ALPI ASSOCIATION OF LACTATION PROFESSIONALS INDIA
  • Home
  • Membership
  • Service Directory
  • Lactation Qualifications
  • Lactation Education
    • Begin Ed India's Online Lactation Courses
    • ALPI Meet Ups
    • Online Clinical Lactation Program (OLCP)
    • ALPI Mentorship
    • India's Online Lactation Conference >
      • Conference FAQs
  • Team ALPI
  • Member Engagement
  • ALPI History
  • Resources
    • Info Sheets for LP
    • COVID-19
    • ALPI Code
    • Articles
    • BF Resource Sheets
    • ALPI Blog
  • ALPI's Mission
    • Providing
    • Promoting
    • Protecting
    • Partnering
  • Contact
  • Lactation Professional/ Lactation Consultant
  • Home
  • Membership
  • Service Directory
  • Lactation Qualifications
  • Lactation Education
    • Begin Ed India's Online Lactation Courses
    • ALPI Meet Ups
    • Online Clinical Lactation Program (OLCP)
    • ALPI Mentorship
    • India's Online Lactation Conference >
      • Conference FAQs
  • Team ALPI
  • Member Engagement
  • ALPI History
  • Resources
    • Info Sheets for LP
    • COVID-19
    • ALPI Code
    • Articles
    • BF Resource Sheets
    • ALPI Blog
  • ALPI's Mission
    • Providing
    • Promoting
    • Protecting
    • Partnering
  • Contact
  • Lactation Professional/ Lactation Consultant
Picture

TOGETHER in Portland:  ALPI at ILCA Conference 2018

20/8/2018

0 Comments

 
Dr. Shacchee Baweja
IBCLC, MBBS, DCH, IYCF

August 20, 2018

I had read and heard a lot about ILCA conferences.  When I received a partial scholarship for the conference this year in Portland, I eagerly accepted it. I have been diligently saving for it for the last 2.5 years! My first impression when I reached the conference venue was that it was a very well organized huge event, little did I know that there were many surprises waiting for me in the coming days. 

This conference was very different from any other conference that I had attended in the past. There was so much love, passion, encouragement and openness. I had come to the conference expecting to learn about lactation and hoping to network with my colleagues from different parts of the world. I did all that and I learned much more about life as well! My learning came from the talks as well as from my interaction with various professionals:  lactation support people/ birth support people/ cranio-sacral therapists etc.

I learned about bias, inequity, and privilege. I learned what being inclusive means. I got a chance to hear success stories of some communities and also got the privilege of listening to trials and tribulations of certain others. After many sessions, I wanted to hug the presenter!  Imagine my surprise when on the first day of the conference I came face to face with Ms C W Jenna! I was so happy to meet many more of my idols:  Ms Alison Hazelbaker, Dr James McKenna, Dr Neils Bergmann etc were there. It was like a Madam Tussaud's kind of experience for me where I could be with my favorite celebrities as much as I want! To add to my joy, everyone was so gracious and welcoming. I got a chance to listen to them, to talk to them and also to click pictures with them!

I  made many friends over these 4 days. It is so much fun talking to people you share common passion and ideologies with. You connect instantly. I was happy to connect instantly with quite a lot of them. I got a chance to participate in a few events by the “Equity Team.” Again, it was a big learning experience.  This whole conference was such an amazing experience that I want all my Indian lactation field colleagues to experience it.  I felt all of us deserve to be there. I / we raised the issue of how impossibly expensive this conference is for majority of Indian lactation professionals a few times, and I got tremendous support from the attendees as well as the ILCA Board.

​We ( ALPI) organized a mehendi party for our ILCA colleagues as thank you and it was very much appreciated by people. The tie dye scarves which we gave as gifts were a huge hit! Last but not the least, I got a chance to carry our Tricolor in the “Parade of Flags” even. That was my most favorite part of the conference!

P.S. I have already started saving for any future conference that I can attend!



0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    August 2018
    July 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Contact us...We would love to hear from you!


Email

info@lactationprofessionalsindia.com