IBCLC / Lactation Consultants Online Course(s) & Continuing Education
Access the latest clinical skills and research for IBCLC/Lactation Consultants for Tongue-tie, Lip Tie & Structure professional training. These IBCLC/Lactation Consultants online courses provide practice-changing skills and valuable perspectives from leading global experts. This IBCLC/Lactation Consultants education has been accredited for a variety of CEUs / CERPs and can be accessed on-demand, at your own pace.
Talking to Babies: Basic Communication Skills for Lactating Parents and Healthcare Specialists
Dr. Smaranda Nay is a Family Doctor, an IBCLC, a Personal Development Counselor and a mother. She has been studying Transactional Analysis psychotherapy since 2007 and is now in her second year of training to become a Somatic Experience therapist. She uses her knowledge to teach parents how to connect with their children and how to attune to their babies’ needs, both through individual counselling sessions and in classes. She is part of the Romanian Lactation Consultants Association and holds lactation education courses for future IBCLCs. She gives lactation counselling consults and holds breastfeeding and childcare courses.
She also holds personal development workshops for teenagers and adults, collaborating with non-formal education organizations and schools. She is particularly curious about the development of an attuned relationship between people and building intimacy and trust. Working with babies, she observes the parent-child connection and explores its potential in healing and growth, and how it impacts the future development of the individual. Working with teenagers and adults, she facilitates ways in which childhood disruptions can be healed in the present.
This is a presentation on how explaining things to babies of all ages, including newborns, can help solve difficult moments during lactation in the parent-baby relationship and lead to healthy parenting. Communication blocks happen frequently due to changes, events, and anxiety, and sometimes they can interfere with breastfeeding/chestfeeding. At least some of these blocks can be solved by communicating with the baby in an open, compassionate, and respectful way.
Lactation and healthcare professionals will learn how to approach such situations, what questions to ask and what suggestions to make to parents so they and their babies can overcome the situation. Lactation and healthcare professionals will also learn about different cases that I have encountered, how the method was applied and what were the results.
I deeply believe that the way we talk to babies, communicate with them and how we teach parents to do that is an essential part of our work. On the long term, it can make an important difference to how those babies are treated, respected, parented, educated, and raised and what kind of adults they will become.
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Shondra Mattos is an IBCLC, Entrepreneur & Speaker who delivers progressive, up-to-date lectures that challenge the current standard of Lactation Care. She is widely regarded as the go-to source for those looking for clear, understandable clinical knowledge.
In 2018, Shondra rebranded her lactation practice Mattos Lactation and provided location-independent lactation support to families across the country. In 2020 she founded Lactnerd LLC with the focus of helping healthcare providers gain knowledge while conquering the intimidation of learning the complex science of Lactation.
Through her companies- Lactnerd & Mattos Lactation - she provides tools, resources, education & mentoring to aspiring and established lactation professionals across the USA.
This presentation will cover skills & strategies of conducting assessments of oral dysfunction in a telehealth setting, a situation many Lactation providers were thrusted into due to Covid-19. Through real life examples of processes & strategies I use in my location-independent practice which specializes in oral dysfunction, the learner will gain practical insight to improve the quality of the virtual lactation visits they provide.
The IBCLC as Expert Witness: Role, Strategies, and Resources
Cynthia Good, MS Clinical Psychology, is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Clinical Counselor, author, consultant, and internationally recognized speaker. She is the Director of LifeCircle Consulting, LLC and is Certified in Acute Traumatic Stress Management. She is based in the Seattle, Washington, USA area, where she formerly served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University where she taught counseling skills and is a therapist at Sandbox Therapy Group where she works with children, adults, and families. Cynthia has a strong interest in the emerging field of lactational psychology. She brings the evidence and insights of psychology and lactation consulting to her presentations, providing information and teaching skills that are essential to understanding and effectively responding to the complex psychosocial realities of families living in diverse contexts. The focus of her presentations includes communication skills and counseling techniques for perinatal care providers; equity, diversity, and inclusion; infant feeding rhetoric; perinatal mental health; perinatal loss, grief, and trauma; ethics; serving as an expert witness in lactation-related court cases; cultural competence and humility; vitamin D; and more.
