Addy Henderson RHV, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant

I have had a long career in the NHS working as a Health Visitor and always found helping women to breastfeed very rewarding. In more recent years I have increased my knowledge and skills of lactation, culminating in achieving my personal ambition to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. This involved taking an exam, having first completed many hours of one to one consultations helping mothers to breastfeed.

I helped set up the Aylesbury Breastfeeding Clinic in 2002 and continue to work there as a volunteer Breastfeeding Advisor. Until my retirement, I worked as a Breastfeeding Co-ordinator for Health Visiting at Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust. This enabled me to promote and encourage the importance of breastfeeding support within the community.

I facilitated the opening of breastfeeding support groups and trained both health professionals and volunteer mothers to help run these, working closely with charities such as the NCT. I also have extensive experience of home visits helping women to breastfeed. More recently I have written a breastfeeding page for the Bounty website and been a guest on Radio 4 Women's Hour. I am also a consultant for the online parenting information service Greatvine.

Luci Lishman RGN, RM, IBCLC
Independent nurse and Lactation Consultant

I started working for the NHS in 1986 when I began my general nurse training at the Middlesex Hospital in London. I then trained as a midwife and worked at Stoke Mandeville Hospital over a 17 year period. The latter 7½ years were as a breastfeeding coordinator midwife. During that time I helped to set up and run the Aylesbury Breastfeeding Clinic, provided breastfeeding education for staff and expectant mothers and was involved in writing breastfeeding guidelines and documentation.

As a midwife I found it a joy and privilege to provide breastfeeding support and made it my ambition to increase my knowledge and skills to do this more effectively. In 2006, after extensive study and clinical experience I was able to fulfil my goal of passing the exam to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

Whilst working together Addy and I discovered a shared passion for enabling women to have a positive and enjoyable experience of breastfeeding and that led to us setting up Chiltern Breastfeeding Partnership in March 2007. This has enabled us to provide a private and more flexible breastfeeding support service in the community. We also set up a voluntary breastfeeding drop-in based in Princes Risborough which I continue to run.

In April 2009 I trained at Southampton Hospital to be able to perform tongue-tie division (frenulotomy) on babies under 6 months with feeding difficulties. Since then I have been doing this privately in the home. This service has proved to be extremely helpful and necessary as there is limited NHS provision in the area. I left the NHS in September 2009 in order to meet the increasing need for this procedure.

Addy and Luci are committee members of Lactation Consultants of Great Britain and also members of the International Lactation Consultants Association. Both have professional indemnity insurance, Addy with Towergate Professional Risk and Luci with the Medical Defence Union and both are enhanced CRB checked.