All-New Staff Development eCourse to Increase Exclusive Breastfeeding from ILCA and InJoy

By lactationmatters on 31 October 2014 in Education, Hospital, ILCA News

The International Lactation Consultant Association® (ILCA®) is proud to announce the release of “Practices to Increase Exclusive Breastfeeding: Core Concepts eCourse”, which we have co-produced along with InJoy Birth and Parenting Education. As part of our value to “uphold high standards of professional practice,” we believe that access to quality, standardized education for health professionals is key. This goes hand in hand with our vision of “world health transformed through breastfeeding and skilled lactation care.”

It is no surprise to anyone in the field that training is lacking for healthcare workers in the science and art of lactation and supporting breastfeeding families. InJoy and ILCA have sought to address the challenge with this eCourse, available completely online.

Hospitals who license the course will also find ideas for additional related group activities in the Facilitator’s Guide. It was designed to provide education to in-hospital maternity care staff and highlights both 10 Steps of the the 10 Steps of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative as well as the impact of birthing and postnatal practices on breastfeeding.

For more information and to learn more about how this course might be valuable to you (including the option to view Module 2 in its entirety), please click HERE.

Want to see a sample video?

Check out this one which shows maternity staff how to accommodate skin-to-skin care immediately after birth.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFoibnj6nQY&w=560&h=315]

We would love for you to consider this product in two ways:

1. If you work for a hospital or health care facility serving women through childbirth, please share the information about this product with your supervisor or education department.

2. If you are an IBCLC seeking to build your knowledge about the impact of birthing practices and how to support breastfeeding in the early days, consider purchasing the single-user version of this product. For just $35 USD, you will have full access to video, practice tools, handouts, all in an interactive learning environment. Upon completion, you will be eligible for continuing education units, awarded by ILCA. Additional fees apply.

Essential topics covered in the four 20-minute modules:

“The Ten Steps” overview, team strategies, and effectively communicating to mothers
How to implement skin-to-skin care after vaginal and cesarean births
How to teach and assess hunger signs, latch, and infant sucking patterns
How and when to help mothers express milk mechanically or by hand

The eCourse includes:

Instructive, real-world video examples showing nurses using proven techniques
Downloadable practice tools and patient handouts that allow nurses to apply newly-learned concepts right away
Engaging case studies, interactive exercises, and quizzes
Facilitator’s Guide with ideas for in-service group sessions
1.5 CE credit hours available from ILCA (fees apply)

We strongly encourage YOU to consider how this course could benefit your community or professional growth.

Informative Brochure for Radiology Personnel from the Breastfeeding Resource Center

By lactationmatters on 17 September 2013 in Clinical Practice, Education, Hospital

Lactation Matters is proud to highlight this fantastic resource produced by the Breastfeeding Resource Center (BRC), a brochure intended to educate radiology personnel about breastfeeding. We hope that it will be helpful for those with questions about the compatibility of breastfeeding and contrast agents. We thank them for encouraging all of our readers to widely share this resource.

By Colette Acker, Executive Director of Breastfeeding Resource Center

“I had to switch to formula for two days because of my MRI. I couldn’t pump enough beforehand.”

“The doctor said I had to stop breastfeeding for a week because I needed the MRI and he said he wasn’t sure what that would do to the baby.”

These are common phrases we all have heard as IBCLCs. It’s even more frustrating when we hear about it after the fact.

By Helmut Januschka via Wikimedia Commons

The Breastfeeding Resource Center (BRC) provides assistance to fourth year medical students from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and they can use us as a resource for projects. Mariya Gusman, a Drexel student, came to the BRC to pick my brain for ideas for her project. Her passion lay in Radiology, but a visit to our center validated the important link between breastfeeding and Radiology. You can only imagine my excitement when we started talking. Together with the BRC’s Education Committee, we planned to create a brochure for local Radiology Departments. I pointed Mariya to resources to find evidence based information on contrast agents and their impact on breastfeeding. Interestingly, she came back to me with one question, “What’s the big deal about pumping and dumping for a few days?” Even she, a doctor and breastfeeding advocate, didn’t understand the difficulty. So we decided to add a portion addressing the concerns surrounding pumping and dumping.

The BRC then gathered 15 volunteers to begin the search for contact information on as many Radiology Departments and Imaging Centers as we could find. A cover letter was developed and mailed along with two brochures to 85 researched addresses. We also emailed the brochure to our local ILCA affiliate members and offered to mail nicely printed copies to them. Many were excited to help spread the word.

Since the mailing, many of the recipients have contacted us. They have thanked us for our work and requested more brochures. We hope this project can end the senseless need for pumping and dumping!

We are proud to offer this resource to all of our readers. You can access it by clicking on Radiology brochure.

Colette Acker is the Executive Director of the Breastfeeding Resource Center (BRC) in Abington, PA. In 1998, Colette became an IBCLC. She began providing home visits, but many mothers couldn’t afford to pay. In 2003, Colette and a colleague founded the BRC which provides visits on a sliding scale of payment. The first year they worked with almost 300 families. Last year, they worked with close to 1,000! New programs were developed over the years such as free support group meetings, observation days for pediatric residents, and a pump program for low income mothers. Colette loves both working with mothers and doing the daily tasks of the executive director.

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