Topic: Cultural Competence or Cultural Humility? A Roadmap for Lactation Specialists - [View Abstract]
Topic: Heartbroken: Loss and Grief in the Perinatal Time Period - [View Abstract]
Topic: It Wasn’t Supposed to be Like This: Traumatic Birth, Traumatic Stress, and Breastfeeding - [View Abstract]
Topic: My Brain is Doing What? Bias, Ethics, and the Lactation Specialist - [View Abstract]
Topic: Perinatal Mental Health Screening: A Primer for Lactation Specialists - [View Abstract]
Topic: The IBCLC as Expert Witness: Role, Strategies, and Resources - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Rug Pulled Out from Underneath Me: Depression During Pregnancy and After Birth - [View Abstract]
Topic: Unpacking the Invisible Diaper Bag of White Privilege: An Overview of Racial Inequities in Breastfeeding Support - [View Abstract]
Topic: We’re Human, Too: Hidden Dynamics in Our Communication with Clients - [View Abstract]
In many countries, expert witnesses serve the role of educating triers of fact on issues that are typically outside the experience and knowledge of lay people or professionals who do not have the needed expertise. IBCLCs can serve as expert witnesses in legal proceedings related to situations that involve lactation (e.g., divorce, custody, and visitation; protecting lactation in the work place). Serving well in this role requires a clear understanding of the strengths and constraints inherent in the IBCLC’s scope of practice, using strategies that can make an expert witness more effective, and knowing how to find relevant resources. This session provides IBCLCs with introductory information that will 1) help them make a more informed decision about becoming an expert witness and 2) allow them to perform more effectively and confidently in that role.
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Paulina Erices is the mother of three multicultural Latino children and Project Director for Lifespan Local. Paulina earned her BS in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University, a MS in Organizational leadership from the University of Denver and is completing her PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado - Denver. Paulina has over 18 years of experience working with families with young children. As a Maternal Child Health specialist for Jefferson County Public Health, she developed a NICU follow-up home visitation program and the pediatric emergency preparedness plan, co-founded and coordinated the Conectando Network (former Adelante Jeffco), established community navigation and lactation support groups focused on the Latino Spanish speaking community, and lead other initiatives to support leadership and partnerships among communities and organizations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she managed the new program Whole Community Inclusion to ensure the pandemic response and recovery implementation included health equity practices that recognize the needs and the strengths of priority populations in the county. Her areas of current work include promoting perinatal and infant mental health along the continuum of care; building community capacity to navigate health and education systems; facilitating organizational change to embrace linguistic and culturally responsive practices; and establishing community-placed participatory programs to strengthen communities. She likes to be with people, learn from and with others, and connect passions for meaningful work.
In 2014, Ghanaian-American mother and photographer, Vanessa Simmons authored the Normalize Breastfeeding™ movement to address the taboo of public breastfeeding in modern society. Her mission was to document diverse variations of normal infant feeding, across cultures and delivery methods of human milk.
Through Simmons' viral blog, her photographic speaking tour, philanthropy, and artistic inspiration; she mobilized and motivated thousands of women to share their breastfeeding photos on social media. After a very successful first year, she reached out to the Mayor of San Diego to proclaim June 27th the International Day to Normalize Breastfeeding, in support of the worldwide anniversary event!
Lactation educator and activist, Vanessa Simmons, is now speaking out at conferences and events across the country to eliminate general miseducation around the topic. On the Normalize Breastfeeding podcast, she interviews guests about experiences, advocacy, and activism within the infant feeding community worldwide.
As a public speaker, Simmons is focused on transforming the modern mindset around the natural, yet difficult task of breastfeeding. Vanessa trains lactation professionals to better understand and connect with millennial families online. She creatively motivates and inspires families to be mindful that this is a time to be cherished, and although fleeting, it is also a time to reinvent what will be acceptable for feeding generations of the future.
Simmons is an aspiring author and resides with her supportive husband and three children in San Diego, CA.
Lucy Ruddle is an IBCLC in the UK. She has a thriving private Practice on the South Coast and a busy Facebook page known for it's funny, relevant, and informative memes about breastfeeding and parenting. Lucy qualified in 2018 after 5 years of volunteering as a peer supporter and later as a breastfeeding counselor for a national breastfeeding helpline. She has written a book on relactation, called "Relactation - A guide to rebuilding your milk supply." which was published by Praeclarus Press in January 2020. Lucy's interest in relactation started after she went through the process herself for her eldest baby, and her drive to qualify as an IBCLC came from a second challenging breastfeeding journey with her younger son who was unable to latch for several months. Aside from lactation, Lucy holds a diploma in Child Psychology and worked for 15 years in early years settings, both with the children and in roles supporting parents. She prides herself on her listening focused approach to lactation support, and sees it as the key to good practice in her own work.
