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GOLD Learning Speakers

Below are the GOLD Speakers that currently have presentations available in the GOLD Learning Library. Select a Speaker to view more information on their presentations.

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Paternal Perinatal Mental Health: Yes, It's a Thing, and What to Do About It
Available in: GOLD Birth & Beyond Conference 2020

Dr. Singley is a San Diego-based board certified psychologist and Director of The Center for Men’s Excellence. His research and practice focus on men’s mental health with a particular emphasis on reproductive psychology and the transition to fatherhood. Dr. Singley won the American Psychological Association’s 2017 Practitioner of the Year Award from the Division on Men & Masculinities. He is Past President of the APA’s Section on Positive Psychology and currently serves on the Board of the APA’s Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities as well as Postpartum Support International's Advisory Council. He conducts trainings around the country to assist individuals and organizations to enhance their level of father inclusiveness and founded the grant-funded Basic Training for New Dads, Inc nonprofit and Padre Cadre social networking application just for dads in order to give new fathers the tools they need to be highly engaged with their infants as well as their partners. In his free time, Dr. Singley likes to cook, surf, read, and drive his two sons to activities all over town so they can’t escape his annoying shrinky questions. Follow him @MenExcel and www.facebook.com/MenExcel/.

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The Postpartum Nest: Helping Parents Lay the Foundation for Their Child's Lifelong Health
Available in: GOLD Birth & Beyond Conference 2020

Darcia Narvaez, Professor Emerita of Psychology, University of Notre Dame researches moral development and flourishing from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating anthropology, neuroscience, clinical, developmental and educational sciences. Her earlier careers include professional musician, business owner, classroom music teacher, classroom Spanish teacher and seminarian, among other things. She grew up bilingual/bicultural but calls the earth her home. Dr. Narvaez’s current research explores how early life experience influences wellbeing and moral character in children and adults. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association and former editor of the Journal of Moral Education. She is on the advisory boards of Attachment Parenting International, Kindred, Your Whole Baby, and the Self Reg Institute. She has numerous publications, including more than 20 books such as Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First Nation Know-how for Global Flourishing; Basic Needs, Wellbeing and Morality: Fulfilling Human Potential and Embodied Morality: Protectionism, Engagement and Imagination. A recent book, Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom won the 2015 William James Book Award from the American Psychological Association and the 2017 Expanded Reason Award. She blogs for Psychology Today (“Moral Landscapes”) and hosts the webpage EvolvedNest.org.

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Sterile Water Injections for Lower Back Pain in Labor
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David Carter-Plake, LM, CPM began his career in Maternal and Child Health over 25 years ago working in hospital systems as a labor and delivery nurse. After completing disaster relief work in New Orleans and Haiti, David started searching for alternative ways to provide services to people in need of maternity care. Finally deciding on the traditional midwifery path instead of nurse midwifery, David attended Midwives College of Utah graduating with an Associate of Science in Midwifery degree in 2018 and will complete a Bachelor of Science of Midwifery in August 2019. David is planning on continuing his education at MCU in the graduate degree program with a focus on midwifery education. David lives in El Paso, Texas where he has a solo midwifery practice, Imagine Midwifery Services, providing birth center and home birth care to birthing people of El Paso, Southern New Mexico, Chihuahua, Mexico and beyond. David has 5 dogs and one 20-year-old cat. He enjoys reading, travel, movies, and watching the performing arts in his leisure time.

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Biomechanics of milk extraction during breast-feeding
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David Elad is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tel Aviv University since 1985.  He received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering on 1973, M.Sc. and D.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering on 1978 and 1982, all from the Technion, Haifa, Israel. He was then awarded the Rothschild and Bantrell post-doctoral fellowships at Imperial College London and M.I.T.    
David pioneered computational studies of biofluid transport phenomena in the nasal cavity in the late 80's. In the early 90's he established a comprehensive research program in bioengineering of human reproduction, both at Tel Aviv University. He developed his expertise in the fields of Respiratory Biomechanics and Reproductive Bioengineering, from complete organs all the way to the cellular levels. The respiratory studies included integrative assessment of respiratory muscles, transport phenomena in the human nose, objective noninvasive evaluation of nasal function and mechano-transduction of nasal epithelial cells cultured under air-liquid interface conditions, including effects of air-pollution. The reproductive studies included the role of uterine peristalsis in early human life, pre-implantation embryo transport after IVF, feto-maternal blood circulations in the placenta, transport of nutrition, pharmaceuticals and carcinogenic materials across a tissue engineered placental barrier, mechano-transduction of cultured ovarian cancer cells and biomechanics of infant breastfeeding. He published over 120 articles in peer-review journals and was the leading editor of 5 special journal issues in reproductive bioengineering, respiratory biomechanics and biofluid mechanics.
David has been a visiting scholar at Imperial College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Drexel University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, City College New York and Columbia University. He is a member of the World Council for Biomechanics (2002-14) and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2004), the Biomedical Engineering Society, USA (2005) and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (2013).
Dr. Elad is currently on sabbatical leave from Tel Aviv University and affiliated with the Department of Biomedical Engineering of Columbia University.

