Breastfeeding the Tongue Tied Infant Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

New moms come to Tamara Hawkins for a birthing and breastfeeding plan, but what they get is the permission to abandon beliefs about what the experience should be. What they get is the insight to define their own journeys to and through motherhood—one unpredictably beautiful step at a time. What they get is the confidence to toss the all parenting books aside and to trust their own yes. As the Director of Stork and Cradle, Inc., a passion-fueled prenatal education group specializing in childbirth classes and lactation consultation based in New York City, Tamara brings over twenty years expertise as a Maternity Nurse and Family Nurse Practitioner to deliver classes and programs that blend holistic knowledge and clinical care for mothers and their babies. As instructors and consultants, Tamara and her team offer insight and advice that is data driven, educationally sound, but most importantly, empowerment focused. With Stork and Cradle, women soon realize that their success as moms is not determined by epidurals or pumped ounces, but rather by the power that comes with honing their intuition and simply flowing and flourishing with their babies. An impassioned advocate for birth and breastfeeding equity, she is a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. Her private practice as an IBCLC accepts several private insurances. Learn more about her work at www.storkandcradle.com.

Karese, like many parents, suffered in silence while her children struggled with the symptoms of undiagnosed sleep and breathing issues. One visit to a pediatric dentist changed the trajectory of their lives. Already a Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH), Karese, trained with Sandra Holtzman, Lois Laynee and Sarah Hornsby to establish her orofacial myology knowledge. With this initial training and numerous others, in a few short years she has not only resolved all her children's issues, but helped hundreds of patients, children and adults alike, discover how great life can be functioning on full. Her private practice, The Myo Spot is now a leader in the quest for myofunctional therapy awareness and public education. Her latest published book, Accomplished, delves into how to sleep better, eliminate burnout, and execute goals. Karese's mission is to transform and positively impact as many households as possible through dynamic breath, brain and body work.

Bobby Ghaheri, MD is a board certified ear, nose and throat specialist with The Oregon Clinic in Portland, OR. His interest in treating children with tongue and lip-tie stems from his ardent support of breastfeeding and was furthered by his personal experiences, as his youngest child benefited from treatment for it. He enjoys working with children and has an interest in traditional and non-traditional approaches to pediatric pain control. To communicate with him, feel free to email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @DrGhaheri.

Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in private practice in New York City. Certified in 1992, Catherine is particularly interested in helping moms and babies breastfeed when they have medical challenges and is an active clinical mentor. She speaks to healthcare professionals around the world on assisting breastfeeding babies with anatomical, genetic or neurological problems. Her presentations and her writing are enriched by her clinical photographs and videos. Catherine collaborates with Columbia University and Tel Aviv University Departments of Biomedical Engineering on research projects investigating the biomechanics of the lactating nipple and various aspects of sucking and swallowing in breastfeeding infants. She is the author of Selecting and Using Breastfeeding Tools: Improving Care and Outcomes (Praeclarus Press 2009) and Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants (Jones and Bartlett Learning 2008, 2013, 2017) as well as professional journal articles and chapters in the Core Curriculum for Lactation Consultant Practice and Breastfeeding and Human Lactation. Catherine served as Associate Editor of the United States Lactation Consultant Association’s official journal Clinical Lactation for its first seven years.

Meg is the mother of three breastfed boys and lives with her husband and children in QLD, Australia. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in private practice and works with parents to help them reach their breastfeeding goals. She has a degree in psychology and her prior work was is in counselling and sexual health. She was a La Leche League Leader (breastfeeding counsellor) for seven years before becoming an IBCLC. Meg is the author of two books including, "Boobin' All Day...Boobin' All Night. A Gentle Approach To Sleep For Breastfeeding Families". She has published articles in numerous parenting magazines and websites. She was also filmed for a short documentary, "Lactaboobiephobia", based on one of her blog posts which was released in 2016.

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.

Jenn Bio - International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Birth Doula, Founder and Owner of Feed the Babes, LLC offers in-home and clinic-based, skilled breastfeeding support and birth doula services www.feedthebabes.com. Jennifer also serves as a Michigan Breastfeeding Network (MIBFN) Project Manager and as Co-Founder of the Southeast Michigan IBCLC's of Color. The married mother of two happy, healthy, breastfed children has made it her life mission to disrupt the broken system that plagues the families that are impacted by systemic racism. She's committed to showing up in the community, daily, and, by mentoring aspiring Black IBCLC’s, supporting equipping and empowering future trailblazers to change the world. She is a dual Canadian and American citizen, leader, public speaker, consultant, clinician, advocate, and educator. Collectively as a family, she, her husband and two children enjoy growing their own food, photography, videography and serving their community. They reside in Metro-Detroit, Michigan.

Christine Staricka is a Registered, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant and trained childbirth educator. As the host of The Lactation Training Lab Podcast, her current role focuses on training and coaching current and aspiring lactation care providers. Christine created and developed The First 100 Hours© concept, an early lactation framework designed to support lactation care providers with the knowledge and mindset they need to help families optimize early lactation. Christine worked as a hospital-based IBCLC for 10 years and has over 20 years experience providing clinical lactation care and support. She provides clinical lactation care to families at Baby Café Bakersfield and serves as its Director. Christine recently completed 6 years of service on the Board of the United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA.) She holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Phoenix. She has been married for 27 years, lives in California, and is the proud mother of 3 amazing daughters.

Ellen Chetwynd PhD MPH RN BSN IBCLC is a breastfeeding researcher, lactation consultant, and advocate. Her goal is to provide excellent care that is innovative and effective. Her clinical care is equally informed by, and leads to, her research and collaborations with fellow scientists. She is an advocate of breastfeeding families of all shapes, as well as the providers who care for them. Through her work as Chair of the North Carolina Breastfeeding Coalition she has contributed to the statewide work to provide Medicaid reimbursement in North Carolina, successfully funded a project to support clinics seeking to become breastfeeding friendly and increase access to equitable support of breastfeeding, implemented a statewide breastfeeding summit, and created an interactive statewide resource listing for breastfeeding resources at the county level. In her lactation consulting work, she is sought out by parents and clinicians for her work with difficult cases of pain and dysfunctional infant suck. She is a prolific writer, and her research and publications cover topics including breastfeeding and metabolic health, reimbursement for lactation consulting, LGBTQI+ families, and breastfeeding research methodology. She recently created and co-taught a full day workshop on breastfeeding research methods, and gets fired up about the numbers behind what we do to support families. At Next Level Lactation LLC, she and her partners provide advanced lactation educational opportunities.

Rebecca Russo Hill, PhD, DNP, RN, FNP-C earned her BSN from the University of Rhode Island in 2006, her MSN and post-master’s certificate in nursing education from Duke University in 2010, her DNP from Duke University in 2013 and her PhD in Nursing from Boston College in 2021. Rebecca is a family nurse practitioner and certified as a lactation counselor and nurse educator. She is the current program director of prelicensure nursing programs at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, MA. Rebecca’s dissertation research focused on symptoms of problematic feeding in infants with tongue-tie. She will collaborate with other health profession disciplines to advance the state of the science surrounding infant feeding, tongue-tie, and frenotomy. Her dissertation research has provided the foundation for a lifelong program of research to improve health care for mothers and their children. She is currently studying the effects of frenotomy on non-nutritive sucking mechanics.

Rebecca is an active member of several professional organizations including the American Nurses Association (ANA), American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the National League for Nursing (NLN) and Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI). Rebecca resides in Massachusetts, raising three children alongside her husband Jonathan.