2017 Speakers & Topics
Alex has been a lactation consultant in the Washington, DC area since 2010. In addition to running her private practice, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Lactation Consultants, Alex cares for breastfeeding moms and babies at Hirsch Pediatrics in Rockville, MD. After earning her master's in English Literature and teaching for several years, Alex met two extraordinary people that inspired her to enter the field of lactation: her daughters. Alex has worked at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Sibley Memorial Hospital as an in-patient lactation consultant. In 2015, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Nursing with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. Alex is committed to increasing awareness for impaired mammary organ development (IMOD) and impaired mammary organ function (IMOF).
Often overlooked and as elusive as the butterfly it resembles, the thyroid gland may lurk behind a number of breastfeeding difficulties, including low-supply, over-supply, and overt lactation failure. Recent research has revealed that thyroid disorders during pregnancy and postpartum are more common than previously thought. A substantial amount of our current professional discourse centers around tongue-tie, which occurs in anywhere from 4.2%-10.7% of babies, while thyroid disorders in lactating women may in fact be more prevalent than tongue tie, affecting anywhere from 6.7%-13.3% of women in the postpartum period. Even more alarming is that as many 50-80% of these cases may be missed by a woman’s healthcare provider. During this presentation, you will gain a basic understanding of how the thyroid gland functions and the various ways in which a dysfunctional thyroid can adversely affect lactation. You will also learn which signs and symptoms warrant a referral to a primary health care provider. We will review the latest evidence-based thyroid hormone reference values appropriate for a woman during pregnancy and postpartum so that, if your patient does undergo testing, you will feel confident discussing those results with her. Finally, we will discuss some herbal and dietary recommendations for improving thyroid function.
Amy Barron Smolinski holds an MA from Union Institute and University, where her thesis explored re-emerging Sacred Feminine manifestations in the lives of contemporary women. She is the Executive Director of Mom2Mom Global, a network of breastfeeding peer support, education, and advocacy for military families. She works with breastfeeding dyads in a variety of settings, from inpatient postpartum and NICU to home visits, telephone, and online consulting as an Advanced Lactation Consultant and Certified Lactation Counselor. Supporting breastfeeding families has shown her how each parent’s breastfeeding journey with each of her children is a reclamation of her connection to her inner wisdom and power. Amy is an actress, director, and professional voice artist in Germany, where she resides with her husband and four sons, all of whom breastfed to self-weaning.
Some women who initiate breastfeeding will not meet their duration goals. There are a number of factors that contribute to undesired weaning. For a woman who ceases breastfeeding before she desires to do so, it can be devastating. For the lactation professional or peer supporter, this can also feel like failure. Grief counseling and ethical principles are applicable to supporting a mother grieving the loss of the breastfeeding relationship she desired. This presentation uses case studies to address the questions of how breastfeeding supporters ethically and compassionately support mothers who end their breastfeeding journey before they wish to, how lactation professionals and peer supporters can manage our own feelings in these situations, and what are the ramifications of these cases as we continue to share accurate breastfeeding information in the face of media-driven culture in which infant feeding is loaded with guilt, shame, and fear.
Professor Amy Brown is based in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences at Swansea University in the UK. With a background in psychology, she has spent the last thirteen years exploring psychological, cultural and societal influences upon infant feeding decisions in the first year. Her research seeks to understand how we can shift our perception of how babies are fed away from an individual mothering issue to a wider public health problem – with societal level solutions. Dr Brown has published over 60 papers exploring the barriers women face in feeding their baby during the first year. She is a mother to three human children and three book babies: Breastfeeding Uncovered: Who really decides how we feed our babies, Why starting solids matters, and The Positive Breastfeeding Book: Everything you need to feed your baby with confidence. She is a regular blogger, aiming to change the way we think about breastfeeding, mothering and caring for our babies.
The majority of women should be able to breastfeed, but elements of their experience are ultimately stopping them from doing so. Breastfeeding works best when done responsively but many psychological, social and cultural factors work directly or more subtly against responsive feeding, meaning that many mothers experience difficulties with breastfeeding which can lead to premature weaning. These factors can include separation of mother and baby, a lack of understanding of breast milk production, public attitudes and wider pressures of motherhood to name a few. If we want to support mothers to breastfeed we must understand and target these wider factors to create a supportive breastfeeding environment. It is important however that our approaches to breastfeeding promotion and education are perceived positively by mothers in order for them to be effective. In this presentation I’ll be addressing the common barriers to breastfeeding and their impact, along with new research that looks at how mothers perceive common breastfeeding education messaging and what this research tells us about how we can change our approach to ensure our messages have the intended impact.
