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Breastfeeding Support Skills for Doulas, Newborn Care Specialists and Birth Workers
June 2, 2019 @ 1:00 pm - December 8, 2019 @ 5:00 pm PDT
Early Bird pricing ends a week before the event!
- How to make enough milk
- How to get a painless latch
- How to help mother get enough rest
- How to position baby and mother
- When to start pumping
- How to store breastmilk
- How to combine breast and bottle
Breastfeeding basics
- Basic anatomy and physiology of the breast
- Initiation of lactation
- Maintaining lactation
- Composition of breastmilk
- Health benefits of breastfeeding for mother and baby
- The significance of the first hours after birth
- Newborn breastfeeding reflexes and behaviors
- Basic anatomy and physiology of sucking
- Achieving a painless, effective latch
- Sufficient intake and growth
- Most common challenges in the first weeks and their solutions
specifically for doulas & birth workers!
- Practical information to support your moms, whether they are exclusively breastfeeding, pumping, bottle feeding, or combination feeding!
- Medicated versus unmedicated births: different breastfeeding challenges
- What you need to watch out for with hospital birth clients
- What you need to watch out for with home birth clients
- Special considerations after cesareans
- Educating the mother while supporting her choice
- Combining breast and bottle
- Pumping and storing milk
- Effective communication skills for the postpartum mother
- Common misconceptions about breastfeeding and how to dispel them
- Normalizing the challenges of the first weeks
- Troubleshooting breastfeeding problems
- Helping the mother find support
- Knowing when to refer and to whom
Learn the basics of breastfeeding support and improve your clients’ breastfeeding experience! This 4-hour class is ideal for birth and postpartum doulas, nannies, infant care specialists and anyone providing services to breastfeeding mothers. In addition to teaching the basics of lactation support (all evidence-based, of course), the class focuses on your role in educating and supporting the mother. This class will enable you to help your client so she can reach her breastfeeding goals, whatever those goals may be. We will pay special attention to supporting breastfeeding around the birth when you are most likely to be present. We will consider the physiologically normal course of events during the initiation of lactation and breastfeeding versus what happens as a result of common hospital practices. We’ll pay special attention to how to overcome the breastfeeding challenges posed by the most common birth interventions. We will touch on the different concerns for mothers following an unmedicated birth, a medicated birth or a cesarean. We will review pumping, milk storage options, combining bottle feeding with breastfeeding and even formula supplementation. We’ll discuss the challenges posed by supporting a mother in a hospital versus supporting a mother in her home. We’ll practice the language of support that educates the mother without pressuring her. As an aspiring doula, you know that your support makes a world of difference!
Certification Questions
- This class meets and exceeds both DONA’s and CAPPA’s requirements for certifying doulas (birth and postpartum) for breastfeeding education.
- The class provides a printed, signed certificate showing 4 hours of lactation specific education.
- Please bring forms to the class and they will be signed at the end.