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.
We are so excited to announce the transition to a new learning management system for the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars, effective September 1, 2023. In alignment with our core values of listening and accessibility, learners have more power than ever in their learning experience! Participants will enjoy personalized access to a dashboard including all available on-demand webinars with freedom to watch whenever and wherever and will now have immediate access to the evaluation and continuing education certificates after webinar completion. You can view the GLBW Thinkific Transition FAQs here.
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.
We are so excited to announce the transition to a new learning management system for the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars, effective September 1, 2023. In alignment with our core values of listening and accessibility, learners have more power than ever in their learning experience! Participants will enjoy personalized access to a dashboard including all available on-demand webinars with freedom to watch whenever and wherever and will now have immediate access to the evaluation and customized continuing education certificates after webinar completion. For more information, you can view the GLBW Thinkific Transition FAQs and watch the How-To video. If you have any additional questions about this transition, please contact hello@mibreastfeeding.org and we’d be happy to help!
Registration opens September 19th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Improving the Circle of Care in Lactation: Who’s Really to Blame?” – register here
Presenter: Shonte’ Terhune-Smith, BS, IBCLC, CLS, BD
Description: This presentation will examine standard prenatal and postpartum practices and how they continue to fail families by not providing collaborative and seamless delivery of lactation support.
Objectives:
- Define and describe continuity of care in breastfeeding.
- Understand why hospital systems are blamed in lactation care, provide examples on how to support these systems, and examine the role of community lactation supporters.
- Describe what an ideal system of lactation support looks like for families.
Approved for 1 L-CERP until September 17, 2024. 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, and 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH approval pending.
Registration opens August 15th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Human Milk and Cannabis Series: Support Not Stigma: Supporting Families who have Relationship to Cannabis” – register here
Presenter: Raeanne Madison, MPH
Description: This heartfelt discussion will encourage listeners to examine the biases and stigmas we may carry into our work as perinatal health professionals. We will examine the usage and histories of words and policies related to cannabis consumption and think about the implications for families who face multiple oppressions in American society.
Objectives:
- Describe the historical origins of the word “marijuana” in United States popular culture.
- List three ways that families in the perinatal period may engage with cannabis products.
- Describe the ways that perinatal health professionals can disrupt stigma against families in the perinatal period who may engage with cannabis products.
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, and 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH until August 13, 2024.
Registration opens July 18th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Fatherhood Empowerment: Beneficial for Everyone” – register here
Presenter: Reginald Day, CLC, CHW
Description: This presentation serves to address the benefits of father empowerment as it relates to: child development; birthing persons care and wellbeing; the healthcare system; and the father himself.
Objectives:
- Explore practical ways to engage fathers
- Learn how father involvement benefits the birthing person and the baby
- Discover how father involvement can actually strengthen healthcare outcomes and reduce costs
Approved for 1 L-CERP, 1 nurse’s contact hour, 1 social work CE hour, 1 dietitian CPEU, 1 Community Health Worker CEU, and 1 Certified Health Education Specialist CECH until July 16, 2024.
Registration opens June 20th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Human Milk and Cannabis Series: Interpreting Hale’s Guidance on Lactation and Marijuana, CBD Oils, and Other Non-Inhaled Marijuana Sources” – register here
Presenter: Anita Esquerra-Zwiers, BSN, MS, PhD
Description: Twenty-one states in the United States have legalized recreational marijuana. With the legalization of marijuana, there have been increased reports of postpartum use of marijuana with inconsistent hospital policies. Due to federal limitations, little research has been conducted on lactation and marijuana and other similar substances to guide lactation workers caring for lactating parents who use marijuana, CBD oils, and other non-inhaled marijuana sources. This webinar discusses marijuana policies, laws, and recommendations. We will break down the pharmacokinetics of cannabinoids and address Thomas Hale’s recent recommendations on lactation and marijuana.
Objectives:
- List policies, federal and state laws around marijuana and prenatal and infant testing.
- Understand the pharmacokinetics of cannabinoids in lactating parents and newborns.
- Identify gaps in research with marijuana and parent and infant health outcomes.
