Lactation & Breastfeeding Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

Jeanette Mesite Frem, MHS, IBCLC, RLC, CCE is an experienced childbirth educator, IBCLC-lactation consultant and retired birth doula. She started her career working with families while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa in the early 90s. She loved that work so much she went on to receive a public health masters degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, focusing her studies on nutrition for maternal and child health. Her two children were breastfed for more than 2 years each and Jeanette has experience pumping at work for both children and has supported more than a thousand families with feeding and pumping over the last 20 years.

Jeanette provides prenatal childbirth and breastfeeding classes at her office in Northborough, Massachusetts, as well as providing virtual and office feeding consultations. She also enjoys leading workshops for perinatal health professionals and mentoring those who work with families. If you have questions, feel free to email [email protected].

Dr Aruna Savur lives and works in Bengaluru, India as a pediatrician, IBCLC and certified infant massage instructor in private practice. She graduated MBBS from Mysore Medical College and Research Institute in 1990. She certified the Diplomate National Board exam in Pediatrics in 1997 from Father Muller's Medical College, Mangalore. She subsequently worked in private pediatric practice. In 2015 she trained in Neonatal Intensive Care from Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru. In 2018 she qualified as an IBCLC. In 2020 she certified from IAIM ( International Association of Infant Massage) as a infant massage instructor. She worked in various hospitals in Bengaluru as a pediatrician and IBCLC. She has been working on educating herself by delving deeper into various lactation education certifications. She is currently training in craniosacral therapy for babies.

Mihaela Nita- MD, IBCLC, medical doctor (since 2007), specialized in pediatrics and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (since 2011), worked mainly to develop the profession of IBCLC in Romania. Organizer of the first IBCLC Day in Romania, is the co-founder and president of Romanian Lactation Consultant Association, member of ELACTA. Active in the field of lactation, organizing conferences, events, support groups, 90 hours training courses, CERPs accredited courses, fundraising events. On behalf of the Romanian Lactation Consultant Association, Mihaela Nita started the first volunteer work in the country, in the NICU of Marie Curie Emergency Children Hospital in Bucharest that led to the idea of implementing a human milk bank. Mihaela is passionate about training, advocating for the IBCLCs role and making a change for mothers, society and medical system in the field of lactation.

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.

After studying biology at Meredith College in North Carolina, Nicola Singletary, PhD, MAT, IBCLC spent the early part of her career sharing her love of science with middle school students. It was not until after the birth of her first child in 2007 and the challenges she faced breastfeeding that she became interested in pursuing a career in breastfeeding support. She enrolled at North Carolina State University to study human nutrition and completed the Mary Rose Tully Training Initiative through the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute at UNC Chapel Hill in 2012. In the fall of 2013, she opened Harmony Lactation, LLC with the goal of helping mothers meet their breastfeeding goals. She recently completed her PhD in Nutrition and is a postdoctoral researcher at NCSU; her research focuses on breastfeeding education. She is also co-owner of Next Level Lactation, an educational and consulting company for lactation professionals.

In her employed life Wendy was a community pharmacist and also worked in doctor surgeries supporting cost effective, evidence-based prescribing.
Wendy left paid work to concentrate on writing Breastfeeding and Medication (Routledge 2nd edition 2018), developing information and training material on drugs in breastmilk as well as setting up her own website www.breastfeeding-and-medication. She has also published Breastfeeding for Dads and Grandmas (Praeclarus Press) and Why Mothers Medication Matters (Pinter and Martin). She is also co editor of a book to be published January 2020 called A guide to breastfeeding for medical professionals (Routledge).

Wendy is known for her work on providing a service on the compatibility of drugs in breastmilk and has been a breastfeeding peer supporter for 30 years. She is passionate that breastfeeding should be valued by all and that medication should not be a barrier. She has 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren. All her family seem as passionate about breastfeeding as she is and currently all 3 of her daughters are breastfeeding.
She was awarded a Points of Light award by the Prime Minister in 2018 and nominated for an MBE in the New Year's Honours List 2018 for services to mothers and babies. She received her award at Windsor Castle in May 2019 from Her Majesty the Queen.

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.

Naomi Bar-Yam, PhD, ACSW, has been working in maternal and child health for over 30 years as an educator, researcher, advocate, and writer. She is the immediate past president of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) and the founding director of Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, which provides safe donor milk to hospitals and families throughout the northeastern US. An expert on access to perinatal health care and policies that support breastfeeding, she has been a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control (on a panel that created “The CDC Guide to Breastfeeding Interventions”), to the United States Breastfeeding Committee (developing an issue paper addressed to CEOs and legislators on breastfeeding and the workplace), and to the March of Dimes (developing educational material for women and families who are medically and socially vulnerable to high-risk pregnancy). She also developed a curriculum for hospital personnel about combining breastfeeding with their work. She reviews articles submitted to the Journal of Human Lactation, Breastfeeding Medicine, and other publications related to breastfeeding, milk banking, and access to perinatal child care. As Executive Director of Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, she is thoroughly versed in the technical, procedural, and ethical aspects of milk banking. She often speaks at professional conferences, hospital staff trainings, and grand rounds about milk banking and breastfeeding policies.

Dr. Amal Omer-Salim is the Executive Director of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA). She is a nutritionist with a Ph.D. from Uppsala University, Sweden. Her areas of expertise are nutrition, breastfeeding, international health, gender, programme planning, research, and advocacy, with a special focus on Africa and Asia.

Bianca Balassiano has been working with families in private practice since 2008 as an IBCLC and perinatal psychologist/maternal-child health specialist. As a natural consequence of her professional background, has supported breastfeeding families into achieving individual goals while maintaining mental health and stimulating a holistic look towards the subject. Since 2014 is also working as an educator for healthcare professionals in one of the most recognized breastfeeding courses in Brazil, currently offering virtual classes and all over the country. Lives with husband and two children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2020, she launched her first book aimed at families with the title "Gradual Weaning: How to Bring Your Breastfeeding Story to a Happy End".