Lisa Amir

Painting of mother with light brown skin breastfeeding baby with white skin

Text listing artist as Brittany Jones and title of painting as New Madonna

Time for some art- dropped into Geelong Gallery to see Archibald prize finalists. This one caught my eye! 🤱🏻

Print featuring three bats hanging upside-down in branches of a tree with green leaves and orange blossoms

Australian printmaker Rachel Newling is inspired by the floral and fauna of her homeland.
'Grey Headed Flying Fox', hand coloured linocut #ReframjngWomenPrintmakers

Australian bird of the year 2025: vote for your favourite #birdoftheyear in the Guardian / BirdLife Australia poll From little penguins to (very big) cassowaries, every bird has its fans. Vote for your favourite in the 2025 Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll

Don't forget to vote, each day, for #TeamPelican
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

oil painting of woman looking unwell and wearing t-shirt showing red area on breast

I have a painting I commissioned:
"This is mastitis"
Artist: Leanne Pearce
(My family don't like it, but I love it!)

😭

Our new article continuing discussion abt breastfeeding pain.

"Educating breastfeeding women and healthcare personnel about the biopsychosocial nature of pain may empower women to better navigate the challenges of breastfeeding and improve breastfeeding outcomes."

www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/15...

Lancet Series on Ultra-processed Foods

How did ultra-processed foods come to dominate what much of the world eats–and what can we do about it?

🌍 Join the launch of The Lancet Series on UPFs & Human Health, 19 Nov (London + online)

Experts will unpack the science, policy & politics of UPFs
🔗 Register: www.fsp.usp.br/nupens/launc...

Photo of a gallery space with large suspended and wall mounted artworks, the walls are white and the floor brown, two women view the art

Indigenous artist Emily Kam Kngwarray is the first Australian artist to have a solo exhibition at London's Tate Modern. Featuring over 80 of her batiks and large paintings, capturing her ancestral land, the exhibition runs until January 2026 #WomensArt

red car parked by side of road in Joshua Tree National Park, USA, with large boulders, Joshua trees and blue sky

Looks similar to our rental car, "Georgia", who got us from Albuquerque, thru Utah and Arizona, to Joshua Tree (in photo) and LAX, last year.

Australian bird of the year 2025: vote for your favourite #birdoftheyear in the Guardian / BirdLife Australia poll From little penguins to (very big) cassowaries, every bird has its fans. Vote for your favourite in the 2025 Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll

VOTING HAS BEGUN! Who will be the 2025 Australian bird of the year? Vote now, vote every day for the best bird. Will it be the tawny frogmouth's year? www.theguardian.com/environment/... #birdoftheyear #birds

cover image of drawaing of mother with baby on the breast and World Health Organization logo

Congratulations to everyone involved in updating this!

WHO's Infant and young child feeding: Model chapter for textbooks for medical students and allied health professionals

iris.who.int/server/api/c...

"The SRBS retraction is Ghorbanzadeh’s third for plagiarism in less than a year."
Reviewers must understand that any manuscripts they agree to review should be confidential.
Stealing a manuscript and submitting to another journal requires more than just retraction, I'd say.
#PublicationEthics

Validity of an ion selective electrode for measuring human milk sodium and potassium ion levels at point-of-care in lactating mothers with inflammatory breast conditions - International Breastfeeding Journal Background Elevated human milk sodium (Na+) levels and Na+ to potassium (K+) ratios are commonly used in research to define breast inflammation in lactating mothers. Portable Na+ and K+ ion selective electrode probes (ISEPs) allow for immediate point-of-care testing by clinicians, potentially accelerating diagnosis, and treatment of inflammatory conditions of the lactating breast (ICLB). We determined validity of ISEPs compared to the reference method inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) in mothers with ICLB, and acceptability of ISEP point-of-care testing of mothers tested with clinical ICLB symptoms. Methods Human milk samples were collected from 43 mothers with ICLB, between December 2021 and September 2022. Mothers were recruited from private physiotherapy practices, a public women’s hospital, and the local community, in Melbourne, Australia. Human milk Na+, K+ and Na+:K+ ratio levels were tested at point-of-care (ISEPs), and later, in the laboratory (ICP-OES). Adjusted limits of agreement with Bland-Altman plots compared the two measurement methods, with rank linear mixed effects models establishing their relationship. Mother’s ISEP acceptability was assessed via two survey questions (0–10 numerical rating scale (NRS) and open text response) and analysed via descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results Adjusted limits of agreement (lower limit mean (95% CI) to upper limit mean (95% CI)) between the two measurement methods were: -6.12 (-7.75, -4.49) to 6.12 (4.49, 7.75) mM for Na+; 7.37 (5.82, 9.47) to 25.6 (23.5, 27.7) mM for K+; and -0.82 (-0.85, -0.79) to 0.80 (0.77, 0.82) mM for Na+:K+ ratio. For Na+:K+ ratio, 100% of values fell within the limits of agreement. For Na+ and Na+:K+ ratio, ISEPs and ICP-OES shared a substantial amount of variability (Na+: conditional R2 = 0.87, p < 0.05; Na+:K+ ratio: conditional R2 = 0.94, p < 0.05). Mother’s acceptance of ISEP testing was high with a median (Q1, Q3) NRS score of 10 (10, 10). The most frequent theme was that the testing was ‘quick and easy, and unproblematic’ (n = 30). Conclusions Point-of-care human milk ISEP Na+:K+ ratio measurement in mothers with ICLB is valid and is rated as a highly acceptable clinical assessment tool by mothers with ICLB.

