Nourishing Resilience # 3 – Homework

Nourishing Resilience # 3 - Homework - illustration

Session 3 – Homework Summary

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Here is the whole assignment, step by step. Jump straight to any step below, or download the identical material as a printable handout.

  1. Review Handouts
  2. Field / Community Experience
  3. Complete the Evaluation

Additional handouts and resources are at the bottom of this page.

1. Review Handouts

New marks a handout you have not seen before; Shared earlier means it appeared in an earlier session.

The handouts listed below are new this session unless noted.

  • Infant Feeding Safety Scale (Hierarchy of Safe Feeding)
  • Contacting Sites Template
  • Safe Formula Storage guidelines – full page
  • NC DHHS Feeding Infants in a Disaster whitepaper
  • Safe Infant Feeding Supply Distribution
  • “Safe Infant Feeding Tips for Families” poster
  • SAFE Handout Booklet (for convenience, from session 2)

2. Field / Community Experience

The best way to get comfortable working with families and sites is to do it. You don’t need to wait for an emergency situation to occur – there are families everywhere who do not have reliable access to safe water and other resources needed to safely feed children under 3 years old, and organizations that try to meet their needs.

Try to attend an event or volunteer with an organization for 1-2 hours in the next month. If possible, try to both help with organizing feeding items and talk with families using the RNA.

Suggested steps to follow:

  1. Identify an organization that serves low resource people with young children. You may need to reach out to multiple organizations to find a suitable one. Examples include food banks, diaper banks, or possibly WIC, if you have access.
  2. Prepare – Write out what you want to say/ask. Use the Contacting Sites Template. Be sure to include:
    • Who you are, and your organization, if you want to claim one.
      We encourage you to call yourself something like an infant feeding specialist, and avoid titles referring to lactation.
    • Why you are calling. For this experience, you may want to state that you want to help the site organize their baby feeding items and help low-resource families be certain they are feeding their babies and young children as safely as they can with the resources they have access to.
    • Find out when it is convenient for them for you to help.
  3. Call or email the organization –  If possible, volunteer to help at an event or during their open to the public hours. If not, you can help sort infant feeding items during volunteer hours. This may help build rapport for later public events.
  4. Ask to talk to families about their feeding practices with their young children.
  5. Decide what you will bring. See the lists below, and consider if you also want to bring kits, the Quick Reference Guide, or the DIY handout to give families.
Consider Bringing If Organizing ItemsConsider Bringing If Talking With Families
Permanent marker, preferably black
Safe Storage Guidelines
Steps for Safe Distribution of Infant Feeding Supplies
Safe Infant Feeding Tips for Families sheet, to hang up.
Distribution site resource page 
Safe Infant Feeding Tips for Families, for reference & to hang up.
Quick Reference Guide, printed or on a card families can scan.
Short referral list for other needs (opt)
DIY Sanitation Kit handout
Sanitation kits, if desired.
Family resource page 

Complete the Evaluation

To track your attendance and help us improve, please complete the short evaluation as soon as you can. It is how we verify your attendance for the certificate of completion at the end of the series.

Please Support Our Efforts

If you find this training helpful, please support our efforts with a financial donation. Click below and select “SAFE Team” to earmark for IYCF-E education and disaster response support.

Handouts, Links & Resources

Resources for families and caregivers on SAFE Infant Feeding

New this session

Resources for Families & Caregivers

Videos and plain‑language information for caregivers on feeding a baby or young child safely in an emergency.

Resources for organizations and recovery sites on SAFE Infant Feeding

New this session

Resources for Organizations & Recovery Sites

What recovery sites need to train staff on, and what to hand families. Written for shelters, distribution points and case managers.

First page of the Contacting Sites Template

New this session

Contacting Sites Template

A script for reaching out to sites and organisations already distributing infant feeding supplies — to help them manage what they have, support families directly, and know your team is a resource.

The Infant Feeding Safety Scale handout

New this session

Infant Feeding Safety Scale

Ranks the ways of feeding a baby from most to least safe. Use it to explain the trade‑offs to caregivers without judgement.

Safe Infant Feeding Tips for Families handout

New this session

Safe Infant Feeding Tips for Families

The essential one‑page handout for families, with links through to the rest of our family resources.

Available in English and Spanish.

Safe Infant Feeding Supply Distribution reference guide

New this session

Safe Infant Feeding Supply Distribution

A single legal‑size page for distribution sites on how to receive, store and hand out infant feeding supplies safely.

Guidelines for storing infant formula safely

New this session

Safe Formula Storage Guidelines

How long formula keeps, and at what temperature. Two quick‑reference posters split the question the way families actually ask it:

North Carolina DHHS Feeding Infants in a Disaster whitepaper

New this session

NC DHHS Feeding Infants in a Disaster

North Carolina’s own state guidance on infant feeding in emergencies — useful when you need to show an agency that the state has already taken a position.

Available in English and Spanish.

CDC Rapid Needs Assessment intake form for infant and young child feeding in emergencies

New this session

CDC Rapid Needs Assessment Intake Form

The formal CDC intake form, written for emergency responders and shelter personnel.

SAFE simplified rapid needs assessment

New this session

SAFE Simplified Rapid Needs Assessment

Our conversational version of the same assessment — short enough to work standing in a distribution line.

First page of the SAFE Infant Feeding Quick Reference Guide booklet

Shared earlier

SAFE Infant Feeding Quick Reference Guide

The bilingual handout booklet we distributed in western North Carolina after Helene. Cleaning and sanitising feeding items, cup feeding, hand expression, formula preparation, and milk and formula storage.

DIY infant feeding sanitation kit components handout

New this session

DIY Infant Feeding Sanitation Kit

How to build the sanitation kit the SAFE Team used in western North Carolina, for disinfecting infant and young child feeding items.

Available in English and Spanish.

Finished the homework? Session 4 picks up from here.

Thanks to our sponsors

This work is free because these people and organizations paid for it.

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Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation

A private family foundation dedicated to supporting charitable organizations that align with its mission of giving back. Grants are made only as a result of the Foundation’s own initiative.

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Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities

Provides technical assistance to breastfeeding coalitions and health departments across the US, using the Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community. The SAFE Team is a project of BFFC.

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In memory of Elsie Perry

Elsie Perry was a founding mother of La Leche League Boston in the 1960s. A gift made in her memory by her daughters funded an eleventh month of this training series.

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BabyBjörn

Founded in 1961 and still family-owned, with a mission to make everyday life easier for parents with babies. If your community needs emergency baby gear, reach them at care@babybjorn.com.

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Confident Pregnancy

Helps people be healthier, feel more confident, and find their inner strength. Tips for staying calmer and more resilient under stress at MelindaDelisle.substack.com. DBA Melinda Delisle Innovations.

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Birthstone Center for Appalachian Perinatal Resilience

Strengthens perinatal health in Western North Carolina by centering families, uplifting birthworkers, and advancing equitable access to lactation, doula and maternal mental health support.

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