INNATE Conference 2025

The inaugural INNATE conference is planned for 1 August 2025 during World Breastfeeding Week. The conference aims to enhance collaborations and commitment to improving infant and young child nutrition and nurture, in the early years of life, through research-based presentations and discussions.

Register to attend: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/innate/registration

INNATE Conference Venue: Westmead Innovation Quarter WE-U.4.03 ANNE CUTLER SEMINAR ROOM, 160 Hawkesbury Rd, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.

The INNATE conference is hosted by the Western Sydney Infant and Young Child Feeding (WSIYCF) Collaborative.

The WSIYCF collaborative brings together the expertise of an interdisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians with a shared vision to ensure infants and young children, their parents and carers, thrive through optimal nutrition in nurturing environments, locally and globally.

The first 2000 days, from conception, is a critical period for growth and development, and a period when diet quality is more important than at other stages of life. The nutritional needs of infants and young children are unique, and important in laying down the foundations of healthy growth and development.

The wide-ranging benefits of exclusive breastfeeding to six months for a child’s healthy immune system, brain development and microbiome are well known. Thereafter, children should be given nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years and beyond.