Anna has been working as a midwife since 2009. From the very beginning of her studies she has been fascinated with breastfeeding. During her studies for her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Midwifery, her main area of interest was promotion and support for breastfeeding among women. Anna's interest in breastfeeding turned into a passion that led her to pursue the Polish Certification of Lactation Consultant and she is working toward certification as an IBCLC. She opened a private practice and a support group for local women in Krakow (cracko). Anna’s Interest and passion for lactation and breastfeeding have deepened during her current PhD studies. She is a PhD candidate in 2018 at University Medical College and is the coordinator of the Krakow Human Milk Bank.
Her scientific area of expertise: change in milk composition (macronutrients), human microbiota during pregnancy, lactation as well as tandem breastfeeding. Her research is carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology. Anna is the author of many lectures and workshops for students of midwifery and medicine in area of breastfeeding, lactation and the variation of composition of human milk. Since 2016 she has been popularizing the science of human lactation in Poland and she is always finding new ways to promote and support breastfeeding women. In her spare time she practices meditation, yin yoga and is learning how to dance rock and roll.
Bloody nipple discharge is an unusual experience during lactation for both the mother and her attending physicians. Painless bleeding from the breasts in the early post-partum period can be a physiological condition called a rusty pipe syndrome. This report describes the case of bilateral bloody nipple discharge that started after caesarean section and subsequently ceased within a few days.
Natural breastfeeding is the best way of nourishing newborns and infants. The process of breast milk production starts as early as between weeks 16 and 22 of pregnancy and colostrum can appear from the nipple in the following weeks. Milk containing blood can be a cause of concern for the mother and her physician. The reasons can be various; however not all of them would be caused by bleeding from the glandular tissue.
Barbara D. Robertson, IBCLC, has been involved in education for over 34 years. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1988 and her Master’s in Education in 1995. Barbara left teaching elementary students in 1995 to raise her two children. Barbara is now the Director of The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor and of the brand new business LactaLearning.
The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor will still continue to serve breast/chestfeeding families and now LactaLearning will be dedicated to all of Barbara’s professional lactation trainings. Barbara has developed two 95 hour professional lactation training, a group training and a completely self study training with Nancy Mohrbacher. Barbara’s idea of creating professional book groups has exploded with her hosting Making More Milk with Lisa Marasco, Supporting Sucking Skills with Cathy Watson Genna, Breastfeeding Answers, 2nd Edition with Nancy Mohrbacher, and new for the fall, Safe Infant Sleep with Dr. James McKenna. Barbara will be hosting a one day online conference in the fall with Lisa Marasco and Cathy Watson Genna using all of her tech savvy skills to make this a one of a kind experience. Barbara is also a speaker for hire on a wide variety of topics including Motivational Interviewing. Barbara volunteered for the United States Lactation Consultation Association as the Director of Professional Development for 4.5 years.
She just retired as Associate Editor for Clinical Lactation, a journal she helped create for USLCA. Barbara has free podcasts, a blog, and Youtube videos which can all be found on her websites lactalearning.com and bfcaa.com. She has written many articles as well. She loves working with parents and babies, helping them with breast/chestfeeding problems in whatever way she can.
Breastfeeding is widely acknowledged as being the healthiest way to feed an infant for at least two years. In the United States of America, the CDC 2014 Breastfeeding Report Card states that 79.2% of mothers start out breastfeeding. However, as the babies get older, these numbers plummet. Only 49.4% of these babies are receiving any breastmilk by 6 months of age. We know from the literature that the primary reasons mothers stop breastfeeding in these early months are pain and worrying about their breastmilk supply. These are problems with solutions if the proper support is in place. Why is this support lacking? Is it because for all of the talk, “breast is best”, the importance of breastfeeding is not really valued? What if successful breastfeeding was reframed into a milestone? Baby’s first milestone? This presentation will explore other milestones, walking, talking, and learning to read, and what happens if babies and young children are not reaching these markers in a reasonable time frame. What support systems are in place to help these milestones be achieved if babies are faltering? The possible reasons for a baby not being able to breastfeeding and possible solutions will then be examined from the lens of having proper support systems in place.
