The proliferation of tools and devices designed to be used during lactation has occurred without an accompanying body of research to support it. Parents are receiving hundreds to thousands of marketing messages for these products during pregnancy and lactation, a time when they are especially vulnerable to being influenced about making buying decisions that they are told can impact their ability to breastfeed. In fact, any tool or device designed to support lactation can have a negative impact if used improperly or without indication.

Much like the "cascade of interventions" terminology used to describe how labor interventions accumulate, parents can also experience a cascade of lactation interventions. Lactation support providers in every setting need to keep up with the use and indications for these products and understand how to recognize when their use is becoming problematic so that they can educate parents prenatally and provide appropriate lactation care and referrals to a higher level of clinical lactation care or medical care as needed.

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In this session, we’ll talk about how we can help simplify lactation for so many by ensuring the basics are always in place.

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References for this session

Alibhai, K. M., Murphy, M. S., Dunn, S., Keely, E., O’Meara, P., Anderson, J., & El-Chaâr, D. (2022). Evaluation of a breastmilk hand expression toolkit: the MILK survey study. International Breastfeeding Journal, 17(1), 8.

Çınar, N., Karakaya Suzan, Ö., Kaya, Ö., Karataş, H., & Duken, M. E. (2021). Investigation of the Effect of Human Milk Expression Techniques on Milk Content: A Systematic Review. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, 67(6), fmab108.

Johnson, H. M., Eglash, A., Mitchell, K. B., Leeper, K., Smillie, C. M., Moore-Ostby, L., ... & Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. (2020). ABM Clinical Protocol# 32: management of hyperlactation. Breastfeeding Medicine, 15(3), 129-134.

McCue, K. F., & Stulberger, M. L. (2019). Maternal satisfaction with parallel pumping technique. Clinical Lactation, 10(2), 68-73.

McGuire, M. K., Seppo, A., Goga, A., Buonsenso, D., Collado, M. C., Donovan, S. M., ... & Van de Perre, P. (2021). Best practices for human milk collection for COVID-19 research. Breastfeeding Medicine, 16(1), 29-38.

Mitchell, K. B., Johnson, H. M., Rodríguez, J. M., Eglash, A., Scherzinger, C., Widmer, K., ... & Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. (2022). Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Clinical Protocol# 36: The Mastitis Spectrum, Revised 2022. Breastfeeding Medicine, 17(5), 360-376.

Moorhead, A. M., Amir, L. H., Forster, D. A., & Crawford, S. B. (2022). ‘Is there any point in me doing this?’Views and experiences of women in the Diabetes and Antenatal Milk Expressing (DAME) trial. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 18(2), e13307.

Shehata Ibrahim, S., El-Shabory, M. E. S., El-Hoda, N., Abdel–Fatah Mohamed Shehata, A., Mansour Moustafa Mohamed, S., & Osman, A. R. (2023). Effect of Hand Expression and Lactation Support on Self-Efficacy of Primiparous Mothers and Quality of Breast-feeding. Egyptian Journal of Health Care, 14(1), 34-44.

Witt, A. M., Bolman, M., & Kredit, S. (2016). Mothers value and utilize early outpatient education on breast massage and hand expression in their self-management of engorgement. Breastfeeding Medicine, 11(9), 433-439.

Witt, A. M., Bolman, M., Kredit, S., & Vanic, A. (2016). Therapeutic breast massage in lactation for the management of engorgement, plugged ducts, and mastitis. Journal of Human Lactation, 32(1), 123-131.

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