La Leche League Conference Report

6th to 8th March 2026

Report by Paula Luck

I was delighted to attend this conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Blanchardstown and man the ALCI exhibitor stand with my fellow council member Fiona Rea. There was an excellent programme of topics and speakers. The day opened with renowned keynote speaker Nancy Mohrbacher with a session titled “Breast, Bottle and Childhood Obesity”. Nancy discussed the education needed for exclusively pumping mothers to understand breast milk volumes and frequency when bottle feeding and how that impacts childhood obesity. She also emphasised the importance of any breast milk given to a baby by any means and the need to support that. There were sessions on screen time and relationships, navigating food in today's world, neurodivergence in mothers, nursing beyond infancy, and LLL tri gaeilge. 

Nils Bergman's first session was Skin to Skin- a Lifelong Gift to Your Baby.  He discussed the important physiological and infant mental health benefits of skin-to-skin for as soon as and as long as possible after birth. He continued this theme on day two with Nurture Science: The Case for Zero Separation, The Way Forward for the most vulnerable premature babies. He and his wife Jill gave a practical demonstration of safely implementing Kangaroo care and how procedures can be performed whilst the baby remains in kangaroo care for the maximum time possible.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD addressed the conference on day two. She spoke about Ireland's EU Presidency, the improvement in Ireland's breastfeeding rates, and how we compare to other European countries. She stressed the importance of dialogue and feedback between Breastfeeding support organisations and her department in influencing policy. She reinforced the importance of Breastfeeding supporters' vital role in supporting women and babies at such a vulnerable time in their lives. Her message could be summarised as much done but more to do to bring Ireland's rates comparable to other European countries. She reinforced the importance of recognising breastfeeding as fundamental in achieving better population health outcomes.