Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars
Michigan Breastfeeding Network presents FREE Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars that launch on the third Tuesday of the month at 8am EST. Webinars are available to watch whenever and wherever for up to 1 year after the initial air date. In order to qualify for continuing education, we ask that you register through GoToWebinar with the below links, watch the webinar in its entirety, and complete the post-webinar survey in its entirety. Within 24-48 hours after watching the webinar, you will get a link to the post-webinar survey. Certificates for those who watch a webinar on their own time and complete the post-webinar survey in its entirety will be distributed within 45 days. If you have any questions, please email hello@mibreastfeeding.org.
Available Webinars
**Please note that the registration links are intended for individual viewing. If you are interested in watching a webinar as a group, please reach out to hello@mibreastfeeding.org for more information.
View the tentative 2023 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinar schedule here.
Registration opens March 21st to watch whenever and wherever.
“Young Parents and the Importance of Breastfeeding” – register here
Presenter: Marketia White, MPA
Description: Parents of all ages deserve to have equitable access to achieve the best maternal health outcomes for their family. Unfortunately, young parents in marginalized communities tend to have exacerbated inequities due to lack of social support systems, resources, and knowledge surrounding birthing and parenting experiences. With breastfeeding being one of the most beneficial ways to feed, bond, and protect mom and baby from infant or/and maternal mortality, this presentation supports birth workers’ knowledge to properly equip and empower young parents with adequate breastfeeding support for them to be resilient in their own maternal health outcomes.
Objectives:
- Understand the increased statistical risks for poor maternal health outcomes for young mothers in marginalized communities.
- Examine the Walsh (2016) Family Resilience concept and its relevance to supporting the young families’ competence of breastfeeding.
- Explore best practices for equitably supporting young parents in lactation practices.
Approved for 1 L-CERP, nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, and 1 CME until March 19, 2024. Certified Health Education Specialist CECH approval pending.
Registration opens February 21st to watch whenever and wherever.
“10 Steps is Just the Beginning: Infusing Equity into Baby-Friendly” – register here
Presenter: Tameka Jackson-Dyer, BASc, IBCLC, CHW
Description: Implementation of the 10 Steps to Breastfeeding Success and Baby-Friendly certification has been proven to increase inpatient breastfeeding rates and continued human milk feeding post-discharge, but racial disparities persist. Ensuring that along with the standard messaging and processes, all women and birthing people receive the same level of care and access to lactation support is necessary to close these gaps. Partnering with grassroots organizations and collaborating with community leaders can create innovative ways to meet the needs of marginalized groups without altering the foundations of Baby-Friendly practices.
Objectives:
- Learn the ten steps of the Baby-Friendly initiative
- Consider the ways that culture of origin impacts the reception of the ten steps
- Examine how equitable practices can boost the adoption of the ten steps
Approved for 1 L-CERP, nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until February 19, 2024.
Registration opens January 17th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Adverse Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse on the Breastfeeding Dyad: A Journey Towards Collective Healing” – click here to register
Presenter: April Stoutamire, CPS
Description: Peer support services have been proven effective not only in the breastfeeding and mental health sector but also across many other avenues of wellness. This presentation will explore how a history of childhood sexual abuse impacts mental health, the breastfeeding journey, and parenting experience. Increased awareness and support for victims and survivors of childhood sexual abuse who want to breast/chestfeed requires knowledge and advocacy on the part of the provider.
Objectives:
- Define childhood sexual abuse
- Examine Perpetrator Victim Dynamics and the importance of doing the opposite when interacting with clients
- Identify why childhood sexual abuse is a risk factor to PMADS and how it can interrupt the breastfeeding relationship
- Explore how the normalization of abuse and maladaptive behaviors in many communities, cultures, and family dynamics can impact healing, access to resources, and seeking help
- Understand how awareness of childhood sexual abuse can help to change health care policies and procedures
Approved for 1 L-CERP, nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until January 15, 2024.
Registration opens December 20th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Birth Workers Serving Birth Workers: An Abundance of Self-love, Community, and Grace” – click here to register
Presenter: Jennifer Day, IBCLC
Description: Doulas and lactation supporters serve families from a place of deep care, safety, commitment and passion, centering the needs of families in hopes that they’ll have positive birth and breastfeeding experiences. For Black and Indigenous birthing and lactating families, this type of care reduces maternal and infant mortality rates. This can also increase the allostatic load and weathering effect for Black and Indigenous birth workers as they work toward liberation and changing the very trajectory of birthing outcomes for Black and Indigenous families. With that burden comes a whole community of other birth workers that show up for one another, care for one another, and hold one another accountable. Caring for one’s self while caring for others is a necessity and community has always shown the way in finding the balance needed.