It’s a wonderful feeling when you’re able to support a family in getting to a place of successful breastfeeding/chestfeeding. Those moments when things suddenly click and baby starts nursing effectively and their overwhelmed parents are able to finally see an end to their struggles, are heartwarming and we celebrate those achievements for both our clients and ourselves. What doesn’t get talked about very often however, is the struggles that go alongside those triumphs. The caregiver burnout, compassion fatigue, guilt, and overwhelming feelings of failure that can derail our confidence in ourselves as care providers. This panel digs deep into the realities of working as a lactation care provider, examining both the struggles and possible solutions.
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The Role of Manual Therapy in Infant Postural Asymmetry, Suck Dysfunction and Mastitis
Kirsten Hannan is an Australian trained and registered Osteopath with 17 years of clinical practice experience, with a particular interest in pregnancy and postpartum care and working with babies and children of all ages. She has experience in treating babies for a variety of issues, including latching and feeding difficulties, birth trauma, neck tension, flat head syndrome and digestive issues. Kirsten uses a variety of osteopathic treatment methods, including cranial osteopathy. Her passion for education and helping children to develop in the best possible way led her to further her knowledge of breastfeeding and she qualified as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in July 2017. She enjoys integrating the very best of bodywork and evidence-based lactation care and support to help mums and their babies. Kirsten is an author and reviewer for the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, a member of Osteopathy Australia and registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE).
The extensive benefits of breastfeeding have been well established. However, while the majority of birthing women initiate breastfeeding, discontinuation is common when problems arise. In this presentation, we will review the pertinent anatomy of the breast and breastfeeding infant, learn to identify asymmetrical characteristics in infant posture, discuss how postural asymmetry impacts infant suck, and describe multiple modalities and techniques for the management of common mother and baby presentations.
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Wilai Rojjanasrirat, PhD, RN, IBCLC, FILCA, FAAN is a Professor and Director of Research and Scholarship at Graceland University’s School of Nursing in Independence, Missouri. Her background is in midwifery and maternal and child health nursing.
She is an international board certified lactation consultant. She earned her Bachelor’s in Nursing and Midwifery from Thailand and Master’s and Doctorate and Post-Doctorate in Nursing from the University of Kansas. She teaches in graduate nursing program. Her research focuses on promoting and supporting breastfeeding, psychometric development, and educational outcome evaluation.
Using telehealth in providing lactation support, evaluation of the breastfeeding outcomes among late-preterm, near term, and term infants, and evaluation of the Business Case for Breastfeeding Program’s impact among employed breastfeeding mothers in Kansas are among some of the research projects.
Dr. Rojjanasrirat has multiple publications and recently contributed to a book chapter on Employment and Breastfeeding in Wambach & Spencer, Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, 6th edition in 2021. She served as a former president of the Pi Eta Chapter of the Nursing Honor Society, a board member of the KC Board of Directors of Kansas City, Kansas, and a former president of the Greater Kansas City Lactation Consultant Association for several years.
Topic: Understanding Lactation-Related Research - [View Abstract]
Evidence-based practice directly influences and drives day-to-day clinical practice in the current healthcare environments. Lactation consultants need to keep up to date with research evidence for best practice. Although the primary goal of lactation providers is to provide optimal lactation care to breastfeeding mothers, it is necessary to know how to apply appropriate evidence to use on a regular basis by understanding research process and how to read research articles. The purposes of this presentation are to present basic concepts related to conducting and understanding lactation related research including quantitative and qualitative research methods. In addition, the presentation also will cover the guides to reading scientific research articles. The participants do not require extensive or advanced medical or research methodological knowledge to attend this workshop. Some breastfeeding research papers including case studies, clinical trials, and qualitative research will be used as examples.
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Using a Cool Head When You’re on the Hot Seat: Ethical and Legal Topics That Make Us Sweat, and How to Avoid Getting Burned
Liz Brooks is a private practice International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and licensed lawyer, with expertise in criminal, administrative, non-profit, ethics, and lactation-related law. Liz offers in-home lactation consultations, and bedside care and teaching in two Baby-Friendly-designated hospitals.
