Jan Riordan: An Oral History

While conducting my dissertation research on the professionalization of breastfeeding support, I identified key “founders” of lactation consulting. I focused on the people involved in the formation of the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, as certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and represented by the International Lactation Consultant Association. Jan Riordan was at the top of my list. As the editor and co-author of the first text on breastfeeding and human lactation for non-physicians, Dr. Riordan shaped the professional body of knowledge for International Board Certified Lactation Consultants and others providing clinical breastfeeding support. She was a La Leche League leader and founding member of the Kansas La Leche League International Chapter, served on the first International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners Board of Directors, and served on the first editorial review board of the Journal of Human Lactation. She was a professor of nursing at Wichita State University for 23 years. I met her at an International Lactation Consultant Association conference in San Antonio, Texas in 2010, just after she had retired from Wichita State, and I interviewed her by phone on August 10, 2010. This is from a taped interview. (AE = Aimee Eden’s initials; JR = Jan Riordan’s initials). The University of South Florida IRB approved the full study.