2016 Speakers & Topics
Carrie Sue Halsey is a Clinical Nurse Specialist located in Houston, Texas. She earned her advanced nursing degree from the University of Cincinnati and her BSN from the University of West Florida. She is NCC certified in inpatient obstetrics and is an NRP and AWHONN instructor. She is a Trained Breastfeeding Educator and enjoys assisting parents with their breastfeeding goals. Carrie is a natural birth and breastfeeding advocate. Carrie advocates for education and empowerment for nurses and parents through on her blog, PerinatalEmpowerment.com and YouTube Channel. Her experiences of pregnancy, labor and birth as a mother, nurse, writer and educator have made her a passionate crusader for perinatal empowerment.
Since the 2008, perinatal professionals have been categorizing electronic fetal heart monitoring (EFM) strips according to the nomenclature, provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Category II strip management can be difficult due to interpretation, communication and variance in predicted and actual fetal outcomes. This presentation reviews three actual cases of Category II EFM strip management including outcomes, applicable physiology, nomenclature, interventions and communication strategies.
Dr. Briere is a Nurse Scientist and Postdoctoral fellow with a joint appointment at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and the University of Connecticut, School of Nursing. Her clinical background is as a nurse in a level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. As a nurse in the NICU, Dr. Briere was passionate about getting mothers to hold and feed their babies, and be directly involved in the care and decision making during their infant’s hospitalization. During her doctoral program Dr. Briere’s research focused on the importance of direct-breastfeeding in the NICU. Towards the end of her program, she learned about the presence of stem cells in breastmilk. Since then, she has transitioned into a bench to bedside translation research trajectory where she is studying breastmilk stem cells. Her work is focused on breastmilk stem cells from mothers of preterm infants and their involvement in infant growth and development, specifically their protective and regenerative mechanisms.
Direct-breastfeeding is defined as a feeding opportunity where an infant suckles at the mother’s breast. Research has shown that mothers who feed their infant directly from their breast have an increased likelihood of maintaining breastmilk feeds longer than mothers who provide expressed breastmilk in a bottle. In this presentation we will discuss the importance of direct-breastfeeding in the NICU, as well as challenges and strategies to help overcome these. In addition, the latest research on breastmilk will be discussed specifically related to Dr. Briere’s current research.
Dr. Smillie is an American pediatrician who founded in 1996 the first private medical practice in the USA devoted to the specialty of breastfeeding medicine. Board certified by both the American Board of Pediatrics in 1983 and by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners in 1995, she values her continuing education from colleagues, research, and breastfeeding babies and their mothers. She’s been a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine since 1996, and an ABM Fellow since 2002. She serves as an advisor to the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding and on La Leche League International’s Health Advisory Council. Dr. Smillie speaks nationally and internationally about the clinical management of a wide variety of breastfeeding issues, always stressing the role of the motherbaby as a single psychoneurobiological system, and emphasizing the innate instincts underlying both maternal and infant competence.
Much has been written about the challenges of breastfeeding late preterm infants, the “great pretenders” who can fool us by looking almost full-term. But what about early preterm infants, who spend their first months in hospital? Their feeding issues are very different, complicated by their severe prematurity, medical issues and necessary clinical care, as well as by their mothers’ emotional experiences and challenges as they initiate mothering, milk production and breastfeeding in the NICU setting. We’ll look at how oxytocin and kangaroo mother can help optimize maternal milk production, maternal behaviors and competency, early breastfeeding, and infant growth, specifically looking at evidence based approaches to the early initiation of breastfeeding for these tiny infants. We’ll also look at a couple of broad initiatives—the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative for Neonatal Wards and Family Integrated Care—that offer the promise of empowering mothers and improving health outcomes for their preterm infants.
Deb Fraser, MN, RNC-NIC is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Nurse Practitioner program in the Faculty of Health Disciplines at Athabasca University. She holds an appointment in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Manitoba (U of M). Debbie maintains an active practice in the NICU at St Boniface General Hospital and is the Editor-in-Chief of Neonatal Network: The Journal for Neonatal Nursing. She is the author of two nursing textbooks and over 70 book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on topics related to high risk newborns. Debbie was recently awarded the Canadian Nurses’ Association Order of Merit for nursing education.
