Welcome to the Medela University

Colostrum has long been referred to as “liquid gold,” but what exactly makes it so special?  In this webinar for healthcare providers, we will discuss the nutritional, but even more importantly, the amazing immunological and anti-infective properties of colostrum. This program has been approved for 1.0 contact hours; provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, CEP 13692.   Presenter Rebecca Hoban, MD MPH Dr Rebecca Hoban is a staff neonatologist and the Director of Breastfeeding Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children (“SickKids”) in Toronto, and an Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto. Dr Hoban graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine and completed a paediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Tufts University, and a MPH at Harvard before joining the Neonatology and Human Milk Research team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Dr Hoban joined SickKids in 2017 as neonatology staff, with a focus on human milk. Current projects include improving mother’s milk provision in the NICU, milk biomarkers to predict lactation success, inflammatory markers in human milk, and fresh milk as potential stem cell therapy in premature infants with intraventricular haemorrhage. Read more

All babies deserve access to the best nutrition possible. For very low birthweight babies, breast milk is not just the best nutritional source, it is a medical necessity. However, not all mothers are able to breastfeed. Human Milk Banks provide a valuable service to ensure that the most  vulnerable infants have access to human milk to help them develop, heal and thrive when mother’s own milk is not available or not enough to feed her baby. This program has been approved for 1.0 contact hours; provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, CEP 13692.   Presenter  Jonathan Bautista Jonathan Bautista is the Executive Director at San Jose Mothers’ Milk Bank and loves helping people plan, measure, and optimise operations. He has spent the majority of his career in the blood banking industry, gaining experiences in areas such as quality, manufacturing, and operations. He obtained his Bachelors in Medical Technology from the University of Kansas, and a Masters in Organisational Leadership from Regis University. Jonathan’s focus is on the mission of San Jose Mothers’ Milk Bank, which is, enhancing the availability of donor human milk for all babies. Read more

Own mother’s milk is a low cost intervention as high dose and long exposure reduces the incidence of chronic infant co-morbidities. However, the breastfeeding journey may be, particularly in high-risk populations such as mothers with a sick or preterm infant. In this webinar, you will learn which best practices have proven to be efficient to initiate lactation, build long-term milk production and increase the dose of mother’s own milk NICU infants. Moreover, you will learn more about how to personalize pasteurized Donor Human Milk with strategies to restore and modulate the intestinal microbiota in this vulnerable group of infants.   Presenters Early intervention to support human milk feeding in the NICU – a quality improvement initiative Dr. Daniela Much Scientific Manager, IBCLC, Medela Europe, Munich Daniela Much, PhD, IBCLC is Scientific Manager at Medela Europe since 2018. Before joining Medela, she was study coordinator and researcher at Technical University Munich and Helmholtz Center Munich, with over 10 years of experience in clinical trials in breastfeeding and lactating women and their infants. Her areas of research interest include the importance of effective lactation initiation in high-risk populations and proactive management of lactation care of mothers with preterm infants using a quality improvement approach. Dr. Much has published her work in several peer-reviewed journals and is speaker at national and international conferences.   Increasing the dose of mother’s own milk in the NICU: A quality improvement approach Prof. Rosalina Barroso Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca Hospital, Amadora, Portugal Rosalina Barroso, MD is Head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Portugal. With over 20 years of clinical experience in neonatology, she was President of the Neonatal Portuguese Society from 2013 until 2016. Her areas of research interest include nutrition and infection and the link between these two. Dr. Barroso has received the “Prémio da Qualidade Maria Amélia de Mello” and the "Prémio Bial de Medicina Clínica" awards for her work in neonatology.   Strategies to personalize Donor Human Milk through intestinal microbiota Dr. Chiara Tabasso Nutritional Biologist, Donor Human Milk Bank of Mangiagalli Hospital, Milan, Italy Dr. Chiara Tabasso is a Nutritional Biologist working since many years in the Donor Human Milk Bank “Nutrici” and Nutrition Center Mangiagalli, IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Milan, in Italy. She is personally involved in analysis of donor human milk, donors' screening and several research activities focused on donor human milk and human milk, such as the inoculation and personalization of donor human milk. Dr. Tabasso has applied her expertise in biology to nutritional science, so her research activities also cover nutritional assessments and studies about body composition of mothers and their children. Read more

Learn about the latest recommendations, research, and best practices with regards to human milk handling within the healthcare setting and consider ideas to implement within your hospital to improve patient safety.   This program has been approved for 1.0 contact hours; provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, CEP 13692.   Presenter Caroline Steele, MS, RD, CSP, IBCLC, FAND Caroline Steele is the Director of Clinical Nutrition and Lactation at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Caroline is a pediatric registered dietitian with over 26 years of experience. She is a Board-Certified Specialist in Pediatric Nutrition, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics.  Caroline has many professional publications and is a frequent lecturer on a variety of topics including breastmilk and formula handling, parenteral nutrition, and malnutrition documentation. She is also the co-editor and an author of the 2019 3rd edition of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ publication Infant and Pediatric Feedings: Guidelines for Breastmilk and Formula Preparation in Health Care Facilities and was an author in the 2nd edition of the publication. Read more

On February 26, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a key report on  the 55-billion-dollar formula industry and its negative impact on breastfeeding decisions. This webinar highlights key findings of the report and provide clinicians with tools to teach families why human milk matters. It is critical that families are presented with scientific evidence about the differences between human milk, donor milk and infant formula.   This program has been approved for 1.0 contact hours; provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, CEP 13692.   Presenter Diane Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN Diane L. Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN is a Professor of Perinatal Nursing & the Helen M. Shearer Professor of Nutrition at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing sharing a joint appointment as a nurse researcher and director of the lactation program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the clinical coordinator of the CHOP Mothers’ Milk Bank. Read more

This presentation highlights the newest evidence that mothers’ own milk is “personalized medicine” for NICU infants, and summarizes why donor human milk feedings do not yield the same beneficial outcomes.  Given that there is no optimal substitute for mothers’ own milk, strategies to prioritize its availability in the NICU are essential.  This session targets the first two weeks post-birth as a critical period that includes secretory activation and achievement of coming to volume in breast pump-dependent mothers of NICU infants, and includes evidence, best practices and the newest ongoing research in this area.   This program has been approved for 1.0 contact hours; provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, CEP 13692.   Presenter Prof. Paula Meier, PhD, RN Paula Meier, PhD, RN, is a Professor of Pediatrics and Nursing at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Meier has worked as a practitioner, researcher, and educator in the area of human milk, lactation and breastfeeding for premature infants and their mothers since 1975. Dr. Meier's lifetime research focus has been on the improvement of initiation and maintenance of lactation in breast pump-dependent mothers of NICU infants, and in the development and testing of clinical techniques to optimize the impact of human milk on health and cost outcomes in NICU infants. Read more