Empowering families and supporting breastfeeding through the Infant-Driven Feeding™ (IDF) Program
Introduction
Welcome to the Empowering NICU Parents’ Podcast!
For our 73rd podcast episode, we continue the conversation with our two remarkable guests, Lisa Kleinz the Director of Education at Dr. Brown’s Medical and Elisa Doherty, an occupational therapist who conceptualized and helped develop a thriving feeding clinic.
In honor of Breastfeeding Awareness Month, we continue our discussion on the infant’s feeding journey —which is so much more than nutrition – it is about creating positive feeding experiences, connection, and a true cornerstone of long-term health. Lisa and Elisa share tangible, practical tips for NICU care team members on how to promote breastfeeding during the “breastfeeding window,” along with simple, actionable ideas that any hospital can adopt—even if they have not yet implemented the IDF™ Program—to ensure families who want to breastfeed feel fully supported.
Together, we take a closer look at the Infant-Driven Feeding™ (IDF™) Program and highlight a recently published research article that demonstrated how a hospital system using IDF™ achieved not only higher breastfeeding success in the NICU, but also more sustained breastfeeding after discharge. We also explore how it empowers parents to confidently participate in their baby’s feeding journey from day one, teaching parents to recognize and respond to their infant’s cues, helping them truly become active participants in their baby’s care. This parent-focused approach is a vital part of Dr. Brown’s Medical’s mission and at the heart of the IDF™ Program.
Elisa also reflects on the lessons learned and the rewards of building a successful feeding clinic—offering guidance, tips, and inspiration for other clinicians who may want to start something similar in their communities to better support families and to help bridge the critical gap in care that is so common in an infant’s formative months.
This episode is filled with practical strategies and heartfelt perspectives from clinicians dedicated to providing a holistic, family-centered approach to infant feeding—making it an essential listen for both NICU parents and clinicians committed to empowering families and improving outcomes.
The Why Behind Empowering NICU Parents – Empowering NICU Parents' Podcast
- The Why Behind Empowering NICU Parents
- From NICU Experience to Nonprofit Mission: A Family’s Journey to Today Is a Good Day
- The Lifelong Journey and Impact of Premature Birth: What Families Should Know
- Wave of Light: Finding Light After Loss
- Culture, Belief, and a Committed Team: The University of Iowa NICU Redefines What’s Possible
- Hope Against All Odds: Nash Keen’s Journey as the Most Premature Infant to Survive
Episode Sponsors
Dr. Brown’s Medical
Dr. Brown’s Medical strives to deliver valuable infant feeding products and programs to support parents and professionals in providing positive feeding experiences for the infants in their care. Traditional feeding products and practices in the NICU are inconsistent and can result in poor feeding outcomes.
Dr. Brown’s® unique Dr. Brown’s® Zero-Resistance™; nipples with reliable flow rates; and The Infant-Driven Feeding™ are evidence-based, standard-of-care practices that improve infant feeding outcomes.
The team at Dr. Brown’s Medical is available to provide support for you and your team to help achieve best-practice results. They provide 4 free webinars every year on various infant feeding topics and offer continuing education hours for Nurses, Occupational Therapists, and Speech-language Pathologists.
To learn more or speak with Dr. Brown’s Medical team, click HERE.
Our NICU Roadmap
Our NICU Roadmap is the only NICU journal parents will need. Our journal is a great resource for NICU parents with educational content, answers to many of their questions, a full glossary plus specific areas to document their baby’s progress each day while in the NICU. Our NICU Roadmap equips parents with questions to ask their baby’s care team each day as well as a designated place to keep track of their baby’s weight, lab values, respiratory settings, feedings, and the plan of care each day. Most importantly, Our NICU Roadmap guides parents and empowers them so they can confidently become and remain an active member of their baby’s care team.
Our NICU Roadmap is available for purchase on Amazon or contact us at empoweringnicuparents@yahoo.com to order in bulk at a discounted price for your hospital or organization.
Click HERE for additional information and images of Our NICU Roadmap.
NICU Milestone Cards
Capture every incredible moment your baby achieves while in the NICU with these colorful milestone cards.
Each set includes 26 bright, colorful, and unique downloadable milestone cards with a dedicated space for you to write the date your infant achieved each milestone.
Grab a photo with your baby and each milestone card. The photographs will be a great keepsake and with the date in the photo, you will never forget when your baby achieved each milestone.
