Jarold “Tom” Johnston is a midwife and lactation consultant. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Nursing at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, his Masters Degree in Midwifery at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, and his Doctorate in Nursing Practice at Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH. He served 27 years in the US Army and retired as the Chief of Midwifery Services for Womack Army Medical Center, the largest Maternal-Child service in the Department of Defense. Since retiring Tom has spent his time as an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Methodist University where he teaches undergraduate nurses, specializing in Maternal-Child Nursing and Nutrition. Tom is uniquely placed as a man in both Midwifery and Human Lactation and the father of eight breastfed children. He has spent his career advocating for the rights of fathers in the perinatal arena and has spoken on a variety of topics at conferences around the world, to include the GOLD Lactation and GOLD Perinatal, but also at several conferences around the country and abroad. In his written work he routinely addresses fatherhood and the role of the father in the breastfeeding relationship, has advocated for better science in the field of bedsharing and has authored a chapter on the role of the father in breastfeeding for “Breastfeeding in Combat Boots: A survival guide to breastfeeding in the military”. If you are looking for some good night time reading to help you sleep, you might also want to read his work on Self-Efficacy in the Encyclopedia of Nursing Research or the Clinical aspects of breastfeeding in the Encyclopedia of Clinical Nursing. He is a board member for the Lactation Education Accreditation and Approval Committee (LEAARC) and the chair of the International task-force for the three pillars of the lactation profession (ILCA, IBLCE, and LEAARC).
Tom Johnston is unique as a midwife and lactation consultant and the father of eight breastfed children. Recently retired after 27 years in the US Army, he is now an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Methodist University where he teaches, among other things, Maternal-Child Nursing and Nutrition. You may have heard him at a number of conferences at the national level, to include the Association of Woman’s Health and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the International Lactation Consultant’s Association (ILCA), or perhaps at dozens of other conferences across the country. In his written work he routinely addresses fatherhood and the role of the father in the breastfeeding relationship and has authored a chapter on the role of the father in breastfeeding for “Breastfeeding in Combat Boots: A survival guide to breastfeeding in the military”.
Tom Johnston obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Nursing at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN and his Masters in Midwifery at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI, and his Doctorate in Nursing Practice at Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. He retired from the Army as the Chief of Midwifery Services for Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg NC after 27 years of service. He now uses his unique perspective to instill information and enthusiasm about Maternal-Child nursing to undergraduate nursing students at Methodist University in Fayetteville North Carolina. Tom is an frequent speaker on such topics as the father’s role in breastfeeding, the molecular biology of human lactation, and the Microbiome. He is the author of various publications on breastfeeding, nursing, and self-efficacy, and even has a blog to answer questions called “Sage Homme’s Breastfeeding Blog”
The field of Human Lactation is a new profession. Much of what we use comes from apprenticeship programs and hard learned lessons from a mother’s own personal experience. The lactation profession needs to investigate several of their practices and policies to discover what is evidence based and what is anecdotal evidence. This presentation explores the practices commonly employed in breastfeeding (growth monitoring, infant positioning, the use of assisted feeding devices, and counseling skills) to determine which are evidence based and which will require further study if they are to be used in clinical practice.
40 years of public health messaging has worked tremendously. We have met the HP2020 goals of >80% breastfeeding initiation, you are to be congratulated. Unfortunately, what we have missed is providing clinical skills training to our health care providers. We now have a majority of new families initiating breastfeeding and very few people prepared to care for them when there is trouble. Research shows that 80% of new families experience clinically significant breastfeeding problems in the first two months of lactation, and physicians and nurses are woefully unprepared to help. This leaves the families without care and unprepared for what may be a difficult and painful struggle. This presentation discusses the research regarding health care provider education and reports on studies that may demonstrate and effective way to encourage provider self-efficacy in breastfeeding support.
There is much to learn about the perinatal microbiome, What is it? What can it do? What do we do about it? How do our practices in the birth arena affect the long term health of women and their children? This presentation will scratch the surface of this exciting new area of research.
Did you know that a mother who breastfeeds her child is more likely to “match” as an organ donor than a mother who does not breastfeed her child? How does that happen? The answer may lie in the Maternal-Newborn Microbiome, AKA “The Oro-boobular” axis. The scientific world is exploding with excitement over the discovery of the microbiome. While it appears clear that suckling infant’s intestinal microbiome communicates with the mother’s lactocyte and perhaps beyond, little is known about the effects of this communication in practical terms. This presentation will review what is known and attempt to explain what it means, both now and in the future.
Despite the known risk factors, Cesarean Delivery rates continue to climb in much of the western world. Yet, the risk of cesarean delivery varies as much as 10 fold from hospital to hospital in America. It seems clear that individual provider and hospital practices has more to do with cesarean rates than maternal-fetal wellness. This presentation will discuss practices shown to decrease the risk of cesarean section and will discuss what the Labor and Delivery nurse can do to help prevent cesarean section within their facilities.
“I didn’t make enough milk!” We hear it on a regular basis from heartbroken new mothers. In fact, this is the number one factor contributing to breastfeeding failure after two weeks of age is a perception of inadequate milk production. This phenomenon of sudden onset lactation failure is widely accepted as a common occurrence among breastfeeding mothers. This topic has been the subject of a number of quality studies that have yielded a conflicting mix of responses from primary health care providers and lactation consultants alike. This discussion will attempt to shed light on the very different concepts of “Milk Production” vs. “Milk Synthesis” and will demonstrate how confusion between those two concepts have clouded the study of milk production, promote the fallacy of “insufficient milk production syndrome”, and contribute to the failure of breastfeeding. This presentation will also attempt to provide a preliminary course of action to begin anew in milk production research and perhaps even provide a framework for helping the new mothers facing the milk supply challenge.
In 1995 Chris Mulford published a timely article on the difficulties faced by breastfeeding mothers in a formula feeding culture. That article was as accurate then as it is today. This discussion will focus on continued difficulties faced by breastfeeding mothers in a society that is still decidedly focused on the formula feeding. We will discuss the concept of “culture” and how it impacts breastfeeding, discuss the routine actions in the hospital that contribute to the formula feeding culture, and identify the prejudices of both society in general and the average American mother-baby unit against breastfeeding.
This presentation discusses the common nursing role types in the hospital and how these character traits (which most nurses recognize either in themselves or their colleagues) lead to many of the most common breastfeeding complications seen in the first months of life. Note: This session is a humorous look at ourselves and those we work with. Most who see this presentation laugh at their own weaknesses and point at colleagues that they see represented in the stories I tell. This presentation focuses primarily on nurses.
Fathers are an undervalued resource in breastfeeding, often ignored or treated with indifference. This presentation highlights the unique role of fathers as both the Co-Parent of the child and the mother’s primary care giver upon discharge from the hospital. We will discuss the literature regarding the impact that fathers have on breastfeeding and how they can be used more effectively to support breastfeeding. The presenter will also provide an insight into the male mind and how to effectively communicate with fathers. It also covers effective teaching strategies to bring fathers into the breastfeeding relationship. Newly updated for 2020