How to become a lactation consultant??

[gvrn13]

Hello, I'm currently an emergency department nurse.... While I enjoy this very much, every time I interact with a post partum mother who is nursing, I get so happy by being able to offer them support, being their advocate, and by offering my personal breastfeeding advice when asked. I feel like I may have to pursue becoming a lactation consultant, that it is my calling. I am in N.Y, does anybody have any advice on how to go about this? Anybody made the transition and feel like it was what they were meant to do??

[futurecnm]

I looked into it many years ago. You need to get so many contact hours of direct lactation education to new moms was a huge part of it. To start, you might want to start working in post partum where you can get the hours and they may pay for your education to become a LC.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

But be aware that just about every other OB nurse I know wants to be a LC. The number of positions vs. number of applicants is about 1:100 at my previous employer.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Here is the information on how to become a board-certified lactation consultant:

Eligibility Criteria | IBLCE

[PedNephNurse]

I had a NICU RN friend who was a certified lactation consultant. You could become certified as a nurse and if a position becomes available for a full time lactation consultant then you'll be all set! I believe my friend took a certification thru the hospital like we do our PALS or PEARS.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I had a NICU RN friend who was a certified lactation consultant. You could become certified as a nurse and if a position becomes available for a full time lactation consultant then you'll be all set! I believe my friend took a certification thru the hospital like we do our PALS or PEARS.

There are a few different "lactation counselor" certifications, but the gold standard is the IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant), which you can only do at a testing site similar to how one takes their NCLEX. It used to be that the exam was only offered one day a year, in late July. It was given on the same day, all over the world. A year or two ago they opened it to twice a year.

And one should not call oneself a lactation CONSULTANT unless they're an IBCLC. Not trying to be snarky, but we IBCLCs are very protective of our title. It took me almost 10 years to gain the consultancy hours needed to be eligible to sit for the exam. Back in 2007 when I took the exam, I had become an RN because, at the time, going to nursing school was the easiest route to be eligible to sit for the exam (they have since changed the eligibility criteria, making it a lot easier/faster to be eligible).

It bothers many of us that "lactation consultant" is not a protected title, and that really anyone can call themselves that. But among the community, it's generally accepted that only IBCLCs call themselves "lactation consultants."