Topic: Late Preterm Infants: Not as Grown up as they look! - [View Abstract]
Late preterm infants (LPI) are sometimes called the great pretenders. They look mature, sometimes evening weighing as much as their term counterparts. Despite that, LPI infants are at increased risk of both short- and long-term complications. This presentation will review the incidence and etiology of late preterm deliveries and will discuss the short and long-term morbidities experienced by this group of infants. Strategies to mitigate these issues will also presented.
Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC, has a Master’s Degree in Community Health Education from the University of Oregon. She began working with breastfeeding families in 1992 and became an IBCLC in 1998. She has worked as a lactation consultant in private practice, for county and state public health programs, and in healthcare settings. She began teaching lactation training courses in 2003, and has taught in hospital, community and academic settings. She currently works in Portland Oregon for Legacy Health in high risk maternal and pediatric hospitals. She also teaches lactation courses at Portland State University School of Community Health. She is an active member of the Oregon Washington Lactation Association, the US Lactation Consultant Association, and the International Lactation Consultant Association. She was a founding Board Member for Northwest Mothers Milk Bank, a HMBANA non-profit donor milk bank.
Antibiotics were first prescribed in the last 1930’s and revolutionized the treatment of infections. Today, antibiotics are commonly used before, during and after birth to treat or prevent infection in mothers and babies. Although antibiotics can be highly effective, they can also cause adverse effects in mother and baby. When given to women around the time of birth, or to infants soon after birth, antibiotics may change the baby’s gut flora, and may interfere with the baby’s developing immune system. Globally, antibiotic resistance is rising, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. This presentation will review the current use of antibiotics for the treatment or prevention of infections in mothers and infants in hospital birth settings. We will discuss the benefits, risks, and alternatives to antibiotic use, and how these practices impact breastfeeding mothers and infants.
Jacek Debiec is a Child & Adolescent and Perinatal Psychiatrist, and a Developmental Neuroscientist. He received his MD/PhD from Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland and completed his Psychiatry Residency, Fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, as well as Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at New York University, New York. His research interests include early life emotional learning with a special focus on infant attachment and fear learning. Dr. Debiec’s research findings have been published in top scientific journals. He received recognition especially for his work on memory reconsolidation and mother-to-infant transfer of fear and anxiety. Dr. Debiec lectures nationally and internationally and is a recipient of several awards and honors, including Fulbright Fellowship, Herder Fellowship, Neil Miller New Investigator Award from Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, Donald F. Klein Early Career Investigator Award from Anxiety & Depression Association of America and other.
A child learns what is safe and what is threatening from the caregiver. Yet, what is safe and what is dangerous changes during development suggesting that the supporting learning neural circuitry must also change. For instance, young children might perceive separation from the caregiver as a potential threat and proximity to the caregiver as safety. This requires an involvement of a learning system encoding the characteristics of the caregiver and evoking approach responses to a caregiver, while absence of caregiver cues might be perceived as a threat. With maturation, a child acquires an ability to leave the caregiver for brief periods of time and the presence of a more complex system able to identify environmental dangers is required. This lecture will discuss recent studies in developmental neurobiology providing insight into the brain mechanisms of safety and fear learning in infancy and their implications for health and disease.
Janice Banther has been a pioneer leader among birth professionals in advocating for pregnant women who are incarcerated. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Birth Behind Bars (BBB). BBB began providing childbirth and parenting classes and labor support services to inmates in 2001. Prior to 2001 Janice focused her childbirth work primarily with at risk mothers; homeless, addicted and abused. This body of work has earned Janice the highest certifications. She is a certified CAPPA Childbirth Educator, Labor Doula, Happiest Baby on the Block, Infant Massage Instructor, Trainer and Bereavement Counselor with RTS. BBB expanded its training of birth professionals to work with inmates in 2015 with the release of Birth Behind Bars Certification program; an online and manual based program equipping childbirth educators and birth professionals to work in a jail or prison environment in the United States and Internationally.