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David Hayes is an OBGYN with an academic background and a passion for science and its proper application to clinical medicine. He has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières and trained in critical care obstetrics.

Dr. Hayes pursued training in vaginal breech birth during both medical school and his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, at a time when instruction in vaginal breech birth was no longer routinely included in the training of obstetricians in the United States. He has performed an estimated 140 vaginal breech births using traditional obstetric maneuvers in dorsal lithotomy positions. In 2016 he hosted a training session on physiologic vaginal breech birth taught by Dr. Shawn Walker, PhD. Since that time he has been fortunate to many vaginal breech births, including breech-breech twins and primiparous mothers, with a 100% successful vaginal breech birth rate and no significant complications or instrument interventions.

In 2018, Dr. Hayes arranged to host a workshop presented by breech researcher Dr. Rixa Freeze, PhD and was asked to teach the “hands-on” portion of the workshop. As of August 2019 and in conjunction with Dr. Freeze and her organization Breech Without Borders, he has committed full time to training and reestablishment of physiologic vaginal breech birth.

Dr. Rixa Freeze has a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. Her doctoral studies focused on the history of healthcare and medicine with specialization in pregnancy, childbirth, and maternity care. Her dissertation examined why women in North America choose unassisted home births. She worked as a visiting assistant professor for 9 years at Wabash college. Her current research interests include human rights in childbirth, autonomy and informed consent, and vaginal breech birth.

She has published two articles about home birth: “Staying Home to Give Birth: Why Women in the United States Choose Home Birth” (JMWH 2009) and “Attitudes Towards Home Birth in the USA” (Expert Review of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2010). She recently published the article “Breech birth at home: Outcomes of 60 breech and 109 cephalic planned home and birth center births” with BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth. In 2019 she published an article about outcomes of breech at home, birth centers, and hospitals (Midwifery Today) and a book chapter “Freebirth in the United States” in the 2020 book Birthing Outside the System: The Canary in the Coal Mine.

Dr. Freeze is the founder and president of Breech Without Borders, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to breech training, education, and advocacy. She also blogs at Stand and Deliver (rixarixab.blogspot.com).

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Dawn DiSalvo, MSN, NNP, CLC
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The Development and Implementation of a Hospital-Wide Human Milk Storage and Handling Program
Available in:
U.S.A. Dawn DiSalvo, MSN, NNP, CLC

I am a Board Certified Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Lactation Counselor since 2010. I work in a 52 bed level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. As a bedside RN for 8 years I assisted in the advancement of our lactation program by hosting Lactation Counselor courses, developed the human mil technician role, and assisted in developing the hospital standards for donor milk use in preterm infants. I am currently the Clinical Leader in which my responsibilities include the development of our hospital-wide human milk for our 900 bed hospital, educate and train human milk technicians, and ensure all human milk in our institution is handled and stored according to the highest National standards.

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Debbie Albert, PhD, BSN, IBCLC
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RAYNAUDS: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
Available in: RAYNAUDS: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
USA Debbie Albert, PhD, BSN, IBCLC

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).

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Debbie Fraser, NNP, MN, CNeon(C)
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Congenital Infections: What’s Old Is Back Again
Available in: GOLD Neonatal Conference 2022
Late Preterm Infants: Not as Grown up as they look!
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Not always a safe place: Intrauterine Infections
Available in:
Canada Debbie Fraser, NNP, MN, CNeon(C)

Debbie Fraser is an Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca University and a neonatal nurse practitioner in the NICU at St Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg Manitoba. She is the editor-in-chief of Neonatal Network and is the Executive Director of the Academy of Neonatal Nursing. Debbie has published three textbooks and over 70 book chapters and peer reviewed articles on topics related to high-risk newborns.

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Debby Gould, BNursing, GraDipMidwif.
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Australia Debby Gould, BNursing, GraDipMidwif.

