Mama's Instinct - Lactation Consultant IBCLC

25/07/2025

Mother’s experiences of access to International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) support in the UK

We are conducting research to understand who accesses IBCLC support in the UK and what facilitates this access. You do not need to have breastfed, and you do not need to have received support from an IBCLC to take part.

As a thank you we would like to offer participants the opportunity to be placed in a prize draw to win one of 10 x £20 Love2Shop vouchers.

This is a Swansea University research project led by Emily Lunny as part of a PhD study, supervised by Dr Catrin Griffiths and Professor Amy Brown from the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences. You can contact Emily, Catrin or Amy for further details of the research.

Email Emily: 2457218@swansea.ac.uk
Email Catrin: c.r.griffiths@swansea.ac.uk
Email Amy: a.e.brown@swansea.ac.uk

The research has been approved by the Health and Social Care Research Ethics Committee (approval number 2 2025 13501 13457).

Our research aims to understand mothers’ experiences of accessing IBCLC support in the UK, whether they chose to or were able to access IBCLC support or not.

We understand that talking about infant feeding experiences can be upsetting if things didn’t go to plan. Please contact the Birth Trauma Association or any of the breastfeeding support associations in the UK if this is upsetting for you.
La Leche League: https://laleche.org.uk/
The Breastfeeding Network: https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/
Association of Breastfeeding Mothers: https://abm.me.uk/
The Birth Trauma Association: https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org/

As part of this we are looking for mothers to complete a survey that will take between 20 – 30 minutes depending on how much you would like to say. Our survey will remain open for the next 4 weeks from 24th July to 21st August 2025.

We would like to hear from parents who:

• Are based in the UK
• Had a baby between May 2021 and May 2025
• Breastfed, formula fed, combination fed or anything in between

We would like to hear from mothers and parents no matter how they fed their baby, and whether they received IBCLC support or not.

If you’d like to take part please click the link for further information and the survey questions https://swanseachhs.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8uGyfv2Nl3ugWZ8 The

14/07/2025

31/03/2025

27/03/2025

Kent Family Hubs offers £25 vouchers for nursing wear to eligible Healthy Start families. Visit the link in the comments to check eligibility and learn how to apply.

25/03/2025

This is mapping of education v qualification’s of the support for breastfeeding you could recieve in the Health Care System. IBCLCs are the only profession to be green in every box!

Our second WBTi report found many gaps in the high-level training standards for nurses, doctors, dietitians and pharmacists (this would be the required minimum knowledge for those qualifying).

The red squares indicate that breastfeeding/infant feeding topic is not required in their training standards. Yellow indicates it is unclear or partially included. Green means it is included.

So many of our health care professionals have little to no training around infant feeding.

Midwifery training has a strong cluster of breastfeeding knowledge and skills, as do BFI accredited health visitor university programmes.

We recommend that all health visitor university training should meet BFI standards, and that other health professions should address the gaps in their requirements.

Read all about it in our new report (see also Part 2 for more details)

https://ukbreastfeeding.org/wbtiuk2024/

05/03/2025

05/03/2025

Been super busy today and then remembered! As I’m going to bed early to so a tongue tie clinic shift tomorrow in my role as Lactation Consultant IBCLC. Thankful for the support of the IBCLCs who encouraged and trained me all those years ago.

Today, March the 5th 2025 is International IBCLC day.

LCGB would like to say a big THANKYOU to all the IBCLCs in the UK and around the world for all the hard work and support you give to breastfeeding mothers, babies and families.

LCGB is preparing to offer members a free gift so watch this space.😉

If you need support for breastfeeding you can find your nearest UK International Board Certified Lactation Consultant here :

https://lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/

23/02/2025

Sharing for Clients who need a bit more than a helping hand :)

GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!

Mother is back in the game……
Mum is no longer working on maternity ward so she is back full time maternity nursing!
We both have availability this year so
SPREAD THE WORD!!

03/02/2025

This is fascinating!

New research shows that avoiding the preservatives parabens & phthalates for just 28 days reverses cancer-related changes in breast tissue.

The study was published in Chemosphere.

Researchers analyzed breast tissue samples before and after a 28 day period, revealing significant reversals of cancer-associated phenotypes. These changes included alterations in key cellular pathways such as PI3K-AKT/mTOR, autophagy, and apoptotic signaling, which are all linked to cancer development.

The study suggests that even short-term avoidance of these chemicals may have a measurable impact on breast tissue at the molecular level.

Parabens and phthalates are widely used as preservatives and fragrance enhancers in cosmetics and personal care products, but they also act as xenoestrogens — synthetic compounds that mimic estrogen in the body.

Since estrogen plays a role in breast cancer development, reducing exposure to these chemicals may help lower the risk of cancer-related cellular changes. This research underscores the importance of choosing products free from harmful endocrine disruptors and highlights a potential preventive strategy against breast cancer.

Learn more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36746253/ #:~:text=Breast%20Cancer%20Over%20Time%2C%20San%20Francisco%2C%20CA%2C,USA.%20*%20PMID:%2036746253.%20*%20DOI:%2010.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138014.

01/02/2025

Bex Hough

Vicente Romero Redondo

27/01/2025

Pregnant?
Prefer a weekend ante natal clsss that both you and your partner can attend?

Join us at the bridgewood hotel Rochester for a day of education and relaxation.

All bookings taken for February will start course a FREE mini pregnancy photo shoot with Flashbang photography.

You can book here

https://www.lavender-health.com/lavenderbabies