Diana Cassar-Uhl, IBCLC

Expertise

  • Allergies/Intolerances and Breastfeeding
  • Elimination Diet for Breastfeeding
  • Co-Sleeping, Bed-Sharing, and Breastfeeding
  • Colic and Breastfeeding
  • Communication Skills for Breastfeeding Specialists
  • Digestion and Absorption of Human Milk
  • Extended Breastfeeding
  • Galactagogues
  • Infant Nutrition and Breastfeeding
  • Jaundice and Breastfeeding
  • Low Milk Production
  • Medications and Breastfeeding
  • Military Breastfeeding Mothers
  • Oversupply / Overactive Milk Ejection
  • Parenting Techniques
  • Public Breastfeeding Policy
  • Supplementation of the Breastfeeding Infant
  • Tandem Breastfeeding
  • Tongue-Tie Assessment and Treatment
  • Working and Breastfeeding

Upcoming Conferences

Previous Conferences

About the Speaker

Passionate about being an agent for change, Diana Cassar-Uhl, IBCLC and La Leche League Leader, cherishes every opportunity to educate mothers, lactation support people, healthcare providers, and policymakers about breastfeeding in the United States. Many of Diana’s areas of expertise stem from her own experiences, which she sought to understand and raise awareness of for other mothers. Whether the topic is cultural, such as breastfeeding in the military, or technical, like breastfeeding with insufficient glandular tissue, Diana’s enthusiasm and passion for educating shine through in her presentations. Organized and easily understood, Diana's presentations give all of her listeners the knowledge base they need to make an impact.

Official Bio for Brochure

Diana Cassar-Uhl, IBCLC and La Leche League Leader, has written articles for the La Leche League publications Leaven and Breastfeeding Today, and is the author of the La Leche League tear-off sheet Vitamin D, Your Baby, and You. She is a frequent presenter at breastfeeding education events. Having begun studies toward a Master of Public Health in 2011, Diana looks forward to a career in maternal/child health. Diana, mother to three breastfed children, served as a clarinetist on active Army duty in the West Point Band from 1995-2012. 

Presentations

This speaker is pleased to provide presentations on the following topics to professional and parenting conferences. Presentations on other topics may be available upon request and subject to sufficient development lead-time. (For CERP topics, required paperwork will be provided promptly to meet CERP deadlines.)

Supporting mothers with mammary hypoplasia/insufficient glandular tissue

75 - 90 minutes
CERP

Little is more heartbreaking to a breastfeeding supporter than when a mother practices proper breastfeeding management but still fails to produce milk for her baby. Learn to recognize one cause of primary lactation failure and how to help these mothers reach their breastfeeding goals.

Can also be extended to 2 hours if case studies are desired.

Vitamin D: mothers, babies, and you

75 - 90 minutes
CERP

Vitamin D is a controversial nutrient, playing a confirmed role in bone health and possibly involved with other health issues. We fear exposure to sunlight, our primary source of vitamin D, but recent research on vitamin D in pregnancy, lactation, infancy, and through the life cycle enables us to think critically about whether supplementation is necessary.

Can be presented as a 30-45 minute topic (non-CERP). 75-minute version is appropriate for CERP-track at parenting conferences; 90-minute version is most appropriate for healthcare provider audiences.

Ecological breastfeeding and lactational amenorrhea

75 - 90 minutes
CERP

As advocates for public health, it is valuable to be able to define ecological breastfeeding and how it works in a mother's body to suppress the hormonal surges that lead to ovulation and menstruation; understand factors that lead to natural child spacing and factors that reduce the time of lactational amenorrhea.

Easily understood by audiences of parents and/or healthcare providers.

Breastfeeding the Older Baby/Tandem Nursing

75 - 90 minutes
CERP

In the United States, few mothers breastfeed through infancy; even fewer continue nursing their children through toddlerhood and beyond.  Healthcare providers, while well-intentioned, are often misinformed and counsel mothers against normal-term breastfeeding.  Debunk the myths and discuss the challenges unique to breastfeeding a child at 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, and beyond, including breastfeeding while pregnant and tandem nursing.  

Can't Help Falling in Love with You: Mother/Baby Physiology

90 minutes
CERP

Mothers and their babies experience a remarkable concoction of functions and hormones that sets the stage for physical interdependency and a robust start to breastfeeding -- if it's permitted to proceed as nature intended.  "Go backstage" to see the mother and baby factors of a successful postpartum breastfeeding experience, followed by discussion of how Western culture, at each level of the Social Ecology of Health Model, can hinder and discourage the biologic norm if it is not protected.

Can be a 120-minute session if locally-oriented discussion about the barriers faced by breastfeeding families is desired.

Medications and Breastfeeding

75 - 90 minutes
CERP

Understanding whether, how, and why maternal medications affect breastfeeding, either by passing into the mother's milk or by changing the rate of milk production.

Easily assimilated by parents; advanced enough for healthcare providers. 90-minute version offers case studies.

Abnormal jaundice/hemolytic disease of the newborn

75 - 90 minutes
CERP

Identifying the difference between normal and abnormal jaundice, and understanding this cause of the rare, abnormal jaundice in newborns enables us to more effectively advise the mothers and healthcare providers we work with. Learn the predisposing factors to hemolytic disease of the newborn and how to best manage breastfeeding when a baby has this more serious occurrence of jaundice.

Please advise if this session is intended for an audience of parents; it is best suited for a healthcare provider audience but can be modified to suit your session needs.

Making breastfeeding work at work

60 - 75 minutes

"Not your mother's working-and-pumping session." A holistic approach to Identifying and implementing methods to support breastfeeding mothers who have to separate from their babies. Includes technical, emotional, and practical aspects of the support we can offer.

This session can be modified for R-CERP credit if requested. By request, his session can be presented in the context of supporting mothers through La Leche League Philosophy. This session can be adapted to address breastfeeding in the military. My session addresses but *does not emphasize* choosing and using a pump; I take a holistic approach to the circumstance of mother-baby separation and present opportunities for "outside the box" alternatives to combining separation with breastfeeding to optimize the mother-baby relationship.

From breadmaker to breadwinner

60 - 75 minutes

When our children grow up or life circumstances require us to work outside the home, explore the emotional and practical challenges mothers face when making this transition.

This session is best suited for a small group, as it lends itself to discussion more than lecture. Ideal as a parenting conference topic.

Finding your own view (learning styles)

75 - 90 minutes

Are you a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? How do you retrieve information from the files of your brain after you've acquired it from the outside world? Explore how your learning style affects how you work with others, and how to identify and teach to the learning styles of those you work with and for.

Through a hands-on game/exercise, participants will discover their own learning styles and understand the characteristics in others that convey learning styles. This session is best suited to a larger room where participants can pair off but not be disturbed by each other. **Please advise of participant count at least 1 week prior to conference, as I will need to acquire supplies for the activity.

Contact Info

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+1 (845) 534 8715

Curriculum Vitae

Speaking Services

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Nearest Airport: 
EWR
Willing To Travel To: 
Northeast - US
Mid-Atlantic - US
Southeast - US
Northern Mid-West - US
Central Mid-West - US
Southern Mid-West - US
Northwest - US
Mid-Pacific - US
Southwest - US
East Canada
Central Canada
West Canada
South America
Asia
West Europe
East Europe
United Kingdom
Middle East
Australia
Languages: 
English

References