Emma Pickett

Lactation Consultant

With a background of teaching in inner-city London, Emma came to breastfeeding support after she had her first child in 2004. She trained as a breastfeeding counselor with the UK-based charity the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers – set up in 1979 (). Now sitting on their central committee, Emma continues to volunteer on the National Breastfeeding Helpline and the ABM's own helpline as well as running three support groups in North London. Emma qualified as an IBCLC in 2011 and has a private practice alongside her voluntary work. In June, she talked at the ABM's national conference in Birmingham on the subject of ‘sex and the breastfeeding woman'. Her work focused on how breastfeeding impacts on a woman's sexuality and relationships but also crucially how the sexualization of Western society affects the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding. She is keen to encourage open dialogue in an area which even breastfeeding supporters sometimes shy away from.

Episodes for this expert

  • Breastfeeding, Sex, and Libido

    While we don’t consider the act of breastfeeding to be sexual, there’s no doubt breastfeeding can have an impact on your sex life. Considering all the hormones racing through your body, how is your drive to have sex impacted? What factors contribute to these changes?

  • Sexuality and Breastfeeding

    Millions of women around the world breastfeed and do not give it a second thought. Only recently has the sexualization of breastfeeding become an issue. What lead to this change and what hope do we have of changing the average person’s perception?

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