IBCLC Detailed Content Outline: Techniques Focused CERPs - Section VI

Mariana Colmenares Castano was born in Mexico City, and from an early age she was fascinated by animals and nature.She studied medicine at the National University of Mexico (UNAM), and foundher passion as a pediatrician doing her residency at the National Pediatric Institute. When her first child was born she witnessed the lack of knowledge and commitment to breastfeeding within the medical profession, and so she decided to specialize in breastfeeding medicine. She certified as a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in 2011.Mariana is a member of the International Lactation Consultant Association, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and a proud founding member of the National Lactation Consultant Association of Mexico (ACCLAM), where she served on the Board of Directors as Education Coordinator (2014-2019). She is part of board director for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine for a 3 year period (2019-2022) and recently named as secretary for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. Mariana is a member of the team for Breastfeeding Country Index BFCI, a project from Yale University and Universidad Iberoamericana. She is consultant for the National Health Institute in Mexico and has collaborated with UNICEF in breastfeeding projects and part of the steering committee for the WHO. She has spoken at national and international conferences, co-published numerous articles and co-authored a chapter for the National Academy of Medicine. At the moment she is a Clinical Fellow in Community Paediatrics in London.

Melissa Cole is a board-certified lactation consultant, neonatal oral-motor assessment professional and clinical herbalist in private practice. Melissa is passionate about providing comprehensive, holistic lactation support and improving the level of clinical lactation skills for health professional. She enjoys teaching, researching and writing about wellness and lactation-related topics. Her bachelor’s degree is in maternal/child health and lactation and her master’s degree is in therapeutic herbalism. Before pursuing her current path, Melissa’s background was in education and cultural arts, which has served her well in her work as a lactation consultant and healthcare educator. She loves living, working and playing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her 3 children.

Janiya Mitnaul Williams, MA, IBCLC, RLC, CLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Registered Lactation Consultant, and Certified Lactation Counselor who has been supporting nursing families since 2007. She holds degrees from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Union Institute and University in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Health & Wellness with a concentration in Human Lactation respectively.

Janiya is the Program Director of the Pathway 2 Human Lactation Training Program at N.C. A&T SU (NCAT P2P). She also works for the Women’s and Children’s Center at Cone Health as the Co-Coordinator for Doula Services. In 2015 she created Mahogany Milk Support Group in order to promote, encourage, and normalize nursing for Black and Brown families. That same year, Janiya also became the first person of color and Non-Registered Nurse to be hired as a Lactation Consultant for Cone Health’s hospital system.

She is most passionate about creating diversity, equity, and inclusion within the field of Lactation in order to promote better health outcomes for Black and Brown, marginalized, and underprivileged families because they have the greatest lactation barriers to overcome.

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.

Shel works part time for the NHS in northwest England, and has four adolescents.

In addition to this, she runs a small private IBCLC practice specialising in the unsettled baby, those with faltering weight and those who are formula fed, and also holds a variety of consultant and trustee roles in various national and international organisations for advocacy and education around infant feeding; these include being Clinical Director for the breastfeeding support app AnyaHealth, being co-chair of Nursing Matters, an advocacy organisation for the breastfed infant, and being vice-chair of the UK Association for Milk Banking.

Shel has been on the development committee for 3 NICE guidelines including one on Faltering Growth, has co-authored 3 Cochrane systematic reviews, and written a book “Why Infant Formula Feeding Matters” (2022). In 2021 Shel began work towards a PhD in further understanding how best to support families with unsettled babies in universal services, which she conducts part time alongside her other commitments.

She teaches in person and online, both in her NHS role and in the consultant roles, and thoroughly enjoys sharing the knowledge she has acquired to improve the experience of families everywhere.

