Lactation Newsmakers: Helen Ball Research That Makes a Difference: Connecting Applied Anthropology, Infant Sleep, Breastfeeding, and Parenting.

Abstract

Helen Ball is professor of anthropology and Director of the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre. She obtained her PhD in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1992. Her new book How babies sleep: A factful guide to the first 365 days and nights was published by Penguin Random House in May 2025. Helen studies infant sleep and the parent-infant sleep relationship from a biosocial perspective, focusing on the sleep ecology of infants, young children, and their parents. She pioneers the translation of academic research on infant sleep into evidence for use by parents and healthcare staff via Basis-the Baby Sleep Information Source website. She serves on the Lullaby Trust Scientific Advisory Group, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) UK Baby Friendly Initiative Qualifications Board, and was recently appointed as a National Mentor (United States) for the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship in Leadership and Innovation Program. She has previously served as an associate editor for the journal Sleep Health, and as an editorial board member for the Journal of Human Lactation. From 2016 to 2025, she was Chair of the Lullaby Trust Research & Grants Committee, and from 2018 to 2024, she was elected as a board member of the International Society for the Study and Prevention of Infant Deaths (ISPID). In 2013, Helen received an award for Outstanding Impact in Society from the Economic and Social Research Council, and in 2018, Durham University received the Queen's Anniversary Prize for her research and outreach on parent-infant sleep.