Thank you for your interest in BCO Conferences

Our meetings are continuing education and networking opportunities that are designed by rotating planning committees.  Below are materials related to each year's conference.

 

March 2-3, 2012

  • Glowing reviews:  Several evaluation forms read, "Best BCO Conference yet!".  This SOLD OUT 2-day event was attended by more than 120 participants from across the state. Held in Portland, Oregon at the beautiful Marriott City Center boutique hotel in Portland, Oregon, participants wrote that they felt pampered and supported in great learning and networking opportunities. 
  • Theme:  Building on our successful OEBIN hospital summit and highlighting the US Surgeon Generals Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding, this year's title was, Stepping Toward A Baby-Friendlier Oregon.
  • Supporters:  Thank you so much to our generous supporters, without whom this event would not have been possible:  Oregon WIC, Oregon Public Health Institute, Hygeia, Limerick, and Medical Internatinal.
  • Poster sessions:This was our first year of inviting poster sessions for the conference.  Great community response, resulted in presentations in several Call to Action areas:
    • Community based organizations: International Center for Traditional Childbearing, La Leche League of Oregon, La Leche League of Roseburg, Nursing Mothers Counsel of Oregon, Baby Connection in Eugene/Springfield, and Columbia Gorge Breastfeeding Coalition.
    • Healthcare: St Vincent's skin-to-skin program, Oregon Health & Science University's "Can Do 5" program, Northwest Mothers Milk Bank (NWMMB), How to Open a Donor Drop Off Site for NWMMB, and Oregon's Ban the Bag efforts.
    • Workplace: Business Case for Breastfeeding Toolkit, "Finding Quality Child Care:  A Guide for Oregon Families:
  • Looking ahead to next year:  We learned a lot in the process of putting on this big event, lessons we'll apply to make next year's conference even better.  We will most likely have a Call for Abstracts, rather than having the planning committee recruit speakers, and we believe this will most likely lead to concurrent sessions, to meet divergent participant need and interest for a mix of clinical and community/organizaitonal content. 
  • To volunteer to be on the planning committee, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

