BLUE SKY UPDATE Summer 2009

Last weekend I attended an excellent conference in Nagoya run by the Japanese Association of Lactation Consultants (JALC). They are working so hard to educate and inform Japanese doctors, midwives and health professionals about breastfeeding developments and changes in our understanding of how breastfeeding works.

Speakers included Jan Riordan, who wrote the definitive textbook for all students of lactation called Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, and Dr Christina Smillie whose DVD on Baby-led breastfeeding has significantly changed the way I (and many other IBCLCs) work with mothers and babies, with HUGE success. You may have seen it at one of my workshops.

I was also lucky enough to have dinner with Dr. Smillie in Tokyo, where she shared lots more of her clinical experiences, and emphasised that so much of breastfeeding success is about KEEPING MOTHERS & BABIES TOGETHER.
Evidence is mounting that everything goes better for mothers and babies where they spend lots of skin-to-skin time together, with baby snuggled on mum's chest, whether baby is awake or asleep. The release of oxytocin in both mother and baby provides numerous benefits for both, but especially, babies seem to be able to breastfeed better, and mothers produce more milk. I will post more about the benefits of oxytocin soon.

My new group, Heart 2 <3 (heart to heart), for parents of babies up to 2 months old has just started this year, and although each session has been small so far, we have enjoyed ourselves and the babies immensely. It is an opportunity to come and ask questions, without having a full-on lactation consultation, and you can ask questions or compare notes with other parents, share stories, and discuss any topic that is relevant to you and your little baby. Older babies are not excluded...just drop me a note first. Next session is tomorrow afternoon, and August and September sessions are in the works.

The first Blue Sky CPR/AED course is being held in Shibuya tomorrow morning (busy day!!) We have a whopping 23 parents registered! There will be a section at the end focusing on infant CPR, which I believe every parent should know. Our next CPR course will probably be in September or October. The waiting list is already open. This course is run in association with the Tokyo Fire Department and Dave Paddock from English Adventure.

Little Angels playgroup has its last session before the summer next Friday, July 17th. It will be a pot luck lunch, so please bring a plate of food to share. Our potlucks are always popular so please let me know if you plan to join us, as places are limited.

My breastfeeding workshops for expectant have been flooded with people this year, which has been fantastic! Upcoming dates are July 18th, September 13th, October 18th, November 15th and December 13th.

In other news:
La Leche League has a toddler meeting on Friday July 31st. The next regular meeting will be September 11th.
I will be talking at Tokyo Pregnancy group on Thursday August 27th.

I will be here throughout the summer, and apart from a couple of days in Nasu, I am available for lactation consultations and phone and email help as usual.
Have a wonderful summer, and if you are in Tokyo, keep cool!!