Medications & Herbs Online Course(s) & Continuing Education
Access the latest clinical skills and research for Medications & Herbs for Lactation & Breastfeeding professional training. These Medications & Herbs online courses provide practice-changing skills and valuable perspectives from leading global experts. This Medications & Herbs education has been accredited for a variety of CEUs / CERPs and can be accessed on-demand, at your own pace.


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.
Antibiotics were first prescribed in the last 1930’s and revolutionized the treatment of infections. Today, antibiotics are commonly used before, during and after birth to treat or prevent infection in mothers and babies. Although antibiotics can be highly effective, they can also cause adverse effects in mother and baby. When given to women around the time of birth, or to infants soon after birth, antibiotics may change the baby’s gut flora, and may interfere with the baby’s developing immune system. Globally, antibiotic resistance is rising, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. This presentation will review the current use of antibiotics for the treatment or prevention of infections in mothers and infants in hospital birth settings. We will discuss the benefits, risks, and alternatives to antibiotic use, and how these practices impact breastfeeding mothers and infants.

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An Evidence-Based Guide to Using Domperidone as a Galactagogue

Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak is a clinical pharmacist and Practitioner Fellow in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Australia. He is passionate about improving health outcomes for mothers and babies through the development and promotion of more effective and safer approaches towards medicines use. Luke has been undertaken research involving the use of domperidone for 10-years. He is currently the lead investigator on a number of projects examining the use of domperidone to increase breast milk supply in clinical practice, predictors of treatment response to domperidone, and causes of low breast milk supply. He is also the lead investigator on a large clinical trial comparing the effects of different doses of domperidone in the treatment of lactation insufficiency. He has published widely on the topic of treatment for low breast milk supply, with many of these publications cited in clinical practice guidelines locally and internationally.

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Beyond Fenugreek: An Individualized Approach to Dietary and Herbal Galactagogues

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.
Topic: Beyond Fenugreek: An Individualized Approach to Dietary and Herbal Galactagogues - [View Abstract]
Topic: Beyond the Basics of Latch: Support Strategies for Helping Babies when the Basics Aren’t Enough - [View Abstract]
Topic: Common Infant Digestive Health Concerns and Useful Support Strategies - [View Abstract]
Topic: Connection and Care: Virtual Support for Tongue-Tied Infants - [View Abstract]
Topic: Feeding is Movement: Activities for Supporting Optimal Infant Oral Function - [View Abstract]
Topic: Infant Gut Health: Common Concerns and Useful Support Strategies - [View Abstract]
Topic: Infant Oral Assessment: Exploring Anatomy and Function Beyond the Frenulum - [View Abstract]
Topic: Low Milk Production Detective Work: Assessment and Care Plan Considerations - [View Abstract]
Topic: New Thoughts on Infant Pre and Post-Frenotomy Care - [View Abstract]
Topic: Placenta Medicine as a Galactogogue: Tradition or Trend? - [View Abstract]
Topic: Thinking Critically About the Use of Clinical Lactation Tools - [View Abstract]
Topic: Will It Hurt? Frenotomy Aftercare Strategies to Optimize Healing Outcomes for the Newborn - [View Abstract]
While some clinicians might roll their eyes when ‘lactation cookies’ are mentioned we know foods and herbs have long been used to nourish the postpartum parent and enhance lactation. Some topics this talk aims to cover: Does nourishment matter when it comes to breastmilk quality or quantity? How can we approach galactogogues for lactating mothers in an individualized way? How can clinicians evaluate evidence and determine safety regarding galactogogues? We know that parent coping with milk supply concerns are often desperate to ‘try anything’. Clinicians have an important role in helping families understand the risks and benefits of galactogogues. By helping parents identify resources and information around foods and herbs, we can help empower them to make informed choices.


Katrien Nauwelaerts graduated as a prehistoric archaeologist in 2005. She's the mother of three breastfed children and the administrator of the Dutch breastfeeding-website Borstvoeding Aardig, https://borstvoeding.aardig.be. Katrien worked as a volunteer breastfeeding-counsellor, provincial coordinator and training manager for the Belgian breastfeeding organisation Borstvoeding vzw between 2010-2014. Up tot 2018 she was the founder and president of Aardig Leven vzw, a non profit ecological organisation. In 2013 she became an IBCLC. Since 2013 she's working as a lactation consultant at her own private practice Borstvoeding Aardig. She became a nutritionist and a herborist in 2014. Katrien shares her experiences and knowledge on lactation consulting as a public speaker since 2014.
Topic: Breastfeeding and The Use Of Herbs - [View Abstract]
Topic: Young Mothers and Breastfeeding in Belgium - [View Abstract]
The medical use of herbs is as old as mankind. In this lecture IBCLC and herborist Katrien Nauwelaerts explains the difference between the regular medical approach of breastfeeding problems and the more holistic solutions used in phytotherapy. Katrien Nauwelaerts explains how the use of herbs can support and sometimes even replace the more traditional clinical treatment of breastfeeding problems such as postpartum depression, low milk supply, oversupply, engorgement, breast infection, plugged ducts, mastitis, candidiasis, thrush, and Raynaud Syndrome etc.

