Click here for details.

All members welcome. Anyone who plans to come should inform the secretary, as some venues require names of attendees. Please also inform the co-ordinator of any proposed visitors. Send apologies to the secretary.

All meetings will be held at NCC Building (address below), and at 10.30 for 11am to 3pm, unless otherwise stated.

National Consumer Council (NCC) Building
20 Grosvenor Gardens
London
SW1W 0DH
3 minutes' walk westwards from Victoria Station

Tuesday 3 March at Postwatch, 28 Grosvenor Gardens, London  SW1W 0TT

Friday 3rd April - AGM at the LCGB Conference venue, Winchester. 6:15pm for 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Thursday 21st May NCC
Wednesday 15th July NCC
Tuesday 22nd Sept NCC
Wednesday 25th Nov at the BFI Conference, Bournemouth. Venue and time TBA

Another LCGB member receives MBE, New Year 2009, and NHS award

Lynda Coulter, Senior Neonatal Nurse at the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust and manager of the Chester & North Wales Milk Bank, has been awarded an MBE for services to Healthcare in the New Year Honours List. She was also named Nurse of the Year in the NHS Health and Social Care awards for her work with the milk bank. Many congratulations, Lynda!

LCGB co-ordinator honoured in Chichester Observer Community Awards, December 2008

Clare Meynell IBCLC, the present co-ordinator and breastfeeding lead at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, has been voted best community person for her work in BF support and training peer supporters. She was nominated by a Peer Supporter trainee, and received more votes than all the other 18 people nominated in this category. Clare's daughter, whom she trained as PS 3 years ago, collected the award on her behalf as Clare was abroad, visiting the newest grandchild. We are very proud of you, Clare!

35 candidates sat in two sites in the UK in 2008, some recertifying, with a 100% pass rate. The highest scorer in the UK and in Europe was LCGB member Angela Siderfin, recertifying by exam at 10 years. She works in Salisbury as an Infant Feeding Coordinator. Many congratulations, Angela!

Since 2006 LCGB have sponsored a Nigerian midwife, Musa Asibi Onyioza, in the ILCA Partner Program. Asibi worked as a volunteer on medical mission in Rwanda for two years, during which time she studied for her LC examination with a New Zealand IBCLC. Asibi took part in the Gold 08 online Lactation Conference: http://www.gold08.com/index.php?option=com_speakers&Itemid=28#speaker-28. We shared her joy when she passed her exam later that year. She has now returned to Nigeria, where she hopes to encourage others to become IBCLCs. She has been sent a copy of Alison's book Fit to Bust to amuse and encourage her.

Many congratulations to health visitor Sharon Breward IBCLC of North-West Wales NHS Trust. She was made a Member of the British Empire in the Queen's birthday honours for services to infant feeding. Her title now, as MBE, must also stand for Marvellous Breastfeeding Encourager. We fully expect Sharon to promote LCGB when she visits the Palace later this year!

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.

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!

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. There is a leaflet available 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