Debby Gould is a ‘BirthCare’ consultant providing education, support and counsel to women, partners, families and health professionals. Her goal is to provide transformational care to support education, empowerment and healing. She is an author of the book, ‘How to Heal a Bad Birth – Making Sense, Making Peace & Moving On’ and Co- Director of Birthtalk.org. Originally, a registered nurse she further trained and worked as a midwife, and is now a birth; educator, worker and counsellor, international author, speaker and mother of two children. For over twenty years she has supported women and men in the journey to healing after a traumatic birth, enabling women to make sense of their experience and its impact, offering hope for healing, and providing support and tools to process and make peace with what happened. She has shared in receiving the honour of a Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Community Achievement award for this work. Debby has been Birthtalk’s primary educator and facilitator of Healing From Birth meetings. She has presented for the ACM, Hypnobirthing Australia, Capers, Homebirth Australia, Australian Breastfeeding Association and various other maternal health and midwifery conferences. She guest lectures to Bachelor of Midwifery students at several Universities, and gives presentations for The Australian Doula College, Friends of the Birth Centre, Red Tent festival and other community groups. She also provides professional development for hospital midwives and doulas on the topic of Birth Trauma and how to support women to heal and have better births. She has co-written articles for Birthtalk’s blog “The Truth About Traumatic Birth” and has appeared in the media including radio, newspaper, birth and parenting magazines and podcasts and in the recent birth documentary ‘Birth Time’ as an experienced health professional’s voice to the issue of the importance of birth and traumatic birth.

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Deborah L. Harris, Nurse Practitioner, PHD
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New Zealand Deborah L. Harris, Nurse Practitioner, PHD

Deborah is Aotearoa/ New Zealand’s first Nurse Practitioner. Deborah’s research interests include the management of babies at risk of neonatal hypoglycaemia and their later development. The impact of her teams research has changed the treatment for millions of babies and families across the developed world. More recently, Deborah has been investigating the prevention and management of neonatal hypoglycaemia within the Pacific Islands.

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Dr. Deborah MacNamara is a developmentalist and author of the bestselling book, Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (or anyone who acts like one). She is on Faculty at the Neufeld Institute and is the Director of Kid’s Best Bet, a Counselling and Family Resource Center. Her book has been translated into 7 languages – Korean, Italian, German, French, Danish, Spanish, and Russian.

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Debra Betts, PhD, BHSc, RN
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Acupuncture in pregnancy and the postpartum period. Use in New Zealand by midwives and in a hospital outpatients clinic
Available in: Complementary Care Lecture Pack
New Zealand Debra Betts, PhD, BHSc, RN

With a nursing background Debra gradu¬ated with a diploma in Acupuncture in 1989 while living in London. On returning to New Zealand build a practice using acupuncture for women’s health including pregnancy care. She commenced teaching acupuncture courses for midwives in 1997. This led to publications on the use of acupuncture and acupressure in obstetric practice including “The Essential Guide to Acupuncture in Pregnancy & Childbirth” in 2006, which has now been translated into German and French. Debra completed her PhD on the use of acupuncture in threatened miscarriage in 2014 through the University of Western Sydney and is currently the Director of Postgraduate Programmes for an online Masters course through New Zealand School Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. She is also a clinical supervisor at a hospital antenatal acupuncture clinic in New Zealand, and lectures internationally on the use of acupuncture in obstet¬ric care.


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Debrah Lewis, CNM, MSc
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Engaged and In Gear: Fathers in Maternal and Newborn Health
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Trinidad Debrah Lewis, CNM, MSc

Since graduating with a Masters Degree majoring in Maternal-Child Health from Columbia University in 1986, Debrah has worked in public and private practice midwifery in New York, Africa and Trinidad & Tobago.

She is a founder and current Executive Director of Mamatoto Resource & Birth Centre in Trinidad where she remains in active midwifery practice. She is on the Board of the North West Regional Health Authority; works with the Nursing Council; and serves as an independent consultant on midwifery matters. Debrah precepts students from the USA, Canada and Europe, and has presented extensively regionally and internationally, including a TEDx Talk on fathers.

She was the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Americas Board Member from 2005 – 2011 and Vice-President from 2011 - 2014; a founding member of the Trinidad & Tobago Association of Midwives; and spearheaded the formation of the Caribbean Regional Midwives Association in 2012.

Debrah is the recipient of several awards including the Dorothea M. Lang Pioneer Award and a National Award for The Development of Women – Gold – for her work in Community Service and Midwifery in Trinidad & Tobago.


