2016 Speakers & Topics
Barbara Wilson-Clay has been in private practice in Austin, Texas since 1987 specializing in difficult breastfeeding cases. She co-founded the Texas Chapter of Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies and the Texas Breastfeeding Coalition. In 1998 she helped found the non-profit Mothers Milk Bank at Austin, and retired from the (volunteer) board of directors as Vice President after 10 years of service. She has been a volunteer lobbyist in the Texas legislature during each legislative session since 1993, and helped pass the landmark Right to Breastfeed in Public bill in 1995 and a bill to provide pumping accommodations for public employees not covered by the Affordable Care Act in 2015. She provides corporate consulting services to Apple Computer. Barbara’s research and commentaries have been widely published. She has participated in midwifery training at local Austin birthing centers and her book, The Breastfeeding Atlas, is widely used to train midwives in Europe.
Pioneer researchers, clinicians, and breastfeeding advocates laid the foundations for modern lactation science. Many of their names are now forgotten, although they sounded the alarm about the risks of bottle feeding early in the last century and deplored the trend away from breastfeeding. Their dedication contributed to the development of the WHO Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in 1981, and their research contributed to the scientific basis for today's clinical practices. Thanks to advances in both science and technology we are now able to help many more mothers nurse their babies. However, enormous economic disparities exist between communities, and access to care and equipment varies widely. Technologies that we depend upon to support breastfeeding are unavailable in many areas. Even in normally secure communities, large footprint natural disasters, wars, refugee crises and unforeseen events can disrupt lives. However, no matter the circumstances mothers continue to give birth and newborns must receive adequate early immunological protection, warmth, and nutrition if they are to survive. Therefore, it is important to look back at some of the low tech solutions of the past and preserve this knowledge in our tool kits so that we know how to protect breastfeeding when the lights go off.
Briana Tillman received her undergraduate degree in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She has been a La Leche League Leader for 9 years and is a board certified lactation consultant. After spending 10 years as a stay-at-home mom, she is currently attending medical school at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Parker, Colorado. She loves spending time with her husband and three elementary-school-aged children—as a family they like to play board games, go camping, and play bluegrass and chamber music.
Many of us are aware of human milk’s amazing ability to provide for our infants’ changing nutritional needs with age. Recent research suggests that its composition shifts in synch with mom’s circadian rhythms as well, giving breastfed babies a leg up in neurological development, chrononutrition and sleep patterns. This presentation discusses the diurnal cycles of the following breast milk components: wakefulness vs. sleep-inducing amino acids, hormones (such as melatonin), trace elements, and even some nucleotides. Clinical implications include improving use of pumped breast milk. The presentation concludes with a brief look at other factors related to breastfeeding and infant sleep, including SIDS rates, skin-to-skin, and room sharing.
Dr. Smillie is an American pediatrician who founded in 1996 the first private medical practice in the USA devoted to the specialty of breastfeeding medicine.
Board certified by both the American Board of Pediatrics in 1983 and by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners in 1995, she values her continuing education from colleagues, research, and breastfeeding babies and their mothers.
She’s been a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine since 1996, and an ABM Fellow since 2002. She serves as an advisor to the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding and on La Leche League International’s Health Advisory Council.
Dr. Smillie speaks nationally and internationally about the clinical management of a wide variety of breastfeeding issues, always stressing the role of the motherbaby as a single psychoneurobiological system, and emphasizing the innate instincts underlying both maternal and infant competence.
Breastfed infants who gain weight slowly can present a challenge to both parents and providers. Their quiet, content demeanor can delay diagnosis, and their anorectic behavior can make feeding very difficult. Moreover, as, Powers laments, our evidence base is clouded by confused definitions, contradictory growth standards, inadequate research, and no definitive standard of care. The medical literature has long suggested that, at minimum, infants should be back to birthweight by 2 weeks of age, and thereafter grow at least 20 gm/day, or 5 oz/week. However, data from the 2006 WHO Multicenter Growth Reference Study challenge these minimal standards. WHO data put infants of all percentiles back to birthweight before a week of age, and thereafter even female infants growing along the 1st percentile average 28 gm/day over weeks 2 to 8, while 1st percentile boys average 32 gm/day. At the 50th percentile, girls average 34 gm/day, boys 39 gm/day. Yet we do see exclusively breastfed babies who grow more slowly than the WHO standards. What’s going on? It was over 25 years ago that Dewey et al demonstrated in their classic DARLING studies that healthy infants who breastfeed on demand self-regulate their intake to steadily gain weight appropriately However, as many have observed, the sleepy underweight infant cues subtly and infrequently, thus defeating feeding strategies which rely on the baby’s presumptive good appetite to increase both infant weight and maternal milk production. We submit that once the infant’s appetite is impaired, the infant is NOT the healthy infant Dewey and WHO describe. Instead, apparent anorexia makes the infant incapable of the self-regulation that could break the vicious cycles of slow growth, low energy, and infrequent ineffective feeds.3 Importantly, ineffective milk removal also slows maternal breast milk production, further decreasing infant intake. In our breastfeeding medicine practice we’ve developed an approach to breaking these vicious cycles, using high-flow feeding methods to push infant intake towards rapid catch-up growth, while also offering strategies for increasing the rate of milk production. This requires significant maternal time, effort and energy, and can be hugely frustrating, so it is important to offer strategies that work with the mother’s real life, and permit her needed rest. Thus successful management also includes appropriate and intensive support to the mother, her energy, sleep, and emotional well-being. It’s our observation that, once caught up on weight, these infants become easy to feed, and do indeed achieve appropriate self-regulation to follow WHO growth standards.