This presentation will cover the history and background of how the incarcerated pregnant woman experiences birth. And it will demonstrate the current trends in educating and equipping the inmate for a birth experience that will; reduce the need for medical intervention, increase bonding between new born and mother, prepare the inmate for parenting from jail or prison and reducing the likelihood that the mother will be reincarcerated.
Jen McLellan is a publish author and certified childbirth educator who advocates for plus size women. She promotes positive information to empower healthy decision making during pregnancy. Within her blog, Plus Size Mommy Memoirs, she helps women navigate the world of plus size pregnancy, shares tips for embracing your body, and laughs along with the adventures of motherhood. Her work has been featured in major publications such as Yahoo Shine, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, and International Doula. Jen is also a skilled patient advocate, professional speaker, wife, and mother to a charismatic 5 year old.
Most conversations about obesity and pregnancy focus only on the increased risks and for care providers to have frank conversations with their patients about their weight. The reality of “health” and how plus size women are best supported, however, is much more nuanced. With 60% of women in their childbearing years being classified as overweight or obese, it’s time we start changing the conversation about perinatal support for women of size. While birth professionals support women of all sizes, there are differences between supporting an average and plus size woman that aren’t often addressed. Within this presentation you’ll learn about these unique obstacles, including a nearly 50% c-section rate. You’ll walk away with the knowledge and tools you need to empower and support women of size during the perinatal period.
Dr Toohill is a research fellow in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University. Her PhD focused on a midwife psycho-education intervention for women with childbirth fear. In a randomised controlled trial she tested the efficacy of midwife counselling in women who screened high for childbirth fear. She found following midwife counselling that women’s confidence for birth had increased and childbirth fear levels decreased. She currently manages a project to translate this evidence to routine practice at the Gold Coast University Hospital. A midwife of more than 25 years, she was co-lead on the Queensland Normal Birth Clinical Guideline introduced in 2012, and is currently investigating enablers and barriers to use of this guideline. She is passionate about support for women to achieve normal birth, set up a publicly funded birth centre in 2006, the home of midwifery group practice on the Gold Coast.
Childbirth fear impacts around 20% of pregnant women. There is no clear definition of childbirth fear and this is possibly due to variation in its causation and how it manifests. There is a strong link between childbirth fear and operative birth, particularly caesarean section. Assisting women to understand the source of their fear and providing them strategies for managing fear assists in preparation for birth and in reducing non-medically indicated caesarean section. Psycho-education for women with childbirth fear is effective. This presentation will explore the reasons for women’s fear, why a midwifery psycho-education approach is important, how midwives are trained to provide psycho-education, how they apply it in their practice, and the benefits for women, midwives and health services.
Dr. Karen D’Apolito is a Professor and Program Director of the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She has made national and international contributions to the care of drug-exposed infants through both education and research. Dr. D’Apolito received her PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle and her Post Masters Certificate as an NNP from the University of Tennessee, Memphis. In 2011 Dr. Apolito became a Fellow in American Academy of Nursing for her work with substance exposed infants. She developed a unique inter-observer reliability program to train healthcare professionals in assessing infants for signs of withdrawal. She has published numerous articles related to the effects of intra-uterine drug exposure on neonatal abstinence and has been an invited speaker to many local, national and international conferences to speak on this topic. Dr. D’Apolito has participated in two large multi-site clinical trials associated with neonatal abstinence syndrome and she recently completed a grant received from the TN Department of Health to identify the common treatment practices of infants with NAS within the state of TN.
Illicit and prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our country. As a result, we are seeing many more infants being born with signs of neonatal abstinence syndrome. This presentation will address the incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome among infants whose mothers consumed opioids and other drugs during pregnancy. Typical screening methods, assessment of the signs of withdrawal and management strategies will be discussed. The presentation will also discuss ways in which staff nurses can increase their inter-observer reliability when assessing infants for signs of neonatal abstinence. It is essential that adequate assessments be made by all who care for these infants so pharmacologic management can be instituted when needed. When the assessment of withdrawal is accurate and appropriate pharmacologic management is implemented infants will be able to better interact with their parents, tolerate their feedings and sleep for longer periods of time.
