The USBC is pleased to offer access to recorded webinars and sessions on various topics developed to spark meaningful conversations and deepen understanding.

For webinars that offered continuing education credits, live attendance is required to qualify for a certificate unless otherwise noted. 

Please reach out with questions or suggestions to [email protected].

Learning Opportunity Library

Perspectives from the United States Breastfeeding Committee: The Breastfeeding Legal and Professional Landscape

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee hosted a public information gathering session to inform the development of the consensus study "Understanding Breastfeeding Promotion, Initiation, and Support Across the United States: An Analysis." The session featured a presentation from USBC Director of Strategic Partnerships Camille Abbe and USBC National Policy Director Cheryl Lebedevitch titled, "Perspectives from the United States Breastfeeding Committee: The Breastfeeding Legal and Professional Landscape." 
The presentation outlined policies and gaps influencing breastfeeding outcomes and related economic considerations. View the recording!

New Rights for Lactating Students: Supporting Lactating Students Under Title IX

Beginning in August 2024, students nationwide will have the legal right to lactation breaks, space, and other accommodations. To help education institutions, lactation support providers, and advocates understand what the new protections mean for lactating students, this webinar offers an overview of the new legal obligations as well as practical solutions for educational institutions looking to add lactation spaces and other supports for their employees and students.
This educational opportunity was presented by the USBC-affiliated Workplace Support Constellation and co-hosted by BreastfeedLA, the California Breastfeeding Coalition, the Center for WorkLife Law, Every Mother, Inc., HealthConnect One, the Healthy Children Project, Healthy Horizons Corporate Lactation Services, the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, MomsRising, the Ohio Breastfeeding Alliance, and the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee. 
 
Watch the recorded session.

Let's Talk About Inclusion in Lactation: An Equity & Inclusive Language Toolkit

As a partnership of national organizations, the Breastfeeding Public HealthPartners (BPHP) is dedicated to addressing inequities in infant feeding through collaboration and strategic efforts. The BPHP recently developed a toolkit aimed at promoting access and equity in the lactation field through inclusive language and other equitable practices, such as the development of functionally inclusive materials.
Partnering with the USBC, the BPHP invites you to celebrate the launch of the Lactation Equity and Inclusive Language Toolkit. In this informative session, you'll gain insights into the toolkit's development process, hear about the key contents and their practical applications, and learn about its relevance to the First Food field. Viewers will also hear a success story from the field about their experience with implementing equitable language practices in their organization.

To access the recording, please complete this form. Upon completion, you will receive an email with a link for viewing the webinar recording. After accessing the toolkit, please consider leaving feedback about this resource.

Breast Milk Substitutes and Complementary Foods Marketing in the United States: Launch of the 2024 Country Report

The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee hosted the "Breast Milk Substitutes and Complementary Foods Marketing in the United States: Launch of the 2024 Country Report" webinar on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Developed by the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI), the BMS and CF Marketing indexes assess the marketing policies of the 20 largest baby food companies globally. As a compliment to this work, ATNI also conducts country studies that assess the companies' practices on the ground.
 This webinar was the launch event for the United States BMS and CF Marketing country report and featured a discussion with Kimarie Bugg, CEO and Change Leader of Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, on the impact of BMS and CF marketing on families and communities, and with Jennifer Pomeranz, Associate Professor of Public Health Policy and Management at the NYU School of Global Public Health, on legally-feasible pathways to address marketing practices in the U.S.

To access the recording, please complete this form. Upon completion, you will receive an email with a link for viewing the webinar recording.

NOPREN State of the Science Webinar: Public Policy and its Effect on Breastfeeding

The Nutrition & Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN) released a recording of the State of the Science webinar, featuring Cheryl Lebedevitch, USBC National Policy Director, and Dr. Heather Hamner, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Maternal, Infant, and Toddler Nutrition Team Lead. The webinar outlines CDC surveillance and research efforts, describes the current state of infant feeding in the United States and what it means for public health, provides an overview of the federal policies and investments impacting breastfeeding, and describes how recent events have shaped the infant feeding experience.
Watch this recorded session now and download the slides from this presentation by visiting NOPREN's link.

Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies: Community Preparedness Systems to Keep Babies Safe

Hosted in partnership with the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO), this session provides an overview of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E) Toolkit, shares current research exploring personal experiences and disaster-related factors that influence breastfeeding, and describes how NACCHO has supported communities in emergency preparedness for maternal and child population. 
Viewers also learn about how Jefferson County Health Department partnered with their Medical Reserve Corps unit and with community members to integrate pregnant people, families, and infants into Emergency Preparedness Planning.

Presenters include: Lauren O'Connor, MPH, CLC, McKing Consulting Corporation, CDC; Jennifer Russell, MSN, RN, IBCLC, PhD Candidate, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Allison Wilson, MPH, CLC, Jefferson County Public Health; Harpur Schwartz, MSPH, CHES, CLC, NACCHO; with Talei Moore, NACCHO, and Camille Abbe, USBC, moderating.
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Camille Abbe, USBC Director of Strategic Partnerships, opens this session with insight into USBC's position on infant nutrition security and the rapid formation and actions of the IYCF-E Constellation at the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

Watch this recorded session now and download the  Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E) Resource Guide.

Collaboratively Pursuing Policy Solutions: Lessons Learned from the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee

The evidence is clear that the policies and systems that shape and influence our lives have a significant and lasting impact on infant feeding outcomes. Too often, policy decisions have a population-level impact yet do not take into consideration the needs of infants, their mothers and lactating parents, and their families. For decades, the lactation field has come together to identify policy barriers and gaps and push for change. ​
USBC Deputy Director Amelia Psmythe Seger and USBC Senior Policy & Communications Manager Cheryl Lebedevitch review the organization's approach to organizing stakeholders for policy, systems, and environmental change efforts. They describe strategies for collaborating to create legislative change and share the policy priorities identified for the 118th congressional session.

