More Breastfeeding Abbreviations

On-line breastfeeding communities have their own abbreviations. I’m discovering that the community of breastfeeding professionals has its own set of abbreviations too.

AAFP = American Academy of Family Physicians, which recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months and warns: “If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at increased risk of illness if weaned.”

AAP = American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and says, “Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.”

AP = Attachment Parenting

APNO = All-Purpose Nipple Ointment available by prescription

CAPNO = Cheap All-Purpose Nipple Ointment prepared with over the counter ingredients

CBE = Certified Breastfeeding Educator (not an IBCLC described below)

CLC = Certified Lactation Counselor or Certified Lactation Consultant (not an IBCLC)

CLE = Certified Lactation Educator (not an IBCLC)

CLS = Certified Lactation Specialist (not an IBCLC)

CPS = Canadian Paediatric Society, which recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and says “breastfeeding may continue for up to two years and beyond”

IBCLC = International Board Certified Lactation Consultant

IBFAN = International Baby Food Action Network, which seeks to support breastfeeding and promote optimal infant feeding practices

KC or KMC = Kangaroo Care or Kangaroo Mother Care, the practice of skin-to-skin contact between mother (or father) and baby (both premature and full-term infants)

LAM = Lactational Amenorrhea Method of birth control

LLLL = La Leche League Leader, a mother who receives
training from La Leche League International and volunteers as a breastfeeding support person

NFP = Natural Family Planning, which differs from LAM and the unreliable rhythm method

RLC = Registered Lactation Consultant, a.k.a an IBCLC

UNICEF = United Nations Children’s Fund, which believes that breastfeeding should “continue until the child is two years or older”

WABA = World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action

WBW = World Breastfeeding Week

WHO = World Health Organization, which recommends that a child breastfeed for at least two years