GOLD Learning Speakers

It can be tricky when as health professionals, we want to build trust and support our client, and at the same time, presenting evidence-based information on infant feeding can be uncomfortable. The purpose of this presentation is to enhance awareness, augment skills and comfort in having informed decision making (IDM) conversations, so participants can more confidently engage with their clients. In this presentation we will review scenarios where IDM conversations are needed, explore language to begin, and discuss tips on engaging your client. We will also refresh knowledge of the risks of not breastfeeding/chestfeeding, as well as differences between direct breastfeeding versus feeding expressed breast milk. Further, we will discuss communication strategies using practical examples and provide participants with supporting resources including sample videos so that participants may confidently have conversations with clients about infant feeding that generate informed decision making.

As food and goods become more expensive, some infant feeding options are increasingly difficult for families to afford. Inflation, the pandemic, infant formula shortages, and supply chain issues create added formidable challenges. The costs of formula are considerable for families, for the health care system, and for the environment, yet breastfeeding is not routinely a part of food security conversations. The purpose of this presentation is to clearly understand the issues of food security in the context of breastfeeding, the risks and expenses of not breastfeeding, and discuss measures to help increase food security. People suffering from hunger has slowly been increasing since 2014, and worsening still with the pandemic (FAO et al., 2020). For infants, growth failure can start before birth. Suboptimal growth may start or continue because of breastfeeding or formula feeding practices as well as inadequate complementary foods. Those who can least afford infant formula, tend to be those more likely use it (Kopp et al., 2023). To understand the nature of the issue, we examine food security in the context of breastfeeding globally and with data from select countries. We will explore the impacts of suboptimal or no breastfeeding, list measures to improve breastfeeding rates, and thereby improve food security for infants and their families.