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Decalie Brown, RN CM IBCLC BHMTg CFHN
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Size Does Matter: Large Lactating Breasts Are Important!
Available in: Size Does Matter: Large Lactating Breasts Are Important!
Australia Decalie Brown, RN CM IBCLC BHMTg CFHN

Decalie is a Registered nurse/midwife with over 40 years of experience collectively working as an IBCLC in a clinical roles within Primary Care and Community Health. Currently working as a Child & Family Health Clinical Nurse Specialist 2 in busy Community of the Blue Mountains, NSW Australia. She supports health professionals and parents with education of lactation/infant feeding/settling and behavioural issues for infants and children 0 to 5 years of age as a clinical specialist. A current BFHI Assessor. Has shared her extensive clinical experience in workshops at many ILCA, LCANZ and ABA conferences over the years. Her passion in support for mothers and babies.

Decalie has volunteered for Board of Director for the Australian Lactation Consultants Association (ALCA) 7 years on the ILCA International Lactation Consultant Association, last 2 years as President. On the Inaugural World Trends Initiative WBTI AUS Core group. Advisory committee for International Childbirth Education Ass. ICEA. World Health Organisation working group for revision of BFHI Education package, WABA advisory group. ILCA Nominations committee chair, IBCLC Care award Co chair.

Enjoying the next level of parenting being Mimi to her 3 year old grandson Cole.

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Declan Devane, PhD, MSc, PgDip(Stats), BSc, DipHE, RGN, RM, RNT
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Fetal Monitoring, Evidence and Challenges
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Ireland Declan Devane, PhD, MSc, PgDip(Stats), BSc, DipHE, RGN, RM, RNT

Professor Declan Devane is Professor of Midwifery at the National University of Ireland Galway (in the beautiful West of Ireland) and Director of the Health Research Board-Trial Methodology Research Network. He is an Editor with the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group, an Associate Senior Lecturer with the UK Cochrane Centre and an author of numerous Cochrane systematic reviews predominantly in the field of fetal assessment. He has led a number of clinical trials recruiting from 100 to over 3000 participants and serves on a number of Trial Steering Committees and Data Monitoring Boards. He is a past member of the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee and the Midwives Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. He was a member of the Department of Health National Maternity Care Strategy Group (Ireland) and the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Maternity Standards Advisory Group (Ireland).


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Demetria Clark, Master Herbalist and Aromatherapist
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New Demetria Clark, Master Herbalist and Aromatherapist

Demetria Clark is the Director of Heart of Herbs Herbal School founded in 1998, www.heartofherbs.com. She has been an internationally known herbalist and aromatherapist for over 20 years. Training thousands of practitioners and working with organizations all over the world to promote wellness and self-sustaining careers.


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Denise Altman, RN, IBCLC/RLC
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Growing Your Practice
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The IBCLC as a Business
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USA Denise Altman, RN, IBCLC/RLC

Denise Altman is a private practice lactation consultant and owner of All The Best in Columbia, South Carolina. Prior to that, she has worked in a variety of roles in the healthcare system from staff nurse to clinical educator, with experience in Maternal/Child Health since 1992. She has authored numerous articles for parents and healthcare professionals in print, as well as two medical textbooks, and has served on the Editorial Review Board for the Clinical Lactation journal since the first issue in 2010. She has established herself as a business mentor and enjoys coaching other small and microbusiness owners about methods for success. Her website is DeniseAltman.net. On a personal note, Denise is the mother of three children, and has been married since 1994.

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Neonatal Pain: The Evidence and the Knowledge to Action Gap
Available in: Pain Management in the NICU Lecture Pack

Dr Denise Harrison is a Professor and the Chair in Nursing Care of Children, Youth and Families at the University of Ottawa and Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), Canada. Her program of research titled Be Sweet to Babies focuses on pain management for neonates, infants and young children. She has co-produced a series of videos with parents and clinicians in multiple languages, showing effective pain management during painful procedures for newborns and infants up to one year of age. The videos are being used as knowledge translation interventions, and their effectiveness of implementation is being evaluated in diverse settings. Dr Harrison is an advocate for sick and healthy babies and their families, and argues that no non-urgent painful procedure should be performed without use of evidence-based pain management strategies.


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Denise Love is a dynamic international speaker and educator. She is passionate about life and compelled to support women through their many transitions in life. With an ever developing interest in life and death, she walks the path with many around death, particularly women whose babies die, either in utero, at birth, or soon thereafter. With a Masters degree in nursing, living and working in remote villages in Asian countries as well as Australia, she is determined that women and babies be treated respectfully within their cultural expectations.

As a childbirth educator and an instigator of the introduction and training of doulas in Australia 20 years ago, Denise identified the vital need for birthing women to ""find their voice"" and trust their ancient internal ability to birth their babies. This recognition was stimulated by the developed world's highly structured interventionist and medicalised birthing paradigms and seemingly inflexible protocols and practices. Birth matters and so does the way we all die. Combining direct language, ritual and acknowledgement of grief when a baby dies, Denise brings a refreshing attitude and approach. In her early years, practising as a Registered Nurse in remote indigenous communities, Denise gained valuable insight into how to trust our innate ability to birth, live fully and die. Denise's view has since been further reinforced through her work with vulnerable marginalised villagers in developing countries, where death is accepted as just a normal part of living.