Watch this recorded session now and download Amelia Psmythe Seger & Cheryl Lebedevitch's presenter slides. ​

Racism and the Colonial Roots of Gendered Language in Public Health and Biomedicine

Language and culture have a complex yet profound, interdependent relationship. Language is a system of communication to build relationships and create a sense of community. Culture is a set of behaviors, beliefs, and values shared by a group of people that influences their behavior and the interpretation of other people's behavior. Language influences culture, and culture influences language.​
During this presentation, hosted October 12, 2022, Dr. Aunchalee Palmquist, PhD, MA, IBCLC unpacks colonial influences on gendered language, the fluidity of language in other cultures, and inclusive approaches to transform the culture of the First Food field. The presenter slides include a reference list and questions for critical self-reflection.

Watch this recorded presentation now and download Dr. Aunchalee Palmquist's presenter slides. ​

Racial Equity 101 Series

This Racial Equity 101 series includes three previously-recorded webinars that will begin to lay the foundation for an understanding of the principles of racial equity. They are not exhaustive, as the work is ongoing for each of us, as individuals, and as organizations. You are welcome to view them at your convenience and return to them as you continue reflecting and processing the information. 

Equity work with meaning and impact begins with a personal learning journey. The USBC places a premium on meaningful opportunities for all voices to be heard, and is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Centering racial equity is a fundamentally-important part of our collective work building a "landscape of breastfeeding support" for all babies and families across the U.S. We're thrilled to have you on this journey with us!
Access the form now that will provide you with links for viewing each session once completed. Please note, as these sessions were previously recorded, continuing education is not available.

Session One: Securing Our Own Masks Before Helping Others

In this webinar, Felisha Brooks-Floyd, BS, CLC, IBCLC presents on the foundational skills of confronting implicit bias within ourselves before engaging with external sources of bias. She discusses how racism is upheld by both explicit and implicit bias and how racism is a structure we have all inherited. Attendees will learn how to perform critical self-assessments so that we are prepared to dismantle systems of structural racism and advance true and meaningful equity and inclusion. 

Session Two: Decolonizing Lactation Education

Presented by Camie Goldhammer, MSW, LICSW, IBCLC and Kimberly Moore-Salas, IBCLC, this webinar will introduce you to the Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor program and learn how the formation of this course was built to serve the Native community with skilled Native lactation care. Breastfeeding is a traditional practice and is essential in Indigenous resiliency, and viewers will learn how important it is that these communities receive culturally-relevant care. During this webinar, viewers will gather insight into the needs of Native families and learn how the IBC program is uniquely poised to deliver them. 

Session Three: Leading for Racial Equity

In this session, Elissa Sloan Perry helps us discover the key elements of Cultivating Leaderful Ecosystems and Advancing Deep Equity while centering racial equity and liberation. Attendees learn about diversity, inclusion, and equity differences in this presentation and how the white dominant culture can be transformed into an equity-promoting culture. This webinar encourages skill-building in listening, accountability, and holding one another in grace as we all aim for collective improvement and growth.

Unpacking Commercial Milk Formula Marketing Webinar Series: Communities, Contexts, and Impacts

​The USBC is pleased to have hosted the 2021 three-part webinar series: Unpacking Commercial Milk Formula Marketing: Communities, Contexts, and Impacts. This series marked the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and is part of an effort to create a shared understanding of commercial milk formula marketing practices and the disparate impact of marketing practices on communities in the U.S. and around the world.

Session One: Commercial Milk Formula Marketing: International Contexts and Tools

The U.S. plays a significant role in the global economy but has yet to adopt the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes.

In the first session of this series, Laurence Grummer-Strawn, MPA, MA, PhD and Rachel Crossley, MSc help us learn about the aggressive and unethical marketing of commercial milk formula that undermines efforts to improve breastfeeding. Dive into the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutions in this session, learn how to become an advocate for change, and discover how we can collectively take action to address today's global nutrition crisis.
​session handouts
Download Links to WHO Publications to Support WHO Code Implementation for Code and WHA resolutions, the NetCode monitoring toolkit, FAQ's on the Code, online training courses, Code status reports, and more.
presenter slides

Session Two: Commercial Milk Formula Marketing: Communities and Emergencies

Formula marketing impacts the provision of lactation support to communities with diverse needs, especially within communities of color.
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In the second session of this series, Malaika Ludman, MPH, CLC presents an overview of how formula marketing practices impact communities in emergencies as well as the various tactics that formula companies use to appeal to consumers, healthcare workers, health systems, and policy makers. Dr. Kimarie Bugg, DNP, FNP-BC, MPH, IBCLC explains how important breastfeeding representation is in the Black community and Lourdes Santaballa, MS, IBCLC, IYCFS takes us through the WHO Code in the context of Puerto Rico and local disasters.
session handouts
Download the Express Guide for Safe Infant Feeding During Emergencies from Alimentación Segura Infantil:
session slides

Session Three: Commercial Milk Formula Marketing: Organizing for Impact

What opportunities for collective work are there to influence policy on commercial milk formula marketing?

​In this third and final session in the series, Sally Mancini, MPH, presents research from the Rudd Center on infant formula and toddler milk marketing in the United States, demonstrating that deceptive formula marketing continues after infancy.  To better understand formula labeling issues and explain how the government can and cannot help with these Code violations, Jennifer Pomeranz, JD, MPH, brings a unique expertise as a Juris Doctor to this discussion. Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC, concludes this presentation with information about what advocacy levers we can use to take action now.
These sessions were approved for continuing education by the CDC. However, the ability to obtain these credits has since expired. 
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