Christy Jo Hendricks, IBCLC, is an international speaker, consultant, educator and author. She has made a career of teaching lactation to professionals and parents in ways that simplify learning and keep audiences engaged.
She has been awarded the US Presidential Volunteer Award, the Phyllis Klaus Founder's Award for her contribution to the Mother/Baby bond and the Above and Beyond Award for innovative projects that exemplify the mission of Public Health. She has also been named Lactation Educator Faculty of the Year from CAPPA and has earned their Visionary Award.
Christy Jo created an award-winning IBCLC prep curriculum. Her course has been used to train hundreds of students to become Lactation Consultants. In 2019, she founded Lactation University in order to serve aspiring lactation consultants on their journey to become IBCLCs.
She resides with her family in California where she continues to serve her community as a Private Practice Lactation Consultant, Health Educator for the Department of Public Health and faculty for the CAPPA CLE© and Childbirth Educator Programs.
This presentation highlights how much of the vocabulary and terms used by professionals can be confusing and intimidating to lay people. The speaker will focus on ways of simplifying birth and breastfeeding through visual instruction and common language. Many teaching suggestions and strategies are given throughout the presentation. We as educators and advocates must learn to translate perinatal terms into words familiar to communities in order to be successful in reaching everyone with the vital message that human milk is important to human babies.
Cindy Leclerc and Jana Stockham are Registered Nurses and IBCLCs with over 20 years experience helping families get started with breastfeeding. In addition to hands on care, Cindy and Jana use technology to support families through their website (cindyandjana.com), online prenatal breastfeeding classes (simplybreastfeeding.ca) and iPhone app, NuuNest. Cindy is a strong believer in mother-to-mother support, helping to facilitate breastfeeding and postpartum depression support groups. She is intrigued by all things online and actively uses social media to promote breastfeeding. Jana has been trained as a Baby Friendly assessor and helped to coordinate the first Baby Friendly designation in Saskatchewan. She has a passion to help families with new babies and facilitates a group for breastfeeding moms.
IBCLC’s begin their career with a baseline of theoretical and practical knowledge. As in every other profession, there is wisdom that can only be learned on the job. IBCLC’s who have worked on the frontlines for over 20 years share principles that will help you to be more effective and compassionate in your practice. They will share actual stories and examples from their work with families, including a few mistakes made along the way. Learn what Cindy & Jana wish they had known when they first became IBCLC’s.
Clare is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Retired Midwife living in West Sussex and has been supporting mothers since 1996. She is mother to two daughters and a son and grandmother to 4 girls and 2 boys. Her background in midwifery and infant feeding lead her to instigate and facilitate the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in her local hospital which held the gold award for 10 years. Clare attended the first World Breastfeeding Conference in India in 2012 and the first European WBTi training in Geneva in May 2015. She is a La Leche League administrator and has facilitated many peer support trainings. Clare held various roles on the committee of the Lactation Consultants of Great Britain (LCGB), including the chair and is currently Joint Coordinator of the UK Working Group for the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) . Clare also volunteers at a local twins group and also runs her own private practice Honeysuckle Cafe.
Helen Gray MPhil IBCLC is a board certified lactation consultant in London, UK. She provides workshops for lactation professionals and has a private practice as an IBCLC, as well as leading a local La Leche League mother support group. Her background in anthropology and human evolution has given her a particular interest in breastfeeding, and the way we mother our babies, also how they are influenced by both human biology and culture. She is joint Coordinator of the UK Working Group of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi), and serves on the national committee of Lactation Consultants of Great Britain (LCGB). She is also part of the LCGB Social Media team, and represents La Leche League GB on the Baby Feeding Law Group, which works to implement the WHO Code into UK and European law. She is actively involved with her local maternity services to improve mothers’ experiences.
Research has shown that breastfeeding rates improve when a country implements a full range of strategies from the WHO Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding. The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative WBTi builds a coalition of organizations working in infant feeding to assess the implementation of key policies from the Global Strategy and generate recommendations for action. The WBTi focuses on key indicators across the life course of breastfeeding. For breastfeeding to be successful, mothers and families need a network of support along the whole course of breastfeeding, starting with giving birth in a Baby Friendly Hospital, then going home to find skilled local support from midwives, physicians, community health care, and mother support groups throughout their communities. Breastfeeding women need maternity protection and breastfeeding/expressing breaks when they return to work. Accurate information about breastfeeding, without marketing pressure from manufacturers, is needed throughout society and from health professionals.
