Diana West (born August 8, 1965) is a leading lactation consultant and author specializing on the topic of

breastfeeding Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...

Biography

Diana West was born August 8, 1965, in

Rogers, Arkansas Rogers is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. Located in the Ozarks, it is part of the Northwest Arkansas region, one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. Rogers was the location of the first Walmart store, whose corpo ...

. West is the granddaughter of

Clyde T. Ellis Clyde Taylor Ellis (December 21, 1908 – February 9, 1980) was an American politician and a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Arkansas. Biography Born on a farm near Garfield, Arkansas, Ellis was the son of Cecil ...

(1908–1980),

congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

of Arkansas (1939–1943) and the first general manager (CEO) of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (1943–1967). West attended the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

, from which she obtained a

bachelor of arts degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

industrial psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology), an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupational ...

. She became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in 2002 and opened her private lactation consultation practice later the same year. She has published five books about breastfeeding. She lives in the Long Valley section of

Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey Washington Township is a township in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 18,197, a decrease of 336 (−1.8%) from the 2010 census count of 18,533, which in turn r ...

, with her three sons.

Work in the lactation field

West became involved in breastfeeding advocacy after her experiences trying to breastfeed her three children following breast reduction surgery. West is an accredited

La Leche League La Leche League International (LLLI) () is a non-governmental, nonprofit organization that organizes advocacy, education, and training related to breastfeeding. It is present in about 89 countries. The aim of the charity is to provide mother to ...

Leader and has worked for La Leche League International as their Director of Media Relations since 2011. She was a member of the review board of the United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA) professional journal ''Clinical Lactation''from May 2014 until October 2016. She was a member of the board of directors of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) from July 2008 until the end of 2009, working as Director of Professional Development. She has been on the board of the Monetary Investment for Lactation Consultant Certification (MILCC) and has been a speaker at professional and parenting conferences. Diana West has a private lactation consultation practice, and is a clinical lactation forms developer, a website developer, and administrator of the Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Surgeries, and Low Milk Supply, websites.

Published works

In her 2001 book, ''Defining Your Own Success: Breastfeeding After Breast Reduction Surgery'', West discusses the effects of breast reduction surgery on breastfeeding and provides practical advice to women in that situation. ''The Journal of Human Lactation'' described this book as "an excellent resource for healthcare professionals, in particular lactation consultants." West led a team of international lactation professionals in developing ''The Clinician's Breastfeeding Triage Tool'' for the International Lactation Consultant Association in 2007, which was revised in 2008 and 2014. This health care tool provided evidence-based information for first-line treatment of lactation dysfunction and pathologies. In her 2008 monograph with Dr. Elliot Hirsch, ''Clinics in Human Lactation: Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Procedures'', West and Hirsch examined the effects of breast and nipple procedures on lactation for medical professionals. In her 2008 book with Lisa Marasco about low milk production, ''The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk'', West and Marasco presented methods to identify the causes of low milk production and targeted strategies to increase them, including more effective milk removal, addressing hormonal dysfunction, and the use of

galactagogue A galactagogue, or galactogogue (from el, γάλα �αλακτ- milk, + ἀγωγός, leading), also known as a lactation inducer or milk booster, is a substance that promotes lactation in humans and other animals. It may be synthetic, plant- ...

s (herbs to increase lactation), such as goat's rue and

shatavari ''Asparagus racemosus'' (satavar, shatavari, or shatamull, shatawari) is a species of asparagus common throughout India and the Himalayas. and northern Australia. It grows tall and prefers to take root in gravelly, rocky soils high up in piedmo ...

. In her 2010 book with Diane Wiessinger and Teresa Pitman for La Leche League International, ''The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 8th edition'', Wiessinger, West, and Pitman re-wrote La Leche League International's landmark book about breastfeeding for the new millennial generation. In her 2014 book with Diane Wiessinger, Linda J. Smith, and Teresa Pitman for La Leche League International, ''Sweet Sleep: Nighttime and Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family'', Wiessinger, West, Smith, and Pitman examined the risks and safety of bedsharing for breastfeeding mothers as a strategy to improve breastfeeding outcomes, and provided strategies to make bedsharing safer and easier.

LGBTQ lactation research

In 2014, West was instrumental in revising La Leche League's leadership eligibility criteria to allow leaders to serve no matter their

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

, following their initial rejection of

Trevor MacDonald Sir Trevor McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidadian-British people, British News presenter, newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN. McDonald was Knight ...

, a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

father. West commented, “It was thought that only women could breastfeed. Once it became clear it wasn’t as straightforward as that, the policy had to change. We’re just trying to be on the right side of history. Yes, we took a year to do it, but we did it in a way that was fair and unequivocal.” West went on to be part of a research team with MacDonald through the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

that conducted

qualitative research Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

about

transmasculine A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

individuals' experiences of

pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

birthing Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...

, and feeding their

newborns An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

. The group's research paper, "

Transmasculine A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

individuals’ experiences with lactation, chestfeeding, and gender identity: a qualitative study," contains the first known use of the word "chestfeeding" in the title of an academic paper, which is a term preferred by some transmasculine individuals to describe their lactation and nursing relationship. The paper is in the top 1% of the most-viewed academic research papers of all time.

Works

* ''Defining Your Own Success: Breastfeeding After Breast Reduction Surgery,'' La Leche League International, 2001. * ''Clinician's Breastfeeding Triage Tool,'' International Lactation Consultant Association, 2007–2014 (Editions 1–3). * ''Clinics in Human Lactation: Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Procedures, A Guide for Healthcare Professionals,'' Hale Publishing, 2008, with Elliot M. Hirsch. * ''The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk,'', McGraw-Hill, 2008, with Lisa Marasco. * ''The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 8th edition,'' Ballantine Books, 2010, with Diane Wiessinger and Teresa Pitman. * ''Sweet Sleep: Nighttime and Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family,'' Ballantine Books, 2014, with Diane Wiessinger, Linda J. Smith, and Teresa Pitman.

Footnotes

External links

"Diana West" biographical page
www.lactspeak.com/ Retrieved January 26, 2011.
Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Surgeries website
www.bfar.org/ Retrieved January 26, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Diana 1965 births Living people People from Rogers, Arkansas People from Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey Breastfeeding activists University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni American health activists