Dr. Kathleen Baird is a Senior Midwifery Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University and Director of Midwifery and Nursing Education, Women’s and Newborn Service, Gold Coast Hospital. For the last fifteen years Kathleen’s main research interests have centred around intimate partner violence, with a focus on violence during pregnancy. Kathleen’s PhD explored women’s experiences of partner violence during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. Kathleen has been involved with domestic violence training of qualified health professionals, undergraduate and postgraduate health students and members of the voluntary services for several years. Kathleen is currently involved with several research projects in relation to intimate partner violence and the role of health care and sits on the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council.
Domestic violence and abuse occurs throughout society and has a devastating effect on survivors, their communities. Until the last decade, health has dealt mainly with the consequences of domestic violence with proactive identification being poor, with only meagre pro-active identification in many parts of the health sector. Women experiencing domestic abuse identify healthcare professionals as a potential source of support, yet some health care professionals including midwives are unclear about their roles and responsibilities when supporting women and children who are experiencing domestic violence and abuse. This presentation will consider the prevalence of domestic violence; examine its effect on women and pregnancy. It will also describe the role of the midwife in supporting women and provide an update of research, policy and best practice.
Laurel Wilson, IBCLC, CLE, CCCE, CLD is Executive Director of Lactation Programs for CAPPA,the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association. She owns MotherJourney, focusing on training perinatal professionals on integrative and holistic information regarding pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. She has her degree in Maternal Child Health: Lactation Consulting and is an internationally board certified lactation consultant. Wilson is the co-author of two books, The Attachment Pregnancy and The Greatest Pregnancy Ever. She loves to blend today’s recent scientific findings with the mind/body/spirit wisdom. Laurel has been joyfully married to her husband for more than two decades and has two wonderful grown sons, whose difficult births led her on a path towards helping emerging families create positive experiences. She believes that the journey into motherhood is a life-changing rite of passage that should be deeply honored and celebrated.
It is an amazing feat that the female human can grow and nourish another human body. The two main organs that support this incredible venture are the placenta and breastmilk. There are some research theories that suggest that the maternal link between baby and mother created by the placenta is continued beyond pregnancy through the next vital maternal/baby organ, breastmilk. These two unique organs have many similar properties. They take cues from the maternal environment to change nutrition, hormones, and other developmental and immunological properties that are being sent to the baby. The placenta and breastmilk deliver properties to the baby solely based on its needs and changing environment. The role of both organs is to protect, defend, and support the development of the child. Each organ is perceptive and continuously fine tunes the delivery of essential molecules to the baby. They are intelligent organs, deciphering the environment and using that information to the benefit of the child. The placenta detects the mother’s emotions, nutritional state, and state of anxiety and sends messenger molecules and hormones to the baby to aide the baby’s development in a way that allows it to thrive in its future home outside the womb. Breastmilk has similar capabilities, using GALT and MALT and SIgA to help the baby’s brain, body, and immune system function in its unique world. This presentation takes you on a journey inside these organs to give you a profound lesson in the physical ties between mother and baby.
Miranda Buck, PhD, RN, IBCLC is Clinical Nurse Consultant for lactation at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. She also a researcher and lecturer in nursing, teaching students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Miranda has worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse and lactation consultant in both the UK and Australia since 1995. Miranda’s PhD work focused on breastfeeding difficulties, specifically nipple pain and the barriers that hinder, and variables that encourage, breastfeeding. Her goal is to support all mothers to breastfeed for as long as they wish to through education, research, clinical practice and by lobbying for broader social and political changes."
• cup feeding
• finger feeding
• supply lines
Using the evidence for the risks and benefits of different approaches I will describe how to assess which system is most appropriate. Hospital policies and guidelines that support the use of alternative methods of supplementary feeding are an important tool to help midwives and nurses keep infants breastfeeding. In this presentation I will describe how one hospital has created a series of policies, guidelines and parental information leaflets to reduce the use of bottles and the barriers we faced in implementing them.
