Safe Sleep & Breastfeeding Conversations Module - Call for Module Reviewers

NACCHO is a member of the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS). Currently, we are in the process of reviewing modules for maternal child health providers. These modules were created to help shift the approaches that have often been used in promoting safe sleep and breastfeeding. We would like your assistance in creating a tool for community organizations and workers to use the modules efficiently.

Link to the modules:

Link to the survey:

Big Girls DO Cry: Breastfeeding and Mental Health (2019 Breastfeeding Lecture Series “Look Who’s Talking”)

On October 18, 2019, The Binational Breastfeeding Coalition hosted an amazing speaker for our “Look Who’s Talking” lecture series, Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, Ph.D., IBLCLC, RLC. Dr. Kendall-Tackett, a psychologist, is a world renown author, speaker and researcher in the fields of breastfeeding, trauma and mental health. She spent the day with us at University Medical Center, West, 6600 Desert Blvd. North, a beautiful new facility with a great view of the Franklins and the Oregon Mountains.

Dr. Kendall-Tackett delivered two talks: the first was “Does Breastfeeding Protect Mental Health? The Impact of Oxytocin and Stress,” and the second was “Breastfeeding’s Role in Overcoming Trauma and Adversity”. A wide variety of professionals attended, 70 in all: there were nurses, physicians, lactation consultants, speech language pathologists, professors, counselors, community health workers and a few lay people! There were attendees from both the United States and Mexico. We even had a mothers’ area at the back of the room where 6 moms with breastfed babies were able to feel comfortable and never miss a word of the presentations.

Lunch was provided by El Paso Health and there was a special lunch presentation of documentary film, “Birth in Pieces” produced by El Jardin Birth and Family. The film features interviews with new mothers as well as obstetric providers and experts in the field of anthropology and sociology. The movie tied in well with Dr. Kendall-Tackett’s topics, since mothers interviewed were very candid about their trauma and sometimes difficult birth experiences.

We would like to thank University Medical Center of El Paso, El Paso Health, Envision New Mexico at UNM, WIC El Paso, and El Jardin Birth and Family Resource Center. And, in addition, this presentation was partly sponsored with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, REACH grant, facilitated by the American Heart Association.

“What they didn’t teach you about breastfeeding in your training” with Dr. Jack Newman (2019 Breastfeeding Lecture Series “Look Who’s Talking”)

It was once said, “It takes a village to raise a family”, and in that same manner it takes a village to host a lecture with Dr. Jack Newman. It was true collaboration to host such a renowned expert in the field of lactation. Dr. Newman spoke to a room of 65 attendees, at El Paso Health’s office on the evening of June 18, 2019.

The lecture was well attended by a wide variety of lactation professionals all gathered in one place with the same agenda: to improve support for breastfeeding women and babies by learning from the dozens of brilliant video clips from Dr. Newman’s decades of practice.

Dr. Jack Newman is a Canadian-born pediatrician. He is a world famous author, lecturer and teacher. He spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of nurses, speech language pathologists, doulas, IBCLCs, CLCs, neonatologists, pediatricians, dentists, and dieticians, from El Paso, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, México.

As is typical for El Paso/Juárez hospitality, Dr. Jack Newman was presented with several gifts. He received a thank you plaque commemorating this event from Dr. Myriam Herrera and the BBC. He also received a basket of traditional Mexican candy donated by Dr. Karla del Bosque, from NaSer in Ciudad Juárez.  Dr. Prashant Joshi from El Paso Children’s Hospital also received a plaque and a basket of Mexican candy in recognition of the help he gave in facilitating Dr. Newman’s lecture.

The evening ended with a presentation to Dr. Newman of a beautiful painting by Patricia Beckmann, an artist well known in Mexico. The painting depicts a half woman/half Catrina breastfeeding two babies, (representing the U.S. and Mexico) with the Franklin Mountains in the background and the star on the mountain where her heart would be. The painting is entitled, “La Unión Sigue Adelante: Es Amor”. It is breathtakingly beautiful and a powerful statement.

Finally, the Binational Breastfeeding Coalition would like to enthusiastically thank all the partners who made this one-of-a-kind lecture possible: El Paso Health, Envision of UNM’s Department of Pediatrics, and Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso Department of Pediatrics.

Certified Lactation Counselor® (CLC) Training Course

Binational Breastfeeding Coalition is proud to host a Certified Lactation Counselor® (CLC) Training Course sponsored by the Healthy Children's Center For Breastfeeding. The course will take place October 17-21, 2016 at the Las Palmas Life Care Center (3333 N. Mesa, El Paso, TX 79902). Only 65 spots are available, so register today!

The interested person should go to www.centerforbreastfeeding.org, and click on the "Education" tab. Under "Lactation courses", hit the "Register Online" button which will take you to the registration form. Fill out form and select "El Paso, TX, Oct 17-21, 2016" for your location.

• Tuition is $575 for early bird registration, which starts now to 28 days before the start of the course. Regular tuition is $625 (registering 28 days before course)
• Group rates are available for individuals from the same institution
• The exam is an additional $120
• Continuing Education Credits are available for varying professions: RN, IBCLC, CNM, MD, RD, etc.

The student MUST register at the Healthy Children’s Center for Breastfeeding website- neither BBC nor Las Palmas can register students.