Nils and I have just come back from 5 weeks of travelling in USA, Spain, Sweden and UK. We each did about 30 talks total so it was a whirlwind tour! Here are some pieces from the USA.
Jill feeding the birds in two feet of snow.
We landed in Cleveland to stay with Susan Ludington who heads up the USIKC (United States Institute for Kangaroo Care), which provides international training courses in Kangaroo Care. She is the one who keeps the Kangaroo Care bibliography up to date, which Nils makes available on our website. What a special time with her, and we loved the beauty of two feet of fresh snow, a treat for us from SA, if a COLD one. It went down to minus 18 degrees Centigrade.
The KLIC team in Louisville, Kentucky: letting the good times roll!
We flew in to Louisville Kentucky and were warmly welcomed by the Kangaroo Care team in Louisville headed by Denise Barbier and Barbara Ruedel. They had organised a well attended meeting at very short notice, for the Kentuckiana Lactation Improvement Coalition – KLIC. We both presented, and it is nice when Nils can present the “why” of the neuroscience, and Jill the “how” at the same time.
OLCA (Ohio Lactation Consultants Association) 23rd Annual Breastfest conference was a huge success with around 300 people. Jill did a one day pre-conference workshop with 200 people attending, speaking on the practical care of the newborn in the First 1000 Seconds and First 1000 Minutes. Nils spoke all day at the Core Conference, presenting some new information about newborn and infant sleeping. At the end of the day there was a “Celebrate Ohio” where every group that had made a project had 5 minutes to give a presentation .What a motivated bunch of people! Such a lot of useable ideas! One group arranged a fun run to raise money for a milk bank, which has snowballed to a major running event!
Linda Smith, Dayton Ohio, our host and coach !
Linda Smith has been a huge motivator for OLCA and started the team that led to the formation of ILCA (International Lactation Consultant Association), and which certify IBCLC.s (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants) 30 years ago. She was our wonderful “coach” and organiser.
Linda drove us several hours through the light snow to West Virginia where Nils spoke to encourage those in Charleston to do immediate skin to skin contact to improve the low breastfeeding rates in their state. We met Cinny Kittle and her team, and also Dr Allan Chamberlain, the son of the famous birth psychologist David Chamberlain, whom we met in Portland many years ago.
Enough for now: next week we shall tell of our work in hospitals.