Impact of Culture in Lactation Support

This course offers a deep, thoughtful discussion of the ways in which culture affects lactation, starting with the most basic information. It begins with foundational questions: What is culture? What elements make up a culture? How is culture learned?

Instructor Nekisha Killings, MPH, CLC, IBCLC, RLC, defines race, ethnicity, bias, stereotype, and culture, and describes the critical ways cultural differences affect lactation, from the choice to feed human milk to the age of weaning and everything in between.

This course also describes the difference between an older, limited model of care—cultural competence—and a newer approach, cultural humility, which combines knowledge of a culture with a heartfelt sense of respect, empathy, and sensitivity, and truly collaborating with your clients for the best possible care. Killings offers specific, actionable tips for how to provide culturally humble lactation care with plenty of examples.

Students will also learn about power dynamics in health care relationships, as well as the role of bias, including the opportunity to take an Implicit Assumptions Test right within the course to examine their own biases. Killings has studied the impacts of culture on lactation support extensively throughout her career and handles equity, inclusion, and belonging for LER. If you are ready to dive deeply into the topic of how culture affects lactation, examine your own beliefs and experiences, and set the stage for lifelong growth in this area, this course is for you.