- Discuss recommendations and implications that support current evidence and professional policy statements.
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 18, 2024.
Registration opens May 16th to watch whenever and wherever.
“The Michigan Prison Doula Initiative’s Approach to Lactation Support” – register here
Presenter: The Michigan Prison Doula Initiative
Description: The Michigan Prison Doula Initiative is the sole provider of doula care for prisoners in the state. This webinar offers a general look at perinatal support for prisoners in Michigan since the passage of policy directive 04.04.155. Included in this overview is a detailing of investments, hindrances, and ways the public can support the work. As with any discussion of doula care, there is also an emphasis on lactation support.
Objectives:
- Provide an overview of MPDI’s doula service provision for pregnant prisoners in Michigan
- Explain how lactation support comes into play within the perinatal doula support offered by MPDI
- Offer ways to support pregnant and lactating prisoners
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 14, 2024.
Registration opens April 18th to watch whenever and wherever.
“Helping Parents Be Pros at Storing and Removing Breast Milk” – register here
Presenter: Keva Williams, CLS
Description: In this webinar, we will discuss best practices for the pumping and storing of human milk. We will learn why this topic is important in lactation counseling and how to navigate the conversation with our clients. By the end of the presentation, you will have gained confidence in these techniques and how to work with families on how to meet their human-milk feeding goals.
Objectives:
- Learn how to counsel families on the proper techniques for removal and storage of human milk
- Establish proactively with clients how best to prepare and approach employers, family, and/or daycare centers
- Identify what insurance companies and WIC agencies offer for parents who need a pump
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 16, 2024.
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, 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 March 19, 2024.
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, 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 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” – register here
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, 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 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” – register here
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, 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 December 18, 2023.
Registration opens November 22nd to watch whenever and wherever.
“The Importance of Lactation Counseling through an Equity Lens” – register here
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” – register here
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” – register here
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.
Grounding Our Efforts
Human milk is recognized as essential to improving infant and maternal health. Unfortunately racial disparities exist in lactation experiences, across the duration of reproductive years (and beyond).
Racial equity in lactation is ensuring that Black, Indigenous, and other Families of Color live in communities with supportive policies and equitable access to lactation support that prevent and eliminate unjust differences in outcomes. When it is achieved, it recognizes and addresses systemic disparities and barriers that Black, Indigenous, and other Families of Color face in accessing support, policies, resources, and positive outcomes. Achieving racial equity in breastfeeding involves understanding and disrupting underlying factors that contribute to disparities. Current barriers include – but are not limited to – lack of compensated lactation support, lack of state and federal policy to support breastfeeding outcomes, bias and lack of cultural representation in the health care and public health systems, predatory human milk substitutes/formula marketing practices, and colonialistic norms that disproportionately harm Black and Indigenous families.
Our webinars seek to center education that recommends strategies to address and overcome these barriers while providing solutions to drive systemic change while cultivating relationships with grass-root lactation supporters. The webinars amplify the voices of Black and Indigenous lactation supporters addressing clinical, individual, and systemic factors that are experienced by families. By actively working together, we can increase awareness surrounding racial disparities and promote equitable access in human milk feeding.
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.
- 2022 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars Annual Report
- 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
- March 2022-23: Geographies of Breastfeeding: How The Nooni Project Helps Reclaim Breastfeeding in Indigenous Communities presented by Angie Sanchez, MBA, IBC
- April 2022-23: Honoring Indigenous Parenthood from Conception through Postpartum presented by Lindsey McGahey, IFSD, IBC, BE
- May 2022-23: Human Milk and Immunizations presented by Tameka Jackson-Dyer, BASc, IBCLC, CHW and Shonte’ Terhune-Smith, BS, IBCLC, CLS, BD
- June 2022-23: Lactation and Grief after Perinatal, Neonatal, or Infant Loss presented by Anesha Stanley, CD, BD, PCD, CCE
- July 2022-23: Barriers in Birth: The Fight for Community Based Doulas and Black Birth Equity presented by Kiara Baskin, CD, CLC
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.