Nancy Irland, DNP, RN, CNM, is a highly respected nurse, author, and clinical leader. Her obstetrical experience spans more than 44 years. She has enjoyed supporting women through their journey into motherhood as a labor and delivery nurse, certified nurse-midwife, and perinatal clinical specialist in a high risk tertiary care center. She has presented nationally and internationally, most recently at the Royal College of surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). In 2013, Dr. Irland was honored by the Oregon March of dimes as Nurse Educator of the Year. She is the past AWHONN Oregon Section Chair, and has served on the editorial board of Nursing for Women’s Health. In that capacity, she wrote a column titled, “Understand What You Know.”Dr. Irland’s passion is creating materials for other peoples’ success. She incorporates humor and metaphor in her teaching, and is sure to provide you with “Aha!” moments that you can take back to work immediately.
Everybody loves a story! Diabetes concepts are easily understood by many when they are presented in narrative format. In this presentation you will learn not only the science behind high blood sugar’s negative effects on a developing fetus, you will also see how to draw them to make them memorable. The presentation will include a review of carbohydrate counting and the decision-making behind insulin dosing. By the end of the session, you should be able to explain diabetes concepts confidently, with uncomplicated illustrations to draw as you teach your patients.
Dr. Nichole Fairbrother is an assistant professor with the UBC Department of Psychiatry and the Island Medical Program. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of British Columbia in 2002, and subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in women’s reproductive health through the Child and Family Research Institute and the UBC Department of Health Care and Epidemiology. Dr. Fairbrother’s research is in the area of reproductive mental health with an emphasis on perinatal anxiety disorders and epidemiology. Her current research projects include (1) a CIHR-funded study of maternal postpartum thoughts of infant-related harm and their relation to postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder (ppOCD), (2) a study of maternal perinatal anxiety disorders prevalence, (3) a series of experiments to investigate cognitive and affective responses to infant crying and infant shaking, and (4) an online survey to assess the newly developed Childbirth Fear Questionnaire (CFQ) as a screening tool for specific phobia, fear of childbirth.
Until recently, little research had been conducted to investigate new mothers’ thoughts of infant-related harm and their relationship to postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder and parenting behaviours. In this talk I will present data from our pilot study of new mothers’ thoughts of infant-related harm, outline the features and risk factors for postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder and discuss the cognitive behavioural model and treatment of postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder.
Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN, received her Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from the University of Kentucky and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dr. Dekker has built a strong reputation in maternal and child circles for her pioneering work as the founder of Evidence Based Birth.® The mission of Evidence Based Birth® is to promote evidence based care by putting research evidence on childbirth into the hands of professionals and families, changing maternity care from the inside out and the outside in. Dr. Dekker serves as a peer reviewer for maternal health research journals, volunteers on the advisory board for ImprovingBirth.org and DONA International, and has presented to a number of leading organizations in the birthing field, including the American College of Nurse Midwives, the March of Dimes, and Lamaze and DONA International.
“Evidence-based care” has been the buzz-word among childbirth professionals for quite some time now—but many people do not understand what the concept really means. In our keynote address, taught by the founder of Evidence Based Birth®, you will learn the true meaning of the term evidence-based care, the history of evidence-based medicine, and why so many care providers do not practice in line with the evidence. You will also walk away with confidence in your ability to teach clients how to find evidence-based care and how to talk with their care providers about research evidence.
Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Texas Austin and Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, is a world-renowned medical anthropologist, international speaker and researcher in transformational models in childbirth, midwifery and obstetrics. She is author of over 80 articles and of Birth as an American Rite of Passage (1992, 2004), coauthor of From Doctor to Healer: The Transformative Journey (1998) and The Power of Ritual (forthcoming 2015), and lead editor of 10 collections, the latest of which is Birth Models That Work (2009), which highlights optimal models of birth care around the world. Volume II: Birth on the Global Edge, coedited with Betty-Anne Daviss, is in process. Her current research project studies the paradigm shifts of holistic obstetricians in Brazil. Robbie serves as Editor for the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI): 10 Steps to Optimal Maternity Care (www.imbci.org), Board Member of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization (IMBCO), and Senior Advisor to the Council on Anthropology and Reproduction. Most of her published articles are freely available on her website www.davis-floyd.com.