Brandi Gates is an every day, hard working bay area mother. She was born and raised in the diverse San Francisco, Bay Area. She has 3 beautiful daughters Azarriah, 12, Zaleeya, 6 and Ziyanna, 5. While earning her bachelors degree in sociology from Cal-State East Bay, she breastfed Azarriah for 19 months. She understands the time and energy it takes to exclusively breastfeed when there's many life obligations. While overcoming her own lactating difficulties with her daughter Azarriah, she realized how many bay area mothers have issues with breastfeeding and have no one to help. She became very passionate about breastfeeding and decided to pursue a career in helping and educating parents about lactation. She started working at an Alameda County WIC program. When she started there, she would support teen mothers with lactating challenges, going back to school and just being mothers at such a young age. After 3 years, her passion for helping mothers breastfeed grew. At the University of California, San Diego, Brandi earned her lactation consultant certificate in 2010 than went on to become an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) providing in-home lactation consulting, support and education for families throughout the East Bay. Her purpose and passion is to help create strong, healthy and happy families. Brandi is also the lead facilitator of the Breast Friends Mommy’s Group. The group is targeted towards women of color giving them a safe space for overcoming their breastfeeding challenges.
In Alameda County, Black women are initiating exclusive breastfeeding, but only ~15% remain breastfeeding by 3 months. For impoverished Black women, especially those in their teen years or who may have less than high school education, these numbers are even lower (9-12%). There is minimum breastfeeding support for black families.
When Black mothers in West Oakland who received peer and professional breastfeeding support through Breast Friends, exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months rose to 63%. This project expanded the Breast Friends model to East Oakland while also training 12 new peer counselors (including 1 father), 24 new group facilitators, and enhancing breastfeeding messaging in the California Black Infant Health program. The project surpassed our expectations. 5 out of the 12 trained peer counselors are now working in other community organizations as Community health outreach worker, peer counselors, doulas and WIC staff.
Cecília Tomori is Associate Professor and Director of Global Public Health and Community Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing with a joint appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a Hungarian American anthropologist and public health scholar whose work investigates the structural and sociocultural drivers that shape health, illness and health inequities. Dr. Tomori is an internationally recognized expert on breastfeeding, infant sleep and maternal child health.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has supported numerous organizations focused on maternal child health and health equity and advocated for equitable pandemic policies. She has authored three books on breastfeeding and reproduction, and published numerous articles on a range of public health and anthropological topics.
Nighttime breastfeeding and proximate mother-infant sleep play a crucial role in sustaining lactation but present challenges for parents in settings where solitary infant sleep is the norm, and bedsharing is viewed as controversial and inherently dangerous. While separate parent-child sleep arrangements are a relatively recent cultural invention, they have become the dominant cultural norm, which also shapes medical infant sleep guidance in the U.S. and other similar settings. Recent breastfeeding promotion efforts, however, conflict with these cultural and medical imperatives for separate sleep. As more parents breastfeed, they find themselves falling asleep next to their babies. Some may fall asleep on unsafe surfaces in their attempt to avoid bedsharing, while others regularly bedshare in secret to avoid social stigma and other repercussions. To ensure both safety and wellbeing for infants and families, an integrated approach to nighttime breastfeeding and infant sleep will be recommended that incorporates evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives.
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.
Promoting collaborations among caregivers and healthcare providers to ensure consistent and continual breastfeeding support.
This talk uses humor and scenarios to point out the necessity that those entrusted with a family’s care be professional, inclusive and open in order to provide the best support possible.
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.
The majority of women begin breastfeeding at birth. Within the first 6 weeks, however, breastfeeding rates fall dramatically. To help women hang in with breastfeeding beyond the first weeks, we must first understand why they struggle. Learn what the research is saying and what you can do in your practice to help women meet their breastfeeding goals. IBCLC’s who specialize in the early weeks of breastfeeding will share case examples based on over 20 years of working with breastfeeding families.
Debbie Albert, PhD, BSN, IBCLC, is a full time lactation consultant at UC Davis Med Center--working with all facets of their lactation service; including maternity floor, level IV NICU, pediatrics, PICU, and Employee Breastfeeding Support Program. She is also a prenatal instructor with their patient education program, nursing staff educator, and chairs the UCD Breastfeeding Task Force and the UCD Breastfeeding Support Program Committee. She received an Employee Excellence Award June, 2013 and June, 2015, and a Nursing Excellence Award in May, 2016. In addition, UC Davis programs have received IBCLC Lactation Care Awards and Sacramento Coalition and California State Coalition Breastfeeding Awards. Debbie has lactation experience in Florida, Texas, and California. She is Member of the LEAARC Board, a member of ILCA’s Equity Committee, and UCD Status of Women Committee. She is married to Dan Albert for 33 years, and has two sons, Josh (28), and David (24).
