Conferences
Optimizing Breastfeeding Success
A Live Virtual Conference for Healthcare Professionals
26 January 2024 0845-1630 MST
Tickets: $65
The Alberta Breastfeeding Committee is proud to present “Optimizing Breastfeeding Success” a live virtual conference for healthcare professionals. Frontline workers play a critical role in supporting the breastfeeding dyad. This conference focusses on common barriers to breastfeeding and how healthcare professionals can help patients meet their breastfeeding goals. Join our four incredible speakers to learn more about supporting informed decision making around infant feeding, how supporting BFI principles can help families, predictors of exclusive breastfeeding and how to support breastfeeding after birth trauma. The conference will conclude with a panel of parents sharing their experiences with breastfeeding and the health care system to enhance learning. Nurses, physicians, midwives, lactation professionals, birth workers, and all frontline healthcare workers are welcome to attend this day of professional development! A recording of the conference will be available for 3 months following the live event for all ticket holders.
Conference Speakers
Dr. Merilee Brockway
Dr. Merilee (Meredith) Brockway is a registered nurse, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and has been awarded a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Early Life Exposures and Child Health Outcomes. Dr. Brockway has expertise in breastfeeding and human lactation, donor human milk, the infant microbiome and patient oriented clinical trial design. She has a BSc in biotechnology and completed her undergraduate nursing degree from the University of Calgary. As a registered nurse, she has worked with breastfeeding families in the postpartum and public health setting and became an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant in 2011. Dr. Brockway completed her PhD in nursing at the University of Calgary, examining maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy and infant feeding outcomes in moderate and late preterm infants. Following that, she completed a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Manitoba in Dr. Meghan Azad’s lab, exploring human milk composition and clinical applications of donor human milk on the microbiome of preterm infants. Dr. Brockway’s current program of research examines donor human milk as a clinical intervention to mitigate early life perturbations to the infant microbiome and how these relate to child health outcomes. When she is not researching breastfeeding and human milk, Dr. Brockway enjoys skiing, biking and hiking with her family in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Dr. Beverley Chalmers
Dr. Chalmers’ research examines women’s and children’s care in difficult religious, social, political and economic situations including in Apartheid South Africa, in the former Soviet Union, in women with previous Female Genital Mutilation, in the technologically developed world, and among women and children living in the Nazi era. Her books on these subjects include: Family-Centred Perinatal Care: Improving Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum Care (2017); Female Genital Mutilation and Obstetric Care (2023); Humane Perinatal Care (2001); African Birth: Childbirth in Cultural Transition, (1990); Pregnancy and Parenthood: Heaven and Hell (1984); Birth, Sex and Abuse: Women’s Voices under Nazi Rule (2015); Betrayed: Child Sex Abuse in the Holocaust (2020); Child Sex Abuse: Power Profit, Perversion (2022).
Dr Chalmers has two doctoral degrees: one in Humanities (PhD in Psychology) and the other in Medicine (DSc (Med) in Obstetrics with a specialization in Multicultural Childbirth). Currently an independent scholar, she has held Full Professorial positions in Departments of Psychology (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Universities of Ottawa, Toronto and Witwatersrand), Nursing, and Public Health Science (University of Toronto), and Epidemiology and Community Health (Queen’s University, Kingston).
Dr Chalmers served as a short-term consultant on all aspects of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, on behalf of UNICEF/WHO, from its launch in St Petersburg, Russian Federation in 1992 and for a decade or more thereafter. She undertook over 140 international health promotion activities in more than 25 countries in the field of perinatal health and breastfeeding promotion for WHO/UNICEF and multiple other international aid agencies. She has conducted BFHI 18-hour courses, 40-hour courses, training of hospital assessor’s courses and conducted BFHI hospital assessments. She served on the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada as an expert advisor on the BFHI (1996-2001).