Objectives:
- Understand the disproportionate impact of weathering and allostatic load among Black and Indigenous birth workers
- Consider the mental, emotional and social costs when the expectation of decreasing disparity gaps are placed on Black and Indigenous birth workers
- Analyze the intersections of racism, COVID-19, social injustice, and life circumstances among birth workers while they continue to serve communities
Approved for 1 L-CERP, nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until December 18, 2023.
Registration opens November 22nd to watch whenever and wherever.
“The Importance of Lactation Counseling through an Equity Lens” – click here to register
Presenter: Lindsey McGahey, IFSD, IBC, BE
Description: This webinar will present a vision of past, present, and future implications of equity-centered lactation counseling that speaks to families in diverse modalities. Participants will learn strategies for serving families in new ways.
Objectives:
- Analyze how current systems policy and venue may negatively impact breastfeeding outcomes
- Identify at least one new skill to strengthen provider-client relationships using equitable practices
- Learn how history impacts the present lactation climate and how to shift from discriminatory practices to equitable ones
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 community health worker CEU, 1 certified health education specialist CECH, and 1 CME until November 13, 2023.
Registration opens October 18th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Feed the Baby: Lactation, Contamination, and the American Formula Crisis” – click here to register
Presenter: Tameka L. Jackson-Dyer, BASc, IBCLC, CHW
Description: The first rule of lactation is to feed the baby, which can often mean supplementing with formula. The shutdown of a major formula factory due to contamination, which resulted in the illness and death of up to nine infants, served to amplify what many in the lactation field had been sharing for years. Our reliance on artificial breastmilk substitutes as the main source of infant feeding, along with governmental programs that create monopolies in production was unsustainable and dangerous. We will explore how the failure of our government and healthcare system to support lactating people in meeting the human-milk feeding goals set out by the CDC, WHO and other entities, left many families with no resources to feed their babies.
Objectives:
- Understand the history of formula marketing and how it serves to undermine human milk as the normative first food, especially amongst marginalized groups
- Analyze current institutional policies and social nuances that create reliance on infant formulas
- Develop skills to counsel families on safe formula preparation when supplementation is necessary
Approved for 1 E-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 community health worker CEU, 1 certified health education specialist CECH, and 1 CME until October 16, 2023.
Registration opens September 20th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Navigating New Motherhood as a Birth/Breastfeeding Worker” – click here to register
Presenter: Tameka White, CLS
Description: This presentation will include what receiving lactation support both in the hospital and in the community looks like and how the lived experience of many BIPOC lactation/birth workers intersects with that of the families they serve. The presenter will share takeaways as both a new mother and birth worker, working to create balance and reconcile feelings of guilt about new physical and emotional limitations both professional and personal. Overall, more work needs to be done around providing quality care during the fourth trimester.
Objectives:
- Support lactation workers who have given birth are just as vulnerable as any birthing person and are not exempt from receiving poor lactation support
- Counsel on ways to create boundaries when serving the community, creating balance in ways that honors commitment to community and responsibility to their families
- Bridge the gap between hospital care and community-based birth, lactation, and postpartum support to birthing professionals and the birthing community
- Practice engaging clients in conversation to help them strategize their postpartum support
Approved 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 community health worker CEU, 1 certified health education specialist CECH, and 1 CME until September 18, 2023.
Registration opens August 16th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Immunizations Guidance for Lactating Families” – click here to register
Presenter: Shonte’ Terhune-Smith, BS, IBCLC, CLS, BD
Description: COVID-19 immunizations guidance has evolved throughout the pandemic as new information has become available. At present, there is consensus among the major public health organizations (WHO and CDC included) that COVID-19 vaccines are a safe and effective tool to protect pregnant and breastfeeding people against COVID-19. This presentation will ensure we, and the families we serve, are clear on the role of doulas, birth workers, and lactation supporters, in supporting families while centering the health disparities in saving Black and Indigenous lives.
Objectives:
- Understand that current evidence suggests pregnant and recently pregnant persons are more likely to suffer severe illness and complications from COVID-19 infections compared to people who are not pregnant
- Understand that severe infections and death caused by COVID-19 have disproportionately impacted Black and Indigenous communities
- Advocate for culture change and guidance that explicitly protects birthing folks and their support systems within our hospital and public health organizations
- Serve alongside families as advocates, educators, and birth workers with the clear understanding that it is up to the patients/clients to determine their own course of action
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until August 16, 2023.
