Testimonials

Luciana Stehlik 2020 Recipient 2021 Certified (Romania)

So about me lately, I had a lot of new things happening in my personal life. On 15th of January we welcomed baby Sebastian in our lives and the month following to birth we tried to find a new balance in our family life.  In the following weeks I lost my mother, so I felt the need to give me time and space to process and to grief.

As an IBCLC, I joined a breastfeeding clinic (Clinica de alăptare) who is formed by IBCLC's and pediatricians who are supporting breastfeeding and helping mothers overcome breastfeeding problems. I did at home consultations and online support at the peak of the pandemic waves. Also, I have created a breastfeeding class for new parents who will help them guide throughout first days. The scholarship helped me with an extensive knowledge about breastfeeding combined with the counseling skills that help me see the mother and baby dyad in a unique way. In the future I dream about opening my own private practice and to offer support to mothers pre and post birth. I created a Facebook and Instagram page as well - Jurnal de alăptare - who is meant to educate the public and new parents about what are the newborn needs, what is normal in breastfeeding and break the myths.

https://www.facebook.com/Jurnaldealaptare

Also, together with ACLR (the Romanian association of breastfeeding counselors) I am providing a class on How to become IBCLC for the persons interested in becoming certified lactation consultants. This guidance job makes me feel accomplished as I help people realize how important is to have professionals in the breastfeeding area from all the backgrounds.

Fionnuala Cooney 2016 Recipient 2019 Certified (Ireland)
Dr. Fionnuala Cooney MB, MRCOG, MSc Epi, FFPHMI, IBCLC.
Area Director of Public Health

Being a Trudi Szallasi scholarship recipient has been a very positive and life-enhancing experience. Indeed, not only did I benefit from having access to a range of excellent materials in preparation for the IBCLE examination, but also my professional status was enhanced and is continuing to be enhanced by being a scholarship recipient. Having the IBCLC qualification has enabled me to provide more authoritative inputs into policy, practice, and research on various aspects of human lactation in my Public Health work. These have included development of a national policy in Healthy Weight for Children, updating policy on vitamin D supplementation for infants, and providing input into the National Medicines Information Centre bulletin on the use of medicines for breastfeeding women. I also have contributed to a position paper on breastfeeding by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and I have been invited to join the editorial board of The International Breastfeeding Journal. As an IBCLC I have recently become a council member of the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland.

Qualifying as an IBCLC has been a very important part of my professional development and receiving the Trudi Szallasi scholarship was an incredibly positive incentive to me on my journey. It is my firm intention to continue to increase awareness on the public health importance of human lactation and to support actions that promote and protect breastfeeding.

Personal experience with the Trudi Szallasi Memorial Scholarship

Denise Rangel-Holbrook (San Antonio, Texas, USA) 2015 Scholarship Recipient

The path towards becoming an IBCLC can be a long one. For myself, there were college courses, additional educational hours and much more to consider. It quickly became overwhelming as the costs added up, but each year I made sure to do something towards certification to slowly inch my way closer to becoming qualified to sit for the exam. I was already a La Leche League Leader but I also got certified to teach breastfeeding classes and became heavily involved in the birth and breastfeeding community in my city. This was in addition to completing any course work that needed to be done.

Ms. Shela Akbar Ali Hirani (Awardee of the Year 2012 from Pakistan)

Trudi Szallasi Memorial Scholarship has enabled me to fulfill my dreams of pursuing formal education in lactation, confidently appear for the IBLCE certification exams, and become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). My IBCLC credentials is facilitating me to strive for promoting, supporting and protecting breastfeeding in my country Pakistan through my clinical practice, community services, teaching to nursing students, and research work.

As an Assistant Professor (full time Pediatric Nursing faculty) at Aga Khan University (Pakistan), my IBCLC credentials is enabling me to teach new advancement in lactation to the undergraduate and graduate level nursing students, and develop their interest in this specialty area. Being a pediatric faculty having IBCLC credentials, I have been serving as thesis committee member for the graduate and advanced diploma level nursing students interested in pursuing their research work pertinent to lactation. Till date, I have supervised/served as thesis committee member of students interested to analyze the effects of Kangaroo Mother Care on infant's outcomes, association of breastfeeding with childhood obesity, effects of maternal employment and their breastfeeding practices on children's emotional development.