INFACT Canada: A Breastfeeding Course based on The WHO/UNICEF 20-Hour Lactation Management Course

The course is meant for any person wishing to understand the practice of and issues surrounding breastfeeding more fully. The goal of the INFACT Canada/IBFAN North America breastfeeding course is to facilitate the need to provide those working with mothers and their families, the information required to adequately support breastfeeding.

Suitable for: Hospital Administrators/ Managers, Physicians, Midwives, Obstetricians, Maternity Care Providers, Nurses, Prenatal Educators, Lactation Consultants, Doulas, Dieticians, Health Care Support Workers, Educators, Parents, etc or anyone involved with breastfeeding families.

Full Details

The goal of the INFACT Canada/IBFAN North America breastfeeding course is to facilitate the need to provide those working with mothers the information required to adequately support breastfeeding. The course fosters a comprehensive understanding of optimal infant feeding practices as based on best-practices principles, and also stresses the need to protect breastfeeding through the implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, and other key initiatives such as the WHO recommendations for exclusive breastfeeding for six months. (More information is found in the Course Content section).

Objectives of the Course
The course is meant for any person wishing to understand the practice of and issues surrounding breastfeeding more fully. INFACT Canada/IBFAN’s objectives are closely linked with those of the WHO/UNICEF. The goal of the course is to ensure that participants finish their training with a deeper understanding of the benefits of breastfeeding, optimal management practices, the dangers of formula feeding, the negligent marketing practices of artificial foods, and the subsequent impact on infant, young child, and maternal health. INFACT Canada/IBFAN is also supportive of UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and the need for all those employed in hospitals to understand the practice of breastfeeding and to be supportive of a mother’s wish to breastfeed, and her right to unbiased information and support.

Course Content
The course covers much ground in the three days, providing relevant and useful information including:

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Importance and necessity of breastfeeding.
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Nutritional and immunological properties of human milk.
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Evidence-based breastfeeding practices: positioning and latch-on, physiology of sucking, lactation and breast anatomy, initiating breastfeeding during the first hour, sustaining breastfeeding for 2 years and beyond, complementary feeding and weaning.
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Breastfeeding issues: maternal medication use, maternal illness, preventing and solving nipple pain, restoring milk supply, alternate feeding devices, and breastfeeding and employment.
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Appropriate breastfeeding education: core messages during pregnancy, mother-support, breastfeeding counseling.
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Global initiatives such as the International Code, breastfeeding and child survival, breastfeeding policies and the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.
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An opportunity to practice counseling skills with breastfeeding mothers.

Course Facilitator
The course facilitator brings current and evidence-based information.

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Internationally renowned speaker and trainer
Linda Smith is an internationally renowned speaker, educator, and author. Linda’s wealth of experience, extensive background, and teaching style make Linda an immense asset to the breastfeeding community and an ideal lecturer. She has done and continues to do work at all levels in many key breastfeeding organizations and groups: as a lactation consultant in private practice, a founding member of International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), a La Leche League leader, a council member of the Coalition to Improve Maternity Services, an author of numerous publications about lactation management and birth & breastfeeding, a key figure in US breastfeeding policy development, and a “supporter to those that support breastfeeding” through her Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre, Ltd.