Raynauds is an illusive condition that tends to be confused with other conditions, misdiagnosed, and consequently rarely treated--causing the breastfeeding dyad to suffer. This program provides a review of the symptoms, medical and lactation resources, and clinical applications that facilitate most the effective treatment/comfort for the patient.
Dia has written and/or edited over a dozen books for adults and children. Her passions in life include promoting the concepts and practices of attachment parenting, breastfeeding and safe infant sleep. She is founder and president of two publishing houses—Platypus Media and Science, Naturally! Their books have won numerous awards and have been translated into Spanish, Dutch, Hebrew, Chinese, Russian, Turkish, French and Korean. Dia has led workshops at healthcare, education and parenting conferences across the country. She is the mother of three adult children and lives in Washington, DC.
During a time when lactation professionals are facing unprecedented negativity on top of the usual challenges, it’s easy to get drawn into the conflict or to start wondering if what we do makes a difference. How do we lift one another up to maintain a positive focus on using our knowledge and skills to guide families who are feeling scared and confused? How do we set aside our biases to make sure we’re listening to all sides? How do we connect and collaborate with other professions to expand the network of support for new families? This panel discussion focuses on answering those questions and providing steps that can be taken to promote collaboration both within the field of lactation and with other members of the health care team to improve breastfeeding knowledge translation and mobilization. This is your chance to hear from Dr. Amy Brown, Christy Jo Hendricks and Joy MacTavish as they share their thoughts on this hot topic during our panel discussion titled “Lifting up the Lactation Profession”.
Heidi Lam is a private practice IBCLC and La Leche League Leader in Hong Kong. She tandem nurse her two daughters and have more then 8 years of breastfeeding experience. She was accredited as La Leche League Leader in 2009. In 2010, to she was awarded the Trudi Szallasi Memorial Scholarship from Health-e-learning.com to complete a one year course on lactation medicine. In 2011, she was qualified as International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Her job focus mainly on home visits to clients and running breastfeeding classes. Heidi is also active in promoting breastfeeding and was often interviewed by parenting magazines and other media in Hong Kong. Heidi was a Hong Kong delegate to spoke at the Susuibu.com International Lactation Conference 2010 in Malaysia. She also speaks regularly at local breastfeeding support groups.
Breastfeeding rates upon discharge is rising in Hong Kong over the past 20 years. Breastfeeding has become more of a topic than ever before. However, it is still very common to have early introduction of formula and exclusive breastfeeding rate is still low. Most private hospitals do not allow 24 hours room in. Many mothers need to go back to work when the baby is only six weeks old. In Hong Kong, it is very common to practice a confinement period after birth. This traditional Chinese wisdom has many benefits for the mothers and babies. Mothers of other cultures can also make use of some of the practices to benefit themselves.
Jake Marcus, J.D., is the nation’s foremost expert on breastfeeding law. Formerly Staff Attorney at a non-profit assisting survivors of domestic violence, her current private practice focuses on small businesses (including the business issues of health care practitioners such as IBCLCs and midwives) and healthcare. She was Politics Editor at Mothering magazine until it ceased publication in April of 2011. She was a member of the Legal Advisory Council to La Leche League International. She created and maintains BreastfeedingLaw.com.
Breastfeeding women find themselves in need of assistance in a wide variety of legal contexts. This session reviews the options available to lactating women in custody disputes, as criminal defendants, as witnesses, when called for jury duty, and as immigration detainees.
Jarold “Tom” Johnston is the father of 8 breastfed children and has been working with breastfeeding families since becoming a labor and delivery nurse in 1998. He is a Lactation consultant and a Certified Nurse Midwife. His career has focused on advocating for improving science and education in the breastfeeding community, and engaging the father as an active part of the breastfeeding triad.
He retired from the US Army as the Chief of Midwifery Services at Fort Bragg North Carolina, after 27 years of service. His professional service includes the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health’s (AIM) committee on postpartum care, the editorial board for the USLCA’s journal Clinical Lactation, and the Lactation Education Accreditation and Approval Committee (LEAARC) since 2017.
As part of his work on LEAARC he is the Chair of the International Outreach Taskforce which brings ILCA, LEAARC, and IBLCE together to expand to promote lactation around the globe. When he is not volunteering or studying, he is an Assistant Professor of Nursing for the undergraduate nursing program at Methodist University in NC and he is the Medical Director for Mother’s Helper Lactation where he focuses on fragile infants and NICU graduates.
Did you know that a mother who breastfeeds her child is more likely to “match” as an organ donor than a mother who does not breastfeed her child? How does that happen? The answer may lie in the Maternal-Newborn Microbiome, AKA “The Oro-boobular” axis. The scientific world is exploding with excitement over the discovery of the microbiome. While it appears clear that a suckling infant’s intestinal microbiome communicates with the mother’s lactocyte and perhaps beyond, little is known about the effects of this communication in practical terms. This presentation will review what is known and attempt to explain what it means, both now and in the future.
