Marina Ferrari IBCLC - Lactation & Infant Nutrition

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Marina Ferrari IBCLC - Lactation & Infant Nutrition

Breastfeeding 🤱🏽 Infant Feeding Specialist
🏅Board Certified Lactation Consultant

09/04/2026

Who have opted for a journey in between?🤱🏽👨‍🍼
What are you doing and why?

Sometimes exclusive breastfeeding can't be achieved for different reasons (eg persistent low supply).

When we choose a different path, there is another chance to achieve success and the feeling of fail goes away.

When you're not quitting, but choosing a different journey that works for you, this can be freeing and can help reframing your breastfeeding relationship.

For any breastfeeding journey to work we need: a baby with good oral function, have good info about feeding volumes (it's not the volume that formula packages recommend!), know how to use the feeding tools you have chosen, understand about babies' sucking needs, trust in what is being done, track weight gain and enjoy the process!
_________________________
Marina Ferrari RD IBCLC, PhD
Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Maternal and Child Nutrition Specialist

05/04/2026

Choc-facts when breastfeeding👇

1️⃣. Nursing mothers can have chocolate!
2️⃣. The baby will have the good nutrients from the choc through your milk.
3️⃣. Enjoy life, be happy.
4️⃣. Baby with CMPA? Look for dairy-free chocolates 😍

🐰🐣🍫
_________________________
Marina Ferrari RD IBCLC, PhD
Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Maternal and Child Nutrition Specialist

24/03/2026

Most lactation consultants I’ve met came into this work after their own breastfeeding journeys - sometimes beautiful, sometimes really challenging… often both!

Very few of us qualify before ever experiencing it ourselves.

I’m one of those few.

And honestly?
I don’t think that’s ever compromised my practice.

Because being an IBCLC isn’t about having lived every experience...
it’s about knowing how to listen,
how to hold space,
how to support without judgment.

In some ways, not having my own story yet meant I could show up without bias. Just fully present for yours.

But I’ve also wondered…

Does becoming a parent deepen your empathy in a way training alone can’t?

Does lived experience change how you hold others?

Well…

✨ *double* plot twist ✨

I guess I’m about to find out… 👶👶

▶️ Stay tuned as I navigate this new chapter - and what it means for the ways I support families ♡

----------------

🇧🇷 A maioria das consultoras de amamentação que conheci chegou a essa profissão depois das próprias jornadas com a amamentação -
às vezes lindas, às vezes muito desafiadoras… muitas vezes, as duas coisas!

Muito poucas de nós se qualificam antes de viver isso na prática.
Eu sou uma dessas.

E, sinceramente?
Não acho que isso tenha comprometido meu trabalho até aqui.

Porque ser IBCLC não é sobre ter vivido todas as experiências…
é sobre saber escutar,
saber acolher,
saber apoiar sem julgamentos.

De certa forma, não ter ainda a minha própria história me permitiu estar presente sem vieses.
Simplesmente inteira para as suas experiências.

Mas eu também sempre me perguntei…

Será que me tornar mãe aprofunda a empatia de uma forma que a formação, sozinha, não alcança?

Será que a experiência pessoal muda a forma como acolhemos o outro?

Bom…

✨ plot twist *em dobro* ✨

Acho que estou prestes a descobrir… 👶👶

▶️ Fiquem ligados aqui para acompanhar esse novo capítulo - e como ele vai mudar a forma como eu presto suporte às famílias ♡

04/03/2026

Last week at a conference careers panel I was asked what I most like about what I do. This is such an easy answer - it's extremely rewarding - seeing families happier with their feeding journey, and knowing these babies are having a better feeding experience because of what I can offer!

Even when the optimal goal isn't achieved, but the best possible option is, my heart fills with joy and a feeling of mission accomplished.

It's amazing to see the broad range of what is a happy feeding journey depending on individual variables - and also help families to find comfort when things go different from what they have previously planned.

I may not have a magic wand to solve every feeding challenge, but I will always show up with safe, ethical, compassionate, evidence-based, high-quality support.

A big thank you - and happy IBCLC day - to all colleagues who I've learned so much from since preparing for the certification in 2018. I truly wouldn’t be the lactation consultant I am today without this community.

✨️🎉

21/02/2026

Chegou a 6a edição do curso de desfralde para pais com a especialista ! 💬

Inscrições pelo linktree 📋

Para quem quer se informar com antecedência, se preparar por estar chegando a hora ou superar desafios do processo 💕

14/02/2026

I can finally say this out loud (again) — I am a Registered Dietitian 📣

There’s something powerful about carrying your vocation across borders. Even when everything around you changes - the language, the systems, the expectations - your purpose remains. Mine has always been to care, to support, and to help people feel more at peace with food and their bodies.

Being a dietitian is not just what I do - it’s part of my identity. And for a while, not being able to fully use that title here felt like I was missing a piece of myself.