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Denise McGuinness, RGN, RM, IBCLC, MSc, FFNMRCSI
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Ireland Denise McGuinness, RGN, RM, IBCLC, MSc, FFNMRCSI
Denise is an Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Midwifery at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Ireland. Denise is an experienced breastfeeding clinician working as a Clinical Midwife Specialist in Lactation at The National Maternity Hospital in Dublin for many years. Denise's interest in breastfeeding and lactation education and research include Candida, Diabetes and breastfeeding, lactation following loss of a baby and the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. Denise has a leading role in an important research study in Ireland, The Latch On study, a multicenter RCT of perinatal support to improve breastfeeding outcomes in women with a raised BMI. Denise has developed a Professional Certificate in Breastfeeding and Lactation at University College Dublin for health care professionals, starting in January 2022. Denise is also a member of the Editorial board of ELACTA, The European Lactation Consultants Association. Denise has presented nationally and Internationally on breastfeeding and lactation and has published widely also.
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Birthing While Black: The Impact of Racial Trauma and Perinatal Outcomes
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Desirée is a perinatal psychotherapist, trained birth doula, Reiki practitioner, and owner of Motherland Community helping women decipher the funk of motherhood through her practice in Baltimore, MD. A mother of 2 boys, Desirée ignited her passion for perinatal mental health after experiencing undiagnosed postpartum depression and OCD. Using her own experience and compassion in hopes to heal others, Desirée completed training as a birth doula in 2014 and the Postpartum Support International’s Components of Care Training on PMADs in 2015. Since then, she has immersed her free time in PMAD (Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder) awareness. Additionally, she serves as a Maryland co-coordinator for PSI (Postpartum Support International), co-founder of the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for Women of Color and her practice is a Perinatal Safe Spot through the National Perinatal Taskforce. Desirée’s philosophy is ‘every woman should be nurtured and cared for during her transition to motherhood. It is a rite of passage that has no manual, only the virtue of patience, sacrifice and sense of community that is necessary to hold space for a woman on the other side of birth.

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1000 Days in Gap City: Exploring the Relationship Between the Breastfeeding Gap and the Word Gap
Available in: Lactation / Breastfeeding Continuing Education Bundle #5 (26.5 Hours)

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.

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Diana Lynn Barnes, Psy.D, LMFT
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When Mothers are Depressed: Understanding Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Available in: When Mothers are Depressed: Understanding Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
USA Diana Lynn Barnes, Psy.D, LMFT

Dr. Barnes is an internationally recognized expert on women’s reproductive mental health. A past president of Postpartum Support International, she currently sits on their President’s Advisory Board and is also a member of the Los Angeles County Perinatal Mental Health Task Force and the statewide Maternal Mental Health Collaborative. Her work has been published in a number of academic journals. She wrote the assessment and treatment guidelines for perinatal illness for the Perinatal Advisory Council of Los Angeles County. In addition to private practice, she is often retained by legal counsel on cases of infanticide, neonaticide and pregnancy denial. The 2009 recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Eli Lilly Foundation, Dr. Barnes is the co-author of The journey to parenthood: Myths, reality and what really matters (Radcliffe, 2007) and editor and contributing author to a reference text on Women’s reproductive mental health across the lifespan (Springer, 2014).

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Diana West, BA, IBCLC
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Breast Assessment: What, Why, How, and When
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Mothers Speak Out: Top Five Traits of a Great Lactation Consultant
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Mothers Speak Out: Top Five Traits of a Great Lactation Consultant
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Postpartum Nipple Pain: Causes, Treatments, and Empathy
Available in: Breastfeeding Essentials: From Assessment to Problem Solving Lecture Pack
Sleep Training: History, Research, and Outcomes
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Sweet Sleep: Bedsharing for Breastfeeding Mothers and Babies
Available in: GOLD Lactation Alumni 2016 Lecture Pack
USA Diana West, BA, IBCLC

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.

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Diane DiTomasso, IBCLC, PhD, RN
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Expected Weight Changes After Birth for Full-Term, Breastfed Newborns
Available in: Lactation / Breastfeeding Continuing Education Bundle #9 (29.5 Hours)
U.S.A. Diane DiTomasso, IBCLC, PhD, RN

Dr. Diane DiTomasso achieved a Diploma in Nursing from Newport Hospital School of Nursing; a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Master of Science in Nursing Education, and a PhD from the University of Rhode Island. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing.

