By Diane L. Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN The March of Dimes celebrates November as Prematurity Awareness Month and November 17th is World Prematurity Day.1 When celebrating this day and month, attention needs to be focused on human milk as a lifesaving medical...
By Lizabeth Berkeley, MPH, IBCLC I entered the field of lactation through the lens of public health in the 1980s in New York City. Towards the end of that decade, I moved to El Paso, Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border and started a very different life. Thirty five years...
By Dr. Kameelah Phillips, OB-GYN, IBCLC November 3rd is National Stress Awareness Day – an important reminder to prioritize health and well-being. Mental health and heart health go hand-in-hand, and new parents cannot achieve their healthiest self and properly care...
While USLCA maintains our commitment to using gender-inclusive language, the following post utilizes gendered terms in line with the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s protocol to maintain medical accuracy. ---- By Katrina B. Mitchell, MD, IBCLC, PMH-C,...
By Angela Lober, PhD, RNC, IBCLCOctober 21, 2021 As hospital lactation consultants, we are advocates, academics, clinicians, educators, and mystics. When we meet a family, some of us meet thousands of families every year, we immediately adjust ourselves to fit the...
The following piece discusses infant loss and may be triggering for some. ---- By Hope Logghe, IBCLCOctober 15, 2021 October is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month when we remember all the families who are grieving after facing the most unimaginable losses-...
By Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam ACSW Ph.D.September 28, 2021 September is NICU Awareness Month when we educate about and honor those who care for babies born too early - before 9 months - or who are ill and require specialized hospital care from birth. How these fragile...
By Chloe McElmurySeptember 16, 2021 September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. Thyroid Cancer develops in the tiny but mighty thyroid, a gland located on the front of your neck, underneath your larynx (Adam’s Apple). The thyroid is shaped like a butterfly, with two...
By Lisa R. Miller, MA, IBCLCSeptember 8, 2021 I think we can all agree that postpartum depression (PPD) is a thief, too often stealing the joys of parenthood. When it occurs, it negatively affects entire families and, unfortunately, goes undiagnosed and untreated in...
By Nekisha Killings, MPH, IBCLCAugust 30, 2021 Black Breastfeeding Week each year is a time to look back and a time to look ahead. Many of us use the week to reflect on the ways that we have supported Black parents and families on their nursing journeys over the past...