Cynthia Good, MS Clinical Psychology, is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Clinical Counselor, author, consultant, and internationally recognized speaker, and has served as an expert witness. She is the Director of LifeCircle Counseling and Consulting, LLC where she provides lactation-compatible mental health care focused on the perinatal time period. She is also a Certified Diversity Executive, is Certified in Acute Traumatic Stress Management and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University where she teaches counseling skills. Cynthia has a strong interest in the emerging field of lactational psychology. She brings the evidence and insights of psychology and lactation consulting to her presentations, providing information and teaching skills that are essential to understanding and effectively responding to the complex psychosocial realities of families living in diverse contexts. The focus of her presentations includes equity, diversity, and inclusion; infant feeding rhetoric; perinatal mental health; perinatal loss, grief, and trauma; counseling techniques; ethics; serving as an expert witness in lactation-related court cases; cultural competence and humility; vitamin D; and more.
Research and clinical experience show that perinatal mental health challenges are common in expectant and new parents and both influence and are influenced by the experience of lactation. Because of this interconnection, lactation specialists often must respond to perinatal mental health challenges in the context of providing lactation support services. IBCLCs have the ethical duty to “assist and support the mother and family to identify strategies to cope with peripartum mood disorders,” “assess and provide strategies to initiate and continue breastfeeding when challenging situations exist/occur,” and to make “necessary referrals to other health care providers.” This presentation 1) presents the ethical rationale for screening and referring clients for perinatal mental health challenges, 2) clarifies the difference between screening and diagnosis, 3) introduces a step-by-step approach to implementing perinatal mental health screening, and 4) gives instruction on the use of free, validated tools to screen for perinatal depression, anxiety, and trauma.
Diana West is an IBCLC in private practice. She is the co-author of “Sweet Sleep: Naptime and Nighttime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family,” the 8th edition of La Leche League International’s “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding,” “The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk,” the clinical monograph “Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Procedures,” and ILCA’s popular “Clinician’s Breastfeeding Triage Tool.” She is the author of the “Defining Your Own Success: Breastfeeding After Breast Reduction Surgery.” She is on the Editorial Review Board for the “Journal of Clinical Lactation,” a La Leche League Leader and the Director of Media Relations for La Leche League International. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is the administrator of the popular BFAR.org, LowMilkSupply.org, and LactSpeak.com websites. She lives with her three sons and one husband in the picturesque mountains of western New Jersey in the United States.
This session presents a detailed discussion of breast assessment techniques and criteria, with photos contributed by colleagues around the world.
Diane Powers was a LaLeche League Leader for 13 years; after which she was an LC in private practice for more than a decade. In 1999, she was recruited by a hospital where she established a lactation service line in their maternity ward. This is where she currently sees more than 1000 mother-baby pairs a year, both in-patient and in the clinic setting.
She has completed two research projects that were Medical Ethics Research Board approved and has published results of both. The first article was published in 1996, and the second research article in JHL in 2004, both in the Journal of Human Lactation. She has also published several other articles connected with breastfeeding.
She finds it rewarding and satisfying to be able to articulate to new mothers how to breastfeed with ease - using words that create visual pictures - so that the next time they breastfeed, without assistance, they are able to do so. Empowering women to succeed is a very satisfying part of her job.
Nipple shields have a long and somewhat controversial history. Nearly every published article in recent years reports positive breastfeeding outcomes for mother/baby dyads who used a nipple shield. Its use may be warranted if infants have sucking difficulties or are having problems latching to flat or inverted nipples or where mothers are experiencing hyper lactation where milk let down causes the infant to choke and sputter and pull off. In addition, they can be useful for mothers who dread breastfeeding because of nipple pain or have a history of sexual abuse. It is time to recognize the possible uses for nipple shields that can help create favorable results for breastfeeding couplets.
Dianne Cassidy is a Lactation Consultant in Rochester, New York with Advanced Lactation Certification. Dianne works in Private Practice, and in a busy Pediatrician office supporting mothers and babies. She also teaches prenatal breastfeeding and childbirth in the hospital setting. In the fall of 2013, Dianne completed her MA in Health and Wellness/Lactation. She is dedicated to serving mothers and babies, and has the unique ability to identify with the needs and concerns of new mothers. Dianne has worked extensively with women who have survived trauma, babies struggling with tongue tie, birth trauma, milk supply issues, attachment, identifying latch problems, returning to work and breastfeeding multiples.
Dianne has 3 biological children, including twins, 3 step children and a wonderful husband. Dianne is an author and public speaker and enjoys teaching caregivers how to support new families through breastfeeding struggles.
It’s well known that breastfeeding is the optimal feeding choice for both mothers and babies. Are we supporting new families with what they need to be successful? Research shows that mothers are more successful breastfeeding when they feel supported by peers, family and health care providers, and suggests that poor support may contribute to early cessation of breastfeeding. Conflicting information, feeling as if their concerns are not validated and lack of education are some of the doubts that new mothers have expressed during the postpartum period. This presentation will talk about what support for the new mother looks like, how to best offer this support and what might be considered as detrimental to the breastfeeding mother. We will also look at how different personalities can impact perceptions of breastfeeding support and success.