Her research focus is human lactation and infant weight. She has multiple publications in journals such as Journal of Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing (JOGNN), Journal of Human Lactation, Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing, and Nursing for Women’s Health and has presented her work nationally and internationally.

Dr. DiTomasso has received various honors and awards with the most recent being the 2020 Suzanne Feetham Nurse Scientist Family Research Award by the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS) and the 2020 Best of JOGNN Award as first author of the article, “Systematic Review of Expected Weight Changes After Birth for Full-Term, Breastfed Newborn. She has served as Principal Investigator for a variety of neonatal research studies. Dr. DiTomasso is a member of AWHONN, the International Lactation Consultant Association, the Eastern Nursing Research Society, and Sigma Theta Tau International. She currently serves as a Member on the AWHONN Research Advisory Panel.

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Diane Powers, BA, IBCLC
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Clinical Decision Making: When to Consider Using a Nipple Shield
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USA Diane Powers, BA, IBCLC

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.

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Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, La Leche League Leader
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The Safe Sleep Seven: Middle Ground for Safe Infant Sleep
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USA Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, La Leche League Leader

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, is a co-author, with Diana West, Linda Smith, and Teresa Pitman, of La Leche League International’s Sweet Sleep Nighttime and Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family. She is also a co-author, with Diana West and Teresa Pitman, of the 8th edition of LLLl's Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. Other publications include chapters in Genna's Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants and Smith's The ABC's of Private Practice, and journal articles and essays on latching, lip ties, D-MER, motherhood in other mammals, and breastfeeding language. Diane self-publishes more than 75 breastfeeding handouts for mothers. She has spoken in over 40 states and provinces and in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

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Dianne Cassidy, MS, IBCLC, ALC, CCE
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Epidural Anesthesia and its Impact on Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration
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Out of the Blue: Post-Partum Mood Disorders and Breastfeeding
Available in: Out of the Blue: Post Partum Mood Disorders and Breastfeeding
Paying it Forward, Support for the Breastfeeding Mother and Baby
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Traumic Life Experiences and how they Affect the Breastfeeding Mother
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USA Dianne Cassidy, MS, IBCLC, ALC, CCE

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.

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Ruth Patterson, RN, IBCLC
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Strategies to Improve Infant Feeding Practices and Indicators in a Private/Corporate Maternity Set Up
Available in: Strategies to Improve Infant Feeding Practices and Indicators in a Private/Corporate Maternity Set Up

Dipti Shah is a Mother Support Group Leader - Lactation Counsellor since 1998 & Lactation Consultant since 2010. She was trained by BPNI Maharashtra Faculty & has been providing Lactation Counselling services in multiple Institutional Hospitals & small maternity homes in Mumbai for over 2 decades. She has wide experience in community advocacy & Individual Counselling in indoor, OPD, home and online settings. She is senior trainer for BPNI Maharashtra & participated as faculty in over 100 workshops in Seven States of India & for 5 batches of ’96 hrs of Lactation Specific Education’ for IBLCE preparation (2010-2021). She mentored many Lactation counsellors and consultants. She is a BFHI Assessor since 2001 & has trained two groups of ‘Traditional Massage Women’ in basics of infant feeding and childcare. She has extensively contributed to multiple training modules, presentations & videos for BPNI Maharashtra & Maharashtra Government & UNICEF. She is also office coordinator of BPNI Maharashtra since 2004. She participated in Expanded Global Breastfeeding Partners Meeting (GBPM) of WABA at Penang, Malaysia in 2010. She was felicitated with ‘Dr N.B. Kumta Award’ in 2016. She exclusively breastfed her son for 6 months and continued well into 2nd year.

Ruth Patterson is Cloud Nine's P I O N E E R & most sought Lactation Specialist with 32 years of rich experience. Ruth is currently practicing at Jayanagar C9, Bangalore-India and a visiting Lactation Consultant with 8 other Cloud Nine branches locally, while als heading the 22 Pan India Cloud Nine Hospitals as the Manager Lactation. Ruth's primary role is to ensure C9 nurses complete level 1 and level 2 LSTP course (Lactation Skilled Training Program). Ruth is acclaimed for the use of Dynamic Taping (only available at Jayanagar C9) that arrests/prevents breast surgery/abscess. This Dynamic Taping practice, alongside, a Gynecologist, Pediatrician and Physiotherapist at Cloud Nine, is now under patent stage.

