IN PERSON: Not your run-of-the-mill bodywork course

Facilitating Functional Infant Feeding through Skills Mastery & Collaborative Care.

Oral dysfunction, frequently a result of oral restrictions, is a common cause of breastfeeding challenges, yet breastfeeding dyads often face an even greater challenge in identifying and accessing providers who are highly skilled in guiding them through the process of functional assessment and habilitation.

Collaborative care, when provided by skilled IBCLCs and manual therapists/bodyworkers affords the breastfeeding dyad the most supportive approach to attaining functional feeding.

For at least a decade, IBCLCs, and even release providers have come to recognize, if not even embrace the profound collaborative role the bodyworker plays, both in assessment and functional habilitation. However, IBCLCs are now better trained to recognize effective bodywork and have become frustrated with the need to refer to multiple bodyworkers of varying vocations due to ineffective outcomes.

While we might love being the "baby specialist" in our communities, the depth of skill required to effectively support complex cases has broadened dramatically over the past 15 years in both the lactation and bodywork fields. IBCLCs and release providers have been inundated with opportunities to level up their skills with this population, but little advanced education has been available for manual therapists or bodyworkers of any vocation.

This course was designed to meet the need of experienced manual therapists and bodyworkers in leveling up their skills to effectively and efficiently meet the needs of breastfeeding families.

With a focus on skills mastery within the context of integration into the collaborative care model, this course presents a unique opportunity for licensed practitioners to deepen our skills to best meet the needs of the families we serve.

In treating these dyads effectively, manual therapists/bodyworkers require: Substantial knowledge of breastfeeding mechanics.

The technical skills to resolve the commonly missed, but most impactful structural issues in these babies.

The value of lengthening sessions, while reducing session frequency for better outcomes and less stress for the family.

The ability to initiate structural change within the first session.

The ability to translate what happens on the table to the breast.

The critical importance of a holistically appropriate approach in our work with these dyads.

A common language that facilitates excellent communication within the IBCLC/bodyworker/release provider triad.

Join us September 28th & 29th in CT for a 2 day advanced, hands-on course:

Facilitating Functional Infant Feeding through Skills Mastery & Collaborative Care.

Who is this course for?

This is an advanced skills course for licensed chiropractors, osteopaths, PTs, LMTs, etc who have experience working with infants and would like to optimize their skills with this population. (Please do not register if you are not licensed to practice in your state (you will be refunded less the Stripe fee)). 

FACULTY:

Faculty have specific expertise in working for decades with this population and have extensive teaching experience globally.

Christine Holefelder, LMT

Prior to becoming a massage therapist, Christine earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology in 1992 on an athletic scholarship. Christine has been a practicing bodyworker since 1997. She began teaching science for PSMT (Cortiva Institute) in 1998, and continued as faculty there until 2010, teaching basic and advanced massage therapy technique and science courses.

Since then, Christine she has developed a variety of her own training programs and treatment approaches, including Project Latch, Fascia Lab and Fascial Baby and Toddler.

Jennifer Tow, BFA, MA, IBCLC, LMT, CSOM

Jennifer has practiced holistic lactation and guided parents in raising their children holistically for over 25 years. A fascination with the physiology of wellness has led her on a 30-year journey exploring the influences on infant health that come to define long-term human well-being. Her interests are focused in the areas of epigenetics and the microbiome, gut-brain health, airway function and oral functional competency, exploring the profoundly far-reaching implications of this work for breastfeeding dyads.

While residing between the USA & France, Jennifer established an international client base and now sees most of her clients on-line, specializing in collaborating with her clients in resolving complex breastfeeding issues. With a Master's in Holistic Health Coaching, her reputation for guiding parents through these issues stems from her ability to integrate holistic modalities and an expanded skill-set, such as myofunctional therapy and craniosacral fascial therapy, into her practice.    

She is a writer and lecturer, offering workshops internationally and via webinar on breastfeeding & epigenetics, gut health & healing, tongue-tie & airway development and holistic breastfeeding practices. After a decade in development, she now offers a year-long advanced course in Integrative and Holistic Lactation. She is a founding member of IATP (the International Affiliation of Tongue-tie Professionals) and founder of the Holistic Lactation Institute. Jennifer is the mother of three children born at home in 1988, 1992 and 1998 and a granddaughter born at home in 2009. Contact: IBCLCMasterClass@gmail.com

Sharon Vallone, DC, FICCP (Fellow in Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics)’s clinical practice is in a multidiscipline environment and brings 25+ years of pediatric experience with a primary interest in pregnancy, birth trauma, breastfeeding and problems with infant /toddler neurodevelopment. She finds her role frequently to be a member of a support team for infants and children providing assessment, treatment and healthcare advocacy, as well as individualized treatment for children with functional challenges. She is the editor of the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics and teaches internationally in the International Chiropractor’s Association’s postgraduate program in pediatric chiropractic.

LOCATION:

Homewood Suites, 65 Glastonbury Blvd, Glastonbury, CT 06033, USA

Homewood Suites has provided a discounted rate. The deadline to book with this rate is August 29th.

Local Airport: BDL

INVESTMENT:

EARLY BIRD: $555 until extended through Aug 7, 2024

REGULAR FEE $630

Space is limited to 20 attendees facilitate an appropriate learning opportunity.  

Plan for 2 full days: September 28 8:30-6 (registration 8-8:30) and September 29 8-5pm.