She has been a leader in organizations for IBCLCs, breastfeeding promotion, and non-profit human milk banking. She authored the only textbook on legal and ethical issues for the IBCLC, and writes on health care ethics, equity, and conflict-of-interest in several books, blogs, and peer-reviewed journals.
She is a popular international conference speaker, offering practical tips with wit and wisdom for anyone who works with lactating and human milk-using families. Liz self-identifies as a cisgender hetero white woman with unearned privilege, and uses she/her/hers pronouns.
Topic: Using a Cool Head When You’re on the Hot Seat: Ethical and Legal Topics That Make Us Sweat, and How to Avoid Getting Burned - [View Abstract]
Topic: What’s Too “Friendly” for an IBCLC on Social Media? - [View Abstract]
Topic: Whiners and Deniers: Ethics and Diplomacy in Difficult Cases - [View Abstract]
We all understand, generally, that lactation support providers – from licensed primary healthcare providers (HCP) to volunteer peer counselors – owe a “duty of care” to the parents they work with, defined by laws and ethics codes. But many are concerned that they do not know what is really expected of them, in the moment of clinical care, when decisions about how to do things “the right way” must be made. This session will cover the basic of ethics and legal duty as a lactation support provider. Examples from the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) literature will be used. A few topics that are the most common "hot spots" for practitioners (the ones that make us sweat) will be explored with a few slides, and a lot of free-flow Q&A with session attendees, as we ponder realistic tactics to protect ourselves as practitioners with cool heads and clinical excellence.
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Tom Johnston is unique as a midwife and lactation consultant and the father of eight breastfed children. Recently retired after 27 years in the US Army, he is now an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Methodist University where he teaches, among other things, Maternal-Child Nursing and Nutrition. You may have heard him at a number of conferences at the national level, to include the Association of Woman’s Health and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the International Lactation Consultant’s Association (ILCA), or perhaps at dozens of other conferences across the country. In his written work he routinely addresses fatherhood and the role of the father in the breastfeeding relationship and has authored a chapter on the role of the father in breastfeeding for “Breastfeeding in Combat Boots: A survival guide to breastfeeding in the military”.
Topic: Human Milk Synthesis: Just When You Thought You Knew - [View Abstract]
Topic: New Insights Into the Maternal Child Microbiome - [View Abstract]
Topic: Promoting Provider Self-Efficacy in Breastfeeding Support - [View Abstract]
Topic: Still Swimming Upstream: Breastfeeding in a Formula Feeding World - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Making of Human Milk: A Clinical Update - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Maternal-Child Microbiome or: The “Oro-boobular axis” - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Maternal-Child Microbiome or: The “Oro-boobular axis” - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Perinatal Microbiome - [View Abstract]
Topic: Using Evidence to Develop Clinical Lactation Skills - [View Abstract]
The field of Human Lactation is a new profession. Much of what we use comes from apprenticeship programs and hard learned lessons from a mother’s own personal experience. The lactation profession needs to investigate several of their practices and policies to discover what is evidence based and what is anecdotal evidence. This presentation explores the practices commonly employed in breastfeeding (growth monitoring, infant positioning, the use of assisted feeding devices, and counseling skills) to determine which are evidence based and which will require further study if they are to be used in clinical practice.
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We’re Human, Too: Hidden Dynamics in Our Communication with Clients
Cynthia Good, MS Clinical Psychology, is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Clinical Counselor, author, consultant, and internationally recognized speaker. She is the Director of LifeCircle Consulting, LLC and is Certified in Acute Traumatic Stress Management. She is based in the Seattle, Washington, USA area, where she formerly served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University where she taught counseling skills and is a therapist at Sandbox Therapy Group where she works with children, adults, and families. Cynthia has a strong interest in the emerging field of lactational psychology. She brings the evidence and insights of psychology and lactation consulting to her presentations, providing information and teaching skills that are essential to understanding and effectively responding to the complex psychosocial realities of families living in diverse contexts. The focus of her presentations includes communication skills and counseling techniques for perinatal care providers; equity, diversity, and inclusion; infant feeding rhetoric; perinatal mental health; perinatal loss, grief, and trauma; ethics; serving as an expert witness in lactation-related court cases; cultural competence and humility; vitamin D; and more.