NICU Mama Hats
We want to help celebrate all of the strong NICU Mamas within the NICU Community! Show your pride for your brave little one and celebrate your personal strength as a NICU Mama too or consider purchasing one for that strong NICU Mom you know and adore!
Episode 73
Our Guests
Elisa Doherty
Elisa Doherty is a licensed and registered occupational therapist, Certified Neonatal Therapist, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and Small Baby Care Specialist with over twenty years of experience in infant care.
She is currently employed at Missouri Baptist Medical Center of BJC Healthcare where she is recognized at the highest level for professional development and is a subject matter expert in the realm of infant feeding. Her primary area of interest and expertise has been in the development of the NICU therapy care team where she serves as the Infant Team Clinical Coordinator.
Elisa has been a care champion for her hospital through the development of an interdisciplinary feeding initiative. Ten years ago, Elisa conceptualized, initiated, and continues to grow the Infant Feeding Clinic at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, an outpatient therapy feeding program, to achieve success in long term infant feeding goals with both breast and bottle. The Infant Feeding Clinic provides evaluation and intervention for all infants with feeding difficulties that extend beyond their hospital stay. Her focus is on the fragile infant, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Late Preterm Care, feeding follow up in the birth to six month population, and parent education and advocacy.
Elisa has a special passion for babies, best practice, and a great understanding of the parent role development that emerges with the birth of a new infant, especially when medical stability of the infant is in question.
Elisa is a wife, mother of four, and an active member of her church community with the mindset of service to others where encouragement and healing go hand in hand.
Lisa Kleinz
Lisa Kleinz is the Director of Education for Dr. Brown’s Medical. Her role is to explore, create, and deliver valuable educational, developmental care-focused resources to the Dr. Brown’s Medical team as well as healthcare professionals in the field of infant feeding. In this role, Lisa provides evidence-based, researched data, supporting positive feeding experiences for infants and their families.
Prior to joining Dr. Brown’s Medical in 2016, Lisa worked as a Speech Pathologist and Developmental Care Specialist for over 25 years in both Level 3 and 4 NICUs in the Chicago, IL area. Her certifications include Newborn Individualized Developmental Care Assessment Program (NIDCAP), Developmental Care Designation (NANN), Infant Massage Instructor, and Certified Lactation Specialist. She is also a Certified Neonatal Therapist and a member of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists. In addition, Lisa was one of the founding members of the Neonatal Therapy National Certification Board that facilitated the sole certification for neonatal therapists.
Lisa received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and Master’s at Indiana University. She is highly experienced with presentations at National conferences; created and presented webinars for NICU families and developed a 2-day course for Education Resources, Inc on Developmental Care in the NICU.
Lisa lives in Northwest Arkansas and while not absorbing all she can about infant feeding, she enjoys hiking, cooking healthy meals, and reading great books!
Strategies to Support Breastfeeding in the NICU
Lisa and Elisa share a variety of practical strategies that care teams can use to promote breastfeeding in the NICU—whether or not a hospital has adopted the Infant-Driven Feeding™ (IDF™) Program.
One key concept they discuss is protecting the “breastfeeding window”—prioritizing breastfeeding opportunities for mothers who wish to breastfeed, even from the earliest days in the NICU. The Infant-Driven Feeding™ (IDF™) Program reinforces this by encouraging staff to offer parental bonding and engagement experiences from day one, which not only increases parental confidence, but it also creates more opportunities for skin-to-skin care. Hospitals using IDF™ often see improved rates of both skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding because of this intentional focus.
But even in units that have not yet implemented IDF™, there are meaningful steps teams can take to improve breastfeeding outcomes. Examples include:
- Launching quality improvement (QI) projects focused specifically on increasing breastfeeding rates.
- Hosting events like a “kangaroo-a-thon” during Breastfeeding Awareness Month to promote skin-to-skin care and highlight its benefits.
- Ensuring consistent lactation consultant support—not just during daytime hours but also at night, when families may need guidance the most.
- Encouraging staff to pursue additional breastfeeding education or certification, such as becoming Certified Lactation Counselors (CLCs), so there is always someone available to support a mother who wishes to breastfeed.
- Building a unit-wide culture that commits to breastfeeding, so that every staff member feels responsible for supporting families in this goal.
