Fit to Bust - a comic treasure chest. Alison Blenkinsop (LCGB's Media Liaison and poet laureate) has written a book to celebrate the lighter side of breastfeeding and raise funds for Baby Milk Action. Click here for more details.

According to many of the 170 or so participants, this was our best-ever conference. Many congratulations to Jill and Paul Dye and Hilary English for all their hard work in organising and running it. Activities were spread out over two days, with eight workshops, the AGM and dinner on the first day, and the main conference with four international speakers on the second day.

Workshops included presentations by LCGB members Sarah Brown, Alison Blenkinsop and Gwyneth Ward showing breastfeeding in various art forms such as paintings, poetry and song; Biological Nurturing with Dr Suzanne Colson www.biologicalnurturing.com; Preterm breastfeeding with Liz Jones; IBCLC recertification with Deborah Robertson http://www.breastfeedingspecialist.com/.

Other workshops were given by the main conference speakers: Long-term breastfeeding with Karleen Gribble; Treatment options for depression in breastfeeding women with Dr Kathleen Kendall-Tackett; Oxytocin with Dr Kerstin Uvnas Moberg; and Importance of the delivery system (anatomy of infant's mouth etc) with Dr Brian Palmer.

The AGM was well attended and plans for next year's conference were mooted. After dinner Alison Blenkinsop entertained us with a song about bed-sharing, "Five in the Bed", which involved other participants acting as the mother, the baby, the young girl, the young boy, and the father all rolling over and jumping into bed together!

The main conference had four presentations as follows:

Dr Brian Palmer, a retired dentist from USA, speaking on the hot topic of SIDS, dummies and sleep. www.brianpalmerdds.com

Dr Kerstin Uvnas Moberg PhD, professor of physiology in Uppsala, Sweden, sharing some of her research on oxytocin. http://www.oxytocin.org/oxy/love.html

Dr Kathleen Kendall-Tackett PhD, IBCLC, professor of psychology in New Hampshire, USA, on the Seven Natural Laws of Breastfeeding. http://www.breastfeedingmadesimple.com/

Dr Karleen Gribble PhD, research fellow in nursing in Western Sydney, Australia, on induced lactation and adoptive nursing. http://www.fourfriends.com/abrw/index.html

Watch the website for details of next year's conference!

We support Pakistani lactation consultants in breastfeeding promotion by paying their annual membership fees to the International Lactation Consultant Association. The ILCA Partner Program helps to foster links between groups or individuals interested in lactation. See http://www.ilca.org/sisprog.html and our partners' website http://www.newworldhope.org/Home.html

Many congratulations to Dr Irene Ridgers PhD, who has just become the first full LCGB member to be honoured with a doctorate. Irene, a midwife, undertook an ethnographic study to examine women's perspectives of their care on the postnatal ward, and to discover why some women describe a sense of having "escaped" from hospital after discharge home. Irene is to present her findings in June 2008 at the Triennial Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives in Glasgow, thus ensuring that the topic of breastfeeding has a high profile. She also plans to publish her thesis.

Well done, Irene!

Forthcoming members' meetings - held bi-monthly

Next LCGB meetings: all members welcome. Please inform the co-ordinator of any proposed visitors.

Wednesday 9th July, 11 am, at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. Afternoon speaker: Patti Rundall OBE, Policy Director, Baby Milk Action.

Tuesday 9th September - venue TBA.

Wednesday 26th November at Baby Friendly Conference - venue TBA.

Friday 9th January 2009 - venue TBA.

There were 50 candidates in two sites this year, some recertifying, with 100% pass rate. The highest scorer in the UK, and joint highest in Europe, was Nia Wyn Williams, a lead community midwife. Well done, Nia!

New constitution
LCGB adopted a new constitution at the AGM in 2007. You can download it here

Representation at breastfeeding conferences
LCGB continues to exhibit at major breastfeeding events. This was our stall at the 2003 Baby Friendly Initiative conference in Bournemouth.



ILCA/WABA fellow
In 2007 we were very proud that Sue Saunders IBCLC and LCGB member had been appointed the inaugural ILCA/WABA fellow (International Lactation Consultant Association and World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action). She spent two and a half months in Penang in the autumn of 2007, and gave presentations to factory workers and health professionals. She also trained 11 mothers to form a mother-to-mother peer support group, gave support to mothers and babies, and briefly worked with IBFAN. Her WABA (an NGO) project was to collate the lactation training that is offered to doctors globally.

Southern Baby and Toddler Show
Lynn Timms IBCLC organised this show in Portsmouth in early February. It was a great way of promoting good aspects of babycare without the presence of babyfood companies. Congratulations, Lynn!

Tongue-tie:
LCGB members have been at the forefront of developments in tongue-tie issues, giving information, training and presentations, encouraging changes in attitudes, facilitating treatment for affected babies, and generally raising awareness of the impact tongue-tie can have on early feeding. Mary O'Shea IBCLC has written a leaflet about the condition - see the Publications page. Carolyn Westcott IBCLC offers training to health professionals in Southampton. For more information, see the Baby Friendly Initiative website: http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/page.asp?page=151