Topic: Cultural Competence or Cultural Humility? A Roadmap for Lactation Specialists - [View Abstract]
Topic: Heartbroken: Loss and Grief in the Perinatal Time Period - [View Abstract]
Topic: It Wasn’t Supposed to be Like This: Traumatic Birth, Traumatic Stress, and Breastfeeding - [View Abstract]
Topic: My Brain is Doing What? Bias, Ethics, and the Lactation Specialist - [View Abstract]
Topic: Perinatal Mental Health Screening: A Primer for Lactation Specialists - [View Abstract]
Topic: The IBCLC as Expert Witness: Role, Strategies, and Resources - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Rug Pulled Out from Underneath Me: Depression During Pregnancy and After Birth - [View Abstract]
Topic: Unpacking the Invisible Diaper Bag of White Privilege: An Overview of Racial Inequities in Breastfeeding Support - [View Abstract]
Topic: We’re Human, Too: Hidden Dynamics in Our Communication with Clients - [View Abstract]
On the best of days, providing quality lactation care to families in the perinatal time period is a challenging endeavor. IBCLCs, for example, are mandated to effectively utilize history taking and assessment skills, a broad collection of skills to assist the dyad, general problem-solving skills, skills related to techniques and devices, and skills needed to develop, implement and evaluate an individualized feeding plan in consultation with the client. Communication skills are the bedrock of everything a lactation supporter must do. Our training in this area logically tends to focus on understanding and responding to the human context of the dyad. However, there are two sides to communication in a lactation-related encounter: the client and the care provider. And, care providers are also human. In spite of our compassion and good intentions, we are impacted by the stresses, losses, and traumas of life, which can then impact our ability to work well with our clients. This presentation addresses common challenges in the lactation supporter’s own context (such as cognitive load, burnout, and traumatic triggers), their impact on communication, and strategies that can help us improve our ability to communicate effectively with our clients.
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What’s New With the International Code on the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes: It’s Not Just About Formula!
A Canadian living in France for more than 25 years, Juanita discovered breastfeeding with her three children and has never looked back.
She became a La Leche League Leader in 1997, and served on the boards of LLL France 2004-2008 and LLL Europe 2011-2018. She has been the regional representative of LLL Europe to WABA since 2007. Juanita became a lactation consultant in 2003 (IBCLC), recertifying in 2008 and 2013.
Juanita was the coordinator for the Journée Internationale de l’Allaitement (‘JIA’ – International Breastfeeding Conference for health professionals organized by LLL France) in 2003 and 2008. She helped create and implement the Peer Counsellor Programme in France (Programme relais allaitement- Prall).
The WHO Code is one of her passions! She has spoken on the Code at conferences around the world. Member of the Coordination française pour l’allaitement maternel (CoFam) since 2007, she was head of the Task Force on the Code and ethical questions. As a member of IBFAN *and GIFA, she was given the opportunity to participate in international meetings of the Codex Alimentarius and the OECD in Paris, as well as in week-long IBFAN conferences in Montecatini, Italy in 2007, and in Geneva in 2008. She also attended the Committee on the Convention on Rights of the Child in Geneva for IBFAN and helped prepare a country report on France underlining the importance of breastfeeding and the need to apply the Code (2009). She is an active member of IBFAN’s Global Working Group on Contaminants in Breastmilk. In 2018, she represented LLLI at the second NetCode meeting in Geneva.
The International Code on the Marketing of breast milk substitutes is the very cornerstone of breastfeeding protection, promotion and support, and an integral part of infant and young feeding policies around the world; yet it is often misunderstood or considered to be an out of date document with little relevance to breastfeeding issues today. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Code is updated regularly with additional resolutions voted at World Health Assemblies every two years, and covers far more than the marketing of breast milk substitutes in the first six months of life, but promotes optimal nutrition practices up to 36 months, and addresses conflict of interest with infant food companies. Indeed, the rapidly growing global market of breast milk substitutes, estimated at more than $70 billion in 2019, continues to undermine breastfeeding through its evermore aggressive and omnipresent marketing techniques, focused on parents, health professionals and health systems. The stakes are high – understanding and implementing the Code is an essential step towards ensuring optimal nutrition for infants and young children, whether breastfed or formula-fed.
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