Weekly 90 min live session themes:

These are not lectures. They are facilitated, case-based discussions designed to help you think more clearly in real clinical situations — using physiology as your guide.

• Week 1 – Starting off right: where breastfeeding support quietly goes wrong

  Focus: The earliest hours and days — and why they matter more than most systems acknowledge.

  We’ll explore how milk supply is initiated in the immediate post-birth period, and why early decisions — separation, feeding patterns, supplementation, assumptions about “normal” — can quietly shape outcomes long before problems are visible.

  You’ll learn how to:
  • Recognise early risk factors for delayed or compromised milk production
  • Understand which babies and birthing contexts are more vulnerable from the outset
  • See how well-intended routines can unintentionally undermine milk supply
  • Reframe “normal newborn behaviour” through a physiological lens

  This week sets the foundation: once you understand how lactation is meant to begin, the rest starts to make sense.

• Week 2 – Making sense of low milk supply: the building phase and missed windows  

  Focus: What actually happens when milk supply doesn’t establish as expected — and why.

  We’ll work through real clinical cases involving delayed onset of lactation, sleepy or ineffective feeding, early supplementation, and missed stimulation during the critical building phase.

  You’ll learn how to:
  • Understand milk production as a time-sensitive, responsive system
  • Identify when supply is at risk before it is clearly low
  • See how early feeding patterns, stimulation, and separation affect long-term capacity
  • Explain low milk supply to mums and parents in a way that reduces shame and increases agency

  This is where many practitioners realise they’ve been trying to fix downstream problems without ever being shown how the system was compromised upstream.

• Week 3 – Policy vs physiology: when systems don’t match biology  

  Focus: How hospital policies interact with lactation physiology — for better or worse.

  We’ll examine common term and late-preterm feeding pathways and place them alongside current evidence and biological reality. This is not about blame — it’s about clarity.

  You’ll learn how to:
  • Read policies through a physiological lens
  • Identify where protocols protect milk supply — and where they don’t
  • Understand the specific risks faced by late-preterm and vulnerable babies
  • Practise questioning and adapting guidelines in ways that are clinically sound and professionally safe

  This week helps you move from “I know something isn’t right here” to “I can articulate why — and what would help.”

• Week 4 – From insight to practice: thinking like a detective  

  Focus: Integration — turning understanding into confident clinical reasoning.

  We’ll bring everything together and work through cases where milk supply is already compromised, asking:
  What happened? When did it happen? And what can realistically help now?

  You’ll learn how to:
  • Analyse real cases with clearer pattern recognition
  • Distinguish between fixable challenges and missed physiological windows
  • Support families honestly while preserving confidence and trust
  • Use this knowledge to prevent similar issues in future pregnancies
  • Teach colleagues or students with clarity rather than overwhelm

   

  This course is not about positioning, attachment, or treating sore nipples — those matter, but they are not the focus here. This cohort is about understanding lactation physiology so clearly that you can see why feeding situations unfold the way they do, and where meaningful intervention is still possible.