Wisconsin Association of Lactation Consultants (WALC)

11/02/2026

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10/17/2026

Recall of bedside sleeper:

Consumers should stop using the convertible bedside sleeper immediately and contact Papablic for a refund. Consumers will be asked to disassemble the product, cut the mattress and fabric components in half and email photos of the destroyed components to [email protected]. Upon receipt of proof of...

10/17/2026

Big news at the Milk Bank!

10/16/2026

Thanks, Wisconsin WIC Association for the great tips

10/12/2026

We celebrate the Native Breastfeeding Coalition of Wisconsin on this Indigenous People’s Day!

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day!

10/10/2026

Hi everyone! WALC 's November quarterly education has a in person or virtual option.

1st in person quarterly education since January 2020!

Free education for members and $20 for non-members. Recording will be available for 30 days with virtual option.

Date & Time: November 10th, 2026 from 10:00 am- 1:00 pm
Location: St Norbert College in De Pere, WI.

In person, people can choose to purchase lunch for $12 - salad and soup bar. Limit 50 attendees.

Please register by October 30th!

https://www.eventzilla.net/e/walc-quarterly-education--in-person--lactation-talk-with-family-providers-2138701210

10/10/2026

Hello WALC Members!
The WALC Board has recommended updates to our Bylaws. The main change is to not require the Treasurer and Secretary to be IBCLCs to broaden our field of eligible candidates.

Current Bylaws:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h5YlmOYgT--wCKlFAOVD8fq_VQp-cSTM/edit

DRAFT Updated Bylaws
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E-c76IJl4AxUh-RTC5oDGSxmvIIX87Ar/edit

Please follow this link to vote.
Each WALC Member gets one vote.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScAbESFfApxwg5aVMjlxq5inF77HO6MReZaMe-nUb39E0bJNg/viewform

Voting will close on October 23rd.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS!

Allison Laverty Montag is stepping down from her role as President. She is transitioning to Chair for the WALC Conference Committee. This leaves two positions open on the WALC Board.

PRESIDENT - President - Monitor email for communications, respond to inquiries, forward as needed. Facilitate meetings. Work with Scholarship and Grants. This role has a variety of activities that come from what arises.

SECRETARY - take minutes during quarterly Board and General Business meetings, send to group for input. Upload minutes to Google Drive and put on website for membership to view. Create agenda for both meetings, send out to group to with meeting reminder. Schedule Zoom meetings.

10/10/2026

Woohoo!

🎉 Exciting new research on the power of lactation support in the NICU!

A new study from the Medical College of Wisconsin followed 862 mother-baby pairs admitted to the NICU. Babies whose mothers had 4 to 6 lactation visits in the first 14 days after birth were nearly NINE TIMES more likely to go home receiving their mother's own milk.

The researchers' conclusion is clear: hospitals should make sure families have enough access to lactation consultants to meet this need.

Today we're celebrating the importance of skilled lactation support for every parent and every baby, the standard of care at Baby-Friendly designated facilities.

📖 Read the study in the Journal of Perinatology: https://vist.ly/5mpyy

🔗 Learn more about Baby-Friendly care: https://vist.ly/5mpz5

10/10/2026

New research! This post is from the Lactogenesis 1 group:

I have published a new paper with my coauthors Dr. Christina Raimondi MD FCFP NABBLM-C FABM IBCLC PMH-C, and Dr. Meghan Azad, PhD. It's about misinformation and science denialist rhetoric in breastfeeding and infant feeding. Stuff like this:

"This 'data-driven' economist says breastfeeding doesn't make a difference.”
"I read that Baby-Friendly hospitals starve babies."
"Formula-feeding helps fathers bond."
And yes, "fed is best"

"Breastfeeding Science Denialism: Unpacking a Hidden Harm,” open access in Maternal & Child Nutrition, describes how misinformation in infant feeding discourse follows the same playbook seen in other areas long targeted by science denialism, such as vaccines, climate change, and the harms of to***co. It is the first time a science denialism framework has been applied to breastfeeding misinformation.

We found that breastfeeding denialism tends to come in five strategic categories:

1. Minimization. "Breastfeeding benefits are oversold," "Fed is best," "All that matters is a healthy baby, etc. Here you also tend to see formula compared to MILK rather than to breastfeeding, which lowers the evidence bar that formula has to clear.

2. Misappropriation of research. Cherry-picking studies (e.g. PROBIT, the sibling study) to create an impression of scientific controversy where there is none.

3. Misrepresenting clinical standards. Lactation professionals are recast as "activists" rather than experts. Claims that clinicians routinely starve babies in the name of breastfeeding (which would be in direct contradiction of clinical guidelines).

4. Appeals to individualism. Breastfeeding reframed as a “lifestyle choice” rather than a public health/access issue. As long mothers are pointing fingers at each other, they aren’t pointing them at the people in power.

5. Leveraging authority. Physicians writing op-eds misrepresenting the science, IBCLCs participating in formula-sponsored events, and an industry-created "Infant Feeding Technician" credential that confers no clinical expertise.

We believe that lactation science is very cool, and science should never make a parent feel bad. That's not what any of us are here for. Part of what we're trying to do here is give people the tools to communicate this science more effectively, and with compassion and nuance.

We prescribe a systems approach:
🩺 Comprehensive lactation curricula in medical training
🏥 Professional organizations naming denialism directly, and supporting clinicians in pursuing lactation medicine
🏛 Policy that enables breastfeeding: paid leave, access to childcare, breastfeeding in school curricula

To ensure that busy clinicians are able tor read the paper, we made it 1. short and 2. open access 👇🏼

Please share widely in your professional networks!

In the digital age, misinformation about infant feeding threatens decades of public health efforts to revive breastfeeding. Increasingly sophisticated marketing exploits cultural knowledge gaps, serv...

10/09/2026

Placentas are incredible

The placenta is a remarkable organ, performing an extraordinary range of duties for the fetus. It does the work of the lungs, gut, liver, and kidneys, while helping the mother’s body adapt dynamically to the changes of pregnancy. But the placenta’s significance may also extend beyond pregnancy; research into its cellular growth could bear key insights into life-threatening conditions like cancer: https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-placenta-is-more-powerful-and-more-mysterious-than-you-think/