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.
Topic: Sending Reports: What’s in it for IBCLCs? - [View Abstract]
The age-old practice of mindfulness meditation has increased in popularity across the globe over the past four decades and gained traction within the psychological and medical fields. Mindfulness centers on non-judgmental awareness of one’s bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions in the present moment. It has been scientifically shown to reduce stress, chronic pain, medical and psychological symptoms, and enhance immune function. Mindfulness practices often focus on psychobiological processes, which makes them well suited as in intervention during the perinatal period, and even more specifically breastfeeding. This presentation outlines the ways in which mindfulness can positively impact lactation, during its normal course and especially when there are challenges. As lactation professionals who clinically and holistically support clients, it is beneficial to be able to share mindfulness strategies that can serve as a bridge between the mental, emotional, and physiological realms. Through a greater understanding of the practical aspects of mindfulness, gentle interventions can be incorporated into each feeding session. By supporting calm and connection within the parent and between the parent and infant, the experience of breastfeeding can be enhanced.
Most lactation professionals love client interactions, but only send reports to health care providers out of a sense of duty. But writing and sending reports to our client’s health care providers can be more just an administrative task. Yes, it complies with IBLCE’s Code of Ethics to “Principle 4: Report accurately and completely to other members of the healthcare team” but it can also increase collaboration, improve client outcomes, and grow your practice.
This presentation seeks to reframe the process of writing and sending reports from a dreaded task to a clinical, ethical, and holistic way of supporting our clients while positively positioning ourselves as allied health professionals. Beyond the ethics (yes or no) and practicalities ("S.O.A.P." or not), a report to a health care provider is a source of communication about the consultation as well as marketing about your clinical skill, role in the client’s lactation experience, and lactation practice. With a combination of the why and how, this presentation outlines the ways in which reports to health care providers can be beneficial to the client, the health care provider, and the IBCLC, as well as devoting some time to specific strategies that lactation consultants can implement to streamline the process of sending reports so that we can get to the next client.
Judy Terwilliger is a Clinical RN Therapist with Pediatric experience for over 30 years. As lead therapist, researcher and educator in her proprietary form of functional mobility therapy (Functional Bowen™), she works with allied health care providers in the resolve of hidden structural barrier challenges for infants and children. Her collaborative, integrative team care approach sees many successes. She is committed to equipping families with the tools necessary in support of breastfeeding and enabling parents to participate in the resolve of their children’s structural challenges. She is a member of the National Society of Pediatric Nurses and was a nominee in the 2013 Clinical Excellence in Practice Award. She has been a speaker at the Northern California Placer County Breastfeeding Coalition, Imperial Valley Breastfeeding Summit and presented at the 2016 California Breastfeeding Coalition. Her professional memberships include: ABM Network, International Pediatric Integrative Medicine Network, IATP, and Breastfeeding USA. Judy is a licensed continuing education provider for the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, California Board of Registered Nurses, The California Physical Therapy Association, and the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.
This lecture/course is intended to familiarize the medical and allied health community in the recognition of the often-overlooked muscle-related structural barriers to breastfeeding. It provides a discussion of clues to the predisposing factors of these barriers and explores their affect on infant "functional mobility" as it relates to the achievement of successful breastfeeding. It is intended to improve the clinician’s assessment skills as they work with the mother/infant dyad in resolving breastfeeding difficulties/dysfunctions by development of insight into these often hidden and profoundly destructive structural manifestations. Recognition of these barriers with an emphasis on self-help techniques and when/who to refer parents/caregivers to for help, together with how to best meet their teaching/training needs across cultural barriers, is discussed. The ultimate purpose is the achievement of insight to improve the clinician’s evaluation process, better enabling them to promote, enhance and even save the breastfeeding experience of the families served.
Karleen Gribble (BRurSc, PhD) is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University.
Her interests include infant and young child feeding in emergencies, marketing of breastmilk substitutes, parenting and care of maltreated children, child-caregiver and caregiver-child attachment, adoption reform, and treatment of infants and young children within the child protection, immigration detention, and criminal justice systems.
She has published research on these subjects in peer-reviewed journals, provided media commentary, contributed to government enquiries, provided expert opinion for courts, and engaged in training of health professionals, social workers, and humanitarian workers on these subjects.