The International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI) is a human rights-oriented, quality care initiative created by the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization and launched in March 2008. It has been translated into over 20 languages and is currently being implemented in pilot/demonstration projects in hospitals in Austria, Quebec, and Brazil, and in dozens of independent birth practices around the world called MotherBaby networks (MBnets). The purpose of the IMBCI is to call global attention to the importance of the quality of the mother’s birth experience and its impact on the outcome, the risks to MotherBaby from inappropriate medical interventions and lack of access to appropriate emergency care, and the scientific evidence showing the benefits of optimal MotherBaby care based on the normal physiology of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. The IMBCI 10 Steps set the gold standard for excellence and superior outcomes in maternity care. This presentation will describe the IMBCI and the multiple ways in which it is being put to work around the world, inspiring participants that they too can take one Step at a time to create an optimal MotherBaby Model of maternity care based on the Principles and 10 Steps of the IMBCI.
Robin Grille is a psychologist in private practice and a parenting educator. His articles on parenting and child development have been widely published and translated around the world. Robin’s first book: ‘Parenting for a Peaceful World’ received international acclaim and led to speaking engagements around Australia, USA, UK, New Zealand and Canada. His second book, ‘Heart to Heart Parenting’ is now translated into Korean and German. Robin’s work is animated by his belief that humanity’s future is largely dependent on the way we collectively relate to our children. Robin’s experiential, skills-based and informational parenting courses have helped many people to embrace parenting as a transformative, personal growth journey. Drawing from 25 years’ clinical experience and from leading-edge neuropsychological research, Robin’s seminars and courses focus on healthy emotional development for children as well as parents; while building supportive, co-operative parenting communities.
A principal source of strength as well as vulnerability in mothers comes from how they themselves were mothered. Increasingly, researchers are confirming what psychotherapists have observed for many decades: that both trauma and the capacity for responsive and pleasurable mothering tend to be inter-generationally transmitted. All too often the struggles of mothering, including childbirth complications, premature weaning and difficulties with bonding are in fact late expressions of unresolved abuse or neglect, or some kind of emotional wounding in the mother. Information and encouragement miss the point when what is needed is therapy. This presentation helps practitioners to open a deeper dialogue with mothers, to identify possible abuse or neglect histories, adverse childhood experiences, and to use empathic dialogue to re-enable responsive and fulfilling mothering. It can be surprising how emotionally authentic dialogue in a safe environment is sometimes all it takes to restore maternal confidence, responsiveness and enjoyment.
Theresa Nesbitt, RN MD ("Dr. Theresa") is an Obstetrician-Gynecologist with special training in Maternal Fetal Medicine. Her interests these days lie in promoting lifelong wellness for women with a focus on nutrition, reproductive health and breastfeeding. She is the Director of Family Health Coaching, editor of Babies and Breastfeeding Magazine and author of Evolutionary Eating: How We Got Fat and 7 Simple Fixes. She anticipates publication of her newest book Building a Baby Brain Bite by Bite - How to Eat Before, During and Afte Pregnancy in 2016. Dr Nesbitt developed an interest in breastfeeding because of she observed that although many pregnant women PLAN to breastfeed, they are not really PREPARED to do so. Her interest in brain growth and development, nutrition and developmental kinesiology have helped her to look at breastfeeding and human milk from a new perspective.
Human newborns are unique among the primates in that they are born in a neurologically immature state. This lack of sensorimotor capabilities mean that they have special breastfeeding challenges during the first month postpartum. For humans breastfeeding is innate in the newborn but is mostly a learned behavior or skill in the mother, a skill that is naturally learned via observation. Natural breastfeeding is both easy to learn and teach and employs a simplified approach to enhancing newborn motor control thereby avoiding the most common problems of the first few weeks postpartum, nipple pain, difficulty latching and concerns about milk production in most newborns.

Annet Mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became a mother for the first time. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer with the Dutch breastfeeding Organization and in 2008 sat for and passed the exam administered by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. As an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, she now
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