UMMS – Breastfeeding Basics for the NICU and PICU Healthcare Professionals

Breastfeeding Basics for the NICU and PICU Healthcare Professionals
University of Maryland Medical System

Overview

Lactating parents of premature and/or ill infants in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units need support in several dimensions. Given the superior health outcomes for human milk-fed premature and ill infants and the importance of lactation to maternal health, this course is designed to educate NICU/PICU teams (nurses, physicians, dietitians, lactation consultants, health professional students, etc) on how to support the establishment and maintenance of milk production. Sessions also cover strategies on troubleshooting lactation problems associated with pumping, feeding the infant at the breast, and the psychosocial challenges parents face when trying to meet their breastfeeding intentions.

This course is designed for University of Maryland Medical System staff and health professional students.

Objectives

• 1. Describe the maternal and infant risks of not breastfeeding
• 2. Identify special considerations that may preclude breastfeeding
• 3. Explain racial inequities in breastfeeding rates
• 4. Explain basic anatomy and physiology of breastfeeding
• 5. Outline steps in establishing milk production early postpartum
• 6. Explain the importance and management of skin to skin
• 7. Describe interventions to manage engorgement
• 8. Explain how to assemble and operate a hospital grade pump
• 9. Describe how to fit pump flanges.
• 10. Discuss the basics of a pumping plan to establish milk production.
• 11. Identify basic strategies in supporting the maintenance of milk production
• 12. Describe breastfeeding stages and expectations for milk transfer over time
• 13. Describe how to pace bottle feedings
• 14. Identify resources for medications during lactation

Topic Outline

• • Risks of a non-human milk diet for the NICU or PICU patient
• • Special considerations in providing human milk to the infant
• • Demographics and health inequity of human milk feeding
• • The basics of anatomy and physiology of lactation
• • Means of supporting lactating parents to come to volume in the first few weeks postpartum
• • The basics of pump use in the NICU or PICU
• • Strategies to support lactation long term
• • Feeding the NICU or PICU infant at the breast
• • Medications during lactation

Accreditation

CMEs: The AAFP has reviewed Breastfeeding Basics for NICU and PICU Healthcare Professionals and deemed it acceptable for up to 2 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credits. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

CMEs can be used for nurse credit hours. All state boards for nursing licensure approve of educational offerings that are approved by the American Nursing Credentialling Center (ANCC). According to ANCC Certification, the continuing education hours approved by the AAFP and AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ meet the requirement of formally approved continuing education hours and may be used as such for ANCC Certification renewal. https://www.nursingworld.org/certification/faqs/

CERPs: If purchased before 12/31/25, this course has been allocated 2(L) CERPs recognized by IBLCE. Long Term Provider #117-04.
If this course is purchased on or after January 1st, 2026, according to the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) Individual CERPs Guide for Recertification, Section IIIA, education that has been awarded educational credit by another board or organization may be counted as CERPs. All IABLE courses both live and enduring are awarded continuing education credits. Each CME credit could be counted as one CERP.  There is no limit to the number of CMEs that can be counted as CERPs.

IABLE has been accepted by International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) as a CERP Provider for the listed Continuing Education Recognition Points (CERPs) programme. Determination of CERPs eligibility or CERPs Provider status does not imply IBLCE®’s endorsement or assessment of education quality. INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF LACTATION CONSULTANT EXAMINERS®, IBLCE®, INTERNATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED LACTATION CONSULTANT®, and IBCLC® are registered marks of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.

Speakers

Liliana Simon MD, NABBLM-C, IBCLC, FABM
Dr. Simon works as a Pediatric Critical Care attending at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds a unique combination of expertise and board certifications in Pediatric Critical Care and Lactation and Breastfeeding Medicine; she is also highly knowledgeable in Palliative Care. She is actively engaged in education and research to advance breastfeeding care for hospitalized children, particularly in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). She is a Fellow of the ABM, and a Board member of IABLE. Her experience spans healthcare systems in Brazil, Montreal and the US and, while speaking multiple languages, she is passionate to providing culturally sensitive, comprehensive and compassionate care.

Anne Eglash MD, NABBLM-C, IBCLC, FABM
Anne Eglash MD, NABBLM-C, IBCLC, FABM, is a clinical professor with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. In addition to family medicine, she has been practicing breastfeeding and lactation medicine since 1994.

Dr. Eglash is a co-founder of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, the Medical Director and co-founder of the Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes, and the Medical Director of the University of Wisconsin Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine Clinic. She has published many peer- reviewed articles on breastfeeding medicine and is a past associate editor for Breastfeeding Medicine Journal.

Dr. Eglash is founder and president of The Institute for the Advancement of Breastfeeding and Lactation Education (IABLE), as well as a cofounder, inaugural president, and immediate past-president of the North American Board of Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine.

Jeannette Prentice MD
Dr. Jeannette Prentice is a neonatologist at Helen DeVoss Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids Michigan. She did her residency and fellowship at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio Texas. She has a special interest in breastfeeding medicine and quality improvement. One of her most recent QI projects was increasing MOM for babies in their NICU. She is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine.

Leigh Campbell MD, NABBLM-C, IBCLC, FAAP
Dr. Leigh Campbell is a board‑certified neonatologist, pediatrician, and lactation medicine physician with more than two decades of experience in maternal and newborn health. She is the first physician in Mississippi to become board certified in lactation medicine through the North American Board of Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine (NABBLM-C). She previously served as Director of Newborn Clinics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), where she collaborated with multidisciplinary teams to establish the institution’s first hospital‑based lactation clinic, ensuring consistent, evidence‑based support across inpatient and outpatient settings.

Motivated by her personal experience breastfeeding twins, Dr. Campbell founded Bloom and Grow Lactation in 2021. Her practice provides comprehensive lactation counseling and medical care for families, offering individualized support from birth through complex neonatal transitions. Drawing upon her neonatology expertise, she is particularly committed to breastfeeding support and the lactation challenges that families face when their infants require intensive care following birth. Following discharge and transition to home, Dr. Campbell continues to support families with ongoing guidance on breastfeeding, pumping, or mixed‑feeding to maintain optimal growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Stephanie Attarian MD, IBCLC, FABM
Dr. Stephanie Attarian is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee where she practices Neonatology and Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine. After attending medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, she completed training in Pediatrics and Neonatal/ Perinatal Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. During her fellowship training, she observed the gap in evidence-based support for lactating mothers of NICU infants which inspired her to become an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant®, fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and educator for the Institute for the Advancement of Breastfeeding and Lactation Education (IABLE). Dr. Attarian now focuses her academic work on neonatal nutrition and is working to improve breast milk utilization rates, specifically mother’s own milk, in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Conflicts of Interest

None