Karleen is an Australian Breastfeeding Association Community Educator and Breastfeeding Counsellor. Since 2010 she has been a member of the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Core Group and has been at the forefront of the development of policy, training and research in the area of infant and young child feeding in emergencies.
In any emergency, infants and young children are particularly vulnerable. Providing appropriate aid is vital to ensure that children have the best chance of surviving. This presentation will describe why infants and young children are at increased risk during times of crisis and outline how aid can support, or sometimes undermine the health of infants and young children. Detail on instruments to support appropriate infant and young child feeding in emergencies will be provided, along with information to assist participants in advocating for appropriate infant and young child feeding in emergencies in their context.
Kiddada Green is the founding executive director of Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association, co-‐creator of Black Breastfeeding Week, founding member of the National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color, lead consultant for the First Food Friendly Community Initiative, and an esteemed member of the inaugural class of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Leadership Network Fellowship Program. She is committed to supporting families, and training maternal child health professionals on culturally appropriate breastfeeding support. As an expert in community-‐centered approaches, she put forth recommendations for The U.S. Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding, has been featured in Ebony Magazine, and is a program reviewer for the American Public Health Association. She is a published writer for Breastfeeding Medicine and an avid learner. Kiddada holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Michigan State University and a Master’s Degree in the Art of Teaching from Oakland University.
This presentation provides clear and concise methods for maternal-‐child-‐health professionals and home visiting programs to become active supporters of breastfeeding families. The information shared is both for the novice and the experienced. Learn ways to build partnerships, improve advocacy and set organizational policies that are supportive of increased breastfeeding rates.
Laurel Wilson, BS, IBCLC, CCCE, CLE, CLD, CPPFE, CPPI owns MotherJourney in Morrison, Colorado. She has her degree in Maternal and Child Health – Lactation Consulting. With twenty-five years of experience working with Parents in the childbearing year and perinatal professionals, Laurel takes a creative approach to working with the pregnant family. She is a co-author of best-selling books, The Greatest Pregnancy Ever: The Keys to the MotherBaby Bond and The Attachment Pregnancy: The Ultimate Guide to Bonding with Your Baby. She currently spends a great deal of her time working with hospitals seeking BabyFriendly Status as a consultant and educator. She strives to provide the latest techniques, research and programs to her clients. Laurel is a board certified as a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, labor doula, lactation educator, Prenatal ParentingTM Instructor, and Pre and Postpartum fitness educator. She served as the CAPPA Executive Director of Lactation Programs for 16 years and trained Childbirth Educators and Lactation Educators for CAPPA certification. She is on the Board of Directors for the United States Breastfeeding Committee, a Senior Advisor for CAPPA, and also on the Advisory Board for InJoy Health. Laurel has been joyfully married to her husband for more than 25 years and has two amazing sons, whose difficult births led her on a path towards helping emerging families create positive experiences. She believes that the journey towards and into parenthood is a life changing rite of passage that should be deeply honored and celebrated.
With the recent spread of the virus, Zika and the bacterial infection, Lyme Disease, many pregnant and breastfeeding families worry about the potential impact on their babies. There is a great deal of inaccurate information on the internet regarding these diseases that many parents encounter. Having good resources and current information on these emerging diseases is imperative for new families. This presentation will address transmission of the diseases, risks to babies prenatally and during breastfeeding, and precautions for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to take.
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.
The historical evolution of infant feeding includes direct breastfeeding, wet nursing and bottlefeeding. Before the invention of bottles/ vessels to feed babies, wet nursing was the safest and most common alternative way to feed a baby. As bottles and nipples were developed, scientific advancement improved formulas, wet nursing fell out of favor. It gradually went from being widely accepted as the most normal way to feed a baby to where we currently are as a modern society. It is negatively seen as being weird and risky behavior. When mothers do not breastfeed or give their babies human milk, they use formula to feed their babies. Given the current knowledge of lack of complete nutrition formula has more mothers are showing an interest and actively pursuing wet/cross nursing. This presentation will help us understand the history of wet nursing and offer reasons to support, advocate and be encouraging to mothers who want to participate in the practice of wet/cross nursing.
Paulina E. is a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in private practice and Maternal Child Health Specialist.
Lactation consultants would benefit from expanding their understanding of the impact of the NICU stay on the family; moreover, they would benefit from identifying the essential role they could play in assisting families to accomplish a positive, healthy, and smooth transition home.
