Tag Archives | Linda Smith

ILCA Conference Speaker Highlight: Linda Smith

By lactationmatters on 22 July 2013 in ILCA 2013 Conference

During the weeks leading up to the 2013 ILCA Conference, we have been highlighting a number of conference speakers. As we wrap up this feature, we’re eagerly anticipating the start of our 2013 Conference!

We are so pleased to have Linda Smith as one of the speakers at our conference in Melbourne in just a few short days!

Linda J. Smith, MPH, FACCE, IBCLC, FILCA is a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, author, and internationally-known consultant on breastfeeding and birthing issues. Linda is ILCA’s liaison to the World Health Organization’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and consultant to INFACT Canada/IBFAN North America. As a former La Leche League Leader and Lamaze-certified Childbirth Educator, she provided education and support to diverse families over 35 years in 9 cities in the USA and Canada. Linda has worked in a 3-hospital system in Texas, a public health agency in Virginia, and served as Breastfeeding coordinator for the Ohio Department of Health. Linda was a founder of IBLCE, founder and past board member of ILCA, and is a delegate to the United States Breastfeeding Committee from the American Breastfeeding Institute. Linda earned her Masters Degree in Public Health through the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in 2011. She owns the Bright Future Lactation Resource Center, whose mission is “Supporting the People who Support Breastfeeding” with lactation education programs, consulting services, and educational resources.

On Friday, July 26th, at 10:15am, Linda will be presenting a plenary session at this year’s conference entitled “Impact of Birth Practices on Breastfeeding: 2013 Update”. This vital session will help us to understand how lactation is tied to what happens during a family’s birth.

In addition, she will be presenting three additional sessions, sharing from her wealth of knowledge and experience. Plan now to attend the following sessions:

Clinical Best Practice Workshop on Thursday, July 25

1:00pm: Physics and Forces: When Counseling Skills, Better Positioning and Latch, and the Usual Tricks are Not Enough
3:30pm: Sabotage by Another Name: Policies, Practices, and Attitudes that Keep Mothers and Babies Apart

Concurrent Session on Saturday, July 27

4:15pm: Perinatal Lyme Disease: What we know and what we don’t know

For more information about our upcoming conference and to register, please visit the Conference Page on our website.

Plan to Join Us at ILCA’s 2013 Conference in Melbourne, Australia

By lactationmatters on 20 November 2012 in ILCA News

The ILCA Annual Conference, July 25-28, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia, provides a rich learning environment for lactation professionals and others who assist mothers and babies with breastfeeding. It offers current and aspiring lactation consultants information on cutting-edge lactation practices and research to equip you in giving optimal breastfeeding care and support to mothers and babies.

We have lined up some of the very best speakers in the field including:

Nils Bergman, MB, ChB, MPH, MD from Cape Town, South Africa. Nils is an expert and popular speaker on skin-to-skin contact and the underlying neuroscience.

Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA from Pennsylvania, USA. Liz is a private practice IBCLC, one of many car accident lawyers, author, and speaker on legal/ethics issues in addition to being our ILCA President.

Howard Chilton MBBS, MRCP(UK), DCH from Sydney, Australia. Dr. Chilton is a neonatal paediatrician, author, and leading baby doctor in Australia.

Patricia Martens, IBCLC, PhD, FILCA from Manitoba, Canada. She is a Professor at the University of Manitoba, public health scientist, and popular speaker on breastfeeding research.

Linda J. Smith, MPH, IBCLC, FACCE, FILCA from Ohio, USA where she is an author, teacher and popular speaker on birthing and infant sleep practices.

Watch this space for more information in the coming months. Also, join us at www.ilca.org!

A BFHI Update – ‘Call to Action for Breastfeeding Support from the Surgeon General ‘

By lactationmatters on 22 September 2011 in US news

How do you see the Call to Action impacting Baby Friendly in the United States? (Maybe even internationally?)

The United States now has a strong, evidence based national policy on infant and young child feeding that specifically calls for expanding implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). This is an extremely important turn of events and status change. BFHI is also specifically mentioned in the White House Obesity Report, and possibly even more importantly, in The Joint Commission’s recent Speak Out campaign. Internationally, Baby Friendly USA (BFUSA) has always been a strong collaborator with other nations’ BFHI Authorities and I would expect this collaboration to increase.

What changes are you hoping to see?

The Director of Health of my state met with our state Lactation Consultant chapter in early August, and within two weeks convened a high-level meeting of organizations to begin discussions on moving BFHI ahead. That’s amazing progress! Several states have conducted in-depth surveys of maternity facilities (in addition to encouraging hospitals to respond to the Center for Disease Control’s mPINC surveys), developed interim goals and local incentive programs, held Hospital Summits, and more. Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) is a national survey of maternity care practices and policies that is conducted by the CDC every 2 years beginning in 2007. The survey is mailed to all facilities with registered maternity beds in the United States and Territories. I expect the Call to Action will resonate with and inspire the entire public health professional community, at every level.

Why is this Call to Action coming at a critical time?

I’m tempted to say “It’s about TIME!” The momentum for breastfeeding has escalated in the past ten years in the US, partly due to the collaborative work of the US Breastfeeding Committee. The economic conditions are encouraging everyone (individuals and companies) to re-think spending patterns; health decision-making is becoming more transparent; and virtually everyone is calling for better health outcomes. Over 40,000 IBCLCs around the world are working with other health care providers to provide the up-close one-to-one clinical support for mothers and babies. Without this rich network of support, mothers would face far more avoidable problems.

How will the Call to Action impact not only hospital-based lactation consultants, but lactation consultants in private practice, as well?

There’s something in the Call to Action for everyone. As an lactation consultant in private practice myself, I was thrilled to see a call for appropriate reimbursement for my services as an LC, regardless of other credentials or licenses. I’m currently in graduate school and was very excited to see a call for more research on breastfeeding. The Call to Action’s recognition of lactation consultants as important players on the health care team was extremely gratifying.

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC, FILCA
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre Ltd.
6540 Cedarview Ct., Dayton OH 45459-1214
Phone (937) 438-9458 Fax (937)-438-3229
www.BFLRC.com

Navigation

Tag Archives | Linda Smith

For more information about our upcoming conference and to register, please visit the Conference Page on our website.

We have lined up some of the very best speakers in the field including:

Watch this space for more information in the coming months. Also, join us at www.ilca.org!