Ruth's 30+ years of rich experience includes maternity, allied health and nursing care, both in rural and urban sector in India & Abroad. With Exclusive 17 years of experience in Lactation services, Ruth has acquired immense practical knowledge in the last decade to identify most critical disorders of mother and babies during breastfeeding stage. Ruth is acclaimed to have expertise in a lesser-known art of re-lactation and induced lactation.

Ruth is a well sought out person for patient hearing and provides her expert comments in News columns/Media and also delivers guest lectures globally.

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Update On The Evaluation And Management Of Low Milk Supply
Available in: Breastfeeding Medicine: Advancing Your Level of Care Lecture Pack
When Supply is Greater than Demand: Maternal Hyperlactation Syndrome
Available in: When Supply is Greater than Demand: Maternal Hyperlactation Syndrome

Divya Sinha Parikh MD, IBCLC, FAAP is a board certified pediatrician practicing in Columbus, OH. She received her medical training at The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed her residency in general pediatrics at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital at Case Western Reserve University. She formerly served on the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Committee at MetroHealth Hospital Systems in Cleveland, OH and created a breastfeeding medicine clinical rotation during residency. Within her practice, she has extensive experience managing lactation concerns and has taken a special interest in mentoring current and aspiring breastfeeding providers. She has presented her work at local and national meetings.

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Divya Sinha Parikh MD, IBCLC, FAAP is a board certified pediatrician practicing in Columbus, OH. She received her medical training at The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed her residency in general pediatrics at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital at Case Western Reserve University. During residency, she created a breastfeeding medicine clinical rotation.

Within her practice, she has extensive experience managing lactation concerns and has taken a special interest in mentoring current and aspiring breastfeeding providers. She has presented her work at local and national meetings.

Rachel Walker received her master’s degree in exercise science and wellness from Old Dominion University and a PhD in nutritional sciences from Penn State University. Her PhD work focused on lipid metabolism and insulin resistance. She has over 3 years of experience teaching both nutrition and exercise science courses.

In 2020, she was selected for a research fellowship from the United States Department of Agriculture for her study, ‘The Role of Metabolic Health and Lipid Metabolism in Human Lactation and Milk Composition’. Her current research is focused on the effects of insulin resistance during pregnancy and lactation, especially with the goal of developing therapies to improve lactation.

She has presented her research at numerous national meetings. Rachel’s proudest achievement is becoming Mommy to her 3 children, Clark, Lee, and Nora.

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Divya Sinha Parikh, MD, IBCLC, FAAP
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United States Divya Sinha Parikh, MD, IBCLC, FAAP

Divya Sinha Parikh MD, IBCLC, FAAP is a board certified pediatrician practicing in Columbus, OH. She received her medical training at The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed her residency in general pediatrics at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital at Case Western Reserve University. She formerly served on the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Committee at MetroHealth Hospital Systems in Cleveland, OH and created a breastfeeding medicine clinical rotation during residency. Her work has been presented in local and national meetings.

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Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC
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Antibiotics and Breastfeeding: Indications and Impact for the Dyad
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USA Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC

Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC, has a Master’s Degree in Community Health Education from the University of Oregon. She began working with breastfeeding families in 1992 and became an IBCLC in 1998. She has worked as a lactation consultant in private practice, for county and state public health programs, and in healthcare settings. She began teaching lactation training courses in 2003, and has taught in hospital, community and academic settings. She currently works in Portland Oregon for Legacy Health in high risk maternal and pediatric hospitals. She also teaches lactation courses at Portland State University School of Community Health. She is an active member of the Oregon Washington Lactation Association, the US Lactation Consultant Association, and the International Lactation Consultant Association. She was a founding Board Member for Northwest Mothers Milk Bank, a HMBANA non-profit donor milk bank.

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Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC
Lisa Gonzales, BSN, RN, IBCLC
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United States Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC

Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC, has a Master’s Degree in Community Health Education from the University of Oregon. She began working with breastfeeding families in 1992 and became an IBCLC in 1998. She has worked as a lactation consultant in a variety of settings including private practice, county and state public health programs and high risk maternal and pediatric hospitals. She began teaching lactation training courses in 2003 and is currently an adjunct faculty member teaching in the Pathway 2 Lactation Training Program in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health at Portland State University. She is a past presenter for the GOLD Perinatal Conference. She is an active member of the Oregon Washington Lactation Association, the US Lactation Consultant Association and the International Lactation Consultant Association. She was a founding Board Member for Northwest Mothers Milk Bank, a HMBANA non-profit donor milk bank.