Mary Ryngaert is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner since 1987 and an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant since 2000. She received her MSN in the Primary Care of Children at Catholic University in Washington, DC. In her clinic at the University of Florida, she sees families for breastfeeding issues for the duration of the breastfeeding journey and provides education for pediatric residents. She is active in the local breastfeeding coalition and serves as a consultant/coordinator for the hospital Baby Friendly program. She has a special interest in supporting the development of peer counselors, especially women of color, to provide breastfeeding support within the community. She served as the Chair for the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) Breastfeeding Special Interest Group for six years and is a delegate to the US Breastfeeding Committee for NAPNAP . She was a co-author for the 2018 update to the NAPNAP Position Statement on Breastfeeding.

Jada Wright Nichols is an Atlanta-based women’s wellness consultant. She graduated from Tennessee State University, with a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology. She has a master’s degree in occupational therapy and has worked in a variety of rehabilitation settings, across the life-span.

Additionally, she is a massage therapist, lymphedema therapist, holistic nutritionist, birth and postpartum doula, yoga instructor, and international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). She is a lactation consultant at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the owner of Blossom Health and Maternal Wellness, and Bloom Early Intervention, which provide in-home and virtual services for new and expectant families, as they navigate various aspects of parenting, access, and equity.

Amber Valentine is a Speech-Language Pathologist who graduated from the University of Kentucky with her MS in Communication Disorders. She is a Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She worked for Baptist Health Systems, Inc for 8 years before moving to Florida where she worked for Wolfsons Children’s Hospital and Mayo Florida. She is now back in Kentucky working for Baptist Health Lexington. She has experience in adults and pediatrics with feeding and swallowing difficulties including: bedside swallow evaluations, Modified Barium Swallow studies, FEES, and pediatric feeding evaluations including NICU. She has provided guest lectures for the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville on feeding and swallowing topics. She has presented at the hospital level, local, state, national, and international levels on pediatric feeding/swallowing and breastfeeding.

Lillian Scott is a speech-language pathologist and certified lactation counselor employed by Baptist Health Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky. She received master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Gallaudet University. She received dual bachelor degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Special Education from the University of Kentucky. She has worked with pediatrics and adults in the areas of speech, language, and swallowing. She has NICU, Mother/baby, and outpatient clinical experience working with feeding dyads of breast and bottle feeding infants. In the area of adults and pediatrics, she has experience with clinical swallowing evaluations and Modified Barium Swallow Studies. She has experience with adult Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluations of swallowing (FEES). Her interest is in successful feeding by mouth for infants with complex medical histories and promoting breastfeeding in cultures that are not likely to receive the supports for feeding difficulties due to knowledge, costs, and/or access.

Carmela is a family medicine MD, bachelor´s degree in Public Health Education, and IBCLC since 2005. She is also a BFHI Evaluator and the co founder and past president of the Spanish Lactation Consultant Association (AECCLM). She works in a private Family Wellness Clinic, Raices, as person in charge of the lactation program, which includes two IBCLCs attending breastfeeding families and an extensive offer of breastfeeding training for health care professionals and breastfeeding peer counsellors. The team has trained over three thousand doctors, midwives and nurses from both the Spanish National Health Service and the private sector in Spain. She is a frequent lecturer at national conferences, and has also lectured internationally, both on-site and online. She is the author of several scientific papers on breast pain, mastitis and tongue tie. She is also the author of a breastfeeding/parenting book, “Amar con los Brazos Abiertos” (To Love with Open Arms). She is married to Carlos and they homeschool their four children.

Carlos González was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1960. He is married and is the father of three children. In 1983 he graduated in medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and between 1984 and 1987 he studied pediatrics at the Hospital of Sant Joan de Déu in that city.
He is founder and president of ACPAM (Catalan Association for Breastfeeding) since 1991. Since this association he has directed and taught in more than 100 courses on breastfeeding for health professionals. He is the author of several books, including My child won’t eat, Kiss me!, and Breastfeeding made easy. He has lectured for professionals or general public in Germany, Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Spain, United States, France, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, United Kingdom, Dominican Republic, Russia, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Since 1994, he has been a regular contributor to Ser Padres magazine , where he attends a nursing and child feeding office. He has also collaborated with other publications, such as the magazine Tu Baby, Mente Sana, Lecturas, the disappeared Solaica and the newspaper in Catalan Ara.