Dr. Sanjay Prabhu is a senior pediatrician and lactation consultant working in the field of Infant and young child nutrition for past 20 years . He is an active member of Breast Feeding Promotion network of India and was the Secretary of the Maharashtra state branch. He has been closely associated with UNICEF INDIA and various State governments of india in rolling out their IYCN training plans. He was a part of the Breast Crawl video team and also the Hirkani room concept team. He has pioneered introduction of IYCN and SAM along with WHO growth charts in medical college curriculum in his state. He is actively involved in promotion of use of WHO growth charts in his country and was also part of guidelines committee to formulate IYCN guidelines for India.
Dr. Prashant Gangal is a Practicing Pediatrician in Mumbai for the last 25 years. He has also been Mother Support & Training Coordinator of BPNI Maharashtra since 1995, Co-Coordinator of Mother Support Task Force of WABA since 2003, and a Lactation Consultant since 2009.
Dr. Gangal was trained in lactation management by Dr. Felicity Savage and has been a breastfeeding trainer and advocate for 25 years. He was instrumental in establishing the first Mother Support Group in India (1995) and played a key role in training 500 Traditional Massage Women in Mumbai, Breast crawl rejuvenation (video, dossier and website), training thousands of Government health care providers in 6 Indian States with an innovatively written module in collaboration with UNICEF and organizing IBLCE exam for the first time in India (2009). He made significant contributions to LLLI publication ‘Hirkani’s Daughters’
Dr. Gangal has multiple publications to his credit and has been a speaker at LLLI conferences in San Francisco and Chicago. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Mumbai Breastfeeding Promotion Committee in 2008 and WABA Secretariat award in 2010. He spoke on Breast Crawl at 2014 Gold Conference
Nutrition cannot be interpreted without growth charts. WHO released new international growth standards in 2006 to monitor growth of children 0-59 months of age receiving optimal nutrition and care. Lactation Consultants and Health Care Providers should use these charts to complement IYCN Counselling. They should be thorough with the science behind WHO Growth Charts and how to use this information for ideal IYCN Counselling. The concepts of stunting and wasting (SAM & MAM) also needs to be understood. Every growth chart has a story to tell. We found WHO growth charts to be accurate and extremely useful for knowing past events and use the information to promote optimal growth and development in future. Every contact with the child in general and for every immunization in particular needs to be looked as an opportunity to discuss growth and development.
Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA, is a lawyer/litigator (since 1983) and private practice IBCLC lactation consultant (since 1997) who brings to life the connection between lactation consultation and the law. Healthcare provider (HCPs) face ethical, moral and legal challenges every day in their clinical care. With plain language and humor, Liz explains how law and ethics affect IBCLCs and HCPs, no matter what their country or work setting. She offers immediate, pragmatic tips so HCPs can practice ethically, legally and confidently. She is an Adjunct Professor in Drexel University's Human Lactation Consultation Program, recently served as the President of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), and currently serves on the Boards of the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) and Human Milk Banking Association of North American (HMBANA). She wrote the only textbook focusing on IBCLC ethics and legal issues, and authored chapters on similar topics in five other texts. She is a well-received writer and lecturer in her field.
When and how can IBCLCs speak up … without losing their jobs or professional credibility? Is it ever appropriate for IBCLCs to “chase down and correct” negative comments about their clinical practice, rumored to be coming from a former client? What is the best course of action if the primary healthcare provider (HCP) for the parent or baby flat out disagrees with the IBCLC’s assessment or care plan? If all HCPs should support and promote breastfeeding, how can the IBCLC get them to read, understand and appreciate all the new research on tongue-tie, skin-to-skin, co-sleeping, brain development, and birth practices that impact breastfeeding? This presentation arms the IBCLC with information about ethics-based practice-guiding authority underpinning clinical practice, provides tips on how to handle combative or abusive clients or colleagues, and offers “scripts” for keeping information-sharing diplomatic, and patient-centered.
Dr. Jane Morton has had a long, fulfilling career as a general pediatrician, She has also had a long-standing interest in breastfeeding, from understanding its clinical benefits to practical solutions for mothers having difficulty in providing breastmilk to their infants. Over the years, she has conducted research on human milk and breastfeeding and has designed and implemented systems and policies to help breastfeeding mothers. She produced award winning videos on this topic, including “Breastfeeding: A Guide to Getting Started”, “A Preemie Needs His Mother: Breastfeeding a Premature Baby” and “Making Enough Milk, the Key to Successful Breastfeeding”. These have been translated and widely used in thousands of hospitals to train both staff and new mothers. As an executive board member of both the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding, she enjoyed working to enlarge the footprint of breastfeeding, both nationally and internationally.
For a 5 year period, she joined the neonatology clinical faculty at Stanford to develop the Breastfeeding Medicine Program. In that position, she had the opportunity to design a nationally recognized educational program, conduct and publish original research on milk production and composition in mothers of very low birth weight infants, and publish a study with the AAP on the efficacy of a breastfeeding curriculum for physician residents in training. She was an advisor to the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative, and was a key author of the toolkit “Nutritional Support for the Very Low Birth Weight Infant”. She co-authored the book Best Medicine: Human Milk in the NICU. She has published extensively and presented her original research and educational workshops internationally. She continues to teach at Stanford where she is an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Emerita.
