About the speakers

Di Huimin, MClinPsy, Cert-TCM, IBCLC

Di Huimin (aka English “Daphne”) is a Chinese educator, author and lactation consultant who speaks both domestically in China and internationally about the application of Traditional Chinese Medicine to the clinical management of breastfeeding and lactation challenges. She is the author of the most widely used textbook on breastfeeding and lactation in China and the founder and CEO of a private organization that provides IBLCE recognized lactation education programs for healthcare providers in over 20 major hospitals in China.

Certified in Traditional Chinese Medicineand Massage, Daphne synthesized this eastern knowledge with her western knowledge of breast anatomy and lactation physiology to create “Breast Hands-on Therapies for Love,” a massage technique to address a variety of common breastfeeding challenges. This unique manual therapy uses acupressure points to facilitate oxytocin release, which significantly augments the full ten finger breast massage, to give the patient a very comfortable, relaxing and effective treatment for such clinical issues as engorgement, local/regional ductal edema (“blocked ducts”), tender nipples, and problems with milk release and milk production.

Christina Smillie, MD, FAAP, IBCLC, FABM 

Dr. Smillie is a retired Connecticut pediatrician who speaks locally, nationally and internationally about the practical management of a wide variety of clinical issues associated with breastfeeding and lactation. Board certified in both pediatrics and lactation, she founded, in 1996, the first private medical practice in the USA devoted to the specialty of breastfeeding and lactation medicine. She has served on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Breastfeeding, on the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s Board of Directors, for the North American Board of Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine, and as peer reviewer for numerous journals. Recently retired from clinical practice, Dr. Smillie continues to speak, write, teach and mentor. As adjunct professor in the Department of Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine at the University of Rochester, she mentors physicians in the URMC Breastfeeding and Lactation Fellowship program.

Objectives for the 3-day workshop:

1. By the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to identify and describe the key concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine theory: yin & yang, Qi, meridians and acupoints, and describe the interface between these concepts and established lactation physiology.

2. By the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to choose, locate and use appropriate acupressure points on the neck, back, arms, hands and breasts to address maternal well-being and for four specific breastfeeding, pumping, and lactation issues: (1) enhancing milk ejection, (2) relieving engorgement, (3) treating nipple pain, and (4) resolving regional ductal edema, Specifically, the participants should be able to explain, using both TCM and western terminology, the lactation physiology underlying the acupressure effects.

3. By the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to describe both the meaning and the practice of the massage dictum, “Both hands, ten fingers, and love” and apply this practice to massage lactating mothers’ breasts comfortably and effectively to address maternal and infant well-being and four distinct breastfeeding conditions—(1) enhancing milk ejection and milk production, (2) relieving engorgement, (3) treating certain types of nipple pain, and (4) resolving regional ductal edema. Specifically, the participants should be able to explain, using both TCM and western physiologic terminology, the importance of adding “love” to the manual therapy dictum.