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Welcome to your news source for all things related to advocating for and growing the IBCLC® profession in the US!

Follow us as we share news from the field of lactation-related policy, legislation, and hot topics you most want to explore. Join us at NLCA.us.
August 2022

We exist to empower and advocate for holders of the IBCLC® credential in the marketplace, in legislation and in policy. Our vision is to advance health by ensuring access to care by persons holding the IBCLC® credential. 

Happy National Breastfeeding Month! Together we can do great things- and we are happy to announce that on August 2 the federal government approved Georgia’s State Plan Amendment (SPA) application allowing the State to add licensed Lactation Consultants as in-network Medicaid providers. The SPA also allows Georgia to add lactation care and services as a separate benefit for its Medicaid recipients. This new benefit creates access to clinical lactation care for more than half of Georgia’s new mothers and babies. We believe that it will also set the stage for other private insurance companies to follow suit. If you are a licensed Lactation Consultant in Georgia, you may apply to become a Medicaid provider here.  This is an exciting step towards equitable access to care and we congratulate the Georgia Department of Community Health in recognizing and addressing this important issue. We look forward to further developments in the application of this new opportunity.

Workshop Two: August 27, 1:00-4:30 pm ET
Extending Your Reach Beyond Patient Care

  • Session 1: Opportunities for Breastfeeding Support in a Pediatric Hospital

  • Session 2: Improving Outcomes Through Motivational Interviewing

  • Session 3: A Data and Team Driven Approach to Becoming a Baby Friendly Hospital

Faculty: Ginger Carney, MPH, RDN, LDN, IBCLC, FILCA, FAND; Glenda Dickerson, MS, RN, IBCLC; Sylvia Edwards, RN, MS, APN, IBCLC.  Three hours of continuing education for lactation consultants, nurses and dietitians have been applied for.

Purchase tickets to the August workshop, both the August workshop and on-demand access to our July workshop, or both summer workshops plus on-demand access to our January workshop, Moving the IBCLC® Forward: A Workshop on Improving Access to Clinical Care (awarded 3 E-CERPS, or three hours of CE for RNs and RDs) for a total of 9 hours of continuing education.

Workshops will be recorded and available after the event to those who cannot attend live. 

Click here for more information and to register or visit www.nlca.us

Join US 

 

NLCA will be exhibiting at the US Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA) conference in Norfolk, VA, September 22-24. Make sure to stop by our booth to meet board members, learn how we are working for you, and pick up materials to help you advance in your practice.
Join us Friday night, September 23, for a wine and cheese reception at the nearby Capo Capo restaurant. We hope to see you in person and work together to strategize for moving the profession forward. RSVP here!

 
 

NLCA Advocacy

NLCA will be attending the 2022 Infant Health Policy Summit August 31, in Washington, DC. Policy makers, advocates, and clinicians will spend the day discussing the Black maternal health crisis, infant formula shortages, RSV, and donor human milk. NLCA will be present to discuss how interventions, inclusion, and interactions of the IBCLC can be effective in addressing solutions to these maternal and infant health challenges. NLCA will be interacting with members of Congress to advocate for the IBCLC at the policy level.


 Meet The Board




Alicia Simpson

Alicia Simpson is a Registered Dietitian, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant® and Feeding Therapist. After graduating with her bachelor’s in marketing from Hampton University she started her career in marketing and sales focused in the healthcare industry. However, Alicia’s passion for public health and nutrition throughout the lifecycle led her to pursue her Master’s in Health Sciences with a concentration in Nutrition from Georgia State University while simultaneously earning a second bachelor’s degree, this time in Anthropology, also from Georgia State University. Alicia is also a graduate of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine.

Alicia is the only practicing registered dietitian who is also certified in feeding therapy for children with sensory processing disorders in the state of Georgia, providing a unique perspective in changing the long-term social and feeding behaviors of children who are resistant eaters due to sensory processing disorder and its related conditions.

Alicia is an award-winning published author who has authored four bestselling books including Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food (2009), Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations (2010), Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food (2012), and Boost Your Breastmilk: An All in One Guide for Nursing Mothers to Build a Healthy Milk Supply (2017). She has also written and chapters on Maternal Nutrition and Pediatric Nutrition for the Breastfeeding Child in International Core Curriculum for Lactation Consultant Practice (2018) and Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, 6th  Edition (2019). She is also a contributing author for several magazines and publications including Parenting and Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine.

Alicia has been awarded the Terry Jo Curtis Award by United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA) in 2018 which recognizes the exemplary efforts of those increasing access and equity for the US IBCLC®. She is the past chair of the membership committee for the USLCA where she presently serves as the USLCA liaison to the National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC). As a Board Member of the National Lactation Consultant Alliance, Alicia is also the Director of the Center for Lactation Equity. 

Scholarship Opportunity Coming Soon! Please watch our website at www.nlca.us and our Facebook page for information!

 


The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) has just released its 2022 hospital staffing standards entitled Standards for Professional Registered Nurse Staffing for Perinatal Units; of particular interest to IBCLCs are the recommendations for hospital IBCLC staffing.

Availability of lactation consultants 7 days a week is recommended to assist with complex breastfeeding issues. For inpatient care, 1.3 full-time equivalent lactation consultants are recommended per 1,000 well-baby births, and 4.3 full-time equivalent lactation consultants are recommended per 1,000 babies admitted to the NICU. 

In each birthing facility, all mother-baby couplets should have access to an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) upon request or as a referral for more complex feeding, anatomy, or neurologic impairment that affects nutritive intake at the breast/chest (Lober et al., 2021). Does your hospital, or the hospitals where your clients give birth, adhere to these staffing recommendations? If not, advocates may wish to provide such hospitals with these guidelines so that every birthing hospital practices the community standard of care for their lactating patients. Knowledge of these standards may serve as evidence for obtaining and retaining jobs for the IBCLC in the hospital setting. 
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