These strategies create more consistent opportunities for families to breastfeed, reduce barriers caused by scheduling or staff availability, and send a clear message to parents that their feeding goals are valued and supported.
The Research Study on the Infant-Driven Feeding™ Program
A central part of this conversation was a recently published research study by Bloom et al. (2025) in Pediatric Nursing, that examined the impact of the Infant-Driven Feeding™ (IDF) Program. The study, conducted within a hospital system that adopted IDF™, found several significant outcomes:
- Improved breastfeeding success in the NICU, with families more likely to sustain breastfeeding after discharge, including beyond six months.
- Shorter length of stay (LOS).
- Earlier gestational age to full oral feeds.
- Increased short- and long-term breastfeeding rates.
- Fewer referrals to Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy for feeding issues.
In summary, babies cared for in NICUs using the IDF™ Program went home sooner, reached full oral feeds earlier, breastfed longer, and required fewer therapy referrals—powerful outcomes for both infants and families. These findings emphasize that the benefits of IDF™ extend well beyond the NICU stay. By empowering parents to recognize and respond to their infant’s cues and making them active participants in the feeding process, IDF™ lays the foundation for long-term feeding success and improved outcomes for both infants and families.
Full Citation:
Bloom, R., McCaughey, J., Verna, A., Woodyard, D., Spurr, S., Silk, A., Vidal, M., Hargrave, J., Gollenberg, A., Swamidoss, C., & Friesen, M.A. (2025). The impact of Infant-Driven Feeding™ on breastfeeding and premature infant outcomes. Pediatric Nursing, 51(3), 131-141. https://doi.org/10.62116/PNJ.2025.51.3.131
The Infant-Driven Feeding™ Program
Lisa shares more about the philosophy and design of the Infant-Driven Feeding™ (IDF) Program, which centers on the belief that infants should guide their own feeding journey and that parents must be empowered as active participants from day one.
“So much of the word ‘infant-driven’ just gives empowerment to every caregiver working with that baby—because we’re simply saying, hey baby, you’re in charge. What can we do today?” Elisa Doherty
Dr. Brown’s Medical has made it a core part of their mission to ensure families are integrated into the IDF™ Program from the very beginning of their NICU stay. To better support families’ breastfeeding goals, IDF™ has been expanded to include breastfeeding-specific content throughout the program. This ensures that parents who wish to breastfeed are given every opportunity to succeed, even in the NICU environment where breastfeeding can be particularly challenging. By incorporating guidance on positioning, latch, supply, and caregiver strategies, the program gives families tools that directly support their individual breastfeeding goals.
Because parents are ultimately the ones taking their babies home, Dr. Brown’s Medical has also developed a parent education video as part of the IDF™ Program. This resource teaches parents how to read and respond to their infant’s cues and behaviors, helping them feel confident in guiding their baby’s feeding both in the NICU and at home. The goal is to move beyond staff-led scoring of infant readiness and instead create a true partnership between parents, babies, and the care team.
Lisa also shared an important reminder from the evidence: 42% of premature infants will experience feeding problems before the age of four. This staggering statistic underscores the need for early, consistent, and family-inclusive feeding support in the NICU. By focusing on education and caregiver empowerment through IDF™, the program focuses on positive feeding experiences and addresses not just short-term hospital goals, but also the long-term health and developmental outcomes for premature infants.
“We want all babies and families to have positive feeding experiences from day one. Feeding is for life. And that’s why we do what we do.” Lisa Kleinz
Tools to Support Feeding Success
While breastfeeding is always the priority, most premature infants will also require bottle feeds at some point during their stay. To support these babies, Dr. Brown’s Medical developed the Zero Resistance™ Bottle System, which more closely mimics the natural mechanics of breastfeeding. Unlike traditional bottles that may create resistance and stress for the infant, the Zero Resistance™ design allows babies to feed more comfortably, reduces the risk of long-term feeding difficulties, and helps preserve the breastfeeding relationship when both breast and bottle are needed. Additionally, Dr. Brown’s® nipples are internally quality controlled and provide consistent and dependable flow rates.
Through its combination of evidence-based practices, parent education, and innovative tools, the IDF™ Program creates a comprehensive, family-centered model of care. By empowering parents, supporting breastfeeding goals, and giving infants the opportunity to thrive, IDF™ lays the foundation for lifelong positive feeding experiences.