Despite continuing efforts to reduce prematurely worldwide, a significant number of infants are born too early or in a fragile medical condition. Many of these infants experience a lengthy stay at the NICU. Lactation support varies across facilities, but families, especially mothers, develop strong connections with their lactation consultant. As one of their most consistent providers in the NICU, the lactation consultant has the opportunity to recognize families’ need for continuing support after discharge and strategies to protect the breastfeeding relationship, attachment, and mental health in the long term.
Ruth Lucas, PhD, RNC, CLS, is a maternal-infant health nurse researcher with a focus on infant breastfeeding behaviors. Dr. Lucas received her Bachelor of Nursing from George Mason University (1986) and spent 20 years at the bedside supporting mothers and infants initiate breastfeeding. She observed a lack of clinical knowledge regarding intervention and neurological implications for infants demonstrating dysregulated latch and sucking behaviors. To answer these questions, she attended the University of Illinois at Chicago for her Master (2009) and Doctor of Philosophy of Science (2011) degrees. Her published work describes infant feeding behaviors, including at what intraoral pressure are preterm infants are able to transfer milk, a concept paper of measures of neonatal neurobehavioral organization including infant feeding behavior, maternal recall of their children diagnosed with autism, newborn breastfeeding behaviors, and maternal self-report of different infant breastfeeding behaviors during the first month of life.
Infant feeding behavior is a complex neurodevelopment behavior. Infant feeding is compressed of infants’ latch and SuPPRT (sucking pressure pattern regulated over time) in both bottle and breastfeeding sessions. In preterm bottle feeding infants, the regulation of these two components is a measure of neurodevelopment. However, infants’ latch and SuPPRT in breastfeeding has not been explored. Dr. Lucas will review infants’ latch and SuPPRT during bottle and breastfeeding and explore how these differences make breastfeeding a more sensitive newborn neurodevelopmental measure. Finally, Dr. Lucas will propose why we should consider differences in infant latch and SuPPRT to be a neurodevelopmental infant measure.
Dr. Satish Tiwari has worked as Professor of Pediatrics for 5- 6 years, and was responsible for the formation of the Indian Medico-Legal Ethics Association (Founder President), and the Human Milk Banking Association (India). He is a recipient of the Dr Nirmala Kesaree Oration 2012 and Dr NB Kumta Award 2015 for outstanding work in IYCF. He is a trainer in Human Lactation, breastfeeding, human milk banking, medico-legal issues etc. He has National, International publications and has provided editorial services for: a Textbook on Medico-legal Issues, Feeding Fundamentals, International J Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Transplant & Nutrition, and the Journal Indian Medico-Legal Ethics Association. He is Founder Editor-in-chief for the New Indian Journal Pediatrics. He is Founder Secretary Medico-legal group, Founder Secretary IYCF chapter IAP. He worked as President BPNI Maharashtra 04-06, Member Central Coordination Committee of BPNI (New Delhi) 06-08 and National Executive Indian Academy Pediatrics 07. He was a Postgraduate & Undergraduate examiner in Pediatrics and has been invited as a Guest Speaker on Infant feeding, breastfeeding, Medico-legal issues, HIV, Behavioral problems, etc.
Food/nutrition is a basic need of individuals. Unethical, uncontrolled marketing practices have added to age-old confusions and misconceptions. Products are subtly portrayed as essential and convenient to “modern parents”.
Since the time that WHO/UNICEF has declared an International Code, many WHA resolutions have been resolved. Convention on the Rights of the Child accepts the right to enjoy a highest attainable standard. Innocenti Declaration was adopted on Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding.
It is important to support woman, by enacting legislation and adopting its enforcement and by providing adequate paid maternity benefits/leave.
The Indian government has enacted the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles & Infant Foods Act.
People should be vigilant enough to realize that legislations are not merely pieces of paper. Health workers have a moral and ethical responsibility to provide health education and report violations by becoming a “Watch-guard”.
Even after many legislations, some manufacturers are behaving as if these recommendations don’t affect them and have ignored or just given lip services.
Health workers, and the general population has a great influence on decision making. There is need to follow laws in spirit rather than words.
Tamara Drenttel Brand, holds an MA in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the American University of Beirut. An American by birth, but an expat in practice – she spent 10 years in the Middle East, where she worked as a public health practitioner, maternal and child health consultant and an IBCLC. She has had the privilege of working with breastfeeding dyads from all over the world in both in private practice and as a La Leche League Leader. In 2011, she founded and still actively facilitates “Mama 2 Mama Beirut Breastfeeding Support,” the largest breastfeeding peer support network in the Middle East.
Tamara founded and blogs for Galactablog.com – a site for lactation specialists and those aspiring-to-be. Galactablog features lactation program reviews, DIY breastfeeding ‘hacks’ and free/low-cost lactation resources and tips on private practice. She is currently developing a monthly podcast on the realities of running a lactation private practice around the world.
