Baby Friendly Learning Circle with Gerry Kasten and Marianne Brophy

Nisga’a Twins

How to Support Baby Friendly Initiatives in Indigenous Communities

Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Join us, with Gerry Kasten, Dietitian and Nutritionist of the First Nations Health Authority,  who has brought us Fantastic Foods for Babies, Healthy Eating for Toddlers and Teens, Healthy Eating on a Budget, Traditional Foods in past learning circles. Now he’ll take us on another journey as he introduces the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI).

Marianne Brophy, Consultant and Educator will then go on to a discussion about the benefits of communities becoming Baby Friendly, and a summary the how and why of the BFI for communities. She will also talk about communities across Canada where the BFI has been implemented and how to support Baby Friendly in Indigenous communities and how communities can support breastfeeding, and implement policies that increase breastfeeding rates and extend the duration of breastfeeding.

Learning Objectives:

• What is the Baby Friendly Initiative in Canada?

  • What is a Baby Friendly Indigenous community?

  • What does a successful Baby Friendly Indigenous community look like?

The key target for The Circle would be Health Directors and Healthcare Staff in communities, although,

Session Video:

About the Presenters:

Marianne Brophy B. Com., IBCLC Consultant and Educator, Marianne is a Consultant, Educator and BFI Lead Assessor, past chair of the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada (BCC) board and BCC BFI Assessment Committee, and rep to WHO/UNICEF Network for BFHI Coordinators in Industrialized Countries. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (since 1990), and co-author of the Breastfeeding: Making a Difference Courses for Health Professionals and “train the trainer” courses for clinical educators in four provinces in Canada. She was honored to teach the breastfeeding component for the BC Aboriginal Doula pilot Program. Marianne is a part-time Adjunct-Professor in the UBC Department of Family Practice Midwifery Program. She has a busy family resource centre-based lactation consultant practice. Prior to immigrating to Canada she worked with UNICEF International and IBFAN Africa as a BFHI Master Educator and Master Assessor, and with La Leche League International as a Group Leader and Peer Counsellor Trainer. She serves on the executive of the Western Canada Association for Infant Mental Health. Marianne’s passion is systems level change and knowledge translation to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based best practice.

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 Gerry Kasten, RD, MSc, FDC – Dietitian, Community Health & Wellness Services,  has worked with food all of his life. He was born to a farming family and still helps his brother bring in the harvest each year.  He has received an Honours Diploma in Commercial Cooking, and Bachelors & Masters degrees in Nutrition. He has worked in Public Health in British Columbia for the past twenty-two years and is also a Sessional Instructor in UBC’s Dietetics program. He is currently the co-chair of Health Canada’s Infant Feeding Expert Advisory Group.  He wants to live in a world where people celebrate food, sharing it with those they love, taking its pleasure without restraint because its flavour saturates their most sensuous appetites.

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PDF version of the PowerPoint Presentation:

• Baby Friendly Initiatives – Marianne Brophy & Gerry Kasten