newborn development. Searching for new challenges my family and I moved to the Cleveland, Ohio area where I became a faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. There I was blessed to work with and be mentored by Drs. Susan Ludington and Gene Anderson, joining their research teams to explore and promote Kangaroo (skin-to-skin) care. My mantra soon became “Kangaroo Care for all full-term newborns,” moving the practice beyond an intervention for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit or for newborns having difficulties breastfeeding. My initial research projects explored the postpartum environment, identifying interruptions (persons going in and out of a mother’s room) as a barrier to breastfeeding initiation and kangaroo care. Recognizing the stress numerous interruptions  and  their  unpredictability,  I  began  to explore  the  interconnections  among  breastfeeding, kangaroo care, stress (interruptions), and the hormonal and neurologic development of mother and infant immediately after birth.

This  scholarship  and  the  work  with  Drs. Ludington and Anderson have lead to the development of the Kangaroo Care Certification  Course  sponsored  by  the  United States Institute of Kangaroo Care and the Skin-to-Skin Learner’s Manual. 

Now,  my  family  and  I  have  relocated  to Wichita, KS so I could fill the Janice M. Riordan  Distinguished  Professorship  in Maternal and Child Health at Wichita State University School of Nursing. I continue to passionately advocate for kangaroo care and breastfeeding  starting  immediately  after birth, and for non-separation of newborns and their mothers/parents. My scholarship and research endeavors continue to focus on the significance of Kangaroo (skin-to-skin) Care  to  breastfeeding,  attachment,  and newborn and mother psycho-neuro-endocrine development. Additionally, I am interested in modifying  the  hospital  postpartum environment to better promote, protect and support breastfeeding and Kangaroo Care. My  ultimate  mission  is  to  passionately advocate, educate and inspire health care reforms for newborns and their families.  

Website  References

www.frontiernursing.org

www.BabyTALK.org

www.kangaroocareusa.org