Lisa Gonzales, BSN, RN, IBCLC earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Linfield College. She started her nursing career as a Labor and Delivery nurse at a Level III OB hospital in 2006. After having her first baby, Lisa pursued lactation education and became an IBCLC in 2013. She made full career change in 2015 to become a lactation nurse in a high risk maternity and pediatric hospital, providing inpatient and outpatient consults to growing families. She is an active member of the Oregon Washington Lactation Association, the US Lactation Consultant Association and the International Lactation Consultant Association. Lisa currently helps families during in-home visits with her private practice.

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Dominic Wilkinson, Professor, MBBS, DPhil, FRCPCH
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United Kingdom Dominic Wilkinson, Professor, MBBS, DPhil, FRCPCH

Dominic Wilkinson is Director of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medical Ethics at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford. He is a consultant in newborn intensive care at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. He also holds a health practitioner research fellowship with the Wellcome Trust and is a senior research fellow at Jesus College Oxford.

Dominic has published more than 130 academic articles relating to ethical issues in intensive care for adults, children and newborn infants. He is co-author (with Julian Savulescu) of ‘Ethics, Conflict and Medical treatment for children, from disagreement to dissensus’ (Elsevier, 2018). He is also the author of 'Death or Disability? The 'Carmentis Machine' and decision-making for critically ill children' (Oxford University Press 2013) ("the best book of the decade in bioethics... this is a book that must be read by everybody who is seriously interested in the bioethical issues that arise in neonatal intensive care or, more generally, in decision making for children with chronic, debilitating or life-threatening conditions." (John Lantos, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews). He was Editor and Associate Editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics from 2011-2018.


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Misconceptions and Current Research on Vegan Diets and Breastfeeding
Available in: Misconceptions and Current Research on Vegan Diets and Breastfeeding

Pediatrician, neonatology & Clinical Nutrition physician with 19 years’ experience, and IBCLC since 2008. A board member @MILCC. An Associate Alumni, Harvard Medical School & affiliate member @WABA and member @Task force analysis committee@IBLCE.
A volunteer@ILCA (conference committee, equity, study, research and publications and webinar task modules) since 2018 and currently.
A trainer at the Egyptian Board of Pediatrics and a former member committee of the Egyptian Board. In July 2022, she was nominated for USLCA award winner reward, assigned for excellency in breastfeeding medicine. Among USBC Equity champions 2023.
An “IBCLC & ILCA Award Winner” 2021, award to the most effective lactation consultant worldwide. In December 2021, she was selected as one of four leaders responsible for the Technical Assistance @ United States Breastfeeding Committee, responsible for training and technical assistance to the breastfeeding network of the state. She has been selected on 2018 as an expert on the IBLCE® Practice Analysis Task Force. She was nominated as a fellow of ILCA the year 2021. Her current book “The Ultimate Breastfeeding Study Guide” was released in January 2021, a reference book for healthcare professionals interested in Breastfeeding medicine. An international speaker at organizations supporting breastfeeding medicine; TalkTools, ABM, ILCA, iLactation, USLCA, Breastfeeding conferences, Australian Live Events and Appalachian Breastfeeding Network webinar series.

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Duncan Fisher promotes and develops support for parents to advance child health and development. In the last year he has been working with breastfeeding researchers across the world and with the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action to advance the idea of "breastfeeding as teamwork", following striking findings from research of the high gains from engaging with fathers and other family members. In UK he co-founded the Fatherhood Institute and for three years he served on the Board of the Government’s gender equality body, the Equal Opportunities Commission. He manages the website, FamilyIncluded.com, where all recent research on breastfeeding and fathers/families is reported. He initiated and currently manages a website for Cambridge and Princeton Universities reporting research on child welfare and development, ChildandFamilyBlog.com. He was awarded an OBE by the Queen in 2008 for his “services to children”. Duncan lives in Wales and divides his time between family work and work to support sustainable economic development in his home country.

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Pitfalls in Infant Feeding Practices After Starting Solids
Available in: Pitfalls in Infant Feeding Practices After Starting Solids

Dr. Dyah Febriyanti is a medical doctor, an IBCLC, a breastfeeding counselor, and a mother living in Jakarta, Indonesia. She has been working in hospitals since she graduated in 2012. She was facing many struggles to succeed breastfeeding her daughter for two years. She has been an IBCLC since 2017. She works with breastfeeding dyads in a team, called Praborini lactation team, consisting of all lady doctors in outpatient and inpatient care units. Concerning breastfeeding and nutrition in early life, she has published a semi-cookbook about complementary foods for breastfed babies and cooking videos to educate and help mothers feed their babies. She also has been working on scientific writing. She is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, International Lactation Consultant Association, and a trainer of the Indonesian Society of Perinatology.

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