Julia Chen, RD (on behalf of Dr. Mahsa Jessri)
Dr. Mahsa Jessri is an assistant professor in the Food Nutrition and Health Program and a faculty of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research at University of British Columbia. She is Principal Investigator of the Nutritional Epidemiology for Population Health Lab where she holds the Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Nutritional Epidemiology for Population Health. Her current research focuses on providing the evidence-base and decision tools to inform national nutrition guidelines and policies for reducing the burden of chronic diseases. Julia Chen is a registered dietitian and PhD student under Dr. Jessri’s supervision with her research focusing on nutrition policies and child health.
Erin Northrup, IBCLC
As an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, Erin Northrup combines her academic and personal experience to educate and support families wanting to breastfeed after a traumatic birth. She has a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Applied Health Services Research from the University of New Brunswick, where she conducted a qualitative study on the lived experience of breastfeeding after birth trauma. Erin’s own journey with birth trauma began in 2009, when she experienced a traumatic birth with the birth of her first child. Since then, she has been a vocal advocate for maternal infant health and a compassionate supporter of parents through pregnancy, breastfeeding, and beyond. One of Erin’s goals is to educate perinatal professionals on the impact of birth trauma and the importance of respectful ethical lactation care. She believes that by raising awareness and providing evidence-based information, we can improve the quality of care for dyads who have experienced traumatic births. Erin is the mother of five amazing children and a firm believer in the necessity of trauma informed care from preconception through to weaning.
Conference Presentations
Supporting Informed Decisions for Infant Feeding
with Dr. Merilee Brockway
Evidence strongly supports and recommendations state, that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life to support optimal growth and development. However, with these recommendations comes intense pressure, scrutiny and stress that is solely placed on mothers to exclusively breastfeed, often without the support in place required for them to succeed. As such, nurses and healthcare providers who work with breastfeeding mothers often struggle to balance infant feeding recommendations with maternal well-being. Evidence of the benefits of exclusive breast or human milk feeding is emerging at an increasingly rapid rate, however, it often omits the role of the mother in the breastfeeding equation. In this presentation we will discuss the tensions surrounding health recommendations for mothers to exclusively breastfeed their infants and highlight the importance of including maternal outcomes in breastfeeding and human milk research. We will also discuss the importance of ensuring informed decision making when working with families who are making infant feeding decisions and considerations for clinical practice.
Babies, Bottles, Breasts, Brains and Better Births
with Dr. Beverley Chalmers
This presentation will draw on Dr Chalmers’ decades of consulting and research into improving perinatal care and promoting breastfeeding in Canada, and on behalf of international aid agencies such as WHO and UNICEF in multiple countries globally. It will discuss the BF(H)I in the context of Principles of Perinatal Care, the Maternity Experiences Survey, the PROBIT trial, care of NICU-based newborns, and future developments that are now needed.
Julia will share Dr. Jessri’s research from her paper entitled “Predictors of exclusive breastfeeding: observations from the Alberta pregnancy outcomes and nutrition (APrON) study” (Jessri 2013). This study assessed infant feeding transitions during the first 6 months postpartum and factors that predicted exclusive breastfeeding to 3 and 6 months. Julia will also enrich the factors identified from this study with an ethnographic study conducted by Dr. Jessri on exploring newly immigrant Middle-Eastern mothers’ perceptions and experiences of breastfeeding in Canada.
Predictors of Exclusive Breastfeeding: Observations from the APrON Study
with Julia Chen, RN (on behalf of Dr. Mahsa Jessri)
What is the experience of breastfeeding after a traumatic birth? How do we best support breastfeeding in parents who have experienced a traumatic birth? For many parents childbirth is a traumatic experience. While the positive health effects of breastfeeding are well-known, there is little understanding of the impact of birth trauma on the breastfeeding experience. For her Master’s thesis Erin Northrup conducted phenomenological research to better understand the lived experience of breastfeeding after birth trauma. In this presentation, breastfeeding after birth trauma will be described from the perspective of those who have experienced it. The possible impact birth trauma can have on both breastfeeding and maternal mental health will be emphasized. Guidance on ways health care professionals and birth workers can recognize birth trauma and the unique support needs of breastfeeding dyads who experienced birth trauma will also be highlighted. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which trauma informed principles can be implemented in lactation care. The goals of this presentation are to raise awareness of the impact of birth trauma on breastfeeding experiences and suggest strategies to improve care.
