Anyone know what "breastfeeding advisor" means?

[confuddledDOTcom]

Last year I was in hospital with my youngest who was premature and spent time on the NNU and transition ward. There is a lady there who's badge says "Breastfeeding Advisor" I've not heard any described as that before. One of the staff called her an Lactation Consultant which made me go because surely if she was her badge would have said "IBCLC" not "Breastfeeding Advisor"? Is it even a BFC?

Breastfeeding Advisor sounds like a title given to a nurse or maternity assistant who has done breastfeeding training to me.

Doesn't sound like anything official tbh, and I guess it could be awarded to anyone who had done a course in bfing (of what ever duration or detail).

The official 'titles' are Breastfeeding Peer Supporter, Mother Supporter, Breastfeeding Helper, (all roughly equivalent - mother who has bf herself and had extra training of about 6 weeks- but through different orgs),

Breastfeeding Counsellor, Breastfeeding Supporter, La Leche League Leader (all roughly equivalent - mother who has bf and has done extensive training of about 2 years - but different orgs),

Infant Feeding Co-ordinator - NHS title - may be a MW, HV, nursery nurse with extra training or a non-HCP but with outside training (BFC/LLL Leader/etc), Specialist Breastfeeding MW - MW with extra training/special interest in infant feeding, Infant Feeding Lead - may be a MW or HV who is in charge of the IFCs/training other HCPs within the HV team or MW teams. None of these roles needs direct personal bfing experience.

BTW anyone can call themselves a Lactation Consultant as it isn't a protected profession like psychiatrist or physiotherapist, so even if you have never bf or even seen a bfing mother/baby you could set up as an LC!

I was going to say the cynic in me thinks it's just someone who has done a course on supporting breastfeeding and that's her job rather than an official title. Surprises me to be honest when they have a fantastic MW NCT BFC who is the hospital IFC that they have someone with a less official sounding title as the NNU support.

I thought I had read TicTok saying that you can't just call yourself an LC?

Clare Byam-Cook calls herself an LC and none of the bfing orgs will lay claim to training her.....

I am willing to be wrong though!

LOL not sure CBC is any example of much though

No, you are wrong, because CBC, for example is...

See - you know the rest of the sentence already

Or just read her book 'What to expect to go wrong when you are breastfeeding and how I will erode your confidence and get you straight onto formula' available at all bad bookshops and too many libraries.

Exactly my point! If someone with as little actual knowledge of bfing as CBC can be a 'Lactation Consultant' then well my DH could call himself that (though I suspect he knows far more than CBC given he has to listen to me bang on about bfing....)

Someone's just said to me that you can't say you're an IBCLC (because that's a certification and is stating you have one) but you can say LC. I would assume that people who are serious about the profession (CBC ) wouldn't use LC because people would assume that it means you are one. It wasn't this lady who called herself one but someone else so it just sounded like they were trying to put more emphasis on her if that makes sense?

That's the point of the IBCLC qualification to distinguish you from an unqualified (or not board certified) lactation consultant. And I guess the point of claiming to be an LC when you haven't had any/much training on bfing is because you are out to make money not help women bf otherwise you would be training not working!

But - the Infant Feeding Coordinator that I know is not a BFC or a IBCLC. However they are fab and they deliver the Unicef 3 days BF course and are very knowledgeable. I do know a breastfeeding support worker who is planning to become a IBCLC but they are not a BFC either.

All very confusing, I know. But there is a difference between titles with a legal status, and those without. Eg only a registered nurse may call themselves a registered nurse, but anyone could say they were a 'nurse' even if they are not (I have met many people who said they used to be a nurse, they meant they were auxiliary nurses - ie care assistants in todays money)

I don't think BFC is a protected term, anyone can call themselves one but to represent one of the voluntary organisations (NCT, ABM, BFN etc) you have to have completed training.

You can call yourself a BFC even if you know bog all about breastfeeding, your only experience is 5 mins of midwifery in the 1980s, and your only 'qualification' is a book deal

Yes - you can't call yourself an IBCLC - because that title is protected. LC is not protected. BFC not protected but you can't apend any 'type' of bfc to your title unless you have been awarded the qualification and are currently registered by the organisation.

There are good people supporting bf and mothers who bf without a 'proper' title and 'breastfeeding advisor' is ok (IMO) if women using her services can complain about her if she is not helpful. This is the problem with totally independent people - there is no organisation with a good name to protect if something is wrong. I'd think a breastfeeding advisor in a maternity unit would have someone employing her ie NHS, midwifery department, so if she is not very good, someone can be told. Conversely, if she is very good, it's nice for her employers to know, too :)

Too often when breastfeeding goes wrong or it is not supported well or a problem that could be fixed gets worse, mothers don't complain. Instead, they think they have 'failed' and what is worse, feel guilty about it :( :(

See threads on mumsnet every week.

The lady I'm thinking of is good, I guess she must be to be working in the NNU really. I'm not really worried about what she's called, it's the way that a nurse called her a "lactation consultant" that within that conversation felt like she was elevating her to be a bigger stick to beat me with (if you've seen the other thread I've started today there were a few sticks) so it kind of made me wonder and as I'm going through it all at the moment it brought that conversation back.

I know what you mean, it's one of the things that really gets me. I have a saying that the biggest cause of breastfeeding not working is not lactation failure but lactation support failure! Because it seems to me that whenever it goes wrong someone dropped the ball in helping that mum.