Complications of insufficient milk production and suboptimal intake account for delayed discharge, readmission, potentially serious medical complications and a sharp drop off in any breastfeeding before 1 month. Reframing lactation support based on prevention, accessibility and sustainability, we could logically reduce these complications, while increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates for both low and at-risk infants. Recent science supports the importance of beginning this support for all mothers in the first post delivery hour, to prevent what might be called, “the lost first hour syndrome”.
An advocate for women, Jodi Hall has dedicated herself to understanding the impact of traumatic events on the childbearing years, and toward creating solutions designed to change lives. Jodi shares her knowledge on topics related to trauma in the lives of mothers through workshops and training sessions for healthcare professionals, counsellors and social service workers throughout the world.
Jodi has worked as a doula since 1995, and a woman’s abuse counsellor where Jodi gained experience working directly with women experiencing abuse. It is through years of sharing spaces with women experiencing abuse, that Jodi’s much sought after way of ‘being with’ women was nurtured.
Jodi Hall holds a PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Western Ontario. Jodi has been instrumental in various research studies on marginalized women’s access to services that promote health. She resides with her family in London, Ontario, where she co-runs a private counseling practice with Amanda Saunders, MSW, RSW and Holly Gibson, MSW, RSW, who are also skilled birth workers, called Sharing Spaces.
Health care professionals supporting women during the transition to mothering play an essential role in creating safer spaces to inquire about potential abuse. However, many health professionals are reluctant to routinely and universally inquire about abuse in pregnancy and the postpartum period, even though there is widespread recognition that abuse has devastating physical and emotional effects on the lives of women and their children with particular vulnerabilities during the transition to mothering. Research and experiential evidence suggests that pregnant women with histories of abuse want caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to their needs, know how to respond to disclosures of abuse, and are knowledgeable about services that could offer support. This workshop will provide a starting place to explore the nuances of creating safer spaces for women survivors of abuse, and some strategies to respond to disclosures.
Jodine Chase is a public relations and communications consultant specializing in issues and crisis management news analysis. Jodine is a long-time breastfeeding advocate who, as a volunteer, works for many breastfeeding related causes including advocating for the re-establishment of milk banks, amending policies and legislation to protect breastfeeding rights, and appropriate infant and young child feeding during emergencies including the Syrian refugee crisis. Jodine serves on the board of her local breastfeeding advocacy group, the Breastfeeding Action Committee of Edmonton (BACE), which is implementing a human rights education grant project to increase the number of Breastfeeding Friendly public spaces in her city. She also volunteers with the Best for Babes Foundation, ILCA, INFACT Canada, and Friends of the WHO Code. She’s involved in many breastfeeding related events including BfB’s Miracle Milk Stroll and Quintessence’s Breastfeeding Challenge.
Despite advances in human rights legislation in Canada and the US, women still face harassment and discrimination when they breastfeed in public. In the last 15 years in Alberta, Canada, reports of discrimination escalated even as policies were adopted to affirm and support the right of women and children to breastfeed in public. In 2014 the Breastfeeding Action Committee of Edmonton (BACE) received a grant from the Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund to further development of a tool kit for Breastfeeding Friendly spaces. The project included policy, procedure and training development for stakeholders and a public education campaign. Public attitudes towards breastfeeding in public, including in specific spaces where discrimination had occurred - swimming pools, the public library - were measured prior to the implementation of a Breastfeeding Friendly program that included policy articulation, staff training, and public education. Public attitudes were measured after program implementation. This presentation will explore the impact of the implementation of Edmonton's Breastfeeding Friendly project on the potential for families to feel safe and welcome to breastfeed in Edmonton's public spaces.
Joy MacTavish, MA, IBCLC, RLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and certified Holistic Sleep Coach focusing on the intersections of infant feeding, sleep, and family well-being. Through her business, Sound Beginnings, she provides compassionate and evidence-based support to families in the greater Seattle area, and virtually everywhere else. She entered the perinatal field in 2007 as birth and postpartum doula, and childbirth and parenting educator. Joy holds a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies, graduate certificate in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, and two Bachelors degrees from the University of Washington. She enjoys combining her academic background, analytical skills, and passion for social justice into her personal and professional endeavors. Joy serves as an Advisory Committee Member and guest speaker for the GOLD Lactation Academy. When not working or learning, she can be found homeschooling, building LEGO with her children, or dreaming up her next big adventure.
Dental caries are the most common chronic infectious disease of early childhood and new recommendations urge families to seek pediatric dental care at a younger age. For families who are practicing full-term breastfeeding and/or nocturnal breastfeeding (night-nursing), many are also reporting increased pressure to night-wean, wean completely, or otherwise incorporate care that is often not practical or evidence-based. A clear understanding of the research and realities of breastfeeding and the risks of dental caries, along with advocacy skills, are integral for breastfeeding families feeling confident in their breastfeeding relationship and their dental care. This presentation will compare the latest research and recommendations from the dental and lactation fields, as well as outline support strategies for assisting lactation clients as they understand the relevant information, communicate with their dental professionals, and make informed decisions about their breastfeeding relationships.
