Breastfeeding Conferences Broken Sleep? Insights into biology, culture and parenting

McKenna pioneered the first behavioral and electrophysiological studies documenting differences between mothers and infants sleeping together and apart and has become known worldwide for his work in promoting studies of breast feeding and mother-infant co-sleeping.

A biological anthropologist, and director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory McKenna began his career studying the social behavior and development of monkeys and apes with an emphasis on parenting behavior and ecology. He has published over 150 articles and six books including a popular parenting book Sleeping With Your baby: A Parents Guide To Co-sleeping. He has co-edited Ancestral Landscapes In Human Evolution, Evolutionary Medicine, and a more recent co-edited volume Evolution and Health: New Perspectives.

He won the prestigious Shannon Award (with Dr. Sarah Mosko) from the National Institutes of Child Health and Development for his SIDS research and is the nation’s foremost authority and spokesperson to the national press on issues pertaining to infant and childhood sleep problems, sleep development, and breastfeeding.

Liz Crowe is an experienced social worker who has spent her career in paediatric intensive care specialising in crisis, trauma and end-of-life care with children and families. In the last two years her focus has shifted to the wellbeing of health care professionals and has submitted a PhD thesis investigating the risk and protective factors for the wellbeing of health care professionals. Liz is a passionate and humorous educator who regularly speaks internationally and is an active podcaster. Liz is the successful author of The little book of loss and grief you can read while you cry.

Lauren Porter is the Co-Director of the Centre for Attachment (www.centreforattachment.com.au), the Secretary of the Infant Mental Health Association Aotearoa New Zealand (IMHAANZ) the Presentation Advisory Committee of the Brainwave Trust and a family therapist and consultant.  She began her clinical work in 1993 with a focus on trauma.  She has since worked elsewhere in the USA and Germany before immigrating to New Zealand in 2002.  her current professional focus is on the merging of attachment theory with neuroscientfic data, with an eye towards the practical applications of everyday life.  She is the mother of two children and lives in Christchurch.

Anna Millichamp is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and PhD scholar. After graduating with first class honors from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane in 2009, Anna was awarded the highly sought after graduate placement at Sydney Children's Hospital (SCH) as a Paediatric Dietitian. It was during her work at SCH that Anna discovered her interest in paediatric feeding challenges and completed the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Approach to Feeding training. In 2011 Anna departed SCH to move with her husband to Byron Bay where she commenced her private dietetics practice and worked as a Research Assistant at Queensland University of Technology on various projects. Anna commenced her PhD in 2012 but took leave to have her first child. During this leave, Anna rediscovered her passion for paediatric feeding issues. She returned to her PhD in June 2014 with her current research focus: Improving available evidence for feeding children with oral anatomical defects to achieve optimal nutritional outcomes and minimise feeding difficulties.

In between breastfeeding her youngest boy, chasing after her oldest two boys, blogging and occasionally sleeping; Meg works with women to help them reach their breastfeeding goals. Meg has a degree in Psychology and was a La Leche League Leader (breastfeeding counsellor) for seven years before becoming an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and her prior work was in counselling and sexual health. She writes frequently on her website about all things breastfeeding, is a guest blogger and has published articles in “Nurture Parenting Magazine” and “Natural Mother Magazine”. Needless to say she passionate about helping women reach their breastfeeding goals and loves helping to get the word out about how women can do this! She places a huge emphasis on sharing evidenced based research without the sugary coating.

Pinky McKay is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and best-selling author of 4 titles including Parenting By Heart, Sleeping Like a Baby and Toddler Tactics (Penguin Random House), Pinky specializes in gentle parenting styles that honour mothers’ natural instincts to respond to their babies. Her books are endorsed by The Australian Breastfeeding Association and La Leche League International and recommended by The Australian Association of Infant Mental Health in their policy statement on Controlled Crying.

A sought after guest and keynote speaker at seminars for Health Professionals and parents, Pinky has spoken across Australia, New Zealand and the United states and has presented a popular Tedx talk, ‘Surrender is Not a Dirty Word’. Her reach extends worldwide through her books, e-programs, blogs and highly engaged facebook pages – Pinky McKay’s blogs, books, Baby Massage DVD, and ePrograms are available on her website www.pinkymckay.com.

Cecília Tomori is associate professor and director of global public health at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing with a joint appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is an anthropologist and public health scholar whose work investigates the structural and sociocultural drivers that shape health, illness, and health inequities. Recently, she has also been pursuing how science and health policy are influenced by financial and political interests. Tomori has collaborated with colleagues at Johns Hopkins and beyond on breastfeeding, infant sleep, infectious disease prevention, drug use and health policy, among other topics. She is an author of the 2023 Lancet Breastfeeding Series, three books on breastfeeding and reproduction, and numerous publications on a range of public health issues.

Tracy Cassels, PhD is the director of Evolutionary Parenting, a resource she founded for families in 2011 after the birth of her daughter. Currently she works directly with families consulting on a variety of parenting-related matters, but most specifically on sleep, and she also runs various self-paced courses for families on various topics.  Tracy serves as an Adviser to the Children’s Health & Human Rights Partnership, a non-profit agency dedicated to ending routine infant circumcision.  She has previously worked in the non-profit sector in agencies focused on education and social-emotional development.

She has a B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, also from the University of British Columbia.  The focus of her dissertation work was on empathy and theory of mind in young children. Her academic works have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Psychological Assessment, PLoS One, Personality and Individual Differences, Midwifery, and more. 

She is married and is a mother to two young kids and a “bonus mom” to one older kid.  She lives in a small town in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada.

Dr Anni Gethin is co-author of ‘Helping your baby to sleep: why gentle techniques work best’ - now in its 3rd edition. She also runs a research company, and works with not for profits to evaluate the impact of their programs. Anni lives in the Blue Mountains, NSW, with her 6 year old daughter (and has 3 adults sons).