What is a Lactation Consultant
Many of us in the medical and nursing profession have acted as ‘Lactation Consultants’ ready to respond, to a colleague’s request for information about breastfeeding. And there has been a pool of women in the community who have served as mum-to-mum support, helping other mothers problem solve and go onto successfully breastfeed. These mum-to-mum traditions have been carried on by organizations such as La Leche League, Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, the Breastfeeding Network, and the National Childbirth Trust. Many of these volunteer organizations have a very rigorous training program to become a leader or breastfeeding counselor, some of them even have mum-to-mum Peer Support training programs.
As breastfeeding became less of our cultural norm and our lives became more complicated the need for specialists that had formal training in the field of breastfeeding became more necessary. It was felt that people seeking help and advice about breastfeeding, in the community, should have resources available to them that were of a high quality, professional standard, and based on scientific evidence. Counseling on any topic requires more than personal experience with a situation. It was also felt that one of the ways to protect the public and ensure their safety was to set standards related to educational requirements for anyone calling themselves Lactation Consultants and to have a professional body to test their knowledge and to certify them.
The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) was developed as a separate organization by the La Leche League International to credential people who want to counsel about breastfeeding. Those who successfully complete the IBLCE certification process are entitled to use the designation IBCLC ( International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) after their names. Originally, the IBLCE defined Lactation Consultants as “allied health care providers who posess the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes to facilitate breastfeeding.”
Lactation Consultants may be employed by the NHS as Infant Feeding Advisors, or they maybe nurses, midwives, health visitors, or physicians that have a special interest in supporting breastfeeding families and have gone on to study breastfeeding and get this additional credential. Some Lactation Consultants own their own business and are in private practice working in a variety of settings, with families as well as offering training packages and study days to other health care workers.
In a more recent statement from the International Lactation Consultants Association (ILCA) they have said, “A Lactation Consultant is a health professional whose scope of practice is focused on providing education and management to prevent and solve breastfeeding problems and to encourage a social environment that effectively supports the breastfeeding mother/infant dyad.” ILCA has published Standards of Practice for Lactation Consultants. This is available in print and can be obtained through the Lactation Consultants of Great Britain website. www.LCGB.org.
Lactation Consultants are part of the health care team working with your nurse, midwife, health visitor, and/or GP. Because of the advent of the nuclear family and families often living in places without support of other family members the Lactation Specialists have helped fill the gap of this lack of the traditional family support system.
The level of formal education one has influences how many hours of internship necessary before sitting the exam to become certified. As a nurse I was required to have 2500 practice hours in lactation management in addition to my 36 month nurses training. All candidates wanting to sit the exam must have a total of 75hrs of additional study in lactation management and related women and children health issues.
The exam is offered in about 9 different languages now around the world and the number of Lactation Consultants in Great Britain have gone from 60 to over 120 in the past 5 years. The topics that are included in the exam are women’s health, children’s health and development, anatomy and physiology of the breast and related systems, medications and mother’s milk, disease process and how it effects breastfeeding, special situations, nutrition, composition of breastmilk and counseling skills.
When you are cared for by a Lactation Consultant you would expect to receive evidence based, factual, individually tailored, sensitive care to help you achieve your goals for your breastfeeding experience.