Days - No evening and weekends REQUIRED. Opportunities to shadow evenings and weekends may be made available.

Starting in July 2023, this elective will be graded pass/fail.

Despite well-known and studied medical benefits, physicians have limited knowledge and experience with human lactation. As this topic is not covered in Loyola’s core curriculum, this elective will allow increased exposure to both normal human lactation and maternal and infant complications through a combination of clinical shadowing experiences, self-study, and first-hand experience with various community lactation supports. Increased exposure will help solidify knowledge, increase positive beliefs and feelings about human lactation, and provide physicians with increased resources to support mother-child dyads.

• Pre- and post-tests derived from AAP Breastfeeding Residency Curriculum - 25 knowledge questions and 20 additional questions to assess medical student personal and clinical experience with breastfeeding. (20%)
• Log of patient shadowing and community experiences (10%)
• Participation in regular meetings with the elective director throughout the elective (20%)
• Completion of one of the two lactation learning modules (IABLE course or U of Maryland modules) (20%)
• Completion of elective project (if doing 4-week elective) and reflection paper (30%)