Today, being able to say it confidently - without fear of being questioned or judged - feels like such a relief. It feels like coming home to myself.

There are many other beautiful (and big!) changes happening in my life right now, so I don’t have the space to transform this account - and honestly, I’m not even sure I want to. This space has grown with me, and for now, it will continue to do so gently.

If you’ve been thinking about getting nutritional support in maternal and child health, I have services available on my website and would love to work with you.

Whether you’re navigating pregnancy, postpartum, introducing solids, or building a more peaceful relationship with food for your family, I’m here.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this journey. And if you’re new here - hi, I’m a Maternal & Paediatric Dietitian and Lactation Consultant, and I’d be honoured to be part of your journey too.
_________________________
Marina Ferrari, RD, PhD
Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Maternal & Child Nutrition Specialist

📸 1 - 15/12/12 BSc Nutrition and Dietitics Graduation
📸 2 - 26/06/25 PhD Graduation

02/12/2025

💫I’m happy to support you with virtual consultations 💻 Tuesday–Thursday throughout December & January.

📆 For my full list of services, availability, and booking - please visit my website - link on bio.

🗨Breastfeeding prep and starting solids courses available in English individually.

🙋‍♀️Back to in-person consultations from February!

20/10/2025

🎀 Each woman’s journey through breast cancer treatment is unique.
🤱 This fighter’s story is one of courage, care, and choice — and a reminder that every woman deserves to understand the options available to her.

💝 Thank you, Adna, for sharing your story and images with such strength and openness.

🤓 Let this be a reminder that knowledge empowers choice, and that every path deserves empathy and respect.

*Slides in English at the end. Although this happened in Ireland, this story's mother tongue is Portuguese 🇧🇷.

🎀

16/10/2025

More parents in Ireland are harvesting colostrum before birth — a proactive step to protect breastfeeding. 🤰 But is this a solution or a symptom? With hospital pressures, limited staff, and default formula practices, colostrum harvesting often becomes a protective response to the system itself.

Research shows antenatal expression can increase exclusive breastfeeding at discharge ✅ — but should this really be the “default prep”? Babies are biologically meant to feed at the breast first, and birth interventions can affect early feeding. High-breastfeeding countries focus on systemic support, not maternal workaround.

For now, I teach colostrum collection because it helps - but how about a maternity system that protects breastfeeding without putting this burden on parents before birth? 🌝
____________
Marina Ferrari, PhD
Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Maternal & Child Nutrition Specialist

08/10/2025

As we raise awareness this October, let’s remember that
🌸🌸 breast changes during lactation deserve attention
🌸🌸 breastfeeding itself can help reduce the risk of breast cancer
🌸🌸 both breast- and bottle-feeding parents are recommended to perform self-checks and regular screenings

💗 Supporting families to reach their breastfeeding goals isn’t just about nurturing babies; it’s also an investment in their long-term health.

Early detection, education, and compassionate support can make all the difference. Let’s keep the conversation going and empower every parent to care for themselves while caring for their little ones. 🎀

📸 2023 - Breast Foot Forward Walk - ActionCancer - Belfast

06/10/2025

Flat ni***es can be tricky, right? Babies might take longer to find something to latch on - so offering extra help for them is usually helpful.

Have the baby well positioned is extremely important.
Laid-back positions usually work better, so the gravity helps the baby to find the breast.

The key is achieving and maintaining closeness! We need the breast touching to roof of baby's mouth to trigger and maintain sucking reflex.

Other ideas that might help:
- massage the breast and apply reverse pressure softening on the ar**la before feedings (specially if breast is engorged)
- sandwich the breast
- use a breastpump for a few seconds just before the latch
- latch-assist tool may help some dyads too

What about ni**le shields 👒?
They might be useful when the ar**la have less elasticity, but we need to have in mind that its use imposes some risks, such as the false impression the baby is feeding, when he's actually not transferring any milk. Work with a lactation consultant and follow up to make sure baby is getting enough and setting up a plan to move away from the shield.

Disclaimer: Every breast and every parent-baby dyad is different, this latch technique might not work for everyone!
_________________________
Marina Ferrari
Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Maternal and Child Nutrition Specialist

***es ***es

28/09/2025

What a weekend at the conference!
Between the great sessions and the chats, I left with such reassurance about the work I’m doing with clients – exactly the oxytocin boost I needed.

It was so lovely to spend time with fellow lactation consultants and all the amazing people supporting families across the Emerald Isle.

Lovely too to catch up with my peers from the North and , and finally meet in person.

Also attended brilliant workshops from on fl**ge fitting and on presenting lactation services - both gave me so much to bring back!

And sure look, delighted to have my poster up there too! 📄🙌
More regarding this research with Liz O'Sullivan and Aileen Kennedy from TUDublin in the full report "IYCF-E: Ireland Infant and young child feeding in emergencies on the island of Ireland" (DM for the link).

Address

Belfast

Website

https://pt.ferrarimarina.com/

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