Breastfeeding Essentials Series

Breastfeeding Essentials is a professional development educational course on lactation and breastfeeding management for health professionals supporting women during pregnancy, birthing and for the duration of breastfeeding.

The course includes application of the 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, and the 7-Point Plan for the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding in community settings.

The course is facilitated via the forum by an experienced online tutor. The forum provides a place where topical issues may be raised, case studies discussed, questions posed and answered, links to additional information provided, and students and the facilitator can interact.

Breastfeeding Essentials is a professional development course on lactation and breastfeeding management for medical professionals who support women during pregnancy, birthing and in the early weeks postpartum either in hospital or in the primary care setting.

The outline for this course was developed following extensive consultation with medical practitioners to discover their breastfeeding knowledge needs and their knowledge deficits. As well, pertinent literature and training curricula were evaluated to produce an appropriate and applicable course.

To ensure that the knowledge gained can be easily applied within normal medical practice, a case-based format has been used to provide clinically relevant evidence-based information. In addition, breast anatomy, lactation physiology, milk composition and other relevant topics have been included to provide a context for clinical diagnosis and management.

Some of the topics covered in this course may be very familiar for you. Others will bring you up-to-date with current research or provide ideas for using this knowledge in new ways. The course may also cover topics that you know very little about but are important for effective, integrated management of women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.