Supporting Breastfeeding After a Traumatic Birth
with Erin Northrup, IBCLC
Parent Experiences Panel
with Linda Dionne Marcoux, IBCLC
Three brave parents will share their positive and negative experiences breastfeeding in our current healthcare system. They will share what they wish care providers would have known to better support their breastfeeding journey.
Past Conferences
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2022 ABC Conference - Indigenous Perspectives
December 2, 2022
The Alberta Breastfeeding Committee 2022 Virtual Conference presents: Indigenous Perspectives To Protect, Promote and Support Breastfeeding Culture in Alberta. Featuring keynote speaker Dr. Pertice Moffitt, along with Madelaine Amyotte RN, RM, IBCLC from Aunties within Reach and Sheena Bradley, Traditional Herbalist and Birthworker. The conference will finish with an Indigenous Parent Panel, facilitated by Nadia Houle, Indigenous Lactation Consultant and Birthworker, to hear the barriers and challenges faced by Indigenous families trying to reach their breastfeeding goals.
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2021 ABC Conference - Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
June 4, 2021
Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and the Owner and Editor-in-Chief of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women’s health. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Psychological Trauma and was Founding Editorin-Chief of Clinical Lactation, a position she held for 11 years. She is Fellow of the American Psychological Association in Health and Trauma Psychology, Past President of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology, and a member of APA’s Publications and Communications Board.
• Birth trauma: Causes and Consequences and Birth-Related PTSD
• Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Moral Injury in Members of the Perinatal Team
• Live Q & A With Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
• 3 BFI presentations
• Nighttime Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depression/Anxiety
• Live talk What we can Learn from Fed is Bes
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2019 ABC Conference - Caring for Parents & Infants Experiencing Opioid Use
May 2, 2019
With Expert Speakers:
• Nadia Houle
• Christine Kennedy
• Katharina Cardial
• Laureen McPeak
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2018 ABC Conference - Supplementation to Protect Breastfeeding - Next Steps
April 13, 2018
Presentation by Kathy O’Grady Venter, RN IBCLC BFHI/BFI Lead Assessor
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2021 ABC Conference - Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
June 4, 2021
Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and the Owner and Editor-in-Chief of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women’s health. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Psychological Trauma and was Founding Editorin-Chief of Clinical Lactation, a position she held for 11 years. She is Fellow of the American Psychological Association in Health and Trauma Psychology, Past President of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology, and a member of APA’s Publications and Communications Board.
Dr. Kendall-Tackett specializes in women’s-health research including breastfeeding, depression, trauma, and health psychology, and has won many awards for her work including the 2019 President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Trauma Psychology from the American Psychological Association. Dr. Kendall-Tackett has authored more than 470 articles or chapters and is author or editor of 39 books. Her most recent books include Depression in New Mothers, 3rd Edition (2017, Routledge UK), Women’s Mental Health Across the Lifespan (2017, Routledge US, with Lesia Ruglass), and The Phantom of the Opera: A Social History of the World’s Most Popular Musical (2018, Praeclarus). Her forthcoming book is called Breastfeeding Doesn’t Have to Suck (in press, American Psychological Association).
• Birth trauma: Causes and Consequences and Birth-Related PTSD
• Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Moral Injury in Members of the Perinatal Team
• Live Q & A With Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
• 3 BFI presentations
• Nighttime Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depression/Anxiety
• Live talk What we can Learn from Fed is Bes
-
2019 ABC Conference - Caring for Parents & Infants Experiencing Opioid Use
May 2, 2019
With Expert Speakers:
• Nadia Houle
• Christine Kennedy
• Katharina Cardial
• Laureen McPeak -
2018 ABC Conference - Supplementation to Protect Breastfeeding - Next Steps
April 13, 2018
Presentation by Kathy O’Grady Venter, RN IBCLC BFHI/BFI Lead Assessor