5th Annual Virtual Breastfeeding Summit
Nourishing Legacies: Building Sustainable Breastfeeding Ecosystems
Continuing Education Credits
Are you a healthcare or support professional looking to earn continuing education credits? We offer CEUs for professionals in the following categories: Nursing, Social Work, and General.
Instructions on how to claim and pay for your CEUs will be provided during the registration process and at the conclusion of the event.
About the Breastfeeding Summit
Get ready for the 5th Annual Virtual Breastfeeding Summit, brought to you by The Wellness Coalition. This year’s theme, Nourishing Legacies: Building Sustainable Breastfeeding Ecosystems, focuses on creating long-term, community-centered support systems for families at every stage of their breastfeeding journey.
A truly sustainable breastfeeding environment relies on a strong “village.” When hospitals, community groups, lactation professionals, doulas, families, and workplaces team up, we ensure that mothers receive consistent, fair, and culturally responsive care. Breastfeeding support shouldn’t stop when a mother leaves the hospital. It is a continuous journey that begins in pregnancy, carries through birth, and extends deep into postpartum life and daily community activities.
Who Should Attend
This virtual summit is designed for anyone passionate about maternal and infant health:
- Moms, moms-to-be, and their support networks (partners, fathers, grandparents)
- Lactation professionals, doulas, and community health workers
- Nurses, social workers, and clinical healthcare providers
- Public health leaders, advocates, and community organizations
Summit Topics & Speakers
Caroline Baker, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC
Redefining Self-Care: Building Sustainable Care Practices for Professionals Serving Mothers and Infants
Professionals who support mothers and infants, including nurses, lactation consultants, doulas, social workers, and community health providers, often carry significant emotional and physical demands in their work. While self-care is frequently encouraged in helping professions, many traditional approaches fail to address the deeper emotional labor and stress experienced by those supporting families during pregnancy and postpartum.
This session challenges common misconceptions about self-care and explores why many commonly recommended strategies fall short for professionals working in emotionally demanding caregiving roles. Participants will gain insight into the impact of compassion fatigue, emotional absorption, and chronic stress on their wellbeing and their ability to sustainably support the families they serve.
Objectives:
- Identify signs of emotional overload and compassion fatigue in maternal health and caregiving roles.
- Differentiate between temporary relief strategies and sustainable self-care practices that support long-term wellbeing.
- Describe the impact of emotional labor and countertransference on professional effectiveness and personal wellbeing.
- Apply the 3Rs practical framework for recognizing, regulating, and reclaiming sustainable care practices in their work.
Emily Campbell, MPH, CHES
Alabama Partnership for Children
Implementing Evidence-Based Breastfeeding & Infant Feeding Practices in Early Care and Education Settings: The Alabama Breastfeeding Friendly Child Care Certification
Many early care and education (ECE) programs serving children and families in Alabama are making a great impact in supporting and encouraging breastfeeding. During this session, participants will have the opportunity to learn about the Alabama Breastfeeding Friendly Child Care Certification, a program of Alabama Healthy Kids, Healthy Future, and how it equips early childhood educators with the knowledge and skills to encourage and support breastfeeding families.
Objectives:
- Discuss the importance and benefits of implementing breastfeeding friendly spaces in early care and education (ECE) settings.
- Identify the evidence-based practices for creating breastfeeding friendly environments in a variety of ECE settings, including but not limited to: child care centers, family and group child care homes, and Head Start/Early Head Start programs.
- Describe the Breastfeeding Friendly Child Care Certification program, including the process that ECE programs complete to achieve certification.