Kathryn Stagg IBCLC - lactation consultant

24/07/2025

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

22/07/2025

🎤 Speaker Announcement – ALCI Conference 2025

📅 26th & 27th September | 📍Midlands Park Hotel & Online

We’re delighted to welcome Stagg, IBCLC to this year’s conference line-up.

Presentation Title: Supporting Breastfeeding During Discharge from Neonatal Unit

When a baby is discharged home after time in the neonatal unit, it's a time of big transitions — and one where breastfeeding can often fall through the cracks. Kathryn’s presentation will explore this crucial window — from preparing for discharge through to establishing breastfeeding beyond 40 weeks corrected age.

Expect evidence-based guidance, practical insights from both professional and parent perspectives, and strategies to protect and nurture the breastfeeding relationship through this vulnerable period.

Kathryn brings a wealth of lived and professional experience — as a mum of four (including twins), IBCLC, founder of Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets UK, and author of Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets; a guide for professionals and parents.

🎟 This is one not to miss. Book now to hear Kathryn live — in-person or online.
Early Bird tickets available until 31st July! members & Non-members welcome.

👉https://alcireland.ie/events

22/07/2025

15/07/2025

Preparing to Breastfeed Multiples Course

This is your guide to establishing breastfeeding when there is more than one baby!

The course is split into sections so you can tackle each topic at your own pace. You are given video guidance so I am with you every step of the way to make sure you feel comfortable and confident on your breastfeeding journey.

And you keep access so once the babies arrive you can go back and check different topics to help you.

Some of the topics covered are as follows:
How do twins happen?
Preparing to breastfeed
Human milk
Skin to skin
How to breastfeed
When to breastfeed
Premature birth
Late preterm and early term babies
Triplets
Which pump do I need?
Common problems
Sleep
Responsive bottle feeding

plus lots more!

Please click on the link in my bio or go to the shop on my website
....

06/07/2025

Silver ni**le cups. Sometimes called silver ni**le shields (not to be confused with the silicon ni**le shields that can help a bottle fed baby latch, you wont get much milk out of a silver ni**le shield as there are no holes!)

So what are they designed for?
The answer is to aide healing when you have damaged ni**les from breastfeeding.

Now I am an evidenced based account and there is actually no research into how effective these gizmos are. It is true that silver has been used for healing for a very long time. But us in the lactation world have also seen a worrying side effect which is important to discuss before you shell out your hard earned cash.

The risk of using these, and especially if you leak, is that the ni**le sits in a pool of milk for an hour or two at a time. Just like when we have been in a long luxurious bath for over an hour (remember those times when you could do that?), when we get out our skin has absorbed water, it looks a bit soggy and wrinkly and more importantly, it is more sensitive and easier to damage! I have seen this with ni**les where a silver ni**le cup has been used a lot in between feeds. The skin is macerated, is sore and easier to damage. In one recent case the ni**les actually looked grey and soggy. Like they were developing trench foot.

Pros and cons of using silver ni**le caps

Pros
Silver possibly aides healing
Stops ni**les rubbing on clothing

Cons
Can cause skin to macerate which makes it more easily damaged
They are expensive
They won't treat the cause of the sore ni**les, make sure to seek breastfeeding support to work out what is going on.

So, yes some people love them. But do use with caution and for short periods, especially if you leak a lot.

03/07/2025

02/07/2025

The Infant Feeding Adjournment Debate from 1st July 19.30 brought by MP Jess Brown-Fuller who leads the All Party Parliamentary aground for Infant Feeding and Inequalities

What do you think? I thought Jess made some really great points. Let's see what happens next. We really have to get rid of the postcode lottery in breastfeeding support and to stop predatory formula marketing.

01/07/2025

It was so lovely for the NBH team to catch up with Emma Pickett, Lucy Webber Feeding Support - IBCLC and Kathryn Stagg IBCLC - lactation consultant last weekend at the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (ABM) Conference - and share about the work we do on the National Breastfeeding Helpline!

[ID: Collage of images of the ABM conference. Women standing next to breastfeeding support banners for National Breastfeeding Helpline and Drugs in Breastmilk service. Close up of the table full oLucy Webber Feeding Support - IBCLC

30/06/2025

Health Care Professionals
Invitation to participate in research from University College, Cork.

We are conducting a study looking at the experiences and preferences of healthcare professionals in assessment of infant feeding and child anthropometric outcomes. Your input will help us to contribute to the international evidence base for measuring health outcomes in early childhood.

If you would like to be a part of this important contribution, we invite you to complete this anonymous survey:
https://ucc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1TCQjNDMIRZ0owC.

This study is part of a larger project that is funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) and is led and supervised by Dr Karen Matvienko-Sikar from the School of Public Health, University College Cork.

Thank you in advance for your support!

28/06/2025

A brilliant talk from Rebel Milk Charlotte Treitl

Charlotte wins the favourite graphic of the day with her words "Poonami, normal, but not essential". How often are you going to hear that?

Tell us, did you ever experience a Poonami?

28/06/2025

Next up

Shereen Soliman joined us live from Egypt for her Q&A after we watched her recorded talk. Shereen helped us to understand the roles of different breastfeeding supporters in non healthcare and medicine based professions, the role of technology, how to build effective collaborative strategies and how to address challenges and encourage collaborative frameworks to enhance maternal and infant health outcomes.

28/06/2025

First up, the wonderful Lucy Webber Feeding Support - IBCLC

has just finished talking about all things Fourth Trimester. Did your baby experience reflux symptoms? Chances are they did!