May 23, 2010

October 2-3, 2010

  • Improving Maternity Care Practices Related to Breastfeeding
  • Theme:  An innovative two-day conference about evidence-based maternity care practices, birth facilities, and our community.
  • Our speakers generously allowed us to post their presentations.  NOTE: some of these files are extremely large and will take awhile to download.
  • Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon: 2010 Accomplishments, 2011 vision. Amelia Psmythe, BCO Director
  • Addressing the Nutritional Emergency of the Preterm Infant. Dr. Jae Kim.  The preterm infant faces a serious nutritional emergency.  Adequate nutrition is essential for normal growth and brain development.  The impact of early nutrition affects later health.  Vitamin D has unique roles in the health of the mother-infant dyad.
  • The Science of Human Milk Feeding. Dr. Jae Kim.  Covers the importance of human milk for human babies.  What human milk contains and why preterm infants in particular need milk to establish healthy gut flora.  Human milk contains a multitude of bioactive factors that confer optimum health to the preterm infant.  Human milk has highly variable composition between mothers and over time.  Includes information about donor human milk and milk banking.
  • Basics of Milk Production in Mothers of NICU Infants. Dr. Lisa Stellwagen.  Discusses the basics of milk production in mothers of NICU infants, including how milk is made, milk production, and how to help.
  • Making Sense of Infant Formulas, Milk Fortifiers and Additives. Dr. Jae Kim.  Discusses the components of infant formulas from the perspective of nutritional goals for the preterm infant, what these products have to offer, and where they fall short.  Human milk remains the optimal feeding for preterm and term infants.
  • Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition: SPIN Program.  Dr. Lisa Stellwagen. Includes the nutritional needs of the preterm infant, the challenges of providing breastmilk in the NICU, and the particular challenges at UCSD before they established this program.  Traces their development to Baby-Friendly designation, development of a NICU mission centered on breast milk feeding, and establishing clear goals for the program.  SPIN Program focal points:  early aggressive nutrition; standardized enteric feeding advancement; optimized fortification; increase human milk exposure; standardize response to in-hospital growth; optimal milk safety; handling and delivery; skin-to-skin care; getting baby to breast; and standardizing post-discharge nutrition.
  • Prevention of NEC. Dr. Jae Kim. This presentation focuses on the risk factors for NEC and prevention of NEC in premature infants.  Discusses how to move toward 100% human milk nutrition, including the IEAT -- Individual Enteric Advancement Table and tips for building a human milk feeding culture in the unit.
  • Preventing Extrauterine Growth Failure. Dr. Jae Kim.  This presentation focuses on the prevention of extrauterine growth failure, including strategies to standardize early parenteral nutrition.  This includes:  standardized feeding protocol with programmed fortification; early and exclusive human milk exposure; human milk analysis research; and standardized response to growth.
  • Help Mothers Make Milk.  Dr. Lisa Stellwagen.  This presentation focuses on ways to provide maternal support for making more milk in the NICU.  Strategies include:  clearly defined pumping strategies, proper equipment and anticipatory guidance before discharge.  Also discusses the common barriers to successful pumping.
  • How to Get Babies to Breast. Dr. Lisa Stellwagen.  This session focuses on steps the UCSD SPIN Program follows to support babies directly breastfeeding, including:  skin-to-skin, going to the breast, learning to breastfeed, breastfeeding and learning to bottle, and getting ready to go home.
  • Planning the Nutritional Discharge. Dr. Jae Kim.  This presentation focuses on steps the UCSD SPIN Program follows to transition babies from the NICU to home.  Includes organized discharge planning, communication with the primary care provider, education of parents, and post-discharge clinic at the NICU.  Includes the SPIN Program standard discharge documents.
  • The Burden of Not Breastfeeding.  Dr. Melissa Bartick.  Describes the background, methodology and results of Bartick's 2010 Pediatrics article, The Burden of Not Breastfeeding.  There are substantial cost implications for the US economy if 90% of babies are exclusively breastfed for six months.
  • Massachusetts Baby-Friendly Collaborative -- Lessons Learned.  Dr. Melissa Bartick.  In this presentation, Dr. Bartick shared information about collaboratives and the history of forming a Baby-Friendly collaborative in her state.  She emphasized that this was a simple, low-budget way to support one another in implementing tools and practices that help shift the culture at participating facilities, so that the path to Baby-Friendly is easier.  Session includes important tools her collaborative used in their facilities, like the WHO Warm Chain and simple techniques like culturally appropriate pro-lactation foods in the cafeterias.  Shortly after our conference, Dr. Bartick published an article in the Journal of Human Lactation about the MA Hospital Collaborative.
  • Baby Connection: Modeling Step 10 in Community.  Desiree Nelson, RN, IBCLC.  Desiree Nelson is co-founder of the Eugene-Springfield Baby Connection program, which provides weekly peer support under the guidance of licensed health professionals.  Families in her area have come to count on Baby Connection as a supportive resource for feeding advice, baby weight checks, parenting support, and referral to community resources.

May 7-8, 2009

  • Celebrate Women's Health Week with the Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon
  • Theme:  Featuring Lisa Marasco, Co-Author of Making More Milk, participants had the opportunity to explore the tangled web of low milk supply, look at ethical considerations of complementary therapies, novel ways to increase milk supply, and how to counsel mothers experiencing supply issues.  Community presentations included establishing a milk bank, WIC breastfeeding peer counselor story, and efforts toward paid family leave.

May 7, 2008

  • Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon Second Annual Meeting
  • Theme:  Featuring Dr. Christina Smillie, sharing her Baby-Led Breastfeeding: An Intuitive Approach.  Current methods of teaching breastfeeding can be problematic if they do not take advantage of the baby and mother's innate competence to breastfeed.  Community sessions included worksite lactation programs and a BCO Member Meeting.

May 4, 2007

  • Breastfeeding Matters in Oregon:  Education, Promotion and Community Connections
  • Theme: Oregon has the distinction of being among the leaders in breastfeeding, yet only one in five children in the state receive the absolute minimum of exclusive breastfeeding for six months.  We are leaders with a long way to go.  Speakers included Laurie Meteer from OHSU, Kat Shealy from the CDC, and BCO Member Meeting.