Infant-Driven Feeding® Program
The Infant-Driven Feeding program is an evidence-based, research-supported online education program for neonatal units. It provides standard-of-care feeding practices and has been shown to improve breastfeeding and kangaroo care rates, increase parent and nurse satisfaction, shorten time to full oral feedings, reduce length of stay, and optimize feeding supplies.
Lessons from the Feeding Clinic
Elisa also shares powerful insights from her experience creating and growing the Infant Feeding Clinic at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, which she conceptualized over ten years ago to fill a major gap in support for families after discharge. The clinic has continued to thrive because it meets a very real need for infants and who are struggling with feeding after their initial discharge from the hospital.
The types of patients commonly seen at the clinic include:
- Former premature infants who still need feeding support after discharge.
- Late preterm infants (34–37 weeks), who may look like full-term babies but often lack the stamina and coordination to feed successfully.
- Infants requiring follow-up care for issues such as difficulty transitioning from fortified feeds, breastfeeding challenges, or prolonged bottle reliance.
- Babies at risk for feeding aversions, who need gentle, supportive approaches to prevent long-term difficulties.
The clinic’s success lies in its ability to combine specialized evaluation and intervention with ongoing parent education and advocacy. Families leave not only with practical strategies tailored to their baby, but also with the confidence that they are not alone in navigating feeding challenges. The program has become a model of how outpatient therapy can bridge the gap between NICU discharge and long-term feeding success.
Tips for Starting a Feeding Clinic
For clinicians considering creating a feeding clinic of their own, Elisa shared several practical lessons learned:
- Identify physician champions. Having pediatricians and neonatologists who see the value in a feeding clinic is essential for referrals and program growth.
- Develop clear referral criteria. Simple checklists—such as feeds taking longer than 30 minutes, concerns about weight gain, or parental stress during feeds—help identify which babies would benefit most from evaluation.
- Start small, but track outcomes. Even a handful of patients can demonstrate value when data shows improved weight gain, shorter feeding times, and reduced parental stress.
- Prioritize parent education. Teaching families how to recognize feeding cues, stress signs, and strategies for success is just as important as the therapy itself.
- Plan for sustainability. Clinics must incorporate objective data collection and outcome measures for insurance reimbursement and long-term viability.
The Infant Feeding Clinic has shown that when families have access to structured outpatient support, infants are more likely to thrive, avoid long-term complications, and develop healthy feeding relationships. For other clinicians, it serves as a reminder that starting small—with the right champions, education, and vision—can have a lasting impact on both babies and their families.
“The beauty of the last 10 years of having the feeding clinic open and seeing how that need has been fulfilled has been, next to my children, one of the greatest gifts I feel like I’ve been given as a clinician.” Elisa Doherty
Contact Information
Elisa Doherty: elisa.doherty@bjc.org
Lisa Kleinz: lisa.kleinz@drbrownsmedical.com
Dr. Brown’s Medical: medinfo@drbrownsmedical.com or idfinfo@drbrownsmedical.com
Closing
Thank you so much to Elisa and Lisa for joining me—for their time, their dedication to infants and families, and for generously sharing their expertise with all of us.
In this episode, we discussed the Infant-Driven Feeding™ (IDF) Program and the positive impact it has for the infant, the family, and the entire care team. We highlighted a recently published research article demonstrating how IDF™ not only improves breastfeeding success in the NICU but also helps sustain it after discharge. We explored how IDF™ teaches parents to recognize and respond to their baby’s cues, why this parent-focused approach is central to Dr. Brown’s Medical’s mission, and shared practical strategies for supporting families during the critical breastfeeding window.
We also shared some practical tips to help promote breastfeeding and support families with their goals—even if your hospital has not yet adopted IDF™—such as hosting a kangaroo-a-thon, starting a QI project, or by just ensuring that there is appropriate lactation support available at all times.
During our conversation, Elisa shared valuable insights from her journey of building a successful feeding clinic, offering guidance and inspiration for other clinicians who may want to create something similar in their own communities. She highlighted how the clinic has been able to serve countless families, equipping them with the tools and support they need during their baby’s most vulnerable months, and how its success has become a model for improving long-term feeding outcomes.
Whether you’re a NICU parent navigating day by day, or a clinician working to better support families and improve outcomes, I hope this conversation left you feeling more informed, encouraged, and empowered.
Because no one should walk the NICU journey alone.
Until next time—stay strong, stay compassionate, stay kind, and keep leading with love.
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