Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week with a panel on understanding the international CODE of the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. We have conversations around what the CODE means to clinicians and BFHI requirements, discuss practical situations and solutions, and what the future could like look with government legislation yet to be installed.

Please find additional resources discussed in the panel below to download.

This panel was hosted by ACM BFHI Program Coordinator and Midwifery Advisor, Julianne Germain and feature Panelists Professor Shahla Meedya, Decalie Brown and Dr Jennifer Hocking.

Panelists
Professor Shahla Meedya
Professor Shahla Meedya is one of the first WHO-trained Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI) educators and an accredited BFHI assessor with the Australian College of Midwives (ACM). She has been a practicing midwife since 1992, with extensive experience across both high-risk and low-risk clinical settings. In 2018, Shahla proudly represented Australia at the WHO BFHI Coordinators Meeting in the Netherlands. As a midwife, nurse educator, breastfeeding advocate, former International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, academic, and manager—and as a breastfeeding mother herself—she has consistently championed the promotion and protection of breastfeeding in healthcare and community settings.

Shahla completed her PhD with a focus on a breastfeeding support program titled The Milky Way Program, which she successfully translated into a free mobile application—the Milky Way App—now accessible to women globally. Currently, Professor Meedya holds a joint appointment with the Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research at Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and Western Sydney University. She has supervised nine PhD candidates to completion and is supervising four PhD students at the present, each focusing on innovative breastfeeding research, education, and intervention development. With over 85 peer-reviewed publications in the field of breastfeeding, Shahla is a respected voice in maternal and infant health research. She also serves as Sub-Editor of the Women and Birth journal, where she manages submissions related to breastfeeding.

Decalie Brown
RN. CM. IBCLC, CFHN, BHMtg, JP.
Registered Nurse, Midwife, Child & Family Health Nurse, IBCLC and Baby Friendly Assessor.

A nurse for 45 years, with years of experience working in Nursing admin, Midwifery, antenatal and infant feeding clinics and past 35 years as a senior Clinical Nurse Specialist within a busy Community Health LGA in Blue Mountains/ Lithgow, NSW.

I have been very fortunate to be able to support parents with breastfeeding and all aspects of feeding, sleeping and any infant behavioural issues. It’s been an amazing opportunity to provide the continued support to them to parent their infants till they were 5 years of age and off to school.

I continue my passion to support staff with their education especially those keen to become an IBCLC. I volunteer for ILCA, International lactation Consultants association with their Annual IBCLC Care award and as ILCA’s BFHI Liaison and the Nominations Committee and a Core group member with WBTIAus. Consumer Rep local NBMLHD BFHI committee.

A member of LCANZ, ILCA, MCFHNA & WBTIAus. With years of experience working in Nursing Admin, Midwifery, Antenatal clinics and past 35 years as a senior clinical nurse specialist within Child & Family Health.

Dr Jennifer Hocking
BA | BN | GradDipMid | MMid | PhD | RM RN | FACM
Jen worked as a midwife in the Australian public maternity system for 20 years, has taught undergraduate midwives in the tertiary sector and completed a PhD that was a focused ethnographic study of lactation consultant practice. She now works for the Austral