Kirsten Berggren, PhD, RN, IBCLC

about Kirsten Berggren

Kirsten is an energetic and entertaining speaker who loves teaching. She speaks on two general topics: managing breastfeeding for the employed mother, and interpreting the scientific literature as it applies to breastfeeding. She considers herself bilingual, speaking both English and Science, and has a gift for making scientific information come to life with entertaining anecdotes and a generous dose of humor. Kirsten is an expert in the field of breastfeeding for employed mothers, host of the website WorkAndPump.com, and author of Working Without Weaning. She has done extensive medical education as well, lecturing to medical students, residents, and presenting grand rounds in pediatrics and obstetrics.

official bio

Kirsten Berggren has her doctorate in Anatomy and Neurobiology, is an RN and IBCLC, teaches nursing students, and is currently studying to be a nurse practitioner. She has been working with breastfeeding dyads since 2002, shortly after her daughter was born. Her own experiences as an employed breastfeeding mother shaped her work in breastfeeding, although she also enjoys general lactation work in an outpatient breastfeeding clinic. She lives in Burlington, Vermont with her two school-aged children, Kai and Talia.

sessions

Kirsten Berggren 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)

Practical Help for Working Mothers
60 - 180 minutes
CERP

Tips to help moms manage their return to work; including choosing a breastpump, managing her milk supply, bottle-feeding, and discussing her needs with employers and child care providersNote: This talk works well given as two separate sessions - the first on helping new moms navigate the return to work (including a review of pumps, starting bottles, etc), and the second on troubleshooting issues once she's back at work (including supply problems, scheduling, etc). This talk is a lot to fit into a 60 minute session, and is best done at at least 2 hours all together.

An Oxytocin Primer
60 - 75 minutes
CERP

Learn the ins and outs of how oxytocin acts in the body; influencing not only birth breastfeeding, but also mood, relationships, and physical health for both mother and baby.

Presenting the evidence in support of treating tongue-tie
60 - 75 minutes
CERP

Learn to use medical literature to make a case for treatment of ankyloglossia. This talk presents the most current literature on the subject, as well as tips for presenting to the medical community.

The Business Case for Breastfeeding
30 - 60 minutes
CERP

For employers or advocates, this talk discusses how to implement workplace lactation support, as well as evidence for the bottom-line benefits to businesses that support breastfeeding mothers. Note: This talk can be given as a 30 minute overview to business partners in local coalitions, to rotary club meetings, chamber of commerce groups, and others interested in the financial savings that can be obtained by providing workplace lactation support. It can also be given to breastfeeding advocates who will then in turn do outreach to businesses. This training is based on the HHS/HRSA Business Case for Breastfeeding as developed by Cathy Carothers and Kendall Cox.