Registration opens July 26th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Barriers in Birth: The Fight for Community Based Doulas and Black Birth Equity” – click here to register
Presenter: Kiara Baskin, CD, CLC
Description: Community Based Doulas (CBDs) serve communities and help to address health disparities during pregnancy and birth, especially for families of color. Evidence consistently demonstrates that Black and Indigenous families experience significant disparities in pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality. CBDs provide accessible, high-quality labor support to childbearing families with the goal of mitigating racial and ethnic disparities in pregnancy-related outcomes. As they work to improve perinatal health, doulas are providing equity work while facing inequitable systems with little support.
Objectives:
- Define Community Based Doulas (CBDs) and their roles/scope of work
- Recognize the need for utilizing CBDs to address health disparities and why it is essential to collaborate with them in public health care settings
- Analyze how CBDs can improve the health of underserved communities beyond the health care setting
- Understand how CBDs improve access and reduce the cost of health care
- Identify policy and systems changes to support the integration and sustainability of CBDs
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until July 26, 2023.
Registration opens June 21st to watch whenever and wherever.
“Lactation and Grief after Perinatal, Neonatal, or Infant Loss” – click here to register
Presenter: Anesha Stanley, CD, BD, PCD, CCE
Description: Whether or not breastfeeding was planned, losing a baby any time after 16-18 weeks gestation may still lead to milk coming into the breasts. This can be a traumatizing experience for parents grieving a baby. Offering lactation support for those experiencing loss has long been overlooked and is crucial to overall health. Mothers have the right to choose how to handle this delicate situation. With so many other decisions that have to be made immediately following a loss, some grieving parents have no idea what they will be facing when it comes to postpartum, their breasts, and human milk.
Objectives:
- Define perinatal, neonatal, and infant loss and their impact on birthing persons
- Identify normal postpartum changes and what happens to the breast and breast milk after loss
- Relate the ways grief, breastfeeding, and mental and emotional health are linked
- Recognize that there are no “right” or “wrong” choices when it comes to human milk and identify the options and support available for families
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until June 21, 2023.
Registration opens May 17th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Human Milk and Immunizations” – click here to register
Presenters: Tameka Jackson-Dyer, BASc, IBCLC, CHW and Shonte’ Terhune-Smith, BS, IBCLC, CLS, BD
Description: Due to the historical abuse and misuse of Black bodies by the healthcare system, the distrust of medical providers runs deep in the Black community. In the midst of the current pandemic, the disproportionate death rate for Black families and lack of timely access to care has increased this distrust. Public health messaging around the COVID-19 vaccine has not taken these realities into account and thus has fallen short of reaching the families that are most at risk.
Objectives:
- Analyze the history of medical racism/ anti-blackness, especially for Black birthing & lactating persons
- Understand structural inequities and their place in low access/uptake of Covid-19 vaccines
- Learn how to successfully tailor public health messaging to BIPOC families
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until May 17, 2023.
Registration opens April 19th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Honoring Indigenous Parenthood from Conception through Postpartum” – click here to register
Presenter: Lindsey McGahey, IBC, IFSD, BE
Description: This presentation focuses on the world of birth work and lactation care from the sacred ceremonies of Indigenous conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, lactation, and parenting. We will honor a view rarely seen and often buried from Indigenous voices in hopes to further protect these ceremonies as sacred and mitigate the health risks in Indigenous communities by highlighting the importance of “by us for us” care. Indigenous birthing bodies are sacred. Indigenous birth workers are sacred. Indigenous parenthood is sacred.
Objectives:
- Change the narrative of Indigenous parenting from one of disparity to sacredness.
- Understand cultural boundaries and how you can be a ceremonial protector.
- Examine the power of care as an offering vs care as power and control or abuse.
- Recognize abuse in birth work.
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH, and 1 CME until April 19, 2023.
Grounding Our Efforts
In planning and implementation of these webinars, we are grounding our efforts in this working definition of racial equity:
Disparities in breastfeeding are perpetuated by inequities that have historically and currently centered white people and their experiences. Racial equity in breastfeeding is both a process and an outcome. The process of working towards racial equity in breastfeeding involves purposefully decentering white supremacy and colonialism, including the notion that whiteness is the standard of normalcy, beauty, superiority, and centrality in our society. This process involves trusting Black and Indigenous families, elevating their voices, and investing in their communities. The outcome of racial equity is the adoption of breastfeeding-supportive policies and practices that eliminate negative health outcomes caused by systemic racism and realized when the social construct of race is no longer a predictor of breastfeeding outcomes.
