GOLD Learning Day: Managing Weight Gain in the Breastfed Infant

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.

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.

Dr. Gangal is a Pediatrician, Breastfeeding Trainer & Advocate in Mumbai for 30 years. He has been Mother Support-Training Coordinator of BPNI Maharashtra (1995), Co-Coordinator of Mother Support Working Group of WABA (2003) & Lactation Consultant (2009). He was chairman of Global Collaboration Committee of ILCA (2018).

He was trained by Dr. Felicity Savage. He established the first Mother Support Group in India (1995) and played a key role in training 500 Traditional Massage Women, Breast crawl rejuvenation, training Government Health Workers in 7 Indian States with an innovative module with UNICEF and organizing IBLCE exam for the first time in India (2009). He contributed to LLLI publication ‘Hirkani’s Daughters’, facilitated Lactation Counselling in 85 Maternity Facilities, organizing 8 batches of Lactation Education to facilitate about 100 Lactation Consultants, the creation of the Android app ‘Shishuposhan,’ and played a major role in launching the website www.bpnimaharashtra.org.

Dr. Gangal has multiple publications & was a speaker at LLLI conferences in San Francisco and Chicago. He was honored with Dr. N. B. Kumta Award by BPNI Maharashtra, Lifetime Achievement Award by Mumbai Breastfeeding Promotion Committee & WABA Secretariat award. He spoke on Breast Crawl & WHO Growth Charts (2016) at GOLD Conferences.