Welcome!

Breastfeeding Essentials is a professional development educational course on lactation and breastfeeding management for health professionals supporting women during pregnancy, birthing and for the duration of breastfeeding. The course covers the 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, and the 7-Point Plan for the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding in community settings.

It is assumed you will have some experience assisting women at these times or be currently working with pregnant, birthing or breastfeeding women. This course will be revision of some topics, bring you up-to-date with current research on others, and introduce you to other topics you may know little about.

Aim and Learning Objectives

On successful completion of this course the participant will be able to:

• Module One:
  • List the major macro- and micronutrients in breastmilk, their function in the baby and the effect of maternal diet on milk composition.
  • Outline the effects artificial feeding has on infants and children.
• Module Two:
  • Identify communication skills of listening, learning and building confidence.
• Module Three:
  • Outline the information to be given during antenatal discussions
  • Explain what antenatal preparation for breastfeeding is useful and what is not
  • Identify the parts of the breast and describe their function.
• Module Four:
  • List the hormones and their changes necessary for successful lactogenesis II.
  • Describe how the actions during labor and birth can support early breastfeeding.
  • Explain the importance of early contact for mother and baby
  • Explain ways to help initiate early breastfeeding
  • List ways to support breastfeeding after a caesarean section
• Module Five:
  • List the key elements of positioning the baby for comfortable and successful breastfeeding.
  • Describe what to look for when assessing a breastfeed.
  • Demonstrate how to help a mother position and latch her baby.
  • Identify the functional anatomy of the breast.
  • Describe how milk is transferred from the mother to the baby.
• Module Six:
  • Describe effective ways of presenting information to assist learning.
  • List six reasons a mother may need to hand express her breastmilk.
  • Be competent teaching hand expressing as assessed by the competency tool.
  • Describe their role in educating mothers about baby-led breastfeeding, commencing complementary foods and weaning.
  • Describe their role in monitoring growth of babies and children.
  • List the points to be covered when discussing co-sleeping and bed-sharing with parents.
  • Describe what they do to instill self-confidence in a mother.
  • Describe the 3 critical warning signs they discuss with mothers that will alert them to make an urgent appointment to see a health care professional.
  • Describe how they would teach a mother about the Lactational Amenorrhoea Method of birth control.
• Module Seven:
  • Describe their role in the care of the near-term baby.
  • Describe the breastfeeding plan they would develop for the first 4 days for a newborn baby who is not latching and breastfeeding.
  • List the signs and symptoms and hypoglycaemia, how to reduce its incidence and the feeding management of the affected infant.
  • Describe the onset of physiological jaundice in breastfed babies and the feeding management of the affected infant.
  • List 5 detrimental effects of giving artificial infant formula supplements to babies.
  • Outline common reasons for excessive crying, effective management strategies and general settling tips they would discuss with parents.
  • Outline their role in identifying and managing a baby who is failing to thrive.
• Module Eight:
  • Describe how to prevent engorgement and treatment strategies should it occur.
  • Describe how to prevent nipple damage and treatment strategies should it occur.
  • Describe the presentation of mammary candidiasis and treatment strategies.
  • Describe how to prevent mastitis and treatment strategies should it occur.
  • Describe how breastmilk production is maintained.
  • Describe the strategies they would suggest to increase a reduced milk supply.
  • List the recommendations regarding breastfeeding for mothers who have diabetes, are obese, have thyroid disease, are HBV, HCV or HIV positive.
• Module Nine:
  • Define the aim of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and what their responsibilities are under the Code.
  • Discuss the effects of the Baby Friendly Initiative on breastfeeding.
  • Describe ways they can promote, protect and support breastfeeding in their community.

Are your details correct?

BEFORE you commence your course confirm that your details are correct, particularly the spelling of your name as this is how it will appear on your Certificate. To do this click on 'Edit Profile' on the top left of the course opening page. Change your details as necessary, check that all 'required' fields are filled in and save it. If the information wasn't updated it's usually because a required field was left blank. Return to 'Edit Profile' make the necessary changes and fill out all required fields.

Course Activities

My Workbook

Click on the link to My Workbook that you'll find in the Learning Resources section of the course. When it opens, print the Workbook. As you progress through the modules you'll be directed to the Workbook to complete specific activities. Hand write your notes into the Workbook.

Many students purchase a ring binder to file the Workbook, one in which they are also able to add additional information as they find it in articles, etc.

Printing the Course

You may consider printing the course. Your workbook file would be an excellent place to keep it if you do. A word of warning though if you do ....

• Observe copyright! The entire course, including individual graphics, pictures, etc are protected by copyright. You may print ONE copy for your own personal use only. Please be ethical.
  You may NOT save the course nor any of the photographs or graphics onto your computer or in any other electronic form.
• Consider the environment. This is a long course and it will take nearly 200 pages to print it. You may find you learn better by completing the Workbook, and writing your own notes about topics you don't think you'll remember beside the Workbook activities.

Individual activities and Group activities

Show initiative! Group activities can be initiated by anyone, it doesn't have to be the program facilitator or a senior person in your workplace. Choose one or two that you find interesting, then choose a few like-minded colleagues to work with. You will find it very rewarding.

Self-test Quizzes

You'll find several activities such as crosswords, multiple-choice quizzes, scenarios to respond to, etc in each topic. Completion of these is just another learning tool for you and forms no part of your assessment.

Assessment and Certificate

You'll find the Assessment Quizzes in the Assessment section of the course (below the Learning Resources section). There is one quiz for each module. You will have 3 attempts to pass each quiz. You will need a minimum score of 4 out of 5 for the quizzes where there are 5 questions, and 8 out of 10 when there are 10 questions. If you are having difficulty passing the quizzes, please speak to your facilitator to discuss the issues.

As you pass each module a green tick will appear in one of the boxes beside your Certificate. When you've passed all of the modules your Certificate will be unlocked. You can now click on it and print it and save it to your computer. Do this as soon as you can after completing the course because once your enrolment period is completed you will no longer have access to the course or your Certificate and a replacement certificate will incur an administration fee.

Course Completion

Ask your Facilitator what your 'finish date' is, then plan to complete your course with plenty of time to spare. Some participants delay starting, then 'life happens' and they find they no longer have enough time to complete it. Your completion date will NOT be extended. To complete the course you or your employing institution will be asked to re-enrol and pay for you again to give you more time.

Evaluation of the Course

Like you we are continually striving to improve our practice. Your evaluation of the course will provide us with information that will help us to continue to make it better and better.

Just a comment or two....

This course is an evidence-based course developed using current researched knowledge or that published in contemporary and well-respected texts. Sometimes it may not agree with the practices of your Unit or your personal practices. If you are able to show us that your practices are correct by current standards the course will be changed, but if not we will just refer you to the evidence-based information.

Because it is an evidence-based course it is applicable internationally. Rather than choosing one version of English spelling you will find a jumble of American English and British English in an attempt to not offend one group all the time. Please be tolerant of this. Thank you.

From all at Health e-Learning I'd like to welcome you once again to Breastfeeding Essentials and hope you find your program enjoyable and stimulating.

Denise Fisher

Director, Health e-Learning