Kathy Parkes is a registered nurse, IBCLC, and Fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association (FILCA) with over 30 years of experience in lactation management and education. She has been actively involved with breastfeeding coalitions at the local, state, and international levels. Now a published author, her first book, “Perspectives in Lactation: Is Private Practice for Me?”, sold out the first printing in only 48 hours. Kathy has worked in multiple lactation settings, including the hospital, private practice, education, home health care, and in the US-based Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program. As a Certified Compassion Fatigue Educator, Kathy heads the Perinatal Loss Program at her hospital, and leads a Griefshare program in the community. Happily married for 39 years, she has 2 daughters, and 3 grandchildren, all breastfed.
Physicians, nurses, midwives, birth workers, and lactation consultants are continuously providing care to others, and many of these give more than they receive. Doing so puts them at higher risk for compassion fatigue. There are research-based methods to assess, prevent, treat, and cope with compassion fatigue. This session will discuss compassion fatigue, professional burn-out, secondary trauma stress, and ways to take care of yourself in the process of caring for others.
For over 30 years, Kay Hoover has been assisting breastfeeding mothers and their babies in a variety of settings and capacities. She began working as a lactation consultant in private practice in 1985. She has also worked in hospital settings, not only as a provider of lactation services to postpartum mothers and their babies, but also as a trainer and educator for hospital nurses. In addition to her work with hospital staff, she has educated maternal and child health workers through her job with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, taught prenatal breastfeeding classes to pregnant families in various settings and college courses at The Pennsylvania State University. Most recently she designed and taught a Lactation Consultant Training program for aspiring lactation consultants. Kay has authored several articles and book chapters, and she co-authored The Breastfeeding Atlas. Kay has lectured widely, at both national and international conferences. She also served on the board of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners for six years. She and her husband, Charlie, are the parents of three breastfed sons and have three breastfed grandsons.
Covers the variety of experts who can help with unusual problems, using the knowledge we have to make reasonable suggestions, taking photographs and video to help our understanding, learning from our clinical experiences, and publishing our observations.
Kimarie Bugg is currently a Doctor of Nursing Practice student and is President and CEO of Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE), a National nonprofit corporation developed in 2011 to address breastfeeding inequities in the African American community. Kimarie previously worked for Emory University, School of Medicine, as a nurse practitioner. She is a member of the faculty for CHAMPs, a Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, and chair of the nominating committee of United States Breastfeeding Committee. She also provides training for healthcare providers and community transformers nationwide. She completed a Community Health Leadership Program, within the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine that stressed best practices to provide global health equity and eliminating health disparities through action-oriented projects. In 2016, Kimarie received a Legacy Award from the United States Breastfeeding Committee for her work in the breastfeeding arena for 38 years. She believes that Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation can take place in marginalized communities, starting with Breastfeeding. Kimarie lives in the Atlanta area with her husband, Dr. George W. Bugg Jr, a neonatologist and they are the parents of 5 adult children.
Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE) is a member network that was founded to address breastfeeding disparities among people of color nationwide through culturally competent training, education, advocacy, and support. This presentation will explore the barriers to breastfeeding faced by African American families, and delve into how ROSE addresses these barriers through a multisystem approach.
Lori J. Isenstadt, IBCLC, CCE, CBD, has been practicing as an IBCLC since 2001. Lori was employed as a Staff IBCLC in 2 large Phoenix, Arizona hospitals and a local breastfeeding clinic. In 2007, Lori founded All About Breastfeeding, offering office and home consultations, and breastfeeding classes. Her expertise ranges from basic position and latch through the most complicated of breastfeeding challenges. Lori is a member of Toastmasters International and enjoys speaking about mothering and breastfeeding. She has a particular interest in teaching communication skills to professionals who work with families. Lori is the host of All About Breastfeeding, a podcast where she interviews mothers, authors, researchers and physicians about topics related to breastfeeding. Her mission is to normalize breastfeeding around the world. Lori resides in Phoenix, AZ is married to Alan for 36 years and is the mother of three adult children, Alisha, Jesse and Carly.
We are often put in a position of telling a mother devastating news. We sometimes forget that she is hearing this information for the first time. This may be life changing for her. Perhaps her NICU baby cannot breastfeed for a few days, or a maternal health issue precludes her from making a full supply, or her beautiful newborn with a cleft palate will need alternative feeds. Being able to deliver bad or shocking news in such a way that it enables the mother to hear what comes next, is an acquired skill. How she hears this information can set the tone for her understanding and following a care plan that follows. Poor communication has serious implications as it may hinder her involvement in the treatment plan, her expectations, satisfaction with her care and subsequent psychological adjustment to her situation. Learn how to deliver bad news with professionalism and kindness.
