About
Bio:
Zina Aghdasi is a Certified Lactation Counselor, Lactation Educator, researcher and mother of two. She has supported countless women seeking guidance on breastfeeding and is dedicated to providing and staying current with evidence-based knowledge on human lactation and maternal-child health. In addition to completing the Healthy Children Project Lactation Counselor Program, based on the World Health Organization/UNICEF Breastfeeding Counseling curriculum, and the University of California San Diego's Lactation Educator Counselor Program, Zina is well versed in the evolution of lactation, the physiology of milk production, and the biocultural aspects of breastfeeding. With a background in education and political science, Zina researches early-childhood rearing practices with special focus on the mother-infant dyad. Breastfeeding counseling complements this focus as it is an aspect of child rearing that holds historical importance for public health and human welfare. Zina has worked in a variety of educational settings as both a teacher and a manager. While at UNICEF, she orchestrated many community outreach and partnership initiatives and founded a website dedicated to international education practitioners. Zina is the voice behind www.lifeandchild.com, a blog which shares reflections on family, parenthood, natural living, and Organic Child Rearing. |
Training and Certification: Healthy Children Project Center For Breastfeeding Lactation Counselor Program, 2013: Lactation management program based on the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF Breastfeeding Counseling curriculum and ANCC Nursing Skills Competency program accredited by The American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation, The Commission on Dietetic Registration, The American College of Nurse Midwives, and The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. Certified by The Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice. Lactation Educator Counselor Program, University of California San Diego, 2014. Certificated by the University of California San Diego. |
The Benefits of Lactation Counseling
Counseling increases rates of breastfeeding duration and exclusivity, and provides mothers with the reassurance and support needed to meet their breastfeeding goals. There is much research that attests to the benefits of lactation counseling:
"The overwhelming majority of evidence from randomized controlled trials evaluating breastfeeding peer counseling indicates that peer counselors effectively improve rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity. Peer counseling interventions were also shown to significantly decrease the incidence of infant diarrhea and significantly increase the duration of lactational amenorrhea."¹
"The World Health Organization recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed until six months of age with breastfeeding continuing as an important part of the infant’s diet till at least two years of age. This is because there is extensive evidence on the short-term and long-term health risks of not breastfeeding for both infants and their mothers. Many mothers stop breastfeeding before they want to as a result of problems, many of which are preventable with good care and support. This premature discontinuation may cause disappointment and distress for the mothers and health problems for both themselves and their infants. Support for breastfeeding can include giving reassurance, praise, information, and the opportunity to discuss and to respond to a mother’s questions. This review looked at whether providing extra support for breastfeeding mothers, from professionals or from trained lay people or both, would help mothers to continue to breastfeed when compared with providing standard maternity care. The review found 52 randomised controlled studies from 21 countries that included more than 56,000 women. All forms of extra support, analysed together, showed an increase in the length of time women continued to breastfeed and the length of time women breastfed without introducing any other types of liquids or foods. Support by both lay supporters and professionals had a positive impact on breastfeeding outcomes." ²
"Lay and professional support together extended duration of any breastfeeding significantly.... Exclusive breastfeeding was significantly prolonged with use of WHO/UNICEF training."³
¹ Breastfeeding peer counseling: from efficacy through scale-up. Chapman DJ. et al. J Hum Lact. 2010 Aug;26(3):314-26.
² Renfrew MJ, McCormick FM, Wade A, Quinn B, Dowswell T. Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 5. Art. No.: CD001141. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001141.pub4.
³ Support for breastfeeding mothers.Britton C, McCormick FM, Renfrew MJ, Wade A, King SE. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Jan 24;(1):CD001141.
"The overwhelming majority of evidence from randomized controlled trials evaluating breastfeeding peer counseling indicates that peer counselors effectively improve rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity. Peer counseling interventions were also shown to significantly decrease the incidence of infant diarrhea and significantly increase the duration of lactational amenorrhea."¹
"The World Health Organization recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed until six months of age with breastfeeding continuing as an important part of the infant’s diet till at least two years of age. This is because there is extensive evidence on the short-term and long-term health risks of not breastfeeding for both infants and their mothers. Many mothers stop breastfeeding before they want to as a result of problems, many of which are preventable with good care and support. This premature discontinuation may cause disappointment and distress for the mothers and health problems for both themselves and their infants. Support for breastfeeding can include giving reassurance, praise, information, and the opportunity to discuss and to respond to a mother’s questions. This review looked at whether providing extra support for breastfeeding mothers, from professionals or from trained lay people or both, would help mothers to continue to breastfeed when compared with providing standard maternity care. The review found 52 randomised controlled studies from 21 countries that included more than 56,000 women. All forms of extra support, analysed together, showed an increase in the length of time women continued to breastfeed and the length of time women breastfed without introducing any other types of liquids or foods. Support by both lay supporters and professionals had a positive impact on breastfeeding outcomes." ²
"Lay and professional support together extended duration of any breastfeeding significantly.... Exclusive breastfeeding was significantly prolonged with use of WHO/UNICEF training."³
¹ Breastfeeding peer counseling: from efficacy through scale-up. Chapman DJ. et al. J Hum Lact. 2010 Aug;26(3):314-26.
² Renfrew MJ, McCormick FM, Wade A, Quinn B, Dowswell T. Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 5. Art. No.: CD001141. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001141.pub4.
³ Support for breastfeeding mothers.Britton C, McCormick FM, Renfrew MJ, Wade A, King SE. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Jan 24;(1):CD001141.