#IntBreastfeedJ update for Sept 2025

5 articles w authors from 4 countries: Australia, China, Iran and Spain

From Australia: new technique of point-of-care testing for human milk Na+ & K+ levels in lactating mothers w inflammatory breast conditions

#mastitis #breastfeeding

tinyurl.com/6eckm8fu

Lactation Consultants of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ) conference coming soon to Canberra!

Anita Moorhead is presenting our international mastitis audit:
"Management of Mastitis in the Hospital Setting" on 17 Oct.
Published recently in J Hum Lact.
leishman.eventsair.com/lcanz-2025/p...

Coming up next month: 17 November
Attention journal editors and everyone interested in publication ethics

Image of woman with mastitis:
Painting: “This is mastitis”
Artist: Leanne Pearce

Lactation Consultants of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ) conference coming soon to Canberra!

Anita Moorhead is presenting our international mastitis audit:
"Management of Mastitis in the Hospital Setting" on 17 Oct.
Published recently in J Hum Lact.
leishman.eventsair.com/lcanz-2025/p...

PubMed is in trouble

This is beyond bad for medical research

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Happy to share first paper from collab project in Croatia:

"Maternal physical health and breastfeeding problems in Croatia: national online survey of new mothers"
#OpenAccess #MaternalHealth #Breastfeeding
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Just days after Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced it had to stop medical work in Gaza City due to Israeli attacks, Israeli forces have killed staff member Omar Hayek & injured 4 others in Deir al Balah. Staff were wearing MSF vests, waiting for a bus to a field hospital.

Just days after Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced it had to stop medical work in Gaza City due to Israeli attacks, Israeli forces have killed staff member Omar Hayek & injured 4 others in Deir al Balah.

Staff were wearing MSF vests, waiting for a bus to a field hospital.

Jane Goodall with monarch butterfly scarf

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall

💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

Title of farming article in Irish newspaper says "You need to be more ruthless about culling..." with image of a cow

Another reminder: #mastitis in humans is not the same as cows!

Title of farming article in Irish newspaper says "You need to be more ruthless about culling..." with image of a cow

Another reminder: #mastitis in humans is not the same as cows!

Maternal sepsis is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth. HRP (a WHO co-sponsored program) & the University of Liverpool are shaping research to improve prevention, diagnosis, & treatment.

👉Take the survey for the future of maternal health: zurl.co/KAEXV

Beyond the red flags..don't miss the good stuff.

How a short walk and a coffee transformed a new mum's world A Queensland mum desperate to have a positive postpartum experience when she had her second child found that just a few small steps were enough to make a huge difference.

How a short walk and a coffee transformed a new mum's world: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-27/postpartum-mum-walking-group-mental-health-benefits/105820070

Why are we still asking mothers to hide breastfeeding? Last week a breastfeeding mother was asked to leave a Virgin Australia lounge for pumping. Experts says while there is a level of awareness that breastfeeding in public is protected, some people in th...

Thanks for continuing to reiterate the message about breastfeeding in public, Kellie Scott
I tried to explain the physiology: the breast is lactating 24/7 and we need to support women's health and not put obstacles in their way!
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Why are we still asking mothers to hide breastfeeding? Last week a breastfeeding mother was asked to leave a Virgin Australia lounge for pumping. Experts says while there is a level of awareness that breastfeeding in public is protected, some people in th...

Thanks for continuing to reiterate the message about breastfeeding in public, Kellie Scott
I tried to explain the physiology: the breast is lactating 24/7 and we need to support women's health and not put obstacles in their way!
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Today at #UNGA2025, countries present climate action plans #NDCs. Breastfeeding is an overlooked investment that sustains both life and the planet. Read our proposal to recognize investment in breastfeeding as a carbon offset: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... Video: youtu.be/rc7ZGOG3YlM?...

It’s OK to use paracetamol in pregnancy. Here’s what the science says about the link with autism

It’s safe for pregnant women to take paracetamol at any stage of pregnancy. Here’s what the research says about the risk of autism.