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Amy Holmes has practiced as a pharmacist for 21 years with the last 9 years being focused in neonatal critical care at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC. She holds degrees in pharmacy from University of North Carolina (BS) as well as the University of Maryland at Baltimore (PharmD). Amy serves as the Residency Program Director for the acute care PGY1 program at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center. She is active in state and national pharmacy organizations including the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (PPAG) and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).
Topic: Updates in Pharmacotherapy for NAS - [View Abstract]
Maternal milk offers many benefits to both mother and baby; however, breastfeeding is often stopped unnecessarily due to uncertainty or fear regarding potential safety issues with medication use in lactation. This presentation will provide information that will assist health care professionals in optimizing resources to make sound decisions regarding medication safety during lactation. There will be discussion on the pharmacologic properties associated with passage of medications into maternal milk including discussion of specific medication examples. We will discuss resources available that provide the most thorough and up to date information on medication use in lactation. Finally, we will discuss the use of galactogogues to augment breast milk production.


Philip O. Anderson, Pharm.D., FCSHP, FASHP is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Pharmacy at the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences where he heads the course on drug information.
Dr. Anderson has lectured and published extensively on drug use during breastfeeding including in professional journals and textbooks, including original research on drug excretion into breastmilk. Dr. Anderson founded the LactMed® database, which is part of the National Library of Medicine’s Bookshelf. He continues to write LactMed® records and to expand the database. He has authored the medication appendix to the popular handbook, The Nursing Mothers' Companion. Dr. Anderson is the Pharmacology Editor of the professional journal, Breastfeeding Medicine, and writes a monthly column on medication use during breastfeeding for the journal. He has also been a consultant to the US Food and Drug Administration on the topic of drug labeling with respect to use during lactation.
Many mothers do not breastfeed their infants, discontinue breastfeeding or fail to take medications while they are breastfeeding. The principles of drug passage into breast milk are well established, although not well known by many health professionals. This presentation will review the principles of drug passage into breast milk, medications and factors that can cause a risk for adverse reactions in breastfed infants and discuss how to choose the most appropriate medications for mothers who are breastfeeding their infants.

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Medications and Mothers' Minds: Psychopharmacology for Lactating Mothers

Marie Zahorick, MS, APRN, FNP-C, IBCLC became a La Leche League Leader in 1999 and an IBCLC in 2005. After several years of working as a hospital-based bilingual Spanish-speaking IBCLC, she attended nursing school and eventually became a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner. In the meantime, she continued working as a hospital-based lactation consultant doing inpatient, outpatient, and Level III NICU lactation. She did not get much sleep.
After graduate school, Marie was recruited to work as a nurse practitioner in psychiatry. She was fellowship-trained to manage patients in the acute inpatient setting, partial hospitalization, outpatient office, and OB patients in the general hospital setting.
She specializes in women’s psychiatry, especially medical management of women who are pregnant or lactating. Her expertise also includes general psychopharmacology. She is experienced at diagnosing and treating mental conditions such as bipolar disorder, perinatal/postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, postpartum psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, premenstrual and perimenopausal mood disorders, and personality disorders.
She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and three adult children in the transient stage of life. Her children all breastfed for at least two years but now just make faces when confronted with that fact.
If you have worked with mothers for more than a few weeks, you have encountered a mother with mental illness. You may not have recognized the symptoms while talking with your patient. Or, you may wonder if a certain psychiatric medication is “safe” during lactation.
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMAD) include a spectrum of common mental health disorders: depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and postpartum psychosis.
These disorders often ruin enjoyment of the postpartum experience and bonding with the baby. Perinatal bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis are particularly dangerous due to severe depression and reckless or bizarre behavior that can endanger mother and baby.
Medicating the lactating mother is a careful balancing act between the health and safety of the mother and the health and safety of the baby. But failing to medicate a mother with PMAD can lead to misery, dysfunction, poor infant outcomes and in the worst situations, injury and death.
This presentation will give an overview of the different classes of antidepressants, antianxiety medications, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers commonly used in breastfeeding mothers. Electroconvulsive therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation will also be discussed as non-pharmacologic treatments.

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