GOLD Learning Speakers
Alyssa Schnell, MS, IBCLC
- Speaker Type: Main Presentations, GOLD Lactation 2014, Tools of the Lactation Trade Lecture Pack, GOLD Lactation 2021, , GOLD Lactation 2023, GOLD Learning Day 2024 (Winter)
- Country: United States
Biography:
Alyssa has been helping parents and babies with breastfeeding since 2002, first as a La Leche League Leader and since 2009 as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.
Alyssa works in private practice serving clients worldwide, primarily through telehealth. She is the author of Breastfeeding Without Birthing: A Breastfeeding Guide for Mothers Through Adoption, Surrogacy, and Other Special Circumstances and a professional supplement to the book, The Breastfeeding Without Birthing Professional Pack online training.
Alyssa has authored articles for The Journal of Human Lactation: The Three Step Framework for Inducing Lactation and Successful Co-Lactation by a Queer Couple: A Case Study. She has also authored articles for La Leche League’s Leader Today and Breastfeeding Today magazines, and Adoptive Families magazine. She is an international speaker on the topics of inducing lactation, relactation, and other related topics. Alyssa is the proud mother of three breastfed children, two by birth and one by adoption. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
CE Library Presentation(s) Available Online:
This Presentation is Currently Offline
Breastfeeding Without Birthing: Breastfeeding for Mothers Through Adoption, Surrogacy, or Foster Care
Breastfeeding is important for all mothers and babies, even when (and possibly especially when) the baby arrives from another mother’s womb. Increasingly, mothers through adoption, surrogacy, and foster care are interested in nursing their babies. By providing support and helpful information, lactation professionals can play a key role in breastfeeding success for these special dyads. Breastfeeding without birthing mothers may need help latching their babies and/or inducing lactation. Specific tools for latching and protocols for inducing lactation will be presented. Many of these mothers will also need support in supplementing their milk production. Adoptive, intended, and foster mothers can successfully nurse their babies with good support and by approaching breastfeeding based on their own individual values and circumstances.
Hours / CE Credits: 1 (details) | Categories:
(IBCLC) Education and Communication, (IBCLC) Equipment and Technology, (IBCLC) Physiology and Endocrinology, Induced Lactation & Relactation
This Presentation is Currently Offline
Breastfeeding Without Birthing: Breastfeeding for Mothers Through Adoption, Surrogacy, or Foster Care
Breastfeeding is important for all mothers and babies, even when (and possibly especially when) the baby arrives from another mother’s womb. Increasingly, mothers through adoption, surrogacy, and foster care are interested in nursing their babies. By providing support and helpful information, lactation professionals can play a key role in breastfeeding success for these special dyads. Breastfeeding without birthing mothers may need help latching their babies and/or inducing lactation. Specific tools for latching and protocols for inducing lactation will be presented. Many of these mothers will also need support in supplementing their milk production. Adoptive, intended, and foster mothers can successfully nurse their babies with good support and by approaching breastfeeding based on their own individual values and circumstances.
Hours / CE Credits: 1 (details) | Categories:
(IBCLC) Education and Communication, (IBCLC) Equipment and Technology, (IBCLC) Physiology and Endocrinology, Induced Lactation & Relactation
The Proficient Pumper
Many breastfeeding parents rely on a breast pump to help provide milk for their babies when they are separated or not feeding directly from the breast for other reasons. Others will use a breast pump to bring in or grow their milk production. Some of these parents may find pumping uncomfortable. Many others have difficulty expressing enough milk to meet their babies’ needs. There are also those who produce an overabundance of milk while pumping. This session addresses all of these parents by providing ideas for making pumping as effective, efficient, and comfortable as possible.
Presentations:
6 | Hours / CE Credits: 6
| Viewing Time: 4 Weeks
Presentations:
1 | Hours / CE Credits: 1
| Viewing Time: 2 Weeks
Hours / CE Credits: 1 (details) | Categories:
(IBCLC) Education and Communication, Pumping & Milk Expression
ReLATCHtation: Transitioning the Exclusively Bottle-fed Baby to Nursing
Newborn babies are hardwired for breastfeeding: their newborn instincts direct them to latching at the breast/chest. But what about older babies who are currently exclusively bottle-feeding – can they learn to nurse too? A birthing parent may wish to initiate or resume breastfeeding after choosing not to breastfeed or discontinuing breastfeeding. An adoptive or foster parent may be placed with an older baby or toddler whom they wish to nurse. With patience, persistence, support, and some tools and tricks, it can be possible. This presentation discusses how to know if baby is ready to breastfeed, setting the stage for success, and the process of gentle transitioning from bottle to breast/chest.
Presentations:
29 | Hours / CE Credits: 29.5
| Viewing Time: 8 Weeks
Presentations:
5 | Hours / CE Credits: 5
| Viewing Time: 6 Weeks
Presentations:
1 | Hours / CE Credits: 1.25
| Viewing Time: 2 Weeks
Presentations:
74 | Hours / CE Credits: 75
| Viewing Time: 52 Weeks
Hours / CE Credits: 1 (details) | Categories:
(IBCLC) Physiology and Endocrinology, Induced Lactation & Relactation
Supplementation: A Goldilocks Dilemma
Too much supplementation means baby is getting less of the parent’s own milk, and eventually, there is less milk production for the parent. Too little supplementation means baby is not fed enough. So how do we find that juuuuust right amount? Or determine whether supplementation is really necessary? When it is necessary, how do we supplement in a way that preserves long-term breastfeeding outcomes? This presentation can serve a guide for if, when, how and how much to supplement direct breastfeeding with additional human milk or infant formula.
Presentations:
28 | Hours / CE Credits: 29.5
| Viewing Time: 8 Weeks
Presentations:
1 | Hours / CE Credits: 1
| Viewing Time: 2 Weeks
Presentations:
74 | Hours / CE Credits: 75
| Viewing Time: 52 Weeks
Hours / CE Credits: 1 (details) | Categories:
(IBCLC) Techniques, Supplementation & Artificial Breast Milk
Demystifying Inducing Lactation: How Lactation Happens Without Pregnancy and Birth
Inducing lactation may seem like milk-making magic. How can the breasts make milk without the hormones of pregnancy followed by the hormonal shift that happens with birth? We can use what is already well known about the endocrinology of lactation in general to understand how lactation happens in this very special circumstance. Parents inducing lactation may also present with more diverse hormonal profiles -- think PCOS, post-menopause, trans woman, or intersex – and all these extraordinary parents can be supported with a flexible and customizable plan to make milk. The human body is amazingly adaptable, which is so clear when a person is lactating without gestating!
Presentations:
3 | Hours / CE Credits: 3
| Viewing Time: 6 Weeks
Hours / CE Credits: 1 (details) | Categories:
(IBCLC) Physiology and Endocrinology, Induced Lactation & Relactation
