Last updated at 14:50, Tuesday, 14 February 2012

THE organisers of the Ulverston Breastfeeding Festival are to hold the first national conference on the subject.

The all-day event is due to take place in Ulverston on March 26.

The independent and non-sponsored conference aims to provide health professionals with up-to-date, objective information on a variety of breastfeeding topics.

Swarthmoor mum Karen Butterfield, co-organiser of the annual breastfeeding festival which started in 2010, said: “The Breastfeeding Festival is a free, week-long programme of events but we found it was difficult for health professionals to attend.

“We decided we needed to pack as much as we could into one day to enable the health professionals to be able to get as much out of it as possible.”

Topics to be covered at the conference include tongue tie, a condition thought to affect one in 20 babies in some way, where a membrane extends from the underside of the tongue to the bottom of the inside of the mouth.

Other topics to be covered include mastitis, the inflammation of lactating breast tissue and thrush.

Donor breast milk for premature babies and help for mothers breastfeeding on neo-natal units will also be discussed.

The inaugural conference has been accredited by the Royal College of Midwives and approved by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

The conference welcomes back speakers from previous festivals, including Gillian Weaver, chairwoman of the UK Association for Milk Banking; Mike Brady, campaigns and networking co-ordinator for Baby Milk Action; and Shel Banks, baby friendly co-ordinator at Blackpool Training Hospitals.

Jo Dawson, co-organiser of the festival and conference, said: “We wanted to bring people to our conference who we knew we could trust for providing informative and exciting talks and we are delighted we were able to bring these speakers back, as well as acquire some new passionate speakers.”

For more information visit www.thebreastfeedingfestival.btck.co.uk/Conference.

First published at 13:08, Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk