What is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)

International Board Certified Lactations Consultants (IBCLCs) are professionals in the field of human lactation. In addition to education in health sciences, breastfeeding physiology and management of breastfeeding complications for parent and child they also complete between 300-1000hrs of clinical practice in lactation to be eligible to write the IBCLC exam. Once the exam has been passed there are ongoing professional development requirements and IBCLCs re write their exam every 5 years to ensure their knowledge is up to date

Most professionals working in postpartum-care have very little required education in human lactation and don’t have the time to thoroughly assess how a baby is doing with their oral function, their latch, a parents milk supply and the social and emotional factors that play into infant feeding. As an IBCLC that is our specialty and often initial appointments are 90 minutes to ensure that there is a complete assessment of what is going on for the dyad.

Most people come to the profession of lactation consulting because they didn’t have the support they needed on their breastfeeding/chestfeeding/bottle feeding journey. For me, it was seeing the difference in clients experiences when knowledgable support made the difference in meeting their infant feeding goals. I have seen first hand the difficulties that arise, especially in the first 6 weeks postpartum with breastfeeding and I want everyone to have the support they need to feed their baby however they choose.