In her spare time, she is a furniture artist, avid upcycler and coffee connoisseur. She currently resides in a seaside village in Ireland with her family.
In Lebanon, nearly all mothers attempt to initiate breastfeeding. Despite high initiation rates, only 40% of mothers exclusively breastfed through the first month and nationally, a mere 2.4% continued to exclusively breastfeed between 4 and 5 months. Early weaning is a pressing public health concern as infant and under-5 morbidity rates are high. Environmental issues like water quality and sanitation can be problematic when supplemental formula or contaminated water is used. This presentation examines the breastfeeding trends in Lebanon and explores the complex and often overlapping historical, social, cultural, economic and policy determinants behind early weaning. Next, this presentation analyzes newly emerging factors such as the power of social media, collaboration of lactation specialists and the rise of influential mother support networks. The presentation will conclude by highlighting the growing breastfeeding support infrastructure in Lebanon, for the most part, facilitated by breastfeeding mothers themselves.
I am a wife and mother of two breastfed children. I was a general practitioner and am currently more focused on helping mothers to breastfeed. I work at Puri Cinere Hospital and Kemang Medical Care Women and Children as a lactation counselor. I currently on leave due to accompany my husband school in United State for his PhD programs. Since 2009, I've been helping mothers who have difficulties breastfeeding. It is a delight when we meet during tough times, then met again once their breastfed child are big and smart, and most importantly successfully breastfed. My desire is to help mothers to breastfed wherever I live in this world.
Good doctor–patient communication is essential for positive health care outcomes. Ideal doctor–patient communication generally is reflected in a partnership communication style. However, in Southeast Asian settings, we often see a more one-way style with little input from the patient.
Helpline services is breaking the ice, and is considered a new option modality for patients in Indonesia. The ease in contacting medical professionals through phone and text messages seems more comfortable, personal and inexpensive.
Breastfeeding support via a helpline helps mother to feel reassured, confident and more determined to continue breastfeeding, and in majority of occasions resolves their particular concerns.
Lactation Clinic in Puri Cinere Hospital, Depok, West Java, Indonesia was established in August 2011 and operated a helpline since the beginning of its establishment. Helpline service is open 24 hours daily, through phone, text messages, whatsapp, or blackberry messenger directly to doctors who are also breastfeeding counselors. There are six doctors who take turns every month to receive calls and reply to messages. Helpline numbers are distributed to patients during post natal rounds or at patients doctors appointments in lactation clinic.
A longitudinal study conducted in March to December 2014 shows 202 helpline cases in 9 months. There were 29 cases (14%) questioning EBM handling, 24 cases (12%) asking about complementary feeding, 19 cases (9%) of infant stool, 19 cases (9%) medication and mother's milk, 15 cases (7%) frenotomy after care and other various problems. 63% cases were successful managed via helpline, and 37% cases were referred to the Lactation Clinic to get further help.
There were many cases resolved through helpline calls and messages. High success rate of helpline management shows that helpline program is effective to help mothers and resolved their particular concerns; especially in Indonesia.
Zainab Yate is a Biomedical Ethicist, with a specialist interest in infant feeding. Zainab is Vice Chair and named qualitative lead on a paediatric flagged Research Ethics Committee Panel for the Health Research Authority (HRA) in the UK, reviewing research protocols for over a decade. Zainab's previous working background is in Public Health and Commissioning the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. She had also been a volunteer breastfeeding peer supporter with the NHS for a number of years, is the owner-author of the resource site for mothers and healthcare practitioners on Breastfeeding / Nursing Aversion and Agitation and author of "When Breastfeeding Sucks".
Aversion to breastfeeding or agitation while breastfeeding is known to occur in some women who breastfeed while pregnant, or who tandem feed a newborn and a toddler. However, it is a little researched area, and the paucity of published literature around breastfeeding aversion and agitation reveals a significant gap in the literature. My presentation presents the findings of an exploratory online survey that sheds light on what appears to be a commonly experienced phenomenon of aversion and agitation whilst breastfeeding, which varies in form, severity and duration. BAA is characterised by feelings of anger or rage, a skin crawling sensation and an urge to remove the suckling infant, but can also be feelings of agitation and irritability whilst the infant is latched. Mothers who experience BAA still continue to breastfeed, but have feelings of guilt and shame about BAA and are often confused about having feelings of BAA. Research is needed to understand the reasons for BAA, its causes, triggers and strategies to minimize the experience in breastfeeding mothers.
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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.
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