The BfN annual conference is an exciting and informative event for our volunteers, parents, families and health professionals with an interest in breastfeeding, infant feeding and related topics.
Building on the success of the last six years, and to give maximum flexibility for everyone to take part/attend, BfN’s annual conference will be held virtually so we can reach as many people as possible.
Open to all, our online conference will take place at 10:00am – 3:00pm on Saturday 3rd October 2026, with a varied programme of guest speakers joining us to share their knowledge, insight and experiences.
Speakers
Dr Bindi Borg has almost 30 years of professional experience in humanitarian and development assistance with various organisations (UN, INGO, donor, and intergovernmental) in South and South-East Asia, the Pacific, the Balkans, West Africa and the Caribbean.
After the birth of her own children, Bindi realised that breastfeeding is the foundation for infant and child health and wellbeing. She is a certified breastfeeding counsellor and educator with 20 years of practice in high-, low- and middle-income countries, and experience in face-to-face, group, telephone and email counselling in community and hospital settings.
Bindi has a PhD in Public Health Nutrition with a focus on the prevention of undernutrition in children under two years. She has worked with UNICEF, WHO, WFP and the Infant Feeding in Emergencies Core Group on infant and young child feeding issues. She was a technical advisor on UNICEF’s recent Technical and Operational Guidance for Increasing Access to Breastmilk through Wet Nursing in Emergency Settings.
Dr Bindi Borg
Infant and young child feeding researcher and practitioner
Wet nursing: past, present and future
This presentation will start by looking at wet nursing in history, including its decline in the past 50 years. It will then present UNICEF’s recent Technical and Operational Guidance for Increasing Access to Breastmilk through Wet Nursing in Emergency Settings. The session will conclude with considerations of what is needed to implement the guidance.
Benash Nazmeen MBE,RM, BSc, MSc, FHEA, FRCM is a midwife, researcher and Assistant Professor of Midwifery. She is Co-founder and Director of the Association of South Asian Midwives (ASAM) and their work focuses on health equity, cultural safety and reducing inequalities through research, education and community partnership.
Benash works nationally to support more inclusive maternity and infant feeding services, bringing together evidence, lived experience and system change.”
Benash Nazmeen
Director and Co-Founder Association of South Asian Midwives
Beyond Breastfeeding Rates: Beyond Good Intentions Towards Culturally Safe Care
Breastfeeding rates tell only part of the story. This session explores what the evidence, and the gaps within it, reveal about the infant feeding experiences of South Asian women and gender-diverse people, and why those experiences are not always reflected in the data. Bringing together research, lived experience and practice, it will explore how assumptions, stereotypes, structural barriers and the absence of culturally safe approaches shape experiences of infant feeding support.
Together, we will consider how moving beyond good intentions can help create more equitable, inclusive and culturally safe services.
Nadia, originally from Bulgaria, has lived on the Isle of Wight for the past 13 years. She is a mother of two young children, getting involved with the Breastfeeding Network as she had first-hand experience being a young mother on the Isle of Wight herself.
She trained to become a peer supporter in 2023. Six months after completion, she became a Breastfeeding Friendly Scheme Administrator for the Isle of Wight, working on the Breastfeeding Friendly scheme and encouraging the local community to support breastfeeding mothers in public.
Earlier this year, Public Health commissioned a project with the aim of increasing breastfeeding rates in young mums. Nadia is currently working on this as a breastfeeding peer supporter.
In her free time, she enjoys playing basketball and is currently finishing a psychology degree.
Ginny is based in Clanfield in Hampshire and mum to two. She trained to become a Breastfeeding Network peer supporter in 2014, and on completion of this became the Volunteer Coordinator for the project within Gosport and Havant.
In 2021, BfN secured funding to expand peer support to the Isle of Wight. Ginny is Service Manager for this project alongside South and East Hampshire. She is also BfN’s Deputy Programme Manager for South England and Wales.
When she’s not talking all things boobs, she can usually be found with a glass of wine and a good book!
Nadia Wakeford
Breastfeeding Peer Supporter and Breastfeeding Friendly Scheme Administrator for the Isle of Wight
Ginny Dupont
Service Manager South and East Hampshire / Isle of Wight and Deputy Programme Manager South England and Wales
Improving Breastfeeding Outcomes for Young Mothers: A Review of Evidence and Local Insights
This presentation will look at:
- Why they are doing research – commissioned by the Isle of Wight Public Health to increase breastfeeding rates in young mums
- What they found from research within UK and worldwide
- What they discovered from surveys on the IOW
- Plan going forward
More speakers coming soon…
Details for the event:
Date: Saturday 3rd October 2026
Time: 10am-3pm
Please note, if you attend the full conference day, it counts as a study day – a great way to get two things done at the same time!
AGM
This year’s AGM will be held in the morning before the conference, and is for BfN members only. Members can book their free place here: