Reflections of 2024 and Planning for an Intentional 2025
Reflections of 2024 and Planning for an Intentional 2025
Carene Reflections of 2024 and Planning for an Intentional 2025
As we enter the new year, it’s natural to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. 2024 brought its share of triumphs, lessons, and surprises, and I am grateful for every high and every low. Before stepping into 2025, allow me to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve achieved learned and set intentional goals for the year ahead.
“There is no prize to perfection… only an end to pursuit. ...”
Looking Back on 2024
Every year has its unique rhythm, and 2024 was no exception. Reflecting on the past year provides clarity about our progress and areas for improvement. My main goals were focused around providing sound, individualized and evidenced based treatment. Let’s take a look at some statistics for the year 2024:
- Number of treatments: I delivered a total of 760 treatments during 2024. This is much less than the total of 926 treatments for 2023. This may be due to the higher frequency of dietetic locum opportunities done during 2023, and this year I worked during most of December. The practice turnover stayed relatively stable, even though the number of treatments decreased. It would be interesting to be able to tally and compare the total amount of time spent during treatments, rather than just the total number of treatments.
- Type of treatments: The majority (over 76%) of treatments for this year were related to lactation. This year I received more referrals from the paediatritian to assist with infant feeding during admissions for neonatal jaundice as well as premature infants admitted in the Neonatal ICU (which were also lactation related), this totaled to almost 10% of my treatments.
- Breast pump demo sessions: I logged 26 breast pump demo sessions for the year, however the figure would be much higher if I was able to log the demo’s that occur during some of my consultations. I am grateful to be able to provide this added service, as I get to meet mothers from far and wide.
4. Breast pump sales: A total number of 55 breast pumps were sold during 2024. The most popular of the selection remained the Youha The In’s wearable pump. This may be due to the high number of working mothers in the area, with most being teachers with limited time and space to allow for pumping.
5. Continued Professional Development (CPD): I am happy to report that I remained compliant with CPD activities, despite challenges with the HPCSA portal. I obtained a total of 1975 clinical points (we only need 60) and 11 ethics points for the 2 year active period. In 2024 I completed 2 full iLactation international lactation conferences, as I aim to do every year. These conferences cover a wide array of topics related to lactation from various international speakers. Some of the topics that stood out to me was:
- Letting down while hot flashing: a perimenopausal guide to lactation
- Perspectives in infant mental health for successful lactation
- Breastfeeding & sexual wellbeing
- Estimating carbon and water footprints associated with commercial milk formula production and use: development and implications of the Green Feeding Climate Action Tool.
- The digital marketing of commercial milk formula: Latest evidence and guidance
I was able to attend about 6 of our in-house SACLC education Zoom sessions. I also attended a few Dietetic CPD activities such as:
- Wonders of Magnesium
- Importance of fermented dairy
- Nutritional considerations in the elderly
- ESPGHAN Guidelines
6. Campaigns and Promotional activities: As you may know, World Breastfeeding Week has been my biggest awareness campaign for many years now. This annual event happens from 1 to 7 August, with plenty of breastfeeding supporters doing their bit to share the message worldwide. This year felt like a step up to me with all the activities, from a radio interview to a competition and quiz, all exceeding my expectations. I hope to get even better ideas next year with even more engagement. You can read more about these activities here.
I was fortunate to be part of a local workshop organized and hosted by the wonderful team at Imagine Dietitians. The first time we presented the “Baby’s First 1000 days Workshop” was on 13 April at Wiesenhof Coffee in Paarl. This workshop was filled with valuable information from a multidisciplinary team to provide insight into the crucial, vulnerable and valuable time of a baby’s development. We had such a good response that we held a second event on 16 November with about 15 attendees and a lot more sponsors. We hope to have the opportunity to present this workshop to a broader audience in the new year, so keep your eyes peeled.
Looking Ahead: Setting the Tone for 2025
As we step into 2025, it’s time to set intentions and craft a vision for the year. I hope to always improve my level of care and expertise to provide the best service I possibly can. While knowing that I need to keep up with what I have done in 2024, these are some of my aspirations for the new year:
- Launch the Online Breastfeeding course: As with all projects, we never really comprehend the amount of work, time and resources are required to complete the task. This project has been in the making for about 3 years, form drafting the scripts down to every word, to recording, to storyboards and design to the huge job of animating, editing and putting it all together. My media team, Nifty Studio, has been hard at work with this while also being the creative masterminds behind my social media and website. You may find the free Breastfeeding Boobytraps – Myth busting video live on my youtube channel, you can trust that there is much more to come.
2. Increase the online shop: While you might find a few items available on the online shop like vouchers and silver nipple cups, I want to work towards adding more clinical and education materials for you to use at your leisure. My hope is that will allow me to reach a greater number of mothers than just those that I am able to see in person.
Breastfeeding Gift Packet
R680,00
Bump Cup
R76,00-R76,00R95,00-R95,00
Voucher – Postnatal Visit
R750,00
Voucher – Antenatal Class
R550,00
SILVER MAMA nipple cups
R985,00
3. Present more workshops: I hope to remain part of the “Baby’s First 1000 days Workshop” team and that we will have more opportunities to share this message to a greater audience. We are considering hosting online sessions to allow for greater participation.
4. Write a Recipe book: This is a big one! If you know me, you will know that I love cooking and eating. I have so many recipes in my head that need a tangible place in the world for others to enjoy. I realize that this is a big project, and I properly don’t know the half of what it takes to publish a recipe book, but heck! I want to try! Hopefully telling you about this will be motivation to sit and do it, so please leave your comments on your thoughts and feelings!
Final Thoughts
2024 may have been a year of growth, resilience, and discovery, but 2025 holds the promise of new opportunities. By reflecting on the past and planning intentionally for the future, I hope to create a year that’s not just productive, but even more fulfilling.
Providing this valuable and intimate service to a vulnerable population is truly fulfilling. I receive a daily affirmation that I am fulfilling a larger purpose and making an impact on the world. For this I am truly grateful, and I wish to thank every single mother who allowed me to support them and to all those who support me.
Now that I have laid out all my gratitude, hopes and dreams, what are your reflections from 2024? And how will you plan for 2025? Share your thoughts in the comments below—let’s inspire each other for the journey ahead!
December 2024
