Presentation Topics

This is a list of my current lectures, all of which have been given many times, refined, and polished.  These presentation titles are only suggestions — feel free to change them, but please check with me to make sure the title still accurately describes the talk.  I can also develop a custom talk for your conference with enough lead-time.

Lactating Nipple Wounds in 2023/current year:  Innovative Breakthrough Treatments for Mammary Misery

60-90 mins
L-CERP
Audience: Professionals and Peer Counselors
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

This presentation is a deep-dive into the latest science of nipple trauma and wound healing, introducing exciting new and better treatment options, featuring vivid (and often graphic!) real-world photos contributed by parents and lactation colleagues around the world.

Nipple Knowledge

Pumping More Milk More Comfortably

60-90 mins
L-CERP
Audience: Professionals and Peer Counselors
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

Increasing numbers of parents around the world are pumping their milk when breastfeeding isn’t possible.  Offering insights from both personal experience and professional practice helping mothers pump over the last 25 years, this presentation explores strategies for maximizing milk removal and pumping comfort, including pump selection, flange fitting, hands-free options, scheduling, and tips that make all the difference.

ALTERNATE TITLE:  Sweet Sleep:  Is Bedsharing Safe for Breastfeeding Families?

75-90 mins R-CERP
Audience: Professionals, Peer Counselors, and Parents
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

Parents and healthcare professionals all over the world hear conflicting messages about where babies should sleep to minimize SIDS and suffocation risks.  This presentation presents an in-depth explanation of the science and research supporting the safety of bedsharing for breastfeeding mothers and babies, introducing La Leche League Internationals’ “Safe Sleep Seven” as a bedsharing risk assessment tool.

Infant Sleep Training: History, Research, and Outcomes

60-75 mins
R-CERP
Audience: Professionals, Peer Counselors, and Parents
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

Parents hear confusing recommendations about sleep training and “crying-it-out.”  This presentation provides a discussion of the history underlying infant sleep training methods, their effects on feeding, and research findings on psychological and physiological outcomes. Gentle alternative methods are offered.

Men Breastfeed, Too:  Transmen’s Lactation Experiences and How to Help Them More Effectively

60-90 mins
L-CERP
Audience: Professionals, Peer Counselors, and Parents
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced 

Professional and volunteer breastfeeding counselors all over the world are seeing more and more transmen interested in breastfeeding (or “chestfeeding” as they may prefer to call it).  Yet our traditional breastfeeding terms and usual strategies don’t always help them effectively, and may have the potential to do more harm than good.  This engaging and eye-opening presentation presents the results of a 2016 qualitative research study about transmen‘s experiences with birth and lactation, sponsored by the University of Ottawa, Canada, which Diana co-authored with Trevor MacDonald,  Joy Noel-Weiss, and a team of cutting-edge researchers and clinicians.  Participants will learn practical strategies, techniques, and communication skills that better support the needs of transmen and their families to improve their breast/chestfeeding experiences and outcomes.

Improving Transgender Lactation Experiences and Outcomes

60-90 mins
L-CERP
Audience: Professionals, Peer Counselors, and Parents
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced 

Professional and volunteer breastfeeding counselors all over the world are seeing both male and female transgender people interested in breastfeeding (or “chestfeeding” as they may prefer to call it).  Yet our traditional breastfeeding terms and usual strategies don’t always help them effectively, and may have the potential to do more harm than good.  This engaging and eye-opening presentation presents the results of the 2016 qualitative research study about transmen‘s experiences with birth and lactation that I co-authored, as well as my insights from working with many transgender people.  Participants will learn practical strategies, techniques, and communication skills that better support the needs of transgender people and their families to improve their breast/chestfeeding experiences and outcomes.