Infant Ready: Infant & Perinatal Emergency Preparedness

When disaster strikes, infants, young children, and pregnant and postpartum people are especially vulnerable, and they suffer some of the gravest harm. With their expertise in caring for this population, lactation, birth, and perinatal care providers can make the difference — but only if they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to help. This course provides that foundation.

Instructor Malaika Ludman, MPH, CLC, is a member-owner of the New Orleans-based Birthmark Doula Collective and a Program Coordinator with Infant Ready, a Birthmark program that provides families and their supporters with the tools and information to practice safe feeding in a disaster. Her lived experience includes directly supporting families during two category-4 storms that occurred amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ludman shares her expertise on:

• How to support breastfeeding families during an emergency
• How to support non-breastfeeding families during an emergency, including safe formula feeding
• Safe milk sharing in an emergency
• How infant feeding practices impact parent/caregiver health in emergencies
• The influence of media on infant feeding during emergencies
• How to teach families who are pregnant, have an infant, or have a young child how to prepare for an emergency
• How to create an emergency infant feeding kit
• Examples, case studies, and lessons learned from disasters around the world
• And much more

What’s in your IYCF-E toolbox? After this course, your tools will be up-to-date, complete, and ready to use.