Marion Rice, Ed.D., IBCLC is the Executive Director of the Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon (BCO). BCO is the statewide entity that serves to build and link families, community partners and geographic and culturally specific coalitions to support, promote and protect breastfeeding in Oregon. The Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon works to address the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding by working to provide technical assistance, support and training to 20 (and more emerging) breastfeeding coalitions throughout the state. Marion is working to understand and address the impact of racial inequity on breastfeeding support and on helping all families reach their breastfeeding goals to improve the lifelong health of their babies. She sees breastfeeding as a social justice issue, and tries to reveal and address public policy and practice that inadvertently discourage women from reaching their breastfeeding goals and helping to maintain family economic security. Marion believes breastfeeding is unifying and builds cultural bridges and personal relationships for deeper personal understanding of the commonalities of the human experience.
Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist and a leading commentator, speaker and consultant on breastfeeding issues, with an expertise in African American women and racial disparities in breastfeeding. As a consultant and speaker, Kimberly works with organizations looking to better understand the cultural barriers and community influences that impact breastfeeding continuation rates in vulnerable communities. She is also the founder of Shift Strategies, a health communication consulting firm helping organizations increase programmatic outcomes with more effective communication strategies. Kimberly has designed and developed strategic messaging campaigns and exploratory community-based projects examining the role of “place” in breastfeeding success and pioneered the concept of “first food deserts” and “First Food Friendly” communities. She is the director of The First Food Friendly Community Initiative (3FCI), a W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded pilot program to create and accredit breastfeeding-supportive community environments. A former writer at Fortune and senior editor at Essence magazine, Kimberly is an IATP Food & Community Fellow, connecting the “first food” to the broader food movement. Kimberly was also selected as a lead commentator for the United States Breastfeeding Committee’s “Break Time for Nursing Mothers” federal campaign. Previously, she served as the editorial director of the Black Maternal Health Project of Women’s eNews. Kimberly fifth book, The Big Let Down—How Big Business, Medicine and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding will be released in July 2016 by St. Martin’s Press.
This session will look at challenges to reducing the barriers to greater availability of banked human milk within the context of breastfeeding inequities, disparities in birth outcomes and the state of motherhood in the United States. The session will provide participants with understanding of the evidence around the inequities in preterm birth and infant mortality rates of specific cultural groups and the importance of advancing human milk banking and breastfeeding as a primary strategy for improving the health of the most vulnerable citizens, babies through an equity lens.
Dr. Maya Bunik is an Associate Professor at University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and medical director of primary care at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She has been helping mother-baby pairs with breastfeeding for almost 20 years. In terms of research, Dr. Bunik has published studies focusing on breastfeeding support in low-income Latinas. Her work on combination feeding in Latinas ‘los dos’ was cited in the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Breastfeeding, January 2011. Her book, Breastfeeding Telephone Triage and Advice, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is now in its second edition and is a helpful resource for anyone providing advice for breastfeeding and was distributed to 100 US hospitals as part of the WHO Baby Friendly Health Initiative. Her latest project is developing and evaluating a Mothers’ Milk Messaging texting and online support program for new mothers. She is thrilled to be sharing her multidisciplinary team’s ’Trifecta Approach’ for supporting breastfeeding for this GOLD lactation conference.
The “Trifecta Approach” is an optimal and comprehensive approach to caring for breastfeeding babies and the challenges faced by their families. Our multidisciplinary team of three includes a pediatrician, lactation consultant, and psychologist specializing in infant mental health and development. Our team meets the unique and diverse needs of families by comprehensively addressing the baby’s medical care, the family’s breastfeeding challenges, and the developing mother-infant relationship. Common presenting problems include prematurity, latch refusal, breast and nipple pain, milk supply issues, poor weight gain and fussiness. Excessive crying often coincides with the establishment of the breastfeeding relationship, creating a complicated constellation of symptoms that are difficult for providers to treat. In addition to medical and lactation support, this clinical model integrates screening and evaluation of concurrent postpartum mood disorders and caregiver self-efficacy. Cases presented will illustrate issues such as: screening for postpartum mood disorders in the context of pediatric care; family dynamics; cultural expectations of breastfeeding; breastfeeding being “blamed” for gassiness or reflux; and maternal medications.
Naomi Bar-Yam, ACSW, Ph.D. has been working in maternal and child health for over 25 years as an educator, researcher and writer, in the US and overseas. Areas of special interest include breastfeeding, milk banking, ethical issues in perinatal health. Naomi is the founding director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, providing safe donor milk to hospitals and families throughout the northeast. She is the Current President Board of Directors of Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
Today, there are multiple forms of human milk exchange: non profit milk banks; for profit companies selling human milk products; private milk sales; private milk donation. Milk exchange in all its forms raises numerous ethical concerns that we as a society must begin to address: assuring safety of milk for those receiving it; protection of mothers and babies supplying milk; allocating a scarce resource, making this resource less scarce.
Naomi Sallé is a La Leche League Leader in Amsterdam. She also recently earned her diploma in Jewish education, at the Dutch Jewish Seminary (part of the University of Amsterdam) where she focused on breastfeeding and Jewish law. She lives with her husband and three of their homeschooled children in the small Jewish community of Amsterdam and has the joy of watching her eldest married daughter grow in her mothering and nursing.
