Linda J Smith, MPH, FACCE, IBCLC, FILCA

Linda Smith is a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, author, and internationally-known consultant on breastfeeding and birthing issues. Linda is ILCA’s liaison to the World Health Organization’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and consultant to INFACT Canada/IBFAN North America. As a former La Leche League Leader and Lamaze-certified Childbirth Educator, she provided education and support to diverse families over 35 years in 9 cities in the USA and Canada. Linda has worked in a 3-hospital system in Texas, a public health agency in Virginia, and served as Breastfeeding coordinator for the Ohio Department of Health.

Linda was a founder of IBLCE, founder and past board member of ILCA, and is a delegate to the United States Breastfeeding Committee from the American Breastfeeding Institute. Linda earned a Master Degree in Public Health through the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in 2011. She owns the Bright Future Lactation Resource Center which is on the internet at www.BFLRC.com, whose mission is “Supporting the People who Support Breastfeeding” with lactation education programs, consulting services, and educational resources.

Why the International Code still matters – a LOT

This presentation will start with a brief history of the Code, but will quickly focus on the Code today. How is the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and Subsequent World Health Assembly Resolutions (Code/Resolutions) relevant to the contemporary breastfeeding situation? We will examine current marketing strategies and discuss ways the code can help us limit these strategies and protect mothers and babies.

Jennie Bever Babendure, PhD, IBCLC

Dr Jennie Bever Babendure is a Biologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She is Co-owner of The Arizona Breastfeeding Center, a freestanding breastfeeding practice in Tempe, Arizona. She also has an academic appointment in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University, where she studies the interplay between social and biological issues in human lactation. Dr Bever Babendure is on the board of the Central Arizona Lactation Consultant Association.

Dr Bever Babendure received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Arizona State University, and PhD in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. She completed UC San Diego’s Lactation Consultant Training Program and earned her IBCLC certification in 2009. She has served as an administrator of the Friends of the WHO Code Facebook group since 2011, when she co-led a social media campaign to encourage the Pan American Health Organization to cease their acceptance of funding from Nestle. Dr Bever Babendure and her husband have four beautiful children who do their best to teach her more about motherhood, lactation, and humility every day.

Formula marketing in the information age: a moving target

As more US hospitals commit to cease the practice of doling out “gift bags” containing infant formula and marketing materials to every new mother and baby, infant formula companies have moved to market their products in increasingly sophisticated ways. In particular, they are targeting mothers prenatally, when research shows they are most likely to make decisions about infant feeding. In order to get a more complete picture of the infant formula marketing efforts aimed at new mothers, we collected and categorized all print and email infant formula marketing received by one US mother during her pregnancy and first few months postpartum. We found that heavy “gift bags” containing multiple brands of formula and coupons were being given out in obstetrics offices, and large sample cans of formula were mysteriously showing up on mothers’ doorsteps, often just before they gave birth. In addition to the hundreds of print ads and coupons sent by mail and seen in baby magazines, we also found a large amount of this marketing taking place online, where content is “pushed” toward consumers via email, search engines and even social media. Through this study and our work with the “Friends of the WHO Code” on Facebook, we have begun to develop a clearer picture of the cultural environment in which US mothers are entrenched, where breastfeeding support is often expensive and difficult to find, while breastmilk substitutes arrive at your door, inbox, and Facebook page unprompted, complete with coupons and the implied endorsement of trusted healthcare providers.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSEd, IBCLC, FILCA

Barbara Wilson-Clay has been in private practice in Austin, Texas, USA since 1989. She is the co-author of The Breastfeeding Atlas. Barbara was the ILCA representative to the IBLCE from 1997-2000, serving on the Exam and Ethics Committees. She is a co-founder of the Mothers Milk Bank at Austin and served on the Board of Directors of this non-profit milk bank from its founding in 1998 until she retired as Vice President of the Board in 2010. Barbara is a volunteer lobbyist in the Texas legislature, advocating for laws that protect the rights of breastfeeding families.

Ethics in lactation: can we talk about milk sharing

Milk sharing is an ancient practice. Social media have facilitated milk sharing and milk selling in new ways that have altered traditional sharing relationships. In this presentation, the history of the practice was explored, and risks and benefits are discussed within the concept of ethics. Issues such as sustainability, the potential for abuse, and the commodification of human milk were explored.

Julie Smith, PhD, BEc, BA

Dr Julie Smith is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health, Australian National University (ANU), with internationally recognized expertise on the economics of breastfeeding. Dr Smith was an invited expert for the US Surgeon General’s 2011 Call to Action on Breastfeeding, the Australian Parliament’s Best Start report on Breastfeeding, and technical advisor to the WHO/UNICEF Western Pacific 2007 Regional Consultation on Breastfeeding. In 2014, she was economics advisor on the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) official delegation to the 67th World Health Assembly. Dr Smith has recently led a research partnership with the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) on best practice support for breastfeeding in workplaces and childcare. Other research, also funded by an Australian Research Council grant on ‘the economics of breastfeeding and the market for mothers milk’ has included an innovative nationwide time use study of new mothers, and a study of infant food marketing. Dr Smith has served on the International Lactation Consultants’ Association Research Committee since 2012. From 2002 to 2010, she was a director on the Board of ABA, including Honorary Treasurer (2003-2007).

The need to invest in babies and the economic cost of premature weaning from breastfeeding

More than 800,000 under-five deaths could be prevented globally by achieving optimal breastfeeding practices. On the other hand, US$58 billion was spent on commercial baby food including infant formula in 2013. In spite of scientific evidence substantiating the importance of breastfeeding in child survival and development, as well as its economic benefits, there are substantial gaps in many countries in implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding particularly on optimal breastfeeding. Support for improved breastfeeding is inadequately prioritized by current policy and practice at both global and country levels. Lack of financial resources for key programs is a major impediment, making economic perspectives important to their practical implementation. The World Breastfeeding Costing Initiative (WBCi) launched in 2013, attempts to determine the financial investment necessary to implement the Global Strategy in its entirety, and to introduce a tool to estimate the costs for individual countries. WBCi consists of an advocacy document, The Need to Invest in Babies, and a financial planning tool.