First lady Melania Trump will come to Boston Wednesday to learn about a local hospital's program in which volunteers cuddle babies going through withdrawal because their parents used certain drugs during their pregnancy.
Trump's trip to see the Boston Medical Center's Cuddling Assists in Lowering Maternal and Infant Stress, or CALM, program is part of her Be Best initiative, her office said in an announcing the trip Monday.
In the CALM program, trained Boston University medical students hold affected newborns to help their stress levels and closely monitor them.
"There's times when [babies' mothers] can't be at the bedside, at which a CALM cuddler can step in," pediatrics professor Elisha Wachmann says in a video posted on the program website.
Trump will be briefed on the CALM program and other Boston Medical Center initiatives meant to help pregnant women with Substance Use Disorder and newborn babies who have to deal with it as well, her office said.
That will be followed by a tour of the South End hospital's pediatric unit, where she'll meet with children and families who successfully went through treatment.
The Be Best initiative, launched in May 2018, focuses on promoting children's well-being, online safety and health amid the opioid epidemic.