These webinars are designed to support practice change among peer counselors, maternity care nurses, and home visitors. In providing these webinars, we are committed to 4 core values access, evidence, equity, and relevance.
- Access: alignment with ongoing efforts to equitably establish breastfeeding support in every community by providing free, web-based, and regularly occurring continuing education opportunities that equip trusted leaders to provide breastfeeding support in their communities
- Evidence: collaborating with presenters who share respectfully gathered data to inform practical, successful approaches to increase the feasibility of breastfeeding success
- Equity: collaborating with presenters who center the individuals, families, and communities they serve in the approaches they share and whose work is centered outside of the dominant culture
- Relevance: providing pertinent information on dismantling roadblocks to success that are timely and necessary to increase the feasibility of breastfeeding today
Webinar Reports
It is such an honor to learn alongside the webinar participants. We appreciate folx taking time to complete the post-webinar evaluations and sharing their feedback on the presentations as well as overall experience with the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars.
- 2021 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars Annual Report
- February 2021-22: Queer Like Radical: Affirming Abundance with Newborn/Infant Feeding presented by Etecia Brown, BA, CD
- March 2021-22: Serving Indigenous Families in Lactation presented by Meredith Kennedy
- April 2021-22: Dismantling Racism and Implicit Bias in Breastfeeding and Human Lactation presented by TaNefer Camara, MS-HCA, IBCLC
- May 2021-22: Beyond the Birth Suite: The Importance of Black Doulas in pursuit of Maternal Infant Health Equity presented by Kiara Baskin, CD, CLC
- June 2021-22: Bmadzewen yawen I Mbish Water is Life presented by Bethany Earl, RN, CNM, MSN
- July 2021-22: Breastfeeding Fundamentals and the Workplace presented by Tameka White, CLS
- August 2021-22: Bodyfeeding is a Political and Cultural Act presented by Mariposa
- September 2021-22: Expanding Expectations and Building Resiliency: Empowering Parents for Successful Breastfeeding presented by Lindsey McGahey, IBC, IFSD, BE
- October 2021-22: Cultivating a New Culture presented by Lindsey McGahey, IFSD, IBC, BE and Kiara Baskin, CD, CLC
- November 2021-22: Lactation Behind Bars presented by Elon Geffrard, BS, CLC, ICCE, CD(DONA)
- December 2021-22: How to Navigate Lactation Support with Partners presented by Natosha Sage-EL Bylsma, BA, IBCLC
- Bonus December 2021-22: Meeting Families Where They Are: Embracing, Respecting, Supporting, and Listening presented by Rickeshia Williams, CLS, CLC, BD, CBE
- February 2022-23: Human Lactation and Mental Health: Best Practices presented by Tameka Jackson-Dyer, BASc, IBCLC, CHW, Rosa Gardiner, RN, IBCLC, Mistel de Varona, IBCLC, and Kara Smith, BSN, RN, CLC, PMH-C – coming soon!
- March 2022-23: Geographies of Breastfeeding: How The Nooni Project Helps Reclaim Breastfeeding in Indigenous Communities presented by Angie Sanchez, MBA, IBC – coming soon!
Partners
We are grateful to offer this series FREE of charge to participants as part of our partnership with Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health and Wellness with support provided by:
- Connecticut Department of Health WIC Program and Connecticut State Physical Activity and Nutrition Program with support provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Illinois Department of Public Health
- Indiana Department of Public Health
- Minnesota Department of Health
- Ohio Department of Health
- Wisconsin Department of Health Services
- Tyler Rigg Foundation
The views expressed by speakers or third parties in MIBFN webinars, events, and conferences are solely those of the speaker or third party; they do not necessarily reflect the views or official policies of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services or other supporting entities.
Rush Certificates
MIBFN is happy to announce that new rush processing for continuing education certificates is now available for all on-demand Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars! For your convenience, certificate requests are processed within 1-2 business days and emailed directly to you. Designed with participants in mind, the cost is $10 per certificate. Together, we are increasing access to equity-focused, timely, and relevant breastfeeding education. Click here to access the rush processing instructions and request form.
Please note that rush certificate processing will be paused from December 21, 2022 to January 4, 2023. Any Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinar rush certificate order placed on or after December 21, 2022 will be processed after January 4, 2023. Thank you!