The Charedi Jewish community has specific barriers to breastfeeding:
● Outdated medical information has been passed into the community.
● The women who are helping mothers with breastfeeding may be untrained and without support.
● Misunderstanding of the Jewish law and community practices.
● A feeling of not being understood by medical practitioners.
Dayan Evers, and Naomi Salle, did research into breastfeeding in Jewish Law. They found that medical advisers managed to persuade Rabbinical leaders that formula milk was as good as breastfeeding. This led to the idea that the Jewish laws, protecting the child's right to breast milk, no longer needed to
be applied. Dayan Evers, and Naomi Salle have written a book on this subject and are attempting to educate the community that this decision was based on incorrect medical information.
Naomi has interviewed many of the women who work within this community, and has identified Charedi women's concerns which may make them feel unable to follow breastfeeding advice, such as:
● Be able to have the circumcision on time.
● Following treatment and pumping on the sabbath.
● Not being understood by their care provider.
Most Charedi woman desire to “nurse clean,” (without menstruating) this can be a vehicle for introducing helpful breastfeeding practices.
This information can also be pertinent when helping Jewish mothers from all walks of life.
Ratih Ayu Wulandari, MD, IBCLC is a breastfeeding mother of two. She applied baby led weaning method for her two babies while continue breastfeeding and get many benefits from the method. As lactation consultant she gives breastfeeding counseling and complimentary feeding either with spoon feeding or baby led weaning approach for family who wish to know more and practice it. Experienced breastfeeding her two tongue-tied babies, helped her understand the pain and support early frenotomy. She is now practicing frenotomy for tongue-tie and lip-tie. She believes attachment parenting is the best way to nurture a child and shares her thoughts on her blog http://www.menjadiibu.com.
Complementary feeding is a process starting when breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of infants and therefore other foods and liquids are needed along with breast milk typically covers the period from 6 - 24 months of age. Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) is an alternative method for introducing complementary foods to infants in which the infant feeds themselves hand-held foods instead of being spoon-fed by an adult. The BLW infant also shares family food and mealtimes and is offered milk (ideally breast milk) on demand until they self-wean. In Indonesia, this method of feeding has becoming popular lately and be a controversy in Indonesian traditional spoon feeding culture. This presentation will present 10 cases of BLW in Indonesia with different settings. It shows baby who was breasfed, have a well educated and stayed at home mother will be more successful in this method of feeding.
Rosann Edwards is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, an experienced front line public health nurse, and lactation consultant. She is also a third-degree karate black belt, and mother of boys. Rosann’s research and community work focuses on breastfeeding, the transition to motherhood, maternal satisfaction with breast/infant feeding, mothering in the shelter system, and empowering vulnerable populations of women and their children. She is the co-editor of the recent Demeter Press Anthology Breasts across Motherhood: Lived Experiences and Critical Examinations.
To explore the breastfeeding experiences of young at-risk breastfeeding mothers who either were or had resided in a local maternity shelter. Goals: To increase awareness of issues unique to this population, and develop clinical interventions when providing breastfeeding supports. Data Collection and Analysis: Interpretive description design, using semi-structured interviews, and inductive content analysis. Participants: Nine mothers aged 17 to 24, who had initiated any breastfeeding, and were residing or had resided at a maternity shelter. Findings: Nurses had a critical role in the establishment of early breastfeeding by providing a combination of practical hands-on and emotional support. Ongoing, accessible, and non-judgemental peer, family, and community resources were important to breastfeeding duration. These young mothers took ownership of their choice to breastfeed and found empowerment in this choice and practice. Conclusion: Young at-risk mothers need an ongoing combination of emotional and practical supports from multiple trusted sources, including professional and peer. Nurses need to focus the practical aspects of breastfeeding while establishing strong therapeutic relationships.
Stephanie Pearson has a unique distinction in her field for integrating traditional practices in nutrition and herbalism with principles of evidence-based research and constitutional medicine. She is a certified clinical herbalist, functional nutritionist, clinical aromatherapist master (in process), and a professional educator and presenter at universities, and for wellness conferences and webinars. Stephanie’s 25 years of botanical medicine study expands outside the classroom and crossculturally, enriched by field studies in Native American, Western Eclectic, and Latin American herbalism.
This presentation, an excerpt from a longer training course, provides an overview of the most relevant information related to essential oil use for lactating moms. Innovations in processing and application have brought this traditional therapy to a whole new level of effectiveness and popularity. Participants will come away feeling capable in their understanding of the top five oils for nursing moms and the safe and effective clinical use of essential oils as well as their, individual properties, dosages, and contraindications during lactation.
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Annet Mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became a mother for the first time. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer with the Dutch breastfeeding Organization and in 2008 sat for and passed the exam administered by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. As an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, she now
Annet Mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became a mother for the first time. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer with the Dutch breastfeeding Organization text text text text more name mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became.
Dr. Speakers Full Name
Speaker Credentials